A NEW FRONTIER: THE ONLINE MARKETPLACE

The rise of online art platforms has been meteoric, especially catalysed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced galleries to shut doors and pivot to digital strategies. Websites like Artsy, Saatchi Art, and even the behemoth auction houses like Sotheby’s, have revamped their online presence. These platforms offer both seasoned collectors and novice enthusiasts an unparalleled selection, right at their fingertips. The allure is evident: the art market, once considered insular and elitist, is now accessible to a broader audience.

IMPACT ON TRADITIONAL GALLERIES

Galleries have served as the cornerstone of the art ecosystem for centuries, offering artists not just a physical space to display their work, but also critical validation and market access. So, what happens to galleries when their primary role can be carried out online?

For some, the future looks rather bleak. Smaller galleries with fewer resources for a digital transition have been hardest hit, and even some established galleries have had to cut back. According to a 2021 report by Art Basel and UBS, the global art market contracted by 22% in 2020, with a large portion of that impact felt by traditional galleries.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom. Many gallery owners argue that the digital experience can never truly replace the physical one. The texture, scale, and colours of an artwork can be fully appreciated only in person. Plus, galleries do more than just display art; they offer expertise, curate experiences, and foster relationships between artists and patrons—something a virtual platform cannot easily replicate.

DEMOCRATIZATION OR DILUTION?

One of the most celebrated aspects of online art platforms is their democratising effect. But does this broad access dilute the curatorial standards traditionally upheld by galleries? While online platforms offer a stage to many artists who might never have received gallery representation, this also opens the floodgates for works of questionable quality to reach the market. As a result, the role of the gallery as a gatekeeper of artistic merit is weakened, raising concerns about the longterm implications for art standards.

A HYBRID FUTURE

A pragmatic view suggests that, much like retail and other sectors, the future of the art world lies in a hybrid model. Online platforms and traditional galleries can coexist, each serving specific needs. High-profile artists may still prefer the prestige of a gallery showing, while emerging artists utilise online platforms to build a following. Meanwhile, collectors could use online platforms to discover new artists, but turn to galleries for expert advice and deeper engagement.

In conclusion, while online art platforms have indeed stirred the waters, they haven’t yet rung the death knell for traditional galleries. Instead, they have added a new layer to the complex tapestry of the art world. As both realms continue to evolve, the challenge will be how to preserve the strengths of each, ensuring a vibrant, accessible, and high-quality art landscape for years to come.

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Ancient Egyptian art encompassed painting, sculpture, ceramics, jewellery, and more. Created along the Nile River from c. 3100 BC to 30 AD, it retained formal stylisation for over three millennia. Many examples originated in tombs intended for the afterlife.

THE SEATED SCRIBE

Dated to the Old Kingdom (c. 2500 BC), the Seated Scribe is a renowned work. This 53.7 cm high statue depicts an unknown scribe with a semi-rolled papyrus scroll. Meticulous detail, especially in the eyes, highlights its realism. Displayed in the Louvre, Paris, it was discovered in Saqqara in the mid-19th century.

MASK OF TUTANKHAMUN

The Mask of Tutankhamun, a death mask for Pharaoh Tutankhamun (reigned 1332-1323 BC), is iconic. Crafted from 10kg gold with lapis lazuli, turquoise, and more, it’s a masterpiece. Discovered in 1925, it’s now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

NEFERTARI PLAYING SENET

From Nefertari’s tomb (QV66), a wall painting depicts Pharaoh Ramesses II’s wife playing Senet. Shading techniques emphasise her beauty. Discovered by Ernesto Schiaparelli in 1904, the tomb’s closed for preservation.

NARMER PALETTE

This 64 x 42 cm siltstone tablet, found by British archaeologists, depicts King Narmer’s unification of Egypt. Dated to the 31st century BC, it’s a vital artefact now in the Egyptian Museum.

ANI’S JUDGEMENT, BOOK OF THE DEAD

A scene from the Papyrus of Ani (c. 1250 BC) portrays the heart-weighing ceremony. Anubis weighs against Maat’s feather. The scene symbolises the virtuous life’s pursuit.

RELIEF OF AKHENATEN AND NEFERTITI

This home altar from c. 1350 BC depicts Pharaoh Akhenaten, his wife Nefertiti, and their daughters beneath a sun disc. It captures the Amarna period’s unique art style.

STATUE OF DJOSER

Representing Pharaoh Djoser (reigned c. 2630- 2611 BC), this statue is tied to Egypt’s first pyramid. Discovered in Saqqara in the mid-1920s, the original resides in the Egyptian Museum.

STATUETTE OF ARSINOE II

A fusion of Egyptian and Greek art styles, this limestone statuette reflects cultural interchange during Egypt’s Ptolemaic Dynasty (150-100 BC). Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. These masterpieces reveal the rich tapestry of ancient Egyptian art.

STATUE OF MENKAURE AND QUEEN

Depicting Pharaoh Menkaure and Queen Khamerernebty II, this statue embodies ancient Egyptian ideals of rulership and gender. It resides in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

NEFERTITI BUST

Crafted around 1350, the Nefertiti Bust is a fine example of Amarna art. Admired for its elegance, it’s now in the Neues Museum, Berlin.

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FERNANDE OLIVIER

The first of Picasso’s muses was Fernande Olivier, who was also his first long-time partner. She is depicted in many pieces from his “rose period.” The painter met this striking beauty in Paris and was smitten by her red hair and gorgeous eyes. As the years passed, however, Picasso became very possessive of Olivier, and in the end, she had no choice but to leave him.

EVA GOUEL

The second of his muses was Eva Gouel (Marcelle Humbert) who was one of Fernande’s friends. Once she and Picasso became a couple, they stayed together for three years. Gouel is often called the “queen of his Cubist works.” Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and Picasso quickly began an affair with another woman.

Olga Khokhlova was Picasso’s first wife and, interestingly, disliked his Cubist style

OLGA KHOKHLOVA

Following Gouel’s death, the painter left France and moved to Italy, falling in love with Olga Khokhlova, a Russian ballerina. She was his first wife and, interestingly, disliked his Cubist style. She demanded to be painted in a completely different way.

The couple had a son, Paulo, who inspired Picasso to begin a series of paintings entitled Maternité. Due to Picasso’s flirtatious character and his refusal to stop having extra-marital affairs, his wife suffered from a breakdown. In the end, she left with their son and moved to the south of France.

MARIE-THÉRÈSE WALTER

The fourth of Picasso’s muses was Marie-Thérèse Walter, who only at 17 got pregnant with the artist while he was still married to Khokhlova. Walter was 29 years younger than Picasso and was easily manipulated by him. They had a daughter named Maya but they eventually grew apart because of the artist’s unfaithful ways.

DORA MAAR

The woman he began having an affair with while still with Marie-Thérèse Walter was Dora Maar. She had similar passions to him. She was a photographer and a Surrealist painter herself. Maar was present while Picasso created his masterpiece Guernica.

Dora Maar was present while Picasso created his masterpiece Guernica

She suffered a mental breakdown after finding out about his affair with his next mistress Françoise Gilot in 1945. Maar once said to Picasso, “as an artist you may be extraordinary, but morally speaking you are worthless.”

FRANÇOISE GILOT

With Françoise Gilot, a 21-year-old aspiring painter and law student, he had two children named Claude and Paloma. She was deeply in love with the painter, but even that ardor was not strong enough to survive his difficult behavior. She could not stand his abuse and philandering and left him in 1953. In 1964, she published her memoirs called Life with Picasso and moved to New York.

GENEVIEVE LAPORTE

As he had a preference for much younger women, while still with Gilot, he became involved in another affair with 24-year-old Genevieve Laporte, who also ended their relationship in 1953. In 2005, she auctioned 20 drawings of herself by Pablo Picasso.

JACQUELINE ROQUE

In 1961, the painter married again at the age of 79. His 27-year-old bride was Jacqueline Roque.

Jacqueline Roque was his last muse and appeared in more than 400 of his paintings and ceramics

Roque was his last muse and appeared in more than 400 of his paintings and ceramics. The artist died in 1973, with Roque by his side. She died 13 years later by suicide. Fact often left out in art history is that Pablo Picasso was highly influenced by women in his life, whom he loved – but also mistreated and betrayed. At the end of the day, the question is: how should we evaluate him? As a great artist that he indeed was? Or as an extremely unfaithful partner? The choice is yours.

Source: dailyartmagazine.com

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Let’s take a look at some Venuses in art that are powerful not because of their beauty, but because of what they represent.

ROMAN VENUS

The Crouching Venus is an image of Venus in the nude whose power lies in the magnitude of her fame. A dodgy bit of text (3.4, note 110) by Pliny the Elder describes the existence of a Hellenistic sculpture of Venus washing herself. Consequently, a Greek called Polycharmus is dubiously known as the original artist.

Whether that is the name of the artist or not is beside the point. What is significant is that the Romans made many versions of the Greek original. As with most Roman copies of Greek originals, the possibilities for a Roman spin are seemingly endless. Crouching Venus can be small, large, of different materials, in varying postures, amusingly arranged with other statues; the list goes on.

There were so many Crouching Venus types in the Roman world that the modern world inherited them, and they continue to enter the art world today.

The Crouching Venus in our image is the Lely Venus. Today she lives at the British Museum in London, where you can visit her for free. Once, an Italian princely family (The Gonzaga) had her in their collection, where she spent her days inspiring Renaissance painters. She made her way to England through King Charles I, who bought her in the late 1620s on the recommendation of Rubens!

THE RENAISSANCE

We see the influence of the Crouching Venus throughout the art world, such as in Renaissance paintings. In Venus, Cupid, Bacchus and Ceres Rubens depicts the goddess – inspired by the Lely Venus after his stay with the Gonzaga. She is alongside Bacchus (god of revelry), Ceres (goddess of harvest), and Cupid (her son, the powerful god of desire). The literary inspiration is a line from a Latin comedy that says “without Bread and Wine, Love turns cold.”

Lots of Koons’ work (like his 1980s Banality series) are known for turning banal items into high art icons, an inflatable Balloon Dog went on tour with Jay Z for example

All in all, the Romans revered the power of Venus. In fact, every year they would hold a festival in her honor. April 1st was not a day to be foolish, but a very serious affair to get the goddess on the side.

That said, Titian’s painting of the scene (based on Imagines 1.6 by the Greek writer Philostratus) is very playful. A crowd of cupids sits before a matronly- looking Venus statue (a depiction of a well-known Venus sculpture). The cupids get up to many naughty things: can you spot the one about to shoot the infamous bow and arrow?

Along with April 1st, there were festivals in honor of the goddess on April 23rd, August 19th, and September 26th.

The mythological founder of Rome (Aeneas) is Venus’ son, and she was the patron of Julius Caesar and also Augustus. So, we might think of her as “just” a symbol of love (the pink and fluffy kind), but this goddess is a powerful political icon too.

VENUS DE MILO WITH DRAWERS

Moving out of Renaissance art and whizzing towards Surrealism – the 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature from 1920s Europe – we arrive here (still on the subject of pink and fluff ): at Dalí’s Venus de Milo with drawers. Which, if the title doesn’t give it away, is a version of the Greco-Roman Venus de Milo sculpture.

Half the size of the famous Venus de Milo, Venus de Milo with Drawers features silky mink tufts as drawer handles. Dalí’s magics the Art object into a piece of functional furniture, as well as opening up the world of Freudian analysis where Greek myths are images of the psyche. A perfect demonstration of the Surrealist interest in sparking new realities and experiences.

BIRTH OF VENUS

This intricate painting is tiny (28.8 x 28.9 cm) and beautiful. It is part of a new genre of Contemporary Miniature Art, for which Khalid (a Pakistani contemporary artist) is a forerunner. Traditional miniature painting in Pakistan has a rich heritage, with roots in Mughal India, Iran, and also Turkey.

Though small, Khalid’s Birth of Venus has very big politics. Its name Birth of Venus brings to mind The Birth of Venus by Botticelli and directs our understanding. In place of the nude classical Venus rising from the sea, we find an image of a woman wearing a blue wave-pattern burqa. Instead of the giant scallop shell, there is a pink lotus leaf, the pattern of which possibly stands in for the flowing hair in the Botticelli. In each corner are four women also wearing burqas. The pattern of their burqas is not dissimilar to that of the dress of Spring in Botticelli’s version. Interestingly, Spring (in the Botticelli painting) is offering Venus clothing to cover her nakedness – in Khalid’s version that is obviously not necessary.

Contemporary culture tells us we have access to all areas, and that images of women are easy to read, consumable, disposable, but in fact the information we receive from an image is misleading and incomplete. – CHARLOTTE JANSEN, “GIRL ON GIRL: ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY IN
THE AGE OF THE FEMALE GAZE,” 2017

The burqa is a type of traditional clothing worn by some Muslim women. It is a whole-body veil, which is designed to protect women from becoming objects of lust. Western media often depicts them as oppressive, and even scary. However, in this picture, the gold leaf, gentle watercolors, and delicate patterning certainly don’t support that view. So, one question that Khalid could be posing is: is the burqa protecting and liberating Venus? Which is more oppressive, this version or a naked Venus?

THE BEAUTY OF HISTORY

Petrina Hicks’ photograph might be thinking along the same lines as Aisha Khalid’s. Again, she is using well-known Venus imagery (associated most famously with Botticelli): the pink sea shell. In The Beauty of History a pale-skinned woman, with long blonde hair (which is behind her back), holds a large pink shell in front of her face – removing her identity from the image. Her completely smooth skin recalls the white of Classical sculpture. In this passport-like portrait, the pinkness, shininess, and shape of the shell (which would obviously not be permitted in a passport photo) stand in place of a fully nude image. Is the title The Beauty of History a little tongue-in-cheek?

Hicks uses Classical images and the notion of a male gaze in art to show us that being flawless is bland. The Beauty of History makes its subject inaccessible. She might be a Classical and Art historical ideal, but she isn’t seeable.

DOM PERIGNON BALLOON VENUS

Like our Venus de Milo with Drawers the Dom Pérignon Balloon Venus is both art and object. As The Beauty of History might highlight, she is possibly inaccessible as an image of femininity – but certainly not in a literal sense: made of polyurethane resin, she is a holder for Dom Pérignon champagne. In a way this is very fitting, considering what our Rubens painting pointed out.

The only difference between immortal Greece and contemporary times is Sigmund Freud, who discovered that the human body, purely platonic in the Greek epoch, is nowadays full of secret drawers that only psychoanalysis is capable to open. – Salvador Dalí, “The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí,” 1942.

Koons’ sculpture was commissioned to mark the release of a Millésime vintage 2003 Rosé and there are only 650 in existence. Lots of Koons’ work (like his 1980s Banality series) are known for turning banal items into high art icons, an inflatable Balloon Dog went on tour with Jay Z for example. Like the Roman emperors, Dom Pérignon understands the power of having Venus as a patron (as well as the fact that wine and love are a perfect pairing). Koons too is (in)famous for his shrewd money-making through art – earlier this year Rabbit broke the auction record for any living artist (a (w)hopping $9.1 million).

Dom Pérignon Balloon Venus handles the weight of Venus’ history in the art world and makes her into one of Koons’ balloon series (as well as into a piece of marketing). However, she is also part of Koons’ exploration of Antiquity, a series that he began in 2008 and which plays with motifs from the History of art. Koons based this commission on Venus of Willendorf, which is a Palaeolithic figurine. Apparently, the curves of the sculpture match the curvature of the Champagne’s flavors.

dailyartmagazine.com

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The exhibition was conceived with the idea of presenting the latest results of research into Šumanović’s connection with French culture and Paris’s international art scene at the Cultural Centre of Serbia. The exhibition is authored by Milana Kvas, manager of the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection.

The exhibited works included nine paintings and four drawings from the Gallery of Matica Srpska and eight drawings from the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection, as well as video animations of the paintings Luncheon on the Grass (Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection) and The Drunken Boat (Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade ), while the exhibition was complemented with the addition of a special video segment with important examples of Šumanović’s painting and works by his role models and contemporaries sourced from both public and private collections.

Completing the exhibition was the original authorial music of composer Andrija Pavlović. The exhibition’s video content was authored by Aleksandar Ilić, while its design and accompanying catalogue were entrusted to Veljko Damjanović.

With a focus on original works from the Gallery of Matica Srpska that were originally exhibited at the Autumn Salon and the Salon of the Independents in Paris, relations with orientations towards European realism on Paris’s art scene, as well as on Šumanović’s circle of friends and acquaintances, the standouts among whom included the likes of Rastko Petrović, André Lhote, Florent Fels and Kiki de Montparnasse, the exhibition at the Cultural Centre of Serbia presented Sava Šumanović in a new light as one of the most important Yugoslav artists on the cultural scene of the French capital.

Lectures by art historian Gordana Krstić Faj and screenings of films about Sava Šumanović were organized throughout the duration of the exhibition. A promotion of the publication Sava Šumanović and European Realism Between the Two World Wars, published in 2022 by the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection, was held on 23rd June to mark the culmination of the exhibition’s run. Providing an important contribution to the evaluating and interpreting of Šumanović’s work for future generations, this representative collection of works includes trilingual (in Serbian, English and French) published studies by prominent scientific and museum experts and art historians: Zvonko Maković, Lidija Merenik, Igor Borozan, Ana Ereš, Sofija Milenković, Gordana Krstić Faj, Tijana Palkovljević Bugarski, Milana Kvas and Tamara Ognjević. The fact that the contents of the publication are available in both French and English enables experts and the general public in France and elsewhere to better familiarise themselves with the important aspects of Šumanović’s creative oeuvre, which serve to show that his art, but also the Yugoslav cultural scene of the interwar period, participated equally in shaping Europe’s art scene.

The exhibition and promotion of the publication Sava Šumanović and European Realism Between the Two World Wars was realised under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, with the support of the AP Vojvodina Provincial Secretariat for Culture, Public Information and Relations with Religious Communities and the Novi Sad branch of the French Institute in Serbia.

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The painting, which had been given a guide price of 65 million pounds ($82.9 million), was sold after a tense 10-minute bidding war as auctioneer Helena Newman, Sotheby’s head of impressionist and modern art, eked out the final bids in half-million pound increments.

Described by Newman as a “technical tour de force, full of boundary-pushing experimentation, as well as a heartfelt ode to absolute beauty,” the painting titled “Dame mit Fächer” (“Lady with a Fan”) was still on an easel in Klimt’s studio when he died in February 1918.

“It was created when he was still in his artistic prime and brings together all the technical prowess and creative exuberance that define his greatest work,” she said.

Following a 10 min bidding battle between 4 bidders at #SothebysLondon, Gustav Klimt’s final masterpiece ‘Dame mit Fächer’ (Lady with a Fan) established a new auction record for Klimt and became the most valuable work of art ever sold at auction in Europe: https://t.co/pWguIRHn6d

— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) June 27, 2023

The fall of the hammer at 74 million pounds broke the tension, triggering a collective exhalation in the room and a round of applause. The total price includes fees.

The painting sold to a Hong Kong-based art advisory firm, bidding on behalf of a collector based there.

The previous highest price for a painting sold at auction in Europe was Claude Monet’s “Le Bassin Aux Nympheas” in 2008 at $80.4 million, while the record for any work of art sold at auction in Europe was set by Alberto Giacometti’s bronze “Walking Man I,” which went for $104.3 million in 2010.

Sotheby’s said the painting was one of a small number of Klimt’s portraits in private collections. It is now the most expensive Klimt artwork sold at auction anywhere in the world.

It was last offered for sale nearly 30 years ago, when it was acquired by the family of the present owner for $11.6 million, according to the auction house.

Source: reuters.com, Photo: Sotheby

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My works bear my artistic poetics; I use a combined technique to achieve different effects, while they’re given a stamp of identity by traditional values and a large dose of spirituality. My paintings are always new, and that moment when they surprise me evokes creative excitement in me. My personal artistic style is actually recognisable due to a kind of associative abstraction with glittering dust as a cosmic touch, which provides the picture with a flicker of light and life. There is no creation without energy, which is the driver of our thoughts, inspiring, never the same, sent from the Most High. It is built through work, lifting me up, and I lose track of time when creating my works. The passion with which I paint and create is innate, as is the intertwining energy. The act of painting is discovering the unknown, and that unknown excites and rejoices me.

In searching for one’s own expression, searching for an idea, man is always seeking self. By exhibiting in renowned galleries abroad, I received the opportunity for my works to become part of the collections of famous personalities, but also reputable institutions, and to thereby be an ambassador of my art and my country.

No realised wish can permanently satisfy a person. That’s why every new country and new continent where I’ve spent time just formed part of the mosaic that I’ve been piecing together over the years, absorbing new sounds, aromas, colours and customs, taking away a wonderful feeling of diversity, because it is our differences that make us alike!

In searching for one’s own expression, searching for an idea, man is always seeking self. By exhibiting in renowned galleries abroad, I received the opportunity for my works to become part of the collections of famous personalities, but also reputable institutions, and to thereby be an ambassador of my art and my country

I specialised in glass, as a medium to which I always return, at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town, South Africa, and at the University of Pretoria I also, in addition to exhibitions, lectured in the field of Byzantine art. The delicateness and transparency of glass and the filigree interweaving of gold and silver threads, alongside stylised elements taken from our tradition, contribute to making each piece unique and inimitable.

The concept of my auteur project SVETKOVINA represents the joy of life, the celebrating of love and togetherness, that which makes us happy as people. The amount of love one puts into what one creates, and the extent to which one gifts that to others, is very important. It was precisely the need to use beauty and joy to bring happiness to myself and the people around me that served as my inspiration for this exhibition and fashion show; that need a person has to love and, in creating works, celebrate that love. The collection of 65 fashion pieces, in which glamour is accentuated through the use of haute couture materials, together with sophisticated and sensual design, makes every woman special, giving her a sense of awareness of herself, her desires and aspirations. Glass, 65 pieces, hand-blown, brought from Czechia, partly of antique origin, hand-painted, unique, and 45 pictures, as the result of different moods, created with a combined technique of oil and acrylic, are unified by one shared personal style, one energy.

When an artist finishes a project and exhibits their works publicly, they have closed the circle and are already launching themselves into new challenges. A person’s reach must extend beyond their hands. Because otherwise what is the sky for?!

Foto: Vladimir Nešović

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The following list contains artists, some living and others not, who even during their busiest years as musicians managed to also create intriguing works of art during the 20th and 21st centuries. And even if these musicians are not your style of music, perhaps you will be able to enjoy their visual works.

1. DAVID BOWIE

The late great David Bowie was not only a superstar musician, but also an actor and visual artist. Below is just one of his many self-portraits.

2. MARILYN MANSON

Though his music and overall aesthetic may not be for everyone, the singer’s visual art is worth a view. The watercolour painting below resembles Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, and his face on the U.S. penny.

3. STEVIE NICKS

Upon hearing of her close friend’s leukemia diagnosis, Stevie Nicks created the painting below. Though her friend passed away not long after, Nicks has continued to inspire others with her visual artworks. The musician said: – I only draw angels. I started to draw when my best friend got Leukemia. And that’s what she’s left me.

4. SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY

One-quarter of the wildly popular and famous ‘fab four’ British band, The Beatles, Sir Paul McCartney is known for his song lyrics and voice. But did you know that the knighted Sir McCartney is also a prolific painter and visual artist? He stated that: – I thought I would love to paint, I thought it would be very liberating for me, I had got a lot of visual ideas. Furthermore, McCartney was not the only member of The Beatles who has dabbled in visual art. John Lennon enrolled at the Liverpool College of Art for a short period before diverting his energy to music full-time.

5. KURT COBAIN

The late Cobain created this painting, part of a larger series, that shows his mental state shortly before his untimely death at 27. His daughter and widow, Courtney Love, chose this painting for a posthumous album nearly two decades after the artist’s passing.

6. JONI MITCHELL

The painting below obviously nods to Vincent van Gogh’s own self-portrait, doesn’t it? With the swirling colors, thick brush strokes, and Mitchell gazing solemnly into the distance, it is a near sister match to Van Gogh’s. She explained: – I painted it around, I guess, 1993 when I met Don Freed [her boyfriend] — who’s the subject of some of these paintings in the show — for the first time. And he said, ‘How are you?’ And I said, ‘Undervalued.’…[M]y work was being rejected whereas mediocre work was being accepted and elevated on the basis of newness and youth and, you know, obvious mercantile speculation ran in that direction. So, rather than physically cut my ear off, I did it in effigy. I’m not that stupid.

7. BOB DYLAN

Dylan, described as one of the most influential and ground-breaking rock music artists in the past several decades, is also a visual artist, working in several different mediums. Dylan created a series of paintings dedicated to train tracks. It is a nod to the train motif found throughout his music. What other connections can be made between music and art? Are some people gifted with such artistic prowess that everything they touch turns to gold, in so many words? Whether a musician writes a song about an artwork or vice versa, there is a constantly flowing connection. The verdict is that the two areas of art and music reflect and inspire each other so often that the connection cannot be denied.

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When she was just a little girl, her singing tutor predicted that she would emulate the career of then famous opera singer Zinke Kunc, because she had such a wondrous voice that it was somehow natural for her to become an opera singer. That’s also what her mother and sister thought, but Bisera quickly fell in love with jazz and soul music and soon discovered American jazz singer Sarah Vaughn, who she never stopped loving and listening to. And it was all over for Verdi, Puccini and the rest. She had discovered music as love, as passion, as the only direction to determine her life.

“Music was, for me, a replacement for imagination; the notes carried me to a world of the most beautiful colours, to the blueness of the sea and the greenery of the grass. What I would give to be able to paint what I feel in music!”

She says that she was a poor pupil in school, in contrast to her older sister Senka, who was an excellent student who’d been exempted from taking the matriculation exam and completed her studies in economics. Bisera, in the meantime, was just looking to ensure she achieved a passing grade to advance to the next year.

“Since the time I first became aware of myself, only music existed for me. It still means everything to me today.”

The Veletanlić sisters inherited their talent from both parents.

“Both my mum and my dad sang beautifully. They sang Bosnian songs in the house, because my dad, Mehmed, who we nicknamed Meho, was originally from Bosnia, and they also sang Slovenian songs, because my mum, Rozalija, was originally Slovenian. We called her Rozika. I remembered how the four of us all sang my mother’s favourite song: ’A stone, another stone, turns in the water, only youth is mine, never to return.’”

Bisera is humorous, sometimes cynical in a refined way, and well intentioned, but she is above all an emotional person. You will struggle to coax her into talking about her own successes. And instead of her, it was one of her acquaintances from Belgrade who testified to me that, at the very beginning of her career, Bisera had sung in Germany, primarily in the clubs of American officers, where she wonderfully mastered her craft while working with exceptional musicians. One evening, that same Belgrader, who had been listening to Bisera and enjoying her song, was addressed by a black man, who said: “I hate her. I hate her because she sings and moves like a black woman!” And that was one of the greatest compliments she ever received.

Bisera has long been ranked among the best vocalists in the former Yugoslavia and across Europe. She’s also a distinctive individual whose career has been led by a choice of certain hit songs, setting high criteria for herself. Born in Zagreb, she grew up in Sarajevo and Sisak, then forged her career in Germany and Belgrade. That which she acquired in the home became enduring values.

Both my mum and my dad sang beautifully. They sang Bosnian songs in the house, because my dad, Mehmed, who was nicknamed Meho, was originally from Bosnia, and they also sang Slovenian songs, because my mum, Rozalija, was originally Slovenian

“The way I was raised in the home is also reflected in my life today. It was a classic upbringing that my parents instilled in me and my sister Senka. There are moments from our shared life that I will always remember: on Sundays, we all sat together at the table for lunch and to talk. My parents were pure people, and I mean pure on the inside, because it’s a given that they were clean on the outside. That was passed on to us and we thank them for that. Regardless of how much that doesn’t matter today, sounding dull and naïve to some, sometimes even ridiculous, I’m delighted that I was raised by such pure and honest people, and that I am the way I am. I’m a happy and wealthy person who had parents of differing religions who loved each other in Zagreb, had two daughters, and gave them wonderful names. I am proud of them and of the upbringing I received from them. No matter how difficult it has been to live in accordance with my own principles over recent decades, I haven’t abandoned that which represented my life and artistic choice. Fortunately, I have wonderful friends in Belgrade with whom I have great mutual understanding and with whom I share similar emotions.”

Just as she remembers Sunday lunches, so she also recalls summer holidays with her parents. And one holiday in particular:

“I went to the seaside with my mother, who took her pupils to Zaostrog [a Dalmatian resort town].

A seamstress made me a new bathing suit. In that same Zaostrog, at the same time, my sister was also having her summer holiday. On one occasion, my mother and I sat on the shore and watched Senka surrounded by friends, she was beautiful. The boys were teased her and at one point pushed her from the jetty into the water. I ran, leapt over the jetty and jumped in to save my sister, who actually knew how to swim. But I didn’t know how to swim. I slammed into the water like a stone, sank to the bottom and floated back to the surface. And that was how I learnt to swim.”

Her parents didn’t make announcements about what vocations they wanted their daughters to choose, though Bisera assumes that, like most other parents, they wanted their children to be doctors or something similar in the domain of secure professions. They didn’t remonstrate later, but at the time they weren’t exactly thrilled that both of their daughters had chosen to be singers. Bisera knew immediately after completing economics secondary school that she wouldn’t go on to study at university, because that would just mean wasting time when she was someone who had already chosen her life’s calling.

“I’m surprised I even completed school, given how much I used to skip classes. I would flee school, go to the banks of the river Kupa, play a small transistor radio that I got, blaring music, lying on the grass, with no one to see me… The whole world was mine!

“There was a popular radio show during those years called ‘Mikrofon je vaš’ [the microphone is yours], which provided talented young singers throughout the then Yugoslavia with a chance. When they arrived in Sisak, I signed up and sang, and choose nothing less than the Lullaby of Birdland [a jazz standard]. I was only capable of singing the chorus in English, but beyond that it was difficult to understand what I wanted to say. Listening to me was famous composer and conductor Miljenko Prohaska, who praised my musicality, but the language in which I’d sung was unclear to him!”

Despite her English then being ‘a little strange’, Bisera nonetheless won!

She opted for the more difficult path from the very start of her artistic career, belonging to a strong minority without whom top musical values would not have been created.

“I simply wasn’t interested in anything other than music. I was, and remain, a lover of sound, of music, and for me there was no pursuit of monetary wealth, trucks, houses… I wouldn’t have known what to do with all that. Of course, I have nothing against money, on the contrary, but I’m not one of those who will do anything to get money. While I remain alive, may things stay as they are today. For me to live with mental and spiritual wealth. That is the only wealth that makes a person truly diligent and eminent.”

The borders of Yugoslavia used to be illustratively described as extending from Triglav [the Slovenian mountain] to Đevđelija [the North Macedonian town of Gevgelija]. When Bisera became a measure of value in the domain of popular music from Triglav to Đevđelija, one TV Belgrade director wittily composed the success formula for every programme on domestic television, stating: “You must have Bisera, a cartoon and a BBC broadcast.”

Bisera was highly rated as a vocal soloist from the earliest days of her career, but not as much as she deserved. It was only after applying for a fourth time that she received the national recognition awarded when worthy artists become eligible for a state pension, with that additional monthly income popularly referred to as the national pension. She received a lifetime achievement award at the 2017 Nišville jazz festival in the Serbian city of Niš, while she’s also received two major awards over the last year: the lifetime achievement award of the Association of Jazz, Pop and Rock Musicians of Serbia, which was presented to her by jazz musician Jovan Maljković, the award’s previous laureate. Speaking at the time, he said that Bisera was the greatest singer he’d ever met.

No matter how difficult it has been to live in accordance with my own principles over recent decades, I haven’t abandoned that which represented my life and artistic choice

The second recent accolade is the Special Award of the Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment for her enduring contribution to the musical life of Belgrade. She received the award from new director of Kolarac Aleksandar Peković, who noted that Bisera is an outstanding artist who has had an extraordinary and lengthy career and has done a lot for the city and country with her music, especially for the temple of music and art that is Kolarac.

“I didn’t receive anything for 20 years, then I got two awards in one year. And I got scared. I thought about how they might be expecting me to depart soon, so they did something nice for me. These kinds of accolades would have meant much more to me if I had received them when I was at the peak of my career, when there was no end to my creativity. That would then have served as proof that my time and work were valued. No matter how much a lot of people didn’t understand what I was doing, they nonetheless felt what I wanted to say. But awards were lacking when I really deserved them.”

Bisera’s concerts and music tours are for musical gourmets, for connoisseurs, and they are worth remembering. She first learnt her craft in Germany and made three guest appearances in the countries of the former USSR, where singers from Yugoslavia would go to earn money, but in order to do so they would also try to butter up the audience to the max by singing songs that were originally in English or Serbian in the Russian language. However, Bisera didn’t butter up the audiences.

“I sang for them what I would ordinarily sing; I sang English, sang songs by Elton John and domestic compositions. And I went down exceptionally well.”

Still, a special illustration of her emotional charge was provided by the 2007 concerts that were held in honour of formerly very popular and beloved Yugoslav rock band Indexi. Those concerts were first held in Sarajevo and Zagreb, then in Novi Sad and Belgrade. Just remembering that time presents the danger that her blood pressure will spike and her eyes will water.

“After the war, that 2007 was the first time that I found myself in Sarajevo again. I arrived with terrible jitters, with images from 20 years earlier combining, emotions, scenes from the ‘90s passing through my head, I encountered some people who I hadn’t seen for such a long time. Accompanied by Bata Kovač on the piano, on the bass was Fadil, who had been in Indexi, and I sang Jutro će promijeniti sve [Morning Will Change Everything], which was a favourite song that was originally sung by Davorin Popović. While we were rehearsing that day for the evening’s concert at Zetra [an arena in Sarajevo], the music of Indexi was playing constantly. At one point, all of us, as many as there were of us, all hugged and started crying because we were hurting to heaven. And Davorin was looking down on us from heaven and his voice resounded. When the time came for me to head out on stage that evening, I filled myself up with all the necessary pills – for pressure, for nerves, for the heart… I appeared, bowed to the audience, and a shriek arose. I didn’t raise my head, keeping it bowed to the floor, because I felt myself starting to cry. And I start swearing at myself in the ghastliest way, to calm myself, and the applause didn’t stop. I somehow pull myself together and start singing. And when I sang, chaos erupted.”

With Vasil on stage, my blood cells work, I enjoy myself with him and his band. They are talented, educated, hardworking and I say they are gentlemen musicians

The Belgrade audience also presented a great sense of trepidation for Bisera for many years. She’d previously never had a solo concert in the city where she spent most of her life, and she especially had never performed at the Sava Centre, as she did that evening when she sang in honour of Indexi. And it ended up better than she could have even imagined. The audience gave her a standing ovation that seemed to never end. It was then that composer Kornelija Bata Kovač, who represented the integral spirit of Indexi, testified to me that, of all the concerts on that unforgettable tour, Bisera gave her best performance at that Sava Centre concert.

Today, less than a year after the death of this composer who left Bisera with some of her most beautiful and popular songs – Milo moje, Zlatni dan [My Dear, Golden Day] – Bisera can’t hold back the tears at the very mention of Bata Kovač’s name.

“It was tough for me to get over his parting. Very tough. He was a beautiful being. People like Bata are inimitable. Everything I would say about him is insufficient. I loved him like a brother, and he loved me, he was married to his wonderful wife Snežana, who pampered and looked after him like a baby. Unfortunately, he is no longer with us, and I will sing his songs for as long as I continue singing.”

Bisera also appeared as an actress in famous TV series Grlom u jagode [The Unpicked Strawberries]. Director Srđan Karanović had imagined her specifically playing the role of the girl with whom the main character, Bane Bumbar, would lose his virginity! And later again, when shooting the film Sjaj u očima [Loving Glances], precisely twenty years ago, Karanović invited Bisera to sing the film’s title composition and to act in one episode, as charmingly as only she can.

People forget about you even when you live here, and especially if you don’t. When you reach an age at which you’re less active, they simply strike you off. But that’s who we are: we aren’t capable of appreciating what we have, or of cultivating values

“The reason this exceptional Điđa film didn’t go down as well as it deserved among audiences was due to the fact that it is so beautiful, humane, tender, so pleasant and made with such high art, devoid of swear words and cheap stunts and gags. That film is a precise illustration of what I’ve said about the music that I love and that I don’t abandon.”

Her concerts over the last twenty years would have been unimaginable without the accompaniment of her nephew, composer and pianist Vasil Hadžimanov, and his band.

“He is my nephew without whom everything would be empty. When I say empty, I mean my singing accompanied by someone else who would be correct, but that wouldn’t be “it”. With Vasil on stage, my blood cells work, I enjoy myself with him and his band. They are talented, educated, hardworking and I say they are gentlemen musicians. Vasil will have a Kolarac concert with the RTS big band in June.”

There was a spot in Belgrade during the 1990s called ‘Plato’ [Plateau], in the area between the Faculty of Philosophy and the Faculty of Philology, where audience would come to listen to Bisera and Vasil’s band. Those were evenings that were awaited eagerly, with all spots filled, tickets having sold out in advance.

“There’s that slogan that something is attractive to audiences from the ages of seven to seventy-seven. Those evenings at the Plateau were intended for audiences aged from seven to ninety-seven. Every time when I would sing, some young people would come and beg me to go to the foyer of the college so that they could show me how they sing; for me to listen to them and tell them what to do. During the concert’s break, they would approach my table and overwhelm me with questions. They wanted to talk about music. I also recall some young female professors from the faculty also came, and we would socialise and chat. That was the dark ‘90s and yet we somehow held ourselves together, actually we were held together by the music.”

It is interesting to listen to Bisera talking about the world music scene, when she, for instance, describes the greatness of Stevie Wonder or so wisely interprets how Madonna gained worldwide fame.

“She is an example of someone who had had a wondrous career and didn’t deserve it. I knew she was a bad singer, but I only realised how bad a singer she really is after the Wembley concert where she sang live with Sting and the backing vocalists accompanying her. She really didn’t know where she was or what she was singing, and these people were playing and singing, masterfully of course, which only served to emphasise her ignorance even more. But I take my hat off to her for creating an institution out of nothing. She is proof that, in this business, when you’re capable, you don’t even need to know how.”

It was tough for me to get over the parting of Bata Kovač. Very tough. He was a beautiful being. People like Bata are inimitable. Everything I would say about him is insufficient. I loved him like a brother, and he loved me

Bisera has spent her entire life avoiding public places and scandals of any kind. She has only spoken to the media when she’s had a good professional reason to do so. She jokingly calls herself a free and prominent artist without a job.

Many people, even journalists, thought for years that she was somewhere else in the world; that she no longer lived here.

“People forget about you even when you live here, and especially if you don’t. When you reach an age at which you’re less active, they simply strike you off. I read how they wrote about great jazz musician Duško Gojković. I knew him personally and worked with him. He was a big name in the world of music, he performed with the best, but nobody cared about that while he was alive, and he didn’t live here but rather in Germany. Now that he has left this world, they write about him and seem to marvel in wonder at his biography. As if they are wondering whether it was really true. But that’s who we are: we aren’t capable of appreciating what we have, or of cultivating values.”

With an awareness of how uncertain a stake in life emotions are, Bisera doesn’t abandon hers, because they are the most secure link that she has with the music to which she has become attached. She shows them with her family and close friends, and once also showed emotions towards an unknown man, as was the case with assassinated Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić:

“I was invited to sing at some ceremony when he was already prime minister. We said our farewells and I gave him a big hug because I felt like he was one of my own. That was my only closer encounter with politics, with a politician. Zoran Đinđić was unique and special.”

Apart from music, Bisera has had another affinity for the past few decades: painting. She has had several solo exhibitions, and her paintings have been reviewed by writer and translator Silvija Monros Stojaković, who wrote: “Bisera is the only one who still endures from the bygone times of the pioneers of local music that is neither literally folk music nor the subsequent sociological phenomenon of turbo-folk. She is an original artist who is consistent to herself. That, among other things, is why she sometimes doesn’t sing… Periods without singing can sometimes last an eternity with this resplendent and enduring artist of ours, meaning she also resists…And when she can’t pour her colours into a song, Bisera will grab a canvas.”

Whatever she turns her hand to, Bisera turns it into a work of art. Just as her name is of Arabic origin, she is a synonym for something that’s the brightest, the most precious, the most beautiful.

The post Everything She Touches Turns To Art appeared first on CorD Magazine.

Additionally, we have gathered some works that carry with them technical and historical curiosities that we sought to demonstrate, such as the importance of the dog in the scene. Here are four paintings with popular breeds in the old days:

1. BRUSSELS GRIFFON BY JAN VAN EYCK

This is considered Jan van Eyck’s masterpiece due to the very innovative techniques he used at the time. Particularly, besides demonstrating a great work of perspective and accentuating secondary planes, the work is characterized by having several elements enriched in detail. As a result, these elements collaborate with the narrative of the scene which stimulated several theories about its representation.

The use of bright colors in the painting also accentuates the social aspect. The depiction of textures is so realistic we can practically feel the fabrics present in the image, such as the couple’s clothes and the hair of the dog at their feet.

THE WARM WELCOME OF A DOG

This particular dog would be an early form of the Brussels Griffon (or Griffon Bruxellois) When we see a dog in a painting, we always try to guess which breed it is. Motivated by this curiosity we have selected some works that show representations of different breeds of dogs in famous paintings. breed, a dog typically bred for hunting rats. Nowadays, we know this breed in a different way from what we see in this picture. Even so, due to the excellence achieved by Van Eyck, we can practically feel the animal alive in the painting.

The dog in this scene opens the door of the house of this newly married couple to us. Consequently, the dog demonstrates, as well as the objects of the house, comfort and tenderness. The dog also brings life to the picture and demonstrates fidelity.

Another interesting element that contributes to different interpretations is the Latin writing around the mirror. It says that the painter was present in this engagement scene. This mirror holds a surprise though, we are able to see the painter’s reflection as well as another witness in the mirror. Practically a 15th-century cinematographer!

Jan van Eyck holds a crucial role in the history of art because his works marked the end of the medieval era. This is due to the development of techniques and accuracy in realistic painting, but he is also called an inventor of oil painting.

2. SPANISH MASTIFF BY DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ

In 1656, reaching the maturity of his work, Diego Velázquez made his masterpiece, Las Meninas. He was able to capture the composition in a harmonic way. Therefore the effect of his brushstrokes creates the illusion of realism and lifelike representation of his subjects, even before photography.

This picture has eleven characters, among them the painter himself. The scene captivates us due to its size (320.5 cm x 281.5 cm), the perspective, and the numerous actions occurring. There are several narratives that are taking place within this painting.

In its foreground, we have Infanta Margaret Theresa, the firstborn of kings, and the court beside her. Her position leads us to believe that Velazquez is painting a portrait of the young noblewoman.

However, looking deeper into the composition and other details are apparent. In the background there is a mirror next to Velázquez, reflecting two heads. Through it, we discover that the painter is producing a portrait of the king and queen.

THE DOG AS PROTECTOR AND GUARDIAN

We deduce then, that everyone we see is there because of the king and queen’s order, maybe even to entertain them from the tiresome task of posing for the portrait. The presence of the two dwarfs, who are around the dog, affirms this.

This dog is a Spanish Mastiff, a symbol of loyalty and protection. Native to Spain, it is able to protect everything and anyone in its charge. This breed was used for shepherding cattle too.

REPRESENTATION AND CLAIM

The artist exuberantly records a moment of daily life in court, while also having the audacity to portray himself on a court canvas. This suggests to us that the painter is claiming the nobility of his profession and his art. This is because, at this time in Spain, painting was still considered an activity subject to taxes like any other artisan.

Las Meninas captures in a unique way, not only the scene but the spirit of an epoch and all the expressiveness of its creator. The effect of his work allows the imagination to suggest and complete his work, a technique that will be contemplated by the impressionists in Paris in the 19th century.

This incredible work by Jan Steen portrays the story of Esther from the first testament of the Bible. Steen was a Dutch painter of the Dutch Golden Age. His works often portray animated scenes.

This biblical passage concerns the marriage of Esther, who was a Jew, to the king of Persia, Ahasuerus. He fell in love with her because of her extraordinary beauty, unaware of her religion.

Meanwhile, Haman, the chief minister of King Ahasuerus, planned to annihilate the Jews within the Persian Empire. She then prepared a banquet to expose Haman to the king and came out triumphant. This picture captures the exact moment of accusation.

In the Rococo period, it was common to record mythological and biblical stories. However, we can observe different characteristics in the Baroque style in the Netherlands from the countries to the south. As a result, their paintings are marked above all by humorous scenes and festivities. Besides, aspects familiar to everyday life and customs in Holland enriched the details of this painting. These include the composition of the still life, china, and furniture.

THE DOG IN THE SCENE

In the lower right corner, at Esther’s feet, we find the portrait of a dog in the Spaniel family. It perhaps has its origin in the Iberian Peninsula. This breed is also very popular among royalty today. Initially, its function was as a hunting companion, to catch and retrieve the birds that their owners hunted.

4. POITOU OR SAINTONGE BY COURBET

If Vélazquez, in portraying himself in a royal picture, followed all the protocols of respect for those who subsidized his craft, Gustav Courbet‘s daring goes further in The Meeting or Bonjour Monsieur Courbet, almost 200 years later.

The painter was the main icon of Realism in 1855. He opened a solo exhibition in Paris called: Le Réalisme, G. Courbet. The painter proposed a realism that was different from what academic art was accustomed to. It was guided by the search for truth in representation and not beauty alone.

Specifically, with regard to this painting, it did not have intricate arrangements, but rather simple lines and colors as well as a routine situation that does not portray anything sophisticated.

Here, what we see is nothing more than the reality of the situation itself; a painter walking with all his work tools meeting a bourgeois and his companions, a countryman (probably his servant, due to his position and the carriage standing in the background with four horses) and his dog.

THE DOG AS AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT FOR THE SCENE

This bourgeois was a friend and sponsor of Courbet’s works, Alfred Bruyas. Being represented with his dog, a Poitou (also Poitevin hound) or Saintonge (also Gascon Saintongeois), reinforces his class. The dog is brilliantly and luminously rendered, showing us that it is a dog with a pedigree. Besides being a hunting dog, the animal is also a symbol of loyalty and protection.

If we pay a little more attention to the picture, we have very interesting observations beyond its realistic “simplicity”. We see that the painter is in the foreground of the painting. The sun shines on him since he is the only one who is not under the shade of the tree. This was an innovative detail in painting the behavior of light outside.

The two men are in the second plane, under the shade of the tree. In the third plane, the shade covers only a part of the dog’s body. They have all removed their hats in the form of a greeting.

The servant and boss are very well dressed. The boss is completely upright while the servant has his head down to show subordination. Courbet, despite his simple attire, holds a staff, affirming his position in this encounter. ART AND RESISTANCE When we find the three characters so disposed, we realize that the painter is legitimizing his own craft and his position – like Vélazquez – that he would not be submissive to the tastes of the bourgeoisie to exercise his craft. The dog by directing his gaze back to him legitimizes the honesty of his work. These details show the boldness of Coubert behind his realism. The impression he conveys in his paintings is, above all, a protest to the customs of his time and to shock the bourgeois. He would not give up his beliefs so that the value of his artistic sincerity would be accepted.

dailyartmagazine.com

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LUISA ROLDÁN

Luisa Roldán was born in 1652, in Seville, Spain. She is the first documented female sculptor in Spain. Unfortunately, she is one of the lesserknown great women sculptors. In 1688, she moved to Madrid and a few years later she became the Court Sculptor to Habsburg King Charles II. Despite her position in the palace, Roldán faced serious financial problems and died in poverty. She created religious sculptures for churches in the Baroque style. She also made small terracotta works that were popular in the lower social and working classes of Spain. EDMONIA LEWIS Edmonia Lewis was born in 1844 to an African American father and a Native American mother. Sadly both of them passed away while she was still very young. In the 1860s, Lewis managed to attend Oberlin College for a few years. She was awfully mistreated there though. She was accused of theft and poisoning her classmates. Using this accusation as an excuse, a mob attacked her and beat her savagely. Lewis was brought to trial where she proved her innocence.

A while later, she went to Boston to pursue sculpture. Her first celebrated work was a medallion bearing the head of abolitionist John Brown. However, she flourished and became popular when she went to Rome. Lewis found the inspiration for her sculptures in the Emancipation Proclamation, Native American culture, and biblical stories.

GERTRUDE VANDERBILT WHITNEY

Born in 1875, Whitney was an American sculptor, art patron, collector, and founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York in 1931. In the early 1900s, she visited Europe where she was fascinated by the burgeoning art scene. Specifically, the artistic feast of Montmarte and Montparnasse encouraged her to become a sculptor.

Although she created small sculptures too, she became known for her monumental ones. By 1910, Whitney was exhibiting her works publicly under her own name and won several prizes. Also, World War I had a huge impact on her art, as she served as a nurse in France. Despite the fact that she was one of the great women sculptors of her time, her work was sometimes overshadowed by her role as an art patron. AUGUSTA SAVAGE Augusta Savage was born in 1892. She was first married at the age of 15 and one year later she had her first child. However, that didn’t stop her from becoming a sculptor. She managed to get into the Cooper Union in New York, where she impressed her teachers and graduated one year earlier than usual. Her hard-earned fellowships brought her to Paris.

She gained her reputation through her extraordinary skills and perseverance. During the 1930s, Savage opened her own art school back in Harlem. Moreover, she became the first director of the Harlem Community Art Center. She also became the first African American elected to the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. Augusta Savage’s best-known sculpture is Gamin, a bust of a young African American boy wearing a rumpled shirt and a cap.

LOUISE BOURGEOIS

Louise Bourgeois was a French-American artist, born in 1911. She was best known for her large-scale sculptures and installation art. Her most common themes were domesticity, sexuality, mortality, and the unconscious. They were all connected to her childhood.

In 1930, Bourgeois was in Sorbonne studying mathematics. Two years later her mother passed away. Unable to cope with her loss, Bourgeois left math and began studying art as a therapeutic outlet. Over the years she exhibited with the Abstract Expressionists and her art had much in common with Surrealism and Feminist Art. However, she was never formally associated with any artistic movement.

YAYOI KUSAMA

Not much is left to be said about this phenomenal artist. Born in Japan in 1922, she soon became one of the world’s great artists. Yayoi Kusama works primarily in sculpture and installation art. Her work is based on conceptual art but has strong elements of feminism, Minimalism, Art Brut, Pop Art, and Abstract Expressionism.

Kusama usually infuses her artworks with autobiographical, psychological, and sexual content. Her original training was in nihonga, a Japanese traditional painting style. However, her major inspiration was Abstract Expressionism. She actually moved to New York, where she rapidly became one of the most prominent artists of the avant-garde and remains so today.

NIKI DE SAINT PHALLE

Another great woman sculptor that needs no introduction. Briefly, she was born in 1930 to a traditional family in a town outside of Paris. She started creating art in order to express her discontent with the conservative life she had fallen into. At the age of 18, she married her first husband, Harry Matthews. However, she couldn’t cope with the expectations and obligations of the conservative domestic life. That subsequently lead her to have a nervous mental breakdown. Niki de Saint Phalle turned to paint for therapy. She spent a decade experimenting and developing the Shooting Paintings. In the 1960s, she explored the archetypal role of women, creating a series of sculptures named Nanas. They were papier-mâché, yarn, wool, and wire and constituted the women of the new age. In 1979, she created her largest project, the Tarot Garden, in Tuscany: multiple female sculptures represented the figures of the tarot cards.

CHRYSSA

Chryssa is a famous Greek sculptor. She was born in 1933 in Athens and she studied art at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris and at the California School of Fine Arts in San Fransisco. In 1955, she moved to New York. She was deeply inspired by the signs and symbols of the mass communications of modern life.

In the 1960s, she developed her most wellknown trademark, the use of illuminated neon tubes in different shapes and colors. They were a reference to the radiance of the billboards. Through a variety of mediums and techniques, she created compositions with “emblematic ideograms and allusions to ancient Greece, Byzantium, the female personality”.

DORIS SALCEDO

Another contemporary female sculptor worth mentioning, Doris Salcedo was born in 1958 in Bogota, Colombia. Her sculptures “embody the silenced lives of the marginalized, from individual victims of violence to the disempowered of the Third World”. Although her works are mournful, they are not memorials. Salcedo materializes the absence, the oppression, and the gap between the weak and the powerful.

Her sculptures are abstract and open to interpretation since they are testimonies of victims and perpetrators. However, she does not work alone. She works in a collective along with architects, engineers, assistants, and even victims of brutal acts. Salcedo tells her personal story through her art. Members of her own family were among those who disappeared in the politically troubled Colombia.

JANINE ANTONI

Janine Antoni was born in 1964 in the Bahamas. Her work “blurs the distinction between performance art and sculpture”. This is because her primary tool is her own body. She uses her mouth, hair, eyelashes, and even her brain through technological scanning. Antoni concentrates on showing the process between the making and the finished work. Also, she is another woman sculptor who often addresses feminist ideas.

Source: dailyartmagazine.com

The post 10 Great Women Sculptors You Should Know appeared first on CorD Magazine.

Painters have been fascinated with different aspects of winter throughout history. During the Middle Ages, artists mainly focused on depicting specific winter works or natural changes. Impressionist painters focused more on reflections of light on snow. There was something specific in winter paintings in any period in history, so here you can find different artworks to show you some of the most beautiful winter-themed paintings.

1. GUSTAVE CAILLEBOTTE: VIEW OF ROOFTOPS (EFFECT OF SNOW)

We’re starting with the work of the French Impressionist painter Gustave Caillebotte, showing Paris in winter. Caillebotte wasn’t only a painter but also one of the first artists who started experimenting with photography as an art form. Perhaps this can explain the unusual perspective of this painting. With numerous shades of grey, he painted the roofs of the Montmartre neighbourhood in Paris. And managed to capture the month of December in the French capital perfectly. You can almost feel the cold through this winter-themed painting, right?

2. PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER: THE HUNTERS IN THE SNOW

In his artwork, Bruegel painted a group of hunters returning to the village with their dogs. The painter included much symbolism in it, too. For example, there are rabbit footprints in the snow in front of the hunters. Showing the animal who escaped them, the painter is almost teasing them for their unsuccessful hunt. Even more interesting than the main topic of hunters is the landscape – something relatively new in the art of that time. Bruegel here showed the traditional architecture of the Flemish village with a church at its centre.

3. CLAUDE MONET: TRAIN IN THE SNOW OR THE LOCOMOTIVE

Claude Monet painted this painting in 1875 at the Argenteuil railway station. He painted quite a few scenes with trains, almost as he was fascinated with them. Observing the texture is something especially interesting when in front of the Impressionist painting. It seems as there is no light on this painting. Monet painted both the snow and the sky with grim shades of grey. People looking like the black shadows could almost be misplaced for the black tree branches shown at the right-hand side. Although the cold could almost be felt through it, the painting has a certain cosiness.

4. VINCENT VAN GOGH: LANDSCAPE WITH SNOW

There aren’t many winter-themed paintings in Van Gogh’s work. So, his Landscape with snow comes a bit as a surprise. However, although he painted a winter landscape here, it’s not as gloomy as some other paintings with winter as their theme.

His sky is blue, and it almost looks as if some sunshine will soon appear on it. Shades of green, yellow and brown are depicted on the field. Perhaps, Van Gogh showed the beginning of the spring here?

5. WOUTER JOHANNES VAN TROOSTWIJK: THE RAAMPOORTJE IN AMSTERDAM

Although at first glance, this painting may seem older than it is, it was actually made at the beginning of the 19th century, in 1809. The painter captured winter in Amsterdam perfectly. All of that is typical for the Dutch capital, from the gloomy sky to the frozen canals. In the manner of the Dutch Golden Age painters from the 17th century, a painter also includes some humour in the painting. A man is urinating just next to the city gates. A lady close to him looks as if she’s waiting for him to finish his business. Well, it seems like just the other everyday-life scene from Amsterdam.

6. CLAUDE MONET: HAYSTACKS (EFFECT OF SNOW AND SUN)

Claude Monet was utterly impressed by snow. He could play with colours, reflections and textures so well while painting it. Monet is again using so many different colours to show the whiteness of snow. We recognise shades of yellow, ocher, blue, pink, purple etc. His shadows are not grey either. Instead, he uses purple to show the darker areas of the painting. It’s fascinating how, although his motive is white, and we recognise Monet’s theme and snow immediately, there is no white colour in this painting. Instead, he’s using all those pastel colours to show the winter day and the soft light of the golden hour.

7. PAUL LIMBOURG: FEBRUARY

These kinds of calendar images were trendy during the Middle Ages. They often represent labours of the month and peasants busy with the work in the field. Or, aristocrats hunting and enjoying some other leisure activities typical for that time of the year. It’s the same with our picture, representing the month of February. On the upper part of the image, we can see the calendar and the zodiac signs – showing Aquarius and Pisces. Below it is the peasants busy with work typical for winter.

One of them is cutting down a tree with an axe. We can also see birds in the garden eating seeds. However, exciting activity is happening inside the house, as well. It seems as if people are warming up their arms and legs. However, some of them don’t wear their underpants. Although nudity may seem unusual for a religious book, surprisingly, it wasn’t that uncommon back in that time.

8. UTAGAWA KUNIYOSHI: NICHIREN IN SNOW AT TSUKAHARA

Japanese artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi was a son of the silk-dyer and one of the last 19th-century masters of woodblock printing. Although the composition may look purely decorative, Utagawa depicts a part of the important historical story in this winter landscape. This print is a part of the series Sketches of the Life of the Great Priest. Nichiren, a Buddhist priest from the 13th century, is walking through the snow. His surroundings show Sado Island, where he was exiled between 1271 and 1274.

9. PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR: SKATERS IN THE BOIS DE BOULOGNE

Renoir was one of the most famous French Impressionist painters, wellknown for his paintings celebrating sensual women. So, this winter landscape painted in 1868 stands out a bit among his work. Actually, the urban legend says he couldn’t stand winter and cold, and he wasn’t painting outside during the wintertime. Thus making this painting one of his rare landscapes with snow. The colours on the painting are pretty unusual for him. We’re used to the vibrant pastel colours in his artworks. However, this one almost seems black and white. Unlike how Claude Monet painted snow in his paintings, Renoir primarily uses white and shades of grey. Most of the people in his picture are wearing black clothes, contrasting with the white snow.

10. CLAUDE MONET: SNOW AT ARGENTEUIL

In his Snow at Argenteuil, Claude Monet uses soft pastel blue and purple shades, making this painting so delicate. With his brushstrokes of blue, purple and peach, he’s creating a texture of soft snow. One can almost hear the squeaky sound of passers-by walking through the deep snow. But he’s not stopping with the brilliant texture usage there. With the fine lines and the way he’s pulling the brush, we can feel the wind current and the movement of the thin layer of clouds.

11. LUCAS VAN VALCKENBORCH: WINTER LANDSCAPE WITH SNOW NEAR ANTWERP

Lucas van Valckenborch’s painting looks more like an illustration with his pastel and light colours, especially light blue. However, he’s not making it a dreamy fairy tale as Claude Monet did on one of the winter landscapes we saw previously. Quite the contrary, he includes numerous details in his painting. Each group of passers-by are involved in a different story, from the group of people warming their hands next to the fire to the group of boys occupied by a game that looks like ice hockey.

12. ANTON GENBERG: AFTERNOON MOOD

In his painting, Anton Genberg used different shades of grey to show the texture of the snow. From the lighter shade of grey, that’s almost white, in the foreground, to the dark grey colour used to show the layer of snow covering the mountains in the background. He showed the texture and sledges marks in the snow with distinctive brush strokes. He also used texture to paint the clouds. However, in that part of the painting, he applied more of a yellow colour, showing the sunshine behind the clouds.

13. PAUL SIGNAC: BOULEVARD DE CLICHY

Boulevard de Clichy is a famous street in Paris. Today, it’s the most recognised as home to Moulin Rouge. However, during the second half of the 19th century, it was a lively place and often a motif to Impressionist and first modern painters living in Paris. It was also home to Le Tambourin Cafe, where many of those painters met and talked about art. So, it’s no surprise Paul Signac chose it for his lovely winter scene. He painted it in 1886, and it’s a perfect example of a new style he’s starting to develop – Divisionism.

14. HENDRICK AVERCAMP: WINTER LANDSCAPE WITH ICE SKATERS

Avercamp used a bit of muted colours to show the depth of space. And soft grey and ocher to paint the light of a winter day. He also depicted the frozen river, something quite typical for the 17th-century winter in the Netherlands. However, his focus on this winter landscape isn’t nature itself, but rather the people ice skating. He’s showing people from all kinds of backgrounds – from rich to poor. Some of them enjoy ice skating and fun winter activities. On the other hand, the poor are just trying to survive.

15. PAUL GAUGUIN: WINTER LANDSCAPE

Contrary to his later paintings, in which he used intense colours, often in contrast, this painting seems almost monochromatic.

Paul Gauguin uses shades of grey, blue, brown, and green. With that colour palette, he’s perfectly capturing the coldness of a winter day. The overall feel we’re getting from this painting is a cold tranquillity. Trees are bare without any foliage on them. And although we could recognise houses, no light or movement is happening around them. Everything stands still in this winter-themed painting.

16. WALTER MORAS: SLEDDING ON A SUNNY DAY

Although everything is covered with snow, this is not one of those grey sombre winter days. Quite the opposite, there is much blue colour in the snow (instead of grey, as in many paintings we saw before). We can also see the sunshine and feel the brightness of the day. Moras painted one of those beautiful winter days you just want to spend outside. Children are playing and enjoying winter activities. The detail of two boys sledging brings movement in this rather still winter landscape.

17. JACOB VAN RUISDAEL: WINTER LANDSCAPE

In his Winter Landscape, Ruisdael includes a few motifs typical for the Netherlands – windmills, a frozen canal and a woman dressed in traditional Dutch clothes from the 17th century. During that time, Dutch painters looked for the motif that symbolised the Netherlands in their landscape paintings. They soon found it in a cloudy sky. To show it, Ruisdael has a low horizon in his painting, so he can stress that dark cloudy, typical Dutch sky. He’s using muted and darker colours to show the winter mood in the Netherlands.

18. PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER: THE CENSUS AT BETHLEHEM

Pieter Bruegel painted The Census at Bethlehem in 1566. It’s quite a particular painting for us because it’s one of the first in art history, with a large portion dedicated to the winter landscape. Bruegel has set up the Biblical scene in a contemporary environment. We can see Mary and Joseph in the middle of the 16thcentury Flemish village. However, gabled houses and typical Belgian architecture don’t quite belong to it.

19. CAMILLE PISSARRO: ROAD TO VERSAILLES AT LOUVECIENNES (THE SNOW EFFECT)

Camille Pissarro is a Danish-French painter and one of the founders and most famous Impressionist painters. In 1869 he moved to the suburbs of Paris, to Louveciennes. As many Impressionist painters did, he chose one motif and painted it numerous times in different seasons and times of the day. His one was the road to Versailles, the one he painted in this winter-themed painting. Like some other Impressionist winter paintings we already saw, Pissarro depicts the winter with soft brushstrokes and pastel colours. All the houses are painted with a subtle ochre colour. They are making a nice balance with the darker bare trees around them.

20. CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH: THE SEA OF ICE

Caspar David Friedrich was a German painter who lived in the 19th century and mostly painted Romantic landscapes. His landscapes are usually mystical and allegorical, showing the fog or the night skies. In style with the time he lived in, Friedrich loved to include Gothic architecture in his landscape paintings.

However, his painting The Sea of Ice is somewhat different. He painted the shipwreck in the Arctic. This painting was so unusual for the 19th century that he didn’t manage to sell it during his life. German newspapers were reporting about a few expeditions to the Arctic at that time, and Friedrich probably got inspired by them.

Source: TEA GUDEK ŠNAJDAR/ culturetourist.com/Wikimedia

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Nefertiti’s bust is the sole work of art in the dimly lit room. She stands 48 cm (19 in) tall and weighs 20 kg (44 lbs). Positioned slightly above eye level, the viewer gazes up at her, contributing to the power and regal feeling of the piece. The statue is delicate, elegant and very symmetrical, with a visual flow guiding you from the top of the crown down to the long neck. The naturalism differs from earlier, more formal and rigid Egyptian art.

The estimated date of the statue’s creation is 1340 BCE during the Amarna Period. There are no inscriptions but Nefertiti was identified by her trademark blue flat-top crown with the uraeus (cobra), which is missing. The core is limestone covered with plaster, allowing for the exceptional molding and detail around the face.

Not much is known about Nefertiti, whose name means “the beautiful one has come forth”. One hypothesis is that she was a Syrian princess. She is part of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. Her husband, Pharaoh Akhenaton was infamous for overhauling Egyptian religion – transforming it from polytheism to monotheism with the focus on the Sun God, Aten. He also had the Egyptian capital moved from Thebes to a new site at Amarna. Nefertiti and Ahkenaton’s relationship was also depicted in a new way. In works of art Nefertiti is shown in equal status to the king, perhaps functioning as more of a co-ruler, as opposed to the traditional role of queen. Her death is as mysterious as her origins. Twelve years into the Amarna period, she disappears from the records.

The Amarna Period (1353–1336 BCE) saw a real change in Egyptian Art. Prior works were very rigid, formal, idealized, depicting little individuality of the subject. Amarna art is still very stylized but plays much more with naturalism, emotion, and fluidity. Bodies, even those of the men, become more rounded, soft and formed. Theories propose that Akhenaton’s health issues altered his mind and shape of his body, inspiring the new physical depictions.

German archeologist, Ludwig Borchardt, uncovered Nefertiti’s bust in 1912 in the studio of the royal sculptor, Thutmose, in Amarna, Egypt. An agreement with the Egyptian Antiquities Service allowed Borchardt to legally transport the statue to Germany. However, since the statue’s first public viewing in 1923 the Egyptian government has fought for its repatriation.

What makes this piece unique is that it was not intended for a tomb, like much of Egyptian art. This is a modello, a template to use for other works of art. Apart from the missing left eye, damaged ears, and uraeus, the statue is in excellent condition. This as well as the very modern and naturalistic style, and controversies surrounding her skin color led a few historians to proclaim the statue as a modern forgery. Data analysis and tests have proven its authenticity.

The mystery that surrounds the statue is one of the aspects that keeps Nefertiti so intriguing and fascinating. This statue is admired, studied and copied. The debates and insights that she still inspires over 3000 years after her creation, shows how relevant and timeless these issues remain, and what an important role art plays in fueling these discussions.

Source: www.dailyartmagazine.com

The post Egypt And Berlin’s Icon: The Bust Of Queen Nefertiti appeared first on CorD Magazine.

Head out of the city and you will find a fascinating crop of idiosyncratic Icelandic architecture – churches, pools, municipal buildings – dotted across the island’s jaw-dropping volcanic landscape. Here are 10 landmarks worthy of a pilgrimage, in the capital and beyond.

HALLGRÍMSKIRKJA, REYKJAVÍK

Reykjavík’s most famous religious landmark was designed by renowned state architect Guðjón Samúelsson. Started in 1945 and consecrated in 1986, its distinctive form was inspired by local basalt cliff formations and its 73-metre height makes it the tallest such structure in the country.

NATIONAL THEATRE OF ICELAND, REYKJAVÍK

The austere National Theatre of Iceland was designed by Iceland’s first state architect Gudjón Samúelsson and has been a leading cultural institution since it opened in 1950. Inspired by Iceland’s basalt columns, it features three separate areas inside (Main Stage, Black Box, Workshop Stage) and premieres around 10-14 domestic and international plays each season.

SUPREME COURT OF ICELAND, REYKJAVÍK

Set on a hill facing the sea, the Supreme Court is a compelling and provocative example of Icelandic architecture. It was designed by Studio Granda and made predominantly from basalt stone, with upper sections clad in contrastive green copper. The interior – an attractive mix of oak, plaster, concrete and steel – plays with daylight via narrow windows while the external garden offers some disarming serenity.

BJARNANESKIRKJA, NEAR HÖFN

Situated near Höfn in east Iceland, this unusually geometric church – essentially a pyramid matched to a dome – was designed by architect Hannes Kr Davidsson to play with the surrounding light. It was consecrated in 1976, replacing a string of previous churches located in the same spot.

HARPA CONCERT HALL, REYKJAVÍK

Opened in May 2011 as Reykjavík’s premiere concert hall and conference centre, Harpa is the city’s most recent architectural and cultural showpiece. It’s home to the Icelandic symphony orchestra and Icelandic Opera and was designed by Danish practice Henning Larsen Architects and Iceland’s Batteriid with an eyecatching façade created by Icelandic-Danish artist Ólafur Eliasson.

ÁSMUNDARSAFN MUSEUM, REYKJAVÍK

Part of the Reykjavík Art Museum, this unique space was once the home of pioneering sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson. Designed mostly by Sveinsson himself during the 1940s-50s (with latter additions by architect Mannfreð Vilhjálmsson) it nods to Mediterranean and Arabic architectural styles, and is surrounded by an elegant garden that hosts around 30 of Sveinsson’s sculptures.

HOFSÓS SWIMMING POOL, HOFSÓS

Located in north Iceland, the Hofsós Swimming Pool is one of the country’s most aesthetically adventurous municipal pools, a cornerstone of Icelandic architecture. Designed by local practice Basalt Arkitektar – which is also responsible for popular tourist spa, The Blue Lagoon – and completed in 2010, its masterful integration into the rocky landscape means swimmers get direct views of the sea and Drangey island.

SAURBÆRKIRKJA, NEAR AKUREYRI

One of the earliest forms of Icelandic architecture were turf houses – the practical result of a complicated, often rough climate and limited natural resources. This church, located near Akureyri in north Iceland, was built in 1858 and remains one of the best-preserved of its kind.

HOF RESIDENCE, MALMEYJARFJORDHUR

Another work from Studio Granda – this time deep in the wilderness, less than 100km from the Arctic Circle – Hof Residence is an example of Iceland’s sustainable contemporary domestic architecture. The 2007 dwelling puts a modern spin on the turf house. Many of the building materials were salvaged from the surroundings, including telegraph poles (used as sun screens on windows) and basalt pillars, which now pave exterior walls. Massive concrete walls and stone floors make it highly insulated and thermally stable. Hof Residence is a private home so pilgrimages to this one will have to be of the virtual kind.

THE NORDIC HOUSE, REYKJAVÍK

Reykjavík’s handsome Nordic House – opened in 1968 and designed by feted Finnish architect Alvar Aalto – features an ultramarine blue ceramic rooftop that echoes the local mountains. A central well in the library funnels light into the interior of building. As well as hosting regular cultural events, exhibition and festivals it also has an acclaimed restaurant (Dill) serving New Nordic food.

Source: The Spaces

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