Behind the Canvas (36 page)

Authors: Alexander Vance

BOOK: Behind the Canvas

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17
.
V
INCENT VAN
G
OGH (1853â1890)
. Van Gogh was one of the many artists throughout history who lived a tragic life, as happiness eluded him at every turn. He battled with bouts of mental illness, was constantly on the move from one town to the next, and never seemed to be able to find that special someone. At one point in his life he famously cut off a piece of his left ear and gave it to a girl. (While I'm no expert in the game of love, I would be reluctant to try that at home.)

History knows him best for paintings with wide strokes and bold colors, and some of the world's most popular paintings came from his brush.
The Starry Night
with stars surrounded by a sumptuous swirling sky;
CafÃ©
Terrace at Night
with its cobblestones and yellow-warm outdoor patio; and a multitude of sunflower still lifes. And he is probably one of the few great artists to create an entire series of works based on his local mailman. (Excerpted from
Dr. Buckhardt's Art History for the Enthusiast and the Ignorant
.)

20
.
C
LAUDE
M
ONET (1840â1926)
. Monet, who painted nearly a century ago, has achieved something that would make him the envy and the scorn of his deceased contemporaries: His works have appeared on more wall calendars than any other artist in history.

Monet was one of the founders of the Impressionist movement, which focused more on the artist's perception of nature than on nature itself. Impressionistic works often appear as though the viewer is squinting, making everything look blurry and mushed together. Monet also painted several celebrated series in which he focused on the same object under different light and weather conditions. While this is an accepted tradition among artists, it does seem a tad lazy. It also makes art collectors feel jaded when they learn that just about everyone owns a “Monet haystacks.” And just about everyone else owns the calendar. (Excerpted from
Dr. Buckhardt's Art History for the Enthusiast and the Ignorant
.)

22
.
M
AX
E
RNST (1891â1976)
. Ernst is generally clumped together with the Surrealist artists. In fact, he was one of the first leaders of that monumentally mysterious movement. Ernst's paintings vary as much in content as they do in style. Giant birds, floating hands, collages, textured paintsâthere is no single object or style that defines Ernst, although the adjective
unique
almost always comes up in the discussion.

Ernst served as a soldier in World War I, which had an influence on his later works. One such example is
The Fireside Angel
(1937), in which a horrid monster stalks across an abstract landscape, destroying everything in its path. The ironically named creature represents Fascism, which Ernst considered a plague spreading across Europe.

Ernst was also an avid chess player, as were many of the Surrealists, and designed his own chess pieces. He even met his wife over a game of chess. How ironic that the most impractical of art movements should be drawn to the most practical of games. But then I suppose Twister hadn't hit the market yet. (Excerpted from
Dr. Buckhardt's Art History for the Enthusiast and the Ignorant
.)

24
.
M
ARY
C
ASSATT (1844â1926)
. Mothers. Children. Mothers and children. Children and mothers. That's what most people think of when they hear the name Mary Cassatt. Do they think about the fact that she was an integral member of the Impressionist cadre in Paris? No. Do they consider that she had a longtime professional collaboration with Degas himself? Probably not. Do they even know that she was an influential figure in the women's suffrage movement? Unlikely. The focus is relentlessly on the latter part of her career, in which she almost exclusively painted scenes of a mother and child.

And yet that attraction makes sense. Cassatt was never a mother herself, but she captures beautifully the innocence of childhood and the necessary nurturing nature of mothers. It is a universal part of the human experience. Sentimental, perhaps, but it's enough to make even a stodgy old art historian just a little misty-eyed. After allâat some point in their lifeâeveryone has a mother. (Excerpted from
Dr. Buckhardt's Art History for the Enthusiast and the Ignorant
.)

25
.
G
EORGIA
O
'
K
EEFFE (1887â1986)
. Some history books would have you believe that art has long been a man's game. There is no doubt that women artists are outrageously outnumbered in the opus of art history, but those women have had a definite impact through the centuries. And they haven't just created girly, lovey-dovey scenes with flowers and hearts and unicorns. In the seventeenth century Artemisia Gentileschi, for example, created a series of paintings of a woman chopping off the head of an evil general. In the twentieth century Meret Oppenheim created a virile, fur-covered cup and saucer for a Surrealist exhibition. And Georgia O'Keeffe, the Mother of American ModernismÂ â¦ wellÂ â¦ okay, she painted flowers. Lots of them. And a few cow skulls. (Excerpted from
Dr. Buckhardt's Art History for the Enthusiast and the Ignorant
.)

26
. H
IERONYMUS
B
OSCH
(ca. 1450â1516). At first glance, you might mistake Bosch's works for those created by the Surrealists. Bosch, however, was painting bizarre beasts in baffling backdrops more than 400 years before those dilettantes. And Bosch's paintings were rich with religious symbolism and allusion. He is well-known for his triptychs, in which three paintings are hinged together like shutters on a window. The sprawling paintings often told a story, moving from happy and holy on the left to dark and devilish on the right, with plenty of frolicking and naughtiness in the middle. The moral of the story is clear: Be good in this life or a demon will swallow you whole in the next. So effective are the paintings that my mother didn't need to take me to Sunday school as a ladâshe just stuck me in front of a Bosch once a week and I was puritanical for life. (Excerpted from
Dr. Buckhardt's Art History for the Enthusiast and the Ignorant
.)

27
.
G
EORGES
B
RAQUE (1882â1963)
. Pablo Picasso supposedly said, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” Most artists prefer to think of this as “being influenced” by another's style, but the principle is the same. Braque is an excellent erudite example. He started out as a house painter while studying artistic painting on the side. His early works were influenced by the Impressionists, since they were the hot ticket in Paris at the time. Then he started using bold, emotional colors like the Fauves (which is French for “wild beasts”). Eventually he saw some of CÃ©zanne's work on display, and for a time explored simultaneous perspective, just like CÃ©zanne. Finally he began partnering with Picasso, and that led to the birth of Cubism.

The take-home message: Stealing is absolutely wrong. Unless you're an artist; then it's just part of the job. (Excerpted from
Dr. Buckhardt's Art History for the Enthusiast and the Ignorant
.)

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