Writer's Block: Love This Artist
Vermeer. I'm a huge fan of Dutch realism, always have been. I've always loved the symbolism behind seemingly random objects and situations, though of course all of this would have been obvious to his contemporaries. A discarded shoe, a sleeping girl at the kitchen table? A woman laughing at a man seemingly telling a joke? A small dog? A young woman the object of attention to a well-dressed man, an older, haggard woman watching on? Man, prostitution was rife in Holland in the 1600s! I also loved the step away from the grandiose subjects of the Baroque and Renaissance periods, of mythological and religious icons. The presentation of the human as imperfect.
On that note, my other favourite artist is Caravaggio. The man had serious balls, painting a dead prostitute (allegedly) as the Virgin Mary (in "Death of the Virgin", early 1600s, Louvre) was inspired. I think he was the first painter ever to depict the dead Virgin Mary as actually...dead...as opposed to beautific and ascending to heaven, surrounded by fanfare and adorable cherubs. Caravaggio was dark, and I love dark. Big on the angst and the chiaroscuro (I'm sure he was the father of the technique, though my knowledge of Art History is escaping me a bit at the moment...), and his life (fights, murder, exile) was like something from a movie. In fact, I don't know why a film hasn't been made about the guy already. The original bad boy. Hmmm...
Vilhelm Hammershoi is another of my favourites. He painted in a similar style to the Dutch Realists, but his subject matter was more to the taste of the Impressionists. He was big on the muted colours, docile subjects. Of course, he was a product of the 1800s, so that's not exactly a surprise. His palette was almost monochromatic - shades of grey and white, bringing to mind a softer Whistler's mother, though his subject matter was less somber.
I have two favourite contemporary artists - both of whom I own paintings by. The first is Jackie Anderson, a Scottish painter (I think she comes from Glasgow), who has a bit of a unique style of almost translucent-looking oils, also in the pale, grey and dusky pastel palette of a faded Hammershoi. Her canvasses are washed with transparent hints at colour, more like watercolours than oils. I've got "Ruth, waiting" hanging on my bedroom wall.
The other is Emma Hesse, a Canadian (Ontarian) artist who has an amazing way with light and material. There's just a certain way sunlight filters through an open window, illuminating a nighdress, a pair of stockings, a woman sitting. I have one of her "Slipstream" paintings hanging in my drawing room, above the fireplace.
On that note, my other favourite artist is Caravaggio. The man had serious balls, painting a dead prostitute (allegedly) as the Virgin Mary (in "Death of the Virgin", early 1600s, Louvre) was inspired. I think he was the first painter ever to depict the dead Virgin Mary as actually...dead...as opposed to beautific and ascending to heaven, surrounded by fanfare and adorable cherubs. Caravaggio was dark, and I love dark. Big on the angst and the chiaroscuro (I'm sure he was the father of the technique, though my knowledge of Art History is escaping me a bit at the moment...), and his life (fights, murder, exile) was like something from a movie. In fact, I don't know why a film hasn't been made about the guy already. The original bad boy. Hmmm...
Vilhelm Hammershoi is another of my favourites. He painted in a similar style to the Dutch Realists, but his subject matter was more to the taste of the Impressionists. He was big on the muted colours, docile subjects. Of course, he was a product of the 1800s, so that's not exactly a surprise. His palette was almost monochromatic - shades of grey and white, bringing to mind a softer Whistler's mother, though his subject matter was less somber.
I have two favourite contemporary artists - both of whom I own paintings by. The first is Jackie Anderson, a Scottish painter (I think she comes from Glasgow), who has a bit of a unique style of almost translucent-looking oils, also in the pale, grey and dusky pastel palette of a faded Hammershoi. Her canvasses are washed with transparent hints at colour, more like watercolours than oils. I've got "Ruth, waiting" hanging on my bedroom wall.
The other is Emma Hesse, a Canadian (Ontarian) artist who has an amazing way with light and material. There's just a certain way sunlight filters through an open window, illuminating a nighdress, a pair of stockings, a woman sitting. I have one of her "Slipstream" paintings hanging in my drawing room, above the fireplace.