1.
Self-portrait
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A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. With better and cheaper mirrors, and the advent of the panel portrait, Portrait of a Man in a Turban by Jan van Eyck of 1433 may well be the earliest known panel self-portrait. He painted a portrait of his wife, and he belonged to the social group that had begun to commission portraits. The genre is venerable, but not until the Renaissance, with increased wealth and interest in the individual as a subject, a self-portrait may be a portrait of the artist, or a portrait included in a larger work, including a group portrait. Many painters are said to have included depictions of specific individuals, including themselves, in these works, the artist usually appears as a face in the crowd or group, often towards the edges or corner of the work and behind the main participants. Rubenss The Four Philosophers is a good example and this culminated in the 17th century with the work of Jan de Bray. Many artistic media have used, apart from paintings, drawings. In the famous Arnolfini Portrait, Jan van Eyck is probably one of two figures glimpsed in a mirror – a surprisingly modern conceit. The Van Eyck painting may have inspired Diego Velázquez to depict himself in view as the painter creating Las Meninas, as the Van Eyck hung in the palace in Madrid where he worked. This was another modern flourish, given that he appears as the painter, in what may be one of the earliest childhood self-portraits now surviving, Albrecht Dürer depicts himself as in naturalistic style as a 13-year-old boy in 1484. In later years he appears variously as a merchant in the background of Biblical scenes, leonardo da Vinci may have drawn a picture of himself at the age of 60, in around 1512. The picture is often reproduced as Da Vincis appearance, although this is not certain. In the 17th century, Rembrandt painted a range of self-portraits, family and professional group paintings, including the artists depiction, became increasingly common from the 17th century on. From the later 20th century on, video plays a part in self-portraiture. Vigée-Lebrun painted a total of 37 self-portraits, many of which were copies of earlier ones, Women artists have historically embodied a number of roles within their self-portraiture. Most common is the artist at work, showing themselves in the act of painting, or at least holding a brush and palette. Often, the viewer if the clothes worn were those they normally painted in. Images of artists at work are encountered in Ancient Egyptian painting, one of the first self-portraits was made by the Pharaoh Akhenatens chief sculptor Bak in 1365 BC
2.
Loire-Atlantique
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Loire-Atlantique is a department on the west coast of France named after the Loire River and the Atlantic Ocean. Loire-Atlantique is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4,1790, originally, it was named Loire-Inférieure, but its name was changed in 1957 to Loire-Atlantique. The area is part of the historical Duchy of Brittany, and contains what many still consider to be Brittanys capital. However, when the system of French Regions was reviewed by the Vichy Government, whilst these administrative changes were reversed after the war, they were re-implemented in the 1955 boundary changes intended to optimise the management of the regions. There has since been a series of reflecting a strong local mood to have the department reintegrated with Brittany. Loire-Atlantique is part of the current region of Pays-de-la-Loire and is surrounded by the department of Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine, Maine-et-Loire, Upper Brittanys indigenous language is Gallo, a romance language related to French. The number of Gallo language speakers has been in decline since the early 20th century. The language is neither official nor taught in primary or secondary education, the Breton language, a Celtic language, native to Lower Brittany, was historically spoken in the western area of Loire-Atlantique, and up to 1920 in Batz-sur-Mer. This area has a rather Breton toponymy, for instance, Guérande originates from the Breton Gwenn Rann, the folklore and musical traditions of eastern or Lower Brittany are generally similar to those of western or Upper Brittany. The département operates the Lila network of buses, which link its villages, towns. The urban areas of Nantes and Saint-Nazaire operate their own urban transport networks, by rail, the regional trains and buses of the TER Pays de la Loire link major towns and cities of the Pays de la Loire and adjoining regions, including those of the département. Nantes is on the TGV network, with high speed trains running to Paris by the LGV Atlantique in just over 2 hours, Nantes Atlantique Airport, located 8 km to the southwest of the city of Nantes, serves the département and surrounding areas. It is the biggest airport in northwestern France, linking with several French, North African and European cities and it is currently planned that this airport will be replaced by a new Aéroport du Grand Ouest, situated 30 km to the north-west of Nantes in the commune of Notre-Dame-des-Landes. The €580 million project was approved in February 2008, with construction expected to start in 2012 and an opening date in 2015
3.
Painting
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Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface. The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, Painting is a mode of creative expression, and the forms are numerous. Drawing, gesture, composition, narration, or abstraction, among other aesthetic modes, may serve to manifest the expressive, Paintings can be naturalistic and representational, photographic, abstract, narrative, symbolistic, emotive, or political in nature. A portion of the history of painting in both Eastern and Western art is dominated by motifs and ideas. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action, the term painting is also used outside of art as a common trade among craftsmen and builders. What enables painting is the perception and representation of intensity, every point in space has different intensity, which can be represented in painting by black and white and all the gray shades between. In practice, painters can articulate shapes by juxtaposing surfaces of different intensity, thus, the basic means of painting are distinct from ideological means, such as geometrical figures, various points of view and organization, and symbols. In technical drawing, thickness of line is ideal, demarcating ideal outlines of an object within a perceptual frame different from the one used by painters. Color and tone are the essence of painting as pitch and rhythm are the essence of music, color is highly subjective, but has observable psychological effects, although these can differ from one culture to the next. Black is associated with mourning in the West, but in the East, some painters, theoreticians, writers and scientists, including Goethe, Kandinsky, and Newton, have written their own color theory. Moreover, the use of language is only an abstraction for a color equivalent, the word red, for example, can cover a wide range of variations from the pure red of the visible spectrum of light. There is not a register of different colors in the way that there is agreement on different notes in music. For a painter, color is not simply divided into basic, painters deal practically with pigments, so blue for a painter can be any of the blues, phthalocyanine blue, Prussian blue, indigo, cobalt, ultramarine, and so on. Psychological and symbolical meanings of color are not, strictly speaking, colors only add to the potential, derived context of meanings, and because of this, the perception of a painting is highly subjective. The analogy with music is quite clear—sound in music is analogous to light in painting, shades to dynamics and these elements do not necessarily form a melody of themselves, rather, they can add different contexts to it. Modern artists have extended the practice of painting considerably to include, as one example, collage, some modern painters incorporate different materials such as sand, cement, straw or wood for their texture. Examples of this are the works of Jean Dubuffet and Anselm Kiefer, there is a growing community of artists who use computers to paint color onto a digital canvas using programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter, and many others. These images can be printed onto traditional canvas if required, rhythm is important in painting as it is in music
4.
Printmaking
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Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints that have an element of originality, except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable of producing multiples of the same piece, which is called a print. Each print produced is not considered a copy but rather is considered an original, a print may be known as an impression. Printmaking is not chosen only for its ability to multiple impressions. Prints are created by transferring ink from a matrix or through a screen to a sheet of paper or other material. Screens made of silk or synthetic fabrics are used for the screenprinting process, other types of matrix substrates and related processes are discussed below. Multiple impressions printed from the matrix form an edition. Prints may also be printed in book form, such as illustrated books or artists books, Printmaking techniques are generally divided into the following basic categories, Relief, where ink is applied to the original surface of the matrix. Relief techniques include woodcut or woodblock as the Asian forms are known, wood engraving. Intaglio, where ink is applied beneath the surface of the matrix. Intaglio techniques include engraving, etching, mezzotint, aquatint, planographic, where the matrix retains its original surface, but is specially prepared and/or inked to allow for the transfer of the image. Planographic techniques include lithography, monotyping, and digital techniques, stencil, where ink or paint is pressed through a prepared screen, including screenprinting and pochoir. Other types of printmaking techniques outside these groups include collagraphy and viscosity printing, collagraphy is a printmaking technique in which textured material is adhered to the printing matrix. This texture is transferred to the paper during the printing process, Contemporary printmaking may include digital printing, photographic mediums, or a combination of digital, photographic, and traditional processes. Many of these techniques can also be combined, especially within the same family, for example, Rembrandts prints are usually referred to as etchings for convenience, but very often include work in engraving and drypoint as well, and sometimes have no etching at all. Woodcut, a type of print, is the earliest printmaking technique. It was probably first developed as a means of printing patterns on cloth, woodcuts of images on paper developed around 1400 in Japan, and slightly later in Europe. These are the two areas where woodcut has been most extensively used purely as a process for making images without text, the artist draws a design on a plank of wood, or on paper which is transferred to the wood
5.
Les Nabis
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Les Nabis were a group of Post-Impressionist avant-garde artists who set the pace for fine arts and graphic arts in France in the 1890s. Initially a group of friends interested in art and literature. In 1890, they began to participate successfully in public exhibitions, meanwhile, most members of the group—Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard—could stand, artistically, on their own. Only Paul Sérusier had problems to overcome—though it was his Talisman, painted at the advice of Paul Gauguin, nabi means prophet in Hebrew and in Arabic. Les Nabis originated as a group of young student artists who banded together at the Académie Julian. Paul Sérusier galvanized Les Nabis, and provided the name and disseminated the example of Paul Gauguin among them, Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard and Maurice Denis became the best known of the group, at the time, however, they were somewhat peripheral to the core group. The term was coined by the linguist Auguste Cazalis who drew a parallel between the way these painters aimed to revitalize painting and the way the ancient prophets had rejuvenated Israel, possibly the nickname arose because most of them wore beards, some were Jews and all were desperately earnest. Les Nabis regarded themselves as initiates, and used a private vocabulary and they called a studio ergasterium, and ended their letters with the initials E. T. P. M. V. Et M. P. Bonnards posters and lithographs are more firmly in the Art Nouveau, after the turn of the century, as modern art moved towards Abstraction, Expressionism, Cubism, etc. In their later years, these painters also largely abandoned their earlier interests in Decorative and his Théories summed up the Nabis aims long after they had been superseded by the fauve painters and by cubism. Other Nabis were Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard, Ker-Xavier Roussel, Paul Ranson, the sculptor Aristide Maillol was associated for a time with the group. The Scot, James Pitcairn-Knowles and the Hungarian, Jozsef Rippl-Ronai, lived together in Paris during the first decade of the 20th century and also turned to glass blowing, the post-Impressionist styles they embraced skirted some aspects of contemporary art nouveau and Symbolism. The influence of the English Arts and Crafts Movement set them to work in media that involved crafts beyond painting, printmaking, book illustration and poster design, textiles, pont-Aven School Henry Lerolle, patron Odilon Redon Boyer, Patricia Eckert. The Nabis and the Parisian Avant-Garde, four French Symbolists, A Sourcebook on Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon, and Maurice Denis. Les peintres du vingtième siècle, Nabis, Fauves, Cubistes, Nabis, Bonnard, Vuillard and Their Circle. The Prophets of Montmartre Ashe Journal article on Les Nabis by Alamantra, Pierre Bonnard, the Graphic Art, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Bonnard and others in the Les Nabis
6.
Maurice Denis
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Maurice Denis was a French painter and writer, and a member of the Symbolist and Les Nabis movements. His theories contributed to the foundations of cubism, fauvism, Maurice Denis was born 25 November 1870, in Granville, Manche, a coastal town in the Normandy region of France. Waters and coastlines would remain favorite subject throughout his career. The Denis family was affluent, and young Maurice attended both the École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie Julian, where he studied with the French figure painter and theorist Jules Joseph Lefebvre. At the Académie, he met painters and future Nabi members including Paul Sérusier, Pierre Bonnard, through Bonnard he also met the future Nabis Édouard Vuillard, Ker-Xavier Roussel, in 1890, they formed The Nabis. They chose Nabi—Hebrew for Prophet—because they understood they would be creating new forms of expression, the group would split apart by the end of the decade, and would influence the later work of both Bonnard and Vuillard, as well as non-Nabi painters like Henri Matisse. After Les Nabis, Denis went on to focus on religious subjects, in 1922, he published his collected historical and theoretical work as Nouvelles théories sur l’art moderne, sur l’art sacré—that is, New Theories of Modern and Sacred Art. The subjects of his works include landscapes and figure studies, particularly of mother. Denis was among the first artists to insist on the flatness of the picture plane—one of the starting points for modernism. In 1898, he produced a theory of creation that found the source for art in the character of the painter, That which creates a work of art is the power and the will of the artist. The Ateliers dArt Sacré were founded on 5 November 1919 after World War I by Denis, the Ateliers created art for churches, particularly those devastated by the recent war. Denis said that he was against academic art because it sacrificed emotion to convention and artifice, above all he wanted beauty, which was an attribute of divinity. Denis, a Catholic tertiary, married his first wife, Marthe Meurier and they had seven children, and she would pose for numerous Denis works. Following her death in 1919, Denis painted a chapel dedicated to her memory, two years later, he married again, to Elisabeth Graterolle, and fathered two more children. Politically, he was close to the monarchist Action Française movement, Denis died in Paris of injuries resulting from an automobile accident in November 1943. In 1980, the Maurice Denis Museum was opened in the home in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. A major retrospective was mounted at the Musée Des Beaux Arts de Montréal in 2007, a similar exhibition took place in 1995 at the UKs Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. Leçons de l’Italie, d’après son journal | Lessons from Italy, based on his Journal
7.
National Gallery of Art
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The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D. C. located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was established in 1937 for the American people by a joint resolution of the United States Congress. Andrew W. Mellon donated an art collection and funds for construction. The Gallery often presents temporary special exhibitions spanning the world and the history of art and it is one of the largest museums in North America. In 1930 Mellon formed the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, when quizzed by Abbot, he explained that the project was in the hands of the Trust and that its decisions were partly dependent on the attitude of the Government towards the gift. Designed by architect John Russell Pope, the new structure was completed and accepted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on behalf of the American people on March 17,1941. Neither Mellon nor Pope lived to see the completed, both died in late August 1937, only two months after excavation had begun. At the time of its inception it was the largest marble structure in the world, as anticipated by Mellon, the creation of the National Gallery encouraged the donation of other substantial art collections by a number of private donors. The Gallerys East Building was constructed in the 1970s on much of the land left over from the original congressional joint resolution. It was funded by Mellons children Paul Mellon and Ailsa Mellon Bruce, designed by famed architect I. M. Pei, the contemporary structure was completed in 1978 and was opened on June 1 of that year by President Jimmy Carter. The new building was built to house the Museums collection of paintings, drawings, sculptures. The design received a National Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects in 1981, the final addition to the complex is the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. Completed and opened to the public on May 23,1999, the National Gallery of Art is supported through a private-public partnership. The United States federal government provides funds, through annual appropriations, to support the museums operations, all artwork, as well as special programs, are provided through private donations and funds. The museum is not part of the Smithsonian Institution, noted directors of the National Gallery have included David E. Finley, Jr. John Walker, and J. Carter Brown. Rusty Powell III is the current director, entry to both buildings of the National Gallery of Art is free of charge. From Monday through Saturday, the museum is open from 10 a. m. –5 p. m. it is open from 11 –6 p. m. on Sundays and it is closed on December 25 and January 1. The museum comprises two buildings, the West Building and the East Building linked by an underground passage
8.
Pierre Bonnard
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Pierre Bonnard was a French painter and printmaker, as well as a founding member of the Post-Impressionist group of avant-garde painters Les Nabis. Bonnard preferred to work from memory, using drawings as a reference, the intimate domestic scenes, for which he is perhaps best known, often include his wife Marthe de Meligny. Identified as a practitioner of Impressionism in the early 20th century, Bonnard has since been recognized for his unique use of color. Bonnard was born in Fontenay-aux-Roses, Hauts-de-Seine on 3 October 1867 and he led a happy and carefree youth as the son of a prominent official of the French Ministry of War. He studied classics during his baccalaureate, at the insistence of his father, Bonnard studied law, graduating and briefly practicing as a barrister in 1888. However, he had attended art classes at Ecole des Beaux-Arts and Académie Julian. His earlier work such as Woman in Checkered Dress shows the influence of Japanese prints, in 1891, he met Toulouse-Lautrec and began showing his work at the annual exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants. In the same year Bonnard also began an association with La Revue Blanche, for which he, Bonnards talent was appreciated early in his career, Claude Roger-Marx remarked in 1893 that he catches fleeting poses, steals unconscious gestures, crystallises the most transient expressions. His first show was at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in 1896, in his twenties Bonnard was a part of Les Nabis, a group of young artists committed to creating work of symbolic and spiritual nature. Other Nabis include Vuillard and Maurice Denis, in addition to his paintings, he also became known for his posters and book illustrations, as well as for his prints and theater set designs. He left Paris in 1910 for the south of France, Bonnard was described, by his own friend and historians, as a man of quiet temperament and one who was unobtrusively independent. His life was free from the tensions and reversals of untoward circumstance. It has been suggested that, Like Daumier, whose life knew little serenity, Bonnard is known for his intense use of color, especially via areas built with small brush marks and close values. His often complex compositions—typically of sunlit interiors and gardens populated with friends, Bonnards fondness for depicting intimate scenes of everyday life, has led to him being called an Intimist, his wife Marthe was an ever-present subject over the course of several decades. She is seen seated at the table, with the remnants of a meal, or nude. He also painted several self-portraits, landscapes, street scenes, and many still lifes, Bonnard did not paint from life but rather drew his subject—sometimes photographing it as well—and made notes on the colors. He then painted the canvas in his studio from his notes, I have all my subjects to hand, he said, I go back and look at them. And before I start painting I reflect, I dream and he worked on numerous canvases simultaneously, which he tacked onto the walls of his small studio
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