I really like the Brandywine school. I have always thought N.C. Wyeth was underrated; many of those book illustrations he did were terrific. And if you're in to illustration, there's a great website that treats illustrators as the accomplished craftsmen that they are: illustrators
I'll give another pitch for the Delaware Museum of Art in Wilmington. Their illustration collections if wonderful.
The Birth of Venus by Botticelli in the Uffizi. New Uffizi: The Botticelli & Early Renaissance Rooms Reopen
Speaking of illustrations: the late, great Brenie Wrightson - FRIDAY NIGHT BOYS: Bernie Wrightson RIP
My fav painting is one of the wife and I, her sitting me standing by her side. A heavily forested back drop was added.
Love me some Sir Alma Tadema. Early on the poor guy got no respect at all sadly, at one point folks bought his stuff just for the frames!!! It's amazingly sad how the art critic world can crap on and totally dismiss and ruin an artist, I mean, look at this stuff, how in the world could you dismiss this as trash? Well, they did. But not forever. Imagine that, looking at this, how the hell was he not a hit from the word go? Boggles my mind. Man if I was there with cash back then I would've bought all I could, from the first moment I saw his works as a kid I was hooked. Well now days they go for big bucks. And Allen Funt, yes, remember him, the guy from Candid Camera? He helped change that as he was way into Alma's art. His ability to strike light and make something look so real was amazing. Just look at the light he casts here, WOW! And how about that marble, looks like a photograph. This is one of my favorites:The Roses of Heliogabalus: This runs a close second for me, The Finding Of Moses:
Hopper's "Nighthawks". I love the mood (and I loved working graveyard shift ) I also like that a family friend, noted railroad author John Armstrong, recreated the iconic scene in O scale on his model railroad.
Mc Escher, I still cant find where the stars begin and end. Jackson Pollock, that splatter style can be found on guitars of the 80's.
My favorite modern piece is this one by Chinese-born now Canadian artist Liu Yi The work, titled “Beijing 2008”, depicts four young women playing Mahjong. The woman with the tattoos on her back is China. On her left, focused intensely on the game, is Japan. Across from China, the one with the shirt and head cocked to the side is America. Lying on the floor is Russia. And the girl standing on the right is Taiwan. Of China’s visible set of tiles “East Wind” has a dual meaning. Firstly, it signifies China’s revival as a world power. Secondly, it signifies the military might and weaponry that China possesses has already been placed on the table. On one hand, China appears to be in a good position, though we cannot see the rest of her tiles. Additionally, she is also handling some hidden tiles below the table, behind her foot. Russia appears to be disinterested in the game, but this is far from the truth. One foot hooks coyly at America, while her hand passes a hidden tile to China. For further synopsis here Beijing 2008, a painting by Liu Yi | The Enigma Chronicle
Last week of the exhibition of Picasso's lino-cuts at one of our local galleries. Always a contentious character. He certainly polarised opinion. The man seriously wasn't wired right. But.....he had something. Or nothing. Either way, we went. Here's a few examples. 'Nude Woman At Spring' and 'Still Life Under The Lamp' and one of his 2nd wife Jacqueline. Notice Jacqueline has the correct amount of ears, eyes and noses? He might have been a raving ****wit but he knew enough not to piss off the beloved.... (I thought on 'Still Life' I was looking at some sort of triceratops. Or maybe cherries). Not really my cup of tea.
I went to the museum of his art in Gruyere. I had no idea it was there when we went there. My wife took one look at the pieces on the outside of the museum and said no thanks. Before going there, every thing I had seen of his was like those you posted, various shades of grey or metallic with slight coloring. Surprisingly, there was quite a bit of works not like that at all. Some with lots of color. They were still as creepy.
Creepy, but to me its fascinating, and interesting. Some of his material I disagree with, I just dig the Sci-fi look.
I loved this one I saw at The Louvre in the 1990s and I was drawn to it. To my happiness they were giving away calendars and this picture was one of the twelve. I then ordered the print. Unfortunately it arrived to me in Canada in a shortened rectangle version which cuts out the man on horseback. Grrrrr. AND the bloody import duty and taxes cost me three times what the print cost! Oh well. The Young Martyr by Paul Deloroche 1855
George Herriman. What's not to like? FRIDAY NIGHT BOYS: Quentin Blake and Chris Ware on George Herriman's Krazy Kat
