fuck yeah art history

For all the lovers of art history.

Archives
Question?
Submit!

Become enlightened:
16th Century
17th Century
18th Century
19th Century
20th Century
Painting
Performance
Sculpture

Ask Answers

Creation of the BirdsRemedios Varo 1957 Museo de Arte Moderno, Chapultepec Park, Mexico City, Mexico

Creation of the Birds
Remedios Varo
1957
Museo de Arte Moderno, Chapultepec Park, Mexico City, Mexico

20th Century Fresco Ruined by Amateur Restoration

Fresco Jesus

I know, a little late because this story broke a few days ago, but for those who haven’t heard, a Spanish fresco from 1930 was botched in an amateur attempt to restore it by an 80-year old woman with good intentions. The middle image shows the fresco as it stood before the woman’s attempt, and the rightmost image is of her “fix.”

Full story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/world/europe/botched-restoration-of-ecce-homo-fresco-shocks-spain.html

What do you think of this?

(Editor’s note: I can’t stop laughing at this, then I feel terrible for laughing because I remember that someone’s art was ruined. But then I look to ruined Jesus’ face and know that everything’s going to be alright. -@irockgnomes)

Henri Matisse in bed working, his black cat at his feet, (Cimiez) Nice, France.Robert CapaAugust 1949International Center of Photography, New York, New York, USAIn August 1949, Capa photographed Henri Matisse in his apartment at the Hotel Regina in Nice. At the time Matisse spent much of his time working from his bed on designs for murals for the Chapelle de Rosaire at Vence.

Henri Matisse in bed working, his black cat at his feet, (Cimiez) Nice, France.
Robert Capa
August 1949
International Center of Photography, New York, New York, USA

In August 1949, Capa photographed Henri Matisse in his apartment at the Hotel Regina in Nice. At the time Matisse spent much of his time working from his bed on designs for murals for the Chapelle de Rosaire at Vence.

The Singing ButlerJack Vettriano1992Private Collection
This painting, which went for almost £750,000 at a Sotheby’s auction in 2004, has only been shown publicly once in an exhibition entitled “From Van Gogh to Vettriano - Hidden Gems from Private Collections” at the Aberdeen Art Gallery.
Has anyone here seen this in person? I found a bunch of different images for this post, some with blue tones some with red, etc. Can someone comment on the color?

The Singing Butler
Jack Vettriano
1992
Private Collection

This painting, which went for almost £750,000 at a Sotheby’s auction in 2004, has only been shown publicly once in an exhibition entitled “From Van Gogh to Vettriano - Hidden Gems from Private Collections” at the Aberdeen Art Gallery.

Has anyone here seen this in person? I found a bunch of different images for this post, some with blue tones some with red, etc. Can someone comment on the color?

I and the VillageMarc Chagall1911The Museum of Modern Art, New York City, New York, USA
Painted the year after Chagall came to Paris, I and the Village evokes his memories of his native Hasidic community outside Vitebsk. In the village, peasants and animals lived side by side, in a mutual dependence here signified by the line from peasant to cow, connecting their eyes. The peasant’s flowering sprig, symbolically a tree of life, is the reward of their partnership. For Hasids, animals were also humanity’s link to the universe, and the painting’s large circular forms suggest the orbiting sun, moon (in eclipse at the lower left), and earth. (From the MoMA website.)

I and the Village
Marc Chagall
1911
The Museum of Modern Art, New York City, New York, USA

Painted the year after Chagall came to Paris, I and the Village evokes his memories of his native Hasidic community outside Vitebsk. In the village, peasants and animals lived side by side, in a mutual dependence here signified by the line from peasant to cow, connecting their eyes. The peasant’s flowering sprig, symbolically a tree of life, is the reward of their partnership. For Hasids, animals were also humanity’s link to the universe, and the painting’s large circular forms suggest the orbiting sun, moon (in eclipse at the lower left), and earth. (From the MoMA website.)

But, is it Art?

Marni Kotak, an artist whose plans to give birth in a New York gallery as an act of performance art provoked criticism and concern, delivered a healthy baby boy Tuesday. Kotak, 36, gave birth to baby Ajax, weighing nine pounds and two ounces at 21 inches at 10:17 a.m., before an audience in a home birthing center she constructed at the Microscope Gallery.

Clip from Visit to Picasso (“Bezoek aan Picasso”), a 1950 documentary by Belgian filmmaker Paul Haesaert.

The full documentary can be watched online here: http://www.docsonline.tv/?search=Visit%20to%20Picasso&type=title&docinfo=133

Self-Portrait
Pablo Picasso
1896
Museo Picasso, Barcelona, Spain

Self-portrait with Cloak
Pablo Picasso
1901
Musée Picasso, Paris, France

Self-Portrait
Pablo Picasso
1907
Narodni Gallery, Prague, Czechia

Self-Portrait
Pablo Picasso
1938
(Does anyone know where this is housed?)

Happy birthday, Pablo Picasso, born 130 years ago today.

The RunawayNorman Rockwell1958The Norman Rockwell Museum of Stockbridge, Stockbridge, MA, USA
American illustrator Normal Rockwell produced this piece for the cover of the September 20, 1958 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. To create his iconic images, Rockwell used photographs of the people and places in the small towns of Arlington, VA and Stockbridge, MA. NPR’s website has an interesting article, along with a gallery, on his artistic method and background on the models for his work.

The Runaway
Norman Rockwell
1958
The Norman Rockwell Museum of Stockbridge, Stockbridge, MA, USA

American illustrator Normal Rockwell produced this piece for the cover of the September 20, 1958 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. To create his iconic images, Rockwell used photographs of the people and places in the small towns of Arlington, VA and Stockbridge, MA. NPR’s website has an interesting article, along with a gallery, on his artistic method and background on the models for his work.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer IGustav Klimt1907Neue Galerie New York, New York City, NY, USA
Austrian artist Gustav Klimt is probably most known for this piece, which at one point was the most expensive painting ever sold - for a whopping $135 million.
What people may not know about this painting is its interesting ownership history. The painting’s subject, Ms. Adele Bloch-Bauer, passed away in 1925 with the request in her will that this painting, along with a four others by Klimt, be donated to the Austrian State Gallery. When her widower husband fled Austria during WWII, his property (including this painting) was confiscated by the Nazis. Later, in his 1945 will, he bequeathed the Klimt paintings to his nieces and nephews.
In 1998, the Austrian government ordered that all paintings confiscated by the Nazi party be returned to their owners. At this time, the paintings had been on display in Vienna for over 60 years, and the Austrian government felt that they were the rightful owners because Bloch-Bauer had specified in her will that the paintings be hung in an Australian gallery. Bloch-Bauer’s nieces and nephews felt that they were the rightful owners, as the paintings had been granted to them in their uncle’s will. After a long legal battle, it was decided in 2004 that Ms. Maria Altmann, niece to Bloch-Bauer, was the rightful owner of the Klimt paintings. In 2006, it was sold to Ronald Lauder and the Neue Galerie in New York in the infamous $135 million transaction.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I
Gustav Klimt
1907
Neue Galerie New York, New York City, NY, USA

Austrian artist Gustav Klimt is probably most known for this piece, which at one point was the most expensive painting ever sold - for a whopping $135 million.

What people may not know about this painting is its interesting ownership history. The painting’s subject, Ms. Adele Bloch-Bauer, passed away in 1925 with the request in her will that this painting, along with a four others by Klimt, be donated to the Austrian State Gallery. When her widower husband fled Austria during WWII, his property (including this painting) was confiscated by the Nazis. Later, in his 1945 will, he bequeathed the Klimt paintings to his nieces and nephews.

In 1998, the Austrian government ordered that all paintings confiscated by the Nazi party be returned to their owners. At this time, the paintings had been on display in Vienna for over 60 years, and the Austrian government felt that they were the rightful owners because Bloch-Bauer had specified in her will that the paintings be hung in an Australian gallery. Bloch-Bauer’s nieces and nephews felt that they were the rightful owners, as the paintings had been granted to them in their uncle’s will. After a long legal battle, it was decided in 2004 that Ms. Maria Altmann, niece to Bloch-Bauer, was the rightful owner of the Klimt paintings. In 2006, it was sold to Ronald Lauder and the Neue Galerie in New York in the infamous $135 million transaction.