oil

All posts tagged oil

Empty Plates

Posted by Maverick ~ on November 24, 2019
Posted in: Art. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

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   “Empty Plates (2007) calls attention to the burden of people who struggle economically.  Three collaged spoons spaced almost evenly in the background of the painting possibly suggests the number of people in a household.  The emptiness of one sullen gray plate and its lack of any remaining crumbs reinforces a sense of scarcity.  Stacked coins lining the rim of the plate suggest the household’s poverty.  The equation on the right of the canvas also adds to the element of scarcity in this painting, as the question mark represents the question of whether the family has enough.  Jansen has seamlessly used his mastery of brushstroke and collage techniques to create this work of art.”

Marcus Jansen

The Weeping Woman

Posted by Maverick ~ on April 9, 2018
Posted in: Art, Music, Photography. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 

"The Weeping Woman series is regarded as a thematic continuation of the tragedy depicted in Picasso's epic painting Guernica. In focusing on the image of a woman crying, the artist was no longer painting the effects of the Spanish Civil War directly, but rather referring to a singular universal image of suffering."

Portrait of Dora “Weeping Woman” became a symbol of grief, pain and suffering. Everything in the painting is subordinated to this idea. Pablo always portrayed Dora with huge eyes, sad, pensive or weeping. He emphasized her delicate nervous system, clean face and long red nails.  Dora Maar was Picasso's mistress from 1936 until 1944. In the course of their relationship, Picasso painted her in a number of guises, some realistic, some benign, others tortured or threatening. Picasso explained:

"For me she's the weeping woman. For years I've painted her in tortured forms, not through sadism, and not with pleasure, either; just obeying a vision that forced itself on me. It was the deep reality, not the superficial one."
"Dora, for me, was always a weeping woman....And it's important, because women are suffering machines"

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Winding Up

Posted by Maverick ~ on November 10, 2017
Posted in: Art, Music, Photography. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

Winding Up (1836)
William Sidney Mount

William Sidney Mount was the most highly esteemed painter of American daily life before the Civil War. Using meticulous brushwork, he composed Winding Up similar to a theater set, and the figures mimic stage characters of the day. The man represents Yankee Jonathan, a country-bumpkin type. His hat remains on his head even indoors, and his handkerchief sticks out of his pocket. The woman, however, appears in her finest clothing, which Mount drew from earlier costume sketches.

The title Winding Up has a double meaning. It refers to the ball of yarn the woman winds from the skein around her suitor's hands and to the stage of their courtship.  The artist, however, leaves it to the viewer to guess the final outcome of the relationship.

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