Impressionism

Spanning the years 1765 to 1769, the French artist Jean-Baptiste Greuze painted The Dreamer in oil on canvas. His painting, The Dreamer is a beautiful example of Greuze’s talent in portraying emotion by successfully combining the elements of art which enhance the mood of the image. Greuze creates a well constructed composition through the use of line, color and light to convey the state of being at rest and nearing a peaceful slumber. His use of smooth, flowing lines which curve with the…

Colors is an element of art referring to reflected light. They are very necessary elements in any painting or piece of art. They represent many senses and feelings the artist was feeling towards the art that contain them or something in particular they want us to take in or comprehend. Many colorless paintings can be seen as bland and soulless with no emotions attached to them. But that’s not always the case, there are paintings which must be observed as a grayscale painting to really show the…

Painted in 1880, The Storm, by Pierre-Auguste Cot, is an oil painting currently on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Two subjects, a youthful woman and man, are the central focus of this work. The Storm is notable not only for its subject matter, but also for the striking way in which it is depicted; the technical mastery of Cot is evident in the well-rendered, linear style, and the dynamic and atmospheric nature of the painting inspires a greater sense of interest in the viewer. The…

Kodak Time to change…. George Eastman decides to take the photography world to a new level when the frustration of dealing with the mess and weight of the wet plates. By 1879 he has patent an emulsion-coating which can mass produce dry plates. This leads to the creation of the company, The Eastman Dry Plate Company. In 1884 the join of Strong leads to the company taking on 14 shareholders, and Eastman introduces Negative Paper. Kodak becomes a house hold name when it is registered in 1888…

Perhaps the greatest meditation on how art serves the soul, came in 1910, when Russian painter and art theorist Wassily Kandinsky published The Art of Spiritual Harmony, an exploration of the deepest and most authentic motives for making art. A pioneering work in the movement to free art from its traditional bonds to material reality is one of the most important documents in the history of modern art. It explains Kandinsky’s own theory of painting and crystallizes the great ideas that were…

In 1886, Dutch artist, Vincent van Gogh moved to Paris, France and was inspired by Japanese artist and other Impressionists whom were also studying Japanese art work. He admired the elegance, bold colors, and striking designs that characterized ukiyo-e prints. van Gogh adopted Japanese influence into his work (known as Japonisme) and it is evident in his most famous work, Starry Night. (http://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/Painting/508/Starry-Night.html) Vincent van Gogh painted Starry Night,…

While parts of architecture in the 1950s were reflective of the Cold War conformity, art was an opportunity for people to embrace their individual expression and rebel against the overwhelming pressures to attune to a simplistic lifestyle in response to the government's fear of communism. One of the major movements of this decade was known as Abstract Expressionism. This art style was non-objective and represented no actual objects, rather the artist represents there thoughts through color and…

“Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere...” (Longfellow par. 1). These words by Longfellow seem to spring into the mind when looking at The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Grant Wood. Grant Wood’s painting presents an idealized portrayal of a well-known event in American history in a time when when America had lost its luster. Upon first looking at the painting, the eye is drawn immediately to the church that stands in the foreground. The white church…

Le Mayeur uses expressive brush strokes with prompt movements to bring out the energy and vibrancy of the festival scene, where it is almost as if the movements in the painting were brought to life, and one can almost feel the atmosphere and imagine being a spectator of the Balinese dancers through the portrayal of the light and textures. He uses two different techniques of painting in the foreground and background respectively to create pictorial depth. This can be seen in the rich and vivid…

The Wedding Dance Pieter Bruegel has “the Elder” attached to his name because, he is the eldest of the Flemish Renaissance painting Brueghel Dynasty. Pieter is at the top of that dynasty, and following in his footsteps to become painters are, his two sons, two grandsons, and one great grandson. There is one difference between them Pieter is the only one who left out the “h” in the family name Brueghel. Pieter Bruegel was a Netherlandish painter and much of his works provide a profound elemental…