500 Years of Female Portraits in Art

Video

A beautiful evolution throughout art history.

How to Recognize the Work of Artists

Link

How to Recognize the Work of Artists

Here’s a funny link for those interested in art history.  Consider it a politically incorrect Spark Notes.

Midnight in Paris

I recently had the pleasure of watching a movie called Midnight in Paris.  Mind you, it’s not that movie about a certain starlet named Paris.  This is a movie produced by Woody Allen that takes place in the city of Paris, where a nostalgic writer (Owen Wilson), on vacation with his fiance (Rachel McAdams), finds himself transported back in time to 20s Paris every night at midnight, where he is surrounded by the famous figures of the day.

I recommend the movie to you because our protagonist finds himself rubbing elbows with the famous writers and artists of the era.  There’s more emphasis on the writers, because the main character is himself a writer, but there are also many famous artists featured.  Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Man Ray, Henri Matisse, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Edgar Degas make appearances in the movie.

The movie is an entertaining watch with some valuable insights about each genration’s nostalgia for an era gone by, but I also found myself tense throughout much of the movie because some of the actors and actresses were too believable in their portrayals of very unpleasant characters.  Overall it was a fun watch which I recommend to you.

Here’s the trailer for the movie.

Google Cultural Institute

So I’ve discovered a website/application so mind blowing, I have to climb to a top of a mountain and shout it to the world.  Err, maybe we’ll just skip the whole mountain climbing business.  But I simply have to share it with y’all.  It’s called Google Cultural Institute.

On their About page, Google describes the project as:

Google has partnered with hundreds of museums, cultural institutions, and archives to host the world’s cultural treasures online.

With a team of dedicated Googlers, we are building tools that allow the cultural sector to display more of its diverse heritage online, making it accessible to all.

Here you can find artworks, landmarks and world heritage sites, as well as digital exhibitions that tell the stories behind the archives of cultural institutions across the globe.

This idea of sharing knowledge and making the world’s treasures available to everyone is great.  I think it’s a beautiful example of how the internet can be a force of change, serving the greater good. (Not that I’m opposed the wasting hours and hours watching funny cat videos…:P )  What Google is doing here is an amazing thing for those who don’t live in areas where art museums or other cultural attractions are available.  If I want to see famous artwork I don’t have to throw down a bunch of money, pack my bags, and fly across the country (or ocean) to see it.  Google is bringing it to me, in the comfort of my own living room, and they’re not charging a dime for it.  That’s pretty neat.

Aside from the convenience of what they’re doing, I also think it’s going to revolutionize education.  Part of why I was so struck by the Cultural Institute is that it makes so very much possible for educators.  In the example of an art teacher, such as myself, who uses Art Project (a subsection of the larger Cultural Project),  I can show famous artwork to my students in a format that allows them to get up close and personal, zooming in to ultra-high quality photos so close they can see individual brush strokes.  They can virtually tour museums.  The students can also pick and choose items to compare side by side, activating higher thinking.  Teachers and students can curate their own lists, whether it’s their favorite items, art from a specific period, or pieces that support a current unit in the curriculum.  On top of that, they can search pre-organized sets or look at collections put together by other people.  And best of all, Google has gone ahead and made print-outs and lesson plans available to educators.  I’d call that more than just a nifty tool.  It’s fantabulous.

(See more About Art Project.)

But I realize I’m rambling when maybe not all of you care as much about how teachers can use this.  I’ll let Google’s promotional/how-to videos speak for themselves, and let you imagine the possibilities.

P.S.  Expect to see more content from Art Project featured here, on my blog.

P.P.S.  Google didn’t pay me anything to post this.  I’m just really excited about what they’re doing (can you tell?) and want to share it with others.

Documentary: The World’s Most Expensive Paintings

Video

Description from the YouTube page:

“Art critic Alastair Sooke tracks down the ten most expensive paintings to sell at auction, and investigates the stories behind the astronomic prices art can reach. Gaining access to the glittering world of the super-rich, Sooke discovers why the planet’s richest people want to spend their millions on art.

Featuring works by Picasso, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Klimt and Rubens, Sooke enters a world of secrecy and rivalry, passion and power. Highlights include a visit to the art-crammed home of millionaire author Lord Archer; a rare interview with the man at the heart of the sale of the most expensive old master of all time; privileged access to auctioneers Christie’s; and a glimpse of the world of the Russian oligarchs.

These revelatory journeys allow Sooke to present an eye-opening view of the super wealthy, and their motivations as collectors of the world’s great art treasures.”

Art History by Incidental Comics

A few brief lessons on art history, thanks to Grant Snider of Incidental Comics.

Interactive Jackson Pollock

Similar to the installation in the above video, I found a really neat website with similar interactive capability.  Visit this website:  www.jacksonpollock.org  Don’t be fooled by the blank screen!  Move your mouse across the page and you will virtually dribble paint across the “canvas.”  Clicking changes the current paint color.  Although certainly not as technique driven as the actual thing, both of these serve to better explore and understand Jackson Pollock’s  famous splatter technique.  Pollock used paintbrushes and other tools to dribble, splatter, and throw paints of different colors and viscosities onto large canvases.  He also mixed in other materials like gravel, sand, and glass to incorporate more texture.  Although doubted by some, Pollock gained great fame for his revolutionary technique and legitimized a method that goes beyond the paintbrush.

Art Inspired Outfits

Today a friend introduced me to the fantastic work of Georgina on Polyvore.  Several collections of her work are focused on fashionable outfits inspired by famous artwork.  Georgina interprets the colors, mood, pattern, movement and more into articles of clothing with fabrics and cuts which convey these aspects of the art.  Sometimes she finds a modern take on the clothing worn in the art, while other times, when no figure/clothing is depicted, she translates the artwork into an outfit that conveys the core of the piece. 

I cannot express how much I adore her creations!  They’re such beautiful interpretations, and so fashionable!  I love how the outfits pair so beautifully with the inspiration pieces, but even when viewed out of context they remain absolutely fabulous! 

 

 

 

I can share a few selections from Georgina’s art history collections, but because I don’t want to infringe upon her rights, I’ll limit how many I share here.  Instead, I encourage you to visit her many collection pages on Polyvore.  Enjoy the vast variety of her vision.

• Art Inspired Outfits I
• Art Inspired Outfits II
• Art Inspired Outfits III
• Art Inspired Outfits IV
• Art Inspired Outfits V
• Art Inspired Outfits VI

Obamenaten & Amarna Art

Politics junkies may like this post.  So will art history nerds.

Last spring, during ancient to medieval art history, I came across an interesting find connecting President Obama to the Egyptian king Akhenaten.  Akhenaten was originally Amenhotep IV, but changed -hotep to to -aten, the name of the sun deity.  Akhenaten moved the capital to Amarna and outlawed worship of the other gods, temporarily turning Egypt’s religion monotheistic with Re-Horakty-Aten in the place of honor.  This period of Egyptian history is called the Amarna period.

Why is this important?  It just so happens Akhenaten’s reign and the change to Aten-worship coincides with an unusual change in Egyptian art.  Aside from numerous appearances of the  sun disc, Amarna depictions of the human figure become  exaggerated with elongated heads, drooping features, emaciated arms, swooping curves and short lower legs.  This stylistic change towards a more effeminate and corpulent human figure is hypothesized to have stemmed either from a diseased Akhenaten or a desire to incorporate the androgyny of the creator god Aten’s simultaneously male and female identity. 

This transformation of style didn’t last long.  After Akhenaten was dead and his son Tutenkhamun (the famous Boy Pharaoh Tut) took over, art, religion, and capital quickly reverted back to pre-Akhenaten times.  Now that you’ve had your art history lesson (and I’m sorry if it was boring) you can have your cake.  The thing you’ve probably been waiting for and the picture that spurred this post, I present you with: Obemenaten!

Obama looks a lot like Akhenaten, and vice versa.

For some reason President Obama looks eerily like sculptures of King Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten.  If you’re willing to dive into the chaos of conspiracy theories, feel free to Google “Akhenaten Obama” for more in-depth comparisons of the President and his family to ancient Egyptian royalty.  But prepare yourself for a lot of BS.

Creative Recreation

So it’s pretty apparent I’ve fallen behind in the blogging department, but I reserve the right to blog as much or as little as I like.  Right now, I’d like to be blogging a little more than I have.  But I have a good excuse.  I’ve been VERY busy with my artwork this break.  More so than ever before.  I painted the Kappa Kappa Gamma owl for my friend, made another paper mache dragon, fiddled with my new glue gun and tried to make a plastic rose, and just recently painted another divider page for the college yearbook (pictures to come as soon as I buy a memory chip for my new Canon).  So I’m quite pleased with my artistic productivity.

Aside from the actual art I’ve been creating, another thing I’ve spent a lot of time on is Assassin’s Creed 2.  Yeah, I’m a girl gamer.  This sequel has been improved so much from the first, and was a delight to play because all of the historical connections.  I just finished taking an art history course on Renaissance to Modern art.  While playing Assassin’s Creed 2, set in Renaissance Italy, I got to climb on many of the buildings I had learned about, such as the Santa Maria Novella, the Santa Maria del Fiore, and the Santa Maria Croce, to name a very few.  As you gallivant around Florence, Tuscany, and Venice you get opportunities to buy artwork for your in-game villa, including many notables such as La Primavera, the Birth of Venus, various works by da Vinci, Sleeping Venus by Giorgione, and many more.    But it’s not over yet!  You actually get to interact with an NPC Leonardo da Vinci, utilizing his genius to expand your weaponry.  At one point you even get to try out da Vinci’s famous flying machine! Being able to make these connections to my class just increased the joy of playing this game, and I highly recommend it (even if you’re not an art history fan).

Now that I’m back at school I won’t be playing xbox anymore, but I will hopefully be doing some more blogging.  I’ve got a lot of exciting ideas and commentary I’d like to share, so stay tuned.