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Simplified analysis of classical painting technique

written by axalor@gmail.com

The portrait of Susanna Lunded nee Fourment by Peter Paul Rubens

Imprimatura & drawing

Imprimatura & drawing

Shadow study

Shadow study

Grisaille & color

Grisaille & color

White arrows:
Being a real virtuoso Rubens usually skipped “dead” grisaille layer (shown on the neck and the shoulder) incorporating it partially in the next one.

Green arrow:
flesh color looks flat on this stage without glazes and highlights.
Around the left eyelid you can see imprimatura and umber shadows glowing through the flesh colors

Burnt Umber  of Shadow Study and Imprimatura are glowing through the upper layers.

Burnt Umber of Shadow Study and Imprimatura are glowing through the upper layers.

Shadow Study and Imprimatura are left almost untouched above the temple. Blue reflection on the jaw (from the sky on the background) was done during Live Color Stage.

Shadow Study and Imprimatura are left almost untouched above the temple. Blue reflection on the jaw (from the sky on the background) was done during Live Color Stage.

Bluish Half-Tones of skipped by Rubes "dead layer" are masterfully  mixed in the "live color layers".

Bluish Half-Tones of skipped by Rubes “dead layer” are masterfully mixed in the “live color layers”.



Simplified analysis of classical painting technique was last modified: April 25th, 2015 by axalor@gmail.com
April 25, 2015 0 comment
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Famous Artists

La belle ferronnière

written by axalor@gmail.com

Portrait d’une dame de la cour de Milan, dit à tort “la belle ferronnière”

She has been locked in a vault for a long time, while her twin sister enjoyed all the attention and glamour in marvelous rooms of French palace. They look much alike, wearing the same jewelry and dresses, though French sister is not as pale. All those years without sun are not good for girl’s skin…

Who is she?

A controversial painting “La belle ferronnière” was sold at Sotheby’s auction in 2010 for a hammer price of1,538,500 USD, three times its estimate price. There is almost a century long controversy surrounding “La belle ferronnière” – both paintings (the one sold at Sotheby’s and the masterpiece in Louvre) share the same name. The title was given to the painting in 17 century and identifies the woman as the wife or daughter of a retailer of iron goods (a ferronnier), also alluding to a reputed mistress of François I married to Le Ferron.
The fact that both paintings look almost identical creates a controversy in itself, especially when the Louvre painting has been attributed to the hand of Leonardo by some specialists. The portrait depicts a young woman, possibly Lucrezia Crivelli, a mistress of Ludovico Sforza of Milan, and most of the experts agree that it should be attributed to the school of Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, if not to the Renaissance genius himself.

While French sister enjoyed relatively quiet life of admiration in Louvre for over 500 years, the younger sister (as second “La belle ferronnière” is considered a later copy) traveled a lot and even changed continents. In 1920 it was brought to United States by Harry and Andrée Hahn as a wedding present from Andrée’s Godmother, Louise de Montaut, being previously authenticated by French expert as a work by Leonardo. Shortly after their arrival to US the couple decided to sell the painting to Kansas City Museum, claiming that the deal has been reached for $250,000.
The comment by renowned art expert Joseph Duveen that Hahn’s “La belle ferronnière” was probably a later copy of the original from Louvre, has started a long legal battle involving a number of art experts comparing paintings side by side in Louvre. Though all the experts agreed that Hahn’s painting could not be attributed to Leonardo or his school, the lack of art expertise among American jury seemed to be tipping the scale in favor of Hahn’s claim, especially at the absence of any physical evidence. Duveen chose to settle the case, younger “La belle ferronnière” was locked in the vault, while Louvre’s “La belle ferronnière” enjoyed all the attention. The record was set straight at Sotheby’s showing that a value of art goes up over time, even if it is a copy of a famous original, and beauty would always be in style.

I’m glad that young woman’s reputation has been restored and that she was freed from captivity, though we would probably not see her in person any time soon. Oh well – her sister is still in Louvre.

La belle ferronnière was last modified: April 25th, 2015 by axalor@gmail.com
April 25, 2015 0 comment
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Painting Tutorials

The Maroger Mediums vs. Meglip

written by axalor@gmail.com

By John Bannon

Maroger Medium

The long lost formulas for the oil painting mediums of the great masters of the Renaissance and Baroque periods were reconstructed and published by Jacques Maroger in 1948 after a lifetime of research. Maroger, who was Technical Director of the Louvre Laboratories, and President of the Society of Restorers of France, was made Knight of the Legion of Honor. Many artists all over the world have been painting with Maroger’s mediums with great success and permanence for more than fifty years. Unfortunately, some artists have deprived themselves of these marvelous mediums because of spurious products called “Maroger” and because of Ralph Mayer¹s negative words in his book on painting materials. On this subject, Mayer did not do his homework. He did a disservice to artists. His unsubstantiated equation of Maroger’s mediums to megilp was simply wrong. Of the several Maroger Mediums, a few contain linseed oil and mastic, as do megilps. There the similarity ends.
In his book The Secret Formulas and Techniques of the Old Masters, (page 100) Maroger also condemns megilps. These 19th century “painters’ butters” differ very essentially from Maroger’s mediums because the oil and lead are not boiled. The formulas derived by Maroger from ancient manuscripts and lab trials, call for cooking the oil with litharge (lead monoxide) until the oil becomes polymerized and pre-darkened This “black oil” is the essential ingredient in Maroger’s Flemish and Dutch mediums, but missing from megilps.
Charles H. Olin, a distinguished conservator with many years experience with the Smithsonian Institution and Museum of American Art, has examined sixteen recipes for megilp and found that Mayer’s comparison of megilp to Maroger¹s mediums to be “inaccurate”. Megilps, he says, “are made cold without being boiled with litharge”, and furthermore they “incorporate metallic oxidizers or Japan dryers notorious for their deleterious effects.” The latter are also not used in Maroger’s medium formulas.
There are available products, commercial and otherwise, that, unfortunately, claim to be “Maroger” mediums, but are really megilps, or worse. Artists are frequently not good technicians and can concoct all kinds of goop and call it “Maroger medium”. E.g. certain ones contain no black oil because some painters demand a colorless medium. However, it is easy to adjust to the transparent amber color of the Maroger mediums, and they have many important benefits, including permanence.. Again, Olin states, “by polymerizing and cross linking linseed oil during boiling without the advent of oxygen, the black oil forestalls future darkening of paintings.” Olin explains further, as linseed oil is boiled with litharge, as in the case of Maroger Mediums, the subsequent oxidation process may be minimized because the chemical bonds which would normally be available for oxygen, are not available. This prevents mediums from discoloring and other forms of degradation.” In addition to non-darkening permanence, correctly made Maroger Mediums impart ease of handling, quick drying, glazing ability, color brilliance, and other desirable qualities apparent in the great old masters.



While I was at the University of Pennsylvania graduate school, studio Professors James Domville and Wally Peters subjected Maroger Mediums to DuPont laboratory aging tests and found them virtually indestructible. When Maroger Mediums are made and used properly, any deterioration of the paint film is usually caused by the artist’s mistakes, e.g. painting “lean over fat”, diluting with too much additive (especially turpentine), varnishing to soon, etc., etc. Cracking, yellowing, and other ailments of paintings have many causes, but internal paint film decay with serious damages, is more evident in 19th & 20th century paintings than those painted in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Sargent and Picasso’s paintings were cracked while they were still alive. The damaging results of using a harmful medium or vehicle, experts agree, will usually be apparent in less than ten years.
For more than fifty years now the Maroger Mediums have had the pragmatic test of being used by thousands of students, amateurs, and professional artists. Included are many well known artist, such as:Reginald Marsh, Augustus John, Fairfield Porter, John Koch, and many others. Also, of course, there are the original Maroger associates, Ann Schuler, Joseph Sheppard, Tom Rowe, Frank Redelius, Earl Hofmann, Melvin Miller, myself, and others For more than fifty years I have made the Maroger mediums for my self and my students, and, from 1984 to 1997, I sold Maroger Mediums on the open market to many hundreds of artists. Of those artists I have known to use it, the vast majority have been thrilled with the results and have been hooked on the Maroger mediums for life. Some of my own paintings in these mediums are over fifty years old and show no signs of deteriorating. I have a work painted by Maroger himself in 1951. It is in NEW condition.
Reginald Marsh said that Maroger’s mediums enable painters to recapture the richness of color, the brilliance of tone, the delightful ease of manipulation, the quick drying power, and the permanence of the art of the Renaissance.” Fifty five years after Maroger’s publication of The Secret Formulas, the words of Roger Fry still ring true. The famous writer, painter, and art critic wrote of Maroger, “At least your name will remain by the side of Van Eyck as one of the great benefactors of all time.”
Try Maroger Mediums here

The Maroger Mediums vs. Meglip was last modified: April 24th, 2015 by axalor@gmail.com
April 24, 2015 0 comment
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Famous Artists

Artist Picasso

written by axalor@gmail.com

Biographies of Famous Artists – Pablo Picasso

Early Years

The artist that we know as Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, city in the Andalusia region of Spain, on 25 October 1881 and baptized as Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María delos Remedios Crispiniano de la Santísima Trinidad Picasso, which represents a long list of saints and various relatives that family wanted to honor. According to Spanish law, the parents’ last names were also added: Ruiz (father) & Picasso (mother). Practically, only first and last part of the full artist’s name are known to the world who is still fascinated by Pablo Picasso artwork.

Artist Picasso was gifted early in life – his mother remembered that his first word was ‘piz’ as a shortened version of Spanish word ‘lapis’ (pencil). His father recognized the boy’s talent early on. Being an art professor, he preached to the young boy the importance of classical training with an emphasis on Picasso line drawings, perspective, and copying famous artists. There is even a story in the Picasso family archives similar to that of young Leonardo da Vinci surpassing his teacher Antonio Verrocchio: father Don José Ruiz’ found young Picasso painting over his unfinished sketch of a pigeon and felt that the thirteen-year-old student had become a master, as Picasso line drawing was so superb. That incident forced the father to give up painting for life. Though the talent of Pablo Picasso doesn’t raise any doubt, the story is a little fictional, as Don José Ruiz’ continued his career as an art professor and artist and the paintings produced later in his life are still offered at art auctions.

Picasso had an interesting insight on the fate of child-prodigies: “Unlike in music, there are no child prodigies in painting. What people regard as premature genius is the genius of childhood. It gradually disappears as they get older. It is possible for such a child to become a real painter one day, perhaps even a great painter. But he would have to start right from the beginning. So far as I am concerned, I did not have that genius. My first drawings could never have been shown at an exhibition of children’s drawings. I lacked the clumsiness of a child, his naivety. I made academic drawings at the age of seven, the minute precision of which frightened me.”

One of the early traumatic events in Picasso’s life was a death of his seven-year-old sister, Conchita, who died from diphtheria. Soon after her death the family moved to Barcelona, the city that helped Pablo in a time of sorrow and sadness and would forever hold a very special place in his heart. Artist Picasso considered himself a son of Cataluña, as did another famous artist who was born in that freedom-loving province – Salvador Dali.

As a young artist, Picasso strived in Barcelona, easily passing an entrance exam to the advanced class of the School of Fine Arts at the age of 13. Soon his father decided to send Pablo to Madrid to continue his education in the best art school – the Royal Academy. At the age of 16 the young Picasso was on his own in a city that had a lot to offer. Picasso rebelled against formal instruction and soon dropped out of school. At the same time, the Prado museum became his university, feeding his hungry mind the opportunity to admire originals of many famous artists such as Diego Velázquez, Francisco Goya, Francisco Zurbarán, and El Greco. Their influences are clear in Pablo Picasso artwork.

This period in Picasso’s life also marks the falling out with his family, who couldn’t forgive him for his betrayal of classical art principles. It was a life-changing decision for Picasso that he later described in his own words: “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”

Years in Paris

Pablo Picasso – Femme en Bleu
Femme en Bleu

It was only logical for Picasso, who always focused on his creative experiments, to move to the art capital of the world – Paris – the alma mater of artistic innovations in the19-20th centuries. He rented an apartment on Montmartre together with Max Jacob, a poet who helped Picasso to learn French and explore French culture. They had a peculiar arrangement – Picasso worked at night and slept during the day, while Max had the opposite shift. Picasso’s early life in Paris was a constant struggle for survival of an ambitious 19-year old artist; those were the days of hunger, cold, and poverty. His first break came when Picasso was offered a gallery contract by art dealer Pedro Manach. He was given 150 francs a month in exchange for all Pablo Picasso paintings produced in a month. One of his early Parisian period works is “Le Moulin de la Galette” (Guggenheim Museum, New York). Its theme is of mysterious Parisian nightlife was already depicted by other famous artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Dega, and Manet. Young Picasso had his own vision of Paris – lusty decadence, gaudy glamorous nightlife, where the emerging bourgeoisie and vulgar prostitutes paraded in a strange masquerade of human weaknesses – so sinful yet attractive to a young soul.

During this same time, Picasso started a journal with his anarchist friend in Madrid – Arte Joven (Young Art), where he published a few of his illustrations depicting the life of the poor. For journal illustrations he started to sign his works simply as ‘Picasso’ and dropped ‘Pablo Ruiz y’ Picasso. Picasso would continue this life of constant travel between main European cities for the rest of his long life, never permanently settling in any particular place.

The Parisian period in Picasso’s life connected him to lots of important acquaintances that he preserved for the rest of his career. Among them were American art collectors Leo and Gertrude Stein. Some of Stein’s relatives also became patrons of young artist Picasso for shorter periods of time while Gertrude Stein collected his work all her life. As art critic Henry McBride noted, Gertrude Stein “collected geniuses rather than masterpieces. She recognized them a long way off.” It all started when Stein’s trust fund accumulated 8,000 francs which she decided to spend buying art, including such masterpieces as Gauguin’s “Sunflowers” and Cézanne’s “Bathers”. Wall art on 27 Rue de Fleurus, the Parisian address of Gertrude Stein, was not the only attraction; her home soon became a sophisticated Saturday night salon for a distinguished social circle: Pablo Picasso, Fernande Olivier (Picasso’s mistress), Georges Braque (artist), André Derain (artist), Max Jacob (poet), Guillaume Apollinaire (poet), Marie Laurencin (Apollinaire’s mistress and an artist), Henri Rousseau (painter), and Joseph Stella.

There is a little anecdote from Picasso’s life in Paris that is associated with the infamous theft of the Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa from Louvre in 1911. Picasso’s friend, poet Guillaume Apollinaire, was arrested on suspicion of this daring art theft and for some reason accused Picasso, who was also brought in for questioning but was later exonerated along with Apollinaire.

“Blue & Rose” periods
“Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions.” ~Pablo Picasso
The human mind associates colors with emotions, with blue being the color of depth, cold, misery and despair. In European Christian tradition, iconography gave blue a meaning of heaven and divinity. That synthesis is clear in Picasso “Blue Period” (1901-1904) when he was mostly focused on portraying the life of outcasts: beggars, homeless, street actors, and penniless artists, like himself and most of his friends. Being an outcast of society was a philosophy of life, a pre-requisite of producing something meaningful as an artist. According to Picasso’s closest friend Sabartes, “Picasso believed Art to be the son of Sadness and Suffering… that sadness lent itself to meditation and that suffering was fundamental to life… If we demand sincerity of an artist, we must remember that sincerity is not to be found outside the realm of grief.” Artists would see themselves as outcasts of society, indulging in depression and romanticizing misery – and it was true not only in art but also in literature and poetry. Rainer Maria Rilke’s reaction to Picasso’s painting of the “Family of Saltimbanques” was: “But who, tell me, are these wanderers, who are yet more fugitive than we are…”

The beginning of Picasso blue period is associated with the suicide of one of Picasso’s close friends, Carlos Casagemas, who took his own life after being rejected by the woman he loved. Many of the paintings from that period were created in Barcelona, as Picasso divided his time between France and Spain. In Picasso paintings of that period we can clearly see the influence of El Greco with his elongated tragic figures and poses, as well as the use of a similar palette with light-yellow skin and deep black shadows. The “blue period” marks the final break with classicism as Picasso started to emerge as one of the titans of modern art. However, since overwhelming emotions of grief, melancholy, and pessimism in Picasso artwork didn’t sit well with art patrons, he was not able sell his paintings and make a living, and extreme poverty became a reality of life and art.

The Old Guitarist, c.1903
The Old Guitarist, c.1903
Gradually, a change emerged in Picasso’s palette. Soft pinks, reds, and greens began to appear in his works and make his images more energetic and full of life. This period is somewhat misleadingly called the “rose period” by art critics but there is much more variety of colors and rose was not the predominant color in his paintings. The change in mood brought Picasso commercial success and by 1905 Pablo Picasso paintings started to sell. He had completed his transition from youth to maturity; he had a studio, he was in love, and his life had a new beginning. At that time, Picasso met Fernande Olivier (born Amélie Lang) who ran away from her abusive husband, changed her name and found work as an artist’s model in Paris. Their explosive affair lasted for seven years and being passionate and impatient, both were tortured by mutual jealousy. Fernande was a model for a pivotal piece in Picasso’s career: “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon”. This work took hundreds of sketches and drawings in preparation.

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, c.1907
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, c.1907
In 1907 Picasso finished “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” where human figures were depicted simultaneously from several vantage points. This marked the beginning of a period called cubism. It was the logical culmination of a process that started in the 18th century when philosophers began to question the narrative role of art: “Is it supposed to depict reality by copying nature or should it be an art form in itself?” It created the perfect climate for development of avant-garde artists moving towards abstract art. Supported by the theoretical works of Immanuel Kant and Arthur Schopenhauer, artists like Picasso and his follower Braque made a bold step into a new realm – a radical break with the classical dominance of content over form, with the purpose of painting becoming the painting itself. In Picasso’s own words, “Are we to paint what’s on the face, what’s inside the face, or what’s behind it?”

The birth of cubism came from the professional rivalry between Picasso and Matisse, who met at the salon of Gertrude Stein and shared a common interest in Greek, Iberian and African primitive art. The “Blue Nude” painting by Matisse caused such a scandal at the annual Parisian art show of contemporary French art (Salons des Indépendent) that it propelled Matisse to the status of a leading avant-garde artist and later the judge of the Salon. Art critic Vauxcelles referred to Matisse and his followers as Les Fauves (wild animals), thus coining the term for the art movement of fauvism. After Picasso painted “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” there was a mass defection from Matisse’s camp of followers to Picasso’s. One of the defectors was Braque, whose paintings Matisse rejected for the Salon’s exhibit out of jealousy by using his power as a judge. Matisse made fun of Braque’s new technique of deconstructing landscapes as a collection of “little cubes.” This gave Vauxcelles an opportunity to coin the term cubism.

Cubism at its early stages is characterized as analytical cubism – a technique that allows an artist to deconstruct an object as if it is viewed from different angles and focus on its essence instead of realistic representation of visual appearance. Picasso and Braque were working side by side, experimenting with color, subjects and faceted technique. Picasso paintings of this period are represented mostly by still lives and landscapes in bright colors, with hard edges, broken forms and flattened space that defies the traditional rules of classical perspective. It is interesting that Picasso, as the father of modern art, never gave up the third dimension – his paintings never became pure abstract art. He played with dimensions and dared to remove the third dimension but never let his work become abstract art, like the works of Mondrian, for example.

By 1911 cubism quickly became a popular style with many young artists contributing their work to define the movement. In Montparnasse, cubism was promoted by art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler and was soon recognized by critics as the “cubist school” of art. Picasso and Braque did not stay still – their friendly rivalry resulted in what we now call synthetic cubism. Picasso’s “Still-Life with Chair Caning” was a break-through piece, which for the first time used collage elements: oil cloth pasted into the canvas with a rope framing the oval painting. In the upper left-hand corner are the letters JOU which give us a glimpse of a secret game going on between Picasso & Braque: leaving each other coded messages inside the paintings. After this, collage became an integral part of synthetic cubism, featuring newspaper clippings, sheet music, material objects, etc. In the works of this period fragmentation was less important and objects were pushed together to form a composition with transparent flat planes – a flat virtual tour of objects that became a readable artistic map.

In 1912 Fernande Olivier left Picasso after he became obsessed with his new love – Marcelle Humbert (also known as Eva Gouel). Later in life, Fernande received a small pension from Picasso …and a million francs in exchange for her silence and agreement not to publish her memoirs while both were still alive. Eva’s life with Pablo was very short – she died only 3 years later in 1915.

Portrait of Olga in the Armchair
Portrait of Olga in the Armchair

1918 marked an important event – Picasso married Russian ballerina, Olga Khokhlova, whom he met while working on decorations for Ballet Russe. Their relationship soon became an unbearable conflict of lifestyles and personalities; the bohemian soul of Picasso rebelled against the formal, high-society life immensely enjoyed by his wife.

Pablo Picasso – Maternity
Maternity

The birth of their son Paulo (1925) turned Picasso to the theme of mother and child and his art style changed to a conservative neoclassicism.

Pablo Picasso – The Dream
The Dream

But Picasso could not be tamed for a long period of time, As his personal conflict with Olga had grew deeper, his art reflected his anger and rage in the depiction of women as tortured masses of human flesh. In 1927 Picasso started an affair with Marie-Thérèse Walter. He stayed married to Khokhlova to preserve his growing wealth from the inevitable division of property that would result from a divorce. His wife’s mental health gradually deteriorated until she finally suffered a total mental breakdown while Picasso continued his double life with Marie-Thérèse. In 1935 Marie-Thérèse gave birth to their daughter Maya and just a year later Picasso fell in love with a new woman, Dora Maar.

They met on the terrace of the famous Café les Deux Magots in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris known to attract artistic and intellectual élite. She was 29 years old and he was 54. Dora was an established photographer who also studied painting in Paris at the Ecole d’Art Decoratif. Their relationship coincided with the dark period spanning the years of Spanish Civil war and the Second World War. In 1937 Dora Maar documented through her photography the creation of one of the most monumental paintings by Picasso: Guernica. – This painting was his response to the Nazi bombing of this ancient Spanish city. The passionate depiction of the tragedies of war and suffering of innocent civilians made this black, grey and white canvas a symbol of peace.

Pablo Picasso – Guernica
Guernica

Picasso clearly explained his position as he worked on Guenica: “The Spanish struggle is the fight of reaction against the people, against freedom. My whole life as an artist has been nothing more than a continuous struggle against reaction and the death of art. How could anybody think for a moment that I could be in agreement with reaction and death? … In the panel on which I am working, which I shall call Guernica, and in all my recent works of art, I clearly express my abhorrence of the military caste which has sunk Spain in an ocean of pain and death.”

While living in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II, Picasso was often harassed by the Gestapo. Allegedly, a German officer who saw a photo of Guernica in his apartment asked him, , “Did you do that?” to which Picasso responded, “No, you did.”

In spite of Franco’s desire to return Guernica to Spain, Picasso objected to this until the Spanish people would be able to breathe freely under new constitution. Picasso painting was returned to Spain in 1981 as a symbol for Spaniards of both the end of the Franco regime and Basque nationalism.

Dora Maar was Picasso’s companion and “private muse” as he called her, during the tumultuous years from 1936 through April 1944. When he left her for young Françoise Gilot, Dora became mentally unstable, reclusive and turned to poetry for comfort and expression of her sorrow:

“The soul that still yesterday wept is quiet — its exile suspended
a country without art only nature
Memory magnolia pure so far off.

I am blind
and made from a bit of earth
But your gaze never leaves me
And your angel keeps me.”

Pablo Picasso – Portrait of Dora Maar
Portrait of Dora Maar

After parting ways with Picasso, Dora’s mental stability became a major concern to her friends. She underwent shock therapy treatments and sessions with a psychiatrist who finally gave up. Dora became increasingly interested in religion and embraced a life of chastity and prayer for the rest of her years. She was famously quoted: “After Picasso, only God.”

While his relationship with Maar was winding down, Picasso met a young woman – Françoise Gilot – a beautiful, free-spirited, intelligent and aspiring artist herself. She wasn’t immediately smitten by the 61-year old famous artist and Picasso had to use all his energy, charm and passionate pursuit to win her over. As an artist she enjoyed watching him work in his studio and discussing art with one of the greatest innovators of 20 century, but as an intelligent 21-year old she could see the pitfalls of their life together. Gilot became Picasso’s companion for ten years and the mother to his 2 youngest children, Claude and Paloma.

Most of Picasso artworks in his later years would use the art of famous masters that inspired him in his youth as a subject matter for his innovative canvases. For example, he created 44 paintings based on the composition of Velázquez’s “Las Meninas,” a masterpiece that impressed him while he was a young art student in Madrid, studying in the Prado museum. Picasso became increasingly productive and worked very hard, as if trying to cheat death by painting. He once told a friend: “DEATH holds no fear for me. It has a kind of beauty. What I am afraid of is falling ill and not being able to work. That’s lost time.”

At the same time Picasso’s personal life was in turmoil – Gilot became increasingly frustrated with his oppressive temperament, infidelity and even violence. He was jealous of her friendships, art pursuits and once, in a rage, even extinguished a cigarette on her cheek. Françoise left Picasso with the children and moved to Paris. She was the only woman who really mastered “surviving Picasso” – she left with her head up never looked back, and ended up having a successful marriage and an amazing art career. She didn’t end up, as Picasso’s other women, suicidal, lonely and on the edge of a mental break down. Picasso was furious that Gilot dared to leave him and his reaction was vengeful and cruel: Françoise received word that the house she shared with Picasso has been emptied of all things she treasured: her book collection, letters Matisse’s works and even the drawings Picasso gave her over the years. Picasso went even further and pressured art dealer and gallery owner, Kahnweiler, to stop representing Gilot as an artist.

Picasso hated to be alone and only a month after Gilot left him, Jacqueline Roque, a sales girl from a pottery shop, began spending time in his home and looking after him. Her devotion to him was complete and sacrificial. Picasso’s daughter Maya remembered how Jacqueline would call him ’monsignor’ while catering to his every whim. In 1955 Picasso’s wife Olga died leaving him free of matrimonial ties. Six years later, in 1961, he married Jacqueline Roque in a quiet ceremony.

Seeking a peaceful place to live and work, Picasso bought a lovely castle in the south of France where he spent his later years and had an immense bout of productivity. Jacqueline was his ‘gate keeper,’ trying to provide Picasso solitude for his work thus cutting off a lot of his old friends and even family. Pablo Picasso paintings were created with phenomenal speed and productivity, while he experimented with new media and even created a few new techniques along the way. Picasso would start his day around 11:30 in the morning, interacting with an endless stream of visitors to his chateau (which he enjoyed greatly), giving him bursts of energy, ideas and much craved attention. After a 2 o’clock meal and a traditional Spanish siesta he would take a walk in his park and sometimes gather some vegetables and flowers to paint. A typical dinner with friends would end around 11:30 pm after which Picasso would retreat to his studio to work until 3 in the morning. Such a schedule would take its toll on a man half his age but Picasso didn’t care. Even after several health problems that put him in the hospital he refused to write a will as this would have made him face the inevitable – his mortality.

In his last days Picasso finished an amazingly truthful self portrait: his piercing eyes looked death straight in the face. Picasso created self portraits for every phase in his life and they tell us a great story of this complicated man and artistic genius. He died on April 8, 1973 at the age of 91 leaving us with about 50,000 works: 1,885 paintings, 1,228 sculptures, 2,880 ceramics, roughly 12,000 drawings, many thousands of prints, and numerous tapestries and rugs.

Today, Pablo Picasso art for sale commands records prices at art auctions and Picasso prints are widely collected by art connoisseurs. The facts of his biography give us a glimpse of insight into complicated life of a genius who was tempted, tortured and glorified during his lifetime.

Artist Picasso was last modified: April 24th, 2015 by axalor@gmail.com
April 24, 2015 0 comment
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Painting Tutorials

Importance of Drawing and Imprimatura in Classical Painting Technology

written by axalor@gmail.com

A short description of the classical painting method with oil colors

Drawing

Make your drawing on paper as if it is your final product. Copy it on tracing paper and retrace the lines on the back side of it with dry pastel pencil (Carb-Othello).
Transfer drawing to the board and rework it with diluted burnt umber paint using a fine brush.
Don’t think that drawing is something that is not fully related to the painting with colors. Drawing is “the melody” of the visual art and the colors are “the harmony”. Keep in mind that “the harmony” gives only the moods or impressions of the moment but only “the melody” is able to unfold the whole story.
By drawing your subjects “inside-out” you study it on a much deeper level than by just dubbing it with #40 brush.
I know that most of us don’t have enough patience. In this case, our paintings will be similar to the “3 chords guitar music” – just O.K. for friends and family.
Draw with precision using different pressure and line thickness. Draw with a pencil and with a brush.

Imprimatura

Imprimatura is the classical term for a semi transparent or transparent color layer used to create a toned ground for a painting. It literally means “what goes before first”.
Imprimatura acts as harmonizing element for all upper color layers if they are laid according to the laws of the classical technique allowing the imprimatura to show through in certain places.
It also determines an overall darkness (or lightness) of the composition.
The advantage of an imprimatura over a toned gesso or a toned primer is that the white ground reflects the light through the imprimatura and upper semi-transparent layers, creating almost a magical 3-dimensional illusion.
The color of an imprimatura depends on the lighting source in the composition you are going to paint and the subject.
If we would consider a raw umber to be a neutral color for imprimatura, then you may want to go to a warmer or cooler sides by mixing yellow ochre with bone black in different proportions.
Never choose the darkness of this layer by mechanically picking 50% grey tone.
You always can put the second layer or add darker tones during your next step – shadows study.

Shadows Study (underpainting)

The portions of the drawing which are darker then imprimatura are painted with Burnt or Raw Umber in thin layers. Imprimatura should still be slightly visible through the darkest parts.
Small details are usually omitted. Areas where bright reds or bright blues are going to be painted are usually left uncovered.

Shape Study

In this stage, only four colors are used: Lead or Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Red Ochre and Bone or Ivory Black. The trick is to mix them correctly to have a scale of neutral grays. First mix Black and White, then add a bit of Yellow Ochre. Add Red Ochre carefully just until it eliminates the greenishness brought to the mixture by Yellow Ochre.
Work thick in the lights and less thick in the shadows. Don’t use semi-transparent “soapy” layers. Leave a small parentage of the darkest parts of the shadows uncovered.
By the end, the objects on your painting should look like they are made out of unpolished marble without out details in the highlighted areas and the darkest shadows.

Live Colors Stage

Mix real object colors. To the previous colors add : Ultramarine, Prussian Blue, Madder Lake Deep, Red Cinnabar or Cadmium Red, Cadmium or Lead Yellow. Each color for each object must be exactly of the same darkness as they are on the previous layer. For highlighted areas and shadows use one step lighter and one step darker mixtures. Sometimes you’ll need a lot of layers to complete this stage. Each time narrow the highlighted and shadow areas, painting them lighter and lighter.

Glazing and Finishing

Glazing can be done with transparent or semitransparent colors. Don’t overdo it and carefully choose the areas for glazing.
After the glazing is done, the very dark shadows are finished with the semi-transparent (almost opaque, if needed) colors and at last the very highlights are put on.

Egg tempera painting and even icons were often finished with oils. Be cautious though, if somebody will suggest using some “old magic recipes ” for this purpose, such as Maroger Medium or Amber Varnish. You may ruin your work completely without knowledge about how and where to use them.
Here are several recipes of Oil Painting Mediums & Varnishes.

Varnishing

Let the painting dry as long as you can afford before varnishing it. Damar varnish is O.K. Olifa (heat thickened linseed oil with lead) should not be used in Fine Art at all.
There are many new developments in the area of acrylic and polyurethane non yellowing varnishes. Unfortunately most of them are not removable. On the other hand, some of them are extremely durable and might be the best and the only choice for protecting valuable artwork.
I’ve used some of these successfully for several years on some of my works. For the time being, I’m leaving the choice to you.

Several basic painting rules

* Let each previous layer dry completely. Wait at least 10 days. 30 or 45 is better.
* Never dip dry brush in to the paint. Wet it first then dry it a little with a paper towel.
* Use different brushes for each color.
* Avoid touching painting surface with your bare hands. Use bridge or mahlstick.
* Have a very clear plan and know several steps ahead what you are going to do today.
* Let the painting dry at least for 2-3 weeks before putting on the next layer.
* Don’t try to fix something on your painting with brushes, which you couldn’t do or forgot to do with a pencil.
* Never start painting on a white canvas or board. Always put imprimatura after the completion of the detailed drawing.

Importance of Drawing and Imprimatura in Classical Painting Technology was last modified: April 24th, 2015 by axalor@gmail.com
April 24, 2015 0 comment
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Famous Artists

Leonardo da Vinci Facts: Mother Caterina

written by axalor@gmail.com

Leonardo_GiacondaReconstruction of Leonardo’s fingerprint gave some clues about his possible ethnicity, according to controversial Italian research. Dermatoglyphics, science that studies skin patterns through computer analysis of data, claims to have found connection between fingerprint patterns and population ethnicity.

So, based on reconstructed fingerprint of Leonardo da Vinci, researchers made a conclusion that he was of Middle Eastern descent. “The fingerprint features patterns such as the central whorl that are dominant in the Middle East.
About 60 percent of the Middle Eastern population display the same dermatoglyphic structure,” according to the anthropologist Luigi Capasso. This gives new evidence to the theory of Alessandro Vezzosi that Leonardo’s mother was not a peasant from Vinci but a slave girl brought to Tuscany from Middle East.

This was quite wide-spread in Italy that slaves, brought from Middle East, Eastern Europe and Balkans, were used in wealthy homes to perform all kinds of duties. An existence of 550 slaves has been documented in Florence at the time of Leonardo’s birth. Alessandro Vezzosi, the director of Museo Ideale Leonardo Da Vinci in the artist’s home town of Vinci in Tuscany, discovered some papers showing that at the time of Leonardo’s birth his father was a craftsman, Ser Piero Da Vinci, and his mother was a female slave known as Caterina.

It was a common practice to baptize slave girls, giving them names like Maria, Caterina, and Marta. The only Caterina that was inside Ser Piero’s circle was a slave in the house of his wealthy friend Vanni di Niccolo di Ser Vanni, whose hand-written will was recently discovered in the archives. It looks like after his death Vanni left his house in Florence to Ser Piero and his slave Caterina to his late wife Agnola. It seems that logically the inheritance should have been switched between two of them. Ser Piero then negotiated freedom for Caterina in exchange for allowing Vanni’s widow Agnola stay in the house and did not take possession of the property until her death.

Caterina was quickly married off to Acchattabriga di Piero del Vaccha da Vinci, I’m guessing, against her will as his name in Italian means “quick to start a quarrel.” There are some theories and speculations that later in life, when Caterina was in her sixties, Leonardo stayed in touch with his mother and she even moved to Milan to be closer to her son. They are based on some encrypted clues found in da Vinci manuscripts called Codex Atlanticus and Codex Forster II. And then there is Mona Lisa that was often called Leonardo’s self-portrait as the features from the two line up eerily perfectly. It is the only painting that he carried with him all his life which wouldn’t be the case with a commissioned portrait.

Could it be the depiction of Caterina?
We probably would never know for sure. Though scientists claimed that they have collected some saliva and traces of food from manuscripts as Leonardo had a habit of eating late at night while working on his notes. So, what’s next? A complete DNA mapping or clones of Renaissance genius?

Leonardo da Vinci Facts: Mother Caterina was last modified: April 23rd, 2015 by axalor@gmail.com
April 23, 2015 0 comment
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Famous Artists

The Pieta by Michelangelo

written by axalor@gmail.com

I still cannot comprehend how a twenty-four year old can feel so much tragedy and was able to create such a powerful piece out of a single stone in just 2 years…

I believe I am not alone wondering this, as even Michelangelo’s contemporaries of were attributing his “Pieta” to other, more mature sculptors. Young Michelangelo got so offended, that he carved his name on the sash running across the Virgin Mary’s chest, to stop these rumors forever. It is known that he later regretted giving in to his pride and doing this, so the Pieta remains the only work he signed.

We owe the “pleasure” of looking at the Pieta at San Pietro (Saint Peter’s) Basilica through the bulletproof Plexiglas to a crazy geologist who attacked it with a sledgehammer, so viciously that pieces of marble were flying all over the place.

Mary’s nose was broken, many big and small pieces of marble were picked up by the crowd and lost forever, so to restore the sculpture pieces from the back were used to better match the stone.

What is it about great masterpieces that they awaken the worst beasts in people and evoke mindless rage and destruction in unstable souls?

The Pieta by Michelangelo was last modified: April 23rd, 2015 by axalor@gmail.com
April 23, 2015 0 comment
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