I tend to go through phases where I favor certain styles and time periods and then move onto different ones. Recently I’ve grown an appreciation and understanding for works made after the post-impressionist period, primarily the beginnings of the 20th century’s abstract art. The first work I took a picture of is by Liubov Popova. “The Traveler” can be classified as a transitional work into synthetic cubism; synthetic cubism is defined by its bright colors, and decorative elements that give it a collage like feel, but still retain some intermittent juxtapositions and defragmentation of dimensions and space that analytic cubism focuses on. I admire how artists at the beginning of this century constantly tried to reform and push the limits of what could be defined as art, and redefining its purpose. Popova experiments and takes a step further from analytical cubism in this painting. Even though it is hard to see, there sits a figure in a black cape and blue dress, holding a green umbrella. Perhaps reflective of Popova’s traveling lifestyle, the subject is traveling in some medium of transportation. You can see fragments of headlines, newspapers, media, and decorative outer surroundings of what the passenger might be seeing and reading. Space is broken or flattened into juxtaposed triangles, yet depth remains through the shading and gradients of the subject’s wardrobe and surroundings. This style makes the viewer sense reality in a radical yet still understandable form.
In the same room as Popova are works of Matisse; man is known for creating his own stylistic movement called Fauvism. His works seem like childish paintings at first, until you realize what he was trying to achieve; Matisse experimented with color relationships through proportion and quantity and its effects on the eyes. Nude on the sofa uses a red that pulls towards the viewer and a decorative white a blue wall that pushes back into space; the work seems to have a diagonal push and pull relationship though a composition that is divided off center to the left. At the same time the push and pull effect seems to compliment the nude figure, in creating a sense of middle ground. She stares back at the viewer as if to pull you in to her tug of war colored world.
Walking further back Matisse’ paintings, is an open room with more contemporary works. In the center of the room, appearing to warp into the atrium, is a piece done in gold by Constantin Brancusi called “Bird in Space.” As the title suggests, Brancusi intentions were for the piece to capture the essence of a bird in movement. You can’t help but want to walk around this centered piece, to understand what it is trying to achieve. At each angle, the work takes on a different shape and is constantly evolving; appears to showing a different movement in flight.
Lastly, I went downstairs where there was a nicely installed Picasso against a dark wall. Picasso works vary greatly in style throughout his lifetime, and always reflect his goal to evolve and try new representations. His thick black lines and simplified curved shapes are reminiscent of his studies of Iberian and African art. Combination of lines and intense contrasting blues and reds pull the viewer into observing this dreamy and passionate woman with a book. Like other Picasso’s works, his subjects are frontal and force themselves upon the same level plane as the viewer; forcing the viewer to analyze what is in front of her/him.
I believe all these works function successfully with different standards that make them unique and allow the viewer to focus on the artist’s intention or at least ponder and question. Although some can be categorized into movements, there are no set guidelines on how to portray color, or lines for these; each simply takes a new approach to representation that is not identical to any other work. But rather shows the evolution of how one thought process is translated and transformed into another.
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Norton Simon Museum Trip
I tend to go through phases where I favor certain styles and time periods and then move onto different ones. Recently I’ve grown an appreciation and understanding for works made after the post-impressionist period, primarily the beginnings of the 20th century’s abstract art. The first work I took a picture of is by Liubov Popova. “The Traveler” can be classified as a transitional work into synthetic cubism; synthetic cubism is defined by its bright colors, and decorative elements that give it a collage like feel, but still retain some intermittent juxtapositions and defragmentation of dimensions and space that analytic cubism focuses on. I admire how artists at the beginning of this century constantly tried to reform and push the limits of what could be defined as art, and redefining its purpose. Popova experiments and takes a step further from analytical cubism in this painting. Even though it is hard to see, there sits a figure in a black cape and blue dress, holding a green umbrella. Perhaps reflective of Popova’s traveling lifestyle, the subject is traveling in some medium of transportation. You can see fragments of headlines, newspapers, media, and decorative outer surroundings of what the passenger might be seeing and reading. Space is broken or flattened into juxtaposed triangles, yet depth remains through the shading and gradients of the subject’s wardrobe and surroundings. This style makes the viewer sense reality in a radical yet still understandable form.
In the same room as Popova are works of Matisse; man is known for creating his own stylistic movement called Fauvism. His works seem like childish paintings at first, until you realize what he was trying to achieve; Matisse experimented with color relationships through proportion and quantity and its effects on the eyes. Nude on the sofa uses a red that pulls towards the viewer and a decorative white a blue wall that pushes back into space; the work seems to have a diagonal push and pull relationship though a composition that is divided off center to the left. At the same time the push and pull effect seems to compliment the nude figure, in creating a sense of middle ground. She stares back at the viewer as if to pull you in to her tug of war colored world.
Walking further back Matisse’ paintings, is an open room with more contemporary works. In the center of the room, appearing to warp into the atrium, is a piece done in gold by Constantin Brancusi called “Bird in Space.” As the title suggests, Brancusi intentions were for the piece to capture the essence of a bird in movement. You can’t help but want to walk around this centered piece, to understand what it is trying to achieve. At each angle, the work takes on a different shape and is constantly evolving; appears to showing a different movement in flight.
Lastly, I went downstairs where there was a nicely installed Picasso against a dark wall. Picasso works vary greatly in style throughout his lifetime, and always reflect his goal to evolve and try new representations. His thick black lines and simplified curved shapes are reminiscent of his studies of Iberian and African art. Combination of lines and intense contrasting blues and reds pull the viewer into observing this dreamy and passionate woman with a book. Like other Picasso’s works, his subjects are frontal and force themselves upon the same level plane as the viewer; forcing the viewer to analyze what is in front of her/him.
I believe all these works function successfully with different standards that make them unique and allow the viewer to focus on the artist’s intention or at least ponder and question. Although some can be categorized into movements, there are no set guidelines on how to portray color, or lines for these; each simply takes a new approach to representation that is not identical to any other work. But rather shows the evolution of how one thought process is translated and transformed into another.
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