George Seurat - Pointillism

George Seurat was a fine artist which took part of the Neo-Impressionism movement in the history of Art.

The Neo-Impressionism movement defined an idea of avant-garde art that was found and developed in France 1886 to 1906. Artists within this era were interested in science and the study of optics.

Seurat experimented with colour pigments. He developed a technique of drawing which he called 'Pointillism'. This showed a rational and scientific approach to colour and light.

One of Seurat's most known painting is 'A Sunday afternoon on the island of Grande Jatte'- 1884. This took him quite a long time to finish it up as it is painted on a large scale and the technique chosen was very time consuming.

 

[George Seurat, 1884, A Sunday afternoon on the island of Grande Jatte, Pointilism,
2.08 m x 3.1 m, Art Institute of Chicago Building]

This painting showed how Seurat has approached a very good outcome with the use of the vibrant contrast and the brilliant highlights created with a huge amount of dots with paint. 

• This is a very interesting website which showes the painting of Seurat in HD + zoom (you can identify the composition of small dots).

http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/a-sunday-on-la-grande-jatte-1884/twGyqq52R-lYpA?utm_source=google&utm_medium=kp&hl=en&projectId=art-project

• This video shows a very good explanation of the idea behind Seurat and Pointillism. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOBeis-GaL8

Recently I went to an art exhibition which was held at the st.James Cavalier, Valletta/Malta. The exhibition consisted of many artists and one of them was Steve Bonello. I noticed that his work really resembles that of Seurat as he used the same technique but instead of using dots of paint he used small felt-pen strokes.

[Steve Bonello, Il-Poeta tan-Natura, Technical pens and coloured inks]

The same thing, Bonello used the scientific approach of colour contrasts.

Heilbrum timeline of Art History, Georges Seurat (1859–1891) and Neo–Impressionism, http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/seni/hd_seni.htm, [Accessed on 23/3/14]

Wikipedia, A Sunday afternoon on the island of Grande Jatte, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sunday_Afternoon_on_the_Island_of_La_Grande_Jatte,
[Accessed on 23/3/14]
 

Realism - Gustave Courbet

It all started in France within the 19^th century 1850s after the 1848 French revolution. Realism art was introduced by the discussion of a group of artists, writers and intellectuals in a Parisian bar. Realism art was all about the latest artistic trends, politics and social issues. 

 

While previous art movement always showed the beauty of human figures and nature, realism artists gave importance to the total opposite, they showed the ugly side of everyday life.

 

A highly important artist within this movement is the french artist Gustave Courbet, he was known as a painter of society. He owns an important place in the 19th century as he was willing to make bold social statements throughout his works.His art works has been rejected by many as he went against the standard academic practice. He painted huge art works that went against the exaggerated emotionalism from the Romantic Movement.

      [Gustave Courbet]

[Gustave Courbet, 1849, Stone breakers,oil on canvas, 165 cm × 257 cm × 30,820 cm, destroyed during World war II]

 

An effective art piece of Courbet is the ‘stone-breakers’. This features 2 men which are working very hard to earn some money. One man is standing down on his knee breaking the stones as on the other hand the young man is carrying a big stone that looks very heavy by the way he's standing, both men looks like their giving all their strength force to do this job. The art work literally shows the ugly truth.

[Gustave Courbet, 1855, The painter's Studio, Oil on canvas, 361 cm × 598 cm,  Musée d'Orsay]

 

This is another art work by Courbet which features an allegory (meaning representations of various influences). Courbet showed his strong idea of the importance in society very well. This striking artwork features the artist himself that seem to be rejecting the ideal human figure and the high class society to paint the middle class society around him.

Brian Gardner, (May 3, 2012), Gustave Courbet, http://westerncivguides.umwblogs.org/2012/05/03/gustave-courbet/, [Accessed on 24/02/14]

Musée d'Orsay, (2006),Gustave Courbet The Artist's Studio, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Painter%27s_Studio, [Accessed on 24/02/14]

Romanticsm - Rebellion theme

In the Romanticism period you can find a whole variety of thoughts and different themes. A theme which was very important was that of a Rebellion. Artists had the urge to rebel their thoughts and feelings throughout their ability in drawing.

 

A great example of rebellion theme in paintings is ‘Liberty leading the people’

 

[Eugène Delacroix, 1830, Liberty leading the people, Oil on canvas, 260 cm × 325 cm, Louvre]

This painting by Delacroix features the commemoration of the French revolution (1789 - 1799). This is a very interesting and exciting form of art as the artist managed to tackle exactly what he wanted to show the audience which were Pride, Patriotism & Victory for their country.

Delecroix painted this drawing in a pyramid form as the people all around the scene seem to be connected to the woman in the middle which is an ‘allegory’ (representative for her country). This composition gave the whole artwork an interesting and dynamic look as it is showing us clearly the main focal point.

The artist showed his rebellious art by going against the normal. Liberty leading the people was drawn in a rough brush stroke that seems to be sketchy and unfinished. As for the colour scheme he showed some extremely good contrasts using the ‘chiaro scuro’ technique. You can notice that there’s a sense of commitment in his colour choices. The woman’s colour scheme is more vibrant then the other human figures, that is to emphasize more on the meaning of this painting.

This is a tribute to Eugène Delacroix's 1830 painting 'Liberty leading the people'

It's interesting how media now a days get inspired from artist in different art movements. This is a brilliant example of the series 'Maison Close'.The artist which created this wallpaper wanted to show the theme of 'War' & 'Love'.

The wallpaper is put together in the same composition of the 'liberty leading the people' as the artist found it very effective and he wanted that same successful outcome. He also took good care of keeping the same tonality and colour scheme. 

The only thing he changed was to include other female figures within his composition as he wanted to show the audience the idea of this series, which is reflecting a sense of 'Bordel'.

  

This is another great example of how artist are influenced by Delacroix's painting. This is an example of digital art in the PC game 'Minecraft'. Again this shows a sense of action and victory. 

The digital artist said ''This is what happening when you turn "The Liberty Leading the People (of Eugene Delacroix) into Minecraft''

Nicole Smith, (December 7,2011), Common themes in Romanticism, The Enlightenment, and the Renaissance, http://www.articlemyriad.com/common-themes-romanticism-enlightenment-renaissance/ , [Accessed on 20/2/14]

Bunky Bunk, (  January 21, 2013), MaisonClose-Season2-wallpaper, http://www.spoilertv.com/2013/01/maison-close-season-2-wallpaper.html , [Accessed on 20/2/14]

Ddant1 100, (2013), The liberty leading the people (Minecraft), http://ddant1100.deviantart.com/art/The-Liberty-Leading-the-People-Minecraft-Version-367781107 , [Accessed on 20/2/14]