| ART “4”
“2”-day 01 November
v.6.91 |
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Died on 01 November 1546: Giulio
Pippi Romano di Pietro de 'Gianuzzi, Italian Mannerist
painter and architect. — He was born Giulio Pippi in Rome in 1499 and became the chief student of the Italian painter Raphael, whom he assisted in many of the latter's finest works. After the death of Raphael, Romano completed the frescoes Battle of Constantine and Apparition of the Cross in the Vatican Palace, Rome. He inherited a portion of Raphael's wealth, including his works of art, and succeeded him as head of the Roman school. About 1524, Giulio accepted the invitation of Federigo Gonzaga, ruler of Mantua and patron of the arts, to carry out a series of architectural and pictorial works. The drainage of the marshes surrounding the city and its system of protection from the inundations of the Po and Mincio rivers attest to Giulio's skill as an engineer; his genius as an architect found scope in the planning and construction of the Palazzo del Tè, the cathedral, the streets, and a ducal palace. Among his works of this period are the frescoes Psyche, Icarus, and Fall of the Titans, in the Tè palace. In Bologna, he designed the facade of the Church of San Petronio. Among the best of his works is Martyrdom of Saint Stephen — Giulio Romano's studio assistants included Francesco Primaticcio. His students included Francesco Bacchiacca, Niccolo dell'Abbate, and Brusasorci. — LINKS — The Borgo Fire (1514 semicircular fresco, radius 228cm; 526x800pix, 136kb _ ZOOM to 1035x1576pix, 255kb) — Dance of Apollo with the Muses (1514, 228cm; 526x800pix, 136kb _ ZOOM to 1458x3200pix, 580kb) The names of the muses (in Greek characters) are written on a scroll at the bottom: Kalliopê, Kleô, Eratô, Melpomenê, Te[rps]ixorê, Polumnia, Euterpei, Thaleia, Ouraniaa. They represent, respectively: epic poetry, history, lyric poetry, tragedy, dance, sacred poetry, music, comedy, astronomy. Their names mean, respectively: Beautiful Voice, Proclaimer, Lovely, Songstress, Whirling Dancer, Many Hymns, Well Pleasing, Blooming, Heavenly. _ Compare: _ by van Heemskerck: Apollo and the Muses (1560) _ by Poussin: Apollo and the Muses (1635) _ by Lorrain [1602-1682]: Apollo and the Muses on Mount Helion (1680, 98x135cm) _ by Holbein: Apollo and the Muses on Parnassus (1533 drawing) _ by Moreau: A#>Apollo and the Nine Muses (1856) _ by Vouet: Parnassus or Apollo and the Muses (1640)  —
Saint
John the Baptist in the Wilderness (178x154cm; 625x543pix, 104 kb _
ZOOM
to 1250x1086pix, 153kb _ ZOOM+
to 2500x2171pix, 1444kb) _ detail
(700x1000pix, 72kb _ ZOOM
to 1342x1810pix, 91kb) _ Since 1767 this painting has been attributed to
Giulio Romano; it is a replica of another Saint
John the Baptist in the Desert (1520, 165x147cm; 942x816pix, 94kb)
which was designed by Raphael but done by an assistant, quite possibly Giulio
Romano. The young Saint John the Baptist sits on a stony outcrop of a grotto-like
rock formation that forms a dark background for his brilliantly lit figure.
A leopard skin is slung round his body, concealing not much more than would
a fig leaf. He is pointing with his raised right hand to a wooden cross
from which seems to hang something like a frayed cloth blown by the wind,
but it is intended to represent the “light that shines in the darkness”
(John 1:5). The spring rising close by may be a symbol both of baptism and
of the purity of faith. The bare, athletic body, and the heroic pose give
to the saint the appearance of a worldly hero. The brown rocky background
and the modeling of the figure show the strong influence of Leonardo da
Vinci. The quality of the light is not typical of Leonardo, though; it does
not surround the figure softly but models it sharply. — Virgin with the Child (812x608pix, 58kb) _ Giulio Romano was the chief student of Raphael, whom he assisted in many of the latter's finest works. He inherited a portion of Raphael's wealth, including his works of art, and succeeded him as head of the Roman school. This painting clearly illustrates the influence of Raphael on the style of Giulio. — Madonna and Child (1523, 37x30cm; 1013x854pix, 94kb) _ This painting, designed to be used in private devotion, shows a foreshortening of the interior similar to that employed in Giulio's Madonna of the Cat, a work that is directly connected to the composition of the Madonna of the Pearl. In both the Madonna of the Cat and in this small panel, the artist decided to set the scene with a domestic background instead of the more usual open landscape. This lends a tender family atmosphere that enhances the already intimate scale of this painting. The idealized female figure, comparable to similar figures in numerous other works of Giulio Romano, is related to the ideal model of Raphael. Her specific features have been identified as those of Raphael's own lover, known to us from his paintings of the veiled Lady and the Fornarina. — The Wedding of Psyche detail (1528, fresco). |
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Nacido el 01 Noviembre 1882: Lorenzo
Viani, Italian painter, printmaker, and writer, who died
on 02 November 1936. — Relative? of sculptor Alberto
Viani [1906-1989]? — He was born and grew up in Viareggio surrounded by poverty and misery and as a young man he became a member of the local anarchist group. After a brief attendance at the Scuole d’Arte in Lucca and Florence he began to paint systematically under the guidance of Plinio Nomellini; during that time he got to know the work of the sculptor Constantin Meunier, of the painter Eugène Laermans and of other artists involved in exposing social problems. At the Venice Biennale of 1907 he exhibited some drawings that combined elements from the analytical work of Giovanni Fattori and the distortions of satire and caricature. Viani strengthened his relationship with international anarcho-socialism, immersed himself in populist literature and studied revolutionary political essays. At the beginning of 1908 Viani went to Paris, where he met other political and humanitarian activists. In the run-down studio complex La Ruche, to which he returned in the winter of 1908–1909 and again towards the end of 1911, he experienced extreme poverty and degradation {even though he was busy as a bee?}. In the art galleries in Paris, however, he discovered the formal freedom of works by the Fauvists and the Expressionists, which he then assimilated into a personal style that found expression in Lady with Chrysanthemum (1911) and in the series of drawings To the Glory of War! — Lorenzo Viani spent his childhood at the Royal Villa in Viareggio, where his father was employed by Don Carlos of Bourbon. The Viani’s economic situation was comfortable as long as the father continued to work for Don Carlos. Lorenzo attended only the first three grades of elementary school. The boy was not easily biddable and yet introspective. He preferred spending his time walking on the beach or in the woods. When his father lost his job, the family fell upon hard times. Young Lorenzo was familiar with poverty since his peregrinations through the most destitute neighborhoods of Viareggio had left a deep impression upon his spirit. In 1893 he was put to work as a helper in Fortunato Primo Puccini’s barbershop , where he remained for several years. Working for Puccini’s shop brought Lorenzo into daily contact with people from all walks of life and these encounters were a sort of “education in human anatomy”. He wrote: “Before drawing these unkempt faces, I had to handle them with my hands”. As a result, Lorenzo’s training was totally personal and independent from any traditional schooling. After he met Plinio Nomellini in Puccini’s barbershop, the painter encouraged him to enroll at the Institute of Fine Arts in Lucca. Viani attended classes there for about three years, from 1900 to 1903; at the Institute he met Moses Levy. During his years in Lucca, Lorenzo became involved in politics, and together with other anarchists he was arrested and imprisoned. In 1904 he was accepted at the Free School for Drawing Nudes at the Academy of Fine Arts; he also started to go to Giovanni Fattori’s studio, having met him in 1901, thanks to Nomellini’s introduction. His months spent in Florence were very stimulating for Viani, especially because of the many acquaintances he made. After returning to Viareggio, he took up residence in Torre del Lago and became a member of the “Bohème Club.” In 1907 he spent a few months in Genoa and exhibited a handful of drawings at the Venice Biennial. He also traveled to Paris, where he spent a little over a year (January 1908-spring 1909). His long-coveted Parisian visit turned out to be filled with economic difficulties and loneliness, and yet it also proved to be very rewarding because of the experiences he had and the acquaintances he made. Between 1911 and 1915 Viani was busy working and traveling to his solo shows in many Italian cities. He served in World War I from 1916 to 1919, years in which, despite his lack of free time, he managed to draw, paint and illustrate incessantly. On 02 March 1919, he married Giulia Giorgietti and moved to Montecatini, where his wife was an elementary school teacher. His tender portraits of children busy studying and writing belong to this period. After two years, the couple returned to Viareggio. From 1920 to 1922 Viani regularly exhibited his work in Bologna, Lucca and Rome, started writing again and also worked on the Viareggio War Memorial, which was unveiled in July 1927. In 1924 Viani moved to Fossa dell’Abate (today’s Lido di Camaiore) where his son Franco was born the following year, after which Lorenzo left again for Paris. In 1928 he suffered the first of many asthma attacks that would plague him with varying degrees of severity for the rest of his life. This was a happy time for Viani in terms of his career: he was well known all over Italy and his exhibits became a magnet for learned and international art lovers. In 1933 he spent a long period of time in the psychiatric hospital of Nozano, near Lucca, after a serious bout of asthma. Throughout these dark months of pain and suffering Viani continued his work, producing an abundance of drawings: the mental patients attracted him just as the poor people of Viareggio had. They were marginalized human beings who lived in a state of total unconsciousness, without any possibility of appeal: their mental illness made them forgotten and defenseless, and thus worthy of special attention. In 1936 he was commissioned to do a series of paintings for Ostia College. After many days of incessant work he was unable to attend the inauguration and died from a severe attack of asthma. His most important pictures are La consuetudine (1909), Gli zingari (1912), Mimi Concetta (Madame Fleury) (1909), La signora del Crisantemo (1911), La moglie del marinaio (1915), Peritucco (1914), Il violinista (1916), La morte (1918), La ritirata di Caporetto (1918), Il filosofo (1920), Persa la vistaaaa, persa la vitaaaa (1922), La vergine pazza (1930), La Duchessa (1934), Deposizione (1936), Ai confini della mente, L' ossesso, Il dittatore, Il folle, Vecchio marinaio, Viareggio in maschera. — Nacido en Viareggio. Hacia finales del siglo comparte las ideas políticas anarquistas y vive en la más absoluta miseria. En 1900, se inscribe en el Instituto de Arte Passaglia de Luca; en 1904 estudia en la Escuela Libre de la Academia de Bellas Artes de Florencia, donde estudia bajo la dirección de Fattori. En estos años lee mucho y admira la obra de los artistas del quattrocento italiano. En 1907, expone algunos dibujos en la Bienal de Venecia, donde descubre la obra de Laermans y de Boccioni; en ese mismo año participa con dibujos satíricos en la revista anticlerical La Fionda. En 1908, viaja a París donde tiene la oportunidad de ver una retrospectiva de Van Gogh y en 1909, participa con algunas obras en el Salón de Otoño; hacia 1911, se relaciona intensamente con los círculos intelectuales anarquistas de París y pinta cartones con el tema de la guerra. Su primera gran exposición es en 1915 en el Palazzo delle Aste de Milán, donde muestra seiscientas veinticuatro obras, y obtiene un importante éxito. En 1927, inicia sus colaboraciones con el periódico Corriere Della Sera y dirige la revista Riviera Versiliese; realiza el Monumento a los Caídos de Viareggio, que suscita una gran polémica. A principios de los años treinta participa en las veladas futuristas y publica poemas. En 1936, recibe el encargo de pintar los frescos del Colegio IV de Noviembre en el Lido de Roma; muere ese mismo año víctima del asma. — Self-Portrait (367x371pix, 43kb) — La befana della bimba povera (1922; 501x340pix, 12kb) — Il pescatore (458x326pix, 31kb) |
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Died on 01 November 1629: Hendrick
Ter Brugghen (or Terbrugghen), Dutch painter, born in 1588.
— Terbrugghen was one of the earliest and finest exponents of Caravaggism in northern Europe. Born into a Catholic family, he grew up in Utrecht, studied there with Bloemaert, then spent about a decade in Rome (1604-1614). On his return to the Netherlands he became with Honthorst the leader of Caravaggism associated with the Utrecht school. A second journey to Italy (1620) has been postulated, as his later works are generally more thoroughly Caravaggesque than his earlier ones. Terbrugghen was chiefly a religious painter, but he also produced some remarkable genre works, notably a pair of Flute Players (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Kassel, 1621), which in their subtle tonality - with dark figures placed against a light background - anticipated by a generation the achievement of painters of the Delft school such as Fabritius and Vermeer. Although he was praised by Rubens, who visited Utrecht in 1627, Terbrugghen was neglected by 18th- and 19th-century collectors and historians. The rediscovery of his sensitive and poetic paintings has been part of the reappraisal of Caravaggesque art during the 20th century. — LINKS — Democritus (1628) — Doubting Thomas (1623) — Heraclitus (1628) — The Adoration by the Magi (1619) — The Annunciation to the Virgin — The Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John — Bagpipe Player (1624, 101x83cm) _ Hendrick ter Brugghen was a highly original painter. He was probably born in Utrecht, where he was a student of the Mannerist history painter, Abraham Bloemaert. Having learnt the basic skills of his craft in Bloemaert's workshop, he set off for an extended stay in Italy, a practice which was quite usual among Dutch artists - and especially those from the Catholic city of Utrecht - in the early seventeenth century. Ter Brugghen seems to have been based in Rome. It was a time of hectic activity and experiment: the young painter from Utrecht studied the work of the Carracci, Domenichino and Guido Reni, but the artist who was to have the most profound effect on him was Caravaggio, who fled from Rome after killing a man in 1606 and died four years later at Porto Ercole. Caravaggio's powerful, even shocking, naturalism and his dramatic use of bold highlights and deep shadows particularly excited the young ter Brugghen. After Caravaggio's death; his revolutionary style was adopted and developed in the direction of more decorative effects by a group of Italian followers, among them Orazio Gentileschi and Bartolomeo Manfredi. Ter Brugghen was arguably the leading member of a group of young Utrecht artists who were profoundly influenced by the work of Caravaggio and his Italian followers: they have been collectively christened the Dutch Caravaggisti. Gerrit van Honthorst and Dirk van Baburen followed the same route as ter Brugghen and had the same transforming experience. Together they fashioned a new type of history painting which was to change the course of large-scale narrative painting in the north and, in particular, affect Rembrandt's treatment of biblical subjects. Ter Brugghen was the first of the Dutch Garavaggisti to return home and bring the gospel of Caravaggism to the Netherlands: he was back in Utrecht by 1615. He died young, in 1629, but in the years after his return from Italy he developed a striking and original manner of painting and range of subject-matter. Following the example of Gentileschi and Manfredi, he painted half-length figures of drinkers and musicians, of which the Bagpipe Player is an outstanding example. He also painted more ambitious multifigured secular subjects, such as The Concert (London, National Gallery) of about 1626, based on Italian Caravaggesque prototypes. In The Concert he brings to an existing format of half-length figures gathered together around a flickering candle, a striking fluency in modelling the soft edges of his forms and a remarkable subtlety of palette - which includes light blues, lemon, purple and cerise. |
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Lighting a Pipe (1623, 68x55cm) _ A pleasant-looking young soldier from
the military barracks, sword on arm, is lighting his pipe from a candle
which he has lifted out of the sconce in front of him. Two bright spheres
of light are thrown over his face and shirt. The subject chosen by the artist
is so simple, and at first sight so unambitious, that a contemporary viewer
accustomed to formulas may well have sought for some abstruse meaning hidden
beneath the apparent slightness of the theme. But the work demands no interpretation,
only an appreciation of the episode depicted, and this simplicity is of
pioneer significance in the development of genre painting. We learn from
this picture that in Dutch genre it was not only everyday objects that came
to be acceptable as subjects for paintings but also the unconscious and
instinctive actions of men and women. Terbrugghen was a Dutch follower of
Caravaggio and this is manifested by this painting, too. — A Laughing Bravo with a Bass Viol and a Glass (1625, 105x85cm) _ The artist worked mainly in Utrecht, but spent about ten years in Rome from about 1604-1614 where, like several other Dutch painters, he became versed in the style and subject matter of Caravaggio and his followers. Ter Brugghen was, in fact, the first of the Dutch artists to return to the north where, together with Baburen and Honthorst, he helped to establish the tenebrist style. Although no doubt based on one of the itinerant musicians who travelled in the Netherlands at the beginning of the seventeenth century, the subject is most probably an allegory of the senses of Hearing (the bass viol) and Taste (the glass). It is also possible that the artist is illustrating the theme of vanitas whereby the brevity of song is equated with a short life-span. A number of paintings in ter Brugghen's oeuvre explore such subjects, but only one other (known through a copy) includes a bass viol. On the other hand, the model, the vividly colored costume and the cap are standard studio properties used by the artist during the 1620s. Benedict Nicolson noted the forced smile of the sitter, comparing it to 'that thrown by the politician to his constituents' in 'a joyless wish to please'. The breadth of the handling of the paint contrasts with the drawing which is most fastidious. An important element, however, is the treatment of the light, which in its emotive power is decidedly Caravaggesque, but in its descriptive qualities anticipates later seventeenth-century Dutch painting. The painting is signed upper left: HTBrugghen fecit 1625 [HTB in monogram]. Purchased by Charles I and sold after his execution, the picture was in the possession of Sir Peter Lely at the time of the Restoration and was returned to the Royal Collection. It was cleaned in 1989. — The Concert (1626, 102x83cm) _ This is one of the rare paintings of artist in which the scene is lit by artificial light. The painting is signed and dated on the sheet music. — Duet (1628, 101x81cm) _ Engravings portraying young men playing lutes in the company of young women were created with various texts during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. As part of a series depicting the five senses, such couples may have referred to Hearing; they may also have symbolized sanguine temperament, or, in some cases, "earth" from among the four elements, or the age of twenty. In each case, however, the common factors are youth, earthiness and full-bloodedness; these have been depicted since the Middle Ages, and all had to do with love: "Learn to play the lute and the spinet, The strings can caress the heart!" advised the poet Jacob Westerbaen (Gedichte II, The Hague, 1672). The lute often appeared on the cover illustration of hymnbooks as an erotic symbol, or as the attribute of Voluptas or Luxuria. It is thus very likely that the ornamental, double-stringed lute with its large rosette appears in ter Brugghen's painting to express a similar idea. In the painting of this Caravaggist artist from Utrecht the singing youths are characterized by exuberant gaiety, fully matured bodies and bright colors. The unusually colorful clothes, however, do not seem to be in accord with the fashions of the contemporary Dutch bourgeoisie. They resemble the dress of Burgundian actors from the previous century; thus they emphasize the "Bohemian" character of the two figures. The feathered beret, which was commonly used to indicate sensuality, bears special attention. The low-cut dress of the young woman is also a hint: an Amsterdam iconographic text from the sixteenth century prescribes a similar dress to express indecency. This must have been intended as a moralizing element in this otherwise rather tempting, happy scene, as these frivolous-looking paintings were always created with the aim of teaching a moral lesson. — Boy Playing Flute (1621) — The Flute Player (1621, 72x56cm) _ Terbrugghen's two half-length pictures of flute players at Kassel are outstanding examples of the breadth, force and beauty of his pictorial manner. They are also among earliest life-size, half-length Dutch paintings of musicians, a motif that quickly became a staple of Utrecht painters and soon entered the repertoire of other Dutch artists. Terbrugghen made more intricate pictures than the Kassel companion pieces, but he never surpassed their poetic Arcadian mood and delicacy. The effect o f the dark-shadowed flute player before a bright wall in the background is an anticipation of an essential pictorial theme of the Delft School. — Jacob Reproaching Laban (1628, 124x 158cm) _ The painting depicts the scene when Jacob accuses Laban of giving him to wife Leah instead of Rachel. — The Calling of St Matthew (1621, 102x137cm) _ Terbrugghen was the most important member of the Dutch Utrecht school. He spent ten years in Italy as a young man and he probably met there Caravaggio who exerted a great influence on him. His extant works were executed in Utrecht after returning from Italy. Sometimes he repeated the subjects of Caravaggio, like in the Calling of St. Matthew. The relation to Caravaggio is unmistakable but it is not a slavish imitation. The life-size figures are half-length instead of full-length, and the large empty space in Caravaggio's version at S. Luigi, where the drama of Christ calling the tax-collector to his vocation echoes in the shadows above the figures, has been eliminated. The composition has also been reversed; Christ and his follower appear to the left as dark figures in the foreground. The main accent is on the brightly illuminated group on the right. Terbrugghen's original talent and old Netherlandish realism successfully merge here with Caravaggesque motifs and elements. The mercenary soldier pointing to the money on the table shows a profile which marks him as a descendant of types popularized by early sixteenth century Flemish artists, and the six gesticulating hands in the centre are also a survival of an older tradition. Terbrugghen's debt to Caravaggio is seen most clearly in the manner of illumination. The light enters in a broad beam, and as usual in Terbrugghen's work, from the left. However, the quality of the light is original; it is lighter, richer, and more atmospheric than Caravaggio's, which seldom has the brightness or softness of real daylight. — The Calling of Saint Matthew (1616, 106x128cm) _ This is an early version of the subject painted by the artist. — Saint Sebastian Tended by Irene and her Maid (1625) _ Terbrugghen's ability to combine exquisite painterly effects with restrained emotion accounts for the power of his masterpiece, St Sebastian Tended by Irene and her Maid. The women tenderly and efficiently go about their business of trying to save the life of the saint, who has been pierced with arrows and left for dead. The large, full forms of the group have been knit together into a magnificent design, and what could have been hard and sculptural is remarkably softened by the cool silvery light which plays over Sebastian's half-dead. olive-grey body as well as the reds, creamy whites, and plum colors worn by the women who tend the saint. |
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Born on 01 November 1889: Hannah Höch,
German Dadaist
painter who died on 31 May 1978. — Hannah Höch was born in Gotha. In 1912 she began her studies at the School of Arts and Crafts in Berlin-Charlottenburg, where she attended Harold Bengen's class in glass design. In 1915 she enrolled in painting classes at the State Museum for Arts and Crafts and in the same year she met Raoul Hausmann, with whom she formed a close relationship. Both were central figures of the Dada group in Berlin and developed the principle of photomontage. In 1919 she was represented in the First International Dada Fair in Berlin and in 1921 participated in an Anti-Dada-Merz Tour, which took her to Prague with Hausmann and Helma and Kurt Schwitters. After parting with Hausman she worked with Hans Arp and Kurt Schwitters, contributing to the latter's Merz-Bau in 1922. From 1926 to 1929 she lived with the Dutch author til Brugman in The Hague, where she had close connections with the De Stijl movement. She held her first solo exhibition at Galerie de Bron, The Hague, in 1929 and in the same year returned to Berlin where she took part in the Werkbund exhibition 'Film und foto' in Stuttgart. A solo exhibition of photomontages and watercolors, planned to take place at the Bauhaus in Dessau in 1932, was cancelled when the Bauhaus was closed down. She survived the Nazi period living in seclusion in a northern suburb of Berlin. A retrospective of her work was held at the Nationalgalerie, Berlin, and at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville, Paris, in 1976. Höch died in Berlin. — LINKS –- Greeting Card (751x1028pix, 96kb) _ This abstraction is strictly black-and-white, but if you want to see an example of the power of negative imaging, you can also see it in white-and-black, as _ Negative of Greeting Card (751x1028pix, 95kb). This has been provided by the pseudonymous Henna Nieder, who was not satisfied with just this simple reversal, but went much beyond that by introducing the colors of the rainbow, additional shapes, fine details and texture, and near-symmetry (for those who like visual puzzles to discover the differences between the two sides), producing not not just one picture, but two related series (you can click from any of the pictures to any other of the same series, and instantly from one series to the other at the same level), each consisting of 10 brilliant abstractions with a screen filling background to look at while downloading (the picture on any level is different from the previous one, which it does not enlarge, but it is an enlargement of two larger symmetrical areas of the level 9 picture) (for levels 8 and 9, whose size is required to appreciate the fine details but exceeds most computer screens, there is an alternate image reduced to 1120x1584pix): _ Grieving Cart, level 0 (2006; 1120x1584pix, 521kb _ level 1, 1120x1584pix, 480kb _ level 2, 1120x1584pix, 458kb _ level 3, 1120x1584pix, 538kb _ level 4, 1120x1584pix, 685kb _ level 5, 1120x1584pix, 746kb _ level 6 to 1120x1584pix, 761kb _ level 7, 1120x1584pix, 707kb _ level 8, 1584x2240pix, 1410kb _ level 9, 2240x3168pix, 3822kb ||| _ level 8, 1120x1584pix, 684kb _ level 9, 1120x1584pix, 806kb) and _ Cart Grieving, level 0 (2006; 1120x1584pix, 521kb _ level 1, 1120x1584pix, 480kb _ level 2, 1120x1584pix, 458kb _ level 3, 1120x1584pix, 538kb _ level 4, 1120x1584pix, 685kb _ level 5, 1120x1584pix, 746kb _ level 6 to 1120x1584pix, 761kb _ level 7, 1120x1584pix, 707kb _ level 8, 1584x2240pix, 1410kb _ level 9, 2240x3168pix, 3822kb ||| _ level 8, 1120x1584pix, 684kb _ level 9, 1120x1584pix, 806kb) — Imaginäre Brücke (1926, 65x72cm; 548x600pix, 106kb) _ In exhibitions held since the 1960s this painting has usually appeared with the simple descriptive title Zwei Köpfe. However, the painting was originally titled Imaginaire Brücke when it was first exhibited at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung, Berlin, in 1926, and in Hoch's first solo exhibition at Galerie de Bron, The Hague, in 1929. The original title seems far more appropriate to the personal imagery of the painting. The two heads in Imaginary Bridge have the appearance of anonymous wooden mannequins. There are certain peculiarities about these heads, however, such as the brow of the male head folding over the long, straight nose, and the bobbed haircut of the female head, which invite us to identify them as caricatures of the artist herself and Raoul Hausmann [1886-1971], with whom she had a stormy personal relationship from 1915 until 1922-23. Hausmann made the mannequin head a central image of his own work. In his sculpture The spirit of our times (1919) Hausmann attached various gadgets to a real wooden mannequin head to express the robotic existence he perceived in contemporary city-dwellers. In his drawing Portrait of Felixmüller (1920), he drew the head of the artist as if reduced to mannequin impersonality, sitting on a square base exactly like those seen in Imaginary bridge. For Hausmann the mannequin head was a vehicle for satire. In Imaginary bridge Höch seems to have taken over Hausmann's satirical image and turned it back on its author, perhaps to describe an uneasy personal confrontation. According to the artist's niece, Eva-Maria Rossner: The meaning of the painting clearly points to Hannah Höch's unfulfilled wish to have a child by Raoul Hausmann [a wish apparently thwarted by the fact that Hausmann was already married]. On Hausmann's neck in the painting we see the image of a naked woman who stands screaming at a man who moves hastily away. This refers to Hausmann's wife who is openly outraged that he is fleeing from her to go to Hannah Höch. The question mark [also painted on Hausmann's head] presumably points to the fact that Hausmann does not know what to do. Between the heads is seen the longed for child across the imaginary bridge; the sun's rays emanating from Hausmann penetrate deeply into Höch's head. From the head of Hannah Höch, fir trees emerge, a symbol of her birthplace, the Thüringer Wald. — Schnitt mit dem Küchenmesser Dada durch die letzte Weimarer Bierbauch-Kulturepoche Deutschlands (1919; 600x473pix, 145kb) — Die Treppe (1926, 580x774pix, 186kb) — Die Mücke ist tot (1922; 580x492pix, 116kb) — Fotomontage aus der Sammlung: “Aus einem ethnographischen Museum” (1929; 600x400pix, 84kb) |
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Buried on 01 November 1670: Salomon van Ruysdael
(or Ruisdael), Dutch Baroque landscape painter, born in 1600. — Born Salomon de Gooyer (Goyer) in Naarden in Gooiland, the artist was received into the Haarlem guild in 1623 under that name. Subsequently, however, he took the name Ruysdael (sometimes signed "Ruyesdael"), derived from Castle Ruisdael (Ruisschendaal), a landmark near his father's hometown. In 1628, two years after his first extant dated painting, Salomon is already noted as an accomplished landscapist in the writings of the Haarlem chrocicler Samuel van Ampzig. Salomon would spend his entire artistic career in Haarlem, the site of many early innovations in the development of Dutch naturalistic landscape painting. Of particular importance to his early style was the work of Esaias van de Velde, who had worked in Haarlem from 1609 to 1618. Van de Velde's unaffected views of typically Dutch terrain formed the basis of the work of Ruysdael, Jan van Goyen (who had been a student of Van de Velde), and Pieter de Molijn (whose own influence is discernible in Salomon's work). Together these three younger artists were the principal exponents of Dutch tonal landscape painting. Not until the 1640s did the monochromatic color scheme characteristic of this phase give way to a more colorful and compositionally classical period, from which date Ruysdael's best works. Settling on river scenery as his primary subject, Salomon varied his compositions with great skill, focusing on the effects of light and atmosphere which change and qualify the natural components of his paintings: land, water, and foliage, all placed beneath a cloud-filled sky. Salomon van Ruysdael, a Mennonite, died in 1670 and was buried in Saint Bavo's Church in his adopted Haarlem. Salomon was the uncle of the more famous Jacob van Ruisdael and the father of Jacob Salomonsz. van Ruysdael, who was also a landscape artist. — He was originally surnamed de Goyer, as was his brother Isaak, also a painter and the father of the better known landscapist Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael [1628-1692]. Salomon entered the Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke in 1628. His first dated pictures are from 1627. He spent his whole life in Haarlem, where he was head of the guild in 1648. Van Ruysdael's early works - winter scenes - continue the tradition of Esaias van de Velde, and his early landscapes are based on the color schemes and compositions of Pieter Molyn; it has been suggested that he may have studied with either or both painters. At least by 1628 he is mentioned as a landscape painter of Haarlem. Unlike certain other landscape painters of the period, his nephew among them, van Ruysdael generally painted actual landscapes of such places as Arnhem, Dordrecht, and Utrecht, sometimes combining motifs from different places in one picture. His early river landscapes of the 1630s, which are characterized by diagonal compositions of the dunes, are similar in composition and use of color to the celebrated river scenes of his contemporary Jan van Goyen. Experts agree that van Ruysdael's most powerful work was done after 1645. His command of the landscape elements - great trees anchoring one side of the composition, distant views that draw the eye, and a vast expanse of sky and clouds - seems more assured, and his use of color for effect more brilliant. From that point van Ruysdael became increasingly interested in light effects and decorative elements in his compositions. Critics have speculated that his change of style was in part owing to the influence of several Dutch painters (such as Jan Both) who were returning to Holland from study in Italy. Many of van Ruysdael's later works are monumental in format and design, and they exhibit a masterly rendering of atmospheric effects. Though his landscapes are most characteristic of his work, between 1659 and 1662 van Ruysdael also painted a number of excellent still-lifes of game. His son Jacob Salomonszoon [1635-1681] was also a landscape artist. — LINKS –- Riverscape with a Ferry (1656, 105x135cm; main detail 889x1186pix, 95kb— .EXPAND to full picture 1568x2000pix, 281kb) — a different Riverscape with Ferry (1649) It was in the 1630s that Ruysdael, like van Goyen, discovered the picturesque beauty of river scenes, and he rivals van Goyen in his fine tonal treatment, subduing the local colors and making us feel the moist atmosphere of Holland in nearly monochromatic harmonies. — River View near Deventer (1645) — Tavern with May tree (1664, 80x111cm) _ detail — Halt at an Inn (1649, 91x136cm) _ detail — Tower at the Road (66x81cm) — River Scene With Ferry (1649, 99x133cm) — River Scene (1632, 34x51cm) — a different River Scene (1660) — View of Deventer seen from the northwest (1657, 52x76 cm) — A Ferry Boat near Arnheim (1651, 89x116cm) — River Scene with Farmstead (1647, 70x92cm; 772x1031pix) — The Crossing at Nijmegen (1647, 70x89 cm) — View of Egmond aan Zee (1640) — After the Rain (1631) — Seascape — Landscape detail (1646, 62x89cm) — Still Life with a Turkey (1661, 112x85cm) —(061031) |
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1512 The
Sixtine Chapel ceiling fresco by Michelangelo is exhibited for the first time. It is a masterpiece covering 540 square meters. Michelangelo had painted the ceiling from 1508 to 1512. It had been commissioned in 1508 by Pope Julius II to depict the whole story of the Bible. La fresque du plafond la chapelle Sixtine est montrée au public pour la première fois. L'œuvre maîtresse de Michel-Ange est saluée par tous les contemporains. Vasari écrit : "Chacun eût l'impression d'un univers en mouvement et demeura muet d'admiration". Derrière l'admiration légitime des Italiens de goût se profile l'indignation du petit clergé allemand vis à vis d'une entreprise très coûteuse et fort peu évangélique. La bombe de Luther explosera cinq ans plus tard, jour pour jour. La fresque du Jugement Dernier sur le mur ouest, aussi par Michel-Ange, sera inaugurée le 31 octobre 1541. Michelangelo Buonarroti was born on 06 March 1475. He died on 18 February 1564. Michelangelo painted on the west wall of the Sistine Chapel from 1534 to 1541 the Last Judgment scene. Other parts of the Sistine chapel were painted by other artists. ; When Michelangelo was invited to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the lower walls of it were already decorated with scenes from the lives of Moses and Christ, executed by the Florentine and Umbrian artists Botticelli (The Temptation of Christ (1481-1482), Scenes from the Life of Moses (1481-1482), The Punishment of Korah (1481-1482)), Cosimo Rosselli, Piero di Cosimo, Domenico Ghirlandaio The Calling of St. Peter, Signorelli, Pinturicchio and Pietro Perugino The Delivery of the Keys (1482). Above these frescoes, which occupied straightforward rectangular fields, Michelangelo created his masterpiece. The twelve existing windows along the lateral walls of the chapel he integrated by means of twelve lunettes capped by twelve spandrels. In them he depicted ancestors of Christ: Azor and Sadok; Josias, Jechonias and Salathiel; Ezekias, Manasses and Amon; Asa, Josaphat and Joram; Jesse, David and Solomon; Naasson; Aminadab; Salmon, Booz and Obed; Roboam and Abia; Ozias, Joatham and Achaz; Zorobabel; Abiud and Eliakim; Achim and Eliud; Jacob and Joseph; Eleazar and Matthan. Between these he placed the large seated figures of the Prophets and Sibyls: The Prophet Zechariah,The Sibyl of Delphi, The Prophet Isiah, The Cumaean Sibyl, The Prophet Daniel, The Libyan Sibyl,The Prophet Jonah, The Persian Sibyl, The Prophet Jeremiah, The Erythraean Sibyl, The Prophet Ezekiel, The Prophet Joel. The four corner frescoes, pendentives, are: David and Goliath; Judith and Holofernes; The Punishment of Haman; The Brazen Serpent. The entire
central section of the ceiling he crossed by painted arches, dividing
the ceiling into nine pictorial fields. The arches are supported at either
end by painted columns. Between the arches Michelangelo skillfully grouped
the nine central fields thus created into three triptychs: The Creation
of the World, The Creation and Fall of Man, and The Story of Noah. |
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