That's the one Ninsey, I think its a limited edition print or something, signed by Horace. Bit of fun and a nice reminder of my youth. I hadn't really thought about your pre photography point before, makes a lot of sense. Also explains why visual arts have become so much less 'realistic', since photography - no longer any need for them to represent a likeness or a scene 'accurately', freeing them up to do other stuff. Turner (in my view) kicked this off with the way he depicted light and the sky - not realistic but feeling hyper real. There is of course loads of religious, political and personal symbolism in the older stuff, but I find the 'modern' art just as interesting - you have to work a bit harder to get it. The Women of Algiers was, for example, painted by Picasso after the death of his friend Matisse who had specialised in painting 'ethnic' women, and is a reworking of Delacroix's 1834 painting. What Picasso tries to do is to show you all the bits of the subjects he paints that you can't actually see from the angle you are looking from. Having said all that, although I can appreciate the idea and the skill involved, I still wouldn't fancy it on the wall in my living room. Delacroix: Matisse Algerian Woman
'All art is quite useless' - Oscar Wilde I would tend to agree and accordingly art has no value. That said I am partial to an early period Rothko
After my Dad passed away in 1993, when I cleared out his desk, I noted he had a postcard of this portrait displayed in his desk, that I also like - wine, women and song (bring it on). Edouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère please log in to view this image
I never had any problem with Stubbs. The whole body of work is magnificent. I mean, who wouldn't like Till Death Us Do Part, Give Us A Clue, and the seminal Worzel Gummidge?
Here's a few by artists who have always made me pause and think: A Box At The Theatre, by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec please log in to view this image The Ragpicker by Edouard Manet please log in to view this image The Imperial War Museum in London has a fabulously moving and meaningful collection of war art, including this one, Paths Of Glory, by Christopher Nevinson please log in to view this image
This painting is in the Courtauld Gallery in London as are a couple by Modigliani and Gaugin. About 10 years ago I picked up one of those 1000 things to see books. They tell you a bit about each painting and also tell you the gallery where the painting is. Whenever I am in a city I check the book to see if a painting is there and go to the gallery. Vienna has shed loads of art..... and yeah I would definitely spend more money on a painting than I would on a footballer!
Interesting, I'll have to pay a visit if I ever get back over for a match. http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/collections/paintings/imp-postimp.shtml That painting is also #1 here:- 100 best paintings in London: full list http://www.timeout.com/london/art/the-100-best-paintings-in-london-full-list#tab_panel_5 http://www.timeout.com/london/art/the-100-best-paintings-in-london-10-1 'A Bar at the Folies-Bergère' - Edouard Manet WHEN? 1882 WHERE CAN I SEE IT? Courtauld Gallery I LIKE IT See also 'The Execution of Maximilion' please log in to view this image There’s no getting round it, London’s best painting is French. As French as an appellation contrôllée aperitif sipped by a chic courtesan on a belle-epoque banquette. But that’s what you get for running such an, erm, laissez-faire poll. The art world has spoken and Edouard Manet, nineteenth-century painting colossus and mentor for younger impressionist contemporaries such as Edgar Degas, Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet, has triumphed. So should we feel disappointed? Not one bit. ‘A Bar at the Folies-Bergère’ is the last great work by one of the greatest painters of all time. Philanthropic art collector Samuel Courtauld knew as much when he stumped up more than £22,000 for it in 1926 (that’s over £1million today). From the dimpled skin of satsumas and the crinkled foil of a champagne bottle (don’t worry, they’re serving Bass pale ale for us rosbiefs), to the flowers nestled in the décolletage of the barmaid and the intoxicating fug of the notorious nightclub itself (Manet’s favourite hang-out, naturally) this masterpiece distils everything that’s great about a painter who is often dubbed ‘the first modern artist’. But it’s more than that. It’s also one of the most psychologically-charged paintings you’ll ever see, a glittering world of misleading reflections and skewed perspectives. At its centre, alone in the crowd, stands a barmaid – and probably also a prostitute – weary, detached, looking at us but not really at us, while to the right, in reflection, we see a shadowy figure who’s no doubt interested in more than a glass of rosé. Where are we in this image? Well, that’s us with the top hat and the tache, the menacing lech. The implication: that everything here is for sale lends a cold, hard reality to the scene. It’s the party and the hangover rolled into one. And Manet paints it with the mixed feelings of intoxicated punter and dispassionate observer. There’s humour and pathos in the details – an acrobat’s legs dangle in the air at the top left of the painting; Manet has added his signature to the bottle of wine on the left of the marble counter. And is that the artist himself amid the throng across the room? He was mortally ill when he finished this work. It’s long been considered his au revoir to the captivating theatre of glamour and cruelty that was nineteenth-century Paris.
Pranksters put cheap IKEA print in art gallery and ask experts to value it... with some saying it is worth nearly £2million YouTube pranksters tricked Dutch artlovers into praising cheap print Placed £7 IKEA poster in modern art museum in the Netherlands Fans called it 'shocking' and praised the artist's 'beautiful spirit' When asked to value it, one man said it was worth £1.8million Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ying-worth-nearly-2million.html#ixzz3aakzuptP
I love the paintings by a Victorian painter named John Atkinson Grimshaw....my late parents had the originals of these two paintings...unfortunately the paintings have now been sold! They also had two originals by the 18th century cartoonist/caricaturist, Thomas Rowlandson, but cannot find them on images sadly. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
Interesting - quite a few links to his work here (likely you've already gone down this path):- http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/rowlandson_thomas.html
Whilst i have a lot of time for contemporary art I do really like the urban art undertaken by a few professional graffiti artist mates of mine. And using just spray cans.....................awesome! These are Odeith's : please log in to view this image please log in to view this image This is painted on two flat walls in a corner. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
Some great links here Kilburn. I just went through the Time Out top 100 in London. It is amazing how many of these you can see for free! I had forgotten that there are a couple of carravagios at the national gallery.
Mark aka" Mr Meana" and his latest work at our local gym. Ignore his West Ham leg tattoo...................nobody's perfect! please log in to view this image
And Arnie too.......... Thats not a head band, by the way, its a plug socket!!! please log in to view this image
Tell you what Pils that street art is something else, the containers and the 3D effect one are brilliant......
Thanks Tramore......you'll probably like this pavement art then.... please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
Part of my job involves visiting premises and identifying fire risks and locating works of art which may need salvaging should the need arise. On one of these visits we went to Hampton Court Palace. As well as the works of art on display there are literally thousands of works in hidden storerooms and restoration areas. There is simply not enough space to display them all. It was in one of these storerooms that the curator pointed out a piece of art hidden in a rack among fifty others. He said that it was a Caravaggio, and that I could take it out and look at it. I took a few pictures of it and this is one of them ... please log in to view this image Although I had heard of Caravaggio and was aware of his work, I never realised the importance of what I was holding until I looked it up. I find it quite astonishing that this painting was abandoned among so many others and hidden away almost forgotten in a storeroom . http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1533759/The-Queen-finds-a-Caravaggio-in-her-storeroom.html http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/402824/the-calling-of-saints-peter-and-andrew http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Calling_of_Saints_Peter_and_Andrew