Happy New year Blogger
So, as I now have not much time to update this blog, I will just come here only to write updates about the OCA.
I received back all of the money I paid to the OCA. Thank you OCA for admitting with this gesture that you failed to provide a services for me.
Racism and bullying are not good traits for intellectuals.
I still do want to have answers to my questions that I raised about the OCA.
How did it happen that an installation "artist" with little or no drawing ability or knowledge of the associated theories was my tutor for a DRAWING course? If I wanted to make installations, I would have signed up for such a course, not for a drawing course.
How did it happen that my tutor admitted that she did not wish to do her job in the OCA as other tutors do there and, yet, I was thrown out, not her. Real ART (not copies of earlier installations, etc.) is not an area for making easy money, if you think otherwise, even Van Gogh will have been a looser for you, because he never made money when he was alive. Art, for me, is all about personality, if you do not have one, or put on so many faces you forgot who you are, what are you doing in art?
And the most important question: What is it structure of the OCA? Is it a college? But why, then, as any other college does it is not have college rules? If it is an art school, why does it not have school rules? If it is just an internet course, why just not say so? It is unfair to put give people the hope that they are actually joining something like a college system - it is certainly no OU. Because, if the OCA followed any university or college rules, the OCA administration (actually, according to the OCA documentation, the chief executive,Gareth Dent ) should know that throwing people out must done be for really serious reason, not just for asking to change tutor because of her unsatisfactory work. It is very bad for any college's reputation do something like this, especially nowadays, when each one as financial problems (and do Bucks New University or the University for the Creative Arts want to be associated with such a purely commercial company?).
As for me. I have only just finish the party period. I know it was a little bit more excessive this year than usual: I visited all of my friend and returned back to a normal intellectual lifestyle. I thought I would find something higher in England, but, as it happens,I could freely speak about Foucault, Behterevhe, etc. with the last alcoholic and beggar in our town.
I love this life; each time as something unjust happens to me, something really good happens at the same time. Although I will not drop the case about the OCA, I have done a test for English language and passed as advanced with 3 mistakes, so I should study a little bit more, but the funny things was that in 2 questions there were mistakes in English as well. So I am quite happy: I write in English nearly as well as the best native English speakers; at the end of the month, I will have an exam for my new university (I learned my lesson, one needs to go for REALLY good one), so I am busy studying books. Although the exam is not just in one subect (it is about the ability to think), I still think that I need to learn a lot more .
I still have not abandomed the book that OCA gave me. It was a brillint man that wrote it, so I will continue with the course just so as not to betray the original ideas of the OCA, although it seems that the OCA people have forgotten what they are there for.
By the way, even my washing machine started to work again. :))
So I had VERY pleasant Christmas and Happy new year
Just a note that I never betray any secrets that are told to me in confidence, so, please, if anyone has any questions, I will answer them privately - just say that it is secret.
Tuesday 4 January 2011
Monday 3 January 2011
OCA while waiting for outcomes
I am awaiting an answer from Buckingham New University about all the things that happened in OCA. If Buckingham New University tries to cover for the OCA, I will feel free and justified to continue at a different level. When I mentioned being a sniper for the biathlon, it is means training for the Olympics reserve team, running (cross country skiing) hundreds of km and then shooting with enough accuracy to hit a squirrel in the eye – my worst result was 99 from 100. If you think that all sportsmen have no brains, then you are very wrong 
And, of course, to do sport at this level, you must be the fort of person who never gives up.
I have some spare time to explain to people my opinions of the standards and level of the OCA – mostly for East Europeans, because you all have had a better education and a higher level of qualification than is normal in the UK (just look at the international education league tables). Education was one of the reasons why I chose to move to France from England, the other being the medical service (I have a young child and I am good mother, I want the best for my children; my other two my sons have already finished higher education and run successful businesses; they even manage support their poor mother). I assume that I do not need to explain for any non UK people how poor the medical services in the UK is.
When you choose a university, always look at how high it is in the university league tables (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/table/2010/jun/04/university-league-table), because now a lot of companies do not employ people with degrees from universities from the lower part of the list (you should really go for one in at least the top 15 or 20 in your area of study or, go to one that has always been a university for many years, not a converted technical college or polytechnic) and you should finish your degree with at least an upper second or first.
As for a masters: at some universtities you do not even need a first degree at all to apply for a masters, look at Bath spa for example. If you bullshit enough and produce a portfolio to go with it, you are in. So, what is the point of wasting time in the OCA, if you can go to do a masters at a proper university?
I looked at the biography of my tutor again – oh my God! I was really ashamed to even mention that she was my tutor for a few months ( although, to be fair, she never had time to speak to me properly). It seems to me that her sort of “art” is just made for pseudo- intellectuals (people who like to think that they are in some way superior) to talk in a correct language at dinner parties and receptions to reassure each other that they are, indeed, better than the rest; it also serves a purpose in allowing the rest of the world to laugh and deride art – but this has the danger of lumping all contemporary art into one stagnant lump, so that people assume that all art is now pointless and meaningless.
If the OCA administration was not as poor as they are at politics, they could have just given to me new tutor and I would have carried on with the course and would not have got the time or inclination to chat on the forum, because I would have already known everything I wanted from there, but I was sent there by Khatir and found out the level of the OCA – I would have carried on believing the OCA was as good as their book. And after the first course I might have moved to a proper university or they could have dropped me for a more suitable reason. But no, they needed to show off – students are just nobodies and the OCA is as powerful as gods, we can do whatever we want. Ironically, we spoke on the forum about Stalin’s regime, freedom of speech and another negative freedoms. So, it seems, the OCA is run by little Stalins who remove everyone who has an opinion that is not in line with the Party dictates. Wow, what an ART!
I am moving on with my life. I have started courses for learning a technical level of English, because, for the university that I have chosen, I need a better knowledge of English and, next year, I will apply.
And please, dear “somebody”, do not call my phone and try speak French to me. I have an internet phone and it is spam free. As French generally speak with each other on mobiles, landlines are left for officials. My best friend (even though she was born in Ger, she spent nearly all her life in Paris), when she picks up her landline phone, always talks in English and hopes they go away – and they do. French officials do not like to speak English – she learned this trick from me
And, of course, to do sport at this level, you must be the fort of person who never gives up.I have some spare time to explain to people my opinions of the standards and level of the OCA – mostly for East Europeans, because you all have had a better education and a higher level of qualification than is normal in the UK (just look at the international education league tables). Education was one of the reasons why I chose to move to France from England, the other being the medical service (I have a young child and I am good mother, I want the best for my children; my other two my sons have already finished higher education and run successful businesses; they even manage support their poor mother). I assume that I do not need to explain for any non UK people how poor the medical services in the UK is.
When you choose a university, always look at how high it is in the university league tables (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/table/2010/jun/04/university-league-table), because now a lot of companies do not employ people with degrees from universities from the lower part of the list (you should really go for one in at least the top 15 or 20 in your area of study or, go to one that has always been a university for many years, not a converted technical college or polytechnic) and you should finish your degree with at least an upper second or first.
As for a masters: at some universtities you do not even need a first degree at all to apply for a masters, look at Bath spa for example. If you bullshit enough and produce a portfolio to go with it, you are in. So, what is the point of wasting time in the OCA, if you can go to do a masters at a proper university?
I looked at the biography of my tutor again – oh my God! I was really ashamed to even mention that she was my tutor for a few months ( although, to be fair, she never had time to speak to me properly). It seems to me that her sort of “art” is just made for pseudo- intellectuals (people who like to think that they are in some way superior) to talk in a correct language at dinner parties and receptions to reassure each other that they are, indeed, better than the rest; it also serves a purpose in allowing the rest of the world to laugh and deride art – but this has the danger of lumping all contemporary art into one stagnant lump, so that people assume that all art is now pointless and meaningless.
If the OCA administration was not as poor as they are at politics, they could have just given to me new tutor and I would have carried on with the course and would not have got the time or inclination to chat on the forum, because I would have already known everything I wanted from there, but I was sent there by Khatir and found out the level of the OCA – I would have carried on believing the OCA was as good as their book. And after the first course I might have moved to a proper university or they could have dropped me for a more suitable reason. But no, they needed to show off – students are just nobodies and the OCA is as powerful as gods, we can do whatever we want. Ironically, we spoke on the forum about Stalin’s regime, freedom of speech and another negative freedoms. So, it seems, the OCA is run by little Stalins who remove everyone who has an opinion that is not in line with the Party dictates. Wow, what an ART!
I am moving on with my life. I have started courses for learning a technical level of English, because, for the university that I have chosen, I need a better knowledge of English and, next year, I will apply.
And please, dear “somebody”, do not call my phone and try speak French to me. I have an internet phone and it is spam free. As French generally speak with each other on mobiles, landlines are left for officials. My best friend (even though she was born in Ger, she spent nearly all her life in Paris), when she picks up her landline phone, always talks in English and hopes they go away – and they do. French officials do not like to speak English – she learned this trick from me
OCA continued
It seems that my blog has become a hit 
I should update it regularly
After yesterday’s conversation with OCA administration, I have the feeling that they cannot understand why I fuss so much. When I mentioned the word “reputation” (among a lot of other things) they did not seem to understand the meaning. Maybe because nobody in OCA has a reputation?
I will explain to people who do not know what it is:
rep·u·ta·tion
// http://img.tfd.com/m/sound.swf 1. The general estimation in which a person is held by the public
2. The state or situation of being held in high esteem.
I should update it regularly After yesterday’s conversation with OCA administration, I have the feeling that they cannot understand why I fuss so much. When I mentioned the word “reputation” (among a lot of other things) they did not seem to understand the meaning. Maybe because nobody in OCA has a reputation?
I will explain to people who do not know what it is:
rep·u·ta·tion
// http://img.tfd.com/m/sound.swf 1. The general estimation in which a person is held by the public
2. The state or situation of being held in high esteem.
3. A specific characteristic or trait ascribed to a person or thing: a reputation for courtesy.
[Middle English reputacioun, from Latin reput
ti
, reputtin-, a reckoning, from reputtus, past participle of reputre, to reckon, think over; see repute.]
ti, reputtin-, a reckoning, from reputtus, past participle of reputre, to reckon, think over; see repute.]I cannot understand how people can be so low. I forgot to mention one little thing, I was blocked from the students’ forum before I was informed that I was thrown out of the “university”, how about freedom of speech? A right of defense? The list of breaches of any rights could go on and on just in order to look after a lazy tutor. I have not counted all of the other mistakes made by “reputable” tutors. It seems that they think they are not under British or moral laws anymore and they can cover up anything they like. Maybe you have power in your little college or university (God knows what it is – please tell me) world, but, as British citizen, I hope we all have same rights. Also, the OCA guidelines were breached in my case, but, I cannot say if I was just unlucky (I’m only a little foreign housewife and carer – my husband is disabled).
Well done to the students who found my exhibitions; I wiped all the information I could from the internet before I went to OCA, because I wanted to start from fresh page, but obviously I cannot wipe information that other people say about me on TV, internet and newspapers.
Actually, I think that I am the only one who does tell the truth all of the time and, before I write, I check each word; can the OCA say it about themselves?
I think it is advisable for students not to look at who I am, but to look at the structure of the OCA and find out more about tutors (qualifications, skill levels, which universities they attended) and how many students actually graduated from this ART college with a degree and the circumstances that surrounded the graduations, etc.
I have decided to change my career a little bit; I have decided become an art critic (I am happy to take the standard old abuse about critics, but, remember, postmodernism and all the lazy little tricks of modern “artists”, are based on works by critics, not artists). So after just about three years or so in a proper university, my dear tutors, your nightmare will never end
OCA – Open College of the Arts
As most of you know now, I was thrown out of the OCA for asking to change my tutor. Students change tutors all of the time in the OCA for one reason or another. It seems that this did not happen in my case. My tutor, Linda Khatir, said in her assignment note to me that she was not prepared to answer any of my questions in between assignments (not her job) and sent me to the STUDENTS’ forum for “answers”, the OCA guidelines said that we should have constant contact with out tutors and that we should expect to be able to ask one short question a week and one long question a month. Khatir, obviously, refused to comply with the guidelines. And madame DEE from administration said that, as I had made a serious accusation against a tutor with no evidence, I would be thrown out of the OCA. I cannot actually see where my “serious” accusation was and why there was no evidence when they had Khatir’s assignment report where she says she had no intention of doing, what appears to be, her job. Of course, all I actually wanted was a new tutor who was prepared to the their job.
I believe that this raises a few question. Does the OCA deliberately mislead us about the level of their educational programme? Do we all waste our time and money in a “university” that is actually running courses for “housewives” where some professor did a practical joke by introducing an intelectual book to study?
The level of tutors (I am not saying teachers, because, as far as I can see, none of tutors in the OCA could dream of working as a teacher, you cannot imagine teachers hitting children in the classroom – not physicaly and not mentally) seems very low in my experience of them, whether intellectually or in their abilities to encourage and support.
I thought my bohemian life in France was boring and to raise myself to a new level, I decided to go to, what I assumed to be a university, the OCA, but the life in the OCA is really what I call boring. Although I have held more exhibitions in last few years than my “tutor” for all her carrier, I will not critisize her work, because it is too easy a target. As my tutor has never made proper contact with me, she is not aware of who I am and what I am doing. At my first introduction I sent her my authenticity certificate that I used for my paintings 7 years ago.
I was looking in the OCA for students with whom I can connect to and invite for my art projects, but I guess I was mislead about the level of the OCA and even though I did meet a few talanted people there, if they stay they will easily become part of the machine; not artists anymore – all about artist is insparation. I guess I will return to a Russian art university forum and invite, for next summer, students from there; Russians have a lot of connections with European countries and easily integrate with the French lifestyle and cultural traditions – something I doubt students from the OCA can do from their views expressed on the forum.
Some people there asked why they are poor when they work so hard. I am not sure what they mean by “work hard”. A lot of artists think that photograph is not art, but as it happens, I have met a lot interesting people in my life and a few of them were photographers. I not will mention Russians or Europeans because it seems that the OCA people cannot understand Europe or Russia. I will take as an example an Australian (I will not say his name because we had personal relationship in a past, but, if some people our curious enough they can found his name) who is international photographer and, if you see his pictures, you will understand why those in the OCA have not anywhere near the talent or expertise that he has (I am talking about the tutors, I wouldn’t expect the students to have such skill). It is what I call art.
So, as I am taking advice at moment, this story will progress.
And now I am looking for REAL university.
I believe that this raises a few question. Does the OCA deliberately mislead us about the level of their educational programme? Do we all waste our time and money in a “university” that is actually running courses for “housewives” where some professor did a practical joke by introducing an intelectual book to study?
The level of tutors (I am not saying teachers, because, as far as I can see, none of tutors in the OCA could dream of working as a teacher, you cannot imagine teachers hitting children in the classroom – not physicaly and not mentally) seems very low in my experience of them, whether intellectually or in their abilities to encourage and support.
I thought my bohemian life in France was boring and to raise myself to a new level, I decided to go to, what I assumed to be a university, the OCA, but the life in the OCA is really what I call boring. Although I have held more exhibitions in last few years than my “tutor” for all her carrier, I will not critisize her work, because it is too easy a target. As my tutor has never made proper contact with me, she is not aware of who I am and what I am doing. At my first introduction I sent her my authenticity certificate that I used for my paintings 7 years ago.
I was looking in the OCA for students with whom I can connect to and invite for my art projects, but I guess I was mislead about the level of the OCA and even though I did meet a few talanted people there, if they stay they will easily become part of the machine; not artists anymore – all about artist is insparation. I guess I will return to a Russian art university forum and invite, for next summer, students from there; Russians have a lot of connections with European countries and easily integrate with the French lifestyle and cultural traditions – something I doubt students from the OCA can do from their views expressed on the forum.
Some people there asked why they are poor when they work so hard. I am not sure what they mean by “work hard”. A lot of artists think that photograph is not art, but as it happens, I have met a lot interesting people in my life and a few of them were photographers. I not will mention Russians or Europeans because it seems that the OCA people cannot understand Europe or Russia. I will take as an example an Australian (I will not say his name because we had personal relationship in a past, but, if some people our curious enough they can found his name) who is international photographer and, if you see his pictures, you will understand why those in the OCA have not anywhere near the talent or expertise that he has (I am talking about the tutors, I wouldn’t expect the students to have such skill). It is what I call art.
So, as I am taking advice at moment, this story will progress.
And now I am looking for REAL university.
Ben Nicholson 2
I received advice from the student forum that I found very helpful.
Anned give me an idea where I can go.
Although I do not like paintings by Ben Nicholson and do not like him as a person, there is no point putting my personal feelings into research. I need to find something positive about his drawing and forget about his personality, even though it comes through in all of his drawings. He definitely should be in art history, in my opinion, because, actually, if he did not go to the Cornwall community with his wife, we would have never heard about many artists; he had an influence on many people’s lives.
So, if you look at this still-life, you can get a topographic view of small fields, they are very common in Cornwall, the edge of Dartmoor and western Ireland. As he lived in Cornwall, he definitely tried to draw the Cornish landscape as an abstract painter. It is true that I do not connect with his paintings, but it is not necessary that he has different feelings about Cornwall. Everybody responds differently and two people can see the same view with the same eyes. His vision of Cornwall is mathematically proportioned without any obvious feelings for the land, but, maybe, that is how he saw it?
Ben Nicholson
Research about Ben Nicholson
I love Cornwall with a passion. For me, if I lived in England, it is the only place to be. All though I never would choose St Ives as an inspiration for me, but I can understand why so many artists find inspiration in the Cornish landscapes; Cornwall it is not just landscape, it has a special atmosphere, it is the people, it is something that you cannot describe in words. I like Launceston. I like people shouting in the streets “Hello Olga”, making me jump each time; where shopkeepers become your friends. A feeling of community that has died in many parts of England.
But, when I first opened the page where it is asked to do research on Ben Nicholson and showed his painting, I could not understand how it is related to the Cornish landscape. Although he said it is, for me it has, at most, the appeal of the landscape of a golf course anywhere in the world. Then I looked on the internet for more paintings by this artist and, unfortunately for me, I did not like any. A lot of them look like students’ work on our forum, where they are criticised for not being very good. So what makes the difference between him and other artists who were not successful? I looked again and found out he was very good manager, I cannot find another word, and he was married with very talented women.
Nicholson was married three times: firstly to Winifred Roberts (married 5 November 1920 at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church, London; divorced 1938) with whom he had three children, a son Jake in June 1927, a daughter Kate in July 1929 (who later became an artist herself) and a son Andrew in September 1931. His second marriage was to fellow artist Barbara Hepworth (married 17 November 1938 at Hampstead Register Office; divorced 1951) with whom he had triplets, two daughters Sarah and Rachel and a son Simon in 1934 and third to Felicitas Vogler, a German photographer (married July 1957; divorced 1977).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Nicholson
As it happens, I know the names of all of these women artists, but never came across his name before.
Does it mean that his name has faded with time?
I looked at his work more deeply and I found one that he painted in a similar style
| |
1932 (painting) 1932
Oil, pencil and gesso on boardsupport: 746 x 1200 mm frame: 800 x 1255 x 60 mm
painting
Presented by Dame Barbara Hepworth 1970
T01189
In 1932, Nicholson visited Paris and saw work by Joan Miró, Alexander Calder and Hans Arp. He described their effect on him as ‘a new freedom … a kind of liberation’.
Incised lines dance into and along the surface of this painting. The lines are fluid, playful and largely non-descriptive (although outlines of bodies can perhaps be read into this painting). Nicholson is occupied here with conveying the painting’s status as a physical object. In discarding the need for representation, Nicholson’s aim was ‘to animate a thing, to create new life by marrying idea to a physical object’. But you can see straight away a strong influential by Joan Miro – if not just a copy of his work.
Although all paintings by Miro are poetic, the same style done by Ben Nicholson looks dry and robotic, as though there is no human behind it.
Then I though “Oh well, maybe I am going too deeply to understand what this painter means and what he was about”. I decided to look “The art of Cornwall” on TV, assuming it is a very easy piece to watch. To my delight it was presented by Dr.James Fox who, with a passion for his subject, explained, in very simple words, what this movement of art in Cornwall was about. I liked all of artists’ work who were presented in this programme and I found their landscape paintings stunning , because they showed the love and passion the artists had for Cornwall. But, even in this programme, Ben Nicholson stayed as a separate figure, as egocentric control-freak who, no doubt had a very good talent in selling himself. I found that in England it is quite a common practice for good salesmen (owners of big galleries) to find wives who names can be exploited for their own need to make money and some wives can be benefited to have their names promoted of course. They pick up women who actually have talent. Once, if I understood correctly, the presenter said that in one episode, Ben Nicholson become nearly human. So did he mean he was not human at all before?
So I am completely stuck now, because I cannot say a single nice word about Ben Nicholson. Please somebody help me.
2 december
It’s cold here, there’s some snow on the mountains. Poor England is covered with snow completely.
I did a few sketches yesterday and I found out an interesting thing. When I started the course and started drawing with pencils, I wanted to get each detail of an object and put on paper, but now, when I started draw from nature, I like to put the main details of objects in the drawing; too many details in a drawing and it will not look natural or fresh anymore.
I attacked charcoal again. It is funny that when I draw in charcoal in a big skale it comes out fine, but on a small sheet of paper, it is looks too dark and heavy; although chalk together with charcoal works fine for me – very interesting where I missed the point
So i did a poor tired banana as pale as possible, but I am still not happy with the results
Tried to draw a sketch in the style of Vrubel. wow what an effect
It looks as though a light sketch of a flower and dark cross hatching in different directions behind brings the flower to you and makes it more tender. By the way, with this technique you can hide poor sketching of the main obeject.
I did a Japanese iris from the garden – nature for a second year has gone crazy – everything flowering at the wrong time.
Just for interest I did a sketch from his paintng of a demon – got very interesting thoughts but I should do it in oil to understand how it works.
I went on the student forum and it is upset me again. I try to avoid speaking about my tutor, but I have to admit that I actually do not have a tutor; all the other people have proper tutors and get help and I get a limited email and no help at all.
I looked yesterday at the artist Aubrey Phillips’ pastel drawings. What an artist, I wish he was my tutor or at least I had enough money to attend his courses. I have never seen such movement in pastels in any art work. I will try to find his books and tutirials. So I am ashamed now I hated pastel. What a bad person I was;o)
As it is very cold today, I comforted myself with ink drawing (it is very relaxing), I will prepare myself to draw in differnt coloured of inks tomorrow if snow doesn’t fall on our town.
I have other work to do.
I did a few sketches yesterday and I found out an interesting thing. When I started the course and started drawing with pencils, I wanted to get each detail of an object and put on paper, but now, when I started draw from nature, I like to put the main details of objects in the drawing; too many details in a drawing and it will not look natural or fresh anymore.
I attacked charcoal again. It is funny that when I draw in charcoal in a big skale it comes out fine, but on a small sheet of paper, it is looks too dark and heavy; although chalk together with charcoal works fine for me – very interesting where I missed the point
So i did a poor tired banana as pale as possible, but I am still not happy with the results
Tried to draw a sketch in the style of Vrubel. wow what an effect
It looks as though a light sketch of a flower and dark cross hatching in different directions behind brings the flower to you and makes it more tender. By the way, with this technique you can hide poor sketching of the main obeject.I did a Japanese iris from the garden – nature for a second year has gone crazy – everything flowering at the wrong time.
Just for interest I did a sketch from his paintng of a demon – got very interesting thoughts but I should do it in oil to understand how it works.
I went on the student forum and it is upset me again. I try to avoid speaking about my tutor, but I have to admit that I actually do not have a tutor; all the other people have proper tutors and get help and I get a limited email and no help at all.
I looked yesterday at the artist Aubrey Phillips’ pastel drawings. What an artist, I wish he was my tutor or at least I had enough money to attend his courses. I have never seen such movement in pastels in any art work. I will try to find his books and tutirials. So I am ashamed now I hated pastel. What a bad person I was;o)
As it is very cold today, I comforted myself with ink drawing (it is very relaxing), I will prepare myself to draw in differnt coloured of inks tomorrow if snow doesn’t fall on our town.
I have other work to do.
30 november
I did two sketches of the same jar. I found the technique of using coloured pencils without using black for sketching very rewarding, because you will get the main idea about colours from this sketch and it teaches me not to add black everywhere. Secondly, it brings more confidence in using colours. If I will want to finish this sketch (which looks pretty poor at the moment) to something serious, obviously I will need to draw it on thicker paper, because it will require the use of a knife to show reflections on the glass and fruits .
To study tone, I drew a jar with candies and, for the first time, I did a self portrait in reflection;It was fun.
Fashion in art and my downs
First I want say what happened to me this week. I stopped drawing for the course for a time because I cannot put my finger on what is wrong with my drawing. But, as I am not a person who can easy become depressed, I moved to studying books about famous artists, their techniques, aesthetics, Chinese philosophy and poetry and, of course, art magazines.
The life left unexamined is a life not worth living, to paraphrase Aristotle.
I found my answer and from tomorrow morning, I will start doing my course again. I will go to shop and begging or just quietly sit next to the fruits and draw and draw them, because I can not afford to buy them at the moment. I can even take a commission from the shopkeeper for drawing him, just to draw fruits NOW.
My mistake was when I moved to studying techniques that are obviously very important. I did not always study objects properly – close eyes and visualize the object in my memory and then draw it then study it again and again and again. It is intellectual work and it trains put a form in space correctly; also, it teaches you to still see objects of beauty and not loose th ability to enjoy and share the beauty that I see in objects with the techniques that I have already picked up and try to put it all in drawing. I moved to copy-cat for a while and it is that that was bothering me. I stoped to SEE.
Secondly, I see my tutor is pushing me to finish course as soon as possible. Of course I can send all assignments now, I have a few ideas for all the assignments already – really, I got them as soon as I read my course, need just to draw them – but I made my plans and there is no point showing off and putting in my blog the best drawings that I produce and rush through the course. I put into the blog what shows where and how I make mistakes. I see them and I guess it will make me better.
I spent time to look at other students’ blogs and gather all of the information about my tutor from the internet. I found a few very talented students with very interesting art-work. If they progress to another level, I would like make contact with them and learn from them, because if their tutor has spotted them, these people can develop into something remarkable.
But it is not my job to judge; I am here to learn. But I see the potential to develop a school or art group of people in this university. Buckingham has a high standard for the arts and, assuming OCA is a part of it, I did not make a mistake applying to this university, even though it is the only private university in England and it is the only university that does distance learning courses in fine art.
I have very strong views, and art magazines prove it, about tendencies to change fasions in art. A few years back, exactly 5 years ago, I noticed that some English collectors started buying paintings from foreign artists from a new generetion of them who are able produce ART. But the English estableshment continues to push the absurdist and similar movements in art as the one and only, although the english public are getting bored with it. When a style has become too tired and boring, the artist need only say, when they produce the same old thing, that it is postmodern so, although appearing identical to the old stuff, is just referring to it in a “humerus” way. They cannot, or do not need to, defend their positions convincingly – being able to memorize a list of buzzwords is not the same as constructing an argument (of course, the final thing to say is “you cannot understand it”, like a child in the playground). It looks as though even the Tate Modern have lost their wits: invited another Chinese artist from these movements. They are stuck with “avant guard” (although, normally this normally means new, now just seem to mean a regurgitation. Of course, the “shocking” art of today cannot hold a candle to de Sade in shockingness, intellect or artistic vision and he has been dead for 200 years – where’s the new?) art of yesterday while europe and the east move to new lines in art; even illustrator-artist develope new techniques and use new fresh ideas, but art in England at this moment is run by people of the same sort as Simon Cowel who know nothing about music but continue to run show business and crush any individual talent – safety and money before art. I cannot say that such people cannot make money, obviously they do, but even X factor has become deeply unpopular and people vote for Wagner, not because they like him but they vote against the middle aged men in suit who are the establishment.
The same tendency can be found in art. New fresh ideas are coming and, I believe, soon we can see a new movement in England.
Need remember that fashion rules, a fashion goes for a while and then another line comes and so artists need to work hard, develop as intellectuals and not loose the ability to enjoy and share your vision with other people. Art, after all, not only for artists, it is for all the people .
The life left unexamined is a life not worth living, to paraphrase Aristotle.
I found my answer and from tomorrow morning, I will start doing my course again. I will go to shop and begging or just quietly sit next to the fruits and draw and draw them, because I can not afford to buy them at the moment. I can even take a commission from the shopkeeper for drawing him, just to draw fruits NOW.
My mistake was when I moved to studying techniques that are obviously very important. I did not always study objects properly – close eyes and visualize the object in my memory and then draw it then study it again and again and again. It is intellectual work and it trains put a form in space correctly; also, it teaches you to still see objects of beauty and not loose th ability to enjoy and share the beauty that I see in objects with the techniques that I have already picked up and try to put it all in drawing. I moved to copy-cat for a while and it is that that was bothering me. I stoped to SEE.
Secondly, I see my tutor is pushing me to finish course as soon as possible. Of course I can send all assignments now, I have a few ideas for all the assignments already – really, I got them as soon as I read my course, need just to draw them – but I made my plans and there is no point showing off and putting in my blog the best drawings that I produce and rush through the course. I put into the blog what shows where and how I make mistakes. I see them and I guess it will make me better.
I spent time to look at other students’ blogs and gather all of the information about my tutor from the internet. I found a few very talented students with very interesting art-work. If they progress to another level, I would like make contact with them and learn from them, because if their tutor has spotted them, these people can develop into something remarkable.
But it is not my job to judge; I am here to learn. But I see the potential to develop a school or art group of people in this university. Buckingham has a high standard for the arts and, assuming OCA is a part of it, I did not make a mistake applying to this university, even though it is the only private university in England and it is the only university that does distance learning courses in fine art.
I have very strong views, and art magazines prove it, about tendencies to change fasions in art. A few years back, exactly 5 years ago, I noticed that some English collectors started buying paintings from foreign artists from a new generetion of them who are able produce ART. But the English estableshment continues to push the absurdist and similar movements in art as the one and only, although the english public are getting bored with it. When a style has become too tired and boring, the artist need only say, when they produce the same old thing, that it is postmodern so, although appearing identical to the old stuff, is just referring to it in a “humerus” way. They cannot, or do not need to, defend their positions convincingly – being able to memorize a list of buzzwords is not the same as constructing an argument (of course, the final thing to say is “you cannot understand it”, like a child in the playground). It looks as though even the Tate Modern have lost their wits: invited another Chinese artist from these movements. They are stuck with “avant guard” (although, normally this normally means new, now just seem to mean a regurgitation. Of course, the “shocking” art of today cannot hold a candle to de Sade in shockingness, intellect or artistic vision and he has been dead for 200 years – where’s the new?) art of yesterday while europe and the east move to new lines in art; even illustrator-artist develope new techniques and use new fresh ideas, but art in England at this moment is run by people of the same sort as Simon Cowel who know nothing about music but continue to run show business and crush any individual talent – safety and money before art. I cannot say that such people cannot make money, obviously they do, but even X factor has become deeply unpopular and people vote for Wagner, not because they like him but they vote against the middle aged men in suit who are the establishment.
The same tendency can be found in art. New fresh ideas are coming and, I believe, soon we can see a new movement in England.
Need remember that fashion rules, a fashion goes for a while and then another line comes and so artists need to work hard, develop as intellectuals and not loose the ability to enjoy and share your vision with other people. Art, after all, not only for artists, it is for all the people .
Reseach point
Find drawings by two artists who work in contrasting ways from tight, rigorous work to a more sketchy, expressive style and make notes in your learning log.
Got idea to look at John Ruskin. Obviously tight and rigorous work.
I’ve been reading Alain de Botton’s ‘The Art of Travel‘ over the past couple of weeks. It’s one of the most dazzlingly thought-provoking books I’ve come across in a long time; every page seems to contain a striking new idea which, like candles at the Holy Saturday liturgy, set alight further ideas in the richest procession. Towards the end of the book he writes about “possessing beauty” – how we hold on to things which have attracted us in our travels, and he draws on the writings of John Ruskin for some illuminating ideas.
“The art of drawing [...] is of more real importance to the human race than that of writing”, writes the great Victorian gentleman. Not because he wants everyone to become an artist, which he admits would be impossible, but because drawing teaches us to notice rather than merely to look. De Botton makes the observation that when we want to draw something we have to look at it for ten minutes at least. Point made: when did we last stand in front of something beautiful for that long and really examine it? I was sitting with a magnificent view of Prague’s old city as I read that, and I tried looking intensely at the elegant buildings outside the window. I just couldn’t manage it for more than about 30 seconds without my mind beginning to wander or lose focus. If I’d been sketching it with pencil and pad it would have been a different story.
I then went on to think about a musical equivalent of this, because music exists only in a passing of time, and races past us like the mid-19th century trains Ruskin so hated. It is utterly non-fixed, and to focus on one moment is to destroy the whole. It is a forest which we have to pass through, not a single tree which we can contemplate or capture. But if hearing and seeing beauty have different timetables they both require a sort of repetition in order to be fully appreciated: music needs to be heard many times; and the visual world needs multiple, if consecutive seconds of looking. Perhaps it is only in such repetition that we can hold on to beauty in the end.
How to kéep—is there ány any, is there none such, nowhere known some, bow or brooch or braid or brace, láce, latch or catch or key to keep
Back beauty, keep it, beauty, beauty, beauty, … from vanishing away?
Gerard Manley Hopkins hints at this repetition literally in the lines above from his ecstatic poem, ‘The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo‘; but by the end he (the Jesuit priest) suggests a further step:
Give beauty back, beauty, beauty, beauty, back to God, beauty’s self and beauty’s giver.
[...]
Oh then weary then why
When the thing we freely fórfeit is kept with fonder a care,
Fonder a care kept than we could have kept it, kept
Far with fonder a care (and we, we should have lost it) finer, fonder
A care kept.—Where kept? Do but tell us where kept, where.—
Yonder.—What high as that! We follow, now we follow.—Yonder, yes yonder, yonder,
Yonder.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/files/2010/03/John-Ruskin-watercolour-of-St.-Marks-Venice.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/stephenhough/100007158/beauty-beauty-beauty/&usg=__FhE_kIrNtwj0JL1mSw3hZo3WHdA=&h=500&w=339&sz=154&hl=en&start=19&zoom=1&itbs=1&tbnid=M8dPrGt6UX1HbM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=88&prev=/images%3Fq%3DJohn%2BRuskin%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26tbs%3Disch:1
So I choose two Russian artists: Shishkin and Vrubel.
Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (Russian: Ива́н Ива́нович Ши́шкин; 25 January 1832 – 20 March 1898) was a Russian landscape painter closely associated with the Peredvizhniki movement.
For some time, Shishkin lived and worked in Switzerland and Germany on scholarship from the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts. On his return to Saint Petersburg, he became a member of the Circle of the Itinerants and of the Society of Russian Watercolorists. He also took part in exhibitions at the Academy of Arts, the All Russian Exhibition in Moscow (1882), the Nizhniy Novgorod (1896), and the World Fairs (Paris, 1867 and 1878, and Vienna, 1873). Shishkin’s painting method was based on analytical studies of nature. He became famous for his forest landscapes, and was also an outstanding draftsman and a printmaker.
Ivan Shishkin owned a dacha in Vyra, south of St. Petersburg. There he painted some of his finest landscapes. His works are notable for poetic depiction of seasons in the woods, wild nature, animals and birds. He died in 1898, in St. Petersburg, Russia, while working on his new painting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Shishkin
From book Great Artists.Ivan Shishkin.Volume 9
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel (Russian: Михаи́л Алекса́ндрович Вру́бель; March 17, 1856 – April 14, 1910, all n.s.) is usually regarded amongst the greatest Russian painters of the Symbolist movement. In reality, he deliberately stood aloof from contemporary art trends, so that the origin of his unusual manner should be sought in the Late Byzantine and Early Renaissance painting.
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Vrubel was born in Omsk, Russia, into a military lawyer's family. His mother died when he was three years old. And though he graduated from the Faculty of Law at St Petersburg University in 1880, his father had recognized his talent for art and had made sure to provide, through numerous tutors, what proved to be a sporadic education in the subject. The next year he entered the Imperial Academy of Arts, where he studied under direction of Pavel Chistyakov. Even in his earliest works, he exhibited striking talent for drawing and a highly idiosyncratic outlook. Although he still relished academic monumentality, he would later develop a penchant for fragmentary composition and an "unfinished touch".
In 1884, he was summoned to replace the lost 12th-century murals and mosaics in the St. Cyril's Church of Kiev with the new ones. In order to execute this commission, he went to Venice to study the medieval Christian art. It was here that, in the words of an art historian, "his palette acquired new strong saturated tones resembling the iridescent play of precious stones". Most of his works painted in Venice have been lost, because the artist was more interested in creative process than in promoting his artwork.
Demon Seated in a Garden, 1890
In 1886, he returned to Kiev, where he submitted some monumental designs to the newly-built St Volodymir Cathedral. The jury, however, failed to appreciate the striking novelty of his works, and they were rejected. At that period, he executed some delightful illustrations for Hamlet and Anna Karenina which had little in common with his later dark meditations on the Demon and Prophet themes.
In 1905 he created the mosaics on the hotel "Metropol" in Moscow, the centre piece of the facade overlooking Teatralnaya Ploschad is taken by the mosaic panel, 'Princess Gryoza' (Princess of Dream).
While in Kiev, Vrubel started painting sketches and watercolours illustrating the Demon, a long Romantic poem by Mikhail Lermontov. The poem described the carnal passion of "an eternal nihilistic spirit" to a Georgian girl Tamara. At that period Vrubel developed a keen interest in Oriental arts, and particularly Persian carpets, and even attempted to imitate their texture in his paintings.
In 1890, Vrubel moved to Moscow where he could best follow the burgeoning innovations and trends in art. Like other artists associated with the Art Nouveau, he excelled not only in painting but also in applied arts, such as ceramics, majolics, and stained glass. He also produced architectural masks, stage sets, and costumes.
It is the large painting of Seated Demon (1890) that brought notoriety to Vrubel. Most conservative critics accused him of "wild ugliness", whereas the art patron Savva Mamontov praised the Demon series as "fascinating symphonies of a genius" and commissioned Vrubel to paint decorations for his private opera and mansions of his friends. Unfortunately the Demon, like other Vrubel's works, doesn't look as it did when it was painted, as the artist added bronze powder to his oils in order to achieve particularly luminous, glistening effects.
In 1896, he fell in love with the famous opera singer Nadezhda Zabela. Half a year later they married and settled in Moscow, where Zabela was invited by Mamontov to perform in his private opera theatre. While in Moscow, Vrubel designed stage sets and costumes for his wife, who sang the parts of the Snow Maiden, the Swan Princess, and Princess Volkhova in Rimsky-Korsakov's operas. Falling under the spell of Russian fairy tales, he executed some of his most acclaimed pieces, including Pan (1899), The Swan Princess (1900), and Lilacs (1900).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Vrubel
From book Great artists Vrubel volume 33
I found this article fascinating .I found it in a Word document whilest doing research on google. Should we do criticism like this?
Got idea to look at John Ruskin. Obviously tight and rigorous work.
I’ve been reading Alain de Botton’s ‘The Art of Travel‘ over the past couple of weeks. It’s one of the most dazzlingly thought-provoking books I’ve come across in a long time; every page seems to contain a striking new idea which, like candles at the Holy Saturday liturgy, set alight further ideas in the richest procession. Towards the end of the book he writes about “possessing beauty” – how we hold on to things which have attracted us in our travels, and he draws on the writings of John Ruskin for some illuminating ideas.
John Ruskin: watercolour of St. Mark’s, Venice
I then went on to think about a musical equivalent of this, because music exists only in a passing of time, and races past us like the mid-19th century trains Ruskin so hated. It is utterly non-fixed, and to focus on one moment is to destroy the whole. It is a forest which we have to pass through, not a single tree which we can contemplate or capture. But if hearing and seeing beauty have different timetables they both require a sort of repetition in order to be fully appreciated: music needs to be heard many times; and the visual world needs multiple, if consecutive seconds of looking. Perhaps it is only in such repetition that we can hold on to beauty in the end.
How to kéep—is there ány any, is there none such, nowhere known some, bow or brooch or braid or brace, láce, latch or catch or key to keep
Back beauty, keep it, beauty, beauty, beauty, … from vanishing away?
Gerard Manley Hopkins hints at this repetition literally in the lines above from his ecstatic poem, ‘The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo‘; but by the end he (the Jesuit priest) suggests a further step:
Give beauty back, beauty, beauty, beauty, back to God, beauty’s self and beauty’s giver.
[...]
Oh then weary then why
When the thing we freely fórfeit is kept with fonder a care,
Fonder a care kept than we could have kept it, kept
Far with fonder a care (and we, we should have lost it) finer, fonder
A care kept.—Where kept? Do but tell us where kept, where.—
Yonder.—What high as that! We follow, now we follow.—Yonder, yes yonder, yonder,
Yonder.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/files/2010/03/John-Ruskin-watercolour-of-St.-Marks-Venice.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/stephenhough/100007158/beauty-beauty-beauty/&usg=__FhE_kIrNtwj0JL1mSw3hZo3WHdA=&h=500&w=339&sz=154&hl=en&start=19&zoom=1&itbs=1&tbnid=M8dPrGt6UX1HbM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=88&prev=/images%3Fq%3DJohn%2BRuskin%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26tbs%3Disch:1
So I choose two Russian artists: Shishkin and Vrubel.
Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (Russian: Ива́н Ива́нович Ши́шкин; 25 January 1832 – 20 March 1898) was a Russian landscape painter closely associated with the Peredvizhniki movement.
Life
Shishkin was born in Yelabuga of Vyatka Governorate (today Republic of Tatarstan), and graduated from the Kazan gymnasium. Then he studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture for 4 years, attended the Saint Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts from 1856 to 1860,which he graduated with the highest honours and a gold medal. He received the Imperial scholarship for his further studies in Europe. Five years later Shishkin became a member of the Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg and was professor of painting from 1873 to 1898. At the same time, Shishkin headed the landscape painting class at the Highest Art School in St. Petersburg.For some time, Shishkin lived and worked in Switzerland and Germany on scholarship from the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts. On his return to Saint Petersburg, he became a member of the Circle of the Itinerants and of the Society of Russian Watercolorists. He also took part in exhibitions at the Academy of Arts, the All Russian Exhibition in Moscow (1882), the Nizhniy Novgorod (1896), and the World Fairs (Paris, 1867 and 1878, and Vienna, 1873). Shishkin’s painting method was based on analytical studies of nature. He became famous for his forest landscapes, and was also an outstanding draftsman and a printmaker.
Ivan Shishkin owned a dacha in Vyra, south of St. Petersburg. There he painted some of his finest landscapes. His works are notable for poetic depiction of seasons in the woods, wild nature, animals and birds. He died in 1898, in St. Petersburg, Russia, while working on his new painting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Shishkin
From book Great Artists.Ivan Shishkin.Volume 9Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel (Russian: Михаи́л Алекса́ндрович Вру́бель; March 17, 1856 – April 14, 1910, all n.s.) is usually regarded amongst the greatest Russian painters of the Symbolist movement. In reality, he deliberately stood aloof from contemporary art trends, so that the origin of his unusual manner should be sought in the Late Byzantine and Early Renaissance painting.
// <
In 1884, he was summoned to replace the lost 12th-century murals and mosaics in the St. Cyril's Church of Kiev with the new ones. In order to execute this commission, he went to Venice to study the medieval Christian art. It was here that, in the words of an art historian, "his palette acquired new strong saturated tones resembling the iridescent play of precious stones". Most of his works painted in Venice have been lost, because the artist was more interested in creative process than in promoting his artwork.
In 1905 he created the mosaics on the hotel "Metropol" in Moscow, the centre piece of the facade overlooking Teatralnaya Ploschad is taken by the mosaic panel, 'Princess Gryoza' (Princess of Dream).
Controversial fame
In 1890, Vrubel moved to Moscow where he could best follow the burgeoning innovations and trends in art. Like other artists associated with the Art Nouveau, he excelled not only in painting but also in applied arts, such as ceramics, majolics, and stained glass. He also produced architectural masks, stage sets, and costumes.
In 1896, he fell in love with the famous opera singer Nadezhda Zabela. Half a year later they married and settled in Moscow, where Zabela was invited by Mamontov to perform in his private opera theatre. While in Moscow, Vrubel designed stage sets and costumes for his wife, who sang the parts of the Snow Maiden, the Swan Princess, and Princess Volkhova in Rimsky-Korsakov's operas. Falling under the spell of Russian fairy tales, he executed some of his most acclaimed pieces, including Pan (1899), The Swan Princess (1900), and Lilacs (1900).
Decline
In 1901, Vrubel returned to the demonic themes in the large canvas Demon Downcast. In order to astound the public with underlying spiritual message, he repeatedly repainted the demon's ominous face, even after the painting had been exhibited to the overwhelmed audience. At the end he had a severe nervous breakdown and was hospitalized in a mental clinic. Vrubel's mental illness was brought on or complicated by tertiary syphilis.[1] While there, he painted a mystical Pearl Oyster (1904) and striking variations on the themes of Pushkin‘s poem The Prophet. In 1906, overpowered by mental disease and approaching blindness, he gave up painting.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Vrubel
From book Great artists Vrubel volume 33I found this article fascinating .I found it in a Word document whilest doing research on google. Should we do criticism like this?
FirstPaper Assignment, ARH 3610, American Art, Prof. Eric Segal Fall 2008
Due: Fri., September 26, 5pm, week 5
Visit the Cummer Museum of Art (http://www.cummer.org/, closed Monday, free w/student ID on Tuesdays 4 – 9 p.m. and Tues-Fri, 1:30 – 4:00 PM) and select a work on which to write a 3-4 page visual analysis. For help with any aspect of preparing the paper (formulating your topic, the mechanics of writing and the final manuscript form), please do not hesitate to see me. It will also be useful to look at Sylvan Barnet’s Short Guide to Writing about Art (on reserve at the Art Library) which includes, in chapter 2, advice on questions to ask yourself in looking at a work of art as well as suggestions for writing a visual (or formal) analysis, as well as examples.
The Works (CHOOSE ONE)
Gilbert Stuart, Samuel Williams, Esq. 1808; Thomas Sully, Captain Samuel Worthington Dewey, 1834; John Neagle, The Dickson Brothers, c. 1840. Benjamin West, The Honorable Mrs. Shute Barrington; 1808. John Frederick Kensett, Marine View of Beacon Rock, Newport Harbor, 1864.
OVERVIEW: The paper you will write for this assignment is a visual analysis of a reproduction of a work of art. It is to be three to four pages (750-1000 words) in length. Below you will find details on how to go about preparing to write this paper as well as guidelines for the paper itself. Keep in mind that this assignment emphasizes looking. Give yourself plenty of time well in advance of writing to examine your painting carefully. You will want to look hard at the image, to think about it, to return to it with questions you discover in the course of pondering other painting, and to look again. Feel free to discuss the painting with other students. Bring a notebook with you and take notes. As an aid to looking, sketch the image (even if drawing is not your strength). Look at other images and mentally compare these as a means to draw out additional aspects of your painting. Now you may begin to write . . . perhaps returning yet again to the painting!
This is not a research paper. Your paper will be founded upon evidence you derive from visual examination. It will be based in the first instance upon your description of the painting. However, this task will require that you go a step further bringing your intellect and understanding (although not your opinions and feelings) to the image in order to explore visual meaning in the work. Your more-or-less objective description (no description, after all, can truly be objective) will serve as a basis then for an interpretation of what and how the painting means.
BEGINNING: Examine the work very carefully. Take notes about what you see. These may be words, phrases, or ideas. You might also try to describe the image to yourself (or a friend), a process which will help you to identify aspects otherwise overlooked. At this point in your work, you need not worry about getting it right. Rather, during this process, keep an open mind and try different approaches to see what helps you to discover the most in the images.
You are undertaking a visual analysis (an analysis which examines aspects of which the image is composed). Part of the task is to recognize what you can determine about the kinds of artistic choices that were made with regards to inclusion, omission, and arrangement. So ask yourself a variety of questions about the work. Such questions may address, but are not limited to, the following (not all questions are relevant to every image):
Consider the subject and genre. What does it represent? Is there a narrative behind the image? Is it historical, fantastic, legendary, mythic, symbolic, religious? If figures are depicted, are they situated in a real, ideal, or conventionalized environment?
Take note of the painting as an object: Its size (if known) and proportions. What is it made of: wood, canvas, cardboard, paper, etc.? What is the medium: oil, tempera, watercolor, pastel, etc.? How is paint applied; thick, thin, strokes, layers, transparent or opaque?
Figures, trees, architecture or other elements: how would you characterize the artist’s treatment of these forms and their relationships to other forms? Are they static or mobile? Are these forms treated realistically, or do they tend to emphasize expressive content?
Setting and space: relationship between figures and their setting; define the character of the space itself (flat, infinite, dramatic, calm, interior, exterior, illusionistic, anti-illusionistic). How does the space affect the subject and its presentation to the viewer? Does the artist use light or effects of weather for expressive ends?
Composition: look at the arrangement of lines, masses, colors, the use or absence of symmetry or balance, the dominance or interplay of certain directions or shapes (horizontals, diagonals, curves, etc.), use of viewpoints; how does the arrangement of forms move the viewer through or the eye over the image (giving information in a particular order or hierarchy; creating a motion-filled or stilled effect). Is the composition simple or complex, highly ordered or casual, harmonious or jarring? Think about how the orientation and size of the canvas (vertical/horizontal) affects the composition, and contributes to the meanings of the painting. How does the composition structure the relationships between the figures or between figure and ground or space?
Brushwork and quality of line: smooth, sketchy, visible or invisible, delineating, descriptive, expressive of emotion or the presence of the artist, technical virtuosity, controlled, fluid, thick or thin, linear (emphasizing contours and the edges) or painterly (building form from color or tone); how it compliments or emphasizes the movement or stasis of the scene.
Color: rich, bright, cool, descriptive of the observed object or artificial, arbitrary, decorative, etc.
Light: how and to what extent does the artist render light and shadow? can you tell where the light comes from? Is the range of light and shadow narrow or broad? What is the function of shadow (clarifying/obscuring form, emphasizing mood, etc.)?
Relationship to the viewer: are figures/objects placed close to the viewer or kept at a distance or made inaccessible; do figures look out and engage the viewer or are their attentions held within the frame of the picture; is there an assumed viewpoint and visual progression, is the viewer left to wander; how much or little is left for the viewer to formulate.
Note: Your paper does not have to mention each-and-every-one of these elements, but you should think about them all.
FORMULATE A THESIS: Once you have thought through these pictorial matters, formulate an argument about the painting which addresses the following:
What kinds of messages does this painting convey through combined style and subject matter? Consider whether such messages concern aesthetic problems, philosophical ideas, psychological states, social relations, politics, religion, cultural tradition, ethnic stereotyping, etc. But remember that you are primarily trying to draw conclusions from the images rather than making the images fit conclusions that you bring to them.
Write a draft of your essay. Then go back and rewrite again (and again) until your paper says what you wish it to say in a clear and direct manner. Read it aloud to yourself or a friend. Does it sound right?
This can be one of the most challenging, exciting and pleasurable parts of studying art history at the college level, so enjoy the process of developing and explaining your own ideas.
WHEN I READ your papers, I will consider the following: How well have you used your eyes to analyze the piece? How well do your written ideas express or characterize the object(s)? How successfully have you organized and written your paper? How well have you explored the way that formal elements and arrangements give meaning. What original insights — that is, original to you if not absolutely new — have you uncovered?
FORMAT
□ Typed, double-spaced, one-inch margins.
□ Number the pages (if your word processor makes this difficult, hand-write page numbers).
□ No folders, binders or covers. Please do staple.
□ No title page necessary (but do formulate an interesting title).
Note: Research is discouraged for this first paper. If you do have occasion to make reference to relevant information about the work’s historical context, this will be supplemental to your primary discussion of formal elements of the images. Further, if you choose to consult and use information from any books, journal articles, web sites (with great caution!), etc, you must cite your sources using a standard footnote format. If you are uncertain about what to cite or about the format for doing so, see a standard reference guide such as one of the following (on reserve at ARTS): Sylvan Barnet, A Short Guide to Writing About Art (inc. section “Acknowledging Sources”) or Kate L. Turabian, Manual for Writers for Term Paper, Theses, and Dissertation. If you use something learned from a museum label, cite it as: Wall text, Cummer Museum of Art, 2008.
Shishkin.
I remember when I was child that I spent a lot of time looking at a painting that we had on the wall. It was reproduction of “Three bears in the forest” by Shishkin. You can spend hours looking and still find new details, such as mushrooms or a fox running after a duck, the details were so fasinating as though somebody actually drew everything in pen and ink not in oil. You actually can recognise the sorts of trees that he painted. The atmosphere of the paintings of Shishkin is always bright and poetic, never has depressive colours, even in the most hard times when his wife and son died and, after one year of marriage, his second wife
died as well.
died as well.
I like his harmony between light and colour. I love his poetic vision of nature: he saw what a lot of people have seen before, but nobody before him so honestly and openly showed their love for their land and nature.
Vrubel.
Firstly, what attracted me to his painting was the mysterious, heroic and tragic atmosphere; highly decorative and powerful brush strokes. I see his intellect behind each drawing or painting. His life has a parallel with Van Gogh; and even when he became famous, he was not in a condition to realise or enjoy it.
He is one of my favorite artists and I like look at his pictures more than actually writing about them or analysing them. It is always hard to analyse emotion.
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