Name the painting

[Lokasenna]

Well, the last one is William Blake, but I've still no idea who your first example is...

[stlukesguild]

Well... how about a photograph of our artist:



Our artist, by the way, was French. I would assume that he is known... at least in reputation... by the majority of Lit Net members.

[Kyriakos]

Is it Odilon Redon? (looks a bit like him, although i have only seen photos of him as a younger man)

[Emil Miller]

The photograph is of Victor Hugo who was also an amateur artist but I don't know any of his work.


EDIT: I have just checked his work and it is called Design With Fingerprints

[stlukesguild]

The photograph is of Victor Hugo who was also an amateur artist

I don't know how you define "amateur artist" considering that by the same standards as Hugo, William Blake was but an "amateur poet". Hugo's drawings have fascinated artists in recent years with their strange elements of dark, brooding Romanticism, suggestions of Surrealism... and even abstraction. Hugo produced hundreds of ink drawings/paintings which have recently been afforded recognition in major exhibitions complete with catalogs:

[Lokasenna]

The photograph is of Victor Hugo who was also an amateur artist

I don't know how you define "amateur artist" considering that by the same standards as Hugo, William Blake was but an "amateur poet".

Not quite sure I agree with that, I'm afraid! Blake's poetry and painting are inseperable from each other, and I would suggest that there is nothing amateur about either of them. Even just taking the poetry purely on its own, there are few who would argue that Blake wasn't one of the leading figures of Western Romanticism. Hugo was a great writer, one of the best France has produced in her history, but the writings of Blake are certainly comparable, if not even superior.

As for Brian, well, I recognize the subject - it's Somerset Maugham, but I've no idea who painted it, unless it's a self-portrait?

[Emil Miller]

The photograph is of Victor Hugo who was also an amateur artist

I don't know how you define "amateur artist" considering that by the same standards as Hugo, William Blake was but an "amateur poet". Hugo's drawings have fascinated artists in recent years with their strange elements of dark, brooding Romanticism, suggestions of Surrealism... and even abstraction. Hugo produced hundreds of ink drawings/paintings which have recently been afforded recognition in major exhibitions complete with catalogs:[/IMG]

I meant amateur in that he didn't make his living from drawing and painting. I really don't know enough about his work to form a personal opinion on it.

[Genocide]

Somerset by Graham Sutherland?

[Emil Miller]

Somerset by Graham Sutherland?

Are we sure that this is an actual painting?

[stlukesguild]

Blake's poetry and painting are inseperable from each other, and I would suggest that there is nothing amateur about either of them.

Obviously, as a Blake fanatic, I would not suggest that he was either an amateur poet or writer... although the reality is that he didn't make a living from his poetry... nor from his original art for that matter... but rather for his efforts as an engraver/designer. His paid labor often involved copying existing images or engraving imagery according to guidelines established by others in order to be used in illustration of books Edward Young's Night Thoughts and Thomas Gray's poetry. Of course the line between amateur and professional in the visual arts has grown increasingly blurred over time... while it has never been clear in literature. Just how many writers actually earned a living from writing? Certainly not Spenser, Keats, Herrick, Donne, Chaucer, or even Dante.

Even just taking the poetry purely on its own, there are few who would argue that Blake wasn't one of the leading figures of Western Romanticism. Hugo was a great writer, one of the best France has produced in her history, but the writings of Blake are certainly comparable, if not even superior.

Again... I would never suggest otherwise. Hugo is great... but I don't think he rivals Blake as a writer... and surely not in his artistic efforts.

[stlukesguild]

Are we sure that this is an actual painting?

Yes... I could be wrong... but somehow I suspect this is not an artist one will find in any museum or major gallery.

[Lokasenna]

Blake's poetry and painting are inseperable from each other, and I would suggest that there is nothing amateur about either of them.

Obviously, as a Blake fanatic, I would not suggest that he was either an amateur poet or writer... although the reality is that he didn't make a living from his poetry... nor from his original art for that matter... but rather for his efforts as an engraver/designer. His paid labor often involved copying existing images or engraving imagery according to guidelines established by others in order to be used in illustration of books Edward Young's Night Thoughts and Thomas Gray's poetry. Of course the line between amateur and professional in the visual arts has grown increasingly blurred over time... while it has never been clear in literature. Just how many writers actually earned a living from writing? Certainly not Spenser, Keats, Herrick, Donne, Chaucer, or even Dante.

Even just taking the poetry purely on its own, there are few who would argue that Blake wasn't one of the leading figures of Western Romanticism. Hugo was a great writer, one of the best France has produced in her history, but the writings of Blake are certainly comparable, if not even superior.

Again... I would never suggest otherwise. Hugo is great... but I don't think he rivals Blake as a writer... and surely not in his artistic efforts.

Oh, fair enough - I'm sorry, I misunderstood what you were sayin!

[Emil Miller]

Are we sure that this is an actual painting?

Yes... I could be wrong... but somehow I suspect this is not an artist one will find in any museum or major gallery.

I agree and I think it would be a good idea to stop this thread from drying up if we confine the artists and pictures to those that would normally be found museums and galleries, otherwise someone could post pictures of little Johnie's school painting of Noddy and Big Ears and others waste hours looking for it in the belief that might be by Juan Miro.

[Genocide]

This piece was at a gallery I went to a short while back. It wasn't THAT big of a gallery, but it wasn't that small.

I'll give you another one, then.

[Emil Miller]

A Woman standing at the Virginal by Jan Vermeer.