ArtExpertOnLine

   In the whole of Art, every emotion and human feeling should be encountered, and the one great feeling so often missed is humor.  I don't think Henri Rousseau (1844-1910) intended for this oil painting to be laughed at, but in 2020, it certainly puts a smile on my face.  And, so that is my gift to you this week.    This marks the 3rd Rousseau painting portrayed on this blog (entry 18, The Dream from 8/15/2019 and entry 40, The Sleeping Gypsy from 1/6/2020).  So his life has been adequately covered, but two reminders. One is that Rousseau took to painting as a mature adult, into his 40th year, and second, it took sometime before his work was accepted by the artistic Paris community.  But he was diligent, and kept going, and today we have a wonderful collection to appreciate and admire.     So here we have four almost identical men, in costumes that today look more like pajamas.  If you look close you will see the only differe...

    English painter, Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775 - 1851) first exhibited this oil painting in 1796 at the Royal Academy of Art.   It was highly acclaimed as a great success for Turner, who was still a very young man.  He had been admitted to the academy in 1799 at age 14, and generally considered a successful artist his entire life, earning him a respectable income.      Three interesting things:  first, Turner created more watercolor works than oils.  Art, outside of historical works and family portraits, were slow to develop in the United Kingdom.  Watercolors were generally accepted and many were highly precision works.  2,000 of Turners watercolors survived, and 550 oils.         Second, Turner is remembered as a romantic painter, meaning he used his imagination in studio creating turbulent, often violent scenes of which our painting today is a perfect example.  This painting was so wel...

 Let's go way back in history for this week's painting.  Hans Holbein, The Younger  (1497 or 1498 - 1543)  and Albrecht Durer were the great artists of Northern Europe in the 16th century.  But the religious Reformation was making life difficult as religious images were ban by many of the new Protestants.  So, Holbein, born in Augsburg, Germany, and living in Basel, Switzerland, transferred for a time to England.  Here he could make a living painting portraits of the nobility, indeed, one of his most famous is of Henry VIII done in 1540.      On one trip back to Basel he did this portrait of his wife, Eisbeth and his two eldest children, Philipp (born around 1522) and Katherina (around 1526).     I bring you this tender image for two reasons.  First, please look at the faces.  No one looks particularly happy, especially Eisbeth.  One reference I have suggests she was ill, and this could be.  She ha...

    Some of my readers are painters, but many are simply appreciators of the Art.  Often the big question for the artist is "what shall I paint today". Landscapes, portraits, seascapes, still lifes, self portraits - the list seems endless, however, often the quandary is a listlessness where little provides energy and excitement.  So our subject for today is on the surface a reasonably sedate and odd collection.  What made the artist chose this as his subject?     Our painter is Niles Spencer (1893-1952).  He was an American who grew up in Rhode Island and is considered an artist of the Precisionist School.  He created this work in 1930.      So let's say your problem for today is to create a self portrait where no image of you is in the work.  Sounds impossible, but I think Spencer did just that.  What do we know about him by examining this painting?        It seems Spencer collected a fe...