Tag Archives: Painters

Nostalgia: British Artist Roy Nockolds Captured Motorsport Racing From 1930’s Through 1960’s

From a Grand Prix History online posting:

Roy Nockolds PosterHis work was displayed in many exhibitions in the UK and twenty four of his paintings were exhibited in New York in 1960. the exhibition was entitled ‘British Motoring Achievements’ and was a collection of paintings depicting outstanding performances of British cars during the previous ten years. These included the Vanwall and Cooper in Grand Prix, Monte Carlo and Alpine Rallies, speed records by MG and Austin, and Le Mans wins by Jaguar and Aston Martin.

Roy Anthony Nockolds was born in Croydon in south London, England on the 24th January 1911. He was the last of seven children; one of his brothers Harold F. L. Nockolds would later become a motoring journalist and author of the classic Rolls-Royce history, “Magic of a Name”. His mother Flora Mary van der Heyden was the great grand daughter of Dutch Baroque-era painter and inventor, Jan van der Heyden. His farther Walter Herbert Nockolds was a descendent of farmers who had originally come to Britain from the Frisian Islands.

 

British Artist Roy Nockolds

To read more: http://www.grandprixhistory.org/nockolds.htm

American Painters: “The Gross Clinic” (1875) By Thomas Eakins Was “Renaissance-Era” Artistry

From an Artsy.net online article:

Eakins’s ambitious painting brought Renaissance-era virtuosity to the mid–19th century United States, as American art was still struggling to find its place on the world stage. The Gross Clinic, which still hangs in Philadelphia today, is a triumph of composition, light, and shadow. 

The Gross Clinic 1875 Thomas Eakins Philadelphia Museum of Art
Thomas Eakins The Gross Clinic1875
Philadelphia Museum of Art

In 1875, Thomas Eakins decided to paint a picture that would glorify his hometown of Philadelphia. The first ever World’s Fair to be held in the United States, the Centennial International Exhibition, would open in the city the following year. Through his painting, Eakins hoped to honor the scientific breakthroughs that were coming out of the local Jefferson Medical College. The artist observed live procedures by the celebrated surgeon Dr. Samuel Gross, then translated them onto a large-scale canvas that he titled Dr. Gross (1875) (now known as The Gross Clinic). The work has become perhaps the most important painting in the history of American art.

To read more: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-thomas-eakinss-the-gross-clinic-american-painting

Top Arts Podcasts: “The Lives Of Titian” (The Getty)

Art + Ideas Getty logoOne of the most successful artists of the Italian Renaissance, Titian was the master of the sixteenth-century Venetian school and admired by his royal patrons and fellow artists alike. Several of his contemporaries, including the authors and art theorists Giorgio Vasari, Francesco Priscianese, Pietro Aretino, and Ludovico Dolce, wrote accounts of Titian’s life and work.

The Lives of Titian The GettyIn this episode, Getty assistant curator of paintings Laura Llewellyn discusses what these “lives” teach us about Titian and the artistic debates and rivalries of his time. All of these biographies are gathered together in Lives of Titian, recently published by the Getty as part of our Lives of the Artists series.

Website: https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/podcast-the-lives-of-titian/

Artist Profiles: “Van Gogh & Gaughin” Controversy Anaylized By Author Bernadette Murphy (National Gallery Video)

Gauguin’s stay at the Yellow House is mired in controversy. What really happened? Bernadette Murphy, author of ‘Van Gogh’s Ear: The True Story’, considers those fateful days from Gauguin’s point of view.

Van Gogh and Gaughin The National Gallery

Bernadette Murphy Van Gogh's Ear The True StoryThe Credit Suisse Exhibition: Gauguin Portraits 7 October 2019 – 26 January 2020 Book tickets online and save, Members go free: https://bit.ly/2IspPWH

The first-ever exhibition devoted to the portraits of Paul Gauguin. Spanning his early years as an artist through to his later years spent in French Polynesia, the exhibition shows how the French artist revolutionised the portrait.

Exhibition organised by the National Gallery and the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.

Art Videos: Mary Osborn’s “Nameless And Friendless” Captured Women’s Rights Movement In 1850’s (Tate)

‘Nameless and Friendless’ was painted in 1857 by Emily Mary Osborn. It captures a single woman trying, and failing, to earn a living as an artist in Victorian England. In a trade traditionally occupied by men, she becomes nameless and friendless.

How This Painting Campaigned for Women’s Rights TateShots

Osborn was actively involved in the campaign for women’s rights during the mid-19th century. She was supported by wealthy patrons, including Queen Victoria. But she used her position of power to help improve the lives of women like those depicted in her paintings.

Website: https://www.tate.org.uk/

Collector’s Edition Books: “David Hockney – My Window” (Taschen)

hockney_my_window_ce_gb_3d_66981_1911061508_id_1281201In this artist’s book of 120 iPhone and iPad drawings, David Hockney follows the course of the seasons through the window of his Yorkshire home. Each image depicts a fleeting moment—from the colorful sunrise and lilac morning sky to nighttime impressions, snow-covered branches and the arrival of spring. Printed in large format, this is a highly perceptive and poetic body of work.

David Hockey My Window Collectors Book

Collector’s Edition (No. 1,001–2,000), each signed by David Hockney

Website: https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/art/all/66981/facts.david_hockney_my_window.htm#images_gallery-8

Top Exhibitions: “Edward Hopper And The American Hotel” At The Virginia Museum Of Fine Arts

From a Spectator USA online review:

Hotel Lobby Edward HopperIsolation was a persistent theme in Hopper’s art and life. Was he dogged by isolation or did he pursue it? ‘Did anybody really know this silent, non-communicative man?’ asked Raphael Soyer in a 1981 interview, 14 years after Hopper’s death. His friends recollected a cynical and taciturn artist, self-doubting, introspective and distrustful of fame. But before Hopper became the painter of lonely figures in all-night diners, he was the illustrator of raucous party scenes and smiling couples waltzing together at summer fêtes.

Edward Hopper and the American Hotel, a rich exhibition now at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, highlights the contrast between Hopper’s early, lesser-known years as a commercial illustrator and his later eminence as laconic American icon, the serious solitary who painted crumbling Victorian boarding houses, faded hotel lobbies and highway motels.

To read more: https://spectator.us/motel-room-ones-own-vmfa-edward-hopper/

Art Of Food: 99-Year Old Painter Wayne Thiebaud Creates Thanksgiving Cover For New Yorker

From New Yorker article:

CoverStory-story_thiebaud_turkeySince all of my paintings—almost every single one except for the figure paintings—are done from memory, I rely specifically on the memory of working in restaurants, or of visiting farms on which I worked as a young person. I try to recall the look and feel and love of what I have experienced.

At ninety-nine, Wayne Thiebaud—one of America’s greatest painters, and certainly its premier painter of food—is still going strong. This is Thiebaud’s ninth cover for the magazine, and it riffs on one of his previous paintings, an image of a turkey that he started in 2009. A sharp viewer might pick out the added details and embellishments, but more striking, perhaps, are the Thiebaud hallmarks that remain the same: soft light, clear color, a blue shadow pooling around a plate. We recently called Thiebaud at his home, in Sacramento, to talk about his work.

To read more: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cover-story/cover-story-2019-11-25

Top New Gallery Exhibits: “Annie Lapin – Strange Little Beast” At The Shulamit Nazarian (LA)

From a Shulamit Nazarian online review:

Annie Lapin. Halving Having (StepScape 4), 2019.The artist incorporates an array of art historical scenes such as John Martin’s English-Romantic apocalypses and Edouard Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass with ubiquitous imagery sourced from the Internet. The highly rendered areas in her paintings resemble a cascade of Google image search results where cellphone photos of skylines and gardens slide past gestural marks. 

Annie Lapin Strange Little Best Exhibit at Shulamit NazarianShulamit Nazarian is pleased to present Strange Little Beast, a solo exhibition of new works by Los Angeles-based painter Annie Lapin. This will be the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery.

Annie Lapin’s paintings call attention to the human desire for meaning making–our effort to create order out of chaos. In Strange Little Beast, Lapin’s paintings use her interest in art history, perception, and the materiality of painting itself to examine the role of digital technology and narrative building in our contemporary moment.

To read more: http://www.shulamitnazarian.com/exhibition/annie-lapin/#

 

Science & Art: Jackson Pollock’s Drip Painting Style (And Genius) Avoided “Coiling Instability”

From PLOS One Journal online release:

Jackson Pollock Full Fathom Five 1947We conclude that Pollock avoided the appearance of the hydrodynamic instabilities, contrary to what was argued by previous studies. Pollock selected the physical properties of the paint to prevent filament fragmentation before deposition, and applied it while moving his hand sufficiently fast and at certain heights to avoid fluid filaments from coiling into themselves. An understanding of the physical conditions at which these patterns were created is important to further art research and it can be used as a tool in the authentication of paintings.

Jackson Pollock Painting TechniqueConsidered one of the most prominent American painters of the 20th century, the life and work of Jackson Pollock have been the subject of books, movies, and documentaries [13]. His paintings can be broadly categorized as being abstract-expressionist. Although his painting style evolved during his sometimes tormented life, the so-called ‘dripping’ technique is certainly the most widely recognized both by experts and the general public.

Jackson Pollock described the technique himself [4]. In summary, Pollock would lay a canvas horizontally and pour paint on top of it, in a controlled manner. To regulate the flow of paint, he either used an instrument (a stick, knife or a brush), poured it directly from a can and in some instances he also used a syringe. Viscous fluid filaments were produced and laid over the canvas while ‘rhythmically moving’ around it. It is believed that Pollock developed this technique strongly influenced by an experimental painting workshop, organized in New York by Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros in 1936 [5]. Interestingly, Siqueiros himself also developed the ‘accidental painting’ technique during this workshop, which was recently analyzed by Zetina et al. [6].

To read more: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0223706