A collection of Impressionist paintings

Art Terms - Art movement

An artistic style or tendency seen in the intentions or works of a number of artists, because there is a striking similarity among the techniques, philosophy or goals they have embraced, or in the attitudes which they espouse in a (more or less) organized effort. Examples include Impressionism, Realism, Expressionism, Renaissance and Surrealism (like much of Dali’s work).

For the love of God by Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst recently became the richest living artist on the planet. His piece For the Love of God, 2007 which is a platinum cast of a human skull encrusted with diamonds recently sold for 50 million pounds to an investment consortium. This week he will be auctioning hundreds of new works at Sotheby’s, and… bypassing the galleries, Damien hopes his ‘greatest hits’ as he calls it, to raise somewhere in the vicinity of 65 million pounds. He remains adamant however that money takes second place to the art itself.

Much in the same way the famous Chinese artist Yue Minjun, whilst using political themes as the catalyst for his paintings (see ‘Execution’) also uses the compositions and themes from past classical artists such as Vermeer and Manet, Damien, uses his theme of death whilst, (as he confesses) recreating the modern works of Francis Bacon in his Sculptures. Is it then that contemporary art is lacking in new ideas or that the postmodern artist, by definition, is purely challenging what came before in a new form?

Firstly, if the artist was lacking in new ideas why pursue time and effort into creating superficial phony pieces of so called art? And if the latter, why are the artists’ own commentaries on their works of art so vague and uninformative. Perhaps as Jackson Pollock once said, ‘When looking at a bed of roses, do you try and wonder what it means, or do you simply enjoy the fact that it is there?’ Isn’t it just this point that enables the artist to create pretty much anything in the name of art? One might argue that what makes artists successful today is access to a good marketing team and publicists that can enable new works to be hyped into the public consciousness, thus creating a celebrity status of the artist in which everything they touch/create turns to gold with little explanation of the concepts behind the works needed. No wonder people remain skeptical. As art critic Richard Hughes suggests, ‘The works, are now like film stars, while the galleries have been reduced to the level of the limousines used to convey them to people’ Therefore, once art becomes a public spectacle the true meaning is lost.

Whatever your stance on today’s contemporary art, one must acknowledge that new art is created first then marketed, it particularly helps to have someone like Charles Saatchi on your side. The more controversial nature of today’s contemporary art only serves to fund more public interest into such pieces as for example Damien’s ‘For the Love of God, 2007’ and with such celebrity status in art comes perceived value in meaning, or cash or both…

(Thank you to contributor Dan Groves for the article. It’s also worth noting that on the September 16th auction Hirst’s collection of work sold for over 70 million pounds)

Art Terms - Avant-garde

French for vanguard. Artists and their work which stand in the forefront of a movement or of new ideas, often in opposition to established ideas and traditions.

Part of our series of articles on paintings that are regarded as being important. Here is one of our Arteze Art Knowledge Network contributors’ picks.

Edward Hopper- Nighthawks

Edward Hopper's Nighthawks

This most famous of Hopper’s pieces of work was apparently painted just after the attack on Pearl Harbor. A melancholic time, reflected in the depiction of an empty street. This painting has a very solitary and lonely feeling to it.

“Nighthawk” may be Hopper’s take on the term “Night Owl”, used to describe someone who stays up especially late. The scene was inspired by a diner (since demolished) in Greenwich Village, Hopper’s home neighborhood in Manhattan. The now-vacant lot is known as Mulry Square, at the intersection of Seventh Avenue South, Greenwich Avenue, and West 11th Street.

Sister Wendy, the nun and incongruous art critic, said of the piece: “Apparently, there was a period when every college dormitory in the country had on its walls a poster of Hopper’s Nighthawks; it had become an icon.”

Any two or more colors that are next to each other on the color wheel and are closely related. For example, blue, blue-green, and green all have the color blue in common.

From our friends over at Bierstadtpainting.com…cheers guys!

“Albert Bierstadt paintings came to be considered among of the most successful of American art out of his contemporaries, even though he was born abroad, near Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1830, and not in the United States.  He did arrive in New Bedford, Massachusetts shortly after his birth, but returned to Germany in 1853 to begin his artistic training.  Four years later Albert Bierstadt oil paintings had developed a consistent style which was painstakingly detailed while simultaneously very light, and became an early example of the American Romantic movement in art.

The paintings of Bierstadt were very popular until roughly the 1880’s when tastes changed and his work began to be considered “old-fashioned”, and the Romantic style of Albert Bierstadt’s artwork began to fall out of favor.

The subject matter of the paintings of Albert Bierstadt was greatly influenced by the events occurring in America during the time he was beginning his career.  America’s westward expansion was at the forefront of many peoples’ minds, and the scenery that started to emerge in the oil paintings of Albert Bierstadt were images of the grandiose land formations and mountain ranges of what was then considered the greatly unexplored western frontier.  The majestic natural settings often overshadowed his mediocrity in portraying an intensity of emotion in his works.  Because he painted such incredible views of nature, many people ignored the fact that Bierstadt’s work was often uninspired, with the exception of his superb choice of subject.  Today’s art critics tend to agree that the early sketches of Albert Bierstadt are often the more accomplished in terms of artistic skill, despite the fact that at the height of his career, the large-scale canvas paintings were being sold for prices as high as $35,000.  The huge scale of some of the landscapes which depicted the American West became symbolic representations of manifest destiny, a prominent philosophy of the time that justified the taming of the “wild” west by settlers.

A classic example of Bierstadt's work

Some of the most famous paintings are the Bombardment of Fort Sumter, Sierra Nevada in California, Dogwood, Hetch Hetchie Canyon, and Nevada Falls.  Even today, many individuals hold a great interest in the artwork of Albert Bierstadt, one of the most famous being Atlanta’s Ted Turner, the Vice Chairman of Time Warner, Inc.  Currently, the artist’s work can be found in collections around the United States, the largest of which is located in Athens, Georgia at the University of Georgia.  However, the artwork of Albert Bierstadt can also be found in Boston, Massachesetts, Buffalo, New York, at Cornell University, and at the National Gallery among many other places primarily in the Eastern United States.”

Art Terms - Abstract Art

Imagery which departs from representational accuracy, to a variable range of possible degrees. A number of different art movements make use of abstract imagery.

A contribution from “allrenaissance.com”, one of our member sites.

“In today’s modern world what is still so appealing about looking at portraits from centuries ago, dating back to the Renaissance? Portraits of Kings and Queens who are long dead and laid to rest in the dusty pages of history books and adorn the walls of our National Galleries are still interesting to us today. Unlike any time in the past, the Renaissance was a celebrated time of the individual and like never before had the faces of so many been documented into the chapters of history.

Artists such as Albrecht Dürer were commissioned by Kings and Queens to travel far over land to execute their finest portraits. It was an honor to sit for an artist - often celebrities in their own right - and have your portrait painted. Anyone with money wanted to seize the opportunity. Many of these paintings from this era are still popular today. The most famous paintings in existence are almost always portraits. Leonardo’s Mona Lisa and Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ are perhaps the two most famous paintings in existence.

Still a celebrity!

The simple truth is that we are fascinated with faces. We continually scan every detail on the faces of people we know and the expressions of strangers. As human beings we are continually searching for information, information that will help us to understand more about the person. Fundamentally, we want to know how others feel and what they do with their lives and we try to relate something of ourselves into the expressions of others. Perhaps then, it is no wonder that in today’s society we are obsessed with the images of celebrities in the pages of glossy gossip magazines. For today, these are our forms of Renaissance portraits. Little, it seems, really does change..”

Thanks for the article!

No. 5, 1948

One of our regular features…an art glossary of sorts. Feel free to offer additions, improvements or corrections to any mistakes you find!

Art Terms - Abstract expressionism

Paint is often thrown, dripped or painted using sticks, thick brushes or even bare hands. Paint is applied quickly to the canvas and often expresses the mood of the artist without representing an actual subject matter. Large canvases were often a feature as well. Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline were key figures in the movement.

The copyright picture to the left shows Number 5, 1948 by JACKSON POLLOCK: Sold for $140 million in a private sale in 2006. Seller: David Geffen. Buyer: possibly David Martínez. As of January 2008 this is the most expensive painting ever sold. A wonderful drip painting by Jackson Pollock that broke all records.

An auction at Sotheby’s is being watched closely by the art market as it will be a test of whether buyer confidence is down.

It is hoped that the auction of Damien Hirst’s work will bring in at least 117 million dollars, but after a string of disappointments in high-profile auctions this year the September 15-16 auction is being regarded as crucial to maintaining confidence in the contemporary art market.

Indications are that the auction will do well, with a poll of art-market insiders showing 78 percent expected the art will sell within Sotheby’s expected range.