Ampers&rea

Today’s artist is Winslow Homer,who is best known for his seascapes. He painted many themes, including Civil War life, children and young people. The way Homer characterizes the human/animal relationship is also very interesting. The artist visually defines the American sense of adventure like no other. Winslow Homer is also my dad’s favorite artist. From the National Gallery’s website, here’s a short biography:

Winslow Homer was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1836, the second of the three children, all sons, of Henrietta Benson and Charles Savage Homer. His artistic education consisted chiefly of his apprenticeship to the Boston commercial lithographer John H. Bufford, and a few lessons in painting from Frédéric Rondel after that. Following his apprenticeship, Homer worked as a free-lance illustrator for such magazines as Harper’s Weekly.

In 1859 he moved to New York City, where began his career as a painter. He visited the front during the Civil War and his first important paintings were of Civil War subjects. In 1867 he spent a year in France. At Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1873 he began to paint in watercolor. In 1875 he submitted his last drawing to Harper’s Weekly, ending his career as an illustrator. He traveled widely in the 1870s in New York State, to Virginia, and Massachusetts, and in 1881 he began a two-year stay in England, living in Cullercoats, near Newcastle.

Returning to America in 1883, he settled at Prout’s Neck, Maine, where he would live for the rest of his life. He continued to travel widely, to the Adirondacks, Canada, Bermuda, Florida, and the Caribbean, in all those places painting the watercolors upon which much of his later fame would be based. In 1890 he painted the first of the series of seascapes at Prout’s Neck that were the most admired of his late paintings in oil. Homer died in his Prout’s Neck studio on September 30, 1910.

a.o.d. #8: Bethesda Game Studios

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 10:00:06 -0400

This is a bit out of my wheelhouse. Okay, it’s way out of my wheelhouse, but this is what my husband digs and today is his birthday so here goes:

Cover art, Fallout 3, Bethesda Softworks 2008

Admittedly, this type of digital and video art is not so familiar to me, Nam June Paik and Bill Viola are more my speed. As I’m learning, it’s impossible to credit a single artist in a video game. Listing every person whose creative fingerprints are on the game would be exhaustive. There are upwards of sixty individuals, from producers and directors to designers and programmers to animators and world artists. If you’re terribly interested, look here: http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/fallout-3/credits. The most practical way is to credit the lead design team at Bethesda Game Studios. Istvan Pely is the credited Lead Artist. Todd Howard is Game Director and Emil Pagliarulo is Lead Writer and Designer.

Additionally, my husband informs me that even though a game itself is created by a corporate entity, comprised of individuals, any person who plays the game and creates a screenshot is given credit for the shot, since that person is actually the one who created it. “Fair use” in copyright law deals with this. There’s some fodder for interesting debate, but to be on the safe side, I give credit where credit is due, necessary or not.

Speaking of copyright issues…

The images of Fallout are not all grimy mechanized weapons and dark apocalypse survival. Humor and, dare I say, charm are a considerable part of the appeal. Take for example, the character in the poster. He is known as Vault Boy and he’s come to be a popular and iconic game mascot. Brian Menze draws the character, purportedly based on Monopoly’s Rich Uncle Pennybags.

If you check my previous post, you’ll see that my husband creates what he calls industrial art and you can see some mechanical type influences from the studio’s brand of retrofuturistic style.

This kind of sums up what’s cool about Fallout:

The prevailing theme was an almost aggressive enthusiasm for all things future and atom powered. Rocket fins, chrome flanges and vents of any kind, the more superfluous the better. The materials list technologically, never advance beyond the 50’s aesthetic. -Adam Adamowicz, Concept Artist

For Fallout 3 we sought to create an interface system that was functional, unique and entertaining. The core of this is the Pip-Boy, a classic element of the series that exists as both an important object in-game as well as the player’s primary method of interacting with his character. . -Istvan Pely, Lead Artist

I really do enjoy this work, it’s romantic. Is that okay to say about a video game? The art of Fallout is unnervingly nostalgic. There, that’s better. In any case, the game will be included in the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s exhibition of “The Art of Video Games”, running March 16, 2012 through September 30, 2012. Check out the details here: http://www.si.edu/Exhibitions/Details/The-Art-of-Video-Games-840 Sounds like a birthday destination for next year…

Happy Birthday...

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:00:06 -0400

…to my sweet, ridiculous husband of 18 years. He has recently described himself as an industrial artist. I don’t know about all that, but I do know that he’s accomplished some pretty impressive things in his years. Here’s a sweet and ridiculous sculpture he made for me out of Dr Pepper cans.

Flower 2011 Cast aluminum 1.5 x .75 in.

a.o.d. #7: Henri Matisse

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 07:00:00 -0400

Henri Matisse, Femme au Manteau Violet (Woman in a Purple Coat) 1937 Oil on canvas 37.8 x 25.7 in. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

This painting of Matisse’s was chosen in honor of my middle daughter’s birthday. She really connected with it on our visits to the Museum of Fine Arts when she was very little. If you look at some of her pieces (see previous post) you can see that they have some similar qualities.

Portraits, even self-portraits, painted by Matisse reveal a good deal about the artist’s relationship with the sitter. Years ago, I asked my daughter if Matisse loved this lady or if he didn’t love her, and she just knew. Matisse did care about this woman, she was his assistant. His commissioned portraits, while remarkable, lack some of the tenderness expressed in his portraits of people with whom the artist was close.

Happy Birthday...

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:00:06 -0400

…to my middle daughter, who is one of the most creative people I know! She has only recently begun exploring the visual arts, but she has been active in the performing arts for a couple of years and the culinary arts since she could walk. Here are some of her pieces from the last several months.

Portrait

Still Life

Still Life detail

Color Wheel

Color Wheel detail

a.o.d. #6: Edgar Payne

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:25:00 -0400

Edgar Payne, Laguna Coast 1918 Oil on canvas 12 x 16 in.

Feeling homesick for the west coast today. I miss my California family terribly, especially since there are so many important events in summertime, like graduations, reunions of all kinds and of course bright, shining beach days. SoCal, this one’s for you!

a.o.d. #5: Porfirio Salinas

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 01:04:00 -0400

Porfirio Salinas, Springtime in Texas 1932 Oil on canvas 12 x 16 in. Private Collection

Showing Texas some love today. If you haven’t heard, the Lone Star State is in the midst of a devastating drought and heatwave. Salinas drops the mercury with his refreshing greens and cool blues. The artist is said to have had perfect color memory the same way some people have perfect pitch. If you’ve ever had the good fortune to see a field of Texas bluebonnets in person, you’ll agree that Salinas is spot on. Here’s a little bio on the artist.

Porfirio Salinas was born in Bastrop, Texas on November 6, 1910. He lived most of his life in San Antonio, Texas where he died on April 18, 1973. Salinas attended the public schools of San Antonio for three years and was largely self taught as an artist. He learned from watching José Arpa, director of the San Antonio Art School, sketch in the streets and fields of San Antonio. He also learned from Robert Wood, a prolific landscape painter, who paid him five dollars a picture to paint in bluebonnets on his canvases because “he hated to paint bluebonnets.” Salinas was conscripted and served in the army from 1943, to 1945. He was assigned to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, where he painted murals for the officers’ lounge and other special assignments for Colonel

Although Salinas did not receive the attention of the professional art establishment, he achieved a popular following among many Texans as well as the political leaders of Texas and the United States - among them Lyndon Johnson who began to collect his work in the 1940s. The recognition of his work beyond the borders of Texas dates from Johnson’s presidency. The city of Austin celebrated a Porfirio Salinas Day in 1973. The painter was honored for having “done much to bring the culture of Mexico and Texas closer together with his paintings.” Salinas dedicated himself to painting landscapes of Central Texas with particular attention to the bluebonnets that grow in abundance in the springtime. - from Nuevo Santander Gallery

a.o.d. #4: N.C.Wyeth

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:00:00 -0400

N. C. Wyeth, Last of the Mohicans 1919 Oil on canvas 26 x 31.75 in. Collection of the Brandywine River Museum

Newell Convers Wyeth is today’s artist. I chose him for two reasons. First, I love children’s literature and children’s illustrations. Second, my fifth grade son got his summer haircut yesterday….you guessed it, a mohawk. Not a fauxhawk—a real, 80s punk, make grandma uncomfortable, spike it up with glue mohawk. He went from moptop to roostertop. It wasn’t my favorite, but school’s out, so it’s fine. Come the first day of school, all bets are off.

Back to N.C. Wyeth. He was a muralist but is known primarily for his illustrations. You have probably seen some of them although they date from the 1910s through the 1940s. His illustrations can be seen in children’s books, on magazine covers, in advertisements and on patriotic posters.

Wyeth worked during the golden age of illustration and he was certainly a master. Last of the Mohicans, the cover illustration,was part of a series of children’s classics published by Charles Scribner’s Sons throughout the 1910s. The artist did around 17 cover illustrations that helped make the series extremely popular. He used dramatic conventions such as silhouetting, high contrast and bold colors to convey a sense of adventure that was very appealing to children of the time.

Uncas, the character in the illustration, is every bit the fierce warrior with his war paint and weapons. He carries a bow and arrow, an axe and a dagger. These would have elicited an irresistible sense of danger and taboo from children in 1919, in much the same way that a violence-rated video game or movie does from kids (including my fifth grader) in 2011. Wyeth paints from a low perspective, making the figure seem mighty and larger than life. The artist places Uncas on a cliff, a position of power, overlooking mountains and a lake, indicating his people’s dominace over the natural world. Wyeth reminds us of their close connection with nature, though, by enrobing Uncas in glorious clouds.

I think this might be the summer that my little warrior would enjoy reading James Fenimore Cooper’s Last of the Mohicans. Failing that, we can always watch the movie.

a.o.d. #3: Gustave Caillebotte

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 01:32:00 -0400

Gustave Caillebotte, Le pont de l’Europe 1876 Oil on canvas 49.13 x 71.13 in. Petit Palais, Geneva

I chose this painting because it shows all of the typical Caillebotte earmarks: isolation and companionship, people (and in this case, dogs) on the move, Paris landmarks and infrastructure, and my personal favorite, dynamic, geometric composition. FYI, you’ll be seeing more from l’artiste, vraiment.

Just look at those diagonals—it’s like an extreme sport for your eyes. Caillebotte zips you down the street towards the brilliant sky and back again, bumping up and down along the crossed steel beams, once more pointed back toward the horizon by the tail and nose of the trotting dog. Wheeee!

Caillebotte documents and exclaims the industrial advancements, but without excluding the natural beauty of the region; the sky and river above and below the modern bridge glimmer in the clear sunshine. Immaculate steam from the train station below mingles with pristine clouds above, a tribute to the new and improved Paris.

The artist saw to his family’s business affairs, but did not hold a job, per se. With so much leisure time on his hands, the artist was free to pursue his interests which included boats and rowing, and flanerie, the act of strolling about and closely observing the world. Fashionable strollers are often depicted in Caillebotte’s work. This characteristic is the one that associates him with the Impressionists, but more than that, it confirms that the artist himself was a member of the bourgeoisie. As a young man of means in Paris, Gustave would have dressed like the person wearing the top hat and would have kept company with proper ladies such as top hat’s companion. Here are some more biographical facts about this artist:

Gustave Caillebotte was a French painter born in 1848. His paintings were virtually overlooked until recently. Today, he is recognized as both an accomplished painter as well as an important patron of the Impressionist movement.

In 1873, Caillebotte inherited his family’s fortune, enabling him to buy numerous Impressionist paintings and support the expenses of his artist friends in their own exhibitions. Unfortunately, during his lifetime he became more famous for the paintings he had collected than the ones he had created. In 1874, he met Degas, Monet, and Renoir and helped them orchestrate their first group exhibition in Paris. He went on to help organize and finance the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Impressionist exhibitions, as well as contributing his own works.

Authentic Caillebotte works are rare. Such a discovery would be one of great value. In his lifetime, he is believed to have created about 500 paintings. The fact that he was much less prolific than his contemporaries is underscored by his relatively short life. -from Art Experts, Inc.