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Cult of Beauty Exhibit Highlights Victorian Era

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Middle-class art brings beauty to stark homes

By Sylvia McCleary

SAN FRANCISCO—The Cult of Beauty exhibit, currently at The Legion of Honor in San Francisco, presents works from the height of the British Aesthetic period 1860–1900. Calling the period a gentle time would be an understatement. The exhibit gives an understanding not only of the elite world but also of the needs and wants of the working-class home.

Other works of art, such as furniture, jewelry, wallpaper, and the first trinkets found in Victorian homes purely for decoration, are shown and give a feeling that all classes of this period wanted something of beauty brought into their homes.

But the paintings make the exhibit. From John Spencer Stanhope’s “Love and the Maiden” (1877) to James McNeil Whistler’s “Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander” (1872–1874), they show the depth of art from that period.

One of my favorite pieces at the exhibition was “Laus Veneris” (1873–1878), by Edward Burne-Jones. It shows a lady sitting back in her chair, with a gold crown on her lap, listening to other ladies discussing medieval scriptures.

The details of the painting with the single rose thrown carelessly on the ground and intricate tapestries in the background bring a sense of life and thoughtfulness to the picture.

Variety

Edward Reiner of San Francisco said, “I love the beauty of the paintings that to me show a simpler, calmer life whilst in reality this time period was an extremely hard one for most. I loved the drops of a piece of furniture or a tea set which in some ways threw me off of what the exhibit was about, but in reality I enjoyed the variety.”

The exhibit reflects the feeling of owning things and tells of the middle class beginning to want things to put on a dresser or fireplace. They don’t just want to show off the piece but also show that they are the same as the upper classes.

With over 180 examples of artworks on view, you get an idea of not only paintings but also fashionable trends in architecture, interior decorations, furniture, and much more.

San Francisco is the only U.S. venue for this exhibition, and once it leaves here, it will be on its way back to Europe.

Curator Lynn Federle Orr explained in her catalogue essay: “Like a fine Victorian novel, the story of the Aesthetic Movement is one centered around serious social debates—shifting class structures, the confrontation between science and religion, art’s place in society, the impact of new market forces and a unique emphasis on the middle-class home.”

Victorians loved Asian art and embodied it in their furniture, art, and decorations, as seen in this exhibit.

Wallpaper, which has recently made a comeback in homes, was very fashionable in homes during the British Aesthetic period. Morris & Co. marketed wallpapers, fabrics, and decorative items such as the Flora and Pomona (1883–1885) tapestries. They were designed and executed by the team of Edward Burne-Jones and John Henry Dearle.

The exhibit runs until June 17 at the Legion of Honor, San Francisco.

Sylvia McCleary, based in San Francisco, writes about events, entertainment, and travel. She has traveled to over 80 countries. See www.thegypsytraveller.com and thegypsytraveller.wordpress.com

via Cult of Beauty Exhibit Highlights Victorian Era | Literary & Visual Arts | Arts & Entertainment | Epoch Times

Link to: The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Garde 1860–1900 – February 18, 2012 – June 17, 2012

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Sotheby’s 19th Century European Art Sale

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Some of the greatest artists in history represented

By Katy Mantyk
Epoch Times Staff

NEW YORK—Sotheby’s will hold its spring sale of 19th century European art on Friday, May 4, offering 110 quality works. Public viewing of the auction in Sotheby’s York Avenue galleries begins Friday, April 27.

A diverse group of artists are represented, including William Bouguereau, Giovanni Boldini, John William Godward, James-Jacques-Joseph Tissot, Jean Béraud, Jean Baptiste Camille Corot, and Gustave Courbet.

Timed to coincide with Sotheby’s May auctions of impressionist and modern art, the sale provides further insight into the cultural and artistic developments in the 19th century. The end of the century was a tipping point, where the art world began to divide, and the traditional techniques of great masters started to be disregarded by more-popular art movements, leading to the state of modern art today.

The sale includes superb works by some of the greatest artists in history, many of whom are the same artists included in Christie’s 19th century European art sale on April 23, so it will be interesting to compare results. The following are some of the highlights.

Descriptions From Sotheby’s

‘The Morning Ride.’ Works from the estate of noted collector Mrs. Monique Uzielli will be led by James-Jacques-Tissot’s “The Morning Ride,” estimated at $2 million to $3 million.

Unrecorded until now, ‘A Fair Reflection’ marks an important discovery in the oeuvre of John William Godward.

This painting was last offered at auction in 1944, at Parke Bernet in New York. Like many of the works in this sale, the painting has re-emerged in the market after decades in a private collection. Depicting the bright, fleeting azalea blossoms of spring, the painting is well-timed for the May auction.

‘L’Orientale à la Grenade.’ A selection of six paintings by William Bouguereau will be highlighted by “L’Orientale à la Grenade,” a rare example of the artist’s Orientalist subject matter. It’s estimated at $500,000 to $700,000.

Bouguereau seems to have been particularly fascinated by Egypt, and the girl’s intricate silver jewelry is typical of North African design.

This work had not been seen in public for nearly a century after descending through an American family.

Also featured in the May sale is “Orpheline à la Fontaine,” from 1883, estimated at $700,000 to $900,000. Bouguereau painted the work in La Rochelle, his birthplace and summer holiday destination. While the identity of the model is currently unknown, she was probably a local girl from La Rochelle and was the inspiration behind some 10 summer pictures painted between 1879 and 1883.

‘Fair Reflection.’ Unrecorded until now, “A Fair Reflection” marks an important discovery in the oeuvre of John William Godward, and is estimated at $400,000 to $600,000.

The large-scale oil undoubtedly marks the most significant painting undertaken by the artist in 1915 and is among the most ambitious from the time he spent in Italy.

Unlike most of the paintings from this period, “A Fair Reflection” did not return to London to be exhibited and sold. Instead, it remained in Italy until it was acquired by an American collector in the 1940s, descending through the same family to the present owner.

—Source: Sotheby’s

via Sotheby’s 19th Century European Art Sale | Literary & Visual Arts | Arts & Entertainment | Epoch Times

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Venetian Art Exhibit Portrays Evolution of Renaissance Painting

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By Betsy Kim

NEW YORK—The eye-opening aspect of one of the current exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art does not lie in the beauty and perfection of the paintings. Instead, carefully selected and arranged pieces allow visitors to witness the striking evolution of Renaissance painting.

Bartolomeo Vivarini’s “Death of the Virgin” (1485) boldly experiments with perspectives. Painted as an altarpiece for a chapel in the Certosa at Padua, Italy, it presents a traditionally pious scene.

On a throne, Christ holds a miniature Virgin Mary, which represents her soul to be carried to heaven by eight angels. Eleven apostles surround Mary’s body lying in state. They gaze up at the spiritual figures.

Foreshortening is a technique to create an illusion of depth in two dimensions. Objects closer to the viewer appear larger, and images recede into the distance. In Bartolomeo’s painting, with exaggerated foreshortening, the apostles’ faces appear squished in cartoon-like distortions. Starkly outlined figures, painted in bright tempera, add to the vivid but slightly crude result.

Depth and perspectives are hallmark innovations of Renaissance art. Paintings, such as Bartolomeo’s remind us that these kinds of advances did not occur overnight. Bartolomeo was influenced by artists like Andrea Mantegna, a painter well-known for experimenting with creative perspectives.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibit, Art in Renaissance Venice, 1400–1515, benchmarks these types of developments, leading to the High Renaissance. The 44 drawings and paintings embody the influences in Venice of artists from Florence, Padua, and other Italian cities, according to Alison Nogueira, the assistant curator in the Robert Lehman Collection who organized the exhibit.

Artists traveled to Venice to work on commissions, including at the Doge’s Palace, the symbolic seat of Venetian power. The confluence of artists fertilized change.

Influential Artist Families

Although they were both powerful families in the art world, the Bellinis historically overshadowed the Vivarinis (Bartolomeo’s origin).

Jacopo Bellini is often called the father of painting — Alison Nogueira

“Jacopo Bellini is often called the father of painting,” Nogueira said. “He was the father of Giovanni and Gentile, who were both extremely successful. But also philosophically, he was the founder of a new school of painting that introduced the Renaissance style.”

The Bellini family ran the most successful painting workshop in Venice, Nogueira said. Art historian Giorgio Vasari, in “The Lives of the Artists,” noted that Jacopo convinced his daughter, Nicolosia, to marry Mantegna. Giovanni and his brother-in-law, Mantegna, learned from one another and widely influenced artists throughout the region.

Jacopo initiated the half-length Madonna sitting behind a ledge. Unlike a life-size model, the waist-up Madonna provided a close-up, intimate relationship with the viewer. This perspective suited well the Bellinis’ commissioned paintings for private devotional uses. The painting’s information card notes that the window-like frame of the parapet referenced the Virgin as the “window of heaven” through which God shed light on the world.

The exhibit’s sequence of Jacopo’s “Madonna and Child” followed by Giovanni’s three paintings of the same subject directly illustrates developments in Renaissance art. Jacopo’s painting (circa 1440s) evokes Byzantine icons. Flat, gold halos circle faces with aquiline noses. Christ sits in a full-frontal position.

Giovanni’s “Madonna Adoring the Sleeping Child” (1460s) bears strong resemblance to his father’s work, from the painted arched top to the face of the Madonna. Giovanni’s “Madonna and Child” (circa 1470) uses a similar composition, but in blended tempera and oil. This hybrid medium shows a midway transition, pushing through a stiff opaqueness toward a more refined depiction of beauty and virtue.

In the fourth piece, Giovanni painted “Madonna and Child” (late 1480s) fully in oil. The oil paint allowed gradients of rich colors, luminosity, and softly modeled features.

The work of Jacopo’s mentor, Gentile de Fabriano, hangs in the gallery dedicated to an earlier period of Gothic, Venetian art. But Nogueira noted that Fabriano’s painting “Madonna and Child with Angels,” even dating back to 1410, “marks an increased sense of naturalism.”

She pointed to its drapery of cloth and muscles on the Christ child as examples of stylistic influences in the Bellinis’ later works. And after all, according to Vasari, Bellini named his son, Gentile, after Fabriano.

The intertwining of the artists’ lives affected styles, techniques, and ideas across time and geographic distances. This exhibit demonstrates how painting as an art form dynamically evolved to reflect a civilization.

The exhibit Art in Renaissance Venice is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through Feb. 5.

Betsy Kim has worked as a lawyer and a TV reporter. She is now a writer living in New York City.

via Venetian Art Exhibit Portrays Evolution of Renaissance Painting | Literary & Visual Arts | Arts & Entertainment | Epoch Times

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My Photos

Welcome to Visit My Photo Blog

Summer in the City | My Photos

I would like to give you a personal touch by sharing some of the views I see and have seen in my life. So here is my Photo Blog that I’ve had in mind for some time now

Rare Masterpieces Headline MacDougall’s Russian Art Sales

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By Nicholas Mclaughlin
Epoch Times Staff

MacDougall Auctions regularly breaks records in sales of its specialist area of Russian art and is consistently one of the top three auction houses in the world for Russian Art.

On June 8 and 9, MacDougall’s will showcase many works during Russian week in London, highlighted by a Boris Kustodiev masterpiece, a rare work thought to be lost, and one only before seen in a black-and-white photo.

The sale items will be on exhibition in London June 3–7.

Descriptions From MacDougall’s

Following are the auction house’s descriptions of a few key paintings and their histories.

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‘The New Bracelet.’ Another rediscovery of art-historical significance is Genrikh Semiradsky’s “The New Bracelet” (c. 1883) estimated at $400,000–$500,000. “The New Bracelet,” also known as “Dolce Far Niente,” is a rare and happy discovery, not only for the art market, but also for the academic world.

Alongside Victorian artist Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Semiradsky was one of the most significant Neoclassical painters of the late 19th century. A particularly fine example of the artist’s oeuvre, “The New Bracelet” was acquired by the great-grandfather of the present owner and remained in the same North American collection for more than a century. Illustrated in a pre-revolutionary monograph, the painting was until recently believed to be lost.

Read more: Rare Masterpieces Headline MacDougall’s Russian Art Sales | Arts Entertainment | Epoch Times