The Earth is Man

 

Roberto Matta is a surrealist painter whose full name is Roberto Antonio Sebastian Matta-Echaurren.  He was one of Chile's best known painters in the 20th century.  The painting was created after the artist visited Mexico and gives the impression of a "cosmic" landscape.  The painting is said to represent the volatile nature of the planet.  It certainly has an explosive look to it. This painting was found at the Art Institute of Chicago. 

Fleeing Ghost

 

This painting is called "Fleeing Ghost" and it was created in 1929 by Paul Klee (1879-1940).  

Klee was an artist who had his own individual style but was influenced by expressionism, cubism and surrealism.  

This painting uses aspects of his idea of "polyphony".  He looked at the effects created by various layered formats.

This painting is part of the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

An Elegant Woman

 

I enjoy looking at art in all of its forms and I also enjoy learning a little bit about artists I've never heard of.  I was impressed by the beauty of this painting but I had never heard of the artist Louis Anquetin (1861-1932).  The name of this painting is "An Elegant Woman at the Elysee Montmartre".  

Anquetin is a French artist who came to Paris to study art. He met artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.  The two artist became friends with other artists one of whom was Vincent Van Gogh.  

Anquetin's work seemed to fall behind as other artists embraced the more modern art movements.  He stayed with the more traditional style of the old masters.  He left behind some beautiful works of art.  You can see some of them on his Wikipedia page.  

This painting is now in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Rock

 

We are stepping to the world of surrealism with this painting called "The Rock" by Peter Blume (1906-1992).  Blume was born in Smorgon, Russian Empire, now Belarus.  He emigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1912.  He studied art in New York City.  This painting is a difficult one to interpret but it is thought to point to the devastation and reconstruction after WWII.  The painting was commissioned by Edgar Kaufman for Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright designed home in Pennsylvania.  It took several years to complete and in the end was too large for the home so it never hung there.

It's an interesting painting to look at with all that destruction going on.  Or, is some rebuilding happening too?

Still Life Reviving

 

Today I have another work of art that I saw at the Art Institue of Chicago.  I took a photo of this one because I knew I wanted to research it when I got home.  It's such an unusual image.

This work was created by Remedios Varo, a woman born in Catalonia in 1908.  Her father was an engineer and he taught her to draw.  She attended school in Madrid. 

Varo arrived in Mexico in December of 1941 as an artist seeking refuge from the Spanish Civil War and WWII.

Upon her untimely death in 1963, it was given to her mother in remembrance of her daughter.  

This was the perfect choice of art for mourning Varo because in addition to being the last painting she created, its message is one of regeneration and new life.  

Another artist I would never have known if I hadn't been inspired by her work to learn more.

Red Sleigh House

 

I haven't posted to this blog in over six years.  The blog started out as place to post photos of different art work that I had created.  I changed the name slightly and will use it now as a place to post photos of art that I have admired. I hope to post something weekly. 

I saw the painting above at the Art Institute of Chicago when I visited last September.  There was something about the painting that attracted me.  I loved the way the artist framed the view of the house with tree branches.  The artist is Lawren Stewart Harris and it was painted in 1919.  I had never heard of the artist and I was curious about him.  He's a Canadian artist whose early career focused on landscapes mostly around Toronto.  He gradually moved his creative style to more modern or abstract viewpoints.  He was a founding member of the Group of Seven, a group of Canadian painters who shared the same artistic vision.  His modern paintings are more well known than the landscapes like this one.  

Here is a link to a great YouTube video of the actor and art lover Steve Martin introducing an exhibit of his modern works at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.