Artists introduced to me in various ways and forms

Cindy Sherman

Tate Britain 2 - art from 1500

In this stage of my writing I have used my notes to actually research a little more and expand upon the notes - mostly I have deleted my notes but occasionally I have included them. Always pleased to learn more. I have a real hunger for learning and knowledge and experiences.


Sir Joshua Reynolds

Suzanna Beckford 1756
What was disappointing about this is that Reynolds apparently painted the face and assistants would paint the rest.
I found them quite lifeless actually. I am sure that would be considered ignorant - but I have since read that he believed in making the imperfect perfect so somehow that figures as to why Suzanna looks lifeless. Actually her opulent attire was apparently painted by Peter Toms who according to our guide would probably have received 15 guineas from the commission fee paid to Reynolds of 45 guineas, Naughty of me to say no doubt i the world of art but I think Toms deserved more. The dress does have more life though ....
"lavish sacque dress (à la Francaise), of turquoise blue and silver watered silk, with matching silk trimmings on the bodice"
Our guide also pointed out the earrings which were called snaps known today as clip-ons. This seems so early for such a thing. Nothing is new today!!!

Thomas Gainsborough  on the other hand apparently painted the entire painting. I read that he and Reynolds would have been competitors for portrait business. I would go for Gainsborough of the two!!!
He was also a landscape artist. It was possible to see how the style in the painting was all the same as opposed to Reynolds - well I think so anyway. I am not sure I would have spotted it unless it was said and now maybe I am just being influenced.  No actually looking again it is possible to see the Gainsborough style. Once again to be perfectly honest its interesting but it doesn't spark a huge interest - well not tonight as I write anyway. Am I an artiste heathen for saying this? So uneducated

Lady Bate-Dudley 1787

I can see though the light, loose and  natural style of his painting as opposed to the porcelain and unreal effect of Reynolds.
Exploring a little further I tend to prefer his landscape sketches - I guess being a portrait painter for the aristocracy was the bread and butter.
1819

It did interest me how someone like Hogarth and Highmore were 1600 - 1700 and painting more everyday situations in a way. Who were the portrait painters of those days - Was it fashionable? Surely it was.

I made a note about classical references and have no idea what this was in connection with - just having a read of Reynolds and Gainsborough to see if was actually in relation to their portraits - there was a reference to the classical attire and of course the opulence indicating the statues and wealth of the sitter.

However the note may have been in connection with Joseph Wright and the classical references in his paintings . "He is shown here reclining by a stream, holding a book with ‘Rousseau’ on its spine. This is a reference to Boothby’s pride in having published the Swiss philosopher’s autobiographical Dialogues"
                                                                                                                        Sir Brooke Boothby 1781


I had already started appreciating the relevance of positions within the panting and specific item as a means to make statements or indicate more about the subject of the portrait.
Again though this painting does not fill me with inspiration. But I also wonder if the guide brought it enough to life for me in contrast to the guide at the National Gallery. Rather than focusing on the sitter the guide there told the story of the painting and linked it with the social situations at the time. Then she also spoke about techniques and other movements at the time in the world of art.

Now the pre-Raphaelites was interesting. This movement to supposedly be more natural in the story telling. It brought to mind the Dogme 95 gang who were also considered avant-garde, pushing boundaries of the time.
I chuckle though at the little ways in which they break their own rules -both pre-Raphaelites and Dogme95 ers.
Pre rapaelites total realism -true to nature (my note)




Now I like this statement - at times I hear JH refer to freedom and flow and wonder how boundaries and responsibility sit with him within that???
"Influenced by Romanticism, they thought that freedom and responsibility were inseparable"
"


Ophelia 1851/2

This scene does not actually occur in Hamlet but is described by Queen Gertrude. It is quite an exquisite painting in my opinion. The dress the colours, the beauty of Ophelia.
Our guide pointed out though that there are blooms that could not be blossoming together so would not be true to the requirements of Millais' and his associates to reject what I suppose would be considered poetic licence. But I thought again about this and as he would have been painting it across a year then seasons and blossoms would have been altering. So he was licensed in a way to incorporate all he saw at this spot on the river.
Now the guide pointed out the use of symbolism in the painting - this is not large enough for me to see the wood in the undergrowth that resembles or suggests a skull which is assumed to signify grave and of course death. The robin and the violets around her neck are linked with loyalty.
One comment the guide made was that if it was truly to reality then there would be different focuses as the eye sees .....?? Good point.
I am very confused about the origins of the use of symbolism in the visual arts. My thoughts were that this is very much linked and attributed to the Dutch Interiors .... but need some more knowledgeable soul to educate me more around this.
Oh our guide then went on to talk about the model for the painting Elizabeth Siddall who apparently was very popular with the pre-Raphaelite brethren - originally consisting  of  William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Elizabeth and Dante became lovers and he painted her almost exclusively at one stage.

Victorian paintings told stories and used symbolism to reveal the story
pre Raphaelites (1848) period before Impressionism
Away from commissioned portraits now
Galleries sell/hiring models

Now I think the relevance of the poem that follows is tat during the Victorian era, people were becoming aware of how "others" lived and this appeared in various art forms. I think the essence this poem was utilised within many pre-Raphaelite paintings (other artists being influenced by the movement)

Poem Thomas Hood
The Song of the Shirt

With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat, in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread--
Stitch! stitch! stitch!
In poverty, hunger, and dirt,

And still with a voice of dolorous pitch
She sang the "Song of the Shirt."
"Work! work! work!
While the cock is crowing aloof!
And work — work — work,
Till the stars shine through the roof!
It's Oh! to be a slave
Along with the barbarous Turk,
Where woman has never a soul to save,
If this is Christian work!

"Work — work — work
Till the brain begins to swim;
Work — work — work
Till the eyes are heavy and dim!
Seam, and gusset, and band,

Band, and gusset, and seam,
Till over the buttons I fall asleep,
And sew them on in a dream!

"Oh, Men, with Sisters dear!
Oh, Men, with Mothers and Wives!
It is not linen you're wearing out,
But human creatures' lives!

Stitch — stitch — stitch,
In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
Sewing at once with a double thread,
A Shroud as well as a Shirt.

But why do I talk of Death?
That Phantom of grisly bone,
I hardly fear its terrible shape,
It seems so like my own —
It seems so like my own,
Because of the fasts I keep;
Oh, God! that bread should be so dear,
And flesh and blood so cheap!

"Work — work — work!
My Labour never flags;
And what are its wages? A bed of straw,
A crust of bread — and rags.
That shatter'd roof — and this naked floor —
A table — a broken chair —
And a wall so blank, my shadow I thank
For sometimes falling there!

"Work — work — work!
From weary chime to chime,
Work — work — work!
As prisoners work for crime!
Band, and gusset, and seam,
Seam, and gusset, and band,
Till the heart is sick, and the brain benumb'd,
As well as the weary hand.

"Work — work — work,
In the dull December light,
And work — work — work,
When the weather is warm and bright —
While underneath the eaves
The brooding swallows cling
As if to show me their sunny backs
And twit me with the spring.

Oh! but to breathe the breath
Of the cowslip and primrose sweet —
With the sky above my head,
And the grass beneath my feet
For only one short hour
To feel as I used to feel,
Before I knew the woes of want
And the walk that costs a meal!

Oh! but for one short hour!
A respite however brief!
No blessed leisure for Love or Hope,
But only time for Grief!

A little weeping would ease my heart,
But in their briny bed
My tears must stop, for every drop
Hinders needle and thread!"

With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread —
Stitch! stitch! stitch!
In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
And still with a voice of dolorous pitch, —
Would that its tone could reach the Rich! —
She sang this "Song of the Shirt!"


John Roddam Spencer Stanhope
Apparently his studio was beneath Rosetti's
I like this painting - the guide referred to another painting and in the theme of story telling she showed the kept woman and she suggested that as these women were disregarded by their master they quite often ended up as prostitutes in rooms by the ship yard in London - which is where Rosetti and Stanhope had their studios.
In relation to the poem this painitng depicts a torn curtain and dying flowers. The glove and the cane might suggest that the "gentleman" is still there - as with the coins tossed loosely onto the table.
I suppose it is the story that grabs my attention. She looks so very very sad - or even dead in the eyes!


Cast aside like an old glove
Glove on floor
Ripped curtain broken furniture
Coins tossed on table
Unnurtured dying plants
Bridge over the Thames - signifying suicide

More to come but oncce again so so tired

Artful Bliss
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