Art-i-Fact of the Week

Art-I-Fact #4 (Pointillism):

Georges Seurat was a French painter who live during the mid-late 1800s.  He is well-known for his most famous painting "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte":  

 Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
http://www.georgesseurat.org/

If you look closely at the painting, you can see it's not done with brush strokes, but with dots.  Seurat began work on this painting in 1884 and it took him two years to complete. This was the beginning of Pointillism and served as a foundation of Neo Impressionism.  A little-known fact about Seurat is that his first major work was a painting entitled "Bathers at Asnieres" (not done in Pointillism style) that was rejected by the Paris Salon.  This rejection motivated Seurat to move away from similar establishments and to align himself with local (Paris) independent artists. During the time he was working on Sunday Afternoon, he and other artists formed their own society of independent artists.  It's a good thing Seurat didn't allow the rejection from the Paris Salon to discourage him from trying again.  His Sunday Afternoon painting became an icon of the 19th Century and he is known for initiating a significant shift in modern art with the invention of Pointillism. 


Art-i-Fact #3 (Public Art):

Robert Smithson is an artist close to home (if you're in Utah anyway).  He's known for his "Spiral Jetty" sculpture created in 1970 in the Great Salt Lake.  The spiral is constructed of basalt rocks, mud, and salt crystals.  It was black when it was originally created, but over time has turned white.  Those concerned with erosion and other environmental threats have been looking into ways to preserve the structure, though there is some controversy over the various preservation proposals.  Spiral Jetty is 1500 feet long & 15 feet wide and took only six days to construct, though Smithson didn't do it alone.

 
Oberlin.edu

Smithson died only three years after the jetty was completed.  Spiral Jetty is considered an "Earthwork" sculpture, which falls under the category of public art.  Visual Art Ireland has a good definition for public art: "in general, we have come to understand this term to refer to artworks that are located within the public domain – outside of the traditional arts institution ... and where the underlying ambition for the work is to engage in various ways with public audiences and open up possibilities for access to and participation in the arts." -www.visualartists.ie  There are many extraordinary examples of public art around the world, from a grand scale, to a not-so-grand scale.  Have you ever used sidewalk chalk to color your driveway?  If so, you've created your own public art.  Public art endeavors should never deface protected lands, infringe on others' rights, or encroach on private property.  Smithson went through all of the proper channels to secure rights to the land he used for Spiral Jetty.


Art-i-Fact #2 (Abstract Expressionism):

Jackson Pollock was an American painter (born in Wyoming; died in NY) who was famously known for his "drip painting" method.  His style of artwork was known as "Abstract Expressionism", to which he was a major contributor. I remember learning about Pollock in an art history class in college. My professor asked us to try to guess why he was so renowned.  We all quietly knew he was doing the types of paintings that we looked at and said "I could do that! ... anyone could do that!".  We suspected that his style of painting possibly didn't quite warrant fame and fortune.  My professor went on, however, asking what it was about him that brought him fame. We all sat silently for a few minutes racking our brains.  Then she brought up innovation.  Jackson Pollock was the FIRST to do what he did, which brought attention from the world.  "Ah" could be audibly heard in the classroom as the lights went on in our heads.  Sometimes, it's not just about technique or even possibly end result, but more importantly, innovative thinking.  The thought for this week is innovation.  Ask yourself: "What can I do this week that hasn't been done before?"  It's time to awaken the creative/innovative you that could be hiding in the recesses of your mind, just waiting for the chance to come out and play... 

   

Art-i-Fact #1 (Cubism):

Pablo Picasso is commonly known for a particular style of artwork, as shown immediately below.

We would probably all recognize this as a "Picasso":  

    Girl Before a Mirror,1932

 

Did you know, however, that he had versatile talent and could do much more than just his 'signature' style?  Observe the painting below... yes, that really is a Picasso too!

 

Reading the Letter

1921

One of my personal favorites, when it comes to style, is "Cubism", which was was also Picasso.  Ma Jolie has always been one of my favorites and an inspiration:

Ma Jolie

1912

Notice the order of the dates above.  Picasso painted a lot of realism portraits in his earlier years (early 1900s), but most of his abstract style (as shown at the top of the page), was done during his latter years.  If only he and Freud had gotten together...