Post #9

Throughout the quarter we have studied a number of different artistic styles and movements. This quarter also brought the largest variety and change between those movements. Starting with the realists and moving all the way up into the Abstract Expressionists, there were a number of radical and revolutionary changes happened to art and what is considered art. One artist that really helped jump start the Avant Garde movement was Edourad Manet. I very much enjoyed learning about Manet and his deliberate rejection of Academic and popular artistic values. His showing of Luncheon on the Grass caught a number of people off guard and was surrounded by controversy. The way that Manet embraced modernity and applied it to a new "modern nude" was his way of taking something common to to the Academy and presenting it in a way that they did no approve. He also chose to have his technique be much more painterly and not as attentive to perspective as Academic paintings. I also like how Manet himself continued to challenge himself as an artist throughout his career. In his later works like The Rue Mosnier With Flags you can see how he has changed and adopted some of the more radical painting techniques of the impressionists but also stays true to his Avant  Garde roots and continues to push political and social messages in his art.

The second artist I really enjoyed learning about Gustave Caillebotte. Caillebotte's paintings are so gentle and visually engaging but also carry an element of something beneath the surface. He too very much embraced modern life and used it as much of the subject of his art. I like how he treats perspective, sometimes skewing the floor at dramatic angels to create a dynamic to his paintings, or by having strong angles like the bridge in Le Pont de l'Europe recede quickly into the distance. What really drew me to Caillebotte was learning a little more of his personal biography and what he went through. After learning how quickly close members of his family passed away in succession and what deep effects it had on him his art begins to reveal more. There was always a sub theme to his paintings, one of isolation and distance. It never really becomes the focus or distracts from the piece itself but like I mentioned before you pick up on something. Knowing how sad and alone Caillebotte felt and how he as an artist let those emotions subtly bleed into his art is impressive to me. None of his paintings are explicitly depressing or sad, just carry lingering emotion within them. To me, that is such a fine line to walk and one that Caillebotte walked very skillfully. And that, combined with his technical skill, is very impressive.

The third artist that stood out to me this quarter was Pablo Picasso. His name get thrown about in the conversation of art quite a bit but I learned some facts about him and his approach that really made me think and helped me understand him more as an artist. The first thing that shocked me about Picasso was to learn that he was Academically trained and to see some of his paintings done in that style. It really shed light on his true abilities as an artist and that all of his bizarre and radical paintings that he was known for came from choice and experimentation, not lack of technical skill. The second enlightenment I experienced in regards to Picasso was his idea of simultaneity. Basically Picasso attempted to paint things like faces as if the viewer was seeing them from two perspectives at once, which helps to explain the unique appearance to the way Picasso paints figures. This is interesting because it shows how far and experimental Picasso was in thinking about the craft of painting. To know that he has the ability to paint in a way we see the world but he wants to show us something in a way we could not experience in real life is incredible. He wants to take painting to a level only it can go.