Art Dr Caruana

Task 1 Research

For my research I visited a museum about art on Saturday 24^th of October, 2015 in Belt Valletta (south street) called National Museum of Fine Arts by Heritage Malta. I’m going to discuss about five different art works between the 18^th and 19^th century which I’ll be describing the formal elements, principles and feelings that the works them selves create.

Information about the museum and it’s collection.

• A lot of the works in the museum belonged to the knights of Malta.


Before they became part of the finest arts collation they were decorations for the palace and Auberges for the knights and some items in the museum were used in churches by knights.


The fine arts collection started of from donations in the early 20^th century.


The first proper fine arts section was established in 1922 in the and then National Museum of Fine arts.

(Image taken by me)

Caesar Attard born 1946

Pregnant Madonna

Oil on Canvas



 This was the first painting that caught my attention because the way the colors are blended and over lapping into each other and the movement caused by it. The color blue is usually used when the artist wants to create that cold and kind of depressing feeling. In fact the expression on the pregnant Madonna face gives that calm but at the same time sad emotion and once again even the colors blue and light yellow can give that peaceful and calm sensation. The way that they are blended into each other. Personally I prefer using warmer colors such as red and orange. Every color sends of a different feeling, sensation and emotion, I believe that what kinds of colors we prefer most they can reflect a lot on our character and the way we feel. Again I really liked the fading in colors and it inspired me to experiment with sketching.

(Image taken by me)

Louis Ducros 1748-1810

View of Grand Harbour

Mixed media on paper (211 x 128 cm without frame)

Probably one of Ducros finest works is the view landscape of the Grand Harbour from Senglea point which is from that look out post on the right hand side of the painting. The style of this master piece is romanticism (late 18^th and early 19^th century).On the ground there are groups of figures and Maltese boats. When I see work like this, I really appreciate it because it’s a realistic depiction and it representing and gives us an image and idea of Malta in the elder days where today it’s almost impossible to see a view like this in Malta. Even when I look at the sky and see that light-blue and fades almost white and the few clouds reminds me of that typical Maltese weather in Autumn. The position of sun was behind the watch post from how the shade of the boat and the building is positioned. Also Senglea point (The Grand Harbour) is located in the east of Malta and the sun was on the right hand side so that means that at that time it was sunrise because the sun comes up from the east.

　

(Image taken by me)

George Fenech 1926-2011

Seascape

Oil on canvas

82 x 70 cm (without frame)

Unlike the Grand Harbour this seascape is a typical seen during summer months near the sea here in Malta. Compared with other colors the yellow rocks are the brightest. Fench was focused more on the view rather than detail and texture. It's an impressionist work, even the brush strokes are still visible. The reason why I chose this work is that it reminds me of summer and makes me fill relieved with solid colors and environment such as this. This is one of those cases were cold colors such as blue has that peace of mind feeling. This has inspired me to draw and paint solid colors.

(Image taken by me)

Thomas Lyde Hornbrook

British painter, 1780-1850

View of Entrance to Grand Harbour

Oil on canvas, 199 x 85 cm (without frame)

Like the painting of Ducros this is a landscape of the Grand Harbour. Again we see floating ships, people and a lookout post on the far left of the painting. Unlike Ducros work, Hornbrook had a total different approach of the emotions of this work. The women and man on the left seem to be pointing to the ships which are almost swallowed by the sea. The weather and clouds to the right are dark which give a sign of something angry and powerful just like the sea. Mother Nature is reminding us who’s really in charge here. She plays with the ships like there toys and no one can do anything about it. This is a winter-ish seen. The main focus of the artist was on the texture of the sea with the froth of white when the waves hit the shoreline, also there's that organic form of the waves. This helps the viewer to picture the scenery and movement in the water.  

　

(Image taken by me)

 

Agony of Christ in the Garden of Olives

Frank Portelli

Oil on Canvas (20th to early 21st century)

102 x 102 cm (without frame)

 Although its not an abstract, its still a very tough work by Portelli to understand the true meaning behind it.The colours are mostly dark cold colors such as blue. Colors describe our own character and the way we are feeling so they help us to express our selves. So I can understand stand why the artist used such dull colors especially blue here because from the title it’s self how the story goes in the bible of Christ and the Garden of Olives. Again from the colour them selves it makes me feel sad. While all the figures are blue Jesus is painted the green and his background in red to create contrast and an emphasis compared with the rest of the figures. The artist split the Canvas into two, on the right hand side there are three figures painted blue just like the name right above Jesus. There is hardly
any symmetrical balance or pattern here because of the artist abstractel way to narrate the
 story in the form of art. According to the bible Jesus was accompanied by St. Peter, St. John and St. James and they feel asleep while Jesus prayed. I really liked all the random shapes, forms, lines and colors together. It has really inspired me to work on my project with collages and stencils.

Task 2 research

Realism

Realism or as some refer to it as naturalism is an other word that means to draw something as it really is rather than adding that artificial side to it. Although not every artist liked the fact that some Realists work were glorifying the ugly it was quite the style in the late 1840’s and in the 19th century. Realism started from a group of intelligent and talented people of that time such as writers, artists and intellectuals that discussed problems of there time like politics, social issues, the latest artistic trends and news about art. Before the Realism art movement  began in France after the Third Revolution in the 1850’s, Realism was expressed in other ways such as opera style of Verismo which means “realism” was a Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers, literary Realism, theatrical Realism and Italian Neo-Realism cinema.                                                                                   

Jean Desire Gustave Courbet was a very famous artist who led the realist movement in the 19th century for French art. He was strictly dedicated to the realism style. At that time Courbet and other artists that supported him were considered as regions because they rejected Romanticism which was very famous at that time with visual artists. In the late 1840’s and early 1850’s Courbet worked on paintings that had to do with workers, peasants and often on a grand scale traditionally for religious  or historical subjects. He was more interested in landscapes such as seascapes, hunting scenes and still life’s then political figures of that time.

Here are some of  Courbet’s greatest realism works :

Figure 1 (Khan Academy, 2015)

Gustave Courbet 

The stone Breakers 1849

Oil on canvas, 165 x 257 cm

These two working figures are representing the theme its self of realism of how much life was hard back then. One of them is lifting a stone and the other one that is on his knees breaking and pulling out the stone from the ground hence the name of the painting.

Figure 2 (Courbet, 2015)

Gustave  Courbet
The artist’s Studio 1854-1855
Oil on Canvas, 361 x 598 cm
(Musee’ d’Orsay, Paris)

Also known as “A real allegory summing up seven years of my artist and moral life” is one of Courbet’s finest and hard to understand masterpiece. Many have different ways on what the forms in the painting might mean but basic explanation of it is that the people on the left side represent everyday life, political figures such as Napoleon the Third sitting down and poverty. On the other right hand side the figures are representing famous figures such as artists and in the centre of the painting there is Courbet him self sitting down on a chair and with a confident look and pose is painting a landscape of nature.

Realism inspired other famous artists like Honore’ Daumier.

 

   

Figure 3 (Musee d'Orsay, 2015)

Honore’ Daumier (1808-1879)The Laundress 1863Oil on WoodH.49; W.33.5 cm

Again here the woman is represented the reality and how life was at that time.

References :

Musee-orsay.fr, 2015. Musée d'Orsay: Realism. [online] Available at: <http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/courbet-dossier/realism.html> [Accessed 12 Dec. 2015].

Images

Musee-orsay.fr, 2015. Musée d'Orsay: Search. [online] Available at: <http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/search.html?no_cache=1&zoom=1&tx_damzoom_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=2364> [Accessed 12 Dec. 2015].

Courbet, G., 2015. The Artist’s Studio - Gustave Courbet - WikiArt.org. [online] Wikiart.org. Available at: <http://www.wikiart.org/en/gustave-courbet/the-artist-s-studio-1855#supersized-artistPaintings-191981> [Accessed 12 Dec. 2015].

Musee-orsay.fr, 2015. Musée d'Orsay: Honoré Daumier The Laundress. [online] Available at: <http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/painting/commentaire_id/the-laundress-2232.html?tx_commentaire_pi1%5BpidLi%5D=509&tx_commentaire_pi1%5Bfrom%5D=841&cHash=fea14cba8e> [Accessed 12 Dec. 2015].

 Khan Academy, 2015. Courbet, The Artist's Studio, a real allegory summing up seven years of my artistic and moral life. [online] Available at: <https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/avant-garde-france/realism/v/courbet-the-artist-s-studio-1854-55> [Accessed 12 Dec. 2015].
 

 Khan Academy, 2015. Khan Academy. [online] Available at: <https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/avant-garde-france/realism/a/courbet-the-stonebreakers> [Accessed 12 Dec. 2015].

The Pre-Raphaelites movement

The Pre-Raphaelites were a group of artists and literature writers  that struck the world of art and poetry with new and fresh ideas in 1848. The first three members were John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt and Dented Gabriel Rossetti. Later other artists joined such as Christina Rossetti, George Meredith, William Morris and Alegernon Charles Swinburne to formally what they called the Pre-Raphaelites brotherhood. Like the realists of that time the P.R.B for short were considered as a rebellious bunch because they went against  the academic teachings of art of that time.

Known as the Mannerism movement which gained it’s most popularity in the 1520’s was a style of art that based it’s ideas on Raphael and Michelangelo Buonarotti’s works. The P.R.B hence the name was against this movement because the Pre-Raphaelites believed that Raphael in particular had been a source of influential corruption upon the teachings of art. The P.R.B based there works from a famous English artist called John Ruskin who was a great figure of inspiration to almost all around the world in British, American and European art. His religious beliefs played a big part of his ever day life and art. Again just like the realists the P.R.B discussed specific subjects such as problems and situations that society and the world was facing like emigration and prostitution which was a big trend in that time and they also discussed about popular figures such as religious reformers.

They also talked about the medieval past at a time were king Arthur ruled. All of these subjects were discussed in the same group but known as the inner group and all of there ideas were recorded in the Pre-Raphaelite Journal called ‘The Germ’. Rossetti later kept things going and the fact that students continued following  the foot steps of Ruskin young students started having fresh ideas and so the P.R.B movement split into two and they were called the symbolism movements by Edward Burne-Jones  and the  Art and Crafts movements by William Morris.

Until the end of the 19th century the influence and inspiration from the P.R.B was still felt in English landscapes and photographic artists such as Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) and Roger Fenton (1819-1869). Apart the Arts and Crafts and symbolism which were born from from the P.R.B an other movement was inspired in the 19th century called Aesthetic Movement.

Figure 1 (Victorianweb.org, 2007)
“The Pre-Raphaelite Meeting by Arthur Hughes after a drawing by William Holman Hunt. 1848. Scanned image and text by George Park. Landow”

Figure 2 (Tate, 1874)
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Proserpine 1874
Oil on canvas
Dimensions of frame: 1605 x 930 x 85 mm
Presented by W. Graham Robertson 1940

Like a lot of  the P.R.B works the Proserpine is very symbolic. The name it’s self is originally the name of a goddess which was the Empress of Hades. The posing figure in this work was actually William Morris’s wife Janet.  Like the goddess who was a ‘prisoner’, Jane was a prisoner in her own marriage with Morris. According to some he was a cold husband and she was very unhappy.

References :

Musee-orsay.fr, 2015. Musée d'Orsay: Pre-Raphaelism. [online] Available at: <http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/overview/actualites/pre-raphaelism.html> [Accessed 12 Dec. 2015].

Images

Tate, 1874. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 'Proserpine' 1874. [online] Available at: <http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/rossetti-proserpine-n05064> [Accessed 12 Dec. 2015].

Victorianweb.org, 2007. "The Pre-Raphaelite Meeting.". [online] Available at: <http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/whh/drawings/26.html> [Accessed 12 Dec. 2015].