ArtExpertOnLine

  Do you like beer?   How about a huge mug center stage?   That is what this week's image features and it is bright and colorful. It was painted in 1921 by Fernand Le'ger (1881-1955).   If you have studied art, you may see a resemblance to Paul Cezanne and Pablo Picasso in this work.  Le'ger was a very talented French artist, but did not live in a vacuum.  He was part of a large group of extremely gifted artists living in and around Paris in the late 19th century and early 20th century.  What a heady experience it must have been to mix and exchange ideas, thoughts and work.   But the trick of it all, was to come up with something original, great to be influenced, but one needed their own special brand, product.   For Le'ger it was cubism dependent on the cylinder.  It became known for a time as, "tubism"    Le'ger served in World War I at the front, and shortly after that his painting was very mechanical and dark, but by the time this painting was done, he

It has been just over a year since we looked at another of Hiroshige's works, and that was from a different series.       Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) was one of the finest of the Japanese artists, and is often considered the greatest landscape artist of his century.  He was hugely influential, especially to European artists such as Monet, Manet, Whistler, and Van Gogh.  I find it sadly interesting that although his paintings and prints were in high demand, selling well, he was poorly paid, never accumulating great wealth. In 1856 he retired to become a Buddhist monk, and at that time began his final series of woodcut prints.  This weeks selection is taken from that series, "100 Famous Views of Edo"  The title of the work is "Asakusa Rice Fields and Torinomachi Festival".     What strikes me the most about this work is how creative it is.  Many of Hiroshige's works were part of a series, so this is not unusual, but who takes on the task of making 100 of the

    I usually stay away from controversial subjects, but for this week, I decided to tackle this one.   The title is The Last of the Buffalo and Albert Bierstadt painted it in 1888.  Here we see a First American on a white horse spearing a bison, with remains of others in the foreground.   What we realize today is that bison were essential for Native People and every part of the animal was important to them and used.  But, in 1888, Bierstadt's goal was to portray a more romantic, glamorous image to the cities in the East, and this painting is the last of a long series he did of the American West.    Bierstadt (1830-1902) was born in Germany, and was brought here as a small child.  He maintained a studio in New York and traveled the West photographing and sketching, then returned to studio to create very large canvases of what was then, a very mysterious land.  He was part of the Hudson River School of artists who believed in careful detailing and glowing luminous lighting.   Bierst

    Probably the most controversial American painter of the nineteenth century was our artist for this week.   Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) was a realist painter and educator who suffered terribly because of his teaching methods, but American culture would most likely be still stuck  in the stifling Victorian tastes and ideals of that century if it were not for Eakins fortitude and personal strength.  As a young man Eakins studied in Europe before returning to his Philadelphia home to work and teach.   From the very beginning he was a strong realist, believing there was nothing finer than to depict nature as beautifully and lifelike as it truly is.  And this interest extended to the human form as well.       In his teaching, life study was essential and he wanted men and women treated equally.  This meant live nude male and female models were used in mixed sex classes - a far cry from the norms of  the day.   But Eakins stuck to his guns causing several changes in schools and much public