ArtExpertOnLine

  Do look carefully at our painting for this week.  I am sure when George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879) painted it in 1852 he intended it to be quite serious.  But today, 170 some years later, it only makes me smile, and actually giggle a little.   Let's learn a little bit about our artist.     Bingham was a true American.  When he was 8 years old, he and his family moved to Missouri, and established a home on the Missouri River, which was then the eastern terminus of the Santa Fe Trail.  I am sure in 1818 this was pretty wild country.   As he grew and developed as an artist, his paintings of American frontier life are those best remembered and appreciated today.  He did get training as an artist.  As a young man he spent time at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art, then later traveled to Paris and Dusseldorf, Germany to study.   But the main portion of his life was back in Missouri.   When the Civil War broke ...

  Are you ready to give your imagination a fun exercise?   American artist, Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) is always a challenge and she certainly provides us with one today.    Cliffs Beyond Abiquiu, Dry Waterfall  is an oil from 1943.  Abiquiu is a small community near her ranch in New Mexico.  In 1943 she was a well accepted American artist, and although married to Alfred Stieglitz, the marriage at this point was not doing well.  So life found her traveling a great deal, and buying a part time residence here in New Mexico.  She did not make her move permanent until 1949, after Stieglitz death in 1946.     Many of O'Keeffe's paintings have created great analysis by critics seeing things into them that O'Keeffe consistently denied.  And, so, I wonder.  If Stieglitz had been a faithful husband and the marriage strong, would she have felt the need to focus into nature the way she did?     As many...

  The sun is out today,  but still, in the late portion of winter, I think we need a bright and colorful work for this week.      Our artist is the great American, Stuart Davis (1892-1964).  This painting was done in 1951, so a relatively late work.  Davis's talent was developed early.  He studied under Robert Henri, of the Ashcan School of American art, and was the youngest American to exhibit in the famous 1913 Armory Show.      The Armory Show brought over the most current work from Europe and blended it with some works from the Ashcan School.  It traveled to three cities in the U.S.; New York, Chicago, and Boston.  However in Boston space limitations necessitated the removal of the American works.  It is important to stress how important this exhibit was.  For the first time Americans saw works by Picasso and Matisse, but it was Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase that caused the greatest u...

     Since winter is at its crest, and our days slowly getting longer, let us take a look at one more winter scene.  This time it is Ernest Ludwig Kirchner's (1880-1938) Schlittschuhlaufer, which translates to Ice Skaters.  As you may guess by the title, Kirchner was German and his dates, indicate he lived during the most difficult days in German history.  As true of many artists, Kirchner must have been a very sensitive person.  He did enlist in World War I, but once active suffered a breakdown.  He did recover, but bouts of depression reoccurred throughout the remainder of his life.   And, maybe with good reason.  Early on he found much success as an artist, but when the Nazi's came to power his works were considered "degenerate" and over 600 removed from museums.  He was quickly tossed out of all established German art societies, and soon could no longer sell.  In 1938 he took his own life.     But even though...