So today, the first day of my French history class, we all had to introduce ourselves and tell the class what we were studying. I said that I was an art history minor and, either wanting to chit chat or wanting to hear me express myself verbally in French to facillitate student evaluation, the teacher asked me who my favorite artist is.
I was frozen. If I said Van Gogh people would assume it was for the same cliché reasons that sorority girls like Van Gogh. I could say Frida Kahlo, but am I allowed to talk about a non-French artist in French? So then my mind raced through my favorites such as Kandinsky and Dali (neither of which I enjoy for cliché reasons, thankyouverymuch), who worked in France but were not, by definition, French. (I don't know why I was so convinced I had to name a French artist)
I thought frantically for a few more tense moments. This is not a chit-chatty, one-response question! I need time to elucidate this kind of serious declaration. Do I throw out an obscure name just to sound elite? Do I mention the Limbourg brothers to butter up the medievalist scholar side of the professor? Do I try to be avant-garde so people think I'm hip?
I finally said Matisse. Drat. I appreciate Matisse, but he is by no means my favorite artist. Now people are going to think I'm a postcard art historian. Why, oh, why, couldn't I remember Odilon Rédon's name in the moment of truth?
It was only several hours later that I realized how incredibly stupid this whole self-conscious situation was. Sigh. The workings of the silly female brain...
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Renoir!!!!! Completely, and utterly, Renoir! Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
oh yeah - um - who is your favorite artist?
Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :
God. Or whoever it was who painted that moon scene a couple of months ago. Pure masterpiece, I'm telling you.
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
Monet
Posted by Suneun (Member # 3247) on :
Escher, even though he's not considered a classical artist.
I also like Magritte. Mmm, weird.
Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :
I have long had a very special personal place for Maxfield Parrish. If I had to choose a favorite, I'd have a hard time picking anyone else.
Right now I've got my screen saver shuffling through a series of Bouguereau paintings that I acquired here, and every time I see them they make me happy. So that's another temporary favorite, but the answer to this question could change daily for me (except for the Parrish, of course.) By the way, don't click that link if you like art, unless you have several days to kill and a very fast connection. I've wasted more time on that site than just about any other (present company excepted).
[ January 17, 2004, 12:48 AM: Message edited by: Speed ]
Posted by Wussy Actor (Member # 5937) on :
Rodin. I don't really have a favorite painter. I like many but I haven't come across one whose work punches me in the head like Rodin's sculptures do. Even pictures of them get me.
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
So if I answered Hefner, would that be bad?
Posted by eslaine (Member # 5433) on :
Annie.
You know you should have said Franz Marc.
<---recent Chagall convert
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
I wouldn't say Hefner is necessarily an artist. I mean, he supports the arts, of course. But I don't think he's actually taking any of those pictures. Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
Ansel Adams.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
You should've said Frederic Bartholdi and see how many people realized who he was.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
quote:So if I answered Hefner, would that be bad?
I'm glad this isn't an onanism thread.
Posted by MattB (Member # 1116) on :
Jacques-Louis David. Or sometimes Tintoretto.
Also Whistler.
[ January 15, 2004, 01:32 AM: Message edited by: MattB ]
Posted by Human (Member # 2985) on :
I'm a Da Vinci fan, myself. Maybe it's because he put a woman in The Last Supper, or because he was just...a cool guy.
Posted by Tullaan (Member # 5515) on :
My favorite artist(s) are my 4 year old and my 3 year old. After all, our fridge is covered with their art. Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
Escher, because it takes a genious to have that much creativity and precision all at the same time. DuChamp (I think that's how its spelled) because of his "ready mades" and Charles Schulz, because who doesn't like Peanuts.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
MattB - I almost said David! I'm not big on neoclassicism, but the guy's life fascinates me. He painted for Louis XVI, then he hung out with the Jacobins, then he was the offical painter for Napoleon. Dude - whose team are you on?
And eslaine - you're right. Marc is totally my favorite artist. Sigh.... what will they all think of me?
Posted by Robespierre (Member # 5779) on :
Frank Lloyd Wright
Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
1) Van Gogh
2) Michelangelo
3) Monet
Who cares that none of them are obscure?
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
mack has great taste. I was also going to say Ansel Adams.
But this thread reminded me of a funny story:
When my sister took my nephew to the National Gallery and he was acting bored (I think he was 7 or so) and he asked how she could be interested in it. Didn't they all just look like what they were or not? And my sister said the styles were interesting.
My nephew challenged her ability to identify the styles, so she pointed at a picture and whispered the artist's name to him, and he went over to check her answer. He came back and triumphantly informed her that it was Henri Tolouse Lautrec (sp?). She insisted that was what she said. He said "no you didn't, you said Ozli de budatek!"
Posted by MattB (Member # 1116) on :
Yeah, Annie - Ingres bores me, but David's got such a strong sense of drama that he completely dodges all the dull pitfalls of clean lines of clothing and perfect balance of figures. I'm a sucker for dramatic art. I also like Delacroix and Caravaggio. And Zuraban's monk portraits just blow me away.
Posted by Nato (Member # 1448) on :
I'm a Dali fan. One time somebody taped up a spoof of "Persistance of Memory" called "Persistance of Trombones" with all the 'bones bent over trees and such. It was funny in a very "band nerd" way.
I also like Monet, Van Gogh..
.. and today, somebody gave me a link to Kurt Wenner's Gallery. He does sidewalkart that's wild.
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
I wish I could even begin to pretend that I know who Zuruban is. I really admire people that DO know who he is though. Too bad we can't post images with this thread, I'd love to see some of the work of artists that I'm not familiar with.
I'm one of those 'lay'people that appreciates art when I know something about it's background. For this reason I really love Van Gogh...I've actually done some reading about his life and found it rather fascinating. Same thing with Michelangelo.
Aside, I also appreciate art that I enjoy looking at. Granted, there are at least 50 gazillion artists whose works I have never laid eyes on. My opinions aren't very representative of the entire spectrum, just my weenie experience. I really love Monet.
I also appreciate realistic painters (that real art scholars probably despise for reasons that I don't understand). I love it when a painter can convincingly capture the effects of light and reflections and a person's likeness. That's a baffling talent, and while the painting might not be thought-provoking, I enjoy it tremendously.
As far as thought-provoking art goes, I enjoy Dali (when the background and sybolism of the painting is explained to me of course).
There are also many other mediums, like sculpture...and I must say that I know diddly about most of it, so I'll just say Michelangelo again.
[ January 16, 2004, 02:02 AM: Message edited by: Narnia ]
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
The cool thing about "realistic" art, Narnia, is that it's still totally subjective. We can look at scenes like this and get an entirely different vision of reality than other painters present in something like this. They're both oil paintings - they're both meticulous re-creations of natural detail, but they're entirely different in what they're saying about the way we view the world.
So don't be ashamed in liking the "realistic" art - it's no less scholarly than the abstract and - truth be told - I have a hunch the next movement in art is going to reject much of the de-construction and abtraction of the 20th century.
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
^ What she said!! | | |
Posted by screechowl (Member # 2651) on :
I really like Andrew Wyeth. It is a gut thing. Can I say that??
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
Yes, gut things are fully acceptable forms of art criticism. There are plenty of well-paid art critics who speak out of parts of their anatomy much less savory than their guts.
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
Jackson Pollock, hands down. The only painting that made me cry was one of his. I like Rembrandt too, and Holbein. But Pollock is so moving... Unfortunately the only way to view his paintings with any justice is in person at the original.
Posted by screechowl (Member # 2651) on :
I just know what I like. Christina's World is my favorite.
Grant Wood is another of my favorite artists. I am a plebeian of the art world, maybe?
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
Not a plebeian, just a socialist Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
I really like Maxfield Parrish, too.
I also like Marc Chagall.
Posted by Sopwith (Member # 4640) on :
Sorry, that's quite a few. Hopper just has a great feel to his works (and Nighthawks is one of the most famous) while Dali's ability to touch the mind and soul is incredible.
Frederick Remington might be an odd choice for many, but I remember how that painting hung in the tack room of the small barn at my Granddad's. So much action, such a story caught in one brief glimpse of time.
Next up are two NC artists, one of which (Shoemaker) is a longtime family friend. Every year or two, I receive a re-marked artist proof from Steve in a frame my dad has made. The picture given, if you can look close enough features a small feather on one of the rocks below the bridge. If you look very close, you'll see there's ink on the end of the feather quill... that's the special re-mark he does for me incorporated into original painting. I've published the ghost story that goes with that bridge about a dozen times, so Steve wanted to put something in there for me.
Lastly is Essick, someone whose art I've loved since the first time I saw it. Essick's details and real life subjects just make me feel so at home.
Edit to Add: Doh! I forgot Ben Long who did a series of Old World Frescos in my home county. Here's a look at them, they are true treasures and draw visitors from around the world.
[ January 16, 2004, 03:01 PM: Message edited by: Sopwith ]
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
I like Whistler. Really I do.
But Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling is easily the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
Raphael has his moments too, of course.
Of the more modern stuff, I have always liked Picasso's blue period and Van Gogh. Seurat is pretty cool too.
Even more recent, I'll second the calls for Escher and Dali.
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
Michelangelo.
But, Annie, you should have mentioned the Limbourg brothers. Good stuff.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
I find them kind of cheesy.
Or...they stink!
(sorry, couldn't resist)
Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
M.C. Escher (although I don't know if he would be classified as a true "artist" or not )
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Escher NOT a true artist??? Why would you say that? Because he never painted Elvis on velvet?
Okay... I forgot to add Hieronymous Bosch.
Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
I've heard some people say, "Oh, but he was a draftsman", like he wasn't an artist.... Posted by Vána (Member # 3262) on :
I love this thread!! More art links, more art links!
I just spent a lot of time looking at Waterhouse works. I used to have a poster of The Shrine up in my dorm room. It didn't survive the move, though - neither did my Hokusai poster (The Great Wave of Kanagawa) or my lovely map of the ancient world poster.
I need more art in my life!
Posted by screechowl (Member # 2651) on :
quote:Not a plebeian, just a socialist
Then I had better not mention that some of Thomas Hart Benton's art interests me.
Mmmm. Maybe I am a socialist. I had a superintendent once who said I was a pinko liberal, but he smiled when he said it of course. Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
Art links? Ok!!
My personal favorite Dali is Les Elephants, though his Last Supper that Sopwith linked to is great.
And yes, Bob, Raphael does indeed have his moments, like this beautiful triadic composition in a triadic color scheme - Madonna del Prato.
My favorite Kandinsky works are his more geometric ones, like Squares with Concentric Circles and Einige Kreise (Several Circles). (Not just because it reminds me of the research I did last semester on geometric trends in abstraction among LDS artists, though that does make me smile whenever I look at Kandinsky now.)
And just for being one of the first to truly explore the psychological world during post impressionism, I've always liked Odilon Redon. His work ranges from mythological with The Cyclopsto philosophical with The Buddha to just plain weirdly whimsical with The Crying Spider.
Medieval art is great too. Here is the masterpiece of the Limbourg (not Limburger ) brothers, Les très riches heures du Duc de Berry, one of the earliest emergences of Renaissance art in France.
Sigh. I need to go back to France.
I think the coolest piece of art I've ever seen in person, though would have to be this - David's Coronation of Napoleon. It's life size, so it's every bit impressive as its romantic contemporaries like Delacroix's Death of Sardanapalus and Liberty Leading the People, but it's fascinating in its political ramifications. Also - David painted it twice, with the only difference being the color of the dress of one of the ladies. Crazy!
*wanders off to other wings of the museum*
[ January 16, 2004, 05:15 PM: Message edited by: Annie ]
Posted by aka (Member # 139) on :
Rene Magritte, because of the way he shows us at a gut level what is actually true but we fail to remember it, namely that the universe is a far far stranger and more wondrous place than we have any idea of.
I love M.C. Escher, too, because the mathematical ideas he depicted are quite beautiful. I don't know if his chops are that great, but I love the things he saw and showed to us. Relativity is just uber-cool in a science fictiony way.
Probably my favorite art of all, just as art, and in fact it's intended by its makers as something totally different than we think of art as being, but that is Australian Aboriginal art, from any number of painters. There is a pure and powerful spirit that just jumps off the page and shakes me to the core, when I look at some of it. I have scanned in a few examples and have them in jpgs on my computer, if someone wants to host them I will put them up to be lunk. Oh, but wait, those are on my computer at home. I will have to wait until I get back home to find them. I may go looking on the web tonight and see what all else is out there to show you what I mean, if anyone is interested.
I also love Van Gogh. A painting of an orchard in winter by him, that was in the Armand Hammer exhibit, was the most strikingly beautiful object I believe I have ever had within my gaze. I wanted it so badly. I wanted to knock the place over and keep that one for my private collection.
Does anyone else get this powerful feeling on seeing some art in person that you absolutely must own that thing no matter what it takes? I think I can understand why someone who has $10M would pay it for a painting.
My favorite underappreciated genre of art, at the moment, is outsider art. There's a book recently published by a collector and one of its main exponents, called Souls Grown Deep. I love lots of the stuff in there.
[ January 16, 2004, 07:13 PM: Message edited by: aka ]
Posted by Book (Member # 5500) on :
Yeah, I helped this girl I know write an essay about Magritte. Trouble was that when people talk about him they use very pretentious words. (Not accusing you of anything.)
My favorite artist? Well, he's a composer, not a visual artist. Anyone here ever heard of Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern- schplenden- schlitter- crasscrenbon- fried- digger- dingle- dangle- dongle- dungle- burstein- von- knacker- thrasher- apple- banger- horowitz- ticolensic- grander- knotty- spelltinkle- grandlich- grumblemeyer- spelterwasser- kurstlich- himbleeisen- bahnwagen- gutenabend- bitte- ein- nürnburger- bratwustle- gerspurten- mitz- weimache- luber- hundsfut- gumberaber- shönedanker- kalbsfleisch- mittler- aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm? I mean, really, if you want some really introspective music, look no further than Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern- schplenden- schlitter- crasscrenbon- fried- digger- dingle- dangle- dongle- dungle- burstein- von- knacker- thrasher- apple- banger- horowitz- ticolensic- grander- knotty- spelltinkle- grandlich- grumblemeyer- spelterwasser- kurstlich- himbleeisen- bahnwagen- gutenabend- bitte- ein- nürnburger- bratwustle- gerspurten- mitz- weimache- luber- hundsfut- gumberaber- shönedanker- kalbsfleisch- mittler- aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm.
Seriously, though, that one Van Gogh of Crows in a Cornfield is one of my favorites.
Posted by Toes (Member # 4603) on :
Norman Rockwell. Need I say more? Posted by aka (Member # 139) on :
ooh, Book, that one is so sad! He killed himself right after painting that one, as I'm sure you already know. Doesn't it make you want to cry to look at it?
Oh, I don't know enough about art to be able to spout pretentiously about it, but I do love Rene Magritte. It almost seems to me as though he is using art to do something entirely different than most people do with it (or mean by it (or something)). But then, that may be only because I seem to understand exactly what he is doing (in a bizarre freaked out sort of way (maybe what I mean is that I connect with what he is doing)) which I don't always seem to do for other artists.
I have strong strong opinions about art. I can just loathe something terribly or love it so much it makes me want to die. I have never studied art; I just have these very strong responses to it that make it matter a whole lot to me. I love to wander around art museums and will make long art pilgrimages to see most anything of interest.
Do people generally think you should see paintings in person, or are reproductions almost as good? I can't decide what I think about that question.
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
(aka, have you read Lust for Life? It was that book that got me started on my little bit of Van Gogh study. I think I was predestined to be your acolyte.)
More of my favorites:
The Painter's Honeymoon by Lord Fredrick Leighton. I adore this one. Just LOOK at the folds of her skirt!
[ January 17, 2004, 12:34 AM: Message edited by: Narnia ]
Posted by aka (Member # 139) on :
No, I haven't read it, but it sounds like I should. <grins> I love having you for an acolyte!
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
Oh you definitely should!!! It's by Irving Stone. Have you read the Agony and the Ecstasy about Michelangelo? Same author. Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
Rodin for sculpture, and currently Chagall for everything else. The windows in blue at the Chicago Art Institute are breathtaking.
And (for aka), my mother introduced me to Constantin Brancusi's Sleeping Muse.
[ January 17, 2004, 08:24 AM: Message edited by: ClaudiaTherese ]
Posted by eslaine (Member # 5433) on :
Thanks CT! I hadn't seen those windows. I know where I'm goin' if I ever get to Chicago!
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
That art museum is AMAZING Erik. You really do need to get your hiney over there. The weapon room and the miniatures are TONS of fun, but I love those windows and the retro furniture too. (And there's a Bennigan's right across the street, the Sear's Tower a straight ahead and on your way, you'll pass the Chicago Symphony Orchestra hall. TONS of fun places to go.)
Posted by Hot Nathan (Member # 6114) on :
My favorite artist is whoever is currently taking pictures of me looking hot.
Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
That's not art, that's photography.
Posted by Hot Nathan (Member # 6114) on :
Shows what you know. Photography is art. But more importantly, I'm art.
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
Puh-lease.
You won't be art in the brown jacket!!
(just kidding, I love the jacket!!)
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
Somebody's going to have to deflate his ego before it pops and gets all over the place.
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
*hands Annie a straight pin*
Ready?
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
on the count of three....
one...
two...
THREE!
Posted by aka (Member # 139) on :
<Wipes bits of Hot Nathan's exploded ego out of her eyes>
Posted by eslaine (Member # 5433) on :
Did I read that last post correctly? Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
(I didn't have the guts, eslaine.)
Posted by aka (Member # 139) on :
CT! You are incorrigible! eslaine! Is this the way a nice acolyte thinks of his adulatee? <mortified>
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
Oh, where's Papa Moose when you NEED him?
*high fives Annie* That was fun! Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Skip a thread cuz you thought you'd read most of it, and see what you miss? Eep!
Posted by eslaine (Member # 5433) on :
I'm sorry, I just wanted to know if it was what it looked like!
Posted by Hot Nathan (Member # 6114) on :
Oh, don't worry. I always keep a spare.
*replaces deflated ego*
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
I was in DC this weekend, ostensibly to see my cousin, who is in Iraq and has been there for ten months. He got two weeks leave and was to come to DC because his mother lives there. I and a mutual friend purchased dirt cheap tickets (nonrefundable, nonexchangable) three weeks ago, only to find that his leave was canceled one week ago. So, we end up in DC with our primary purpose stripped from us. I'm back there twice a year or so because half my family lives and works in the District, but Andrew (the mutual friend) has never been, so I take him on a tour of the city. Anyway, this all boils down to Sunday afternoon, when we are quietly touring the National Gallery, and stumble across this: http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/pinfo?Object=12214+0+none
And I stare at it for a moment and think "Holy Moses, I spelled Zurbaran's name wrong on Hatrack."
So, I apologize for the misspelling in my above post, and as per request, I offer Cecily the following fantastic Zurbaran monk paintings.
Zurbaran is great, I think, because of the sheer quiet and heavy stillness of his paintings. They're silent, but there's a terrific energy there.
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
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