Natalia Goncharova’s work was contradictory and mixed elements from the sacred and profane. The subject matter of Goncharova’s work are mostly around day to day tasks and lives of rural workers, this being a contrast to her wealthy family and upbringings. The early inspirations of Goncharova’s are Cezanne’s brushstrokes, Fauvism’s Matisse colours and patterns, and the world view of Gauguin.

Her early work named “Self-Portrait with Yellow Lilies” (1907) gives off a very confident use of simplicity. Here, Goncharova  uses a recurring theme of flowers as well as giving herself flowers and the studio background, giving the identity of a nature lover and an artist with bohemian experiences.

“Linen” (1913) was a piece using a cubist and futurist style and contains a lot of cool tones. The piece was a response to a very sexist comment by Marinetti who said he despised women. Goncharova decided to divide each gender’s clothes by their suggested labor but still contained a connection between the two genders.

“The Evangelists” (1911) was a piece entirely dedicated to representing the four evangelists. The piece was met with outrage as usually the religious icon pieces were traditionally reserved for men. Goncharova also wanted to create an icon for her age as every age had a different style and history.

A piece that stands out is “Cats” (1913). It demonstrates the movement of Rayonism as well as Goncharova finding a new way of seeing. It creates a new form and includes Goncharova’s past influences of Futurism, Orphism, and Cubism.

With “Spanish Women” (1923-24) Goncharova uses her costume design endeavors to create her famous polyptych. The piece holds some cubist elements as seen with the faces of the women. Goncharova painted her figures with towering presence which asserts dominance in her piece.

Sources:

• https://www.theartstory.org/artist/goncharova-natalia/
• https://www.theartstory.org/artist/goncharova-natalia/artworks/

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 Lisa Yuskavage honed an original style to figure painting. Her style is very bold, eccentric and introspective with the figure being both the subject and object of the piece. A common theme of her works would be that most of them are exhibitionists, as well as being inspired by pop culture and the dichotomy of subjects, this in turn creates her own emotional formalism in her pieces.

In “The Ones That Don’t Want To: Kelly Marie” (1992), Yuskavage was beginning to find her artistic voice and is part of a series that gained very mixed reviews. The scene revolves around trying to make you feel discomfort with sexual themes and innocent and vulnerable expressions.

“Big Blonde with Hairdo” (1994) was a part of her big blonde series of works which played with themes of alluring women as seen with “Penthouse” magazines, as well as that of Neo Pop artist Jeff Koons and Mike Kelly. Yuskavage took the “tasteless” subject and turned it into fine art with the figure somewhat fearful face hiding something beneath the surface.

“Half Family” (2003) changed styles from an interior to landscapes. It includes the theme of “coming of age” and embracing or exploring new found sexuality. However in the background comes a storm representing that of the dangers that is to come.

“Wilderness” (2009) is similar to a surrealist piece with the open landscapes and the intense colour of the sky. The piece shows off Yuskavage’s painting style which is quite mature and worn in. another interesting thing now, is that Yuskavage is now working with her own plaster sculptures rather than models.

One of the pieces that draws me the most is “Hippies in Tit Heaven” (2015) as I enjoy the moody vibe it gives off. It feels isolated and yet never lonely. The dark expressions of the figures behind the highlighted one feels creepy and very burdened.

Sources:

• https://www.yuskavage.com/bio/
• https://www.theartstory.org/artist/yuskavage-lisa/artworks/#pnt_4

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 The name of the game? Jazz, the name of a dude? Louis Armstrong. For this survey I will be telling you all about this prolific figure of the Jazz era named Louis Daniel Armstrong. Louis was born Aug 4, 1901 and grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. The area he grew up in was especially poor and was nicknamed “The Battlefield” He began to gain popularity in the 1920’s with his two strongest features, his more daring trumpet style as well as his unique vocals.

Louis was encouraged to sing often by a Jewish family who often gave him a job and invited him to meals at their home. However after he was arrested for firing his stepfather’s gun he was sent to the Colored Waif’s Home for Boys. This place was coincidentally where he fell in love with music as he received musical instructions while he was there.

It was after this experience when he had begun to earn himself a name as a fine blues player. While he was beginning he was eventually under mentorship with one of the greatest cornet players in town, Joe “King” Oliver. Soon he replaced King Oliver in Kid Ory’s band, which was back then the most popular band of New Orleans.

Things that Louis was known for was being in the first jazz big band, his band “the Hot Five, later Hot Seven, popularizing scat singing, unique covers of popular songs, the first African-American to get a featured billing role in a major movie, the first African-American musician to write an autobiography, first African-American entertainer to host a nationally sponsored radio show in 1937, Louis Armstrong House, telling the government off for not letting nine African-American children go to a public school, as well as songs like “Weather Bird”, “West End Blues”, “What a Wonderful World”, and “Hello, Dolly!”

Sources:

• https://www.biography.com/musician/louis-armstrong

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 For this week’s survey,  we are talking about colour. One of the biggest things that I want to focus on would be the Plakatstil or Sachplakat poster style of Russia. “Plakatstil” is defined as “poster style” in German. This style came about after younger artists searched beyond the current Victorian, Art Nouveau, and Arts and Craft styles.

The whole movement had started with the 15 year old Lucian Bernhard and an exhibition. Bernhard went to the “Munich Glaspalast Exhibition Of Interior Decoration” once and felt the experience of, as he describes it “walking drunk with colour”. When Lucian Bernhard had made his first real poster in the style of Plakatstil, for the ‘Priester’ (1906) match company for a contest, it was a shocking difference compared to the other posters of the time. One thing to note as well was that the judges at first had discarded the poster and thought that the design was bizarre, however when the sales manager of the Berlin’s leading proto-advertising agency and poster printer saw Bernhard’s poster, he thought it was genius and named it first prize. This is because before this, simplified posters were an oddity and rarely used, the amount of text was also quite different in comparison, due to the fact that other posters tended to use way more text in their posters compared to Bernhard’s who uses barely any words in his.

The style came out of a rejection of medieval poetry and complex patterns as the new century approached. The Plakatstil style was the beginning of modern graphic design, in which they emphasized on more symbols and shapes. Some key aspects of the style would be the bold, straight fonts and simplified designs, the subject matter was also slightly more detailed while shapes and objects that aren’t the focus are simplified. The point of Plakatstil in the end was to have a standard  that presents a smooth product or image to the target audience. The simplified idea of this poster made it very advertisement friendly and therefore became standardized.

Sources:

• https://ericcraps.wordpress.com/2019/01/22/plakatstil/
• https://dylanspiteri.weebly.com/blog-posts-about-graphic-design-artists/plakatstil-german-posters-1905-1915
• http://historiadesigneteoria.blogspot.com/2013/02/plakatstil.html
• https://jennrichardsart.wordpress.com/2014/07/27/history-of-art-movements-plakatstil/
• http://guity-novin.blogspot.com/2010/05/chapter-31-german-plakatstil-movement.html#Ten

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 An iconic painter was Philip Guston. His earlier works were mostly abstract, and he gained success from this. However, Guston decided that abstract life wasn’t for him, so he abandoned it to the dismay of many. Gustons later works however became why he was so well remembered. Some recurring themes they included were imagery such as the hooded Klansmen, Richard Nixon, smoldering cigarettes, and huge eyeballs.

An early career piece would be ”Gladiators” (1940). The piece flaunts abstract and shows a preview to how his later pop pieces would look a little like. As well as being a piece dedicated to the Mexican mural movement showing children fighting as a political statement.

One of his last pieces was “Painter” (1979), and was most likely a self portrait. Guston put a confusing amount of bandages onto the figure however it remains true to his style as it includes key characteristics of his art, the cigarette, and the large eyes.

One of the many KKK paintings that Guston made was “City Limits” (1969). The KKK appeared in Guston’s works as a sort of self portrait or reflection as the “idea of evil fascinated” him.

“Drawing for Conspirators” (1930) is a haunting piece made by a 17 year old Guston. Based on early experiences with seeing the KKK and filled with the theme of oppression and symbolism. 

The “Last Piece” (1958) was a transitional piece and ironically not Guston’s last abstract impressionist piece. It was a piece to show that he had began to move away from his inspirations of nothingness and Buddhism to more recognizable motifs

Sources:

• http://www.artnet.com/artists/philip-guston/
• https://www.moma.org/artists/2419
• https://www.theartstory.org/artist/guston-philip/

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 Max Ernst was more than just a prolific artist, he was a painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. Ernst was also an artist with no formal training as well as a pioneer for dada and surrealism. Furthermore, Ernst invented the techniques of Frottage and Grattage. Constant  themes of Ernst’s work includes the use of symbolic birds, The dream-scape, and painting from his subconscious.

The piece that demonstrates Ernst’s unique collaging style would be “Here Everything is Still Floating” (1920). The piece creates a coherent piece out of unrelated cutouts and ends up being a fun outlet for the insanity of WW1 to Ernst.

Ernst often paints with references to his own life. An example of this is “Two Children Are Threatened by a Nightingale” (1924). It seems quaint at first but becomes more terror inducing as you look more into it. 

“Europe After the Rain II” (1940-42), depicts a futuristic apocalypse. It was also most likely based around the Spanish war and the beginnings of WW2. Executed well is the cluttered feeling of an aftermath of destruction.

The piece that I find most enjoyable is “Celebes” (1921). The piece takes a photograph of a vacuum cleaner and creates an imaginative dream-scape with it, and the headless nude that is with it.

Another one I enjoy would be “Barbarians Marching to the West” (1937). I enjoy the feeling of inevitability and two giant figures of the piece. The dream-scape used here is framed very constrained and the one “barbarian” leading left is very eye catching.

Sources:

• https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/max-ernst-1065
• https://www.theartstory.org/artist/ernst-max/

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