Aesthetics in the Classroom - The Power of Animation

Sunrise by the Ocean, Vladimir Kush, 21" x 25"

I just discovered Vladimir Kush, Russian surrealist painter.  The artist explains this painting's meaning on his website:

The egg symbolizes the rising Sun and the beginning of life. In many myths about the creation of the world, a cosmic egg is laid by a giant bird in a formless, ancient ocean. The egg splits into two and the sky and the earth appear from the halves of it, while the sun is seen in the yolk. You can see in the picture that the newborn Sun still hasn't taken its final shape yet. Shreds of primary matter continue to stream from the burning sphere rising over the ocean. According to Polynesian myth, the Hawaiian Islands were born from such an egg.

His work is evocative and interesting - to my thinking, he crosses the mental games and optical illusions of Magritte, with the virtuosity of Dali.  His website says his works are oil on canvas, watercolors, etchings and drawings - he is very skillful.  I am delighted to have stumbled upon him - which is exactly how I found him - through StumbleUpon.  There are many videos of his work on YouTube, so I sorted through and found one I wanted to show my art students for Artist of the Day.  I thought they would enjoy his clever work, and it would give me an opportunity to talk to them about divergent thinking.  Kush takes simple ideas and blends them together into intriguing paintings.

Fauna in La Mancha, Vladimir Kush, 30.5" X 43"

The first video of his work that I showed my students was great - they were engaged and interested in seeing his art.  When I went back to the search page, I noticed another video:  Vladimir Kush Metaphorical Voyage Trailer.  Hmmmm....let's check it out (can't get too much of a good thing!).  Wow!  This video was super cool - his static paintings were transformed into moving images through animation!  (This 30 minute DVD is available through Amazon - I ordered one today!)  I thought this would be interesting to show my students as well, so I showed this video the next day, making sure to point out to them that these were many of the same paintings they had seen in the first video, but now they were shown as animations.  The handout I gave to them went like this:

How Does Animation Change an Artwork?

We saw 2 videos about Vladimir Kush's surrealistic painting.  One video showed his paintings as a static (or still) images - the other video showed his paintings as animated images.  His own art studio produced the animation video (it's not someone else's work).

• Which do you like best - the static images or the animated images?  Why?
• Why do you think he made this video animating his own paintings?
• Do you have any ideas about how he did this - what kind of software he might have used?

I was curious to see how many of the students preferred the animated version, and it was an overwhelming majority!  80% of the responses I got preferred the animated video!  I wasn't too surprised about that preference, but I was surprised at the percentage.  What were their reasons?  Here are a few of their responses:

Which do you like best & why?  Animated (80%) - it had more drama, made the images look more real, brings life to the painting, is more interesting and gives movement to the art, video gave more expression, it was more like a movie, it draws my attention, it looks like a recorded dream, it's magical, it felt like we were actually going deep inside the artwork, more imagination, the animated video gives more insight into what the artwork means.

Static (20% overall) (Note:  39% of my Honors Art 2 students preferred the static images.  I consider this class to have a higher percentage of serious art students.  What might that statistic imply?) - the animated video trivialized the art work, you have a better chance seeing the artwork in the static image video, it had a more calming effect, the movement distracted me from the art work, you could take your time looking and them and understanding them. 

Why do you think he made this video as an animation? - to bring his ideas to life, so people could understand his work better, to show people how realistic his paintings are, to entertain the viewer, to add more excitement to his work, so his work would appeal to a broader audience (video set up like a movie trailer), to see what goes on in his (the artist's) mind, so he can bring his surrealism to life like a movie, his paintings could be used in a video game.

Interesting!  I am beginning to understand the power of animation!  As the quality of animation becomes more realistic (think about all of the 3D movies that have come out lately!), it appears that the large majority of the general public, at least in this informal sampling of 14-16 yr. olds, prefer more dynamic imagery.  I know when I select something for Artist of the Day, it HAS to be a video, not a static website!  As I started playing around with my class opening Artist of the Day activity last year, I would sometimes include a website because I couldn't find a video, but I thought the art was cool so I'd show them the website.  Ho hum, went my students!  It was a dramatic difference when I showed a video - 90% or more of the class would be engaged in the video, so I moved into video only selections.

The last question I threw in because I wanted to get them thinking about technology and see what they would come up with as far as the tools he used to animate his paintings.  I, myself, am clueless, but am very interested in finding out more about how he did that to his art.  Here are their guesses:

Do you have any ideas about how he did this - what kind of software he might have used? - some kind of "flash" application, Adobe Flash, IDK (for those not with current truncation of the English language, that means I don't know ;-), Photoshop, Autodesk the engineering design software, Sony Vegas, iPad software, Windows 7, Adobe Premier 10.

The surrealists began an interesting investigation of what reality is to our conscious and subconscious minds.  It's exciting to see contemporary artists continuing the dialogue.  And, as we move into realms of hyper-reality and virtual reality, the conversation becomes even more interesting.  Why are we more interested in the animation versus the static?  What is your opinion of the question?  Where do you think this is leading us?  

Descent to the Mediterranean, Vladimir Kush, 39" x 23.5"

Snow Days & Artist of the Week

My own See.Saw picture - Christine Miller - date, the great blizzard of 2011

Unprecedented! We have missed 4 days of school this week because of this massive winter storm that has stretched across the country! Talk about a long winter's nap!! I haven't been napping. It has been a wonderful time for me to work on several projects: weaving samples for my guild's overshot study group, taking the scans from my Sketchbook Project's book and making a digital version, goofing around on the computer, and playing with this art idea I stumbled upon (if you haven't been on this site, you have to go! Be prepared to burn some major time stumbling!!).

It's not a new idea, but I like what the artist has done, and he inspired me to try it for myself. I think this would be a great project to take into my art classes! Lots of grade school teachers do it to make butterflies and such - you put paint on one side of your paper, fold it closed, open it and you end up with these identical paint splotches on both sides. (I was so excited, I forgot to take a picture of my splotches before I drew my picture!) I used cadmium red pale hue, cadmium yellow, and cerulean blue watercolors. I also splashed some beautiful gold watercolor out of a Japanese pot. It didn't take me long to see the monkey, bird and camel in my drawing. The golden ribbony smoke came next, then I thought to add the Aladdin's lamp and the carpet at the end. It was fun! Check out the link in the post headline to see the original site I stumbled upon. It's the work of L Filipe dos Santos from Madrid, Spain - he calls it his See.Saw series. You can see more of his work here.

10/11 Academic Decathlon The Great Depression Art Selection #18 - Nighthawks

Nighthawks, Edward Hopper, 1942, Oil on canvas, 84.1 x 152.4 cm (33 1/8 x 60 in.), The Art Institute of Chicago

Edward Hopper studied at the New York Institute of Art and Design and became a commercial illustrator. He went to Europe in 1906, but just like Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton, he did not embrace the theories and techniques of modernism. He preferred painting in a realistic style. Though he lived in the city, he was preoccupied with isolation and loneliness. His paintings reflect this duality - single figures in communal spaces, cities deserted except for one person. He did not initially enjoy success from his personal artwork and had to continue to work as a freelance commercial artist. By the time he was 40, he had only sold one painting.

He married Josephine Nivison who helped him promote his art. She was an extrovert, he an introvert, and she had a good instinct for business. She helped him get six of his paintings into an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in 1923 and that proved to be the turning point for him. He gained attention, sales and commissions and was able to quit his job and begin to paint full time. The critics loved his work. He sold paintings to major museums and became financially comfortable. His peak productivity time was during the 1930s, but he painted until he died in his studio in 1967. His wife bequeathed his artwork to the Whitney Museum in New York.

Nighthawks shows a corner diner brightly lit against the night. The glass walls provide an easy view into the diner and the contrast between the spotlighted inhabitants and the darkened street make it seem like actors on a theater stage. We see them, but they do not notice the viewer. The scene is unremarkable, people dining, talking, a couple together, one man sitting at the counter alone. The server is waiting on them, but at this moment in time is also a bit disconnected and off to one side. Detail is spare both in the diner and on the street. You don't see anything in the shop windows, no litter on the streets, no sign of humanity except the people we see. It's almost as if the city is empty except for these four people and the scene has a quality of eerie solitude about it. (Anybody ever see the "Twilight Zone"?) We see a story, but don't know what to make of it. Barbara Haskell, an art historian, calls this "suspended narrative" or a "narrative of inaction". It's compelling for the viewer - you can make up your own story. Hopper gives the viewer a lot of creative license in the interpretation of the scene. What do you think is going on?

Self-portrait, Edward Hopper, 1925-30

10/11 Academic Decathlon The Great Depression Art Selection #17 - And the Migrants Kept Coming

And the Migrants Kept Coming, Jacob Lawrence, 1940-41. Tempera on gesso on composition board, 12 x 18" (30.5 x 45.7 cm), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

Jacob Lawrence did not have a stable life - his parents divorced and he moved from one foster care home to another until he was about 13, then he and his brothers and sisters went back to live with their mother. He took art classes early and went on to study at the Harlem Art Workshop, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the American Artists' School. Outside of the art classes he took, the also got a lot of energy and inspiration from the artists that had flourished during the Harlem Renaissance. (See the post done about Aaron Douglas on this blog in October 2010)

He was a mover and a shaker. He had a studio while he was a student and got a solo exhibition of this work at the Harlem YMCA in 1938. At that time, he made small paintings reflecting daily life in Harlem. He was a product of his neighborhood and drew a lot of inspiration and identity from Harlem. He also was interested in history and did a series about Frederick Douglass, a former slave and orator. These were well-received, so he did another series about the Underground Railroad leader Harriet Tubman, Haitian liberator Troussaint L'Ouverture, and abolitionist John Brown. These series prepared him for a huge project he would undertake: a 60-painting series on the Great Migration. This is the work that would jettison him into the larger art world - he became the first African American artist to have one of his works included in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This work, And the Migrants Kept Coming, was the last painting in the Great Migration Series. A crowded railroad platform is shown and the wavy lines beneath this platform suggest water beneath a dock. The composition is crowded with people, young and old with their luggage. The way the image is laid out, you can imaging people stretching beyond the canvas edges in both directions. The people lack faces or individualized features - this helps the viewer think of them as "anyman" and connects to the larger idea of vast numbers of people looking for a better life; people who are willing to leave their own lives behind in the hopes of finding a better one. He uses only a few colors, but even though his figures are reduced to shapes, the viewer recognizes the image as many men, women and children on the move. There is not texture or nuance in this painting, and the paint he uses is a matte finish - a finish that is dull and unreflective. All of the paintings in this series use the same elements of simplified shapes out of seven colors which unifies the group and makes the series visually cohesive.

Many African American people were poor sharecroppers in the South - they owned nothing and eked out a subsistence living. The industrial boom centered in the northern part of the United States in the early part of the 20th century and promised jobs and a better life. Huge numbers of African Americans migrated to the north and poured into cities such as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and New York. Because discrimination was still a stronghold across the nation at that time, these immigrants would form their own neighborhoods such as Harlem in New York. Their move to these new cities was a mixed bag - they may have found work and a new life, but they did not escape the prejudice and discrimination that they had experienced in the South. Racial tensions resulted from this new influx of people.

Lawrence's documentation of this phenomenon is based in history. He researched the Great Migration and strove to document and educate the viewer about the event. Each panel has a short title that is descriptive of the scene. The early paintings depict scenes of life from the South and show the reasons the people decided to leave. There are images of withered cotton plants and is entitled, "They left because the boll weevil had ravaged the cotton crop." The middle paintings go back and forth between the South and the North. Then the later paintings show the trials and the triumphs of the migrants in their new lives. These paintings resemble a storyboard for a cinematic undertaking. The critics responded so well to this monumental work the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. and the Museum of Modern Art fought over who would own the complete series. In the end they split the paintings with the Phillips getting the odd-numbered panels and MoMA receiving the even numbered panels. Cool! How about that? He may have also been the first African American artist to have two major museums fight over his work!

Jacob Lawrence self-portrait, 1977, gouache on paper

10/11 Academic Decathlon The Great Depression Art Selection #15 - Cow's Skull with Calico Roses

Cow's Skull with Calico Roses, Georgia O'Keefe, 1931, Oil on canvas, 91.4 x 61 cm (36 x 24 in.), The Art Institute of Chicago

Georgia O'Keefe is one of the most recognized artists of the twentieth century. It's rare to find such an accomplished woman in the art world - it has historically been a career for men. Even today, women are not on an equal footing with men in the business of art - check out the Guerilla Girls for more information about that and to see about their activisim! O'Keefe was a strong woman who followed her passion and became an icon in the art world, especially for aspiring women artists.

O'Keefe studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the Art Students League in New York and was exposed to a new art trend: imitative realism - a movement that was meant to artistically reproduce nature as the artist saw it. When O'Keefe took a summer class for art teachers, she was introduced to Arthur Wesley Dow who had a passion for non-western art, especially Japanese art. He believed that color, line, light and dark tones should be balanced. O'Keefe connected with these ideas and began to experiment with them. Her initial work was brought to the attention of photographer and art dealer Alfred Stieglitz. Without her knowledge, he put her work in an exhibition at his gallery in New York, 291. Her work was a hit and Stieglitz became a huge supporter of hers and began regularly exhibited her work. He was able to get her to move to New York and paint full time. They married, lived and worked together until 1946 when Stieglitz died.

O'Keefe began with paintings of New York, flowers and plants. Her flower paintings were so close up, you lost the overall image of the flower and just focused on the details. It's said that O'Keefe responded about these paintings once by saying she wanted the viewer to stop and really look at the flower. Her love for nature took her out west to New Mexico and one visit was all it took to hook her for life. Take a look at this 10 minute video and listen to her tell her story about her love of New Mexico. She began painting desert scenes, including bones and skeletons of dead animals. The pure line, light and shade she used in her other paintings transferred perfectly to these new subjects. She kept going back to the Southwest all through the 1930s until Stieglitz died then she settled in Arizona and lived out her life into her 90s. Her work became so important, she was given a solo retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the first woman to receive such an honor.

This work, Cow's Skull with Calico Roses, uses many shades of white to create the skull and roses over an unidentified white background. The value creates an image that looks three dimensional (remember, it's painted on a two dimensional canvas). It is symmetrically balanced with the focal point centered in the picture plane. The painting is a still life, but the composition is strong and bold. O'Keefe loved painting nature, and this skull was beautiful to her, not morbid. The juxtaposition of the soft flowers with the brittle bone make for an interesting combination. They could be speaking of both life and death, but ultimately speak of the beauty of nature. Her approach to her paintings is pure and direct - she had an eye for capturing nature and detail without making it fussy and busy. Her paintings are elegant, spare and compelling. Her work is beautiful and haunting and helped establish a modern aesthetic in the world of art.

This post seems woefully incomplete. Stieglitz and O'Keefe had a powerful love story and an incredible artistic connection. He was one of the twentieth centuries most reknowned photographers and Georgia was often his photographic muse. I have always enjoyed reading biographies of artists throughout my life, and reading their biographies were some of my favorites. Explore their lives for yourself - you won't regret the time invested.

10/11 Academic Decathlon The Great Depression Art Selection #14 - American Gothic

American Gothic, Grant Wood, 1930, Oil on Beaver Board, 78 x 65.3 cm (30 3/4 x 25 3/4 in.), Signed on man's overalls: GRANT / WOOD / 1930, The Art Institute of Chicago

This is one of the most interesting paintings - not because I think it's such a fantastic work of art, but because it has spawned so many variations and has been used in advertising ad nauseum! Right up next to the Mona Lisa, I think this painting has a notoriety that is astounding. It has a ton of parodies - check out this site that shows some of them. You know what they say, "Imitation is one of the sincerest forms of flattery." Grant Wood should fee really flattered! Let's see how this painting got to be so famous.



Wood was one of the artists that started a new movement of art in the United States, Regionalism. For most of Western art history, European art and artists drove the boat. Let's face it - with the Greek, Roman, and Renaissance artists (to hit the high points) all centered in Europe, it's no wonder it was so important. Paris was the art capital of the world until the mid-twentieth century when it shifted to New York. American artists in the twentieth century wanted to begin their own traditions and began breaking away from the European tradition. Artwork that was based not only in realism, but also reflected American towns and people became the subjects of the paintings of Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton and John Steuart Curry. Grant Wood's American Gothic was a hit when it was first exhibited and it has remained an icon for Midwestern America.

His early art education included metalworking, silversmithing, woodworking and jewelry-making. The Craftsman, or Arts and Crafts movement, was a big influence in his artistic style. It helped that he had so many skills because he was able to support himself as a silversmith while he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1934 he became the director of the PWAP for Iowa and was able to draw from the artistic community he had launched by involving many of the Regionalist artists to work on public art projects. From 1934 until his death in 1942, he was a respected painter and professor of painting at the University of Iowa.

Let's take a closer look at the painting - a man and woman stand formally in front of a farmhouse - they look serious and stern. Though the house is in the background, the painting is set up like a portrait. You can see a Gothic-style window in the house, a corner of a red barn and some treetops in the background. The couple are dressed in their finest clothing - the woman has a white collar with a cameo fastened at her neck, the man is wearing a formal dark blue jacket over his overalls and work shirt. Holding a pitchfork in his hand, his face tells of a life of physical labor and exposure to the elements.



The farmhouse looks a bit like a bungalow with Gothic church detailing. The window is arch shaped and has a tripartite (three-part) division, just like the windows in Gothic churches in Europe. There are other Gothic references: the lightning rod that is cut off could represent a cross and the stiff postures of the couple resemble the carved saints that might surround an entrance to a Gothic cathedral. There are lots of decorative details, patterns in the fabrics, details in their clothing, the grain of wood the house is made of, which makes the painting super realistic. So realistic, you think he has documented a moment in a farm couple's life. But Wood carefully set the scene himself - the woman is his sister and the man is his dentist. Everything, man, woman and house, were sketched separately and combined into his composition.

There is some ambiguity in their countenances - the woman is staring off with an expression that could be worried, dreamy or distracted, but the man confronts the viewer's gaze directly. His grip on the pitchfork communicates his ownership of all you see in the picture - he is protective and proud. The seriousness of the painting tips just slightly into satire. Is he honoring this couple or mocking them? Even when the painting was first exhibited, no one was quite sure what his intentions were. He never tipped his hand; he just explained it as part of the Regionalism movement. Smart guy. Artists do not always have to tell everyone what their work is about - it can be up to the viewer to make their own meaning. Is this one of the reasons this painting has been parodied so much, because it already has this edgy quality to it? What do you think?

Grant Wood Self Portrait, 1932

10/11 Academic Decathlon The Great Depression Art Selection #4 - The Riveter

The Riveter (mural study, Bronx, New York central postal station), 1938, Ben Shahn, tempera on paperboard, image: 33 x 14 3/4 in. (83.8 x 37.5 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum

Here's another connection with Diego Rivera! It was a small art world during the Great Depression! Ben Shahn (1898-1969) was a can do kind of artist - he cleaned paint brushes for Rivera when he painted the Rockefeller Center mural, took pictures for the FSA in California and painted his own murals in a government-sponsored model community in New Jersey. He came from a Jewish Eastern European immigrant family and through perseverance made his way to Brooklyn. His main style of art is social realism, a style that featured the hard life of the working poor and criticized the social structure that causes such problems. His first major work, The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti was spawned by Shan's sympathetic leanings for the defendants as a liberal immigrant himself.

His career included not only working with Rivera, but also with Walker Evans, a well known photographer that taught Shahn about working with cameras. When he was not awarded some mural proposals, Evans recommended Shahn to another government agency, the Resettlement Administration. Traveling through the South and Midwest with his love and companion, Bernarda Bryson, he documented the life he saw, but photography was not to be the medium of choice for Shahn. Photography was a study for his paintings. He continued getting commissions, including a mural at the Bronx Central Postal Station.

The Riveter was a study using tempera on paperboard for the "Resources for America" mural cycle at the Bronx Central Postal Station. The compelling composition uses the vertical space to box the workman into a compressed space. You can think of it as though you had put a photo into Photoshop and cropped tightly down on the subject. This compressed scene focuses on one worker. The environment he is in, which you see little of because of this close up study, seems to be a factory. There is a lot of ambiguity to the painting - what city is he in, what kind of factory is this, what is he working on? By keeping the details vague, this one workman symbolizes factories and workers all across America doing the same type of work. The face of the worker is not complete enough for clear identification. Even the color palette of coveralls and skin color blend together so you're not sure what ethnicity he is from. The white gloves provide a focal point with a red power cord leading from the machine. It looks like an artery not only in color but in the placement of the composition and serves as a symbol for industry being the heart of the American economy.

Shahn won this commission out of 189 submissions. Perhaps because his composition combines the universal with the realistic and his ability to represent such an important aspect of American life - industry. It represented every man and was easy for any viewer to understand. During this time of the Great Depression, his painting did not focus on the unemploymed, but the employed by putting the worker on a pedestal and making him the heart of American industry.

10/11 Academic Decathlon The Great Depression Art Selection #3 - Tenement, Mural Study

Tenement (mural study, Depart of Justice Building, Washington, D. C.), 1935, George Biddle, tempera on fiberboard, 40 1/2 x 31 1/2 in. (102.9 x 80.0 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum

George Biddle (1885-1973) was born into a wealthy family who expected him to become highly educated and establish a law career. He got a law degree, but traveled to Paris (the art capital of the world at that time) and enrolled in a famous art school, the Academie Julian. After serving in WWI, Biddle began his art career. On a trip to Mexico in 1928, he met Diego Rivera. They proved to be valuable networking friends, each recommending the other for work in each other's countries. Franklind D. Roosevelt was a former classmate of Biddle. George wrote him a letter, and was able to get his ear about painting murals in the Department of Justice. He got the commission and dedicated the rest of his life to public art. In the first mural of a five-panel series Biddle did for the federal government, he contrasted just and unjust societies. The final panel, Tenement, depicted the private lives of poor Americans. This art thrust the struggles of America's poor right in the face of the government.

Tenement is a single wall that's divided into three areas. His cut-away view of the inside of the apartment building shows immigrants and poor families going about their daily lives. The left section is a vertical section showing the outside of the building with bars on the windows and laundry hanging to dry. Utility poles lean left and right suggesting disorder in this urban environment. An old woman is in the foreground of this section and holds an axe and some firewood. This figure and it's placement tie into the figures on the right side of the composition that are inside the building. He compositionally connects both inside and outside with these figures. The people inside are working, playing or taking care of their family, but all have dull, unemotional expressions. It's as though they are just going through the motions of daily life.

The crowding, barred windows, and forlorn expressions suggest their homes are just lonely prisons for them. They are tired but enslaved to the poverty they endure day to day. By placing this mural in the Department of Justice, Biddle hopes to show the people that are making decisions some of the people they affect. "He underscores this point by including two quotes in the mural. At the bottom of the right-hand field, Biddle paints a plaque reading: “brandeis: if we would guide by the light of reason we must let our minds be bold”. The quote is from Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis (1856–1941). It joins another quote that appears at the beginning of the five-panel series, “The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience,” attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes (1841–1935), who had just retired from the Supreme Court in 1932." (Quote from the DemiDec Art Resource Guide - thanks DemiDec for what you do for Academic Decathlon!!)

The first quote is imploring the viewer not to turn away from the hard images of poverty. And the second quote grounds in the subject matter that Biddle has chosen. He is challenging the notion of just law and visually states that it is not enough to have the law of Justice. Justice must also mean helping all by improving the lives of people in their society. Pretty in your face, huh? And all under the wing of a public art vehicle. He radically changed the course of Depression-era art.

George Biddle at work on his mural Society Freed through Justice in the U.S. Department of Justice Building., Washington, D.C., 1936

10/11 Academic Decathlon The Great Depression Art Selection #2 - Aspects of Negro Life: Song of the Towers

Aaron Douglas. Aspects of Negro Life: Song of the Towers. Mural series comprised of four panels: Song of the Towers, From Slavery Through Reconstruction, An Idyll of the Deep South, and The Negro in an African Setting. Oil on canvas, 1934.
The New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Art and Artifacts Division.

I have a special connection to this work. When I went back to college (at the age of 47!) to finish my bachelor's and become certified to teach art, I had the privilege of taking some Art History classes (which I went on to teach and love with a passion). The last class I took was an African American Art class, taught by Dr. Jennifer Way at the University of North Texas. The reading list was long. The course had a sizable focus on the Harlem Renaissance which I knew NOTHING about! How was that possible? Such a fantastic flowering of artistic expression born in the United States, and I had never even heard about it. Dr. Way gave us a challenge - go to our comprehensive art history textbooks and search for African American art in them. Nada. Nothing - or next to nothing. The tome of Art History (unnamed but easily guessed at), out of over 1,000 pages of art history, had two paragraphs about the Harlem Renaissance and a pitiful representation of modern and contemporary African American artists. I was appalled and it left a lasting impression for me. This period of artistic expression should be taught and celebrated! Aaron Douglas' work excites me so because of not only the formal qualities of his paintings, but the modern expression, the passion and the soul of the African American that he depicts. I just love his work.

The Harlem Renaissance was an incredible explosion of intellectual and artistic talent between 1910-1940 in Harlem, New York. The neighborhood was largely black, impacted by the Great Migration in which over one million and a half African Americans left rural areas across the U.S. to find work and new opportunity in urban centers like New York City. The new demographics spawned a search for new expressions of black cultural identity from their African heritage and ancestry. The artists of this time were looking for ways to come to terms with the duality of their African roots and their American birth rite. Sadly, the Depression hit the movement hard in the 1930s and it withered, but it spawned incredible talent: writers W.E.B. DuBois and Alan Locke, poets Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen, visual artists Aaron Douglas and Jacob Lawrence, and jazz musicians Billie Holiday, Count Basie and Charlie Parker.



Douglas was born in Topeka, Kansas, studied art at the University of Nebraska and taught art in Kansas City. He went to Harlem in 1925 and started working as an illustrator for books for Cullen and Hughes as well as African American magazines Crisis and Opportunity. His work was critically acclaimed and eventually he was commissioned to paint a four-panel series for a branch of the New York Public Library - Aspects of Negro Life.

Song of the Towers is the last panel and the only one that has an urban context. The central figure is playing a saxophone (symbolic of the jazz movement) in the midst of the New York City skyline. The emotion displayed is not clear, is could be celebratory or defiant. Far in the distance is the Statue of Liberty, an icon of freedom, in the center of concentric circles that radiate out in the composition. The figures are in silhouette against the jutting, rectilinear buildings thrusting skyward. This style of portraying the men in this abstracted way became known as "Egyptian form" style because they are shown in profile. The lower part of the painting show men with industrial imagery - cogs and smokestacks. The figures are tense and struggling juxtaposed with the central figure which speaks of equality for African Americans in this new time and place. The colors are warm and throbbing. This is not a calm image. There is visual tension with the use of the complimentary colors of red and green. The green is not the color associated with growth, but has an ominous feel.

Aspects of Negro Life depicts the development of African American culture from the village in Africa, through the crisis of slavery and racial oppression, ending in the glimpse of the Harlem Renaissance in the Song of the Towers. The series has visual unity compositionally, repeating the elements of the silhouette, concentric circles and bold color. The power of the silhouette is its ability to represent a group without individuality, making it more powerful visually. This celebration of the African culture was an important step to illuminate the accomplishments of African Americans, though it would be decades before they would begin to gain rights and freedoms and not be treated as second-class citizens. This modern imagery was important as a sign of progress for men and women who had much to give to America.

Aspects of Negro Life: The Negro in an African Setting

Aspects of Negro Life: Idyll of the Deep South

Aspects of Negro Life: From Slavery to Reconstruction

10/11 Academic Decathlon The Great Depression Art Selection #1 - Detroit Industry, South Wall

Detroit Industry, South Wall, Fresco, Diego Rivera, 1932-1933, Detroit Institute of Art (Thanks to Daniel at DemiDec for providing me with their Art Resource for my blog work - DemiDec rocks!!)

The link in the post headline takes you to the Detroit Institute of Art's website. The image has a rolling magnification feature to it which gives you a more close up view of the work. I highly recommend it!

Diego Rivera is on of the most important artists from Mexico. Diego Rivera's training as an artist was grounded in the traditions of European art traditions - he received a scholarship to study in Europe at 21. This training heavily influenced his own aesthetics. He lived during a politically tumultuous time - the rise of both the Communist Party (of which he was a member) and the continued rise of capitalism in the United States (important patrons for him in his career). He struggled to walk a line between them both, but was not entirely successful in negotiating between these two disparate ideologies Some of the commissioned works by US capitalists such as JP Morgan, angered the Communist Party members and Rivera was expelled from the Party. The communists believed in the abolition of private property and social hierarchy in favor of a classless society with government ownership and regulation of resources. Accepting art commissions (and the money paid!) from US capitalists angered the Communist Party. But that wasn't his only problem! His artwork and the imagery in some of his frescoes was grounded in not only portraying the political ideals of Communism, but also included their political leaders. This did not make his US capitalist patrons happy either. He spent a good part of his illustrious career caught between a rock and a hard place!

The Detroit Industry frescoes were true, or buon frescoes. Rivera was known as the leader of the Mexican Renaissance because fresco painting was very popular during the European High Renaissance (remember Michelangelo & the Sistine Chapel?) and because by 1930 Rivera had painted over 17,000 square feet of buon fresco -he became a master. Just like Michelangelo, Rivera had to paint his mural around the architecture of the building, the Garden Court at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The work we are looking at was on the South wall and is integrated around the doors and colonnades.

The fresco illustrates the process of assembling a Ford car in the assembly plant. You see pipes, pumps, wheels, and an assembly line of workers showing the process of building a car from beginning to end. The wall is divided in sections - notice the bottom panels that are painted in shades of grey paint - this technique also comes from a Northern Renaissance tradition and is called "grisaille". You see Henry Ford teaching a class in these grisaille panels. Just like in Northern Renaissance altarpieces that represent the patrons of the work; this work shows Edsel Ford (the president of Ford) and William Valentine (the head of the Art Institute) in these grisaille panels. The allegorical top panel represent the universal concept of man in people of different races. The entire wall is symmetrical in balance and changes scale, from the large panels on top to the smaller, more intimate imagery in the panels on the bottom.

Rivera's preparation for this project was intense - he photographed and studied the Ford Motor Plant for months in order to capture the true spirit of the manufacturing process. He made sure to include the people and businesses of Detroit into his imagery, but it included a stylized imagery that would appeal and relate to anyone who viewed it. This allowed the artist to portray an Ideal vision of Detroit which produced abundance and harmony. Because the Great Depression had crippled the city and slowed it's production, this public work of art was meant to help heal the spirit of the people and the city. His work was intended to satisfy the patron who commissioned it, but it was also meant to touch the spirit and souls of the people of Detroit.

09/10 Academic Decathlon French Revolution Art Selection #18 - Princesse de Broglie

Princesse de Broglie, 1851–1853, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Oil on canvas; 47 3/4 x 35 3/4 in. (121.3 x 90.8 cm), The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jean-August-Dominque Ingres is one of my favorite artists! In one of my early drawing classes in college, my professor had us select a work of Ingres' to copy. For some reason I chose one with LOTS of draped fabric, and so I began to imitate his mastery. I was humbled from this exercise but bonded with him in a big way. His approach is so beautiful, flawless and radiant it almost leaves me speechless.

His Neoclassical style comes naturally as he studied under the great Jacques-Louis David, France's premier painter during the Revolutionary period. Raphael became another great influence in his art - Ingres blended the idealism and naturalism of this great Renaissance artist. He explored many themes of history and mythology, but he thought of himself as a history painter. He also painted some of the most important female nudes, some of which are influenced by the exoticism of the Orient that the Romantic artists loved.

Ingres was also an important portrait artist. These are the works that he is most famous for. He was unbelievably prolific! His portraits have dates ranging form 1800 - 1867, the year he died. And though he thought of himself as a history painter, he displayed his portraits alongside his other paintings throughout his career. Remember, the Academy held history painting as the most important subject matter, so it's no wonder he wanted to be known for that genre. He painted many wealthy patrons throughout Europe as well as Napoleon Bonaparte. Before each portrait, he created detailed drawings that included tiny details, though some of his drawings were finished artworks.

This beautiful painting of Princesse de Broglie is stunning. His approach is so detailed and perfect, it is photo-realistic. The Princess was a reserved woman who came from a wealthy Catholic family. She was well educated and wrote a book about Christian virtues that her husband published after her early death at 35. She is shown in this painting in three-quarter length pose. Her gown is made of blue satin with lace trim at the sleeves and neckline. The gold pendant she wears was chosen carefully to communicate her wealth and refinement, but she also wears pearl earrings, a ruby and diamond bracelet and an additional pearl cuff necklace as a bracelet.

She is calm and serene and leans casually against a gold damask armchair in the family's sitting room. The room is kept deliberately simple to allow the focus to be on the Princess. A fan, gloves and shawl are draped across the back of the chair as if she is about to leave for the evening. This portrait was highly lauded and the family quite pleased with the end result. Five years after it was completed, her husband put it behind curtains after her death from tuberculosis. It must have been very sad to curtain this beautiful image, she is so much alive in her portrait.

Self-portrait of Jean-August-Dominique Ingres.

09/10 Academic Decathlon French Revolution Art Selection #16 - Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Mademoiselle Marie Gabrielle Capet (1761–1818)...

Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Mademoiselle Marie Gabrielle Capet (1761–1818) and Mademoiselle Carreaux de Rosemond (died 1788), 1785, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, Oil on canvas, 83 x 59 1/2 in. (210.8 x 151.1 cm), The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In the business of art, it is refreshing to find a woman who has made her mark in a male dominated world. Adélaïde Labille-Guiard was able to break into the profession during pre-revolutionary France. Her work focused on portraiture and she was quite successful. Portraiture and still-life painting were deemed appropriate for female artists. Grand history paintings included the male figure and it was culturally unacceptable for women to study the male nude. She married in 1769 but was divorced by 1776 (no doubt also frowned on by society!). Despite these societal obstacles, Labille-Guiard was able to support herself as a teacher and portrait painter.

She set up her studio in the early 1780s and by 1783 had eight female students. She painted members of the aristocracy and the royal court as well as male members of the Royal Academy. She was honored by being admitted to the Royal Academy as a member, but she was not allowed to study or teach at the institution. Just because she was accepted doesn't mean all of the male members were happy about it. She must have had good self-esteem and perseverance, because she was constantly gossiped about and even accused of not painting her work herself!

You can see her self-confidence in this self-portrait; she is in the center of the painting, seated in her studio at work on a large canvas. Her students look on with appreciation and excitement. By dressing in an elaborate and expensive gown, Labille-Guiard represents herself as a painter and a woman of society. Her posture emphasizes her shapely figure and her gown is arranged to be shown at its best advantage. Her studio is also portrayed to be large and luxurious - it is appointed with fine furniture as well as sculptures letting the viewer know that she was financially well off.

We see the back of the canvas, but not what she is painting. Art historians have three ideas about what that painting could be of: (1) it could be the self-portrait that we are looking at, (2) it could be a portrait of one or both of her students, or (3) or there could be another subject outside the scene we see who is having their portrait made. By including other people in her self-portrait, she demonstrates her ability to portray groups of people in one painting. This opened her commissions to patrons who might want to have family groupings immortalized. She was a clever entrepeneur: she used the painting as an advertising tool so the viewer of this painting could imagine themselves as her subject. Her direct gaze at the viewer is enticing and inviting: why not let me paint YOUR portrait!

09/10 Academic Decathlon French Revolution Art Selection #15 - Portrait of a Young Man

Portrait of a Young Man, ca. 1760–65, Pompeo Girolamo Batoni, Oil on canvas, 97 1/8 x 69 1/4 in. (246.7 x 175.9 cm), The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pompeo Girolamo Batoni was an accomplished artist who painted altarpieces, historical and allegorical paintings and portraits. He painted portraits of many important dignitaries in Europe - patrons from Austrian and Russian courts, royal courts of Europe and portraits of Pope Clement XIII and Pope Pius VI. Since he was located in Rome, it was not unusual for these aristocratic patrons to pop into his studio when they visited Rome. You might say he was a favorite stop on the Grand Tour. He painted portraits of them posed in standing positions, leaning against an antiquity, decked out in their royal finery. His skill is seen in these portraits - even though he painted many, each one was unique.

This young man is not identified, but it is thought that he is French. He is shown in a luxurious space. The objects shown in the painting were deliberately selected to show that the subject was not only educated about the discoveries of the time, but also had the tools in his possession. Books, paper and pens are strewn casually demonstrating this devotion to studies and writing. The people of this time period were enthralled with the work of the Romans. We see guidebooks to Rome in the painting. Rome was an essential stop on the Grand Tour - the city and its history were pivotal to a well-rounded education. Word got around. His reputation became inexorably linked with the Tour, and the wealthy patrons were led to his studio where hundreds of people sat for their portraits and contributed to his illustrious career.

09/10 Academic Decathlon French Revolution Art Selection #14 - Young Jewish Woman of Algeria

Young Jewish Woman of Algeria, Seated, 1846, Théodore Chassériau (French, 1819–1856), Watercolor over graphite, sheet: 11 3/4 x 9 1/8 in. (29.8 x 23.3 cm), The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Théodore Chassériau (called the Unknown Romantic in an exhibit at the Metropolitan) has quite an artistic lineage. He entered the studio of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres at the age of eleven. (Remember that Ingres was a former student of David and was a classicist) which resulted in Chassériau having a strong classical approach to his work. But that was not the only influence he had - he also was interested in the rich colors and romantic themes of the work of Delacroix. He ended up, like Delacroix, traveling to exotic places like northern Africa and the Middle East.

He died young at the age of 37 after an illness, but he produced a large number of paintings, murals and drawings, many of which were portraits or studies of historical, religious or literary subjects. Before his death, the new movement of Realism was on the rise and his work began to be viewed as establishment. His reputation declined and perhaps this contributed to this nomenclature of "the unknown romanticist".

This work, Young Jewish Woman of Algeria, Seated is a small work of graphite on watercolor paper. There are some notes on the right side of the drawing leading one to think they may have been for a later work. I love this piece. The young woman is looking directly at the viewer, and is in an informal posture. Her face is drawn with more detail than the rest of her body. Her clothing and the environment she is in is handled in a sketchy way. The fact that she is sitting on the floor is unconventional for French thinking - it would have been unseemly for a woman to be sitting on the floor; in French society she would have been sitting on furniture. This scene, which is somewhat voyeuristic, would have been appealing to those interested in romantic subjects. To my eye, it is beautiful and she is lovely. I am enchanted with so much beauty described in so few lines.

09/10 Academic Decathlon French Revolution Art Selection #13 - Royal Tiger

Royal Tiger (Tigre Royal), 1829, Eugène Delacroix, Lithograph, second state of four; image: 12 15/16 x 18 7/16 in. (32.8 x 46.9 cm), The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Eugène Delacroix could be considered the most important of the French Romantic painters. He also was born in a wealthy and educated family. This was an advantage he had throughout his illustrious career. He was trained in the classical tradition by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin who followed in the footsteps of David. Delacroix was more connected to contemporary writers such as the poet Lord Byron. He was attracted to literary subjects and used them as subjects for his paintings. His first work presented at the Salon of 1822 was Dante and Virgil and was inspired by the epic poem The Divine Comedy.

One of my personal favorites of Delacroix is the emotional and dramatic painting, The Death of Sardanapualus, which resides at the Louvre Museum in Paris. The Last king of Nineveh has learned of the fall of his kingdom into enemy hands, and he orders all of his property (including his concubines) be destroyed. He watches with a certain distance, and yet there is a melancholy air to the King. This painting epitomizes the Romantic movement, full of color, richness, passion and the message that man is not in control, not even kings.

Far off exotic places were favorites of the Romanticists, and Delacroix took a trip to North Africa in 1832 which had a tremendous impact on his art. The exotic costumes, people, geography and wild life caught his attention and he produced thousands of oil paintings, pastels, watercolors, lithographs, drawings and sketches.

Royal Tigeris a lithograph. Lithograph comes from the Greek for stone (litho) and mark (graph). The artist draws on a stone with a greasy crayon. When the stone is inked, it bonds to the crayon and is repelled by the damp, clean stone that surround the image. Romanticists liked lithography because it was a direct method of working, drawing directly onto the stone, and allowed a spontaneous working method.

Delacroix was very interested in not only horses, but also lions and tigers. However, this drawing was based on his observations of a dead tiger treated through taxidermy, not a living tiger in the wild. He did, however, attempt to illustrate the tiger as if he was seeing it in its natural habitat. There is no narrative to this scene; you see the tiger in great detail and see the light variations on its coat. Lions and tigers appealed to the romanticists as they were exotic - they were, after all, powerful animals that man had no control over except if hunted. Delacroix was interested in going beyond man's ideas and liked to imagine the world through the eyes of the wild animal believing that it would enable him to have greater understanding of not just the animal's primitive nature, but man's as well.

Self-Portrait, Oil Paint, Eugene Delacroix, 1837, 21.26 inch wide x 25.59 inch high

09/10 Academic Decathlon French Revolution Art Selection #12 - Stormy Coast Scene after a Shipwreck

Stormy Coast Scene after a Shipwreck, Horace Vernet , Oil on canvas, 23 1/4 x 28 3/8 in. (59 x 72 cm), The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This painting is chilling...also painted by Émile-Jean-Horace Vernet, it is a scene of people rescuing victims from a shipwreck that are washed up on the rocky shore. The waves are dominating the image, and the people are tiny in comparison. The Romanticists were enthralled with this idea of the raw power and destruction of nature, and this painting is evident of that interest. A woman is limply being fished out of the sea, either unconscious or dead; the viewer is not sure which it is which adds to the drama. Another man is swimming to shore and grabs at the rocks as he tries to get back on land. If you have ever spent time on a coast and witnessed the power of a storm, you may have a glimpse into this artwork. This vulnerability of man in nature is a common theme in Romantic painting.

The right side of the painting is made up of the rocky shore. I have had my own dramatic event on a rocky shoreline; while snorkeling off the coast of Cozumel, I got caught in a strong surf which pushed and pulled me to and from the rocks (the coast is not a sandy beach, but made of lava rocks as sharp as razor blades). As I was pushed towards the sharp rocks, I tried to grab for them, but then the swell would pull me away back to sea. This happened about 3 or 4 cycles when my husband recognized my precarious situation and called for me to swim back to him, which I did. We both swam back down the shoreline until we found a better place to access a friendlier part of the beach. I will tell you, when I got back on land my legs felt like Jello!! I knew that I had been in a situation that was beyond my swimming skills and without his help I might have had a different outcome. I truly felt as though he had saved my life.

What is interesting about Vernet's painting, is that he shows a tiny slice of the aftermath of the shipwreck. We don't see the ship or any other survivors, so we are left wondering about the rest of the story. What kind of ship was it? Where was it headed? Were there other people on the boat? Are they still drifting about in the sea? When we view art, we may have an obvious connection as my own story above relates. There can be parallels in our lives with the great art we see. By keeping a painting's narrative open and ambigous we are invited to construct our own story or even recall a life event of our own that parallels the picture. I love rocks and though they are beautiful, they can be deadly to our fragile existence. Perhaps you can conjour your own story about this painting; I know I have tasted salt water and felt fear in a vulnerable moment at sea, and it is a feeling and moment I will never forget.

09/10 Academic Decathlon French Revolution Art Selection #11 - The Start of the Race of the Riderless Horses

The Start of the Race of the Riderless Horses, 1820, Horace Vernet, Oil on canvas, 18 1/8 x 21 1/4 in. (46 x 54 cm), The Metropolitan Museum of Art

I just love this painting! It is full of drama and excitement (elements of Romanticism) - the horses are portrayed with power and glory. The artist, Horace Vernet, grew up in an aristocratic French family, the son of another famous painter, Carle Vernet. His career was jump started as a result of his heritage and financial means, and he sprang onto the art scene exhibiting his first artwork at the Salon when he was 23. From the beginning of his career he was known for his paintings of horses, images of soldiers and large scale battle scenes, which were widely popular. He was skilled at capturing battles as a journalist would, including details that might be left out by other artists. He was a very successful artist whose patrons included the kings and emperors of France as well as wealthy members of the upper-middle class.

This scene, the race of the riderless horses, was an event that took place in Rome alongside the annual Carnival celebration in Rome. Much like the running of the bulls in Paloma, Spain, the festival and the race attracted tourists from all over Europe. Barberi horses, a breed of small, fast horses from the coast of northern Africa, were the horses who ran the race. They would race over a mile without jockeys, spurred on by irritating bits of metal attached to their bodies as well as the setting off of firecrackers and loud, boisterous crowds. And, like the running of the bulls, once the horses let loose, people on the streets could be crushed by the raw power of the horses, so many spectators watched from the safety of balconies above the street level.

Vernet is showing the moment before the race has begun, when the grooms are trying to control the huge animals which are decorated with ribbons for identification purposes. The drama of being in such close quarters with such powerful animals is displayed in the center - a black horse has fallen on a groom and there is terror in his face as he realizes he could be trampled to death in a moment. Another groom, muscles rippling with effort, is trying to contain the wild beast. There is yet another groom in the background adding his strength to control the situation. We see spectators in the balconies that are hung with red drapery for the celebration. Some are not even interested in the scene below, but are looking off to some other happening in the distance.

The Romanticists loved to focus on the power and uncontrollable aspect of nature and the interest in horses was a favorite subject in their paintings. This particular scene was especially exciting: it showed a time when the power and fury of these magnificent beasts was set free and could also be seen as a symbol of freeing human spirits from the bondage of modern civilization.

Self-Portrait, Emile Jean Horace Vernet, 1835, Oil on canvas, 47 × 39 cm (18.50 × 15.35 in)

09/10 Academic Decathlon French Revolution Art Selection #10 - Evening: Landscape with an Aqueduct

Evening: Landscape with an Aqueduct, 1818, Théodore Gericault, Oil on canvas, 98 1/2 x 86 1/2 in. (250.2 x 219.7 cm), The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Géricault is considered to be one of the most important painters in the movement of Romanticism. He studied under Carle Vernet, but broke away from formal study, copying Renaissance and Baroque painters. He was an independent artist interested in exploring is own artistic vision. He worked across many genres and was not only a painter but a talented printmaker. He painted scenes of contemporary events as well as portraits, horses, genre scenes and landscapes. He died young, at age 32, after sustaining an injury and disease that rapidly shortened his life. One of his landmark paintings is the Raft of the Medusa.

Evening: Landscape with an Aqueduct is one of his largest paintings. The scene is romantic, with its dramatically lit sky and grand view of river and the countryside. The Roman aqueduct is the focal point in the center of the composition - the sky is a dramatic backdrop highlighting this antiquity with its rounded arches. There are bathers in the foreground, but there seems to be no narrative that they are involved in save washing the dust off from their day. This painting seems to be nothing more than a glorious landscape, perhaps paying homage to the Roman aqueduct which could allude to the passage of time.

Check out the essay found on the Met's website about Romanticism.

Self portrait, 27 x 37 cm (10,6 x 14,5 inches), Oil on canvas

09/10 Academic Decathlon French Revolution Art Selection #8 - The Triumph of Aemilius Paulus

The Triumph of Aemilius Paulus, 1789, Carle Vernet (Antoine Charles Horace) (French, 1758–1836), Oil on canvas, 51 1/8 x 172 1/2 in. (129.9 x 438.2 cm), The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This panoramic painting by Carle Vernet is a monumental history painting over 14' wide. The size alone would have gotten a lot of attention from the Salon, but he also displays a confident technical ability. He painting this piece as the Revolution was garnering strength and hoped that it would gain him full membership in the Academy.

The subject comes again from Roman history as described by the Roman historian Livy. The composition shows a throng of people witnessing the triumphant arrival of Amelius Paulus in Rome. Paulus, seated on the right side in a golden chariot, the men and women lauding him upon his return to Rome. The light is dramatically focused on Aemilius Paulus with the background full of examples of classical architecture. Because there are many monuments in this painting, the work is reminiscent of the vedute that people loved buying during their Grand Tour.

09/10 Academic Decathlon French Revolution Art Selection #7 - The Death of Socrates

The Death of Socrates, Jacques-Louis David, 1787, Oil on canvas, 51 x 77 1/4 in. (129.5 x 196.2 cm), The Metropolitan Museum of Art

David is one of my personal favorite artists! His work is so powerful, so spare, so beautiful! He was privy to a superior education and the style of his training contributed to his rise as one of the great history painters. One of his early teachers was François Boucher, and though he was anxious to win the Academy's greatest honor, the Prix de Rome, it was not a fait accompli for him; his first submission was not accepted. Though he did not receive the Prix de Rome when he first attempted it, he had other commissions and prizes during his years as a student. He finally got to study at the French Academy in Rome and that is where he really connected with the classical influence that would inform his own work. As the AcDec guide states: "David became one of the most influential and successful artists of the 1780s, and some of his most important works were completed in the years leading up to the Revolution." He became very active in the politics surrounding the Revolution. "David also played a prominent role in the development of propaganda for the new Republic, staging funerals for martyrs of the Revolution, designing festivals for new secular heroes, and helping to construct a new body of symbolic imagery for the new political regime."

Because of his political bent and his artistic genius, Napolean commissioned him to create portraits of him as a statesman and as a powerful military leader. This is one of my favorite paintings of Napoleon:

Napoleon Crossing the Alps (also known as Napoleon at the Saint-Bernard Pass or Bonaparte Crossing the Alps) is the title given to the five versions of an oil on canvas equestrian portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte painted by the French artist Jacques-Louis David between 1801 and 1805. Initially commissioned by the Spanish Ambassador to France, the composition shows a strongly idealized view of the real crossing that Napoleon and his army made across the Alps in 1800.

This piece of David, The Death of Socrates, was a painting he did during the early years of his career. The scene is powerful and emotional, Socrates has been accused by his society of corrupting the youth and has been sentenced to death. He chooses to be in control of his fate by drinking hemlock, a poison that kills someone slowly. He is in a prison cell - there are shackles and chains on the floor adding to the drama of the situation. Socrates is depicted as a trim, muscular and youthful man even though he is also shown as being advanced in age. His devotees are surrounding him as he points to the heavens and assures them that his soul will remain immortal. His other hand reaches out to the poison in a distracted kind of way. He is calm and assured, though his disciples are emotional and beginning to grieve his imminent death.

Back to my comment about David's spare paintings - his neoclassical scenes have an emphasis on the drama of the human predicament rather than a busy background. He uses light to increase the dramatic tension and focus the attention on the central figures. This stark, stage-like setting is very different from the frivolous, soft paintings of Rococo. Line is emphasized over color which was thought to be associated with intellectual thought rather than the emotional and sensual flavor of Rococo. This subject of classical history was meant to appeal to educated, literary people who were interested in the expanded thinking of the Enlightenment.

Self-portrait, Jacques-Louis David, 1794, Oil on canvas, 31.69 x 25.24 inches / 80.5 x 64.1 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France