Contextual Influences in Art
Realism –
Gustave Courbet
Realism began when an artist called Gustave Courbet created a painting called ‘’The painters studio’’ got denied and rejected by the ''jury of the
Exposition Universelle''. This is what annoyed Courbet and triggered him to rebel against
them.
Courbet's famous painting:
The people on the left side to me, appear to be different social types that are included and are seen in his work while on the right Courbet includes what seems like his friends/supporters.
Courbet influenced other artists to bring people to reality and to stop living with high and fake expectations to what is known to be called ''perfect''. He wanted
to bring attention to those who don’t get any at all. Rather than focusing on
upper class people he would focus on peasants and slaves.
For example;
[ 1854/55,Technique: oil, Dimensions:
131 x 167 cm ,Gallery: musée des Beaux Arts, Nantes, France]
he focused on peasants or slaves a lot and really brought out their hard work. Instead or being an escapist, and
making them look strong/hard working.. he shows the girl on
the far left looking tired or maybe even bored, illustrates the unclean walls
and even shows child labour in a way.
Another artist who was a realist :
[Millet, J.F, 1857. The Cleaners. Oil on Canvas, 83 x 111.8cm]
Like Courbet, Millet brought importance to the people who were
considered ‘’low class’’ and put the spotlight on them where as the people who
were considered ‘’high class’’ where put in the background.
Millet really pointed out the back breaking job these cleaners had to go
through, for as everything had to be done by hand and based on the colour of
the day light, it is almost sun down so they must be under pressure with time
before they can’t see anything.
In my re-search, I found a painting
‘’The End of
a working Day’’ By Jules Brenton
A painting
that was done during the same period as Millet and Courbet.
Like Millet’s
painting, this piece also shows low class people working but instead of mid-way
through their working day, they are meant to be finishing but Brenton really
wanted to show that even at the end of the day when they are meant to be a bit
more relaxed, they are still breaking their backs and working extremely hard to the very last minute of their working day.
What made Courbet different from other artists is that he wasn’t afraid
to show the truth, to embrace what was considered and known to be ‘’ugly’’. He
wanted people to stop fantasizing things that were not real, and start
embracing what really is. Here we see a piece done by Gustave Courbet that really
brings out and shows how he wanted to embrace
the human physique pointing out all its
flaws and tries to show us that we should not hide behind a fake fantasy of
what is known to be ‘’ideal’’ or ‘’Perfect’’
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[Courbet, G. 1853. The Bathers, oil on canvas 227x193 Musée Fabre,]
.jpg)
This is a
Painting from the 19th century.
By Alexandre-Jean Dubois-Drahonet.
It reveals the human body just as much as Courbet has but the difference
is this artist was an escapist. He made this females body look flawless and
have that ideal hourglass figure so many women wore corsets to achieve at the
time, he made this women look perfect whereas millet was more realistic, in the
painting ‘The Bathers’ the female/male is drawn exactly how Courbet saw the
body with creases and all, he did not try to change or perfect the body.
Instead he embraced what we and people at the time would consider unattractive.
In my opinion, what made Courbet such an outstanding artist is that he
started off a revolution, not only an art revolution but also the courage or
idea, if you will to embrace what we call ugly but is really and truly normal
and real. At the time not many people understood his works because Realism
moved away from the ideal in creating works, artists started to feel more
comfortable depicting real-life situations, minus aesthetics., and come to
think about it Gustave Courbet’s mind had a very modern way of thinking. In
fact his work influenced art styles from Impressionism to Pop-Art and continues
to influence the styles of today.
Take the Barbie doll for an example. Barbie started off in the 1950’s
and always had a very unrealistic and proportional body giving billions of little girls wrong images of what
they should look like. Over the years the Barbie doll was improved and started
to become more realistic.
Much like
Courbet, today there are artists who have created ‘’the average Barbie doll’’
to give little girls and boys and even adults the idea that it’s okay not to be
a size 0. The average Barbie is made to proportion to show girls what a normal
person really looks like, the average Barbie has zits to show that these things
are normal. The average Barbie was made to really embrace the reality of a
human physique. This proves that the revolution Courbet started in the mid-19th
century still lives on to today.
Bibliography
- Kathryn Calley Galitz. 2013. Gustave Courbet. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gust/hd_gust.htm. [Accessed 23 March 15]
- Musée d'Orsay. 2006. Gustave Courbet. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/courbet-dossier/biography.html. [Accessed 09 December 14].
- Galitz, K.C, 2000, ‘’Gustav Courbet ‘’, Hellibrunn Time line of art, History of the metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Webber. 2013. History of Art, Gustave Courbet. [ONLINE] [Accessed 19 November 14].
- Nespecmetu. 2008. Nespecmetu. [ONLINE] Available at: http://nespecmetu.tumblr.com [Accessed 10 February 15]
- Linda Nochlin. 2014. Gustave Courbet. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.theartstory.org/artist-courbet-gustave.htm.
Art Exhibition
My visit to
cavallieri hotel (an art hotel) in which there was an art exhibition taking
place.
I visited
this exhibition on the 28th March 2015. The practitioners of this
exhibition were Cavallieri since it is an art hotel.
Following are some of the
paintings I saw and observed:
Paintings information:
Name of Artist: Luciano Schifano
Title: Figura Seduta 1970 (sedated Figure)
Media: Oil on canvas
Size: 70x50cm
When I saw this painting, the first thing that came to my head was Picasso
and looking around at some of his others works it appears to be he was inspired
by both Picasso and Matisse for using the same kind of vibrant colorful
paintings. He made the similar shapes and used the same techniques as both Picasso
and Matisse used. The paintings I saw of Schifano were all non-realistic and
very ‘cartoon-like’ just like Picasso and Matisse’s paintings were. This
influences me to really show and flaunt were I get my inspiration from.
Picasso:
Matisse:
2.
I was amazed at this painting when I saw
it as it is a perfect replica of the painter Gustav Klimt’s ‘The kiss’. It appeared
to be done on a specific material but I could not work out how this artist
managed to replicate the painting so perfectly.
Paintings Information:
Name of artist: Domenico Caruso.
Title: Il Bacio (Gustav Klimt) ‘14
Media: Lame, Viscosa, cotone
Size: 100x145cm
I wanted to include this piece especially since we went over it in my
history of design class as Gustav Klimt was a member of the Vienna Art Nouveau
(Vienna Secession) movement, since we are currently studying art nouveau; it
was a great opportunity to include this as one of the painting I had to
observe. Just like the original painting, I really like the style of the painting
and emphasis on the gold and different patterns.
3.
Notes, thoughts and comments: When I saw this painting, it reminded
me of Millet's painting ‘The Cleaners’.
It really focuses on the hard work these people are doing and I liked how
the artists used strong, big waves which indicates that waves makes the job
even harder.
Paintings Information:
The artist as shown in the photo below was not mentioned.
Title: Gathered Seaweed.2014
Media: Oil on Canvas
Size: 104x155cm
Millet's Painting:
4.
My thoughts when I first saw this painting was
that I liked how vibrant and effective the artist made it look with the
specific use of certain colours that he included and mixed.
Paintings Description:
Name of artist: Matthew Cassar
Title: Rocky Coast 2014
Media: Oil on gesso panel
Size: 86x61 cm
This painting influences and inspires me because it shows just how much
using and mixing colours that you wouldn’t think would look good can make a difference.
For example on the bottom right of the painting, Cassar involves the colour
red. The red has absolutely nothing to do with the sea but he used it to show
reflection from the golden sun.
5.
During the
exhibition, I really enjoyed observing this painting and seeing how the artist
used the reflection of light on the water as well as the buildings and the
different colours.
Paintings
description:
Name of Artist: Natalia Bogdanova
Tile: Venice at night ‘13
Media: Oil on canvas
Size: 90x90 cm
Art Essay
Art Essay
Ashley Bickerton
 |
| Ashley Bickerton standing in front of one of his works. |
Ashley bickerton, (British by birth) was born in
Barbados, 1959. Growing up, Bickerton together with his family travelled around
the globe due to his father’s re-search work meaning he lived in different
countries all the time causing him to discover and learn new and different
cultures. His family finally settled in Hawaii by 1972. He also became a US
citizen after spending over 12 years in New York where he studied and began his
career. He then settled in Bali By 1993 and is still currently living there.
Ashley Bickerton is a mixed media artist. He appears to be
inspired by all the cultural themes that he has experienced throughout his life
of travelling but mostly his works seem to be inspired by where he currently
lives, Bali and where he used to live, Hawaii. He masters tone and balance in
his paintings. His paintings remind me of the film ‘’Charlie and the chocolate
factory’’ with the scenes of the umpa lumpas and all the different use of
colours and surrealistic imagery.
 |
| a scene from charlie and the chocolate factory. |
Looking at Bickkertons, works is almost like
looking into a dream to me. Which is what I find so appealing and what I think
makes him so different, is he is the type of artist that doesn't stick to one
or three types of media or method; he mixes drastically from photography to
sculpturing to Photoshop and even painting/printing. This is what makes his
work so interesting. In fact, he calls his work ‘a world within a world’. Bickerton
is currently obsessed with working on ‘island girls’ in which he takes
photographs and manipulates them, makes sculptures or island girls and the
paints on them and adds hair and so on.
 |
| White Head I, 2012 acrylic, digital print and plastic laminate on wood 93 x 80 x 7 inches 236.2 x 203.2 x 17.8 cm LM16004 |
 |
| A clay sculpture together with paint and other mixed media. |
 |
| Blue Bar, 2007 acrylic and digital print on canvas in carved wood, coconut, mother of pearl and coin inlaid artist frame 72 x 86 x 7 inches 182.9 x 218.4 x 17.8 cm LM10637 |
 |
| LH 17, 2007 oil and digital print on canvas in carved wood, coconut, mother of pearl and coin inlaid artist frame 80 x 72 x 7 inches 203.2 x 182.9 x 17.8 cm |
It is hard to compare such an artist to other past and
contempary artists because Bickerton appears to be unlike any other artist, He
is inspired by culture and colours, rather than past artists. But if I had to
link him to some influence I would say it would be the surrealist, Salvador
Dali. As you can see below just like Dali, Bickerton has created his own world
from his mind.
 |
| Dali's Piece |
 |
| Bickertons Piece |
Everything they paint looks mad, vibrant and of course, Surreal they both painted things other artists never have. People say that Bickerton is another Gauguin, but i cant seem to see the reference between them besides the colours they use. Besides the fact that he was influenced by all the cultures he learned and
experienced growing up, now a days Bicker tons claims he barely goes out unless
it’s to go surfing where I can see some reference to surfing in some of his
works and what impressive is that his work is still very down to earth and full
of nature even though he spends most of his time Inside.
Ashley Bickerton uses additive colour, sculpture and as well space in his works. He applied colour to his pieces such as sculptures using paints. Ashley’s work is full of volume and warm colours.
 |
| Bed, 2008 oil and Acrylic paint and digital print on archival canvas in carved wood artist frame, inlaid with coconut, mother of pearl and coins 72.05 x 88.19 x 7.87 inches 183 x 224 x 20 cm LM1422 |
Ashley Bickerton uses additive colour, sculpture and as well space in his works. He applied colour to his pieces such as sculptures using paints. Ashley’s work is full of volume and warm colours.
 |
| Red Scooter Nocturne, 2010-2011 acrylic, digital print and plastic laminate on wood 65.5 x 76.75 x 5 inches 166.4 x 194.9 x 12.7 cm LM14678 |
References:
Holland Cotter, Art in Review; Ashley Bickerton, The New
York Times, May 19, 2006.
Inframe, 2014, Ashley Bickerton: A world within a world, [video
online] Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XDdA3tmKQM
AFP new agency, 2012, Interview with bali based artist - Ashley Bickerton [Video Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mglhxa8cOPA
Artnet, 2008, Ashley Bikerton, New York, [Video online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aBAnlIaOYg
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