Question of the Day - Tuesday, May 12

cassiopea

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Greetings ;) Wishing everyone a superb Tuesday!




Do you have a favourite artist?


(Whether painting, sculpture, architecture, photo etc)

My general favourite era tends to be Rennaissance/Baroque, I love the lifelikeness/stories and the everyday social history many paintings show. It is like seeing a photographic view into the past. Admittedly I am not so much a fan of modern or impressionism. Nothing against it, just a matter of taste!


Anyway I have a few likable ones, but first that comes to mind that I particularly love is Sonofisba, a talented 16th century female artist who against all odds was trained and later became court painter under the King of Spain. Example of one of her works:



What I particular love about it is that, via her sisters playing a game of chess, is conveying a bold message that "Yes, girls and women can be strategists and be damn good at it!" As well as having personalities.
 

Draco

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Man I got so many!!

I'd say my top few are Monet, Picasso (ha! Named my cats after them!), Michaelangelo and Van Gogh. Love the Renaissance art
 

betsygee

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What I particular love about it is that, via her sisters playing a game of chess, is conveying a bold message that "Yes, girls and women can be strategists and be damn good at it!" As well as having personalities.
How very interesting!  I had never heard of this artist--thanks for sharing.  
 

sivyaleah

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All art is good.  Ok, some is pretty bad but I can't even figure out where to begin. My tastes run all over the place. I'm partial to surrealism - it's the first area I'd gravitate to in a museum.  Dali, Magritte, etc.  

I really like a lot of Spanish painters from centuries ago up through the current time.  And I adore the old Dutch masters such as Vermeer.  Gosh, the lighting in his paintings is exquisite.  Light is SO important to the mood of the piece.  I really like the portraits and there are many floral/food paintings which are so beautiful you could cry over them.

Modern art in all types is a big love also.  Love Basquiat and Haring.  And current ones such as Lucian Freud (yes, THAT Freud, it's his grandson).  Realism taken to the point of ugliness at times but his painting style is so perfect.

And don't get me started on female artists!  Frida Kahlo right up there alongside Georgia O'Keefe and Helen Frankenthaler.  Gosh, so many to choose from!

So no specific answer.  I love all of it!
 

denice

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I think my two favorites are Monet and Van Gogh.  There are certainly many others that I like.

Monet had this wonderful way of capturing light and color.  He could paint the same thing at different times of the day and capture the differences created by different light.

Van Gogh also had a real understanding of light and color but I think the real draw for me with his work is, at least I believe, the glimpses that his paintings provide into a troubled mind.. 
 

catspaw66

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Domenikos Theotokopoulos, better known as El Greco (The Greek). I love the stretched vertical perspective his paintings have. It is suspected that he had severe astigmatism and that was the way he saw the world. There is a church in Mazatlan that has a fresco that looks like an El Greco, but was painted much after he died. When we were there in 2000, it was being carefully restored.
 

micknsnicks2mom

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it's very hard for me to choose a favorite painter, because i love so many. so instead of trying to choose a painter, i chose my favorite photographer -- Ansel Adams. i love his work, could just get lost in it for hours.
 

Norachan

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Yes. so many.

My favourite European painter is Gustave Klimt, my favourite Japanese painter is Higashiyama Kai. I guess they both tend to paint things quite "flat" and simplistic compared to the Rennaissance/Baroque painters, but I love the use of light. I like the way Klimt uses so much gold in his paintings. He was actually influenced quite a lot by traditional Japanese screen paintings, which used gold to brighten up dim interiors. 

My favourite photographer is Sally Mann. Not to everyone's taste I know, but she manages to find something quite beautiful even in death and decay. Another favourite  photographer is Kobayashi Shinichiro, who photographed abandoned towns and derelict factories and made them look like oil paintings.

My favourite ceramist is Lucie Rie. Just because she's the best.
 

MoochNNoodles

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You know; this is shameful to admit...I took 2 semesters of Art History in college and i enjoyed it; but I couldn't tell you names off the top of my head right now.  I definitely do not enjoy modern art.  I can appreciate it; but I'd never hang it on my wall or spend a fortune on it so I could have a priceless treasure.  

I love the line between art and architecture.  I really really do.  When I walk into a building; I'm looking all over to see how it's made.  I love the detail work; be it in an older home or centuries old buildings.  My dream vacation would involve traveling through Europe to see the ancient Roman and Greek ruins!  I'd also love to visit castles!

As for more traditional art; I'd say I am drawn most to paintings.  Classical sculptures are beautiful; but it's paintings i can spend time enjoying and appreciating.  I love finding hidden details.  I do enjoy Thomas Kinkade's work.  I've recently been working on puzzles from a line he did for Disney.  They are full of hidden details that made the puzzle fun to sit with for hours.  I love his other work as well.  I love when a painting tells a story; like you could walk into it and be in another peaceful world.  
 

denice

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I have found that I have been more interested in many things and remember details when it is something that I learned outside of a classroom.  I am sure that isn't true for everyone but it certainly has been for me.  Something about the classroom setting and a formal learning environment just puts me in this mindset of learning for the exam and then promptly forgetting most of it.
 

Columbine

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One of my favourite artists at the moment is Steph Ottevanger. She's a local artist who does the most amazing animal sculptures in bronzed resin. She does printing and paintings too. If I could afford it, I'd have several of her sculptures by now. I was given one of her prints a few years ago (I think it was a lino print), and I love it. She's great at capturing the character of the animal. She exhibits in the same gallery that I sell my jewellery in, and I'm constantly lusting after her work :lol3:
 
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mani

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Like Norachan I love Gustav Klimpt.  I really love Art Nouveau and his form (as an Austrian Secessionist) I particularly like.

And I just love the whimsy of a local ceramic artist, Erin.  These are two I have.  I doubt I'll be able to afford more now as she's getting very popular.

 

denice

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It is strange how an artist's work can go up in value.  Van Gogh was very poor all his life, his mother threw out crates full of his art after he died.  After his death his sister-in-law collected as much of his work as she could find and began marketing his work in Paris.  The highest price that one of his paintings went for today was over $66 million dollars.  His life was such a sad one, tortured by some type of mental issues which psychiatrists are still debating and living a hand to mouth impoverished existence.
 
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