ArtExpertOnLine

   Here is something quite fun for this week.   I urge you to take a good look, as it has lots in it.     Our artist is Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916), a very gifted Italian who took an early interest in art.  He traveled and studied with the best and most advanced artists and instructors of his day; and with others, he started a movement in Italy which came to be known as Futurism.  The movement was small at first, but after a trip to Paris, and seeing the cubistic work of Braque and Picasso, Futurism took off,  gaining strength and followers.    Life was changing rapidly.   The Industrial Revolution, studies in photography and political events were all influencing how intellectuals such as Boccioni were interpreting life and the fluctuations in it.  Most Futuristic works studied moving objects like new locomotion, but also bicycles, horses, running figures, and here, a busy street.     So what have we here?  It is certainly a unique concept.  Our subject seems to be looking out the win

  We haven't looked at a traditional portrait for sometime and this week I found a really lovely one.  The artist is Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) and the title is The Artist's Wife.    We know little of her.  One source I read said she was considerably younger than he.  They married in 1906 when he was 44 and very successful.  This work is dated 1903, so three years before their marriage.       Mucha was a Czechoslovakian painter, illustrator and graphic designer.  He lived for a time in Paris, traveled and taught in the United States, before returning to his beloved, Prague, where he is buried.     The last time we looked at a Mucha work it was back in Spring, 2019.  It was one of his Art Nouveau posters of the Four Seasons, this one being, Winter.   I think we can see some of that Art Nouveau influence in this work.   A close examination of the upper right reveals light sketches of the female figure done in traditional Nouveau style.      What I do find interesting about this p

    Last week when selecting the image, I happened across this painting.  It made me curious enough to find the artist to discover more.          Upon doing a Google search, I discovered there are two Tanaka Atsuko's, the other being a current Japanese singer.  But our artist (1932 - 2005)  was a pioneering Japanese woman pushing the limits of her art.  She lived her entire life in Japan and received little international attention until the early 2000s.     She was involved with a group, in the 1950s, called the Gutai Movement.  With them she created "happenings" and especially hers, were playful, whimsical inventions that resulted in a product. This group, and particularly Atsuko, were ahead of their time.  Today it is referred to as performance art.         This untitled work was done in 1964, just before Atsuko's personal life was to change.  Little is written about this painting, but the timing alone leaves us wondering if it was part of a live performance, or sim

   This week we have one of my favorite paintings.  It isn't a real happy image, more mysterious and thought provoking.  Edward Hopper (1882-1967) is the artist, of Nighthawks.  Like American Gothic, much has been written and many take-offs created as both works are icons of American culture.   So instead of repeating other published comments, I will attempt to show other things I find interesting.        The painting is composed of sharp angles and rectangles, with the color harmony a basic red/brown to green/blue complementary, all though there are exceptions. Notice how the brick red of the building is balanced by the dark red/brown of the counter.   See how the center of attention, the people are all on the far right, making the street and building as important as they are.      I love this painting for what is NOT there as much as is there.  Hopper loved the movies, and many of his images are mysterious and dramatic. How did he do this? Notice no signs inside the cafe, and loo