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  • Empires - The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance
    Empires - The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance
    A fascinating and highly entertaining look at one of the most important families of the Renaissance era--the Medici.
  • Sister Wendy - The Complete Collection (Story of Painting / Grand Tour / Odyssey / Pains of Glass)
    Sister Wendy - The Complete Collection (Story of Painting / Grand Tour / Odyssey / Pains of Glass)

    “Sister Wendy Beckett has transformed public appreciation of art through her astonishing knowledge, insight and passion for painting and painters.” This set includes Sister Wendy's Story of Painting, Sister Wendy's Odyssey, and Sister Wendy's Grand Tour. Simultaneously delightful and scholarly--this is a must have for anyone interested in art history.

  • Exit Through the Gift Shop
    Exit Through the Gift Shop
    When British stencil artist Banksy traveled to Los Angeles to work, he came across obscure French filmmaker Thierry Guetta and his badly organized collection of videotapes involving the activities of graffiti artists. Inspired, Banksy assembled them with new footage to create this talked-about documentary, and the result is a mind-boggling and odd film (so strange as to be thought a hoax by some) about outsider artists and the definition of art itself.
  • The Impressionists
    The Impressionists
    A dramatization of the Impressionist movement as seen through the eyes of Claude Monet. Highly entertaining and informative.
  • The Impressionists: The Other French Revolution
    The Impressionists: The Other French Revolution
    A very personal and revealing look at the personalities that created Impressionism.

Entries in American Art (65)

Wednesday
May072014

Georgia O’Keeffe: In Her Own Words

Georgia O’Keeffe - Black Iris, 1926, oil on canvas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY (click photo for larger image)

"If I could paint the flower exactly as I see it no one would see what I see because I would paint it small like the flower is small. So I said to myself - I'll paint what I see - what the flower is to me but I'll paint it big and they will be surprised into taking time to look at it - I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers.

 "...Well, I made you take time to look at what I saw and when you took time to really notice my flower you hung all your own associations with flowers on my flower and you write about my flower as if I think and see what you think and see of the flower - and I don’t."

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986)


Friday
Feb212014

Jack Levine: American Social Realist

Jack Levine - The Patriarch of Moscow on a Visit to Jerusalem - 1975 - Oil on canvas - 213.2 x 237 cm (84 x 96 in.) - Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection (click photo for larger image)American painter Jack Levine (1915-2010) was a Social Realist, who became well-known for his satirical paintings on modern life, political corruption, and biblical narratives. Born of Lithuanian Jewish parents, Levine grew up in the South End of Boston. He was part of the WPA program established by FDR, and he served in the Army during WWII. Levine loathed the abstract art that was so heavily touted in his day, and drew inspiration instead from such masters as Titan and Velázquez. In their New York Times obituary, he was described as “...an unrepentant and much-admired realist artist whose crowded history paintings skewered plutocrats, crooked politicians and human folly.”

Monday
Feb102014

Thomas Pollock Anshutz: An American Realist

Thomas Pollock Anshutz - A Rose - 1907 - Oil on canvas - 147.3 × 111.4 cm (58 × 43.9 in) - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkThomas Pollock Anshutz (1851-1912) was an American painter and teacher. Co-founder of The Darby School and leader at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Anshutz was known for his award winning portraiture work and working friendship with Thomas Eakins (who was also his mentor). Unfortunately, Eakins was forced to resign from the Academy in 1886 when a scandal was sparked by his use of a fully nude male model in a class where female students were in attendance. Anshutz did not defend his mentor. In fact, he turned against him. 

Friday
Dec202013

An American Original - Thomas Cole

Thomas Cole - View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow - 1836 - Oil on canvas - 51 1/2 x 76 in. (130.8 x 193 cm) - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

“Long known as "The Oxbow," this work is a masterpiece of American landscape painting, laden with possible interpretations."

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Thomas Cole (1801-1848) was an American artist and founder of the Hudson River School of painting--considered by many to be the first truly American art movement.

Thursday
Jul042013

Happy Independence Day!

Gilbert Stuart - George Washington - 1795 - Oil on canvas, 77 64 cm - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (click photo for larger image)