For the final blog post of this year, I decided to write on one of my favorite artists Takato Yamamoto.

Takato Yamamoto was born on January 15th, 1960 in Japan. There is little information on his personal life online. He graduated from Tokyo Zokei University with a degree in painting (Wikiart). His work is strongly influenced by the Japanese ukiyo-e style. After working with the ukiyo-e style for some time he created “Heisei estheticism”. Heisei estheticism was a term he coined himself to describe his personal style. It blends Japanese ukiyo-e prints, Japanese pop-art, and western gothic art (Asia Contemporary art). After developing his signature style he had his first exhibition in 1998 titled “Heisei Esthetics”. His work has been used to illustrate many books and he’s had many personal shows. This is pretty much all the information on Yamamoto’s personal life but I think his work speaks for itself. It’s dark, and often has themes of rebirth, metamorphosis, brutality, death, and eroticism. His work is extremely detailed and he’s able to create intense narratives in his work. Often they reveal a scene just before a brutal event, it is almost a premonition of what’s to come. It’s seductive and makes you want to look at it even though you feel like you shouldn’t. He creates a variety of subjects in his work but it ranges from soft-brutality to complete brutality being depicted in scenes. He’s done hundreds of illustrations and I love looking through his work. Even though he’s done so many pieces his work isn’t repetitive, each piece still tells its own story. Below are a few of my favorite pieces:

Works cited:

Asia Contempoaty Art. 2021. [online] Available at: <https://www.asiacontemporaryart.com/artists/artist/Takato_Yamamoto/en/> [Accessed 15 December 2021].

Wikiart. 2021. Takato Yamamoto – 33 artworks – illustration. [online] Available at: <https://www.wikiart.org/en/takato-yamamoto> [Accessed 15 December 2021].

Images from:

Takato Yamamoto, The Heisei Esthiticism style

https://www.instagram.com/p/CN5KqZMlqbz/

Zdzislaw Beksinski was a Polish surrealist painter. He was born in Sanok in 1929. He is most known for his surreal and dystopian imagery (Artnet,n.d).

He had no formal art training and initially studied architecture. He began his artistic career creating sculptures and working on photography. He then used his photography to venture into painting. He used his photography as a tool and base for his paintings (Culture Trip,n.d). His life and artistic career ended abruptly and tragically when he was stabbed to death by a teenager when he refused to give them money (Culture Trip,n.d).

His work shows immense care for mood and tone. His work has an otherworldly nature to it. All of his pieces are painted so well that the scenes seem real. He has said that he paints as if he was photographing his dreams (Culture, n.d). This surreal and dreamlike trance he creates with paint is beautifully eerie. He is able to create an ambiance in his work, it draws the viewer in. Some of his work is able to give you the feeling that you’ve found something that you shouldn’t have. They all have a slightly unsettling undertone to them which makes them all the more intriguing.

I am very interested in surrealist paintings. I love horror, sci-fi, and fantastical elements. I like looking at something that is only available in the mind of someone else. Meaning that Beksinski is offering an insight into his mind – what he sees and imagines he’s able to share with us on canvas. The scenes and objects he creates are unique to him, no one else would be able to create the same piece. They are so unsettling that they draw you in further, you notice more and more elements in each piece. I’ve looked at the pieces I’ve chosen many times but everytime I find a new detail or shape that he’s hidden in his work.

Images from

https://www.paidsohostw.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=132286

Artnet. 2021. Zdzisław Beksiński. [online] Available at: <http://www.artnet.com/artists/zdzislaw-beksinski/> [Accessed 24 November 2021].

Culture Trip. 2021. [online] Available at: <https://theculturetrip.com/europe/poland/articles/the-tragic-story-of-zdzislaw-beksinski-the-artist-who-inspired-guillermo-del-toro/> [Accessed 24 November 2021].

Gustave Moreau was born on April 6 1826 in Paris. He was a symbolist painter, his work is characterized by his exceptional detail and fantastical content. His work typically depicted erotic paintings of mythological and religious subjects (Brittaniaca,2021).

He began his art education at École des Beaux-Arts then he continued on as an apprentice. He had one strong influence on his work which was Theodore Chasseriau his master. Chasseriau was known for his portraiture and religious paintings. Moreau respected his master highly and exercised what he learned from him in his work (Britannica,2021).

Moreau’s work used heavy impasto and he painted incredibly intricate and ornamental scenes. He also played with vibrant colours and beautiful lighting in his work. He seemed to include a few ‘favorite’ colours in his work, one being a vibrant blue-green accent colour which he used in a lot of his pieces.

Gustave Moreau has said this about his work- “But I am less concerned with expressing the motions of the soul and mind than to render visible, the inner flashes of intuition which have something divine in their apparent insignificance and reveal magic, even divine horizons, when they are transposed into the marvelous effects of pure plastic art.” I think he represents his work well, his work is an offering of his insight and perception of whatever he is painting (Art Net, n.d). It ties well with his themes of mythological and fantastical subjects, he’s revealing his inner imagination.

As I was looking through different artists I thought I had settled on one until I decided to look up one final name, Gustave Moreau. I was instantly attracted to his work. The detail in his work is immense, I love feeling overwhelmed by looking at his work. It is so intricate and delicate that I never fully take in the image whenever I look at his work. I love his use of colour especially the sea blue-green that seems to appear in multiple pieces of his work. I respect artwork that details a story and his work definitely expresses this. 

Works cited:

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Gustave Moreau”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Apr. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gustave-Moreau. Accessed 2 November 2021.

http://www.artnet.com/artists/gustave-moreau/the-conquest-1c0EUuF0vP7UD1Bx6D2Bbw2

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gustave-Moreau

Fede Galiza was born in 1578 in Milan Italy. She was the daughter of an established painter, Annunzio Galiza. Annunzio was a miniature painter and was thought to have taught her how to paint. Fede is regarded as one of the earliest still-life painters in Italy (Encyclopedia, 2021).

She received early recognition for her talents at the age of 12. By the time she was a teenager, she had gained international acknowledgment as a portraitist. Her medium for most of her work is oil. One of her works as a portraitist is the double portrait of Jacopo Menochio and Margherita Candiani (image 3). Although she was well known while she was alive, her work was “hidden” as male artists were dominating the art scene. There has been a lot of research into authenticating her paintings and very few are actually attributed to her (London Art Week, n.d). The images that I have compiled are authenticated works of hers.

In her work, she was known for her extensive attention to detail, her handling of lighting and composition. She was able to create intimate still-life scenes that draw the eye into her artwork. This is why I choose to look into her work. Specifically, Cherries in a Silver Compote (Image 4) was a work that drew me to her. I love her handling of the medium, it looks as if the cherries are real and the composition with the varying elements draws your eye around the piece. It invites you to look at it, and the detail allows you to notice something new every time. It almost creates an atmosphere of looking at something you shouldn’t be.

Works cited:

Images collected from:

http://art-now-and-then.blogspot.com/2017/05/fede-galizia.html

https://www.sothebys.com/en/artists/fede-galizia

” Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. . Encyclopedia.com. 22 Sep. 2021 .” Encyclopedia.com, Encyclopedia.com, 17 Oct. 2021, https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/galizia-fede-1578-1630.

“Lavinia Fontana and Fede Galizia.” Lavinia Fontana and Fede Galizia – London Art Week, https://londonartweek.co.uk/fontanaandgalizia/.

I was immediately drawn to Andrea Mantegna’s work after seeing Palazzo Ducale Oculus. This is what attracted me to investigate his career and contributions to art during this period. I choose 5 pieces of his work that resonated with me, not only his most famous works.

The Palazzo Ducale Oculus was painted on the ceiling of the Camera Delgi Sposi in Mantua Italy (Image 1). His handling of realism and perspective in this piece was very influential during this period and many artists began replicating and studying his use of perspective (Britannica,2021).

Mantegna was known for his execution of foreshortening in his work as well as using roman architecture and statues within his artwork (Art in Tuscany, n.d). His foreshortening is especially prominent in his piece The Lamentation over the Dead Christ (Image 2).

This self-portrait is titled “Grotesque Self-portrait”. It is hidden on the décor on the pillars in the Camera Delgi Sposi. He was well known for his handling and technique with the use of fresco (Brittanica, 2021).

This is Minerva Expelling the Vices from the Garden of Virtue, painted in 1500-02. I loved the color and softness that he achieved in this piece.

Finally, the Madonna of the Victory is a beautiful altarpiece from 1496. Mantegna’s handling of color and composition in this piece is highly regarded. His use of foreshortening and perspective in fresco was studied and used in ceiling decor for 3 centuries after his work was completed (Britannica, 2021).

Works cited:

“Andrea Mantegna, the Lamentation over the Dead Christ: Art in Tuscany: Podere Santa Pia, Holiday House in the South of Tuscany.” Andrea Mantegna, The Lamentation over the Dead Christ | Art in Tuscany | Podere Santa Pia, Holiday House in the South of Tuscany, Art In Tuscany, http://www.travelingintuscany.com/art/andreamantegna/lamentation.htm.

Sheard, Wendy Stedman. “Andrea Mantegna”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 Sep. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Andrea-Mantegna. Accessed 4 October 2021.

“Grotesque Self-Portrait.” Web Gallery of Art, https://www.wga.hu/html_m/m/mantegna/07/2sposi112.html.