Daily Art Fixx

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M.C. Escher: 1898-1972

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Maurits Cornelis Escher, best known for his mathematically inspired prints, was born on June 17, 1898 in Leeuwarden, Netherlands.  Escher spent much of his childhood in Arnhem where he attended school.  Though he did well at drawing, Escher did not excel in other subjects and received poor grades. From 1919 – 1922, Escher attended the School for Architecture and Decorative Arts in Haarlem where he initially studied architecture but shifted to drawing and printmaking.

After finishing school, Escher traveled through Italy, where he met Jetta Umiker, whom he married in 1924. For the next 11 years, Escher traveled throughout Italy, sketching for the prints he would make back in Rome.  The couple remained in Rome until 1935 when growing political turmoil (under Mussolini) prompted them to move first to Switzerland and then to Ukkel, a small town near Brussels, Belgium. In 1941, as German troops occupied Brussels, they moved once again to Baarn, Netherlands, where Escher lived until 1970.

During his lifetime, Escher created 448 lithographs, woodcuts and wood engravings and over 2,000 drawings and sketches. His work portrays mathematical relationships among shapes, figures and space and many of his drawings are composed around interlocking figures (tessellations) and impossible objects.  Escher used vivid contrasts of black and white to enhance different dimensions and integrated into his works were mirror images of cones, spheres, cubes, rings and spirals.

By the 1950s Escher had become highly popular and gave lectures around the world. He received the Order of Oranje Nassau in 1955. In 1958 he was featured in Time magazine and had his first important exhibition in Washington. Escher’s work continued to be popular and he traveled several times to North America for lectures and to see his son George who was living in Canada. In 1970 he moved to Rosa-Spier house in Laren, Netherlands, a retirement home for artists, where he died on March 27, 1972.

For more information on M.C. Escher visit MCEscher.com or for a more in depth biography visit The Escher Pages.

A design Escher might have appreciated

 

 

Willem de Kooning: 1904-1997

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Willem de KooningAbstract Expressionist painter and sculptor Willem de Kooning was born on April 24, 1904 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. De Kooning worked for a commercial-art and decorating firm and studied at the Rotterdam Academy of Fine Arts at night.  He immigrated to the United States (illegally) in 1926 and worked as a house painter in New Jersey before moving to New York in 1927.  De Kooning worked in commercial-art and at the WPA Federal Art Project until 1937.  In the late 1930’s,  he began painting full-time and his abstract and figurative works were influenced by Cubism, Surrealism, and Arshile Gorky who shared his studio.

In the 1940’s de Kooning participated in group shows with other New York School artists who became known as Abstract Expressionists. From 1950 to 1955, he produced his well-known Women series, “integrating the human form with the aggressive paint application, bold colors, and sweeping strokes of Abstract Expressionism. These female “portraits” provoked not only with their vulgar carnality and garish colors, but also because of their embrace of figural representation, a choice deemed regressive by many of de Kooning’s Abstract Expressionist contemporaries, but one to which he consistently returned for many decades.”

Following the Women series, de Kooning painted abstract urban landscapes, parkways, rural landscapes, and, in the 1960s, a new series of Women. In 1975, after working in sculpture for two years, de Kooning began a new series of dense, richly colored abstractions. “His late work consists of calligraphic, predominantly white canvases that demonstrate the artist’s ultimate synthesis of figuration and abstraction, of painting and drawing, of color and line.”

In 1974 the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, organized a show of de Kooning’s drawings and sculpture that traveled throughout the US. In 1978 the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, held an exhibition of his work. In 1979, he  was awarded the Andrew W. Mellon Prize, and an exhibition was held at the Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh.

De Kooning settled in the Springs, East Hampton, Long Island, in 1963. A retrospective of his work was held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1997.

De Kooning died on March 19, 1997 in Long Island, New York.  His works are  collected in major museums and galleries all over the world.

Sources: Guggenheim, Wikipedia, NGA

Vincent van Gogh: 1853-1890

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The-Starry-Night-Vincent-van-Gogh-1889Born on March 30, 1853 in Zundert, Brabant, in the south of the Netherlands, Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Post Impressionist painter and  one of history’s most famous artists. An active artist for only ten years, Van Gogh produced approximately 1000 watercolours, drawings and sketches and about 1250 paintings.

At age 16, Van Gogh worked as an apprentice for the art dealer Goupil & Cie in Hague at a gallery run by his uncle.  Between 1873 and 1876, Van Gogh moved between the London and Paris branches of Goupil. During this time,  he learned a great deal about Old Master and contemporary painting.  While in England he began collecting illustrations. In 1876, Van Gogh was dismissed from his position, at which point, he decided to become a minister.

In 1877, Van Gogh moved to Amsterdam where he attempted to enroll in theology school.  After giving up his preparatory studies, Van Gogh moved to the coal mining town Borinage in Belgium where he worked as a lay preacher. Living like a pauper among the miners, Van Gogh slept on the floor and gave away his belongings. His obsessive commitment was frowned upon by the church and he was dismissed.

In 1880, Van Gogh decided finally that he would become an artist. He moved to Brussels  and studied independently,  and occasionally with  Dutch artist Anthon van Rappard. Van Gogh’s brother Theo, who worked at Goupil’s Paris branch, sent him money during this time and would continue to support him regularly until the end of Van Gogh’s life. Van Gogh also studied briefly in The Hague with Anton Mauve, where he  was introduced to watercolour and oil technique, and at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp in 1886, but withdrew after two months.

Van Gogh moved to Paris in 1886 where he lived with his brother Theo in the artists’ quarter of Montmartre. As a manager at the Montmartre branch of Goupil’s, Theo introduced Van Gogh to the works of Claude Monet and other Impressionists. Van Gogh studied for four months at the studio of Fernand Cormon where he met other artists including Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Emile Bernard, and Camille Pissarro.

Van Gogh began painting in brighter colours and his brushwork became more broken. Like the Impressionists, he chose his subjects from the city’s cafés and streets, as well as the countryside along the Seine River. During this time, Van Gogh dreamed of creating an artistic community in which they lived and worked together in harmony.

In February 1888, Van Gogh left Paris and traveled to Provence in the south of France.  Still hoping to establish his artists’ cooperative, Van Gogh rented a studio (The Yellow House) in Arles and invited Gauguin to join him. Gauguin finally agreed and from October 1888 spent nine weeks working and discussing art with Van Gogh. However, tension began to grow between the two artists. In December, an argument occurred resulting with the infamous “cutting off his own ear” story.

There are two schools of thought about how Vincent van Gogh lost part of his left ear on December 23, 1888. Some believe that Paul Gauguin cut off van Gogh’s ear in self-defense during a quarrel.  Others think that he slashed his own left ear lobe after learning that his  brother, Theo, was getting married. Whether the wound was self-inflicted or not, there is no doubt that Van Gogh, bleeding from his wound,  staggered into a bordello and gave a prostitute friend named Rachel his severed ear, telling her to ‘keep this object carefully’.

Gauguin left Arles, and Van Gogh, while being treated for his ear in the hospital, experienced  the first serious onset of insanity. After Van Gogh was discharged from the hospital, he was unable to set up a new studio or organize his life.  In May 1889, he admitted himself into a psychiatric hospital in Saint-Rémy, near Arles. Van Gogh continued to paint and converted a cell into a studio where he produced 150 paintings over the course of one year. Van Gogh sent his paintings to Theo in Paris. During this time and despite his illness, Van Gogh continued to produce one masterpiece after another including Irises, Cypresses, and The Starry Night.

Van Gogh’s work began to receive some recognition. In 1890, the Belgian artist group Les Vingt included six of his paintings in their exhibition. As well, the critic Albert Aurier published a favorable review of Van Gogh’s paintings in January 1890, linking his work to the Symbolists. It was at this time that he sold his painting the Red Vineyard to the painter Anna Boch. It was the only painting he would ever sell.

In 1890, Van Gogh left the hospital and moved Auvers-sur-Oise, near Paris. While there, he placed himself under the care of the homeopathic physician Paul Gachet. Gachet had previously treated several artists and was an amateur artist himself. Van Gogh became prolific in his work producing nearly one painting a day for two months.

In June, 1890, Van Gogh visited Theo, who expressed his desire to go into business for himself which would mean a tightening of finances, including his support of his brother. Van Gogh was deeply troubled by Theo’s dissatisfaction and became very worried: “…but my life too is threatened at its very root, and my step is unsteady too.”

On 27 July 1890, Vincent Van Gogh walked into a wheat field and shot himself in the chest. He died two days later, on July 29.  “He was buried in Auvers the next day. Among the mourners were Lucien Pissarro, Emile Bernard and Père Tanguy. Bernard later described Van Gogh’s coffin, covered with yellow flowers, and his easel and brushes lying on the ground next to the casket. Van Gogh’s paintings were left to Theo who died six months later.”

In 1914 the two brothers were re-interred next to each other at the cemetery of Auvers-sur-Oise.

“Part of van Gogh’s fame is based on his extraordinary personal letters, the most numerous of which were to Theo. From France he also wrote a series of letters to his sister Wilhelmina, in which he regularly included explanations of artistic concepts that he considered superfluous in his letters to Theo. In addition, two other sets of letters have been preserved: those to Anthon van Rappard from 1881 to 1885, and those to Emile Bernard. He also corresponded and exchanged paintings with Gauguin. The abundance of biographical data and the diary-like character of the letters were important contributory factors in the making of van Gogh’s reputation. Due to the existence of the letters, many of the works are provided with the interpretation and commentary of van Gogh himself, to a far greater extent than with his predecessors and contemporaries.” (from MoMA)

 

Sources: Van Gogh Musem, MoMA

Hendrik Kerstens: Photography

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“Since 1995, Dutch photographer Hendrik Kerstens has been photographing his daughter, Paula. His photographs have been collected by museums around the world and have inspired taste-makers as diverse as Elton John and Alexander McQueen.”

“Kerstens uses his daughter as his model, immortalizing her, picturing her in relation to events in her own life as well as projecting onto her his fascination with the Dutch Master painters of the seventeenth century. Conceptually, Kerstens’ photographs play with the dialog between the mediums of painting and photography, with seriality, and time. On a more emotional level, they address everyday reality while expressing his love for his child, and the knowledge and development of his craft. His ‘Paula Pictures’, one of which won the PANL Award in 2001, are reminiscent of Vermeer’s painting. The austerity and clarity of the photographs, coupled with the serenity of the subject and the characteristic ‘dutch’ light all combine to create striking, beautiful and haunting works of art. However, Kerstens was not just imitating painting. As the series progressed, he became increasingly interested in the game of creating a conceptual and humorous dialog between past and present.” (from Nunc Contemporary)

To see more visit HendrikKerstens.com or Nunc Contemporary.

Theo Jansen: Kinetic Sculpture

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From TED Talks – a great presentation from Dutch kinetic artist Theo Jansen who demonstrates his lifelike kinetic sculptures. “Jansen has been working for 16 years to create sculptures that move on their own in eerily lifelike ways. Each generation of his “Strandbeests” is subject to the forces of evolution, with successful forms moving forward into new designs. Jansen’s vision and long-term commitment to his wooden menagerie is as fascinating to observe as the beasts themselves.

His newest creatures walk without assistance on the beaches of Holland, powered by wind, captured by gossamer wings that flap and pump air into old lemonade bottles that in turn power the creatures’ many plastic spindly legs. The walking sculptures look alive as they move, each leg articulating in such a way that the body is steady and level. They even incorporate primitive logic gates that are used to reverse the machine’s direction if it senses dangerous water or loose sand where it might get stuck.”

To see more video of Jansen’s fascinating work, visit StrandBeest.com.

Jan Oliehoek: Photo Manipulation

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A little weird, a little creepy, a little beautiful.  These are the photo manipulations of Jan Oliehoek. Based in Leiden, Netherlands, Oliehoek has a Masters degree in Biology, works as an IT specialist, for a biopharmaceutical company, and creates his surreal hybrids as a hobby.

“I try to create images that are both photorealistic and impossible at the same time. There are countless ways to accomplish this, and combining several animals into one hybrid is one of them. On top of that, I find that some animals just look amazing and beautiful. If on top of that they are then photographed by a really good photographer, I am already more than half way in creating a cool image without even having touched it yet.”

To see more of Oliehoek’s intriguing images, visit JanOliehoek.com.

Sources: The Design Inspiration

Chris Berens: Amsterdam @ Jaski Gallery

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Poste-Restante-Chris-BerensThe latest work from Amsterdam artist Chris Berens (featured). In his new exhibition at Jaski Art Gallery entitled “Amsterdam”,  “Chris declares his love to his hometown. Again, he does this with beautiful, touching works, like always using the technique watercolor ink and graphite on paper on wood panel. The exhibition can be visited until Sunday, May 20. The opening takes place on Saturday, April 28, from 4 pm until 7 pm. Dutch TV personality Beau van Erven Dorens, a huge fan of Chris Berens, will deliver a speech between 5.30 en 6 pm.”

See more works from this exhibition at Jaski.nl. Learn more about his unique artistic process at ChrisBerens.com.

Eline Peek: Painting

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Eline-Peek

Born in 1970 in Utrecht, Netherlands, Eline Peek studied advertising and presentation techniques at Nimeto, Utrecht and autonomous design at the School of the Arts, Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht.

“People seeing the paintings of the Utrecht artist Eline Peek (1970) for the first time tend to shuffle by in shock or embarrassment or to look away. Her big, all-revealing ‘portraits’ make you feel quite uneasy. The confrontational nudes are, in the first instance, not pleasing to the eye: decrepit, sagging bodies, hollow-eyed faces, droopy breasts, pendulous folds of skin, angular limbs, an unhealthy skin and genitalia prominently on show. Without any inhibitions they pose nude or in their underwear. All larger than life-sized and shamelessly facing the viewer, what’s more their eyes stare searchingly at you; they are actually looking for contact.” (Chris Will, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam)

To see more, visit ElinePeek.nl.

Esther Barend: Girls In Paint

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Come-with-me-Esther-BarendDAF favourite Esther Barend has a new series of paintings entitled “Girls in Paint” – a fusion of the female portrait with her well known abstract style.

About Girls in Paint: “Long ago I started as a realistic painter. Then I radically switched from oil to acrylics and at the same time into abstracts. I love painting my abstracts, and I will continue making new abstracts in my own recognizable and hopefully ongoing evolving style. But I always wanted to find a way to amalgamate the two styles, and with the Girls in Paint series I finally succeeded! Since the beginning of mankind our lives are filled with finery to make it more beautiful and interesting, Humans want to distinguish themselves from others by their rituals, clothing, equipment, cars etc… but even in all this apparently we seem more alike than we would like. The abstract parts in my paintings not only represent the finery but can be also compared with the visualisation of a sensation or thoughts.”

A selection of “Girls in Paint” is on show now at Bloom – Creative Industries Art Show in Cologne (Köl) , Germany through November 1, 2011.

Barend currently lives and works in Belgium and is represented by Artishox Gallery and Artishopix in Hasselt Belgium.  To see more, visit EstherBarend.eu or her blog at EstherBarend.Blogspot.com.

Tamara Muller: Mixed Media

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“Tamara Muller’s faces are almost always her own. They are stylized but rendered with an uncanny realism. Other parts of the canvas may be blocked in with simple brushwork or even left unfinished, because it is those faces that matter. They are not self portraits in the basic sense. Each one is a role although the role itself is sometimes vague, flickering between man, animal, woman, child, seducer, victim, sometimes combinations two or more. There is a tension in them, between the presumed innocence of youth and the transgressive desires and guilt of adulthood. This disturbing psychological dichotomy is carefully balanced by a visual sense of wit and humor. Tamara Muller’s work is an unfolding and unflinching portrait of the self. And the accumulating body of that work is continually adding weight to its depth.”  (David Lewis)

To see more, visit TamaraMuller.nl.

Discovered via: Escape into Life