Arts History galaxy

04/10/2024

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03/10/2024

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Władysław Podkowiński (1866–1895): Ecstasy (Szał), 1894, Oil on canvas, 310 cm × 270 cm (120 in × 110 in), National Museum in Kraków, Poland

Władysław Podkowiński's 'Ecstasy' is one of the greatest and most intriguing examples of Polish Symbolism.

The painting shows a naked, redheaded woman riding a black, frenetic horse. The horse reveals its teeth, and its tongue hangs out. Its nostrils are dilated and foam runs from its mouth. The woman riding the horse clasps its neck with her eyes closed, her loose hair fans out and flows upwards to mingle with the horse's mane.

The artistic form of the work, with a dynamic composition and a limited palette built on the contrast between black pulsating with warm reflections and the passionate shades of the white and pink of the sitter’s body and the flaming orange of her hair, has been completely subordinated to the conveyed message.

After a three months of its creation process, the work was shown on 18 March 1894 at the Zachęta exhibition where was accompanied by an atmosphere of sensationalism and scandal.

The confusion around Ecstasy increased even more when, just before the exhibition's planned end, Podkowiński slashed the painting with a knife. The reasons for this act are unclear.

Podkowiński's act of desecration may have contributed to the rumours that the image portrayed a woman towards which the artist had an unfulfilled affection. The damage of the image, which was restored in a short time, and Podkowiński's death soon afterwards fuelled the speculation of his death being a su***de. Providing a rationale for this explanation are the traces of cuts on the canvas showing that only the image of the woman was subject to the attack.

28/08/2024

A native New Yorker, Jasper Francis Cropsey practiced as both a painter and an architect. In this wide view of one of the most visited areas in the Adirondack Mountains, he presents a place alive with color—greens, purples, golden yellows, and intense crimsons. Rendered in a firmly realistic style, the scene conveys a sense of vastness and of possibilities contained within the wild and rugged landscape, inviting contemplation about the country’s future after the Civil War. Cropsey returned to the subject of autumn throughout his career and experimented with the bright colors seen in this painting.
Lake George was a familiar subject whose crystalline waters and scenic setting Cropsey had painted before. But by the 1860s, when this oil was created, the location was very heavily visited by tourists, and far from the unspoiled beauty enjoyed by the solitary Native American depicted here.
He painted Lake George several times in the 1860s and 1870s, while he lived with his family in Warwick, New York.

27/08/2024

The most significant influence during Garber's early career was his study in Europe from 1903 to 1905. "During a year of study in Paris, he was influenced by the European Impressionists. From this exposure to these masters, Garber honed his skill at representing sunlight and derived his use of lively pastel colors.

Garber was not only influenced by the style, but also the practice of the European plein air artists. For the remainder of his career, he was insistent on completing his works out of doors, rather than making quick sketches of his subject and returning to his studio to compose his final canvas. This routine further cultivated his intimate understanding of light and atmosphere. "Garber's dedication to outdoor study from the motif became the foundation of his method...Because he liked to work directly, without preparatory drawings, Garber needed the constant presence of the motif during most of the ex*****on of the painting."

Upon his return from Europe, Garber began a fifty-four year teaching career, the majority of which was spent at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

His continual dissemination of his knowledge of technique and theories on light and atmosphere influenced an entire generation of artists and he became one of the integral members of the New Hope School. "Daniel Garber was the revered teacher and master artist who kept the colony grounded in the highest standards of the European and American artistic traditions."
The blend of Impressionist tonality and atmosphere with American Realism taught by Garber and present in all his works, manifested the driving principle of the new hope School.

23/07/2024

Jan van Huysum (1682 - 1749): Fruit and Flowers in front of a Garden Vase with an O***m Poppy and a Row of Cypresses, 1731-1732, oil on canvas, 80 x 61 cm, Private collection, on loan to the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
Jan van Huysum was based in Amsterdam, where he painted flower and fruit still lifes, as well as landscapes. He is widely regarded as the greatest still-life painter of his time. His ambitious compositions demonstrate his ability to combine a huge variety of species into beautiful, coherent still lifes that made him popular with collectors both during and beyond his lifetime.

Van Huysum's depictions of luxuriant flowers in classical vases were soon admired by collectors, particularly the way flowers, fruit and insects were rendered with astonishing accuracy and detail. He achieved this precision with fine brushes - some might have only had a single hair – which were ideal for depicting the vein structure of a leaf, the delicate hairs on a raspberry or the translucency of a water droplet.

His impressive arrangements could depict over 35 different types of flowers, which, before modern cultivation techniques, would never have been seen together at the same time of year. To overcome this Van Huysum worked from sketches and painted some of his arrangements over two years, explaining why he signed his paintings with two dates.

23/07/2024

Although he adopted the techniques of French Impressionism, Garber, rejected the Impressionist idea of painting fleeting moments and transitory effects. His subject matter was structured on reality tempered by artistic license that was conservative and classical. In a 1922 interview Garber elaborates: "My work is different, perhaps, from that of the general landscape painter in that I have a mass of detail in the mass. After all, one's job is to get everything in and yet keep it all as a whole, like an orchestra-everything working in harmony to produce one feeling or emotion."

Garber painted this landscape with a tree in full bloom in 1916 in Point Pleasant, Plumstead, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

23/07/2024

Genre painting was the main focus in Waldmüller's late works with his preference for the the rural life.
His "Expected One" from 1860, also known as "Sunday Morning", combines all the artistic elements from the painter's last years.
It depicts a boy on a summer day waiting for his love with a bunch of roses in his hand in the shadow of the forest. The girl approaches him, coming from lush fields. Both are wearing their Sunday clothes. While the boy watches her full of hope, the girl with her blossoming face looks thoughtfully at her hymn book.

The viewer becomes a witness to the expectant scene. Will the girl return his feelings? (Neue Pinakothek)

22/07/2024

Garber's 'South Room – Green Street' depicts his wife, Mary Franklin Garber, and daughter Tanis in the front parlor of their Philadelphia row house at 1819 Green Street.

The work is a visual treatise on light, its effects on the objects and experiences of everyday life and, in turn, the perceptual responses these effects initiate. Specifically, Garber manipulates how light confounds substance, turning heavy curtains into stained glass, strands of hair into a golden aura, and the shadow of a wicker chair into a lacy design on the floor. Continuing this exploration of illusory modes of vision is Garber's inclusion of two mirrors in the painting, which not only provide another view of the girl's head but also reflect the light in intriguing ways.

Critics of the time remarked on this: ".. the hair of the little girl standing near the window, with the light falling on it from three directions is cleverly managed with the aid of two mirrors, one in front and one at the side." The pleasant nature of Garber's domestic scene thus belies the complex issues of light, reflection, and vision that the artist so deftly manages in the painting. (nga)

17/07/2024

Herbert James Draper (1863–1920): The Golden Rays, oil on canvas, 139 x 100 cm

16/07/2024

Ivan Aivazovsky (1817-1900): Ship in the Stormy Sea, 1887, oil on canvas, 62.5 x 97 cm (24.6 x 38.2 in), Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg

Ivan Aivazovsky was a famous Armenian Russian artist specialized in seascapes and landscapes.
Following his education at Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, Aivazovsky traveled to Europe and lived briefly in Italy in the early 1840s. He then returned to Russia and was appointed the main painter of the Russian Navy.

Aivazovsky had close ties with the military and political elite of the Russian Empire and often attended military maneuvers. He was sponsored by the state and was well-regarded during his lifetime. The saying "worthy of Aivazovsky's brush", popularized by Anton Chekhov, was used in Russia for "describing something ineffably lovely." One of the most prominent Russian artists of his time, Aivazovsky was also popular outside Russia.
The vast majority of his works are seascapes, but he often depicted battle scenes, landscapes from Caucasia, and portraiture. Most of Aivazovsky's works are kept in Russian, Ukrainian and Armenian museums.

In the present painting, the artist captures the beauty and shimmering essence of the tempestuous waves and the violent storm with every little detail

12/07/2024

Martín Rico (1833-1908): La Torre de las Damas in the Alhambra, Granada, 1871, oil on canvas, 63.5 x 40 cm, Museo del Prado, Madrid

This work was painted at a very important moment in Rico’s career, a period spent in direct contact with Mariano Fortuny in Granada in 1871 and 1872.

Here, he focused on the ancient tower of Las Damas, which is near the early 14th-century Partal (portico) in the Alhambra’s outer wall.

Rico prepared this work with various pencil studies of the buildings’ main lines that reveal his characteristic agility. In the final work, he moved the viewpoint to the north in order to represent the façades of the buildings alongside the tower. He also lowered the viewpoint, so that the architecture appears in its wooded setting, with vegetation that even climbs the walls. The two tall, green-leafed poplar trees are cut off by the upper edge of the canvas, increasing their slender appearance. They thus serve as a sort of portico or prelude to the buildings’ considerable elegance, which is, in turn, echoed by the Generalife in the background. The composition is subtly enlivened by small figures of three children around a large cage, and a cat. Various similar studies by Rico from that period reveal his interest in this motif, and other works he painted in Granada also show children playing in front of buildings.

The refinement with which Rico renders the different qualities of the wall and its distinct texture and relief reveals a spirit similar to Fortuny’s in the search for material qualities. However, the serene composition, smooth atmosphere and cool colors are characteristic of landscapes from this period in Rico’s career.

The balanced composition and the presentation of the light as if it were suspended in time bring a certain feeling of peaceful duration to this landscape painted directly from nature at a specific hour. (Museo del Prado)

06/07/2024

Władysław Podkowiński (1866–1895): Ecstasy (Szał), 1894, Oil on canvas, 310 cm × 270 cm (120 in × 110 in), National Museum in Kraków, Poland

Władysław Podkowiński's 'Ecstasy' is one of the greatest and most intriguing examples of Polish Symbolism.

The painting shows a naked, redheaded woman riding a black, frenetic horse. The horse reveals its teeth, and its tongue hangs out. Its nostrils are dilated and foam runs from its mouth. The woman riding the horse clasps its neck with her eyes closed, her loose hair fans out and flows upwards to mingle with the horse's mane.

The artistic form of the work, with a dynamic composition and a limited palette built on the contrast between black pulsating with warm reflections and the passionate shades of the white and pink of the sitter’s body and the flaming orange of her hair, has been completely subordinated to the conveyed message.

After a three months of its creation process, the work was shown on 18 March 1894 at the Zachęta exhibition where was accompanied by an atmosphere of sensationalism and scandal.

The confusion around Ecstasy increased even more when, just before the exhibition's planned end, Podkowiński slashed the painting with a knife. The reasons for this act are unclear.

Podkowiński's act of desecration may have contributed to the rumours that the image portrayed a woman towards which the artist had an unfulfilled affection. The damage of the image, which was restored in a short time, and Podkowiński's death soon afterwards fuelled the speculation of his death being a su***de. Providing a rationale for this explanation are the traces of cuts on the canvas showing that only the image of the woman was subject to the attack.