AIC: Truth [By Daniel Chester French]

Truth..
By Daniel Chester French
1900 / Plaster
Location: Art Institute of Chicago
Galleries of American Art - Lower Level - Sculpture Court [Gallery: 161]..

The marker reads..
In 1989 Daniel Chester French was commissioned to create six allegorical figures representing Bounty, Courage, Integrity, Prudence, Truth and Wisdom for the facade of the Minnesota State Capital Building in Saint Paul. This plaster is a working model and is half the size of the marble figure that appears on the Capital Building paired with Integrity. In his portrayal of Truth, French used symbols drawn from classical and Renaissance sources. The mirror she holds reflects life without illusions, her partial nudity alludes to the nature of truth.





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AIC: Sculpture Court [The Sun Vow - by Hermon Atkins MacNeil]

The Sun Vow..
By Hermon Atkins MacNeil
Modeled-1898, Cast-1901..
Bronze
Height: 176.5 cm
Bequest of Howard Van Doren Shaw..
Location: Art Institute of Chicago
Galleries of American Art Sculpture Court [Gallery: 161]..
Rice Building - Lower Level..

The marker reads..
Hermon Atkins MacNeil became interested in native American culture after viewing the ethnographic displays at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The Sun Vow portrays a young Native American undergoing a rite of manhood by shooting an arrow skyward under the tutelage of an older warrior. The sculpture displays McNeil's desire to blend accuracy with idealized beauty of ancient sculpture that he studied in Rome. While his earlier portrayals of Native Americans emphasize ethnographic detail, this sculpture reveals few aspects of costume and physiognomy, and the figure of the young boy displays a classical pose...



The Vow of Vengeance - 1894
By Hermon Atkins MacNeil.

What's in a name?
Well, somehow I noticed a discrepancy in the name..
The Art Institute website calls it - The Vow of Vengeance [1894]
But marker at the Art Institute has the name - The Sun Vow [Modeled-1898, Cast-1901]..

There's a very interesting context of this sculpture..click here..
An excerpt..
During his visits to several Native American tribes, he [Hermon MacNeil] heard of a rite of passage that captured his imagination: before a boy on the threshold of manhood could be accepted as a warrior of his tribe, he must shoot an arrow directly into the sun. If the chieftain judging the boy's prowess was so blinded by the sun's rays that he could not follow the flight of the arrow, it was said to have gone "out of sight," and the youth had passed the test. MacNeil felt that the story, with its "patriotic ring," lent itself to a group composition. In this bronze work, he portrayed two Native Americans (whom he identified as Sioux) straining to follow the arrow's flight. MacNeil heightened the visual impact of his composition by choosing to capture the moment when the arrow has just been released..

McNeil's plaster model for the Sun Vow won a silver medal at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle. Chicago architect and Art Institute trustee Howard Van Doren Shaw purchased the first bronze cast of the sculpture in 1901. This sculpture was bequested by Shaw to the Art Institute.

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AIC: Tiffany Shade ..

Hanging Head Dragonfly Shade on Mosaic and Turtleback Base..
Design attributed to Carla Pierce Wolcott Driscoll
Description: 1906 / Favrile glass and bronze..

The marker reads..
Around 1898 Louis Comfort Tiffany's firm began creating lamps fitted for electricity with trademark Favrile glass, which feature subtle shading and unique textural effects. As artistic director, Tiffany approved all patterns but designed relatively few lamps himself. Clara Driscoll, head of Women's Glass Cutting Department at Tiffany Studios, was likely responsible for design of this shade and base. She began working for Tiffany in 1888, and designed the majority of the firms lamps until she left the company in 1908 or 1909.

This shade which is larger than most models, harmoniously blends hues ranging from deep amethyst to bright green and incorporates glass cabochons and inverted dragonfly bodies with metal filigree overlay. The bronze base features iridescent turtle back tiles and lustrous glass mosaic. Although many lamps and bases were mass-produced, female glass selectors ensured that every lamp possessed an individualized color scheme. Ann example of Art Nouveau style in the United States, this work exemplifies Tiffany's interest in handcraftsmanship and the organic quality of nature...

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AIC: Galleries of European Art [Impressionism]

The Michigan Avenue entrance leads to the Grand Staircase.. and takes us to the Upper Level where European arts are exhibited.. The Art Institutes collection of European Art is considered one of the finest in the world, with more than 3,500 works dating from the 12th through the mid-20th century..
The West Wing, has European Art before 1900..
The East Wing, the upper-level of Alsdorf Galleries, features Impressionism and Post-Impressionism Art..
Although Contemporary Art is in the Modern Wing..

This post is on Impressionism and Post-Impressionism..
Galleries: 201, 225, 226, 240-243..
I want to write so much that I have to divide it in two posts..













I begin with Impressionism..
Some name associations are well established, like the name Monet with waterlilies, Degas with ballerinas and Van Gogh with sunflowers. For me, this is all I knew about "Impressionism." I had never really seen an "original" impressionist painting.. Well, all this ended with my first visit to the Art Institute of Chicago, which happened few years back in about 2005. I remember how happy I was seeing the real deal, the colourful canvases painted by the grandmasters themselves, not the print. This poignant experience initiated an insatiable quest of learning about various schools of arts, the various "isms".. Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Expressionism, Abstract Expressionism, Modernism and so it goes.. And it all begins with Impressionism..

“Impressionism” as a major art movement developed chiefly in France in around 1860 to 1890, as a reaction against the then popular “Academic Art”. Academic Art is typified by large, formal paintings depicting grand biblical, mythological and historical event. Impressionist choose informal outdoor subjects, scaled down the size of the work and used loose noticeable brush strokes, that contrasted with the minute brush techniques favored by the traditionalists. It was developed by a group of artists who knew each other, Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Gustave Caillebotte.

Salient Features;;
- The most significant departure from the dictates of Academy was in “content”. Against the academic subject-matter of historic events, religious themes or portraits, the Impressionists looked at the world around them for their subject matter – rural scenes, city-life, peasants, working-class men, nature..
- Short “broken” strokes of pure unmixed colors. The brushstrokes became a visible part of the composition, as opposed to the then prevalent academic technique of having almost smooth surface on canvas. Emphasis was on the overall effect rather than upon details.
- They began painting outside the studio. In the former era of Acadamic Art artists had sketched or done watercolor outside. However traditionalists could not paint canvases outdoors as the painting process was very time-consuming. However, the Impressionists painters began moving out of the studio into the nature. They worked “en plein air” [outdoors]
- Captured the momentary and transient aspects of sunlight..

Although"impressionists" artists had many common elements in their paintings, yet each one of them had their own distinctive style & subject-matter.
- Claude Monet began a “series” painting of one subject in varying lights and viewpoints. His series of paintings of haystacks [snow effect, end of summer, at he sunset] are in the Art Institute of Chicago. Monet was fond of painting nature, water lilies, gardens, ponds & bridges..
- Edgar Degas, specialized in painting ballerinas, horses & portraits..
- Auguste Renoir, specialized in painting women, children & lush landscapes..

The name associations still exsits, only the understanding is a bit deeper and most importantly, now I've seen them!

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AIC: Galleries of European Art [Post Impressionism]

Continued from the above post on European Art [ Impressionism]..
This is on Post-Impressionism..
This is a broad term used to cover much art produced between 1880 and early 20th century. The term Post-Impressionism was coined by the English art critic Roger Fry for the work painters as - Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat, Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and others. They began as Impressionists; however each of them abandoned the style to form his own highly personal art..

Unlike Impressionist, who began as a close-knit group; Post Impressionists painted mainly alone, though they often exhibited together.
- Cézanne painted at “Aix-en-Provence” in Southern France..
- Van Gogh painted in “Arles”, a city in Southern France..
- Paul Gauguin took up residence in “Tahiti”, and depicted Polynesian culture..
- Henri de Toulouse Lautrec – stayed in “Montmartre” section of Paris. It was a centre of cabaret entertainment and bohemian life.

Impressionism was based, in its strictest sense, on the objective recording of nature in terms of effects of colour and light. The Post-Impressionists rejected this limited aim in favour of more ambitious personal expression..

Georges Seurat.. He is often termed as Neo-Impressionist. He is credited with starting “Pointillism” which greatly influenced painters like Van Gogh. Pointillism refers to using tiny dots of color, which create an effect from a distance. The method of using colors in distinct dots or strokes is called “Divisionism”.

Paul Cezanne.. He said to be the bridge between “Impressionism” and “Cubism” [Cubism is more associated with Matisse & Picasso]. Cezanne concentrated on few subject matters as still life, studies of bathers and the “Mont Sainte Victoire” [mountain near his home]. He was preoccupied with the structure of painting. His paintings of "still-life" show liberation from conventional methods that greatly influenced cubism.

Vincent van Gogh.. His initial paintings were very dark [like Potato Eaters]. But when he came to Paris [from Netherlands]; he was influenced by Impressionists and began using light colors. He was also influenced by Japanese art. However the most profound influence seems to be of Pointillism. He developed highly personal use of color and brush work – like use of complimentary colors esp. blue and orange in close proximity to enhance each-others brilliance... and ... the use of heavy brush strokes was very typical of his works.

Paul Gauguin.. He turned away from the sophisticated urban life of Paris and looked for inspiration from the rural communities of Tahiti. Gauguin retained use of intense light colors of Impressionists but reintroduced imaginative elements in paintings.

Henri de Toulouse Lautrec.. He was born in an aristocrat family but was very weak and was often sick. He broke his left leg at 12 and right at 14. But his bones failed to heal. But his body trunk grew a normal size but his legs were abnormally short. Deprived of normal life he lived wholly on art. He stayed in Montmartre section of Paris.

Referenced heavily from the book:
“ … isms" ... Understanding Art by Stephen Little.

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AIC: Samson and the Lion

Samson and the Lion..
By - Cristoforo Stati [Italian, 1556-1619]
1604-1607, Marble..

The marker reads..
One of the earliest exploits of the legendary Israelite hero Samson was his encounter with a lion which he tore apart with his bare hands, "as he would have rent a kid" [Judges 24: 5,6]. Like most of his feats, such as the killing of a thousand enemy Philistines with the jawbone of an ass, the struggle with the lion exhibited Samson's superhero strength. In this marble statue, Cristoforo Stati emphasizes the hero's bulging muscles, portraying him effortlessly tearing the lion's jaw. Stati had studied under the Flemig-born sculptor Giambologna, who favoured angular poses contoured to be viewed from all sides with equal pleasure. Since Stati was commissioned to carve a statue that would be placed alongside Giambologna's own "Samson and the Philistine" he constructed a similar group of violently struggling figures. Like other early Baraque sculptures, however, Stati's "Samson and the Lion", created four decades later than Giambologna's companion statue, bends the figures into diagonal line, emphasizing movement and natural action rather than artificial composition..







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AIC: Auguste Rodin

Adam - by Auguste Rodin

Adam - by Auguste Rodin

Adam - by Auguste Rodin
Bronze - 1881

The marker reads..
Adam and Eve were originally intended to flank Rodin's monumental... "Gates of Hell", the bronze door that was commissioned by the French government for a new museum of decorative arts. The inclusion of these biblical figures in the depiction of a scene from Dante's "Inferno" would have stressed the legacy of original sin. The museum was never built, and the doorway never finished. So Rodin turned these figures into independent statues..

Eve after the Fall - by Auguste Rodin

Eve after the Fall - by Auguste Rodin

Eve after the Fall - by Auguste Rodin
Marble- 1886

The marker reads..
Auguste Rodin's sculpture "Eve" owes it's genesis to the "Gates of Hell", the artists major commission from the French government in 1800. The associations posed by these sculptural portals of that project led Rodin back to the art of Lorenzo Ghiberti and Michelangelo, particularly their depiction of biblical stories from the book of Genesis. A number of elements from the Gates - such as The Thinker, Adam, and Eve - gradually evolved into independent events. In Particular, Eve recalls the most sculptural of Renaissance paintings. Michelangelo's panels from the Sistine Chapel and Masaccio's "Expulsion from the Garden of Eden". It's naturalism shocked critics when it was first exhibited, since Eve seems to them more like a flesh-and-blood woman than an idealized creation...

Head of Pierre de Wissant - by Auguste Rodin

Sorrow - by Auguste Rodin

Caryatid- by Auguste Rodin

Head of Pierre de Wissant - 1889

Sorrow - 1882

Caryatid - 1891

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