Guest Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Never got along with the Arts and Crafts thing, over worked pretentious tom-foolery (oops) Fair enough, but the work was anything but pretentious. One of William Morris' more famous quotes was: "have nothing in your house that you do do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful". I'd agree. The latter half of the statement is particularly apt for many works by artists of the 'Arts and Crafts' movement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venger Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Highly privelidged might be a better description if you will. From what I remeber of the background and intentions of Morris, Ruskin etc, very far removed from creating work for the majority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Highly privelidged might be a better description if you will. From what I remeber of the background and intentions of Morris, Ruskin etc, very far removed from creating work for the majority. Being decidedly low-brow, and very definately not an historian, I admire the works of the Arts and Crafts movement for their beauty, rather than the motives for creating them. I know little about whether or not the works were created 'for the masses'. I do know that both Ruskin and Morris were active politically as well as artistically. Ruskin especially championed social welfare, demanding better housing, education etc for the working class people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarSparkle Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Boroughgal, Hopper's paintings are quite fashionable at the moment. Apparently, he was very influenced by the poetry of the French Symbolist,Charles Baudelaire. Both seem to share a love of solitude, 'the solace of the night,' city life and modernity itself. His paintings provide glimpses of people who appear to be searching for something. They have either left someone, or been left, in some circumstances. In others they seem to be in search of work, sex, or simple human companionship. Always, or nearly always, they seem adrift, transient. The Philosopher, Alain De Botton said that Hopper puts us 'on the side' of the figures in his paintings [for example, the pensive-looking, lone female diner in 'Automat', 1927], the side of the outsider against the insiders. The figures in Hopper's art are not opponents of home per se, it is simply that, in a variety of undefined ways, home appears to have betrayed them, forcing them out into the night or on to the road. As De Botton said, 'The 24 hour diner, the station waiting room and the motel are sanctuaries for those who have, for noble reasons, failed to find a home in the ordinary world, sanctuaries for those whom Baudelaire might have dignified with the honorific 'poets'. Just a few thoughts. I think of Edward Hopper's paintings as being very 'film noir' - like you say, Timo, there's a transience about them, a restlessness, a searching for something - a sadness rather than a seediness, although there clearly is some seediness lurking there. I find his work almost like paintings of photographs - you can easily imagine them as being stills of real life captured in a brief moment. StarSparkle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowrose Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 I like a bit of pre-raphaelite, Waterhouse etc. I also like this guy, and have the original of the bee picture (first acrylic in his gallery). His gallery also has oil paintings and digital media. If anyone is interested he sells prints and does commissions. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTIST IN HIS LIFETIME! http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/hevart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellacboy Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Salvador Dali, without a doubt. I'm going to Barcelona this summer and will be visiting the dali museum. Has anyone been? I can't wait Also, Andy Warhol, Chris Brace, Milladio all have interesting styles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phanerothyme Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Modern Art: Jim Woodring - Meredith Frampton - The Vorticists - Wyndham Lewis - Gormley Goldsworthy & Whiteread. Delvaux. Bruce Bickford. Picasso Bruce McCall Max Ernst Egon Schiele Otto Dix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phanerothyme Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 double post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ally68 Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 I also like Dali. Have been to visit his museum in Figueras which was a wierd but wonderful experience. Bellacboy, Quoting myself here as you probably didn't see it before. I went a few years ago and really enjoyed it. I'm sure you will too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoroughGal Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 Boroughgal, Hopper's paintings are quite fashionable at the moment. Apparently, he was very influenced by the poetry of the French Symbolist,Charles Baudelaire. Both seem to share a love of solitude, 'the solace of the night,' city life and modernity itself. His paintings provide glimpses of people who appear to be searching for something. They have either left someone, or been left, in some circumstances. In others they seem to be in search of work, sex, or simple human companionship. Always, or nearly always, they seem adrift, transient. The Philosopher, Alain De Botton said that Hopper puts us 'on the side' of the figures in his paintings [for example, the pensive-looking, lone female diner in 'Automat', 1927], the side of the outsider against the insiders. The figures in Hopper's art are not opponents of home per se, it is simply that, in a variety of undefined ways, home appears to have betrayed them, forcing them out into the night or on to the road. As De Botton said, 'The 24 hour diner, the station waiting room and the motel are sanctuaries for those who have, for noble reasons, failed to find a home in the ordinary world, sanctuaries for those whom Baudelaire might have dignified with the honorific 'poets'. Just a few thoughts. Timo... The things that you (and StarSparkle) point out are the very things I love about his pictures - the long shadows & solitude of an early sunday morning, the quiet time shared by an older couple in Cape Cod Evening, the gas station in the middle of nowhere.... But, I feel compelled to say I nearly didn't post to comment on his work - I'm very aware of the fact he's "fashionable" at the moment, thanks to someone like Athena replacing the figures in "Nighthawks" with Marilyn Monroe & James Dean etc. (and subsequently making it one of my least favourite of his paintings). But - he's the artist I studied at school and have loved him since then. I was (am!) especially interested in the relationship he had with his wife Jo, and how this was manifested in his work. It'd be nice if I was into the "classics" a bit more, but I have to be honest, they don't say a deal to me about my life. Hopper does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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