Charles Demuth, Precisionist

Charles Demuth, Nana (Seated Left) and Satin at Laure's Restaurant (Illustration for Emile Zola's Nana) - 1916. Watercolor and pencil on paper, 8 1/2 x 11" (21.6 x 27.9 cm). Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller 52.1935, Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) New YorkCharles Demuth, The Golden Swan (also known as Hell Hole) - 1919 - Private collection - 8 cm (3.15 in.), Width: 10.5 cm (4.13 in.) - watercolor and pencil on paperPainter Charles Demuth (1883-1935) created works that were distinctly American and simultaneously Modern.

“Precisionism (or Cubist Realism) is a style of representation in which an object is rendered in a realistic manner, but with an emphasis on its geometric form. An important part of American Modernism, it was inspired by the development of Cubism in Europe, and by the rapid growth of industrialization of North America in the wake of innovators such as Henry Ford. In its emphasis on stylized angular forms it is also visually somewhat similar to Art Deco.”

SEE MORE PRECISIONISTS...

Rarely Displayed Collages Offer Insight Into Claes Oldenburg's Extraordinary Take on the Everyday

Claes Oldenburg, Strange Eggs V, 1957. Collage, mounted on cardboard, 14-1/4 x 11". Collection of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen (click photo for larger image)Claes Oldenburg is an American sculptor, best known for his public art installations, typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects.

“For more than fifty years Claes Oldenburg (b. 1929) has surprised, humored, and disoriented audiences with his unconventional use of media and scale to depict ordinary objects. The latest exhibition at the Menil Collection, Claes Oldenburg: Strange Eggs, will showcase a remarkable group of collages by the Swedish-born American artist.”

READ MORE...

The Menil Collection is located in Houston, TX. Click here to visit their website.

Gustav Klimt: The “Golden Phase”

The Kiss, oil on canvas by Gustav Klimt, 1907–08; in the Österreichische Gallery, Vienna. 180 ×180 cm. (click photo for larger image)One of the best-known works of Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907), went on the block in 2006 and fetched a reported $135 million, a record at the time. (click photo for larger image)Gustav Klimt  (1862-1918) was an Austrian painter, and the founder of the school of painting known as the Vienna Sezession. This group of painters revolted against academic art in favor of a highly decorative style, similar to Art Nouveau. Klimt’s most successful works include The Kiss (1907–08), and a series of portraits of fashionable Viennese women, such as Frau Adele Bloch-Bauer (1907). In these portraits he treats the human figure without the use of shadow, and heightens the lush sensuality of skin by surrounding it with flat, highly decorative, and brilliantly composed areas of decoration. Klimt enjoyed both critical and financial success during this period--dubbed his “Golden Phase” because of the prominent use of gold leaf in the paintings of this time.

Pierre Bonnard - Exquisite Taste in Dazzling Light and Color

Pierre Bonnard - The Letter, 1906, National Gallery of Art at Washington D.C. (click photo for larger image)The French painter and printmaker, Pierre Bonnard (1867-1946) was a member of the group of artists called the “Nabis.” They believed that a work of art reflects an artist’s synthesis of nature into personal aesthetic metaphors and symbols. The Nabis were heavily influenced by Japanese woodcuts, the works of the French Symbolists, and English Pre-Raphaelite art. Bonnard e is generally regarded as one of the greatest colorists of modern art--used to represent intimate, sunlit domestic interiors, as well as still-life paintings.

Pierre Bonnard. The White Cat, 1894. oil on canvas. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France

The First Impressionist Exhibition, 1874: A Challenge to Tradition

Camille Pissarro, Gelee blanche Hoarfrost - 1873, Oil on canvas - 65 x 93 cm (25 5/8 x 36 5/8") - Musee d'Orsay, Paris (click photo for larger image)In 1874, those artists seeking to challenge the academic classicism of their day united in order to challenge the standards they felt were being imposed on them. They were the Impressionists. Mark Harden’s “Artchive” (an excellent site) offers “a virtual recreation of the history-making show organized in defiance of the Paris Salon. Twenty of the most important works are presented from eight of the artists. The paintings in each gallery are to actual scale.” This is definitely worth a visit!