Artists With July Birthdays

Still Life with Parrot and Fruit (1951), Kahlo

Many of my favorite visual artists were born in July. In fact, all of them have been featured in this blog. Most were born under the sign of Cancer (or the Crab). They are typically emotional, hypersensitive, competitive, and often isolated people. 

Frida Kahlo (1907-54), born  July 6th, is famous for her unusual and often creepy self-portraits. I much prefer her still life paintings. Do parrots like watermelon?

The Wolffish (2004), Jamie Wyeth

Jamie Wyeth (1946-), son of Andrew Wyeth and grandson of N.C. Wyeth, was also born on July 6th. I chose this painting of a fierce wolffish preying on seagulls because it's unusual. Wyeth crowded the birds on the left side of the painting perhaps to balance the dark fish emerging from the right. His sense of humor reminds me of his father's Roadkill painting of a dead squirrel on a road alongside of a plantation house.

The Bridal Pair with The Eiffel Tower
(1939), Marc Chagall

Marc Chagall (1887-1985), born July 7th, is famous for his very large Surrealistic paintings. We visited his museum in Nice, France in May of 2011. Weddings are a popular theme for Chagall's works. As well as oversized farm animals! His dreamlike paintings are more like collages.

Still Life with a Coffeepot (1900), Pissarro

French Neo-Impressionist, Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), born July 10th, is most famous for his pastoral landscapes and harbor scenes. I had to include this still life, which happens to have bird wallpaper. The copper coffeepot and green ceramic mug are the stars of this painting, while the china teacup, bowl, and lemon are secondary in his composition.

Soaring (c. 1950), Andrew Wyeth

I seem to be including birds in my selections, so here is a magnificent scene of ravens soaring high above a small white farmhouse below. Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009), born July 12th, and his son, Jamie used ravens as their subjects in several paintings. Andrew spent long hours, weeks, even months alone in a barn painting, and wouldn't show anyone his work until it was done.

Head of a Woman (1918),
Modigliani

Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920), also born July 12th, painted portraits of women with elongated faces and necks. His subjects appear stretched in subtle 'S' shapes much like those of Marc Chagall.

James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), also born July 12th, is most famous for his painting of his mother. His portraits, including his own self-portrait, have the subject facing in a left profile view. I feel like he was a one-hit wonder.

The Man With the Golden Helmet
(c. 1650-55), Rembrandt

Rembrandt (1606-69), famous for painting ~75 self-portraits in his lifetime, was born July 15th. In every museum I've visited, I've challenged myself to find at least one Rembrandt. My favorite is The Man With the Golden Helmet (1650). It has been attributed to Rembrandt, but may actually have been painted by a student of someone in his circle or artists. It has resided in Berlin's Kaiser Friedrich Museum, which we didn't get to visit during our Baltic cruise in June 2019.

Lady Caroline Howard (1778),
Reynolds

Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-92), born July 16th, was Principal Painter in Ordinary to the King from 1767–1784. Thomas Gainsborough, painter of Blue Boy (1770), was his rival for the position, never attaining the prominent title. Thomas Lawrence, who painted Pinky (1794), did eventually receive the coveted title.

In Front of the Mirror (1889), Degas

Edgar Degas (1834-1917), born July 19th, remained a bachelor all his life. He presented himself as a loner and his demeanor drove people away, something he desired as an artist. He was known to be a misogynist and was also anti-Semitic. No wonder nobody wanted to marry him (or vice versa)!

Like Modigliani, Degas signed this painting at the top righthand corner. Unusual! Especially since Modigliani was born a Sephardic Jew!!

Nighthawks (1942), Hopper

Edward Hopper (1882-1967), born July 22, is most famous for his melancholy painting, Nighthawks, of a sad group of people hanging out in a diner, very late at night or perhaps in the wee hours of the morning.

Nude Descending a Staircase,
No. 2 (1912), Duchamp

Our last artist was born under the sign of Leo (the Lion). Leos are ambitious and creative. Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), born July 28, is most famous for his Cubist painting of a Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2. In the 1970s, my own brother was inspired to paint a futuristic version of the Frazier-Ali fight on a large canvas.

As I was researching and writing this post. I realized that most of my selections have either birds or hats in them. I guess this last painting doesn't fit the bill (Ha!)!

ART - Controversial and Misunderstood

Point of Origin (1978), John Mason 

For this my 150th post, I want to take a more critical look at what we consider to be ART and why we create it. In my travels I've seen lots of 'art', whether it be famously hung in a museum or spraypainted on city walls. My July 2020 Art of the Pacific Northwest series explored the art of six NW cities, including commissioned works such as sculptures and murals as well as some museum pieces. This geometric steel sculpture currently stands on the lawn outside the Boise (Idaho) Art Museum. Though simple and repetitive, the shapes allow us to frame the surrounding scenery and the metal captures reflected light and shadows.

White Paintings (1951), Rauschenberg

Sometimes 'simple' makes sense but often the observer is left wondering why it is considered 'art'. Though I can understand and appreciate the collages of Robert Rauschenberg, I've never grasped the significance of his multi-paneled White Paintings of the 1950s. I get that it's challenging to paint a consistently unified color field absent of visible brushstrokes, but to repeat it multiple times doesn't seem interesting. And when they're displayed on white walls...nothing's there to see.

Fountain (1917), Duchamp

Just as confusing is Marcel Duchamp's Fountain (1917). He simply flipped a 'readymade' urinal onto its back and wrote a strange nom-de-plume on the side. Apparently, his use of an everyday object later inspired the Pop and Op Art movements. I think it was in Copenhagen at a brewery where I saw urinals made out of beer kegs. Apparently, functional objects are not considered objects d'art.

You may recall Campbell's Soup Cans (1962) by Andy Warhol. When I was a child, my dad took his 3 boys to Bermuda and my mom made us wear shorts with the soup can pattern. Wearable art?!

On our 2017 trip to Palm Springs, the local art museum had a sculpture of a composition of trash bags. I guess you can make art out of anything, though I'm not sure this was recycling. The arranged 'trash bags' were almost cubical and covered in a shiny, wrinkled dark brown medium. Though surprising, it left me wondering how the sculpture was made and trying to find beauty in what my eyes saw as a pile of trash or glistening poop. Maybe it's a box of chocolates!

Roadkill, Andrew Wyeth

When we see a sunset or a mountain landscape, we call it beauty, but when we paint (or photograph) it to share with others it becomes art. Animals also use beauty to get a reaction (from potential mates) much like artists from their observers. Andrew Wyeth used actual blood in a study of a dead squirrel for his painting Roadkill. You wouldn't know that unless you read his autobiography. The strong diagonal line seems to divide the painting in two.

Triptych Bleu I, II, III (1961), Miró

We create art to capture beauty or historical events for communication, memory recall and visualization, leading to education and understanding. Artists do it to make a statement, translate an emotion, or start a movement such as Surrealism or Abstract Expressionism. While I am personally a fan of Joan Miró, his blue works are only slightly more impressive than the Rauschenberg works in white. They become art solely because the artists intended them to be art.

Often artwork is judged or rejected and may be interpreted as controversial. Differences of opinion are expected when viewing works of art. Understanding why you like art or don't is part of the experience. Sometimes seeing it in person makes you appreciate it more, especially when exhibited as the artist intended.

An Allegory of Virtue
(mid-1520s), attributed to
Antonia Allegri

I am also puzzled by art curators who exhibit unfinished paintings, such as The Athenaeum Portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart. I suppose that it preserves the historical portrait as Gilbert's model for the rest of the images of our first President and the likeness of him on the dollar bill. There are many unfinished artworks out there, although I've only seen one of them in person at the Scottish National Gallery. This shows us how some artists work on sections of a painting at a time. I understand if the subject or artist dies before completing a painting, like Gustav Klimt, who left several unfinished works upon his death in 1918 from pneumonia (due to the Spanish flu). 

Check out the Met's article, Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible, for examples of incomplete works intentionally or unintentionally left unfinished.

Le Bateau (1953),
Henri Matisse

It's particularly telling when museum personnel are unable to determine which end is up, as with Henri Matisse's Le Bateau (1953) which hung for 47 days at the Museum of Modern Art in 1961. It took a museum patron to pose the question as to whether it was upside down. Imagine how many people viewing a work of art would agree that it's actually 'art' and further that it's 'good'.

Fat Car (2001), Erwin Wurm, PSAM

When an artist or artisan produces something 3-D like a car, (to me) it isn't as impressive as sculpting a figure. It's like when the motion picture academy nominates an ailing old musician for playing one. Where's the challenge? Some art installations are meant to impress us by virtue of their size or shock value, but you wouldn't display them in your home. It's fun to visit an art gallery and see the variety of art exhibited there.

Artists Born Under Virgo or Libra

Chrysanthemums (1874-6), Tissot

To start posting for the month of September let's look at artists born under the Zodiac signs of Virgo (Aug 23rd thru Sept 22nd) and Libra (Sept 23rd thru Oct 23rd). Virgo artists are hardworking, intelligent, and adventurous, having traits including rational thinking, problem-solving, and an adventurous spirit. Libras, unlike other introverted, unsociable artists, are social butterflies who are outgoing and charming. Libras also have great taste in art and fashion.

French artist, James Tissot (1836-1902), born (in October) under the sign of Libra, painted Chrysanthemums, shown here as the floral symbol for the sign Virgo. Tissot was a friend and mentor of Edgar Degas.

VIRGOS

Thunderstorm (1948), Grandma Moses

One of the most famous American artists born (September 7th) under Virgo is Grandma Moses (1860-1961). She appears in my January 2021 post entitled, Master Artists -- Inspired Late Bloomers and Resilient, Active Seniors. She turned to painting when arthritis kept her from doing her elaborate needlework, but she kept her 'primitive' style. Teachers may use her work as an inspiration for a lesson about the elements of a landscape for younger children. Older children will need to learn the principles of perspective and proportion, not present in her work, for learning about space.

Constellations (1938), Hans Arp

German-French Sculptor, painter, poet, Jeans Hans Arp (1886-1966) was born September 15th. His Constellations linoleum cut is reminiscent of the biomorphic shapes used by (Capricorn) Henri Matisse. Years ago when I taught my daughter in her 6th-grade classroom, my students traced a Matisse shape and were asked to design a composition around it.

Mecklenburg Autumn (1979), Bearden

American artist Romare Bearden (1911-1988), born September 2nd, is famous for collages using photographs and painted paper in a style derived from Cubism. His work also depicts American black culture like his colleague, Jacob Lawrence. Another great artist for studying the art of collage would be American painter, (Libra) Robert Rauschenberg. I use collage for doing wrapping paper self-portraits, which could also be inspired by portrait artists: Amedeo Modigliani, Gilbert Stuart and Sir Joshua Reynolds.

The Migration Series (1941),
Jacob Lawrence

Felix (inspired by N.C. Wyeth)

In 2017 I visited the Seattle Art Museum and saw the exhibit, Jacob Lawrence: The Migration Series. Born September 7th, 1917, his work chronicled the migration of African Americans from the rural South to the industrious North in the decades following World War I.

Here's a project inspired by N.C. Wyeth that was designed to demonstrate the concept of movement. It would also work for a lesson about Jacob Lawrence. The challenge is cutting out the figures, so this lesson works best with 5th- or 6th-graders.

LIBRAS

Medusa (1597), Caravaggio

My first Libra artist is the controversial Italian painter, Caravaggio (1573-1610), born September 28th. He appeared in my March 2020 post entitled, Artist Frenemies - Friendships, Rivalries, and Competition, about his feud with artist Giovanni. Libras are supposedly non-confrontational although I imagine that Caravaggio exhibited the extremely emotional side of the sign. I've seen his artwork in several museums, but it may be somewhat inappropriate for younger viewers.

The Raft of Medusa (1819), Géricault 

This next artist is French painter and lithographer, Théodore Géricault (1791-1824), born September 26th. His epic masterpiece, The Raft of Medusa (1819), is often compared to Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People (1839). Both are good examples of Romanticism, a movement characterized by intense emotion. A young Delacroix (Taurus) actually posed as one of the dying figures on the raft!

No. 1 (Royal Red and Blue)
(1954), Mark Rothko

Libra Mark Rothko (1903-1970), was an American artist, born September 25th, who was famous for his abstract color field paintings designed to evoke emotion from viewers. While initially studying Architecture in college we did many color studies in order to explore color combinations and the optical effect of placing them adjacent to each other. Another Libra artist whose work I don't claim to understand is Robert Rauschenberg. His three-panel White Painting (1951) is particularly unusual and rather uninspiring!

I focus a lot on art history and researching various artists to add interest to my art lessons. And it's important to find inspiration when creating art! I hope this group of artists inspires you to create your own artwork or delve deeper into learning about these artists and their art movements and styles.

An Artist's Ramblings

I have always wanted to learn how to blow glass. The Netflix series, Blown Away, is an excellent inspiration. We visited a shop once where we chose colors and an object and watched an artisan create a glass ornament and an ashtray for us. One of my neighbors has played around with stained glass, which would be another specialized glass medium I'd like to try. It might also be fun to try making a portrait or landscape out of small glass mosaic pieces or scraps of paper.

I'd be just as happy to take a sculpture class. Even learning to throw a pot using clay and firing it in a kiln would be fun. My family and I have painted ceramics at a Clay Café a few times. The finished product is such a surprise! I also painted on some gnome statues.

Sower (After Millet)
(1889),Van Gogh

Working in three dimensions and trying other mediums are great ways to explore the visual arts. Draw your inspiration from your surroundings and from the work of other artists. Van Gogh copied several of the works of Jean-François Millet and also emulated some Japanese artists.

Dave the Dog (from PwC)

I am inspired by the people that I teach, my brother and his artwork, my colleagues from the Art Alliance, and from the community, volunteers and the shelter animals we support at PawsWithCause. I am in awe of artists who can paint outside of the box. And I'm inspired by the color scheme of the Buffalo casino game's mascot.

I'm always looking for opportunities to share art with others. Lately, I've been helping out my niece by homeschooling her boys in art. This is leading to other teaching gigs in the Enumclaw area. I'll be teaching art classes at the Enumclaw Senior Center and doing an art camp for kids this Summer.

Another type of painting I'd like to try is abstract expressionism. I've always admired artists like Franz Marc, Wassily Kandinsky, Joan Miró, Jackson Pollock, and Helen Frankenthaler (one of a dozen women of abstract expressionism from the 1950s). For my next animal portrait, I'd like to try using non-traditional colors. This is what my portrait of Jeju and Bryce might have looked like through the eyes of Vincent Van Gogh (from the J Paul Getty Museum and Google Arts & Culture site). Check out my charcuterie board portrait of Jeju & Bryce in my post entitled, Animal Portraits Revisited.

I've also used the Prisma app to transform photographs into well-known works of art. The background of this blog sports a photo of my daughter with a filter that makes it look like a painting by Norwegian artist, Edvard Munch.

Another app I need to learn is Paint 3D. My brother uses it as a tool in lots of his art. Recently, he was inspired by artist, Daniel Horine, who produces nostalgic comic book covers in honor of baseball greats. My brother's cover immortalizes his own all-time favorite player, Andy Kosco.

I, too, have been inspired by baseball greats. For example, when Edgar Martinez was inducted into the Baseball HOF in 2019, I decided to make a collage in his honor using pictures I had collected and Mariners colors of tissue paper in the background. I had it framed and it hangs in my office along with several of his bobbleheads and (recently) the miniature version of his statue immortalizing him outside of T-Mobile Park. I even had a phone case made using my design.

Buffalo by Donna Gatlin

Bubbles by Donna Gatlin

Although I can't see myself ever taking up the art of quilting, I can still appreciate what my retired friend from Arizona has created. She artfully selects the fabric for her beautiful landscapes.

I also marvel at the stitching patterns that embellish her pieces with rich texture. She combines patience, skill, and an artful eye to make these wonderful masterpieces from scraps of fabric and thread. Amazing!

by Mickey Culver

One of my Art Alliance colleagues who is primarily an oil painter has been working in charcoal of late. Doing value studies with a limited palette is a great way to practice, understand, and learn how to create a range of shades from light to dark.

by Ken Patterson

I remember (as youths) my brother and I drawing wildflowers using pen and ink, then going back over them with watercolor embellishment. I painted a series of watercolor flowers last year while vacationing in California. Perhaps I should try Japanese Sumi-E painting next!

Bryce and Friends, Ken Patterson

I should definitely do more pastel paintings and try this medium on some more animal portraits. Here's the one I did of my dog with his friends at a California dog park.

So, no matter what media you choose, the techniques or applications you employ, or where you find your inspiration, the key is to have fun creating art that you and others can appreciate. Challenge yourself and get blown away!

Celebrities Who Dabble in the Visual Arts

Taken from gardenandgun.com

Continuing with the theme of celebrity art, I thought it would be fun to showcase art created by celebrities. This post is inspired by my wife's suggestion as well as People Magazine's 21 Celebrities Who Are Also Artists. In 2020, I posted Presidential Portraits, highlighting the portraits of George W. Bush. He has painted the portraits of over 66 American military veterans. They are collected in his book, Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief's Tribute to America's Warriors. You may also enjoy Out of Many, One: Portraits of America's Immigrants. You may be surprised to know how many U.S. Presidents spent their free time painting. Three other presidents -- Ulysses Grant, Dwight Eisenhower, and Jimmy Carter --  fancied themselves as painters. Even Prince Charles of the UK has painted watercolor landscapes and sold them to benefit his charitable foundation.

Cancer (1989), Pierce Brosnan

Two years ago I posted Movie Art Cameos, including René Magritte's "The Son of Man". It was spoofed in the 1999 version of the movie The Thomas Crown Affair starring Rene Russo and Pierce Brosnan. Apparently, Mr. Brosnan started out as a graphic artist prior to being bitten by the acting bug. He paints while on vacation, a tradition I have started myself during Palm Springs visits.

JM (1979), John Mellencamp

Another celebrity who started out as a student of the visual arts is singer songwriter John Mellencamp. I like that he is mainly a portrait artist and that he was influenced by German Expressionist Max Beckmann (one of my favorites). This one is an early self-portrait. Other musicians who paint include Bob Dylan, Tony Bennett, and the late David Bowie. Joni Mitchell dropped out of art school at the age of 19 to pursue a career in music. Her art can be seen on her album covers.

Endless Highway (2017), Bob Dylan

Singer songwriter Bob Dylan began painting in the 1960s, then studied art in 1974 at the Ashcan School, a movement in the Modernist style of early twentieth century America, and learned to paint what he saw rather than what he imagined. Dylan's urban landscapes are particularly compelling and have been exhibited all over the world.

The above landscape reminds me of Edvard Munch's The Scream, mainly for the color scheme and the mood it projects.

Night Time in St. Louis (2020), Bob Dylan

I also enjoy his Night Time in St. Louis, which reminds me of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks. Dylan is a true multi-media artist, who has drawn, painted, and sculpted a huge body of impressive work spanning six decades. His urban subject matter includes his German and Asian Series, but always with an American flair.

Kickin' Up Dirt 1 & 2 (2001), Benedetto

Tony Bennett (born Anthony Dominick Benedetto in 1926) is best known as a singer although as a child he wanted to be a painter. In 2001, he was commissioned as the official artist of the Kentucky Derby, producing the watercolors seen here.

Berlin Landscape with JO (1978),
Portrait of Iggy Pop (James Osterberg),
by David Bowie

Few people knew about the paintings of David Bowie (1947-2016) until his DHead portraits of family and friends were made public in 1994. In 1974, he and his friend, Iggy Pop, traveled to Berlin, Germany where he painted in a style similar to German and Neo-Expressionists. You can see the influence of artists such as Francis Bacon, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and even Max Beckmann in his paintings.

Hercules O'Clock, Sylvester Stallone

Most impressive are the works of action film star Sylvester Stallone. Having painted over several decades (like Bob Dylan), the artist turned to writing and acting after his early paintings, inspired by the art of Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock, didn't sell. In 2015, Stallone exhibited a retrospective at Galerie Contemporaine du Musee de Nice, France. Recently, in late 2021, Sylvester Stallone: The Magic of Being, an exhibit of 50 of his paintings, opened at the Osthaus Museum in Hagen, West Germany.

Murphy Brown's Candice Bergen (now 75) paints portraits of animals on one-of-a-kind handbags and totes and sells them for $1,000 each. Apparently, she has been doing such customized paintings for years. Who knew?!

Aloha Nui Loa (2009), Hopkins

Even actor/comedian Jim Carrey paints. Much of his artwork is politically motivated, so I won't display it on my blog. I do find it curious that actor Anthony Hopkins paints, since he portrayed Pablo Picasso in the 1996 film biopic, Surviving Picasso. I'd call his art 'primitive' because his faces look somewhat generic. Some even look like self-portraits. In this painting, he seems to be channeling Gustav Klimt.

Forever Goodbye (2010), Lucy Liu

Actresses, Michelle Pfeiffer and Charlie's Angels' Lucy Liu also paint. Liu is an all around artist who creates paintings, ink drawings, collages, silkscreens, and sculpture from recycled everyday objects in her New York studio. She has created this erotic lesbian embrace even more reminiscent of The Kiss by Gustav Klimt.

While I am surprised to find so many celebrities who could have second careers in the art of painting, I am even more amazed at how long some of them have been at it. I appreciate how some of these artists use ordinary house paint and large 6-inch wide brushes in their large-scale artwork.