While preparing one of my final exams for my Art and Literature class (yes, I got to prepare the final at home!), I had to find links between pieces of art and literature. Here is a link that I found in this Renoir painting, and in a few lines of a Baudelaire poem. Just look at the painting, read each line, and it’s almost as if these lines are describing the scene directly! Pretty cool.
Jean-Honoré Fragonard is one of my favorites, because he quite often paints scenes of love and restlessness. These two paintings look to me as if a secret love affair is unfolding behind the scenes, and the lovers’ hearts are beating a million times a second for one another. I don’t know about you, but falling hopelessly in love with a handsome young man sounds like something I’d thoroughly enjoy. Also, that dog looks like my Mom’s dog, and that is quite amusing to me.
What makes Art Nouveau so unique, is that it was created for a very simple purpose: to beautify. To make cities, homes, posters, advertisements – in short, the world around us – beautiful. (you might know the famous curvy green Metro station in Paris) This isn’t a typical “fine art” movement, found only in painting or sculpture, this was a movement found within everyday objects of upper-middle class people.
Inspired by the curving lines and floral patterns found in nature, Art Nouveau is popularized today by the work of Alphonse Mucha. Almost all of his work seems to feature nymph-like women, usually with really long hair. There is a flatness to his work, which gives it a graphic design aspect, but that doesn’t mean it lacks in detail and sophistication. The colors he uses are so harmonious!
It’s time for Artist Feature No. 2! This month, I’m featuring the photography of Erin Drewitz.
I was browsing through Etsy, hearting away, when I ran across her Pigeons & Whales photograph. Some people might look at this image and feel underwhelmed, simply because the beauty of it is wonderfully understated. I’ll explain this more in a moment.
Erin describes her work best, as “an exploration of textures, light, shadow and color,” and I totally agree. I love the cool, desaturated tones she uses, as well as the simple, rather mysterious and uninhabited subjects she captures.