Vincent & Theo: Rottentomatoes.com gives it an 87% rating. I liked it a lot. Famous indie director Robert Altman made the movie.
Recommended. Write about it, too.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Fine arts Magnet / Van Gogh
Vincent's odyssey -
- Holland
- London
- Antwerp, Belgium
- Paris
- Arles, France
- St Remy, treated in the psychiatric center at Monastery Saint-Paul de Mausole, 1889–1890.
- Auvers-sur-Oise, a suburb of Paris. Final treatments and his suicide.
- Holland
- London
- Antwerp, Belgium
- Paris
- Arles, France
- St Remy, treated in the psychiatric center at Monastery Saint-Paul de Mausole, 1889–1890.
- Auvers-sur-Oise, a suburb of Paris. Final treatments and his suicide.
Vincent Van Gogh: 3 years of breakthrough painting in the south of France
Vincent van Gogh, for whom color was the chief symbol of expression, was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland, says vangoghgallery.com.
The son of a pastor, brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere, Vincent was highly emotional and lacked self-confidence. Between 1860 and 1880, when he finally decided to become an artist, van Gogh had had two unsuitable and
unhappy romances and had worked unsuccessfully as a clerk in a bookstore, an art salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage (a dreary mining district in Belgium), where he was dismissed for overzealousness.
He remained in Belgium to study art, determined to give happiness by creating beauty. In the Belgian city of Antwerp he discovered the works of Rubens and purchased many Japanese prints.
In 1886 he went to Paris to join his brother Théo, the manager of Goupil's gallery. In Paris, van Gogh studied with Cormon, inevitably met Pissarro, Monet, and Gauguin, and began to lighten his very dark palette and to paint in the short brushstrokes of the Impressionists.
His nervous temperament made him a difficult companion and night-long drinking and discussions combined with painting all day undermined his health.
He decided to go south to Arles, France, where he hoped his friends would join him and help found a school of art.
He had moved to the town with thoughts of founding a utopian art colony, and the Danish artist Christian Mourier-Petersen (1858–1945), became his companion for two months.
Arles appeared exotic and filthy to van Gogh, says Wikipedia. In a letter he described it as a foreign country: "The Zouaves, the brothels, the adorable little Arlesiennes going to their First Communion, the priest in his surplice, who looks like a dangerous rhinocerous, the people drinking absinthe, all seem to me creatures from another world".[85]
Gauguin did join him but with disastrous results. Near the end of 1888, an incident led Gauguin to ultimately leave Arles. Van Gogh pursued him with an open razor, was stopped by Gauguin, but ended up cutting a portion of his own ear lobe off. Van Gogh then began to alternate between fits of madness and lucidity and was sent to the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment.
In May of 1890, he seemed much better and went to live in Auvers-sur-Oise under the watchful eye of Dr. Gachet. Two months later he was dead, having shot himself "for the good of all." During his brief career he had sold one painting.
Van Gogh's finest works were produced in less than three years in a technique that grew more and more impassioned in brushstroke, in symbolic and intense color, in surface tension, and in the movement and vibration of form and line. Van Gogh's inimitable fusion of form and content is powerful; dramatic, lyrically rhythmic, imaginative, and emotional, for the artist was completely absorbed in the effort to explain either his struggle against madness or his comprehension of the spiritual essence of man and nature.
He was a prolific self-portraitist, who painted himself 37 times between 1886 and 1889. In just over a decade, he produced more than 2,100 artworks, consisting of 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings, sketches and prints. His work included self portraits, landscapes, still lifes of flowers, portraits and paintings of cypresses, wheat fields and sunflowers.
In one of his 200 letters to his brother, Theo, he said, "Real painters do not paint things as they are...They paint them as they themselves feel them to be".
The son of a pastor, brought up in a religious and cultured atmosphere, Vincent was highly emotional and lacked self-confidence. Between 1860 and 1880, when he finally decided to become an artist, van Gogh had had two unsuitable and
unhappy romances and had worked unsuccessfully as a clerk in a bookstore, an art salesman, and a preacher in the Borinage (a dreary mining district in Belgium), where he was dismissed for overzealousness.
He remained in Belgium to study art, determined to give happiness by creating beauty. In the Belgian city of Antwerp he discovered the works of Rubens and purchased many Japanese prints.
In 1886 he went to Paris to join his brother Théo, the manager of Goupil's gallery. In Paris, van Gogh studied with Cormon, inevitably met Pissarro, Monet, and Gauguin, and began to lighten his very dark palette and to paint in the short brushstrokes of the Impressionists.
His nervous temperament made him a difficult companion and night-long drinking and discussions combined with painting all day undermined his health.
He decided to go south to Arles, France, where he hoped his friends would join him and help found a school of art.
He had moved to the town with thoughts of founding a utopian art colony, and the Danish artist Christian Mourier-Petersen (1858–1945), became his companion for two months.
Arles appeared exotic and filthy to van Gogh, says Wikipedia. In a letter he described it as a foreign country: "The Zouaves, the brothels, the adorable little Arlesiennes going to their First Communion, the priest in his surplice, who looks like a dangerous rhinocerous, the people drinking absinthe, all seem to me creatures from another world".[85]
Gauguin did join him but with disastrous results. Near the end of 1888, an incident led Gauguin to ultimately leave Arles. Van Gogh pursued him with an open razor, was stopped by Gauguin, but ended up cutting a portion of his own ear lobe off. Van Gogh then began to alternate between fits of madness and lucidity and was sent to the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment.
In May of 1890, he seemed much better and went to live in Auvers-sur-Oise under the watchful eye of Dr. Gachet. Two months later he was dead, having shot himself "for the good of all." During his brief career he had sold one painting.
Van Gogh's finest works were produced in less than three years in a technique that grew more and more impassioned in brushstroke, in symbolic and intense color, in surface tension, and in the movement and vibration of form and line. Van Gogh's inimitable fusion of form and content is powerful; dramatic, lyrically rhythmic, imaginative, and emotional, for the artist was completely absorbed in the effort to explain either his struggle against madness or his comprehension of the spiritual essence of man and nature.
He was a prolific self-portraitist, who painted himself 37 times between 1886 and 1889. In just over a decade, he produced more than 2,100 artworks, consisting of 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings, sketches and prints. His work included self portraits, landscapes, still lifes of flowers, portraits and paintings of cypresses, wheat fields and sunflowers.
In one of his 200 letters to his brother, Theo, he said, "Real painters do not paint things as they are...They paint them as they themselves feel them to be".
Drink of 19th century writers, painters and poets: absinthe
Absinthe is historically described as a distilled, highly alcoholic (90-148 proof) beverage, says Wikipedia.
It is an anise-flavoured spirit (licorice-flavored) derived from herbs, including the flowers and leaves of the herb Artemisia absinthium, commonly referred to as "grande wormwood", together with green anise and sweet fennel.
Absinthe traditionally has a natural green colour but can also be colourless. It is commonly referred to in historical literature as "la fée verte" (the "green fairy" in French).
Absinthe originated in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It achieved great popularity as an alcoholic drink in late 19th- and early 20th-century France, particularly among Parisian artists and writers. Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Amedeo Modigliani, Vincent van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, Aleister Crowley and Alfred Jarry were all known drinkers of absinthe.[6]
By 1915, absinthe had been banned in the United States and in most European countries.
Traditionally, absinthe is prepared by placing a sugar cube on top of a specially designed slotted spoon and then placing the spoon on the glass which has been filled with a shot of absinthe. Ice-cold water is then poured or dripped over the sugar cube so that the water is slowly and evenly displaced into the absinthe, typically 1 part absinthe and 3 to 5 parts water. During this process, components not soluble in water (mainly those from anise, fennel, and star anise) come out of solution and cloud the drink.
It is an anise-flavoured spirit (licorice-flavored) derived from herbs, including the flowers and leaves of the herb Artemisia absinthium, commonly referred to as "grande wormwood", together with green anise and sweet fennel.
Absinthe traditionally has a natural green colour but can also be colourless. It is commonly referred to in historical literature as "la fée verte" (the "green fairy" in French).
Absinthe originated in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It achieved great popularity as an alcoholic drink in late 19th- and early 20th-century France, particularly among Parisian artists and writers. Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Amedeo Modigliani, Vincent van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, Aleister Crowley and Alfred Jarry were all known drinkers of absinthe.[6]
By 1915, absinthe had been banned in the United States and in most European countries.
Traditionally, absinthe is prepared by placing a sugar cube on top of a specially designed slotted spoon and then placing the spoon on the glass which has been filled with a shot of absinthe. Ice-cold water is then poured or dripped over the sugar cube so that the water is slowly and evenly displaced into the absinthe, typically 1 part absinthe and 3 to 5 parts water. During this process, components not soluble in water (mainly those from anise, fennel, and star anise) come out of solution and cloud the drink.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
NYC - MoMA: Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night
"This morning I saw the country from my window a long time before sunrise," the artist wrote to his brother Theo, "with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big."
Rooted in imagination and memory, The Starry Night embodies an inner, subjective expression of van Gogh's response to nature, says the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
In thick sweeping brushstrokes, a flamelike cypress unites the churning sky and the quiet village below. The village was partly invented, and the church spire evokes van Gogh's native land, the Netherlands.
During his stay in the hospital at St Remy he made several studies of the hospital interiors, such as Vestibule of the Asylum and Saint-Remy (September 1889). Some of the work from this time is characterized by swirls—including one of his best-known paintings The Starry Night.
Rooted in imagination and memory, The Starry Night embodies an inner, subjective expression of van Gogh's response to nature, says the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
In thick sweeping brushstrokes, a flamelike cypress unites the churning sky and the quiet village below. The village was partly invented, and the church spire evokes van Gogh's native land, the Netherlands.
During his stay in the hospital at St Remy he made several studies of the hospital interiors, such as Vestibule of the Asylum and Saint-Remy (September 1889). Some of the work from this time is characterized by swirls—including one of his best-known paintings The Starry Night.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Vincent van Gogh - Sunflowers (1888)
Sunflowers (original title, in French: Tournesols) are the subject of two series of still life paintings by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, says Wikipedia.
The earlier series executed in Paris in 1887 gives the flowers lying on the ground, while the second set executed a year later in Arles shows bouquets of sunflowers in a vase. In the artist's mind, says Wikipedia, both sets were linked by the name of his friend Paul Gauguin, who acquired two of the Paris versions.
In 1888 Van Gogh moved to Arles, in the Provence region of France, with thoughts of founding a utopian art colony. Gauguin agreed to join him in Arles, giving Van Gogh much hope for friendship and his collective of artists. Waiting, in August, he painted sunflowers.
In December 1888, frustrated and ill, Van Gogh confronted Gauguin with a razor blade. In panic, Van Gogh left their hotel and fled to a local brothel. While there, he cut off the lower part of his left ear lobe. He wrapped the severed tissue in newspaper and handed it to a prostitute named Rachel, asking her to "keep this object carefully."[98]
Gauguin left Arles and never saw Van Gogh again.[a 4] Days later, Van Gogh was hospitalized and left in a critical state for several days. In less than a year he would enter an asylum to be treated for insanity.
Although he had been troubled by mental illness throughout his life, the episodes became more pronounced during his last few years. In some of these periods he was either unwilling or unable to paint, a factor which added to the mounting frustrations of an artist at the peak of his ability.
His depression gradually deepened. On 27 July 1890, aged 37, he walked into a field and shot himself in the chest with a revolver. He survived the impact, but not realizing that his injuries were to be fatal, he walked back to the Ravoux Inn. He died there two days later. Theo rushed to be at his side. Theo reported his brother's last words as "La tristesse durera toujours" (the sadness will last forever).[118]
The earlier series executed in Paris in 1887 gives the flowers lying on the ground, while the second set executed a year later in Arles shows bouquets of sunflowers in a vase. In the artist's mind, says Wikipedia, both sets were linked by the name of his friend Paul Gauguin, who acquired two of the Paris versions.
In 1888 Van Gogh moved to Arles, in the Provence region of France, with thoughts of founding a utopian art colony. Gauguin agreed to join him in Arles, giving Van Gogh much hope for friendship and his collective of artists. Waiting, in August, he painted sunflowers.
In December 1888, frustrated and ill, Van Gogh confronted Gauguin with a razor blade. In panic, Van Gogh left their hotel and fled to a local brothel. While there, he cut off the lower part of his left ear lobe. He wrapped the severed tissue in newspaper and handed it to a prostitute named Rachel, asking her to "keep this object carefully."[98]
Gauguin left Arles and never saw Van Gogh again.[a 4] Days later, Van Gogh was hospitalized and left in a critical state for several days. In less than a year he would enter an asylum to be treated for insanity.
Although he had been troubled by mental illness throughout his life, the episodes became more pronounced during his last few years. In some of these periods he was either unwilling or unable to paint, a factor which added to the mounting frustrations of an artist at the peak of his ability.
His depression gradually deepened. On 27 July 1890, aged 37, he walked into a field and shot himself in the chest with a revolver. He survived the impact, but not realizing that his injuries were to be fatal, he walked back to the Ravoux Inn. He died there two days later. Theo rushed to be at his side. Theo reported his brother's last words as "La tristesse durera toujours" (the sadness will last forever).[118]
Monday, November 7, 2011
Permission signature for field trip to Artspace / Fantastic Mr. Fox
Please get a parent signature on a sheet of paper that says Field Trip to Artspace on Tues, Nov 8. Upon a school bus.
Trip will take place during the Fine Arts class period.
Trip will take place during the Fine Arts class period.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Fine arts / puppetry / 10 pt character plus environment
Puppetry is used in almost all human societies both as an entertainment – in performance – and ceremonially in rituals and celebrations such as carnivals, says Wikipedia.[2]
Most puppetry involves storytelling. The impact of puppetry depends on the process of transformation of puppets, which has much in common with magic and with play.
Puppetry is a very ancient art form, thought to have originated about 30,000 years ago.[1]
Puppets have been used since the earliest times to animate and communicate the ideas and needs of human societies.[3] Some historians claim that they pre-date actors in theatre.
There is evidence that they were used in Egypt as early as 2000 BC when string-operated figures of wood were manipulated to perform the action of kneading bread. Wire controlled, articulated puppets made of clay and ivory have also been found in Egyptian tombs. Hieroglyphs also describe "walking statues" being used in Ancient Egyptian religious dramas.[1]
Although there are few remaining examples of puppets from ancient Greece, historical literature shows the existence of puppetry. The Greek word usually translated as "puppets" is "neurospasta", from "nervus", meaning either sinew, tendon, muscle, string, or wire, which literally means "string-pulling" and "span", to pull. Aristotle referred to pulling strings to control heads, hands and eyes, shoulders and legs.[15] Plato's work also contains references to puppetry. The Iliad and the Odyssey were presented using puppetry.
India has a great tradition of puppetry. In the great Indian epic Mahabharata there are references to puppets. The Rajasthani Puppet from India is notable and there are many Indian ventriloquists and puppeteers. The first Indian ventriloquist, Professor Y.K. Padhye, introduced this form of puppetry to India in the 1920s and his son, Ramdas Padhye, subsequently popularised ventriloquism and puppetry.
Indonesia has a strong tradition of puppetry. In Java, wayang kulit, an elaborate form of shadow puppetry is very popular. Javanese rod puppets have a long history and are used to tell fables from Javanese history.
Italy is considered by many to be the early home of the marionette due to the influence of Roman puppetry. Xenophon and Plutarch refer to them.[17] The Christian church used marionettes to perform morality plays.[17] It is believed that the word marionette originates from the little figures of the Virgin Mary, hence the word "marionette" or "Mary doll.[18] Comedy was introduced to the plays as time went by, and ultimately led to a church edict banning puppetry. Puppeteers responded by setting up stages outside cathedrals and became even more ribald and slapstick. Out of this grew the Italian comedy called Commedia dell'arte. Puppets were used at times in this form of theatre and sometimes Shakespeare's plays were performed using marionettes instead of actors.[19]
British Puppet theatre (Punch and Judy style), c. 1770
The traditional British Punch and Judy puppetry traces its roots to the 16th century to the Italian commedia dell'arte.[21] The character of "Punch" derives from the character Pulcinella, which was Anglicized to Punchinello. He is a manifestation of the Lord of Misrule and Trickster, figures of deep-rooted mythologies. Punch's wife was originally "Joan", but later became "Judy". In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the familiar Punch and Judy puppet show which existed in Britain was performed in an easily-transportable booth.
Activity
Make a paper puppet and its environment.
Design, cut out, color and paste . . .
- head
- torso
- arms and hands
- thighs
- lower legs and feet
- environment may be sketched on the page as a base for the project.
- additional articulacy of your puppet may earn up to 10 additional points.
Most puppetry involves storytelling. The impact of puppetry depends on the process of transformation of puppets, which has much in common with magic and with play.
Puppetry is a very ancient art form, thought to have originated about 30,000 years ago.[1]
Puppets have been used since the earliest times to animate and communicate the ideas and needs of human societies.[3] Some historians claim that they pre-date actors in theatre.
There is evidence that they were used in Egypt as early as 2000 BC when string-operated figures of wood were manipulated to perform the action of kneading bread. Wire controlled, articulated puppets made of clay and ivory have also been found in Egyptian tombs. Hieroglyphs also describe "walking statues" being used in Ancient Egyptian religious dramas.[1]
Although there are few remaining examples of puppets from ancient Greece, historical literature shows the existence of puppetry. The Greek word usually translated as "puppets" is "neurospasta", from "nervus", meaning either sinew, tendon, muscle, string, or wire, which literally means "string-pulling" and "span", to pull. Aristotle referred to pulling strings to control heads, hands and eyes, shoulders and legs.[15] Plato's work also contains references to puppetry. The Iliad and the Odyssey were presented using puppetry.
India has a great tradition of puppetry. In the great Indian epic Mahabharata there are references to puppets. The Rajasthani Puppet from India is notable and there are many Indian ventriloquists and puppeteers. The first Indian ventriloquist, Professor Y.K. Padhye, introduced this form of puppetry to India in the 1920s and his son, Ramdas Padhye, subsequently popularised ventriloquism and puppetry.
Indonesia has a strong tradition of puppetry. In Java, wayang kulit, an elaborate form of shadow puppetry is very popular. Javanese rod puppets have a long history and are used to tell fables from Javanese history.
Italy is considered by many to be the early home of the marionette due to the influence of Roman puppetry. Xenophon and Plutarch refer to them.[17] The Christian church used marionettes to perform morality plays.[17] It is believed that the word marionette originates from the little figures of the Virgin Mary, hence the word "marionette" or "Mary doll.[18] Comedy was introduced to the plays as time went by, and ultimately led to a church edict banning puppetry. Puppeteers responded by setting up stages outside cathedrals and became even more ribald and slapstick. Out of this grew the Italian comedy called Commedia dell'arte. Puppets were used at times in this form of theatre and sometimes Shakespeare's plays were performed using marionettes instead of actors.[19]
British Puppet theatre (Punch and Judy style), c. 1770
The traditional British Punch and Judy puppetry traces its roots to the 16th century to the Italian commedia dell'arte.[21] The character of "Punch" derives from the character Pulcinella, which was Anglicized to Punchinello. He is a manifestation of the Lord of Misrule and Trickster, figures of deep-rooted mythologies. Punch's wife was originally "Joan", but later became "Judy". In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the familiar Punch and Judy puppet show which existed in Britain was performed in an easily-transportable booth.
Activity
Make a paper puppet and its environment.
Design, cut out, color and paste . . .
- head
- torso
- arms and hands
- thighs
- lower legs and feet
- environment may be sketched on the page as a base for the project.
- additional articulacy of your puppet may earn up to 10 additional points.
Ansel Adams, creator of iconic landscapes of the American West
Ansel Easton Adams (1902 – 1984) was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park, says Wikipedia.
With Fred Archer, Adams developed the Adams primarily used large-format cameras despite their size, weight, setup time, and film cost, because their high resolution helped ensure sharpness in his images.
His photographs are reproduced on calendars, posters, and in books, making his photographs widely distributed.
After young Ansel was dismissed from several private schools for his restlessness and inattentiveness, his father decided to pull him out of school in 1915, at the age of 12. Adams was then educated by private tutors, his Aunt Mary, and by his father. His Aunt Mary was a follower of Robert G. Ingersoll, a 19th century agnostic, abolitionist and women's suffrage advocate. As a result of his Aunt's influence, Ingersoll's teachings were important to Ansel's upbringing.[11]
During the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, his father insisted that, as part of his education, Adams spend part of each day studying the exhibits.
He taught himself piano at age twelve. Music became the main focus of his later youth.
His father gave him his first camera, a Kodak Brownie box camera at age 14.
"I believe in beauty. I believe in stones and water, air and soil, people and their future and their fate."[22] He decided that the purpose of his art, whether photography or music, was to reveal that beauty to others and to inspire them to the same calling.
In 1927, Adams produced his first portfolio, Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras, in his new style, which included his famous image Monolith, the Face of Half Dome, taken with his Korona view camera using glass plates and a dark red filter (to heighten the tonal contrasts). On that excursion, he had only one plate left and he "visualized" the effect of the blackened sky before risking the last shot. As he stated, "I had been able to realize a desired image: not the way the subject appeared in reality but how it felt to me and how it must appear in the finished print".
During the 1930s, many photographers including Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans believed they had a social obligation to reveal the harsh times of the Depression through their art. Mostly resistant to the "art for life's sake" movement, Adams did begin in the 1930s to deploy his photographs in the cause of wilderness preservation. In part, he was inspired by the increasing desecration of Yosemite Valley by commercial development, including a pool hall, bowling alley, golf course, shops, and automobile traffic. He created a limited-edition book in 1938, Sierra Nevada: The John Muir Trail, as part of the Sierra Club's efforts to secure the designation of Sequoia and Kings Canyon as national parks. This book and his testimony before Congress played a vital role in the success of the effort, and Congress designated the area as a National Park in 1940.
Adams was distressed by the Japanese American Internment that occurred after the Pearl Harbor attack. He requested permission to visit the Manzanar War Relocation Center in the Owens Valley, at the foot of Mount Williamson. The resulting photo-essay first appeared in a Museum of Modern Art exhibit, and later was published as Born Free and Equal: The Story of Loyal Japanese-Americans.
Adams's black-and-white photographs of the West which became the foremost record of what many of the National Parks were like before tourism, and his persistent advocacy helped expand the National Park system. He skillfully used his works to promote many of the goals of the Sierra Club and of the nascent environmental movement, but always insisted that, as far as his photographs were concerned, "beauty comes first".
He reminded his students, "It is easy to take a photograph, but it is harder to make a masterpiece in photography than in any other art medium."[73]
With Fred Archer, Adams developed the Adams primarily used large-format cameras despite their size, weight, setup time, and film cost, because their high resolution helped ensure sharpness in his images.
His photographs are reproduced on calendars, posters, and in books, making his photographs widely distributed.
After young Ansel was dismissed from several private schools for his restlessness and inattentiveness, his father decided to pull him out of school in 1915, at the age of 12. Adams was then educated by private tutors, his Aunt Mary, and by his father. His Aunt Mary was a follower of Robert G. Ingersoll, a 19th century agnostic, abolitionist and women's suffrage advocate. As a result of his Aunt's influence, Ingersoll's teachings were important to Ansel's upbringing.[11]
During the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, his father insisted that, as part of his education, Adams spend part of each day studying the exhibits.
He taught himself piano at age twelve. Music became the main focus of his later youth.
His father gave him his first camera, a Kodak Brownie box camera at age 14.
"I believe in beauty. I believe in stones and water, air and soil, people and their future and their fate."[22] He decided that the purpose of his art, whether photography or music, was to reveal that beauty to others and to inspire them to the same calling.
In 1927, Adams produced his first portfolio, Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras, in his new style, which included his famous image Monolith, the Face of Half Dome, taken with his Korona view camera using glass plates and a dark red filter (to heighten the tonal contrasts). On that excursion, he had only one plate left and he "visualized" the effect of the blackened sky before risking the last shot. As he stated, "I had been able to realize a desired image: not the way the subject appeared in reality but how it felt to me and how it must appear in the finished print".
During the 1930s, many photographers including Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans believed they had a social obligation to reveal the harsh times of the Depression through their art. Mostly resistant to the "art for life's sake" movement, Adams did begin in the 1930s to deploy his photographs in the cause of wilderness preservation. In part, he was inspired by the increasing desecration of Yosemite Valley by commercial development, including a pool hall, bowling alley, golf course, shops, and automobile traffic. He created a limited-edition book in 1938, Sierra Nevada: The John Muir Trail, as part of the Sierra Club's efforts to secure the designation of Sequoia and Kings Canyon as national parks. This book and his testimony before Congress played a vital role in the success of the effort, and Congress designated the area as a National Park in 1940.
Adams was distressed by the Japanese American Internment that occurred after the Pearl Harbor attack. He requested permission to visit the Manzanar War Relocation Center in the Owens Valley, at the foot of Mount Williamson. The resulting photo-essay first appeared in a Museum of Modern Art exhibit, and later was published as Born Free and Equal: The Story of Loyal Japanese-Americans.
Adams's black-and-white photographs of the West which became the foremost record of what many of the National Parks were like before tourism, and his persistent advocacy helped expand the National Park system. He skillfully used his works to promote many of the goals of the Sierra Club and of the nascent environmental movement, but always insisted that, as far as his photographs were concerned, "beauty comes first".
He reminded his students, "It is easy to take a photograph, but it is harder to make a masterpiece in photography than in any other art medium."[73]
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Sunday picnic on the Marne River: Henri Cartier-Bresson
"Although he would later be feted as the father of photojournalism, Henry Cartier-Bresson was at his best when he was taking photos which didn’t ‘report’ anything — men in Parisian streets, sunbathers whether they be at Peter and Paul fortress or Coney Island. At the first glance, the above picture — one of Cartier-Bresson’s most famous — seems exactly like it: languorous workers in Juvisny spending a lazy afternoon on the bank of River Marne."
- Iconic Photos
An alternative view:
Craig Silver for Forbes Magazine: "At the working-class picnic on a river bank in France everyone is porcine and unlovely, the light is dreary, the grass is scraggly. It’s as if the photographer is saying, “How amusing that they think this is festive!”
- Iconic Photos
An alternative view:
Craig Silver for Forbes Magazine: "At the working-class picnic on a river bank in France everyone is porcine and unlovely, the light is dreary, the grass is scraggly. It’s as if the photographer is saying, “How amusing that they think this is festive!”
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