The Art Thread

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I've stumbled on to two artists I really like from browsing the Art Renewal Center's website. The first is the French painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau, a late 19th early 20th century painter who paintings very realistic paintings, hardening back to the baroque masters (not that I'm telling you anything you don't know).











Another artist along this vein, around the same time, was Lawrence Alma-Tadema.

[nancybella]

Luke, you put some stunning pictures in your posts, turns the thread into a rich flat-screen gallery and shows your love of art well. But you pack so much in, I tend to scroll through it. The plate is too full.

I'm sure you've lots of readers, but for this reader, I would attend more carefully to each of your posts if I didn't have so much information and pictures to contend with. But I'm just one reader, obviously. But I'm sure you'd prefer to put less in the thread if more attention was given to it, rather than the other way round.

You might say you put so little in the posts anyway, compared to what you want to put in and with all the art out there. That's true. A real anguish of choice there, for the lover of art trying to communicate their enthusiasm. Still, you'll have to add in even more rigor to your choices. Unfair, but if you want more readers' attentions...

The only book on art I ever read was Sister Wendy Becket's 1000 Masterpieces. I think Sister Wendy is wonderful. I learnt a lot from her.

[ftil]

[QUOTE]

Hell... even the David's penis has become an iconic image:



Not only does Michelangelo present one of the first representations of pubic hair in post-Classical European art... but he renders this with such loving care... almost as a swirl of fire. The question has often been asked concerning the diminutive size of the David's manhood... especially considering the artist's sexual preferences. There are at least two feasible explanations. Since Greco-Roman times a large penis was often seen as proof of bestiality... the triumph of the body and sexuality over the mind. Figures such as Priapus and Pan (or other Satyrs)...



... were commonly portrayed with comically over-sized appendages... and were seen as sad, vulgar, ridiculous... and forever frustrated.

Thanks for a good laughter. We need some balance……not only naked women.

BTW, I was curious why Hermes was depicted with a big phallus. Nothing has indicated that he was a fertility god. He was a messenger from gods identified with Egyptian god Thoth who wasn’t a fertility god either. But Egyptian god Min was. I haven’t resolved that mystery but a phallic cult was thriving.

This one is interesting....one phallus was not enough.




Bronze figurine with phalluses (Naples Archaeological Museum, Italy; from Pompeii. The Pompeian Mercury tintinnabulum. It has an attachment for a bell on his phallus, and also attachments on the two long phallic ‘antlers’ on his head.






God Min





Statuette of Osiris with phallus and amulets








Statue of a Satyr, Athens Archaeological Museum








Satyr, 560 and 550 BC







Satyr Family, Albrecht Durer



And in cathedrals.




Elines (Santander), Spain






Interior corbel at Mere (Wiltshire)




And phallic cults are thriving today.





Japan

[stlukesguild]

Speaking of "phallic cults" there's always this one:

The bronze statue of Victor Noir at Cimetière du Père-Lachaise

Victor Noir, (27 July 1848 in Attigny, Vosges — 11 January 1870 in Paris), was a French journalist who is famous for the manner of his death and its political consequences. His tomb in Paris later became a fertility symbol.

On 30 December, l'Avenir, the Parisian loyalist press, published a letter sent to its editor by Prince Pierre Bonaparte, the great-nephew of the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, and cousin of the then-ruling Emperor Napoleon III. Prince Bonaparte castigated the staff of the radical press, la Revanche as cowards and traitors. Grousset, editor of la Revanche took offense and demanded satisfaction.

Prince Bonaparte wrote a letter to Henri Rochefort, owner of la Revanche declaring that he would most certainly uphold the good name of his family:

"After having outraged each of my relations, you insult me with the pen of one of your menials. My turn had to come. Only I have an advantage over others of my name, of being a private individual, while being a Bonaparte... I therefore ask you whether your inkpot is guaranteed by your breast... I live, not in a palace, but at 59, rue d'Auteuil. I promise to you that if you present yourself, you will not be told that I left."

On the following day, Grousset sent Victor Noir and Ulrich de Fonvielle as his seconds to fix the terms of a duel with Pierre Bonaparte. Contrary to custom, they presented themselves to Prince Bonaparte instead of contacting his seconds. Each of them carried a revolver in his pocket. Noir and de Fonvieille presented Prince Bonaparte with a letter signed by Grousset. But the prince declined the challenge, asserting his willingness to fight his fellow nobleman Rochefort, but not his "menials". In response, Noir asserted his solidarity with his friends. According to Fonvieille, Prince Bonaparte then slapped his face and shot Noir dead. According to the Prince, it was Noir who took umbrage at the epithet and struck him first, whereupon he drew his revolver and fired at his aggressor. That was the version eventually accepted by the court.

A public outcry followed and on 12 January, led by political activist Auguste Blanqui, more than 100,000 people joined Noir's funeral procession to a cemetery in Neuilly. Attendance in this procession was regarded as a civic duty for republicans. At a time when the Emperor was already unpopular, Pierre's acquittal on the murder charge caused enormous public outrage that erupted into a number of violent demonstrations.

A life-size bronze statue was sculpted by Jules Dalou to mark Noir's grave, portrayed in a realistic style as though he had just fallen on the street, dropping his hat which is depicted beside him. The sculpture has a very noticeable protuberance in Noir's trousers. According to some accounts, Noir was due to get married the day after he was killed. This has made it one of the most popular memorials for women to visit in the famous cemetery. Myth says that placing a flower in the upturned top hat after kissing the statue on the lips and rubbing its genital area will enhance fertility, bring a blissful sex life, or, in some versions, a husband within the year. As a result of the legend, those particular components of the oxidized bronze statue are rather well-worn.

Some women, however, have taken the legend too far...by humping and straddling the bronze crotch of Noir excessively. As a result, in 2004 a fence was erected around the statue of Noir, to deter superstitious people from touching the statue. Due to the fake protests of the "female population of Paris" settled by a French TV anchor however, it was torn down again. So the deterioration of the statue continues.

[ftil]

Originally posted by stlukesguild
Speaking of "phallic cults" there's always this one:

And we have a modern version.....


Peter Lenk

[Babyguile]

And we have a modern version.....


Peter Lenk

That is one of the ugliest things I have ever seen.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Speaking of "phallic cults" there's always this one:

The bronze statue of Victor Noir at Cimetière du Père-Lachaise

Victor Noir, (27 July 1848 in Attigny, Vosges — 11 January 1870 in Paris), was a French journalist who is famous for the manner of his death and its political consequences. His tomb in Paris later became a fertility symbol.

On 30 December, l'Avenir, the Parisian loyalist press, published a letter sent to its editor by Prince Pierre Bonaparte, the great-nephew of the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, and cousin of the then-ruling Emperor Napoleon III. Prince Bonaparte castigated the staff of the radical press, la Revanche as cowards and traitors. Grousset, editor of la Revanche took offense and demanded satisfaction.

Prince Bonaparte wrote a letter to Henri Rochefort, owner of la Revanche declaring that he would most certainly uphold the good name of his family:

"After having outraged each of my relations, you insult me with the pen of one of your menials. My turn had to come. Only I have an advantage over others of my name, of being a private individual, while being a Bonaparte... I therefore ask you whether your inkpot is guaranteed by your breast... I live, not in a palace, but at 59, rue d'Auteuil. I promise to you that if you present yourself, you will not be told that I left."

On the following day, Grousset sent Victor Noir and Ulrich de Fonvielle as his seconds to fix the terms of a duel with Pierre Bonaparte. Contrary to custom, they presented themselves to Prince Bonaparte instead of contacting his seconds. Each of them carried a revolver in his pocket. Noir and de Fonvieille presented Prince Bonaparte with a letter signed by Grousset. But the prince declined the challenge, asserting his willingness to fight his fellow nobleman Rochefort, but not his "menials". In response, Noir asserted his solidarity with his friends. According to Fonvieille, Prince Bonaparte then slapped his face and shot Noir dead. According to the Prince, it was Noir who took umbrage at the epithet and struck him first, whereupon he drew his revolver and fired at his aggressor. That was the version eventually accepted by the court.

A public outcry followed and on 12 January, led by political activist Auguste Blanqui, more than 100,000 people joined Noir's funeral procession to a cemetery in Neuilly. Attendance in this procession was regarded as a civic duty for republicans. At a time when the Emperor was already unpopular, Pierre's acquittal on the murder charge caused enormous public outrage that erupted into a number of violent demonstrations.

A life-size bronze statue was sculpted by Jules Dalou to mark Noir's grave, portrayed in a realistic style as though he had just fallen on the street, dropping his hat which is depicted beside him. The sculpture has a very noticeable protuberance in Noir's trousers. According to some accounts, Noir was due to get married the day after he was killed. This has made it one of the most popular memorials for women to visit in the famous cemetery. Myth says that placing a flower in the upturned top hat after kissing the statue on the lips and rubbing its genital area will enhance fertility, bring a blissful sex life, or, in some versions, a husband within the year. As a result of the legend, those particular components of the oxidized bronze statue are rather well-worn.

Some women, however, have taken the legend too far...by humping and straddling the bronze crotch of Noir excessively. As a result, in 2004 a fence was erected around the statue of Noir, to deter superstitious people from touching the statue. Due to the fake protests of the "female population of Paris" settled by a French TV anchor however, it was torn down again. So the deterioration of the statue continues.

That's awesome. I'd be so stoked if I knew women were going to be humping my tomb. Party on, that's what I say.

It also looks like there's considerable wear on the feet. Seeing as I have no risk leeway here on LitNet, I'll keep the various jokes I thought of to myself, much to the reader's disappointment, surely.

[ftil]

That is one of the ugliest things I have ever seen.

I agree. Berlin newspaper financed it. BTW, the ‘art’ was titled "Peace Be With You". He is the author of more ugly public art. Well, I wouldn’t call it art and I am not going to post it.

To read the article

http://open.salon.com/blog/lost_in_b...cative_artwork

http://www.drivebyplanet.com/2008/09...sculpture.html

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

The previous posts call to mind the Jen Jacques Le Queu, the French neo classical fantasist of neurotic power.

http://gallica.bnf.fr/Search?f_creat...isSearch=false

Shifting gears...

Back on June 2nd I was allowed to spend a day in Fort Worth to see the Great French Paintings From the Clark – Barbizon Through Impressionism exhibit at the Kimbell Art Museum.
http://impressionism.kimbellart.org/exhibit

Excerpt from the link above:

“…The 73 paintings in the exhibition include 21 Renoirs and six Monets, along with works by Degas, Manet, Pissarro, Sisley, Morisot, Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec, and other prominent French painters of the period. Among them are some of the most familiar masterpieces of the Impressionist era.”

Other painters featured include: James Tissot, Pierre Bonnard, Camille Corot, Jean-Francois Millet, Constant Troyon, Theodore Rousseau, Johan Barthold Jongkind, Eugene Boudin, Gustave Caillebotte, Honore Daumier, Mary Cassatt, Henri Fantin-Latour, Carlous-Duran, Jean-Leon Gerome, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Alfred Stevens, Giovanni Boldini

An impressive collection to say the least. A few standouts for me include: (thumbnails)

Camille Corot Bathers of the Borromean Isles



A video tour of the painting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzbRV0d6a-g


Claude Monet The Cliffs at Etretat




Mary Cassatt Offering the Panal to the Bullfighter




Giovanni Boldini Crossing the Street




[James Tissot Chrysanthemums This one is absolutely stunning, although I would question whether this is considered impressionist given the near photorealism, in fact one source categorizes it as such. Nevertheless, I found myself drawn to it in part due to the sheer size at 118.4 x 76.2 cm

Here is a video tour of the painting:

http://www.clarkart.edu/museum/video...dex.cfm?vid=20


Four John Singer Sargent paintings tagged along with the tour, but were taken over to the neighboring Amon Carter Museum of American art for viewing.
The paintings included:
A Street in Venice, A Venetian Interior, Portrait of Carolus Duran and Smoke of Ambergris

I was entirely captivated by Smoke of Ambergris, finding it difficult to pull myself away-





For those of you in or near London, the exhibit is heading your way to the Royal Academy of Arts.


.

[ftil]

Shifting gears...
(Not sure if the thumbnail rule applies here, but I'll kept theses toward the smaller side)

LOL! You are kidding, aren’t you…..have you already forgotten a big size of art you posted on a previous page?....... It was just a month ago.

I guess……. anxiety.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Your point? It's a new rule.


I really like that piece by Monet, Gilliat. It's one of my favorites of his.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

LOL! You are kidding, aren’t you…..have you already forgotten a big size of art you posted on a previous page?....... It was just a month ago.

I guess……. anxiety.

Your point? It's a new rule.


I really like that piece by Monet, Gilliat. It's one of my favorites of his.

Ftil and MM - I'll post my reason for making the thumbnail point and a little history on the rule in your Profile Page.

One of the beautiful aspects of the Monet, is how he caprured the sunlight at the tops of the cliffs.

.

[ftil]

Ftil and MM - I'll post my reason for making the thumbnail point and a little history on the rule in your Profile Page.

.

Hey, I am very aware of the rule that was posted in November last year on Pictures / Images How-to thread. Please don’t make it personal as it was very clear in the moderator’s note that it applied to all discussion threads not to my Post Your Favorite Artist thread. You and stlukesguild have posted a big size of images as I have mentioned in my previous post. It was a month ago. I assumed that the rule has been changed. I addressed it here asking for a clarification a few months ago but I haven’t received any answer.

You may read the moderator note posted in November and December.
Post # 52 and 58.

http://www.online-literature.com/for...85#post1094885

[Darcy88]

Goya. Right now I'm really into Goya. His paintings are at once beautiful...sublime....and - terrifying. The scenes he painted, the historical events he depicted...so ghastly, revealing in their grisly glory the darkness that characterizes much of history and dwells within the heart of man.





I don't know art terminology that well. All I know is that some painters have a greater power than others to arise emotions and make me feel pain, joy, hope, despair. I find Goya is one such painter for me. El Greco is probably my favourite painter but right now I am really into Goya.

[stlukesguild]

Back in art school I had two teachers who both attempted to direct me toward the great Spanish painters Velazquez and Goya. In both instances they were attempting to point me away from my obsession with Rubens. My first year drawing teacher (who was Spanish) absolutely revered Velazquez. At that time I couldn't see it at all. All that brown and black and gray... blech! I wanted color. And only one nude?! Later... as I was in my final year of school one of my painting professors kept advising me to "Look at Goya." Finally I responded, I like Goya fine enough, but I love Ruben's." "Well of course," he responded. "Who doesn't? But what can you learn from him? The man wasn't human. He never made a mistake or changed a brushstroke." Indeed, Rubens was one of those superhuman figures who set an almost unattainable standard. Still... I must say that I did learn much from him... especially with regard to color and defining the form of the figure through drawing... the contour... as opposed to defining the form through hatching and brushwork ala Cezanne... and later, Lucian Freud.