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.