ArtExpertOnLine

   My apology's to any readers as I am coming in a little late on Monday.   This week is my 150th blog post, so in order to celebrate, I thought I would show you a couple of my own works.      The first is a small watercolor done on site some years ago, but I always liked it.  Back then a group of friends painted together every Wednesday.  Great weather was spent in locations such as this, outdoors.   I can't remember the exact location, but it doesn't matter.      To me this is simply two small out buildings sitting in the sun.  My memory is that it was morning, hence the yellow/green foreground.   The three lines stretching between the trees are probably power lines.     I know the painting was done in an hour or less, one seating and I have always liked it's freshness, which is why I kept it.         Now here is something else entirely! This is a mixed media work, often considered a collage. It is made out of paper and paint.      It has no special meaning, only my a

      Since most of my readers are living in the depth of a very cold and frozen winter, I thought a fun summer image would be welcome this week.  So now we turn the clock back to 1912, here in the United States.   Our painter is George Benjamin Luks (1867-1933) and this is a very atypical work from him.  He is noted for being from the Ashcan School, or The Eight,  a group of rebellious artists intent on showing the gritty side of life, primarily in New York City.  They were committed to realism and direct observation of life.      So "Holiday on the Hudson" is almost like a "holiday" painting for Luks.   Here we see a reasonably large group of people climbing into boats, about  to spend a day on the river.   There are 5 or 6 women and 9 or 10 men. Some of the men could be escorts and some hired to row the boats.  But, Luks has situated them in an interesting row right across the upper middle, beginning with the yellow/gold pier across to the far left boat..   The s

    Katherine Schmidt (1899-1978) is an American artist new to me.  I discovered this painting when paging through an old book about the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art. I was drawn to it because of the strong composition and what I love the most:  it gets our mind wondering.   I have no idea who Broe and McDonald were, but after reading as much as I could find, I discovered that Mr. Broe is the gentleman in the front.  Looking closely it appears Schmidt has given us only a few feet of space.   Broe is leaning on a table or counter, while McDonald maybe standing behind him, and the back wall is very close.  Both men are completely engaged, listening, as the title tells us.   Schmidt offers no clues as to what they are listening to, so we the viewer can decide for ourselves.        This is a very American painting, completed in 1937.  The two men seem to be very average joes.   I keep looking at Broe's white shirt.  It looks like it could be to large for him and may

   To examine great works of Art is often a study in history.  It is looking back at another generation, another time.  One of the essential components of Art which rises above the average, is for it to reflect the time it was created.  Then, giving us, the viewer, the opportunity to see beyond history's calendar events, into the true life, emotions, tasks, and challenges of average people.       Our artist this week is Fernand Leger (1881-1955).  He was a French artist beginning his life with training as an architect and supporting himself as a draftsman.  Moving to Paris he met young artists involved with the new trend of cubism.  HIs prior education encouraged a new career as an artist, with solid structures of rectangles, tubes, cones and cubes.  World War I interrupted his life and he saw service on the front lines.  Shortly after, in 1919 he married, and he resumed his art career.    Our painting for this week was completed in 1920.  Here the key to understanding the painting