Abstract The paper discusses one of the most impressive pieces shown in the Denver Art Museum, Claude Monet's 1904 painting, "Le Bassin des Nympheas". The paper relates that this painting may not be the most famous, but it carries all Monet's trademarks and is just as beautiful as any other painting of his. The paper portrays how, as with other impressionist works, the striking element remains the brushwork and the way in which the mixing of vibrant colors on the canvas creates such shapes and feelings inside the viewer.
From the Paper "The painting in discussion is more than a century old, having been done in 1904. Proportionately it is a square and, as the title suggests, the painting is a landscape whose main "character" are some water lilies of different colours, floating on the water that reflects the landscape around. The view is concentrated on the water surface, and the surrounding landscape can only be quested by its reflection, thus pointing out to the subject of the painting. The reflection in the water is hazy, so you can't really see what it is that is reflecting, so by contrast the water lilies appear clearly, even though they aren't more clearly painted, the brushwork hasn't been changed."
Abstract This essay offers a personal observation of the work of art entitled "Stepping Out" by Roy Lichtenstein. History and installation at the Metropolitan Museum, as well as biographical information on Lichtenstein are presented. Personal feelings and thoughts about style, composition, treatment, pictorial space, lighting, color, brushwork, thematic content, emotional response and the process of benday dots are offered and discussed from observation and supported by source material. A copy of the artwork is included.
From the Paper "Lichtenstein's best known comic-strip paintings, such as Eddie Diptych (1962), Girl At Piano, (1963), and Good Morning, Darling (1964), are blowups of original cartoon characters, reproduced by hand, using the benday dot technique and the bright primary colors employed in printing. Lichtenstein's later works, including Stepping Out, show the influence of Matisse and Picasso as cubism allows him to add a further evolutionary contribution to Pop Art. Lichtenstein's paintings depicting soap opera drama and comic strip hyper-emotionalism comment ironically on the culture they mirror. As Pop Art, Lichtenstein's work not only analyses his media haunted culture, but adds to the sick syndrome of human kind molded by mass media, controlled, even emotionally by ads, magazines, and television. Through his paintings Lichtenstein is showing how, like robots, as modern humans, we have no true feelings of our own, but are created by the media. In 1993 Lichtenstein was honored with a retrospective of his work at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City."
Abstract This paper analyzes 17th century Dutch art and reviews the book "The Art of Describing, Dutch Art in the Seventeenth Century," written by Svetlana Alpers. The paper discusses Alpers' assertion that Dutch visual culture needs to be examined more closely in order to better understand the Dutch genre in its own terms. It briefly discusses the origins and technique of Dutch art.
From the Paper "Was it the influence of Baconian philosophy or new excitement over technology and exploration...or simply a grounded earthy pragmatism the Dutch environment encouraged? Alpers exhaustively-researched book invites one to ponder not simply on the art but the people who place such emphasis on individuals and things. A closeness and fondness for the overlooked or underappreciated is in these works, an empathy that suddenly seems badly missing in Italian art. Not every facet of Alpers book succeeds; lengthy translations and unexpected foreign phrases complicate an already excessively complex academic text. Still one finds surprising anecdotal humor and a refreshingly allegory-free people in the Dutch - and a feeling that Alpers may be winning the argument for deeper meaning behind the elegant brushwork!"
Abstract This paper examines Claude Monet's" Water Lilies" ("Nympheas"), "Fereghan Horse" from the Chinese Tang Dynasty, John Singer Sargent's "Mrs. Joshua Montgomery Sears" and Mary Cassatt's "Children in the Garden" ("The Nurse") from the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. The author points out that Claude Monet's water lilies depict the Japanese styled stillness that Monet desired in works of nature. The paper relates that in Sargent's work, "Mrs. Joshua Montgomery Sears, the use of oils reveal the complexity of paints that provide greatly contrasting chiaroscuro that abounds in the work. The author further notes that the main subject in Mary Cassatt's work is the profound sense of women relationships that exist within elite households.
From the Paper "The choppy brushwork of the fauna along the pathway is representative of Impressionist works of the period, while Cassatt abstracts the forms of the nurse and the children by denying them any detail. Small circular brush strokes define the flowers along the path, which help anchor the depth of the work. In effect, the composition of the painting provides some depth and perspective, as the nurse causally knits while the lone child plays at her side. By placing the woman and the two children off center of the painting, this provides the depth and abstraction of form need to bring out depth perception along the angle of the pathway."
