In terms of the Art Alphabet, the letter R threw up some easy finds.
R
1. A Body Part (ribs): Ribs, Molly Must, 2021
There’s something visceral about this painting, something too much, too close up. The thickness of the paint renders the bones somehow sticky. Something of the butcher shop about it & something of Francis Bacon (no pun intended) about it.
2. An Artist (Ramsay): Portrait of Lady Anne Rushout by Allan Ramsay
R also for Rushout, a tremendous surname. Lady Anne Rushout was the subject of numerous paintings & it’s said that this one isn’t even her but one of her ancestors. It’s weird how art history works, the nebulous nature of attributions, copies & fakes. I wondered the other day how long it would be in time before online images got the same treatment & further wondered if that hadn’t already started.
3. An Animal (rabbit): Gemüsetilleben mit Häschen (Still Life with Rabbits) by Johann Georg Seitz, c. 1870
German artist Georg Seitz was better known for his fairly stiff still life works of flowers & fruit. Frankly in this painting, it shows. The fruits & vegetables appear more vibrant & full of life than the awkwardly rendered bunnies. Even the walls are more believable. But it’s the Art Alphabet & rabbits over hares in the world of art are hard to come by if you’re looking for something off the beaten track.
4. A Bird (rook): The Rook by Jackie Curtis, 2011
When I found this great little linocut, the caption read that the rook was “cheeky” & was begging for some of the artist’s pasty at Stonehenge. Sounds about right.
5. A Movement (Realism): Minnie Cunningham at the Old Bedford by Walter Richard Sickert, 1892
Realism is one of these simultaneously general & specific terms that comes into common usage. It might refer to a more modern approach to photographic realism (general) or to the mid 19th Century movement (specific) that depicted everyday scenes. One is a style really, whereas the other is about subject matter. It quite often focused on the seamier side of life & the lives of working class people, who until then had been largely overlooked not only in art terms but in the wider world.
6. A Method (rayograph): Compass & Strainer Photogram by György Kepes
If I had been creating art at the invention of the rayograph technique, I doubt I could have resisted using it endlessly. It doesn’t just have form & clear shapes; it has depth, it has texture of a sort & it’s perfect for a monochrome fiend. It still seems like a fresh method of working – the image invites you in for a closer look, even if the title doesn’t…
7. A Medium (resin): Thumb by César (César Baldaccini), 1965
Artists are always looking for ways to get their works more widely known. As media go, resin has many attractive qualities for the artist: cheap, can be painted onto, has “natural” or synthetic versions, it’s long-lasting, lightweight & allows the artist to make multiple copies.
8. A Country (Russia): Vsevolod Mikhailovich Garshin by Ilya Repin, completed 1884
The story of this painting is all tied up with the Russian Empire as it was. Repin was a Ukrainian at a time when his country was part of this empire. The style of his stunning portrait of well-known writer Garshin owed much to his studies in Paris. The two knew each other through their socio-political interests & Garshin struggled with traumas experienced during his time as an officer during the Russo-Turkish War. Repin’s painting captures the writer’s mental anguish, depicting him as the passionate but troubled human he surely was. Repin was also a friend of Lev Tolstoy & made some beautiful portraits of the writer.
9. A Vehicle (racing car): Start with Ferrari 250 GTO by Paul Smith
About as far from my preferred art or subject as it’s possible to get, but just to prove I can be reluctantly inclusive of the petrol heads of the world.
10. A Household Object (rocking chair): Aunt Karen in the Rocking Chair by Edvard Munch, 1883
This sensitive portrait may seem at first to be a calm, quiet image, but it is Munch after all & nothing’s necessarily as it looks. The tension in Aunt Karen’s face is matched by that created by the rocking chair. Can you really properly relax in a rocking chair? Aunt Karen is mid-rock as it were & her legs must be fairly uncomfortable holding such a pose. As well as this, her hands seem all bunched up & her arms look rigid. Is she about to get up? Or sit there until the light from that window dies away & the shadows cast a gloom over the scene?
Comments
Post a Comment