Category: 131

Hilma af Klint (1862-1944 Sweden)

Swedish Abstract Painter

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Hilma af Klint was an overlooked artist of her day and much of her work wasn’t seen until after her death in 1944. Her work predates the first “official” abstract art by Vasily Kandinsky in 1911 by 5 years and also the works of Franz Marc and Piet Mondrian. She was painting non-objectively before these pioneers of abstract art were doing so. Her works were strikingly original. Being overlooked isn’t surprising considering she was a woman, didn’t have any connections to the art world, and her work was just considered too radical for the time. Also, despite not being aware of what was happening in the art world of her contemporaries, it’s bizarre that all their works hold such similarities.

She was enrolled at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm from 1882 to 1887, which was considered rather early for a woman, because Sweden was a country that actually allowed women to study art from a much earlier time than the rest of Europe. She studied portrait and landscape drawing and painting during her time there.

Af Klint was also a part of the first religious organization in Europe called Theosophy that did not discriminate against women. She was 17 when she started exploring spiritualism. Over the years, her work as a medium resulted in many of her paintings telling the story of the world. The messages she received from the spirits were the foundation of her art. These ideas may have constituted her as a witch at the time but the ideas and methodswere not too dissimilar to those of the Surrealists. She represented these ideas in geometric shapes, symbolism in letters and numbers, and in the use of bright bold colours.

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Between 1906 and 1915, she created 193 paintings called The Paintings for the Temple which explored a dualistic perception of creation, evolution, and the universe. She requested that her art to not be shown until 2o years after her death and, incredibly, her wish was respected. Her full series was installed at the Guggenheim in New York from 2018-2019.

I was lucky enough to catch that exhibition while I was in New York, and it was so fascinating to experience her art in the way she meant for it to be seen—all together. Walking upwards towards her final paintings of full ascendence was pretty spectacular. I think it’s great that Hilma af Klint is getting some recognition and finding her way into the canon of the art history because her work fits so neatly into the timeline of the story. Maybe I also had an affinity to her work despite having never heard about her before stumbling upon her work at the Guggenheim because I had just returned from studying abroad in Sweden for my final year of university and the coincidence of it all was just too unbelievable.

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References

https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/hilma-af-klint

https://www.bookforum.com/print/2504/the-otherworldly-abstraction-of-hilma-af-klint-20434

https://www.hilmaafklint.se/om-hilma-af-klint/

https://www.tate.org.uk/tate-etc/issue-27-spring-2013/first-abstract-artist-and-its-not-kandinsky

Robert Delaunay (1885-1941 France)

Leader of Orphic Cubism Movement (Orphism)

Robert Delauney was a French Cubist artist best known for his repertoire of colourful geometric paintings. His paintings evoke a sense of movement with its use of contrasting colours, lines, and shapes. He was a leader, alongside his wife Sonia, of the Orphic Cubism art movement which was originally named as such by a critic in reference to the mythical Greek musician and poet Orpheus—to emphasize the lyricism and musicality in Delaunay’s works. He exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants in 1904 in his late teens and it solidified his position amongst the avant-garde artists in France early on. We was also invited to exhibit at first Der Blaue Reiter exhibition in 1911 by Wassily Kadinsky.

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At the outbreak of WWI, he and his wife fled to Spain and later Portugal, where the warm, clear light of northern Portugal would be a source of colour inspiration for them both (as seen in his Portuguese Woman painting). In contrast to the two paintings above created in Paris, there is a clear shift in colour to a much brighter palette. It’s fascinating to see how a change in scenery can impact an artist’s work and continue on to influence their work as they adopt it as a part of their new style. The Eiffel Tower shown below was painted n Paris post-Portugal and yet it retains the luminosity of the palette he used from those days.

Delaunay’s notable series include his Windows, Eiffel Towers, Circular Forms, and Rhythms. His work trended towards becoming more and more abstract post war. I enjoy his use of contrasting colours and at first glance of his disc paintings and at first glance, it reminded me of a bolder version of some of Hilma af Klint’s work.

References

https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.52397.html/

https://www.sothebys.com/en/artists/robert-delaunay

https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/robert-delaunay

William Holman Hunt
(1827-1910 England)

Founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

William Holman Hunt met Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais while at the Royal Academy Schools. They would go on to create the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The aim of their group was to paint serious subjects, to study nature closely, and to return to the sincerity of spirit of painters before the time of Raphael Sanzio. They painted mostly biblical and literary subjects with an obsessive naturalist quality and attention to detail. Their philosophy and style influenced many artists and movements after them. Holman Hunt was the only one out of the three who committed wholly to the tenets set out by the Brotherhood. He was highly influenced by the writings of John Ruskin and they worked off of each other to popularize the Pre-Raphaelite movement.

Holman Hunt’s paintings are characterized by their meticulous attention to detail and clear moral and religious symbolism. His use of colour really brings a luminosity and brilliance to the surface of the painting. His style did not change much throughout the course of his career, though he did focus more on religious subject matters later on as he was influenced by his trips to Syria and Jerusalem.

I find that Holman Hunt uses lighting for effect to bring attention to faces especially. Their expressions are lit up in a phosphorescent manner and they invite you in for a closer look at what they’re trying to say. The symbolism in his pieces are also interesting as he is able to tell another story beyond what meets the eye. Whether it’s a literary, biblical, or contemporary scene, he is able to add his own flair and underlying narrative, just like his fellow brotherhood members.

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References

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-holman-hunt-287

https://ezproxy.capilanou.ca/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/heliconhe/hunt_william_holman_1827_1910/0?institutionId=6884

https://ezproxy.capilanou.ca/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/andbda/hunt_holman_1827_1910/0?institutionId=6884

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
(1780-1867)

French Neoclassical Painter

Ingres was the main Neoclassical painter after his mentor Jacques-Louis David died in 1825. He was very much influenced by David an the works of antiquity he saw in the Louvre. His style was in opposition to Eugene Delacroix and the rising Romanticism style. He spent time studying art between Paris and Rome and had many ups and downs throughout his career and at the end of it, there was left no one to continue on the Neoclassical style that he carried on for David. He was varied with his subject matter throughout his career—ranging from historical paintings to portraits but at the end of it, he was the most sought-after society portrait painter in France.

As a student of David, Ingres also had a firm belief that more attention should be paid to the drawing of lines and contours rather than colour. This is what he thought set himself apart from the Romantics. While he held this belief, he still also had an excellent grasp on colour and texture in the way he handled fabrics and clothing.

I find the drawings so enlightening to Ingres’ process. You can see what he chooses to pays attention to in his sketches and how that plays out in the final paintings. He focuses on the softness of the face and hair and pays close attention to the way the fabric creases. All this forethought comes through in his final pieces.

He was known for his ‘obsessive perfectionism’ and Ingres was actually resented by his contemporaries because he was very good at what he did. His preciseness and smooth finishes are a part of his desire to depict ideal beauty which resulted in some distorted proportions of his figures. His painting of Mademoiselle Caroline Rivière in 1806 (shown below) gives her an elongated neck and nose which just doesn’t look quite anatomically correct.

To me, his figures take on a porcelain doll look—the texture of the skin is rendered to such an unblemished surface that it looks unreal and hard to connect with. The doll-like quality given to the females he paints is a bit uneasy, but at the same time the entire painting just demands to be examined all over as he pays such careful attention to all the elements in the painting.

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References

https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1411.html

https://ezproxy.capilanou.ca/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/heliconhe/ingres_jean_auguste_dominique/0?institutionId=6884

http://www.artnet.com/artists/jean-auguste-dominique-ingres/2

https://www.britannica.com/biography/J-A-D-Ingres/Late-life-and-works

Domenico Ghirlandaio
(1449-1494)

Early Italian Renaissance Painter from Florence

Ghirlandaio operated a successful workshop where many great artists have trained and he is accredited as one of Michelangelo’s teachers. He was a master in fresco and was commissioned to do work in the Sistine Chapel amongst other chapels in his lifetime.

Ghiralandaio’s most prominent patrons were the Medici family and Tornabuoni family. They gravitated towards the way Ghiralandaio pleasantly depicted scenes of the times and maybe for the way he idealized people for beauty’s sake in his works.

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He was also known to incorporate portraits of his contemporaries in many biblical scenes which made him even more popular amongst the rich Florentines who wanted to see themselves immortalized this way. He even incorporated hints of ancient art in the backgrounds just to appeal to their tastes.

His works were notably colourful and vivid, mirroring the fashionable, well-decorated lives of rich Florentines in his patronage. He somehow manages to not overuse colour to a point of garishness . It seems obvious that he knew what would catch the attention of the patrons he wanted and created works that would appease them and keep his business thriving. While some may see his work as a bit overindulgent to suit the tastes of the rich, it shows that he had business sensibilities and knew what he was doing to create works that would be attractive and beautiful and who could deny liking that?

References

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Domenico-Ghirlandaio

http://www.travelingintuscany.com/art/ghirlandaio/giovannatornabuoni.htm

https://issuu.com/workinmann/docs/the_story_of_art_by_e.h.gombrich__z-lib.org

https://www.wikiart.org/en/domenico-ghirlandaio