November 2021 – Ananya Eriyat

Remedios Varo

Remedios Varo Uranga, born on 16th December 1908, was one of the few female surrealist artists recognized in the first half of the twentieth century. Through her distinct and unconventional approach to surrealism, she defied the male-dominated artistic milieu of the time.

When the Spanish war broke out, Varo fled to Paris where she was influenced by the surrealist movement. Francisco Goya and Hieronymus Bosch’s artworks played a major role in her style. However, the foundations of surrealism were laid early throughout her youth, fuelled by her multicultural upbringing and background. Her father was also a major influence, instilling in her essential principles such as her impassioned perfectionism and freedom of imagination, which eventually manifested in her art.

**The battle ,** La batalla, (1947) and **The Souls of the Mountain,** (1938)

Varo found a safe haven in her paintings to rebel against catholic practices from her maternal side, from which she felt extremely confined. She fused supernatural entities and utopic technologies to create her own, unique aesthetic which can be seen in all her artworks.

Her major focus was mysticism and the occult, personally, I really admire the style and how she interprets her mystical thoughts and concepts into art while also rejecting Christian and religious symbols.

Varo passed away in 1963, under unfortunate circumstances at the peak of her career, from a heart in Mexico City.

The painting above is one of her paintings that stood out to me the most. At first, I thought about how the painting could depict the moon being trapped, but the title of the painting ” The star maker” really took me aback. I was so impressed by how she thought of this painting! A woman sitting in a small house feeding the moon to make stars, pushing them out through some simplistic technology.
The colors used in this painting are also really interestingly used. The sky is a dull grey, even though it is filled with stars and the bright mood that’s meant to be in the sky is in a cage that is in a small house. I love this painting and hope to develop my ideation and thinking abilities as Varo does.

Cats Paradise (1955), Plant architecture (1962) and Sympathy (1955)

Another really interesting aspect about Varo’s paintings that I found was the element of cats spread across some of her paintings. At first, I thought she adored cats but after researching, I realized that Varo painted cats to represent feminine symbols. I like how some painting’s main element is a cat while in some, for instance in her painting “Plant architecture” the cat is subtly placed in the center, in atone that almost merges with the background.
I find Surrealist art captivating since the interpretation is more open and it makes the viewer sit down and think about what the painting is trying to portray.

Works cited:

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-surrealists-paintings-inspire-witches-academics-alike

https://www.wikiart.org/en/remedios-varo/all-works#!#filterName:all-paintings-chronologically,resultType:masonry

Remedios Varo (1908-1963, Spanish)

Peter Behrens – Der Küss

The artist

Peter Behrens was a well-known German architect, graphic designer, and industrial designer who is best remembered for the AEG Turbine Hall in Berlin, which he designed in 1909. From the 1900s until the 1930s, he designed products, fonts, and notable structures in a variety of styles such as the following:

AEG Turbine Hall in Berlin and the ‘AEG’ logo

In 1907, he became a founding member of the German Werkbund and began designing for AEG, where he pioneered the corporate design, graphic design, and the production of fonts, products, and structures. He created a new set of typefaces known as “write-Behrens”.
In the following years, he rose to prominence as a successful architect and a pioneer of the German Reform Movement of the 1910s, which was rationalist and classical.

Der Küss (The kiss)

In 1898 he carved the kiss. A woodcut on cream japan paper., which was the fourth of Pan works. ‘Pan’ is the finest of Long’s 1890s series of pastoral paintings. “The kiss” is one of just six woodcuts created by Peter Behrens, and it is the only one in the art nouveau style. This print deviates from standard graphic motifs and is the most well-known German woodcut of the period. Furthermore, while many of the prints in Pan were photo relief line cuts a medium that was appropriate to the art nouveau style’s swirling, linear patterning.

At the same time, the artwork is both erotic and clean. In this beautiful, perfectly arranged composition, two features in profile are enveloped by an intertwined mass of hair on a dark blue backdrop. Despite appearing to show both sexes, the clear linear patterning and flat treatment of the positive and negative regions erase the delineation between the sexes, resulting in an androgynous coupling. The entwined hair implies a suffocating hug from which neither party can break free.

The medium of woodcut reflects a renewed interest in German graphics as well as a fresh interest in Japanese aesthetics.

I personally liked this piece of Behrens since it stands out from the style of his other works. It is also one of his pieces that is not straightforward, but open to interpretation. The fact that it was created in 1898 really intrigues me since the style and features of this artwork are not exactly the norm.

Works Cited

Factuall information:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Peter-Behrens

https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18701989/

Image sources

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Peter-Behrens

https://www.designindex.org/index/design/peter-behrens.html

https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18701989/

http://luc.devroye.org/fonts-32504.html

Historical Artifact – Wolverine pendant of Les Eyzies

For this assignment, I decided to remake the wolverine pendant from the Magdalenian period( c. 17,000 – c. 12,000 BP). This Wolverine Pendant is a bone pendant decorated with an engraved drawing of a wolverine from the cave of Les Eyzies, Dordogne, France.
At first, I was hesitant about my choice, but as I learned more about the pendant’s history and how it came from a time when the earliest artworks known to mankind were created, I was compelled to create it.

I was planning on changing the wolverine engraving to a reindeer because the Magdalenian epoch was dominated by reindeer hunters, but after learning about how the wolverine population was declining, I felt inclined to draw the wolverine and perhaps spread some information about it through my post so that it could be preserved.
The pendant is approximately 12,500 years old and dates from the late Magdalenian era. It’s composed of a carved bone that’s roughly 1.5 mm thick and smoothed on both sides.

On the left is thee pendant with the Wolverine engraving and the right is the wolverine animal

The pendant is approximately 12,500 years old and dates from the late Magdalenian era. It’s composed of a carved bone that’s roughly 1.5 mm thick and smoothed on both sides.

The engraving struck me because it was so simplistic, yet it depicted a wolverine with a characteristic bear-like face, pointed snout, tiny ears, substantial torso, and hairy paws. The delicate internal shading highlights the fur’s distinctive markings.
A spear or dart might be represented by the diagonal line across the animal’s shoulder. The pendant is broken, and the missing piece may have shown a different figure.

When Richard Hollis writes in his book “Graphic design” about how “Visual communication in widest sense has a long history. When the early man hunted for food and spotted the imprint of the animal in the mud, he was looking at a graphic sign” This inspired me to recreate the wolverine pendant.

This was the outcome of the pendant that I worked on. I made it out of cardboard and paper. I crumpled some paper, painted it a light grey tone, and glued it on the cardboard; I then used several colours of grey to create the bone impression. I tried to produce the same engraving on cardboard with a paper cutter before I designed the shape of the engraving, and I was surprised at how challenging it was! This piqued my curiosity in knowing more about prehistoric art and the techniques employed to create it.

Furthermore, I painted some cardboard using black paint to create a stable backdrop so the artifact could stand out. At first, I was going to leave the background plain black but I felt it was a little too empty, so I drew some cave paintings from the Magdalenian period to enhance the experience and make it seem like the viewer is literally in a cave.
These are the images I used for reference in my drawings:

To conclude with my final outcome of the historical artifact assignment. I spent 2 hours on research time and finding my reference material and I took apporximately 2 days to make the artifact, get my entire setup in place and photograph it. I would give myself an 8.5/10 since I feel I could have invested a little more time in creating a more interesting background and conducting a little more research.

Works cited

Factual information:

https://joyofmuseums.com/museums/united-kingdom-museums/london-museums/british-museum/wolverine-pendant-of-les-eyzies-prehistoric-portable-art/

Image sources:

Wolverine pendant : https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_Palart-102

Wolverine image: https://earthjustice.org/blog/2016-february/keeping-the-wolverine-wild

Magdalenian cave art: https://fineartamerica.com/shop/posters/magdalenian

http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/magdalenian-art.htm

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/magdalenian.html

https://www.thoughtco.com/best-ancient-cave-paintings-4869319

Blog post III – Simeon Solomon

Simeon Solomon was a Pre-Raphaelite painter known for his representations of Jewish life and same-sex attraction. Born on October 9, 1840, he was born in London, the eighth child of an artistically minded middle-class Jewish family.

Self portrait (1859) – Graphite on paper

Shakespeare and the Bible had an early effect on Solomon. His descriptive prose reflects the Pre-Raphaelites’ impact on him at the time, particularly Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s work, which he met in 1858.

Like my former blog article on Frans Halz, I discovered how Simeon Solomon’s work was influenced by an artist who flourished around the same period. Simeon Solomon’s art is on the left, while Rossetti’s piece is on the right. I thought it was incredibly remarkable how similar the facial structure and shading were. I thought it was interesting how Solomon was inspired by Rossetti’s work and incorporated it into his style. It truly highlights the artists’ brilliance, skill, and competence

“Night” – Simeon Solomon (1890) and “Beata Beatrix” – Daniel Gabriel Rossetti (1864-1870)

These are some of his paintings that stood out me:

“The Moon and Sleep” – Oil on Canvas (1894)

I like how it is almost like Solomon is describing his take on love through this painting. After talking about artists, their works and interpretations of their work, I loved how this painting made me wonder what the artist was thinking and whether may take on this painting is the original thought behind this piece.

This illustration of his caught my eye. I love monochromatic illustrations and horror themes. Even though this etching does not have any demonic or ghost representations how this has been made, the dark shadows, the scared child embracing her mother, the unknown man sitting with his head down gave me chills. I want to know what scared this child. What is the definition of a”haunted house’ according to Solomon?

Simeon Solomon, at the age of 65, died in the dining room of St Giles Workhouse on August 14, 1905. He left a legacy of numerous pieces of art as well as a remarkably inspiring tale of a life spent without compromising his sexuality or his creativity.

Works cited:

Image sources:

Simeon Solomon’s art works: https://www.wikiart.org/en/simeon-solomon/night-1890

Daniel Rossettis’s art works: https://www.wikiart.org/en/dante-gabriel-rossetti/beata-beatrix-1880

Simeon Solomon’s self portrait: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/simeon-solomon-513

Factual information:

https://www.simeonsolomon.com/simeon-solomon-biography.html