Did You Know?

The Mona Lisa has her own mailbox in the Louvre because of all the love letters she receives.

Over the years many have fallen prey to the portrait’s ‘limpid and burning eyes’, leaving her offerings of flowers, poems and, yes, love notes. Artist Luc Maspero allegedly took this fervour to a new high – and then low – in 1852, diving off a hotel balcony because “For years I have grappled desperately with her smile. I prefer to die.” Who knew art appreciation could be so dark?

Pollock: The Legacy

Jackson Pollock, The Flame, 1938, Oil on canvas mounted on fiberboard - l20 1/2 x 30" (51.1 x 76.2 cm), MoMA, NY (click photo for larger image)Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) was the American painter who was a leading exponent of Abstract Expressionism, an art movement characterized by the free-associative gestures in paint sometimes referred to as “action painting”. His immediate legacy was certainly felt most by other painters. His work brought together elements of Cubism, Surrealism, Impressionism, Native American Art and Muralism and he went on to develop an approach that was wholly new. But getting there was a journey of experimentation.

For example, in the work featured here, we have an image of blazing flames obscuring what appears to be a skeleton in the foreground. It was likely influenced by the scenes of José Clemente Orozco's famous mural at Dartmouth College, The Epic of American Civilization (1932-34), which Pollock had visited in 1936. Pollock greatly admired and came to know Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. This piece of Pollock’s was accomplished enough to be exhibited in a show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Alongside Pollock’s ultimate achievement, even greats such as Willem de Kooning, who remained closer to Cubism, and hung on to figurative imagery, seemed to fall short. And the best among subsequent generations of painters would all have to take on Pollock’s achievement, just as Pollock himself had wrestled with Picasso.

As early as 1958, some were beginning to wonder if Pollock might even have opened up possibilities outside of the realm of painting. To borrow critic Harold Rosenberg's words, Pollock had re-imagined the canvas not as "a space in which to reproduce, re-design, analyze, or 'express' an object…[but as] an arena in which to act." 

It was a short step from this realization to interpreting Pollock's balletic moves around the canvas as a species of performance art. Since then, Pollock's reputation has only increased. The subject of many biographies, a movie biopic, and major retrospectives, he has become not only one of the most famous symbols of the alienated modern artist, but also an embodiment for critics and historians of American modernism in its finest hour.

Read more about Pollock here on What About Art?

Camille Pissarro: The Quintessential Impressionist

Camille Pissarro - Two Women Chatting By the Sea - 1856 - Oil on canvas - 27.7 x 41 cm (10 7/8 x 16 1/8 in.) - National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (click photo for larger image)Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) was a major figure in the history of Impressionism. His commitment to representing landscapes under specific weather and light conditions made him, in some ways, the quintessential Impressionist. 

By the end of his life he was beginning to gain critical recognition and praise, and critics and scholars have consistently acknowledged his place as a key figure in Impressionism. Despite his humble nature, Pissarro’s legacy—his unrelenting interest in change, his influence on seminal artists such as Cézanne and Gauguin, and his steadfast opposition to the artistic establishment—powerfully shaped the development of the early 20th-century avant-garde. His influence continues to this day. 

The painting featured here was completed the year after Pissarro permanently relocated to France. The subject depicts two women walking along a seaside path in St. Thomas, the Caribbean Island where he was born. 

You can read more about this very special Impressionist right HERE on What About Art?

Quote of the Day

Art is a line around your thoughts. - Gustav Klimt

Jan van Eyck: A Leading Force

Jan van Eyck - Portrait of Margareta van Eyck - 1439 - Oil on panel - Height: 32.6 cm (12.8 in); Width: 25.8 cm (10.1 in) - The Groeningemuseum - Bruges, Belgium (click photo for larger image)The period from about 1420 to 1550 was one of astonishing and almost uninterrupted artistic achievement in the Burgundian Netherlands (Low Countries). Taking "all-bearing nature" as their guide, early Netherlandish artists extended the boundaries of painting until the form seemed limitless. 

Jan van Eyck (c. 1385-1441) became one of the most renowned painters in Europe. He acquired legendary status as the purported inventor of oil painting. Works by this master were sought by princes and merchants throughout Europe, who prized them for their remarkable realistic qualities, their technical and coloristic virtuosity, and their heightened expressive power.

“Van Eyck was a leading force in 15th-century Flemish painting, due to his innovations in the use of optical perspective and handling of oil paint. Gradual transitions between color areas were now possible due to the slower drying time of the oil paint which, as compared to egg tempera, allowed the colors to be used more specifically to depict perspective, deep space and realistic modeling.” (The ArtStory)

The work featured here is a portrait of the artist’s much younger wife, who bore him ten children. It is one of the earliest European artworks to depict a painter's spouse. Completed when she was around 34, it was hung until the early 18th century in the Bruges chapel of the Guild of painters.

You can read more about this remarkable painter right HERE on What About Art?