Category: 131

Dorothea Tanning is an American-born surrealist painter. She graduated from the galleys Berg public high school in 1926 and started working at the local public library.

After college, she pursued an art career which took her to Chicago and New York. Tanning first discovered surrealist art at the Museum of Modern Art in 1936. She was a self-taught artist and was greatly inspired by Gothic and romantic novels. Her work over the years became much more sexual and abstract. As well as a painter she was also a well-known sculptor printmaker and writer. 

I was particularly drawn to this artist because of the painting entitled birthday. I looked at it briefly and then quickly had to look again and as you keep looking at it it just gets weirder and weirder. The doors look infinite, I can’t tell if there is another door or a mirror behind the figure, her strange outfit and hair, and the strange Wizard of Oz creature. 

One of the things I really like about surrealist art is that they paint a really strange world.

Born into a family of artists, Pierre-Auguste Renoir was associated with the impressionist movement in his early career, and towards the end of his career developed a more technical style. He enrolled in drawing and anatomy classes at Ecole des beaux art in 1862. He also took painting lessons with Swiss painter Charles Gleyre. Renoir originally learned neo-classical style painting, he was influenced by Delacroix and Corote. Renoir did not particularly like the environment in art classes but continued to go.

Renoirs’ artworks are known for their vibrant light and saturated color. His work was mostly candid portraits of women and children, as well as female nudes, even though a  critique and Le Figaro newspaper said that his figures looked like corpses.  

Throughout these classes, I find it really interesting that I am familiar with many of the works shown in class but have never given them a second thought. I chose to write my blog post about Renoir because the placemats in my house are his most famous painting Dance at le Moulin de la Galette. 

I like some of Renoir’s art more than others, for example, I really like a Portrait of Irene Cahen D’anverse, because it reminds me of Carriera, it is reminiscent of the pastel luminescence and also Rubens because of the creamy skin. However, while I like the scene of girls at the piano I don’t particularly love the colors used in comparison to his other paintings. My favorite paintings Renoir created are the ones inspired by the bold colors of Delacroix. 

François Boucher was born in Paris in 1703. His father was Nicolas Boucher, a lesser-known painter. François studied art under his father for a while, then apprenticed with François Lemoynefor three months. As well as a painter, François was a talented engraver.

He worked for a famous engraver named J.F. Cars. In 1723 he won the Prix de Rome and traveled to Italy a few years later. He spent three years in Rome, north Italy, and Venice and with Franco-Italian fresco painters learning about late Baroque and Rococo art.

François Boucher was an incredible artist. He is most well known for his painting and engraving, but also created tapestries, as well as theater sets, and costumes. His work was heavily inspired by Peter Paul Rubens.François’s “Bird Catchers” has similar elements to Ruben’s “Massacre of the Innocents”. Even though the subjects are different, you can see the subjects are composed in a similar way; all in the center of the painting and intertwined. I think that François’ version is the happier version of Rubens’s piece. 

He was also inspired by Antoine Watteau, with who he studied intensely and worked. François’ work is idyllic, tranquil depictions of classic, pastoral, and mythological scenes. 

One of my favorite periods for fashion and art is Rococo. I adore the slightly erotic themes portrayed in the pastel colours and dreamy scenes. I love François Boucher’s work. My favorite piece is “The Love Letter”. I enjoy the women’s clothing, the little animals, and the composition.

Ambrogio Lorenzetti was a Sienese painter from the 14th century. It is unknown who his teacher was, but he was heavily inspired by Simone Martini, Duccio, and his brother Pierto (who was also a renowned painter). 

Despite featuring perspective and further naturalistic qualities in his paintings that we have now come to associate with Renaissance art, he was still finding a way to break from Byzantine art. 

Lorenzetti’s paintings were shockingly individualistic. Most paintings during this time period were commissioned, so It was difficult for a painter to be able to create something of their own that also met the expectations of the client. 

His first painting was Madonna and Child. Lorenzetti painted for around 13 years but unfortunately only 6 of his pieces have survived. Lorenzetti’s work was imitated in the later part of the 14th century. Like his brother, he is believed to have died of bubonic plague in 1348.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ambrogio-Lorenzetti

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrogio_Lorenzetti