Tag Archives: Visual Arts

Garth Williams: Born on April 16, 1912

Posted in Artists Born Today Include: by

LittleHouseWith the precision of Durer but with his own sense of innocence and wonderment, Mr. Williams created a world of storybook characters. Although the books were written by a diverse range of authors, the drawings all had Mr. Williams’s impeccable, heartwarming touch.Charlotte

Generations of children picture their favorite fictional characters as drawn by Mr. Williams: that dapper mouse Stuart Little; the kindhearted spider Charlotte and her friend, Wilbur the pig; and bears, dogs, kittens, crickets, elves, fairies, children and TallBook2grown-ups in books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, George Selden, Charlotte Zolotow, Else H. Minarik and many others. Mr. Williams also wrote the text for seven children’s books, but it is primarily as an illustrator that his work is cherished.therescuerspic

He believed that books “given, or read, to children can have a profound influence.” For that reason, he said, he used his illustrations to try to “awaken something of importance . . . humor, responsibility, respect for others, cricketpicinterest in the world at large.”
FROM http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/10/arts/garth-williams-book-illustrator-dies-at-84.html

Garth Williams’ Gorgeous Original Illustrations for ‘Charlotte’s Web’~ http://flavorwire.com/260278/garth-williams-gorgeous-original-illustrations-for-charlottes-web (Flavorwire)

The Art of Garth Williams~ http://librarianbooksforchildren.blogspot.com/2012/05/art-of-garth-williams.html (Great Books for Children)

BookList

Dorothy P. Lathrop: Born April 16, 1891

Posted in Artists Born Today Include: by

DPLwLamb

“Dorothy Pulis Lathrop was born April 16, 1891 in Albany, New York. One of the most influential and important illustrators of children’s books in the thirties and forties, she began her career in 1918. At that time she was a 27 year old teacher of art in Albany. Arguably her most famous works were the illustrations for Rachel Field’s, Hitty, Her First Hundred Years, the story of a doll. The book was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1930 and a new edition was in the stores for Christmas 1999. An image from the book is at the right. Lathrop was awarded the very first Caldecott Medal in 1938 for her book Animals of the Bible (1937).
”
FROM http://lathropgenealogy.blogspot.com/2005/03/dorothy-lathrop-biography.html

Read/download The Three Mulla-mulgars~ http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32620
Read/download Down-adown-derry~ https://archive.org/details/downadownderrybo00delauoft

Fairieswomen

The Resurrection in Art

Posted in Miscellanea by

Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday, two days after Good Friday, the day of his crucifixion. It is the central tenet of Christian theology. The Resurrection of Christ has been portrayed by artists for 2,000 years; I thought it would be appropriate at Easter to take an (obviously lightning fast) overview of how some painters have depicted it. (Click image to enlarge).

GreekAnonymous
The Resurrection
11th century
Mosaic
Monastery of Hosios Loukas, Greece

Psalter

Anonymous
Manuscript Leaf with the Resurrection, from a Psalter
13th century
Tempera, ink, gold, and silver on parchment
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

AlabasterAnonymous
Paneled altarpiece section with Resurrection of Christ
15th century
English Nottingham alabaster with remains of colour
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD

Andrea della Robbia (1435–1525)OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Resurrection
15th century
Enamelled Terracotta
Bode-Museum, Berlin, Germany

FrancescaPiero della Francesca (1420-1492)
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ
1463
Mural in fresco and tempera
Museo Civico, Sansepolcro, Italy

Raphael (1483-1520)Raphael
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ
1499-1502
Oil on panel
São Paulo Museum of Art, Brazil

RubensPeter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
The Resurrection of Christ
1611-1612
Oil on panel
Antwerp Cathedral, Belgium

Blake

William Blake (1757-1827)
Christ Appearing to His Disciples After the Resurrection
1795
Monotype hand-colored with watercolor and tempera
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

ManetÉdouard Manet (1832–1883)
The Dead Christ with Angels
1864
Oil on canvasMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833–1898)
The Morning of the Resurrection
1886
Oil paint on wood
Tate Gallery, London, UKThe Morning of the Resurrection 1886 by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt 1833-1898

Leonardo da Vinci: Born April 15, 1452

Posted in Artists Born Today Include: by

LastSupperThe Last Supper ~ 1494–1498 ~ Oil/tempera on dry plaster ~ Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan

The illegitimate son of a 25-year-old notary, Ser Piero, and a peasant girl, Caterina, Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452, in Vinci, Italy, just outside Florence…Growing up in his father’s Vinci home, Leonardo had access to scholarly texts owned by family and friends. He was also exposed to Vinci’s longstanding painting tradition, and when he was about 15 his father apprenticed him to the renowned workshop of Andrea del Verrochio in Florence. Even as an apprentice, Leonardo demonstrated his colossal talent.
>>>>>>   https://legacy.mos.org/leonardo/ (Museum of Science: Leonardo da Vinci, Renaissance Man)

“On Leonardo da Vinci’s Birthday MFA Boston Shows the Most Beautiful Drawing in the World”~ https://news.artnet.com/in-brief/leonardo-da-vinci-birthday-288061 (artnet news)

Slideshow~ http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/leon/hd_leon.htm#slideshow1 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History)

Leonardo Da Vinci timeline~ http://worldhistoryproject.org/topics/leonardo-da-vinci (World History Project)



The Story of Leonardo’s Horse~ https://www.davincisciencecenter.org/about/leonardo-and-the-horse/the-full-story-of-leonardos-horse/ (Da Vinci Science Center)



Ralph Steadman Illustrates the Life of Leonardo da Vinci~ http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/07/11/ralph-steadman-i-leonardo/ (Brain Pickings)

List of works by Leonardo da Vinci~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_works_by_Leonardo_da_Vinci (Wikipedia)

Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani (Lady with the Ermine), about 1488Lady with an Ermine
1489–1490
Oil on wood panel
Wawel Castle, Kraków

Mona LisaMonaLisa
1503–1506 (perhaps 1517)
Oil on wood panel
Musée du Louvre, Paris

Ginevra
Ginevra de’Benci
1474–1478
Oil on wood panel
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

St. John the Baptist
JohnTheBaptist
1513–1516

Oil on wood panel

Musée du Louvre, Paris

>> Click on images to enlarge <<<

Elizabeth Catlett (April 15, 1915-April 2, 2012)

Posted in #BlackHistoryMonth in Visual Arts by

CatlettPic

Sculptor and printmaker Elizabeth Catlett used her art to advocate for social change in both the U.S. and her adopted country of Mexico for almost three-quarters of a century. The granddaughter of former slaves, Catlett was raised in Washington, D.C. Her father died before she was born and her mother held several jobs to raise three children. Refused admission to Carnegie Institute of Technology because of her race, Catlett enrolled at Howard University, where her teachers included artist Catlett1Loïs Mailou Jones and philospher Alain Locke. She graduated with honors in 1935 and went on to earn the first the first M.F.A. in sculpture at the University of Iowa five years later.
Grant Wood, her painting teacher at Iowa, encouraged students to make art about what they knew best and to experiment with different mediums, inspiring Catlett to create lithographs, linoleum cuts, and sculpture in wood, stone, clay, and bronze. She drew subjects from African American and later Mexican life.
In 1946, a grant from the Rosenwald Foundation enabled Catlett to move to Mexico City with her husband, Catlett2printmaker Charles White. There she joined the Taller de Gráfica Popular, an influential and political group of printmakers. At the Taller, Catlett met the Mexican artist Francisco Mora, whom she married after divorcing White and with whom she had three sons.

https://nmwa.org/explore/artist-profiles/elizabeth-catlett

Biography: https://www.elizabethcatlettart.com/bio
NYT~”Elizabeth Catlett, Sculptor With Eye on Social Issues, Is Dead at 96″: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/04/arts/design/elizabeth-catlett-sculptor-with-eye-on-social-issues-dies-at-96.html

Edward Bruce: Born April 13, 1879

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Bruce1Edward Bruce was born in 1879 in Dover Plains, New York. Though he enjoyed painting at a young age, he pursued a career in law and graduated from Columbia Law School in 1904. He practiced law in New York and in Manila, Philippines and was actively involved in international issues.SH143
In 1923 Bruce gave up his career in law and business and began to paint, particularly landscapes. He and his wife Peggy spent the next six years in Anticoli Carrado, Italy where he studied painting from his friend and fellow artist Maurice Sterne. Bruce returned to the United States in 1929 and settled in California, exhibiting his artwork to much public and critical praise. In addition, Bruce was an avid collector of Chinese art.
In 1933 Bruce was appointed Chief of the newly established Public Works of Art Project, a federal government New Deal program within the U.S. Treasury Department, that employed artists to decorate numerous public buildings and parks…In 1940 he was appointed to the Commission of Fine Arts by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Bruce2Bruce received many honors and awards during his lifetime both for his work as an artist and for his capable and dedicated administration of federal arts programs. Despite poor health, he continued his work for the Section of Fine Arts until shortly before his death in 1943.
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/edward-bruce-papers-7264/more

On December 8, 1933, the Advisory Committee to the Treasury on Fine Arts met to decide the newdealartdetails of the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), the first of the New Deal art programs. The PWAP came at a crucial moment for federal support of the arts during the Great Depression. As artist Olin Dows (1904–1981) recalled, “If the first crash [i.e. Depression] art program had not been so carefully newdealarttoothought out and expertly organized, I doubt that other programs would have been undertaken. The man mainly responsible was Edward Bruce.” Bruce, an advisor to the Treasury Department, hosted the meeting at his home. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was present as were such arts leaders as Juliana Force and Forbes Watson, who worked with Bruce to organize the Public Works of Art Project.
https://www.incollect.com/articles/1934-a-new-deal-for-artists

History of the New Deal Art Projects~ http://wpamurals.org/history.html
The New Deal Art Registry~ http://www.newdealartregistry.org/Home.html

Louis-Ernest Barrias (April 13, 1841-February 4, 1905)

Posted in Artists Born Today Include: by

NatureThe figure first appeared in white marble at the Paris Salon of 1893 as ‘La Nature mystérieuse et voilée se découvre devant la Science’ and was acquired by the faculty at l’Ecole de Médecine in Bordeaux. Barrias returned to the theme a few years later exhibiting a related sculpture at the 1899 Salon, simply titled ‘La Nature se dévoilant’. Following in the spirit of pioneers of polychromy such as Charles-Henri-Joseph Cordier and Eugène Cornu this figure was carved using expensive and luxurious materials such as Algerian onyx for the drapery, lapis lazuli for the ribbon and malachite for the scarab. This figure is now in the collection of the Muse d’Orsay. A final version in white marble was made in 1902 and acquired by the École de Medicine in Paris.   https://lapada.org/

Nature Revealing Herself To Science~
http://www.sinaiandsons.com/catalogue/20th%20Century/Bronze/Barrias%20Figures.php
Biography~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis-Ernest_Barrias#Biography

Hardie Gramatky: Born on April 12, 1907

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Bernhard August “Hardie” Gramatky, Jr. (April 12, 1907-April 29, 1979) was an American painter, writer, animator, and illustrator. In a 2006 article in Watercolor Magazine, Andrew Wyeth named him as one of America’s 20 greatest watercolorists. He wrote and illustrated several children’s books, most notably Little Toot.
FROM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardie_Gramatky

ROOF

http://www.californiawatercolor.com/pages/hardie-gramatky-biography

https://www.mazzamuseum.org/project/miles-gallery/

https://www.lambiek.net/artists/g/gramatky_hardie.htm

Eadweard Muybridge: Born April 9, 1830

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Yosemite

Photographs of Yosemite~
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/yosemite_its_wonders_and_its_beauties/list_of_photographs.html
Biography~ http://www.iphf.org/hall-of-fame/eadweard-muybridge/
BBC Documentary~ https://youtu.be/5Awo-P3t4Ho

Before his death in 1903, Muybridge would emigrate to America, change his name three times, come close to death and suffer brain damage in a carriage accident. Perhaps most sensationally, he would also be acquitted for the murder of Major Harry Larkyns, his wife’s lover, and the true father of his presumed son Floredo Helios Muybridge.
In fact, Muybridge enjoyed a professional life which may even have surpassed his sensational personal biography. He gained fame through adventurous and progressive landscape photography before working as a war and official government photographer; something which took him from the Lava beds of California during the Modoc War to Alaska and Central America.
Furthermore, Muybridge was instrumental in the development of instantaneous photography. To accomplish his famous motion sequence photography, Muybridge even designed his own high speed electronic shutter and electro-timer, to be used alongside a battery of up to twenty-four cameras!
While Muybridge’s motion sequences helped revolutionise still photography, the resultant photographs also punctuated the history of the motion picture. Muybridge actually came tantalisingly close to producing cinema himself with his projection device the ‘Zoöpraxiscope’.
Research resource~ http://www.eadweardmuybridge.co.uk/