Top Five Friday: Pre-Raphaelite Exhibit at the NGA (or, now I can die happy)

It has been said that art is a tryst, for in the joy of it maker and beholder meet. 
~ Kojiro Tomita

I

can die happy now.

Last Friday afternoon I spent over an hour with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.  The National Gallery of Art was hosting an exhibition of some of the major pieces from the PRB, including a couple of busts and statues from the only sculptor in the group.

Faithful readers know my PRB obsession well.  But I have to say, there is nothing like seeing the original works up close and personal.  The colours are brighter, the brush strokes visible, the talent of the artists more apparent.  I own several prints, but was amazed at seeing how large some of my favorite paintings are in person. 

Mariana – John Everett Millias

For the PRB, poetry was just as important as paint colour, and Tennyson was a perennial favorite.  In Mariana (1851), Millias portrayed Tennyson’s heroine waiting in vain for her lover:

but most she loathed the hour

When the thick-moted sunbeam lay

Athwart the chambers, and the day

Was sloping toward his western bower.

Then said she, 'I am very dreary,

He will not come,' she said;

She wept, 'I am aweary, aweary,

O God, that I were dead!'

 

Isabella and the Pot of Basil – William Holman Hunt

Another painting inspired by poetry, this time, Keats’ Isabella, or The Pot of Basil.  This painting was in the next to last room of the exhibit and is larger then life.  Too bad they didn’t put a bench in there ~ I could have sat before this masterpiece for another hour. 

FAIR Isabel, poor simple Isabel! 

  Lorenzo, a young palmer in Love’s eye! 

They could not in the self-same mansion dwell 

  Without some stir of heart, some malady; 

They could not sit at meals but feel how well        

  It soothed each to be the other by; 

They could not, sure, beneath the same roof sleep 

But to each other dream, and nightly weep.

The Salutation of Beatrice – Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Not only are the colours striking ~ a given with almost all PRB works ~ but the size of the piece also adds to its mesmerizing quality.  Rossetti painted it on two cupboard doors and gave it to William and Jane Morris as a wedding gift.  He later took it back (before or after he and Jane became lovers?) and sold them.  I took one look and wished I were the new owner.

These panels are based on Dante’s The Divine Comedy and show Dante with Beatrice as she was on earth, and as he imagined her in Paradiso.  Fitting, given the painter's name derives from the poet. 

From that most holy wave I now returned

to Beatrice; remade, as new trees are

renewed when they bring forth new boughs, I was

pure and prepared to climb unto the stars.

 

 

A close up of the ray of light.  It almost felt like I could touch it and feel the warmth of the sun.

The Awakening Conscience – William Holman Hunt

“Whited sepulchers” is an apt description of Victorian society: very careful outward shows of piety and manners, but inside, as immoral as the cads and loose women they publically disdained.   Mistresses were quite common, but not never spoken of ~ that would be rude!  So Hunt’s portrayal of a mistress finally coming to grips with the shame of her hidden life caused a public outcry.

This painting is the only one of the five that wasn’t inspired by poetry.

 But what struck me was the way the artist was able to paint a ray of light illuminating a corner of the room.  It so fascinated me that I had to put my face right up to the painting to better see the brush strokes.  From a distance, it looked like real sunlight pouring over the canvas.

The Rock of Doom – Edward Burne-Jones

Greek and Roman mythology also fired the romantic PRB imagination.  This is one of three canvases Burne-Jones painted of Perseus rescuing Andromeda from Medusa.  Again, I was amazed at how large the canvases were.  I literally couldn’t breathe in that room, they were so beautiful.

The poem that inspired these paintings was William Morris’ “The Doom of King Acrisius” from The Earthly Paradise: 

He lighted down, and toward the place he drew,

And made invisible by Pallas' aid,

He came within the scarped cliff's purple shade,

And found a woman standing lonely there,

Naked, except for tresses of her hair

That o'er her white limbs by the breeze were wound,

And brazen chains her weary arms that bound

Unto the sea-beat overhanging rock,

As though her golden-crowned head to mock.

But nigh her feet upon the sand there lay

Rich raiment that had covered her that day,

Worthy to be the ransom of a king,

Unworthy round such loveliness to cling. . . .

 

 Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

What art exhibits have you visited recently?

Uniquely You: Why Your Idea Is Worth Pursuing

There is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.
And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. 
~ Martha Graham

 

T

ell me if this happens to you. 

You sit down to write, paint, compose, craft and you come up with a brilliant idea.  You’re excited, breathless, working non-stop to bring this vision to life.  And then suddenly, in the middle of the project, Doubt punches you in the face.  And you think, why am I writing/painting/composing/crafting this thing?  Surely others could write it more poetically, compose a more beautiful melody, paint it with more brilliance, or craft it with a finer skill.

You are right.

Someone else probably can and will produce a finer work of art then you will.  That doesn’t mean that you should give up on your own vision.  Giverny’s vision of a field of poppies is breathtaking.  So is Van Gogh’s Farmhouse in a Wheatfield.  Both add to the overall beauty of the Impressionist movement.  But what if one had seen the other's work and said, "Oh, I could never paint like that!  I should take up bricklaying instead."

What kind of musical culture would we have if Frank Sinatra heard Bing Crosby crooning and said, “Oh, I’ll never be able to croon like he does.  Why even try?”  We would have Bing's rendition of "Would You Like to Swing on a Star" but not Frankie's "It Had to Be You."  And we would never have heard the delightful "What a Swell Party This Is" duet they did in High Society.

Each of us is beautifully unique.  And we have a story all our own or at least, we have a way of telling a story ~ a vision that no one else has.  Even if you reach just one person with your story or your version of it, it’s worth the telling.  

So punch Doubt right back in the face and keep honing that vision, telling your story, and singing your song.  I want to hear it.

If only to know that I’m not alone

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

This particular brand of doubt is a constant bully.  He doesn’t usually punch me, he just whispers ugly things in my heart.  So I write posts like this as much to remind myself to throw him out on his ear, as to encourage other artists to do so.

Tio Five Friday: Happy Birthday, Lodovico Cardi Cigoli!

Art hath an enemy called ignorance.
~ Ben Jonson

A

ctually, Cigoli's (he is more commonly known by the name of his birthplace) birthday was Wednesday, 12 September, but Wednesdays are reserved for farm updates, so I’m posting my tribute to this early Baroque artist, who was a contemporary of Caravaggio, another one my favorite painters.

As with most Baroque painters, his subjects are religious themes or people from the Bible.  Today I share five of his paintings or sketches that I find most interesting.

Ecce Homo

According to a Wiki article, Caracaggio was also commissioned to paint an Ecce Homo around the same time and there is speculation that Cigoli was aware of Caravaggio’s painting.  He doesn't quite capture Caravaggio's realism, but the colours here are striking, nonetheless.

Sounds terribly gauche, but I love the red hat on the figure to the left of Christ!

The Sacrifice of Isaac

Comparisons are always odious, but I can’t help thinking that as good as Cigoli is, there is something lacking, some fire or passion, that soaks through Caravaggio’s work.  But again, the colours are striking.  You instinctively know that Abraham's cloak is made of velvet.

St. Francis Praying

This painting uses a little of the shadow and light technique found in Caravaggio's paintings, but not as in your face.  I like the contrast of the dark browns and greens of the foreground with the light blue and grey in the background.

And putting skulls in your paintings is always cool.

The Dispute of St. Catherine with Emperor Maxentius

I’ve included two sketches in this list because I love seeing the artistic process on paper ~ as much as something as ethereal as that is can be seen.  It gives me hope ~ because every artist, no matter how beautiful and exotic and perfect the end product may be, always starts out with a rough draft, and scribbles in the margins his ideas for perfecting and realizing his vision.

Also, St. Catherine is just a kick-ass, strong woman.  Ooh rah!

Cupola Del Duomo Di Firenze

See above.  Plus, I love paintings, sketches, and drawings of architecture almost as much as I love the stone and mortar buildings themselves.

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

What do you think of Cigoli’s technique? Who are your favorite Baroque artists and why?

The Creative Back Road: Overcoming Writers' Block Through Art

The creative person wants to be a know-it-all. He wants to know about all kinds of things-ancient history, nineteenth century mathematics, current manufacturing techniques, hog futures. Because he never knows when these ideas might come together to form a new idea.
~ Carl Ally

E

very artist I know suffers from stagnation jam now and then; a traffic jam on their creative journey. 

“My poetry sounds stale.  I’m bored with it.”

“All my music sounds the same. I feel like I’m playing the same chords, the same rhythm.”

“My main character is in a tight spot, and I have no clue how to get him out.”

I get writers block so many times I begin to doubt whether I really am a writer.  And I’ve heard the same advice: to get the pen flowing, you have to just write, every day.  I’m guessing it might be similar for visual artists, poets, and of course musicians and singers (the whole practice makes perfect and fake it ‘til you make it thing).



Go on ~ express yourself!



But writing the same lines, or a bunch of stream of consciousness page after page doesn’t always help if I’m stuck in a creative traffic jam.  And I hate sitting in traffic more than anything in the world.

Anything.

Take a Creative Back Road

When the highway becomes a parking lot, you don’t pull over on the shoulder and get out of the car.  Not only is it dangerous, you lose your place in line.  Instead, you ask your GPS to search for an alternate route. 

When I hit a creative jam, besides the normal alternate routes ~ walking, exercising, making dinner, talking to a friend ~ there are creative back roads I take to keep moving towards my creative destination.  If I’m writing, I try painting.  If I’m composing a song, I take a break and make a notecard for a friend.  If I’m stuck on the finding the right rhythm for a poem, I sing show tunes or folk music and dance around my living room. The point is to keep the dialogue between artist and muse going. 

Sometimes it's just a matter of reaching her through a different language.

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Have you tried expressing yourself in an unfamiliar medium?  Did it help you break through the creative block?

For the Love of Quirkiness: Artist Stereotypes

Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one. 

~ Stella Adler

C

arolyn Henderson over at Fine Art Views wrote such a great article today on artists that I chose to highlight it.  She points out that the stereotype of the artist (“neurotic, insecure, off balance, and strangely disquieting”) is far from the truth.

“Oh look, it’s an artist,” I always helpfully point out to the Norwegian Artist – one of the most stable, practical, logical, and analytical people I know. “Unkempt hair, vacant yet wild eyes, disjointed thoughts and unintelligible speech – should he really be left alone in a room full of paint?”

Love it. 

She goes on to encourage artists by listing six ways they are tough yet sensitive souls who add so much light and beauty to a ugly, dingy world. You can read her full article here.

Now, I don’t paint.  I’ve already talked about why.  But I write, sing, play piano, etc.  And I cannot tell you how many times my art has been dismissively appreciated: “Oh that’s nice, dear.  And what do you do?”

Because of this, I am too shy and insecure to believe I could ever support myself with any of my artistic talents.  So I have a day job that pays the bills and afford me time and money time to pursue beauty.  But deep down inside, I would rather be composing, singing, writing, art-ing full time.



The Bower Meadow, Dante Gabriel Rossetti

How can anyone look at the painting to the right and think that it was a waste of time?  I mean, I am sure Rossetti would have had a much more comfortable life if he had been an accountant or an engineer!

I have been different at times, unconventional maybe, ok, quirky even! But I have never been boring.  And honey, I would rather be exciting and poor then boring and rich!!

It is difficult enough to endure boring people at the dinner table, but to actually be one?!  Perish the thought.

Now go forth and be exciting, you Bruce Adrian Willis Brody, you!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Are you an artist?  If so, do you support yourself with your art?  How do you deal with negativity?