IDES 131 – Tobin Elias

Mark Ryden: The Godfather of Pop Surrealism

Death on the Boards (1992) by Robert Williams. Influences from hot rod culture, erotic novels, and underground comix are apparent in this piece.

The underground visual art movement Lowbrow or Lowbrow Art developed in 1960s Los Angeles, CA. when authorized art institutions wouldn’t recognize the work of cartoonists like Robert Williams and Gary Panter. Williams took credit for creating the term “lowbrow art” in 1979 when he “decided to give [his] book the self-deprecating title The Lowbrow Art of Robt. Williams” in direct opposition of “highbrow” culture. Other terms to describe the movement include Cartoon-Tainted Abstract Realism and Pop Surrealism. The cultural influences of the lowbrow art movement are broad, and the table below only scratches the surface.

Surrealism	Japanese Anime	Soft porn
Pop Art	Tiki and surf cultures	Hot rod culture
Underground comix	Graffiti	Pulp art
Punk music	Classic cartoons	“B” horror movies

(left to right) Aerosmith’s “Love in an Elevator” (1989), Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous” *(1991)*, and 4 Non Blondes “Bigger, Better, Faster, More!” (1992), all designed by Mark Ryden.

One of the biggest names to emerge from the Lowbrow movement is Mark Ryden. Although he’s influenced by the things mentioned above, he also looks to French Neoclassicist painters, Little Golden Books, and any items that evoke mystery. Ryden worked as a commercial artist from 1988 to 1998 and designed album covers for a lengthy list of prominent artists, including Red Hot Chili Peppers, Michael Jackson, 4 Non Blondes, and Aerosmith, as well as two book covers for horror novelist Stephen King.

(left to right) Inside Sue (1997), *Puella Animo Aureo (2001)* and Fur Girl (2008) by Mark Ryden

(left to right) 61 Fetal Trapping in Northern California (2006) and Princess Praline’s Procession (for whipped cream) (2016) by Mark Ryden

Since leaving commercial art, Ryden has built his career on exhibitions and major projects. His 1998 solo debut show was titled The Meat Show and featured pieces that commented on the disconnect between our meat in the delis to the living creatures we carve it from. Some of Ryden’s other exhibitions include Wondertoonel (2004), The Tree Show (2007), The Snow Yak Show (2009), and The Gay 90’s: Old Tyme Art Show (2010). His most recent project (2017) came in the form of a two-act ballet titled Whipped Cream; a story about a young boy who overindulges at a Vienna pastry shop and falls into a surreal delirium. His pieces generally focus in on youthful, grotesquely proportioned girls with cryptic undertones, blurring the line between nostalgic and disturbing. Mark Ryden married fellow lowbrow artist Marion Peck in 2009, and they have consequently been lovingly named “King and Queen of Pop Surrealism” and one of the ten most important couples in Los Angeles.

Mark Ryden and his wife Marion Peck in their home, surrounded by various influences to their work, as well as some of their own works.

In 2014, Mark Ryden released an album called “The Gay Nineties Old Tyme Music: Daisy Bell” which features popular contemporary artists singing personal renditions of Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two). The proceeds went to the nonprofit organization, Little Kids Rock, that supports musical education in disadvantaged elementary schools.

“Memory Lane” is an automaton diorama by Mark Ryden, presented as part of the “The Gay Nineties West” exhibition, held on May 3, 2014 to June 28, 2014 at Kohn Gallery in LA.

Information Citations:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowbrow_(art_movement)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Ryden

Image Citations:
https://artforum.com/uploads/upload.002/id15528/article03_1064x.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/Aerosmith_Elevator.jpg
https://www.slantmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/music_dangerous.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9a/4_Non_Blondes_-_Bigger%2C_Better%2C_Faster%2C_More%21.jpg
https://www.markryden.com

Unspoken Leaders of Surrealism: Carrington, Abercrombie, and Varo

Surrealism (b. 1920) was a cultural movement that sought to unleash the potential of the unconscious mind and unite it with the conscious creative, often resulting in juxtaposed, bizarre images. The leaders of this movement were Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte. You’ve likely heard of Frida Khalo, as well, but do you know any other female names from the surrealist movement? How about in art history; can you list more female artists than you can count on one hand? Let’s change that.

*All three artists seemed to have close relationships with their cats and had portraits taken with them* (Left to right) Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo, and Gertrude Abercrombie

Leonora Carrington (April 6, 1917 – May 25, 2011) was a British-born Mexican artist, and one of the last survivors of the Surrealist movement. At 19 years old, she was introduced to leading surrealist Max Ernst, who was 27 years her senior and married, at a dinner party. They ran away to Paris, but that was short-lived and Leonora ended up in a psychiatric ward with an eating disorder and paralyzing anxiety. These were very dark times but she was eventually rescued by her nanny in a submarine (and this is not the craziest story from Leonora’s life). In her memoir, Down Below, Carrington recounts the horrific experiences she faced in the ward: “ruthless institutional therapies, sexual assault, hallucinatory drugs, and unsanitary conditions“. Shortly after this, she became an outspoken socio-political activist and was creating her best art. Carrington stated that: “I painted for myself…I never believed anyone would exhibit or buy my work.” She would build up small brushstrokes into stunning imagery that focused in on alchemy, magical realism, symbolism, and her personal experiences of female sexuality.

(top left to bottom right) Leonora Carrington is known for her “dreamlike weirdness” in paintings such as Portrait of Max Ernst (1939), The Giantess (1947), The Surgeon (1978), And Then We Saw the Daughter of the Minotaur (1953) and The Lovers (1987)

Remedios Varo (Dec 16, 1908 – Oct 8, 1963) was a Spanish-Mexican surrealist painter who had imagery like no other. She showed promise as an artist early on, and so her father, a hydraulic engineer, would have her copy the technical drawings of his works to improve her understanding and execution of straight lines, radii, and perspective. Unlike most women of her time, Varo was encouraged to be individual and expressive, and her father gifted her with science and adventure books to broaden her education. Her works often featured androgynous figures in tight spaces, which led to a feminist interpretation of her work, although she didn’t necessarily define them as such. The main influences on her work include religion, nature, magic, and her fascination with science. Varo was friends with Leonora Carrington, and they had a tight bond that served as another influence for both of them. When Varo passed away from a heart attack, she was referred to as “the sorceress who left too soon“.

(top left to bottom right) *Exploring River of the Source Orinonoco (1959), Creation of the Birds (1957), Sympathy (1955)*, Abut (1959) and Papilla Estelar (1958) *by Remedios Varo*, who believed that “The dream world and the real world are the same.”

Gertrude Abercrombie (Feb 17, 1909 – July 3, 1977) was known as “the queen of the bohemian artists” due to her presence in the Chicago jazz scene, an aspect that highly influenced her work. She was close friends with musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Sarah Vaughan, and was an improvisational pianist herself. After attending an art fair, selling some works, and being told by Gertrude Stein she needed to “draw better”, Abercrombie started to take her art more seriously. She had a loose, painterly style that depicted barren landscapes, sparsely furnished interiors, and women with connections to sorcery, all of which were self-portraits. Gertrude stated, “I am not interested in complicated things nor in the commonplace, I like to paint simple things that are a little strange.” Her health declined in the late 50s due to financial losses, alcoholism, and arthritis, which led to her reclusive lifestyle towards the end. In a retrospective exhibition held just before her death, she said: “I will go out either in a blizzard or in a blaze of glory.” A poetic and humorous statement, just like many of her pieces.

(top left to bottom right) Birds, Eggs and Dominoes with Pyramid (1963), *The Courtship (1949)*, Split Personality (1954), and *Design for Death (Charlie Parker’s Favourite Painting*) (1946) by “Queen of the Bohemian Artists” Gertrude Abercrombie

Citations:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/05/the-surreal-life-of-leonora-carrington-joanna-moorhead-review
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonora_Carrington
https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/2275-i-have-no-delusions-i-am-playing-leonora-carrington-s-madness-and-art
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remedios_Varo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Abercrombie
https://magazine.artland.com/lost-and-found-artist-series-gertrude-abercrombie/

Tove Jansson: Impressionist Portraits, Wartime Cartoons and Moomins

(left) Tove Jansson in the 60’s or 70’s (centre) Tove Jansson in 1956 (right) Tove and Tooti at their cabin

*(left) *Smoking Girl (Self-Portrait), 1940* (centre) Before the Masquerade, 1943* (right) still life with fruit and tulips, 1946

One might say that Swedish-speaking Finland native Tove Jansson (1914-2001) was born to be an artist, with her family consisting of a graphic designer mother, sculptor father, and photographer and cartoonist brothers. Tove herself would take on the labels of author, novelist, painter, illustrator, and comic-strip artist. The impassioned bohemian atmosphere of her home would fuel Jansson’s creative expression as the years went on. Before reaching ten years old, she would already be selling multiple illustrations to magazines to be published. Tove’s paintings fall under the Impressionism movement for featuring visible brushstrokes, a depiction of shifting light and movement, and ordinary subject matter. Her honest and frequent self-portraits and still lifes used the same techniques as great Impressionists like Van Gogh and Monet. Public murals, often done as frescos, were also important marks of her painting career.

A fresco by Tove Jansson, now housed in the Helinski Art Museum, titled Party in the Countryside, 1947

One of Tove Jansson’s murals in Hamina, Finland, titled A Story From the Bottom of the Sea, 1952

Tove Jansson had guts. She wasn’t afraid to sign her name on her work as a young queer woman ridiculing Hitler and Stalin in political cartoons for Finnish satire magazine Garm. Controversial matters were of no concern. She was belittled by male painting teachers, dared to openly love women in a greatly homophobic era and lived through the horrors of second world war; all of these events, as well as many more, impacted how Jansson thought and created throughout her adult years.

(right) cover on the Garm, depicting many Hitlers as little thieves, 1944 (right) A Moomin comic

She would publish her first Moomin book titled The Moomins and the Great Flood in 1945. Tove never claimed that Moomin’s were solely for children, and the subjects of natural disaster, displacement, and death came up a few times, yet always in a charming, easy to process way. Society fell in love with Moominvalley and its inhabitants quickly. As expressed in her short story “The Cartoonist”, Tove grew to be terrified that she was “…one of those people who are prevented from doing Great Art because they draw comic strips”. She found great success and happiness in her time of developing the world of Moomins but turned all creative direction to her brother Lars Jansson in 1970. Although best known for creating Moomins, Tove Jansson’s oil paintings and novels have come into popularity recently with exhibitions taking attendees through all eighty-six of her wonderful years as a creator. She spent the majority of her life with her partner Tuulikki Pietilä, a prominent Finnish graphic artist and professor, often creating art in their summer cabin on the remote island of Klovharun, Finland.

Adventures from Moominvalley Season 1 Episode 1: Spring in Moomin Valley
Tove Jansson’s Moomin’s had been depicted twice in animation before, but this was the first time she felt her characters were really brought to life!

Information Citations:
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2017/11/14/tove-jansson-beyond-the-moomins/
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/finland/articles/finnish-artist-tove-jansson-was-more-than-just-the-creator-of-the-moomins/
https://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/2017/october/tove-jansson/
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c6/Tove_Jansson_cover_of_Garm_magazine_October_1944.jpg
https://d2mpxrrcad19ou.cloudfront.net/item_images/512655/9027957_bukobject.jpg
https://i1.wp.com/www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/moomindeluxe258.jpg?w=680&ssl=1
https://helsinkiheroes.com/tove-jansson-at-ateneum/

Media Citations:
https://dam-13749.kxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Tove-Jansson_Ennen-naamiaisia_1943_pieni.jpg
https://cdn.nybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/jansson-smoking-girl.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za5qalOgt00&feature=emb_rel_pause

Juan Sánchez Cotán: A Dedication to God, Greens and Game

Still Life with Game, Vegetables and Fruit, 1602, housed in the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain

Juan Sánchez Cotán (1561-Sept 8, 1627) was a Carthusian monk and Spanish Baroque painter who specialized in bodegón paintings-a still life depicting pantry items. This form of painting was virtually unheard of in Spain until Cotán brought it to popularity with his depictions of various fruits, vegetables, and sometimes game fowl. The weight given to his still life paintings was reminiscent of religious altars. Pale melon flesh and rich leafy greens held contrast against the fictive inset window spaces he set them in. The stark white space around the food items gave them a mesmerizing cruciality. Did he see food as a substance worthy of worship? Some have hypothesized that he was preparing for and ruminating on the vegetarian diet he would adopt as a monk.

Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber, 1602, housed in the San Diego Museum of Art.

Still Life with Ham, Lobster and Fruit, 1653, hanging in the Bojimans Museum in Rotterdam

With the new title of Fray Juan Sánchez Cotán after taking his vows as a lay brother at the Carthusian Monastery of Granada, his focus shifted to depicting the persecution of his religious order by King Henry VIII. The series of four episodes were painted between 1615 and 1617 and show Carthusian monks being drawn and quartered, hanged, and imprisoned in chains. Although Cotán’s will mentions some sixty-odd paintings, the majority of them being religious, surprisingly, and just nine being still lifes, he had a habit of not signing his works, so not many pieces are accredited to him. A quick google search will show a spotty catalogue of his works. Nonetheless, Juan Sánchez Cotán was an eminent pioneer of the Baroque still life movement in Spain, and his work, although hard to find, is still remembered and appreciated presently.

Image Citations:
https://cdn.kastatic.org/ka-perseus-images/70be4d2abd6f20917902ecc880b98fe65316876c.jpg
https://cdn.kastatic.org/ka-perseus-images/367f6e77f515ae7d7ef4b210e938e08e788d1ac4.jpg
https://cdn.kastatic.org/ka-perseus-images/aada6d25e3e8cf647b3fbba1a401f359f8a79daf.jpg
https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/still-life-with-game-vegetables-and-fruit/91dfc698-786f-4680-ad73-3841988e7f4d
https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/wp-content/gallery/carthusian-monastery/carthusian_6.jpg

Information Citations:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Juan-Sanchez-Cotan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Sánchez_Cotán
https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/artist/sanchez-cotan-juan/2b21c89b-3779-45fb-9edb-e08da8e80e59
https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/the-carthusian-monastery-of-granada/nggallery/thumbnails

Hans Holbein der Jüngere: Master Portraitist and Designer of the High Renaissance

(Left) *A drawn portrait of Hans Holbein the Younger, presumed to be of his own hand.* (Right) *King Henry the VIII is portrayed in his most famous stance in this Holbein recreation. The original painting was lost in a fire in 1698.*

Hans Holbein the Younger (not to be confused with his father, Hans Holbein the Elder) was born in the free imperial city of Augsburg, Bavaria in 1497 to a family of artists. As per German tradition, Holbein was a skilled draftsman and prepared each painting with a precise line drawing in chalk and ink. Many of his well preserved technical drawings are the only hint of a subsequent painting ever existing.

The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein is both a double portrait and still life. Pictured above is Jean de Dinteville, French Ambassador, and Georges de Selve, Bishop of Lavaur, of King Henry VIII’s court.

His most well-renowned painting was The Ambassadors which featured heavy use of symbolic objects and an anamorphic skull. Holbein was appointed as the King’s painter in 1535 and painted King Henry the VIII’s standard image of him standing with his legs apart and hands on his hips in Portrait of Henry VIII.

Although he was known as one of the greatest portraitists of the High Renaissance, Hans Holbein was also an incredible designer. His design elements extended past gold leaf inscriptions and intricate decorations. The substantial contribution he made to book design can be observed in his woodcut series Dance for Death. He also has many drawings that show his designs for jewellery, momentous frescos, and clothing. Many of his designs went on to inspire engravings for the distinctively English Greenwich armour. Hans Holbein the Younger was lost to the plague in London in 1543.

(Left) Detailed view of engravings inspired by Hans Holbein on Greenwich armour garniture, most likely made for King Henry VIII. (Right) Jewellery designs drawn by Hans Holbein were found in his “Jewellery Book” and were brought to physical realization for King Henry VIII and his wives.

References for Images:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Holbein_the_Younger
https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/hans-holbeins-dance-of-death-1523-5
https://theadventurine.com/culture/jewelry-history/henry-viiis-favorite-jewelry-designer/

References for Information
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Holbein_the_Younger
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hans-Holbein-the-Younger