Hieronymus Bosch: Master of the Bizarre!

Hieronymus Bosch - Hell panel from The Garden of Earthly Delights - Between 1480 and 1505 - Oil on panel - Height: 220 cm (86.6 in); Width: 97 cm (38.1 in) - The Prado Museum - Milan (Click photo for larger image)Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516) was a brilliant and original northern European painter whose work reveals an unusual iconography of a complex and individual style. He was recognized as a highly imaginative “creator of devils” and a powerful inventor of seeming nonsense full of satirical and moralizing meaning.

Bosch was the first artist to visually express beings and realms unbeknownst to human comprehension. His creation of the bizarre and the non-real was revolutionary amidst the staid status quo of tradition where artists painted literal truths without veering from the norm. He remarked, "Poor is the mind that always uses the inventions of others and invents nothing itself.”

Because of his bold departure from depicting mere reality and his endeavor in bringing the interior life and its unconscious machinations out of the mind’s dark recesses and onto the canvas, he was considered the first modern artist by the Surrealists.

To learn more about this unique artist, sign up for Dr. Jill’s single session program, “Hieronymus Bosch: Master of the Bizarre!” - Monday, April 12th, 2:00-3:00 PM. This program is being offered through the Larchmont-Mamaroneck Center for Continuing Education

Click HERE for More Info and to REGISTER!

Michelangelo: A Polymath Genius

Michelangelo - The Deposition - 1547-55 - Marble - Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, FlorenceMichelangelo's dexterity with carving an entire sculpture from a single block of marble remains unparalleled. He once said, "The sculptor's hand can only break the spell to free the figures slumbering in the stone.” He was known as one who could conjure real life from stone, and the musculature of his bodies is so authentically precise that they've been said to breathe upon sight.

The artist's feisty and tempestuous personality is legendary. He often articulated his pride or defiance of conventionality through controversial means, such as painting his own face on figures in his work, the faces of his enemies in mocking fashion, or unabashedly portraying sacred characters in the nude. But despite the controversies embodied in many of his works, they were just to wonderful to not be seen—and they remain so.

Carved from a single block of marble, each of his sculpted figures comes alive with physical and psychological power. He thus remains the most famous sculptor of all time. Even his paintings, such as those on the Sistine Ceiling, are populated with figures that are seemingly sculpted.

The work featured here is “sculpturally complex and indicative of Michelangelo's genius, but it carries layers of meaning and has sparked multiple interpretations”.

To learn more about this piece and to gain a sense of how his work fits in the context of modern art, register HERE for a six-week online series on his life and art. 

You can also read more about Michelangelo here on What About Art?

Matisse: Color And Pattern

Henri Matisse - Luxe, Calme, et Volupte - 1904-05 - Oil on canvas - Musée National d'Art Moderne, ParisHenri Matisse is widely regarded as the greatest colorist and one of the important innovators of the 20th century. Widely regarded as the “Father of Fauvism” — he used color as the foundation for expressive, highly patterned, and often monumental paintings. His sense of color and pattern were informed by medieval stained glass.

Matisse once wrote that he wanted his art to be "a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair." Still life and the nude remained favorite subjects throughout his career. His also made significant contributions to illustration, collage and sculpture.

In the work featured here, the title is taken from the refrain of Charles Baudelaire’s poem, Invitation to a Voyage (1857), in which a man invites his lover to travel with him to paradise. This is the only painting Matisse created in the Neo-Impressionist mode, clearly influence by the works of such artists as Paul Signac and Georges Seurat. 

You can read more about Matisse here on What About Art? and also attend a six-week online class focused on him this Spring. Click HERE for more info and to Register.

Welcome Back to Painting with Jill at Cedar Lane!

Come out…come out…wherever you are! As we emerge from the darkness of the pandemic into the light, we’re beginning to schedule classes again on site.

Jill Kiefer will be offering two “Dare to Try” Oil Painting classes this Spring, beginning in April, at the Cedar Lane Arts Center. Jill works one-on-one with all of her students so feel free to sign up for whichever session will be convenient for you.

We will have important safety measures in place. 

Click HERE for More Info and to REGISTER. Class sizes will be limited, so please register ASAP.

Matisse: A World of Colors and Patterns (Online Course)

Henri Matisse - Still Life with Dance, 1909, Oil on canvas, 89.5 x 117.5 cm - Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia (click photo for larger image)Six Sessions – Tuesdays, 10:00 – 11:00 AM, April 6th – May 11th

Henri Matisse (who you can read more about here on What About Art?) is widely regarded as the greatest colorist of the 20th century and as a rival to Pablo Picasso in the importance of his innovations. 

He first achieved prominence as the leader of the French movement Fauvism—but his long career would take him in many different directions. Matisse sought to use color as the foundation for expressive, decorative, and often monumental paintings. He also made significant contributions to collage and sculpture. 

“What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity…(Henri Matisse) Did he achieve it? Take this class to find out! Click  HERE to REGISTER!