5 Churches Homework

[markbarendt]

So here's the assignment Per gave us.

What good is a workshop without homework?

So here is the first part:

Look up the work (on the Internet) of each of the following artists (be sure to take notes!!!):

Tintoretto
Michelangelo
Modigliani
Brancusi
Mondrian
Edward Weston
Georgia O'Keefe
Gene Kloss
Ralph Gibson
Ansel Adams
Nick Ut
Arnold Newman
Kandinsky
Robert Mapplethorpe
Minor White
Miro
Frederick Evans (platinum printer)

I'm interested in hearing the thoughts of the group on these artists, so I'll try and kick it off.

For me Tintoretto & Michelangelo seem too busy and at odds with modern social sensibility. Not a style that I'd put on my walls.

I like Modigliani and the license taken with proportion. When I went to Santa Fe a few weeks back I saw some work by Miguel Martinez from Taos, he also takes license with proportion, truly interesting.

Brancusi & Mondrian I'm not getting.

Edward Weston's study of shape is interesting, as is how he worked to get a photo. Actually have one of the Daybooks, not what I expected, I wanted to learn about photography, he wanted to talk about getting laid.

Georgia O'Keefe is cool, I actually knew an old priest that knew her, she was part of his parish. Saw some work of hers compared with the photos she took of the scenes she wanted to paint. Again proportion was manipulated for effect, taller hills and the like. 2D seems to profit from exaggeration. The other thing that I learned looking at her work was that simplification helps. Compared with her photos which were pretty straight B&W from a Lieca, her paintings had lots fewer details; not so many bushes and the like, cleaner is probably a good way to put it.

I've been playing with out-of-focus to try and mimic this to a point and making some progress but the details in her paintings are sharp so I'm thinking I may need to do a multiple exposure.

Gene Kloss I don't know about so much.

Ralph Gibson is interesting, details, framing/context, hands.

St. Ansel, well I may get flamed for this, I like a lot of his work, like the shapes of the Bristlecone Pines, but the Snake river with the Tetons in the background just screams to me "background for portrait/vacation snapshot". Everything is just too darn clear for my taste.

What struck me about Nick Ut when I Googled was that he is famous for one shot. It provides a good lesson in that if you are there at the right time with the camera in hand...

Arnold Newman is special, like his style a bunch. Portraits with context, great framing, great composition. I fell like I know, at least in part, who the people in his portraits are.

Kandinsky, is a mess, just my opinion.

Robert Mapplethorpe doesn't give me enough context.

I like Minor White's work more than Ansel's, it seems more social, more composed (shapes/graphics), and less postcardy, if that makes sense.

I think Miro and Kandinsky were using the same substances. Most of the stuff is a bit too far out for me.

I like Frederick Evans, based on the limited stuff I found, for similar reason to why I like Newman.

[mike c]

Tinturett,noticed the some of people in his Paintings where not total focused on one subject or Idea which is a more realistic approach,more like street photography,his nudes are thinner and more feminine than those of Michelangelo,although both seemed to me to use light and shade for depicting depth and shape,had a hard time figuring what the direction the light was really coming from .
Modigliani will get to him .

[SuzanneR]

I find Tintoretto's paintings absolutely thrilling to see. There was a large show mounted last year here in Boston of Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese, and I have to say his paintings are amazing... his use of space, how he renders the figure, his palette... oh my!! Love it.

Modlgliani stands alone as unique among painters, I also quite like his work, even if it doesn't employ the visual gymnastics of a Tintoretto. Still... he relates nicely to Brancusi and Weston. I see Brancusi and Weston as quite similar, interested in beautiful, simple form. Weston's picture of the torso of his son (Brett??) has this dark negative space along the edge of the frame that I've often thought resembles a Brancusi.

Oh, and Kandinsky, a mess?? That's my kind of mess.

As an enthusiastic student of the history of art, I think it's always good to look at the work of others... there are all sorts of interesting parallels and conversations to be found there. Even if you don't at first like the work, allow yourself to study it, try to understand why you don't like it before dismissing it too quickly.

[Jan Pietrzak]

Suzanne,

Close, nude torso was Neil, it was one of those titles that had no name with it. It was sort of a family story.

Jan Pietrzak

[mike c]

Suzanne and Jan and Mark,can I copy your post and put my name on them and hand it over to Per.Its part of our home work and I'm not that up to date on Painting,your comments are enlightening though and much appreciated.
Mike
hope Per do not read this.

[Sirius Glass]

Suzanne and Jan and Mark,can I copy your post and put my name on them and hand it over to Per.Its part of our home work and I'm not that up to date on Painting,your comments are enlightening though and much appreciated.
Mike
hope Per do not read this.

You can bet he has been following this all along. Don't look behind you now! :o

[markbarendt]

I knew I'd get somebody going, thanks for participating Suzanne.

[mike c]

You can bet he has been following this all along. Don't look behind you now! :o

Worth a try I guess.

[markbarendt]

Suzanne and Jan and Mark,can I copy your post and put my name on them and hand it over to Per.Its part of our home work and I'm not that up to date on Painting,your comments are enlightening though and much appreciated.
Mike
hope Per do not read this.

:rolleyes:

So, does anybody know what the going price is for doing somebody else's homework these days?

[mike c]

The price of subscription to Apug.