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Art History Selfie 

Frida Kahlo, Self-portrait in a Velvet Dress (1926) Oil on canvas. 

 At only 19, Mexican painter and all around badass, Frida Kahlo completed  Autorretrato con Traje de Terciopelo. It is said that this self-portrait was to be sent to her boyfriend of the time Alejandro Gómez Arias. She hoped that this portrait would win the love of Alejandro, which it did but only momentarily.  The parents of Alejandro forced him to leave to Europe and pursue a new life for Frida was too liberal.  The back of this painting contains the message, written in German,  "Heute ist immer noch" meaning "Today is always".  This was a very personal message for she had already endured a tough childhood in dealing with polio and her young adulthood would bring her more hardship when she was involved in an accident where the bus she was riding on hit a streetcar. This was an early work for Freida, she was still learning a lot about herself for only a few years back she never imagined being an artist but a doctor.  Her hand is a perfect example of her fresh start, the thumb is separated out from the rest of her fingers and is stretched out like one would hold a palette. Also, her other hand is not seen in the painting. Out of the many self-portraits Kahlo created, I was really drawn by this particular piece because of its sensual simplicity. 

There is no doubt that Ms. Frida Kahlo has different variations of self portraits, yet this one, out of all was the one that really caught my eye. Although this was her earliest portrait as a young woman you can see her already solidify her staple as an artist - her slight profile,famous uni-brow, slight smile, and long neck. To me this portrait signifies her confidence as a woman, her love to love and love deep. She represents all that woman can and should be. 

It was important for me to maintain the recreation as identical as possible.  In comparison, my hand was slightly more closed and slightly hidden. My dress is not velvet but satin. Also, due to genetics my neck is not elongated like hers.  Although difficult, the background was important to maintain, it slightly reminded me of a Van Gogh sky. I retrieved a background from Google slightly representing the ocean and sky pattern in her painting. I used Photoshop Mix for iOS to crop, and blend both images together. 

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Post 7 | Egyptian Art |

The birth of western art can be seen in history’s most inspiring civilization, that of Egypt. Egyptian artists would devote their lives to creating inspirational sculptures in wood, stone and ceramics as well as paintings and drawings that would become very stylized and symbolic for their culture. Only religious sects and those related to the pharaoh were allowed to contemplate the art, hence most remains have been found in temples, monuments and tombs. Ancient Egyptian art is divided in eleven periods, starting with the Prehistoric period in 3000 B.C. and ending with the Roman period in 30 B.C. The height of Egyptian art is considered to be from 3000 B.C. to 1000 B.C.

Most paintings were done on reliefs, made with different types of stones; rough surfaces of stones were prepared by, adding a coarse layer of mud plaster and then a smooth layer of gresso. All pigments were minerals; various biding mediums were used, including egg tempera, gums and other resins. Most sculptures that remain from ancient Egypt are made of stone and ceramic, however there are a few remains that are made out of wood. These sculptures were impressive for the era; the most iconic of these was the bust of Nefertiti. Thutmose excelled in depicting the Consort-Queen of Egypt, Nefertiti, who ruled the empire along with her husband Akhenaten, from 1353-1336 B.C.E. The bust is nineteen inches tall and weights forty-four pounds. Made with limestone and layered with painted stucco. Colors were done by mixing fine minerals pigments like, iron oxide for a light red, coal with wax for black, and copper oxide mixed with powdered frit and iron oxide for green.  The pupils of the eyes were made with small sized rounded quartz, and held together with beeswax.

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Post 6 | Zine Topics

| EARTHWORK ART |

Robert Smithson is considered to be the father of the Earthwork or land art movement. The artistic movement is considered a protest against, art artificiality, plastic aesthetics, and the ever-increasing commercialization of art during the late 1960s. The movement takes inspiration from minimal art, conceptual art, and modern movements like cubism and De Stijl. The official birth of Earthwork art or Land art is considered to be in 1968, during an exhibition at the Dwan Gallery in New York, the exhibition was appropriately named “Earth Works”.

              The art movement aims at integrating culture and nature to showcase beauty. Works like, Time Lanscape by Alan Sonfist, Bunjil geoglyph by Andrew Rogers, use natural aesthetics to complement the art. Robert Smithson created Spiral Jetty, the most famous artwork of the movement. Spiral Jetty, is entirely made out of basalt rocks, salt crystals and mud. With an astonishing 1,500-foot length and 15-foot width, Spiral Jetty is a counterclockwise coil extending from the shore.

| STREET ART | 

During the late 1980s a boom in graffiti inspired an art movement that would evolve low-income neighborhoods to sprawling cultural centers. Not to be confused with graffiti, which aims to convey a covert message using words, street art is an expressive medium, which uses illustrations, symbols, and images to convey a community’s views, and experiences. For example, in order to camouflage the pain and division of Berlin, street artists painted faces, symbols, phrases, and different images on the Berlin wall. These iconic works were propagated around the western world in order to emphasize the dire situation in Berlin.

              Inspired by these images, the American people began expressing the views of poor communities with these wall murals. In New York, the Bowery Mural originated as a derelict wall that graffiti artist would frequently use. For a time Keith Haring controlled the wall, using it as his personal canvas. After Haring, a series of street artist took possession of the wall, and slowly began elevating the wall to some certain level of prestige. Finally in 2008 the wall began to be privately managed and was made available to artist only by commission or invitation. Since the birth of street art, more and more derelict neighborhoods have risen to be a modern cultural center, including our very own, Wynwood.

| SURREALISM |

A cultural movement, surrealism has been to most iconic and lasting of the modern age artistic movements. Inspired by the dada activities during World War I, surrealism comes to existence in the early 1920s. The movement inspired great works art from all mediums, most influentially from visual artworks and literature. The height of surrealism lasted from World War II and unto the post war era. The movement gave rise to great artists like Max Ernst, Rene Magritte and Salvador Dali. From these and other great minds surrealism brought new techniques, such as automatic drawing, frottage, and decalcomania.  One of the most known, and perhaps one of the best artists of the modern era, Salvador Dali, was an icon for surrealistic paintings. His use of dreamlike sceneries, with dark or dimmed backgrounds showcased the movement. The painting The Persistence of Time is a perfect exposition of surrealist ideas. In The Persistence of Time Dali paints a void world, where all clocks are melting away or dripping, allowing the interpreter to see time as meaningless. This great inspirational cultural movement still manages to inspire many artists young and old alike. nia.

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Post 5 | Photography

During the early years of the 20th century women fought exhaustively for their right to vote in America images like the one below showcased this movement nationwide. In particular the image below, expresses a turning point in society and captures the tumultuous moment America was living. The photograph informed the public of the current events happening in Washington D.C as well as moved a revolution in American society. The image is powerful, because is shows that even the president understood that the way things are, are incorrect. Women’s Suffrage was lead by powerful and influential women, but photographs like the one shown below carried it. 

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Happy International Women’s Day!

Today we celebrate International Women’s Day, a day in which we honor and recognize the contributions of women…both on Earth and in space.

Since the beginning, women have been essential to the progression and success of America’s space program.

Throughout history, women have had to overcome struggles in the workplace. The victories for gender rights were not achieved easily or quickly, and our work is not done.

Today, we strive to make sure that our legacy of inclusion and excellence lives on.

We have a long-standing cultural commitment to excellence that is largely driven by data, including data about our people. And our data shows progress is driven by questioning our assumptions and cultural prejudices – by embracing and nurturing all talent we have available, regardless of gender, race or other protected status, to build a workforce as diverse as our mission. This is how we, as a nation, will take the next giant leap in exploration.

As a world leader in science, aeronautics, space exploration and technology, we have a diverse mission that demands talent from every corner of America, and every walk of life.

So, join us today, and every day, as we continue our legacy of inclusion and excellence.

Happy International Women’s Day!

Learn more about the inspiring woman at NASA here: https://women.nasa.gov/

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Still Life 1951

Frida Kahlo

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Awesome 3D-Printed Miniature Solar Systems That Fit On Your Desk Table

London-based boutique Little Planet Factory makes adorable miniature 3d-printed plants and moons, which you can use as decor for your desk or even to play with. They have collections of moons, solitary planets to even entire solar systems.

Find the solar system in their Etsy shop.

View similar posts here!

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Freedom In The Aquarium (?)

Sabin Balasa

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when art gives you carpal tunnel

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Untitled 1956

Zdzislaw Beksinski

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Tête, Marie José, 1947, Henri Matisse

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Post 2 | On Drawing

In 1921, Kathe Kollowitz, during the midst of a terrible depression continued her work with this etching, which came from a collection of her self-portraits. If one were to study Kollowitz’s self-portraits, they would notice that this one differs from all. This dry media contains a mixture of hatching and cross hatching. The cross hatching; the rough, dark, and straight lines, are used to create a darker shadow over her face. The hatching, is created to make the appearance of volume, for example, her forehead parts of her hand, and face. In my perspective, the darkness of the lines, the weary look in her face, and the placement of her hand, indicate a woman in pain. During this time, Kollowitz had lost her son in World War I, which she openly expressed her dislike for. However, war became a main theme for the rest of her career as an artist.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, etched this cartoon in 1914. It is a preliminary drawing of a larger oil on canvas titled “Street with Red Streetwalker”. The etching titled, Red on Tart, illustrates what appears to be focusing on a woman-like-figure surrounded by other human-like-figures. Kirchner likely used graphite to quickly sketch his vision of what would become the Red Streetwalker. Almost every line seen is drawn with pressure and the only subject with noticeable features is the woman in front. The lines that make the woman are straight and dark lines but are marked with precision. The remaining figures are roughly sketched behind the main subject, possibly to only get an idea of what Kirchner envisions, hence the dark lines that make the figure of a person but not detailed. Like Kollowitz, Kirchner was impacted by the war. He voluntarily joined the army but was later discharged for a mental breakdown. Despite this and other losses he suffered, he kept creating art that depicted the night life.

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Post 4 | Midterm Topics |

Neoclassical Art (Movement)

Emerging in the 1760′s, this movement took over during the Enlightenment period. Neoclassical art came about because people were nostalgic and almost obsessed about the Greeks and Romans (kind of how we are really into the 90s now). The people admired and respected Greek and Roman democratic government, style, methodology, and architecture. They were longing to ditch age old practices where religion themes took over every medium. Which is why Neoclassical art is one of my favorite movements. It happened during a time where people were really inspired to move forward as individuals and not be held down by a church or a monarchy.

When we look at Jacques Louis David’s painting of Napoleon at the Great St. Bernard, we see every recurring theme of Neoclassical Art. Napoleon’s face has this emotional control, even his own body posture can be seen to have control. Which contrast the scene behind him which appears to be in midst of a battle, not to mention his horse looks like it can take him down easily. Napoleon looks courageous, a theme in neoclassical art, as he points forwards. A big feature of this piece is the red cloth being worn by Napoleon, it is a very small but very important detail as to how much Neoclassical art took after Greek and Roman art and their fashion. The painting almost appears as a propaganda method used by the French to show the courage and how self-sacrifice is not frowned upon in the name of patriotism. What makes Neoclassical so great is its true simplicity, unlike its predecessor Rococo which only represented the wealthy and extravagance.

Surrealism (Movement) 

Surrealism, without a doubt, is meant to make you think and unlock your true imagination. For artist, this was a time for true self exploration. Personally, this was a beautiful movement that was a first glance at actual human thought. Long gone are the paintings depicting the rich folk, very fit men with little to wear, and stoic faces. Surrealism is all about the artist’s feelings and emotions. 

Surrealism is an escape from the real world when first experiences. Each painting had deep symbolism or were not necessarily comprehensible but it did not mean that it was not an amazing work of art.  Of course, Salvador Dali is a prime example of this movement but was not alone. 

Renaissance (Movement)

At the beginning of the 15th Century to the end of the 16th Century an art, literary, and architectural movement dominated Europe. Its birth would be in the Italian City of Florence, with the help of a powerful family, the Medici. The art of the Renaissance movement was of sorts, a rebirth of the classical cultures, Greek and Roman.

The Greeks inspired artists like Michelangelo to create the statue of David. With its accurate depiction of the human body, its excruciating attention to detail, and the mix of religious influences, the statue has become the icon of the movement. The Romans inspired the renaissance movement in architecture, with high columns, open court yards, and domes. Their paintings depict women with fair skin, very beautiful, and fragile while their men are carved to look strong and courageous. They have a certain style that can be easily identified as Renaissance art. 

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Flower Festival, Diego Rivera

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Miguel Covarrubias (Mexican, 1904-1957), Rangda (Reina de las brujas) [Rangda (Queen of Witches)], 1937. Graphite, charcoal and ink on paper, 15 x 10 in.

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