Nymphaeas, an aquatic flowering herb, has been a popular theme in literature, mythology and fine arts throughout history. It bore various symbols in many ancient cultures and have been deciphered by different artists in their own ways. In this essay two paintings of such will be evaluated: Water Lilies by Claude Monet (1840-1926) and Lotus by Chang Dai-chien (1901-1984).
Water Lilies, painted by French impressionist painter Claude Monet, is a collection of approximately 250 oil paintings of Monet's water-lily pond in Giverny, France. The artwork was composed of light vertical strokes and patches of bright colours, giving a grand perspective of scattered blossoms of water-lilies with a shimmer of light lingering with reflections from above.
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To achieve so, both pieces were constructed with an unseen light source from the top of the painting, allowing increased tonal contrast and luminosity while minimising half-tones as the shadows would appear as outlines of the subject. Evidence of such can be observed in the wide leaves: Monet painted ovals strokes of colours to illustrate lily pads, while Chang splashed patches turquoise water-ink amongst lines of leaf-stems. Little hue transitions were involved, as most colours came in discrete …show more content…
Due to the cultural and philosophical implications embedded in the painting, it appears that few individuals have full access to Chang's inspirations when he painted Lotus. I am unfortunately not one of them. Knowing only the basics of traditional Chinese philosophy and having too little life experiences, I could appreciate the grace in the brush strokes, but find it slightly difficult to relate my own life to the intrinsic charms and wisdom of the artwork. Furthermore, it appears to me that Lotus is not as unique as Water Lilies. The flower is a such popular theme in Chinese literature and arts that it acquired a set character of tenderness, elegance and nobility that is highly praised in Chinese culture. Chang portrayed such qualities to perfection in many ways, but I would like his work more if it had more personal feelings in it.
Indeed, though having certain similar qualities, Water Lilies and Lotus had approached a common theme of Nymphaeas in divergent ways. I reckon this is due to different cultural backgrounds and personalities of Monet and Chang that they used varying materials and techniques to express their own philosophical inspirations upon the flowers. I admire both of their masterpieces greatly and I believe that they are both very beautiful in their own
Additionally, Lie placed tall trees in the foreground of the painting to give a sense of the scale between the observer’s perspective and surrounding objects. Furthermore, Lie used dark, cold colors, such as purple, blue and black, to depict the feeling of a winter’s afternoon. Lie also used snow on the ground as an obvious indicator of the time frame in which the painting is occurring. However, in contrast to the dark cold colors used, Lie also used subtle hints of orange, yellow and red to show that there is some presence of light in the piece. The background of the painting is a sheen of yellow, suggesting the presence of light and the forming sunset.
Her work resembles fossils and botanical illustration pages at the same time. Her simplicity and willingness to give back to her community is also an attribute I admire of her. Her work is important because of it has been used a medium to convey precious memories through the preservation of flowers. This artist inspires me because of her mastery of such a simple technique to create beautifully simplistic, yet intricately detailed works. This is an aesthetic I hope to achieve in my personal work because of my love of detail and organic shapes, such as flowers. It is amazing how she has achieved such wonderfully detailed and organic shapes using a medium that I never thought to be used in such an organic
There were rays of sunlight that were depicted as well. The light in the painting seemed to be focused in the middle, where the stream was. Other areas and parts of the piece were dark or darker than the area in the middle. I think that a trick with shading or lighting was used. Perhaps, it was tenebrism.
specimens with the corresponding scientific description, photographs, specific maps and there are drawings that document the research. This collected images of plants continue the artist’s fascination with documentation, community engagement and art as a way to address larger social issues. This exhibit was interning to me to see all the different plant and to know that plants in the city unknown to most there are often edible, medicinal or even poisonous plants.
I visited Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California for the first time hoping to learn more about the European artworks this place has to offer. Norton Simon Museum holds the remarkable amounts of artwork by world-renowned artists: Vincent Van Gogh, Rembrandt van Rijin, Caravaggio, Raphael, and Pablo Picasso just to name a few. I observed many European paintings in the 18th to 19th century; I chose to discuss the artwork by the incredible Claude-Oscar Monet. Claude-Oscar Monet’s Mouth of the Seine at Honfleur, 1865 is an oil painting of a seascape on a canvas. The Parisian artist is considered one of the most influential artists in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century.
In the early 16th century the Netherlands experienced what was called “tulip mania” this was the beginning of the nations love for flora and foliage (Taylor 13). The result of this impressive flower invasion was a society that took a historical turn from which the results still remain today. Flower merchants, botanists and floral still life artists, were occupations that were an accurate reflection of the Netherlands demands (Brown). An interesting example of a life that was effected by, and devoted to the archiving of the flower craze was Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750) the 17th century Dutch flower painter. Rachel Ruyschs’ career straddled the 17th and 18th century, and her stunningly accurate floral pieces reflect the maturing, yet evolving art of floral still life painting (“Rachel Ruysch: Bibliography”). Ruyschs’ Still Life with Flowers on a Marble Tabletop (1716) is an excellent example of a painting that appropriately represents the genre of art that was created solely through specific societal events.
Leonardo Da Vinci was an artist as well as a scientist. He devoted his time to gaining knowledge through his studies of the natural world. For Leonardo, understanding the world meant experimenting and observing in a cause-and-effect manner. He believed that nature followed a set of laws and they could be uncovered by intensive studies. This eagerness to understand the natural world through examination set him aside from his contemporaries. Through these observations he created a vast number of scientific manuscripts that helped him understand the natural world he celebrated in his paintings.
"Modern art." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2011. Web. 02 Dec. 2011. .
It appears to me that pictures have been over-valued; held up by a blind admiration as ideal things, and almost as standards by which nature is to be judged rather than the reverse; and this false estimate has been sanctioned by the extravagant epithets that have been applied to painters, and "the divine," "the inspired," and so forth. Yet in reality, what are the most sublime productions of the pencil but selections of some of the forms of nature, and copies of a few of her evanescent effects, and this is the result, not of inspiration, but of long and patient study, under the instruction of much good sense…
... though employing a familiar subject (the female form), shows the transformation from busy mosaics with gold embellishments to a brighter palate of colors and the use of stronger, bolder lines. The piece exemplifies his versatility as an artist.
Kleiner, F.S., Mamiya, C.J., Tansey, R.G. (2001) Gardeners Art Through the Ages. Eleventh Edition, Harcourt College Publishers, Orlando, USA.
The composition concentrates mainly on the foreground .It has three main points of interest, the small rowing boats, the artificial island and the floating barge .It also has a stretch of trees and foliage in the background painted in a much lighter fashion. Monet?s painting has a very different composition from Renoir?s painting of Grenouillere, which was done at the same time; Renoir?s painting is focussed much more on the artificial island and the people on it. Monet uses a combination of thick bold brushstrokes and small short soft brushstrokes; this creates a nice varied look and helps give a good impression of perspective. The tone is also very varied as it is Very light in some areas, but it is also quite dark in others, such as the shades on the barge. The use of dark shades in the foreground makes the boat look so realistic and quite 3D. Although the middle ground is flatter this helps add to the perspective. The water ho...
...ng particularly the way Rubens blends in the yellow streak of visible light while using other objects in the center of the scene. Rubens began with a thin layer of blue and a thick brush and made his painting on top of that layer additionally with thin layers with exclusion of the main objects in the center that receive a thicker coating of paint. Those objects were also painted with a much thinner brush than that of the first layer.
..., he acknowledges and reinterprets traditional Chinese art in his works. This is his mode of expression via shanshui tradition, and his ways of thinking, viewing and perceiving are infiltrated by the literati ethos. He works in the computer with his countless digital photographs, he creates virtual city landscape, combining the countless small format snapshots in a way that imitate the characteristic structure and composition of the classical shanshui. In his works, we can see that it always visualizes how China is developing and illustrates the consequences of modernization, globalization and the destruction of China’s ecological equilibrium caused by the speedy growth of its megacities over the past few decades. Yang said, “ The media… is not important, no matter what method you use to create, to maintain the creative spirit of the ancients is the most import.”1
...f the shadows is sprinkled with the orange of the ground, and the blue-violet of the mountains is both mixed with and adjacent to the yellow of the sky. The brushstrokes that carry this out are inspired by the Impressionists, but are more abundant and blunter than those an Impressionist would use.