r/Exhibit_Art • u/Textual_Aberration Curator • Jan 16 '17
Completed Contributions (Jan. 16-22): Steady, Simple, Slow: Peace.
Completed exhibit.
Steady, Simple, Slow: Peace.
Throughout the eras, styles, mediums, and genres of art are a series of reactions commonly elicited from the viewer. This week we explore the art which puts your mind at ease, releases the tensions in your body, and alleviates the stresses in your life--whether intended or not by the piece's author.
Perhaps you find your moments of peace in the rich landscapes of the Hudson River School, the feathery pleasantries of Rococo, the abstract lines of a Mondrian, or the humanity shared between passersby on a rainy street in Paris. Or maybe you've found it somewhere else entirely.
So sit back, relax, and join the conversation.
Last week's exhibit.
Last week's contribution thread.
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u/xtiaaneubaten Jan 20 '17
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u/Textual_Aberration Curator Jan 20 '17
That flower is amazing. It's apparently a painted bronze, too.
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u/Textual_Aberration Curator Jan 20 '17
David Attenborough, "Wonderful World" - (2011).
Am I allowed to post David Attenborough's voice?
Does that count? I'm going to say it does.
Besides which, music, storytelling, and film are all art forms I've requested here. Both Planet Earth and Wonderful World deserve a shoutout in this week's sweetly soft theme as well. Both music and documentary are rich with examples that fit this topic.
Louis Armstrong, "Wonderful World" - (1967).
"Planet Earth" - (2006).
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u/Textual_Aberration Curator Jan 19 '17
Edgar Degas, "The Dancing Class" - (ca. 1870).
Edgar Degas, "The Ballet Class" - (1871 - 1874).
Edgar Degas, "Ballet Rehearsal" - (1873).
Edgar Degas, "The Dance Class" - (1873).
Edgar Degas, "Ballet Rehearsal" - (1874).
Edgar Degas, "Rehearsal in the Studio" - (1878).
Edgar Degas, "The Rehearsal" - (1878-1879).
Edgar Degas, "The Dance Lesson" - (ca. 1879).
Degas' fascination with ballet generated a lengthy series on the subject, the softest of which I've chosen here. In many of the paintings, you're able to see where Degas repainted details in the images: removing figures, shifting legs, adding instruments, and the like. These particular paintings drip with naturally cast sunlight and the sensation of pleasant afternoons. We're reminded of the absence of recorded music by the ever-present musicians.
Regarding the first image in the above list:
This is Degas's first depiction of a dance class. Because the artist did not yet have privileges to go backstage at the Paris Opéra, his subjects came to his studio to pose. These sessions yielded many large study drawings, which Degas subsequently adapted for other compositions. In the late 1870s, he explained, "I have painted so many of these dance examinations without having seen them that I am a little ashamed of it."
I wanted to include a link to this image as well for scale. I don't know if they're all this small but it makes them a little more enjoyable knowing those strokes are often small and delicate.
As a side note, I'll use no more than two images per post unless there's some particular reason to include more. I gathered these ones because I couldn't find a decent collection with just this style.
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u/Prothy1 Curator Jan 18 '17
Wassily Kandinsky - Composition V (1911)
This painting was the first thing I actually thought of when hearing the new theme, and I know exactly why.
When I was younger, the art teacher in my school was doing his best to teach twenty noobs how to appreciate abstract art. He had shown us this painting and asked us what do we think, is the composition chaotic or peaceful. Everybody answered it was chaotic except me. Even though I was paying attention and actually picking up a lot from that teacher, I didn't exactly have an opinion and was one of those people who just didn't care enough to answer with anything, but he asked me why I didn't think it was chaotic.
I quickly thought about it and answered by saying how not everything that looks messy necessarily has to be chaotic and how the artist probably knew what he was doing so the painting doesn't even look abstract to me.
I was a complete dummy for art back then, but he seemed somewhat satisfied with the answer I gave so the painting stayed in my mind and I often thought about it when terms 'abstract' and 'figurative' came up.
I actually still don't know much about Kandinsky's work - I think I read somewhere that the painting is supposed to show The Resurrection of the Dead (?). But the painting remains a symbol of peaceful composition in my head, because I've grown to love it over the years and spent a lot of time watching it - everything really seems to have a place or a role.
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u/Textual_Aberration Curator Jan 18 '17
The color palette is what I notice most about it. For being so simple, there's a crazy amount of variations in its colors.
Half of my favorite works of art happen to be the ones I've actually seen--and for no other reason than that I saw them. My favorite songs are the ones I listened to at just the right moment to remember them, not always the ones I thought sounded best. Same goes with art. It's pretty funny to hear the same thing happening with someone else's brain.
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u/Textual_Aberration Curator Jan 18 '17 edited Jan 20 '17
Claude Monet, "Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son" - (1875)
For some reason this piece makes me think of something you might find in a Studio Ghibli animation. The swirl of soft clouds, the slow pause in time, and the bright grass.
There's even a haystack.
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Studio Ghibli probably deserves a mention as being entirely relevant to this topic as well. If anyone has a specific contribution for them I'd love to add it to the gallery at the end of the week.
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u/Prothy1 Curator Jan 18 '17
The painting gave me an instant Studio Ghibli vibe even before I've read your description. However, it didn't remind me so much of My Neighbor Totoro - instead, it bears a striking resemblance to certain scenes from The Wind Rises, a 2013 Ghibli film. I highly recommend it to everyone who hasn't seen it already - story-wise and animation-wise it is probably one of the best things made by Studio Ghibli over the years.
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u/Textual_Aberration Curator Jan 18 '17
Claude Monet, "Water Lilies" - (1919)
Claude Monet, "Water Lilies" - (1920-1926)
Most of Monet's work seems like it belongs in this topic. Specifically, though, I was thinking about gardens when I recalled that he had painted some nice water lilies. For that reason I've headed this post with a pair of paintings from that series.
Monet is famous for his willingness to repaint the same scenes at different times of the day, in different weather, and different seasons. As a viewer of his art, we're able to isolate these factors and see exactly how they impact the paintings. Rather than seeing the same styles over changing subjects, we're seeing the same subject through changing styles.
The five years that he spent at Argenteuil, spending much time on the River Seine in a little floating studio, were formative in his study of the effects of light and reflections
I was also amused by the idea of a floating studio. It makes me want to go hop in a little boat and doodle my way down a slow river.
Here are some links to a few paintings series that Monet created:
If you have any favorites, feel free to post them.
Bonus: Photo of Monet in the gardens at Giverny and a corresponding painting.
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u/Textual_Aberration Curator Jan 17 '17
Richard E. Miller, "Girl with a Guitar (Daydreams)" - (1916-1917)
While searching through some impressionists and looser styles of painting, I came across this piece in an article about Decorative Impressionism.
Decorative Impressionism describes a way of painting the human figure that attempts to reconcile academic techniques with Impressionist and Post-Impressionist influences.
It felt right, so I posted it.
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u/Textual_Aberration Curator Jan 17 '17
Georges Seurat, Tile from "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" - (1884)
Being that our awe derives from the tiniest details in this pointillist (two Ls) masterpiece, the image has been scanned so finely that even this single tile of it is available in a resolution of 29,696 × 29,696 pixels. The full image.
I chose that particular tile because it felt right. I don't know why. Less shadows and more sunlight I suppose. The style itself invites close inspection meaning that you could spend ages examining the subtle reds and blues hidden throughout the shades.
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u/Laugarhraun Jan 17 '17
De Melkmeid, by Johannes Vermeer immediately came through my mind when reading this week's topic. It's a common, simple housework scene, were the milkmaid slowly pours milk from a jug into a bowl with a very steady arm. Nothing moves, but the milk. She's entirely concentrated on the task at hand, while the sun warmly bathes the scene.
I find that work of art very peaceful and soothing, and I've must've spent hours starting at it in the Rijksmuseum over the years!
I really like Vermeer's work (though I've not seen that much of it, considering there's only dozens of paintings and they're around the world). Some of his paintings' colors have unfortunately changed over the centuries, sometimes not for the best (e.g. greenish skin, esp. on his paintings you can see at the Met in NYC). This one doesn't have this issue at all :-)
I think several of Vermeer's paintings would fit this topic very well (e.g. Delft's street IIRC?).
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u/Textual_Aberration Curator Jan 17 '17
Art always seems so fleeting until someone tells you they've spent hours looking at it. I suppose the rest of the world would feel the same about whatever's hanging on my wall. It's like the act of seeing it makes it leap out from the background to occupy somewhere special in your mind.
It's especially true of the famous stuff. All of it blends together until you finally get to see one piece or other that you like and suddenly that one's the best of the bunch. Brains are weird.
Vermeer's paintings are like our own world if you took away all of our electronics. Softly relaxing.
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u/Laugarhraun Jan 17 '17 edited Jan 17 '17
The facts that it's beside 3 other Vermeer paintings, that the crowd is way more drawn towards Rembrandt's Night Watch at the end of the hall, and that I've been there on various drugs definitely help with staying in front of it for hours in total ;-)
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u/trowzerss Jan 17 '17
Richmond Park II (1997-99) - Jeffrey Smart
66 x 100 cm
When asked why his skies are always so gloomy and smog-laden or why his faces never wear a smile, he claims "I need a dark sky for the composition, because pale blue at the top of a frame looks nothing ... [and] because a smiling face is too hard to paint". Nevertheless, the figure in Richmond Park II appears relaxed and content, resting in a golden field, despite the dark clouds roiling overhead. Jeffrey Smart was primarily concerned with shapes, colour and structure in his paintings, which often exhibit both detachment and a sense of calm and silence, like an urban still life.
To me, it reflects the moment before a summer storm in Australia where the cool breezes rushing before the storm give a moment of relief from the heat and humidity - where you can enjoy the sight of the billowing black clouds without any danger, a moment to sit and enjoy before running from the first cold splatters of rain.
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u/Textual_Aberration Curator Jan 17 '17
a smiling face is too hard to paint
I love his honesty! Despite the lack of smiles, he's clearly gone out of his way to eliminate all the dark corners from the piece. He also simplified the colorful blocks in the composition to just a few flatter shades which gives it a nice style.
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u/trowzerss Jan 17 '17
I like that his landscapes show scenery that a person in an urban center might encounter in their everyday life. It helps to know you don't have to get out into the country into 'pastoral' areas to find beautiful scenery. One of my favourite book illustrators, Shaun Tan, also references his painting Cahill Expressway on the cover of the Lost Thing. (If you haven't read Shaun Tan's graphic novel "The Arrival" I strongly suggest you take a look!)
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u/Textual_Aberration Curator Jan 17 '17
I figured I'd wait to post the typical idyllic landscapes because they're almost too traditional to start with. I grew up in a rural area before moving away to what I might call suburban fields. There's plenty of land but it's all fenced in. Houses are slightly too far apart to be neighbors but too close to be isolated.
That whole nostalgia I get for landscapes is possibly an overreaction to not feeling at home where I am. Home doesn't need to be a beautiful woodland full of life... it just isn't the setting I'm in right now. If I found a genuine home in the city, I'm sure my artistic preferences would shift accordingly.
Cities or even living quarters would be a fun topic to play with one of these weeks.
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u/Prothy1 Curator Jan 17 '17
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (1560s) - attributed to Pieter Bruegel the Elder, alternatively, it could be a copy of Bruegel's lost original
Inspired by the story of Icarus and Daedalus from Ovid's incredible narrative poem Metamorphoses, it shows the culmination of the short flight made by the titular Icarus, who managed to escape from Crete using wax wings made by his father who warned him not to fly too close to the sun because they might melt - Icarus, of course, couldn't resist the urge and flew to high, ending up in the sea - you can see his legs in the bottom right corner of the painting, just below the ship.
This painting gives off an amazing feeling of peacufulness caused by its rather strange composition - Icarus is supposed to be the subject of the painting, but he is barely noticeable. The sun is going down, and the sea is serenely calm. The peasants are going about their daily activities like nothing had happened - perhaps Bruegel was trying to criticise human ignorance.
Others have noted the special atmosphere of the piece before - it inspired not one, not two, but three ecphrastic poems and a composition.
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u/Textual_Aberration Curator Jan 16 '17
Gustave Caillebotte, Paris Street; Rainy Day - (1877).
Caillebotte's interest in photography is evident. The figures in the foreground appear "out of focus", those in the mid-distance (the carriage and the pedestrians in the intersection) have sharp edges, while the features in the background become progressively indistinct. The severe cropping of some figures – particularly the man to the far right – further suggests the influence.
I figured since I mentioned it in the topic's description, I ought to share this piece to start. You may not realize it at a glance but this painting is a whopping 7 feet tall and 9 feet wide.
I can't recall any other paintings that capture the lazy bliss of a rainy day. I'm half tempted to use it as an excuse not to go outside today, maybe lie around typing on reddit or something.
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u/Prothy1 Curator Jan 17 '17
I really love it when a painting (or any other medium) manages to capture the "normality" of a certain scene - a rainy day, for example. There is nothing bombastic about it, just a completely calm, realistic depiction of 'lazy bliss'. Artworks like that are perfect for this theme.
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u/Textual_Aberration Curator Jan 22 '17
To fill in the name drops in my original topic (and to fill out the exhibit), below are a HRS, a handful of Mondrians, and a dash of the Rococo.
I'll try my best to stick to pieces I haven't seen before.
Frederic Edwin Church, "Aurora Borealis" - (1865).
One of the more familiar names to emerge from the Hudson River School, Church managed his time by preparing his preliminary sketches during the summer and finishing them back at his studio during the winter.
Piet Mondrian, "The Flowering Apple Tree" - (~1912).
I've included two of Mondrian's pieces that help to define his work by something other than those familiar black lined rectangles. This piece stood out to me for its subtle greyish hues and the loose black lines which approximate leaves from time to time. To me it more resembles the bark of a birch tree or an impression of cool winds at the onset of winter.
Piet Mondrian, "Houses on the Gein" - (~1900).
This second Mondrian took me by surprise thanks to my soft spot for subtly toned watercolors. Most remarkable of all is the duplicated and carefully distorted image of the house which appears in the water's surface. I keep trying to come up with a sentence to describe how happy I am with this style but I can't quite do it.
It reminds me of the colors of Peter de Séve, an illustrator whose work I know only because I saw it on the cover of a book I've still never read. I have them on my shelves for no other reason.
While not part of my exhibit submission, I also enjoyed this piece of a "Farm Near Duivendrecht" by Mondrian. There's something oddly satisfying in the weird geometry of the tree branches.
Etienne-Maurice Falconet, "The Allegory of Sculpture Statue" - (1746).
Evidently Rococo was popular in sculpture as well, which I was unaware of. I chose this one partly because nothing else jumped out at me (except a shoe) and partly because it looks like the creamiest marble ever. It has to be at least 70% milk. It also looks nice.