Art Sunday; Fernando Botero Angulo

Fernando Botero Angulo is the artist I came across this morning while looking for a couple of paintings to illustrate the theme ‘celebration’. I’ve found a lot more of his paintings and they have something ‘different’ about them. 

His preference seems to be for large women with small breasts and double chins, sometimes accompanied by men of the portly godfather type. But in their own weird way, these people have a certain appeal; they remind me of prehistoric fertility figures. 

They are quirky; do you notice how the lady in green has one eye that looks inwards? 

And the way all of the faces in the family group look virtually identical? I know it’s a family group and there would be a family resemblance, but even the dog has the same face!!
 

Here are some of his paintings plus a little informationm.
Information from From Wikipedia,
More information here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Botero
Fernando Botero Angulo (born April 19, 1932) is a Colombian figurative artist. 

His works feature a figurative style, called by some "Boterismo", which gives them an unmistakable identity. Botero depicts women, men, daily life, historical events and characters, milestones of art, still-life, animals and the natural world in general, with exaggerated and disproportionate volumetry, accompanied by fine details of scathing criticism, irony, humor, and ingenuity.

Self-titled "the most Colombian of Colombian artists" early on, he came to national prominence when he won the first prize at the Salón de Artistas Colombianos in 1958. 

Working most of the year in Paris, in the last three decades he has achieved international recognition for his paintings, drawings and sculpture, with exhibitions across the world.  His art is collected by major museums, corporations and private collectors.

   
His early life and education
Fernando Botero was born the second of three children in Medellín, Colombia. His parents were David Botero and Flora Angulo. David Botero, a salesman who traveled by horseback, died when Fernando was four, and his mother worked as a seamstress. 

An uncle took a major role in his life. Although isolated from art as presented in museums and other cultural institutes, Botero was influenced by the Baroque style of the colonial churches and then the rich life of the city.

In 1944, after Botero attended a Jesuit school, Botero's uncle sent him to a school for matadors for two years. 

 

In 1948, at the age of 16, Botero published his first illustrations in the Sunday supplement of the El Colombiano daily paper. He used the money he was paid to attend high school at the Liceo de Marinilla de Antioquia.

Art Sunday; Celebration

This will be quite brief today. I was out last night, it was the 50th birthday of the school where I work. I don’t normally ’do’ formal do’s, but for this I made an exception. Copious amounts of wine, a three course meal, little boxes of chocolates on the table, balloons in the school colours and strong black coffee and chocolate mints to follow. What’s not to like?? Besides which; in this neck of the woods ‘formal’ doesn’t mean black tie and ballroom dancing; it means full kilt get up, The Gay Gordons and various ‘reel’ dances. Guests included teaching & non teaching staff past & present, and head & deputy head boy & girl past and present.
A jolly good time was had by all. My eye has healed as much as it’s ever going to and I’m back at work tomorrow. It’s a beautiful autumnal day today and I have stuff to do in the garden, so like I said, this is brief. 

Today’s Art Sunday is………………..Celebration.

Wedding Candles by Marc Chagall

 
The next one is about the festival of Batukamma from here. 
 http://www.newsonair.nic.in/bathukamma.asp

  Centuries ago, King Dharmangada of Chola Dynasty used to rule South India. He was childless for many years after marriage. After performing many pujas and rituals, his wife gave birth to Goddess Lakshmi. Baby Lakshmi survived many accidents. So, her parents named her Batukamma Since then, Batukamma festival is celebrated by women in Telangana region.

Next; Leonid Afremov, Before the Celebration

from here
http://www.paintinghere.com/painting/BEFORE_THE_CELEBRATION_28393.html
 

Next one from the  Colombian-born Fernando Botero, Latin America’s most popular living artist.


from here

http://www.hispanicprwire.com/News/in/8761/1/blockbuster-botero-exhibition-to-visit-san-antonio-inspiring-community-celebration/

I'm not sure who painted this last one but its from here.

http://chimac.net/2012/01/08/colorful-painting-of-dancers/

Art Sunday; Moy Mackay

                                    Moy Mackay

Moy graduated from  the Glasgow School of Art in 1990 with a BA (Hons). She was born in Edinburgh in 1966, trained in Glasgow and now works in the Scottish Borders.
Her work is rich, vibrant, based on the landscape around her and made from fibers.  She has had numerous exhibitions in the UK and USA.. She works from  her home in the Tweed Valley on the Scottish Borders creating unique pieces using Merino Fleece fibers. She uses her fibers as other would use a paint brush.
The result is a “felt painting” with warmth, texture and light. Her utter delight in the landscape is visible  in every fiber of her unique work.
Moy’s paintings are created by replacing paint as a medium with dyed sheep’s fleece, she combines traditional felting techniques with embroidery. 

Through the action of rubbing and rolling, the fibers are joined together to create a unified work, which is usually embellished with hand and machine embroidery to give results that are rich in colour and texture. 

Art Sunday; Lempicka, or masterpiece meets mass market.

Art Sunday, master piece meets mass market.

Lempicka

This lady artist came from a wealthy family and her story is, in parts romantic, and in parts tragic. She fell in love with a man she didn’t know, and resolved to meet and marry him. She was one of the great female artists; she painted a series of portraits of her daughter but neglecting and ignored the daughter. 

Her work is striking and original, I love her work but so do many other people. Her work is sought after and collected by Madonna, Jack Nicholson and singer-actress Barbra Streisand.
 
This is what Wikipedia has to say about her. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamara_de_Lempicka

Born into a wealthy and prominent family, her father was Boris Gurwik-Górski, a Polish lawyer, and her mother, the former Malvina Decler, a Polish socialite. Maria was the middle child with two siblings. 

She attended boarding school in Lausanne, Switzerland, and spent the winter of 1911 with her grandmother in Italy and on the French Riviera, where she was treated to her first taste of the Great Masters of Italian painting. 

In 1912, her parents divorced and Maria went to live with her wealthy Aunt Stefa in St. Petersburg, Russia. When her mother remarried, she became determined to break away to a life of her own. In 1913, at the age of fifteen, while attending the opera, Maria spotted the man she became determined to marry. 

She promoted her campaign through her well-connected uncle and in 1916 she married Tadeusz Łempicki (1888–1951) in St. Petersburg—a well-known ladies' man, gadabout, and lawyer by title, who was tempted by the significant dowry. 

In 1917, during the Russian Revolution, Tadeusz was arrested in the dead of night by the Bolsheviks. Maria searched the prisons for him and after several weeks, with the help of the Swedish consul, she secured his release. They traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark then London, England and finally to Paris, France to where Maria's family had also escaped, along with numerous upper-class Russian refugees.

To read the complete story go here, its well worth reading
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamara_de_Lempicka



BUT……………..

these particular paintings were not painted by her!! 
These are just a few of the hundreds and hundreds of replica paintings produced every day in a Chinese village called Dafen. Until a couple of days ago I didn’t know this place existed, and then I watched a documentary. Apparently, it’s a village in China that specialises in hand crafted reproduction art. This is not ‘fake art’; no one is trying to pass it of as the original. The artists involve are all graduates of Chinese Art Colleges and they are hand picked as the best and most talented. To them technique is every thing, they painstakingly copy the masterpieces of western art. I thought it all sounded a bit bizarre when I saw the documentary. Now I’m not so sure. I genuinely do admire this womans’ work, and I have in the past bought ‘prints’ of famous art works including hers. But a print never captures the essence of a painting. Now I’m thinking, well………….I’m not Madonna, no way could I ever afford an original piece of art, but if there was a piece I particularly wanted, maybe this is the next best thing. It’s certainly better than any other reproduction, be it print, photograph, cheap copy or any thing else. These work shops and studios remind me of the way the old renaissance masters crated their work, they had teams of apprentice craftsmen working for them and each of these workers had their own speciality. Some specialised in skies and some in buildings. As they progressed they were given more and more responsibility and eventually, they could become artists in their own right. Renaissance   artists didn’t see themselves in the same way as contemporary artists do, to them it was a craft to be perfected over time. Maybe that’s the way we should see these talented Chinese copy artists. What ever you think of them, technically the are brilliant, and what they o is certainly thought provoking.

And if you do want to own a particular masterpiece; this is one of the many sites selling them to the western market.

Shop online for a masterpiece.

http://dafenvillageonline.com/

Art and Poetry, Andre Derain and Wordsworth

André Derain

I came across some of this mans work while looking for paintings of rainbows. I don’t think he painted rainbows, but his work is so colourful, I thought it would be perfect. I saw the most amazing rainbow a couple of days ago, it was a double rainbow and unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me to capture it. 

 I remembered an old Poem I’ve not thought of in years, a Wordsworth poem about the rainbow. The first couple of lines go; ‘My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky’. That is exactly how I felt. So, here is the little poem by Wordsworth, some very colourful paintings by Andre Darain and some information about the artist.

André Derain (10 June 1880 – 8 September 1954) was a French artist, painter, sculptor and co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse.

Born in 1880 in Chatou, Yvelines, Île-de-France, just outside Paris. He met Matisse in 1898 while studying to be an engineer and taking painting classes a hobby.  It was Matisse who persuaded Derain's parents to allow him to abandon his engineering career and devote himself to painting. And the art world should be very grateful to Matisse for doing this.

Derain and Matisse worked together during the  summer of 1905 and then displayed their colourful,.  innovative paintings at the Salon d'Automne. These vivid, unnatural colors led the critic Louis Vauxcelles to describe their work as ‘les Fauves’, or "the wild beasts", marking the start of the Fauvist movement. The remark was originally meant as an insult but the term stuck and the fauvist movement was born.  

In 1906 Derain was commissioned to paint the city of London, he produced a series of cityscapes which were colourful and alive. His work was likened to Monet by some critics of the time. Some of his views of the Thames use the Pointillist technique of multiple dots, although by this time, because the dots have become much larger, it is rather more simply the separation of colours called Divisionism.
For the full write up on Derain, go here.


Information from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/André_Derain

William Wordsworth
 The Rainbow

 My heart leaps up when I behold  
A rainbow in the sky:  
So was it when life began;  
So is it now I am a man;  
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!  
The Child is father of the Man;  
I could wish my days to be  
Bound each to each by natural frivolity.