Episode 36: Poussin

Nicolas Poussin (15 June 1594 – 19 November 1665)

Poussin’s work embodies French art during the Baroque period in France, even though he lived and worked in Rome for most of his career. He never did well in a workshop, which was popular at this time, and always kept his work fairly small in scale. He would use wax figurines in shadow boxes to set up the composition of his paintings which were meticulous in their design.

He studied anatomy by speaking to doctors, was well versed in painting theory and believed that outward gestures showed inner emotion, which is why there is a lot of movement in his paintings.

Today we have major and minor scales, but Poussin was interested in modes, which are an ancient version of scales. For instance, Dorian mode is somber, Phrygian mode is sad or oriental sounding and Lydian mode has a comical quality and can be serious and tragic as well.  Poussin attempted to paint in modes in an effort to convey emotion.

Poussin worked for Cassiano de Potzo sketching ancient Roman ruins, this work really influenced Poussin’s classical taste and abilities in painting but his primary patron in Rome was Cardinal Francesco Barberini.

Up until the 20th century Poussin was a major inspiration for classically oriented artists like David, Ingres, and Cézanne.

Poussin, Self Portrait, 1650

Poussin, The Four Seasons, 1660-1664

Spring (The Earthly Paradise)  

Summer (Ruth and Boaz)  

Autumn (The Spies with the Grapes of the Promised Land)  

Winter (The Flood)  

Poussin, Et in Arcadia ego, 1637-1638

Poussin, Rape of the Sabine Women, 1634-35

The above painting is an excellent example of Poussin's use of color and movement. The colors are used to tell a story within the story. The Roman's have invited the Sabines to dine with them, instead of dinner they find themselves under attack and their women kidnapped. The man in the pink on the right side of the painting is attempting to save the woman in blue on the left side of the painting. The color pink may signify the mans weakness against the Roman's, who's leader is dressed in red. The story ends when the Sabines try to rescue their women from the Roman's but they're now happy with their lives in Rome and choose to stay. The term 'rape' in this instance means 'abduction'.

Episode 35: What IS That?

Modern sculpture is probably one of the most misunderstood methods to the vast population. Mary and Marie are going to try and help you understand a little bit at what you might be looking at, particularly when it comes to the ideas of form, shape, and subject when it becomes abstract.

Reclining Figure by Henry Moore

This is a great example of abstracting figures. He has many reclining women and figures in his sculptures, but they are often broken down into shapes and blob-like forms. Still, you can sort of fee a human form... if you tilt your head... yeah... that's it.

Unique Forms of Continuity in Space by Boccioni

While this sculpture's human form is a little more recognizable than Moore's work, but the subject here is about movement rather than the being. Futurists, such as Boccioni, were interested in the motion that the human eye can't see and would depict it in this sort of abstracted motion.

Birds in Space by Brancusi

This modern sculpture was mistaken for a smuggling operation. It became a war between U.S. Customs vs. Brancusi.

Gnaw by Janine Antoni

Eat it! Seriously... Janine did. These sculptures are blocks of chocolate and lard that she chewed into until she had this final product. We definitely have one we would have liked to work on. Antoni didn't eat the remains, however. Instead, she put the "scraps" to good use:

Gnawed Detail Antoni

While Antoni, by date, wouldn't be considered a "Modernist Sculpture" per say, we felt a lot of what she does in terms of abstraction and playing with medium really fits in with the other sculptures' creeds and goals. She also adds another element to her work by performing the gnawing and work on these pieces in front of others.

What are some of your favorite modernist sculptures?

Episode 32: The Medicis

Have you ever waken up one morning and thought "I'd really like to rule the world today." Well we have the perfect family for you to follow if this is what you'd like to do! (Everyone needs a good mentor after all.)

Step 1: Specialize in a needed field of work. (i.e. Banking)
Step 2: Marry off your women to important figures, politicians, and, ideally, Kings of France.
Step 3: Become patrons to important artists that will make sure your name goes down in the history books!

Giovanna Medici-- he started it all

This is one of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, Cosimo I. There were also a few Medici who held the papal throne in Rome, becoming popes and prominent figures in the church.

Catherine de Medici: wife, mother, queen... glove poisoner.

Marie de Medici was a more beloved queen, but had some of the same political pull as Catherine.

For more details, listen to the podcast. Good luck and arrivederci!

Episode 30: War Photography

Happy Memorial Day all! (At least to our U.S. listeners...) Thank you for your patience in us getting this episode up and running. We promise not to disappoint, though, and we have a longer episode... so enjoy!


As a part of recognizing this day, we had photography professor Travis Lovell help us in a discussion about the photographers behind the images--many of which have become icons in our culture.

 

During the Crimean War (the first war with photographer Roger Fenton), the set up to get images was nothing short of massive. If photographers complain today about having to cart around a bag of things, it might be good to remember early photographers had to not only carry their gear, but also their darkroom with them!

Because the collodion processes being used took time for set up and exposure, the images from the Crimean war were often staged. They were also meant to be propaganda to show all those nay-Sayers back home what a noble and purposeful war this was! (In case you didn't know, the Crimean war was England's Vietnam...)

Alexander Gardner

Rebel Sharpshooter by Alexander Gardner

The Civil War, also, was more aftermath than action pictures for the same reason. You end up with a lot of questionable staging, such as the pictures above. One was taken where the soldier died and the other, his body was moved to another location for a photo op. Which do you think is the original?

Raising of the Flag on Iwo Jima by Joe Rosenthal

The Kiss by Alfred Eisenstaedt

World War II  brought about some of the most patriotic and well known photographs.

General Loan Executing a Viet Cong by Eddie Adams

Children running from their burning village. Nick Ut won a Pulitzer Prize for this image.

Vietnam was open for photographers and journalists, which resulted in future wars being more greatly censored. Photographers, too, learned the power of images. Eddie Adams hated his own photograph because of the negative view the public had towards General Loan after this image became public.

Survivor of Hutu Death Camp James Nachtwey

Many war photographers continue to highlight incidents that are not only newsworthy, but help to inform the public about things they don't see and that happen in and as a result of war. There are other images, such as those at Abu Ghraib*, which are now taken by soldiers themselves, While not all are like this, it gives us a different view of war based on what the soldiers see day-to-day.

If you find the developments of photography interesting, watch the video here, where Travis also discusses with the team from Framed Network the history of photography. You can also see some of the work Travis produces on his website.

*We discuss these images on the podcast, but because of the disturbing nature of these photographs, we will allow you to search those, if you are interested.

Episode 29: Zine's

This is as close as we'll ever get to a centralized, often reproduced type of image that could loosely be called "punk art." The great part of it is, the mindset behind 'zines and the punk spirit of rebelling against conventional images is the same driving force in art that has kept it changing over millenia. For the 'zine movement, it's all about contributing. It doesn't matter what the final product looks like--it's so much more important that the creation of a 'zine shows that someone somewhere was able to muster up enough passion to contribute something instead of just whining about what everyone else was creating. Listen as we talk about how 'zines got appropriated by different groups in order to find a voice that no other medium would give them.


Here is our version of a Zine...and of course, it's about art history!

If you have topics in art history you're just itching to hear more about, leave us a comment or email us at: uvu.artsandfacts@gmail.com.

Episode 26: Frida Kahlo

Henry Ford Hospital

What Water Gave Me

The Two Frieda's

Suicide of Dorothy Hale

Self Portrait, Time Flies

The Little Deer

The Epic Battle continues: Marie valiantly defends the important steps Frida Kahlo made in biography and ethnic-centered art, while Mary continues to argue that she just plain sucks. Involved in this discussion is Frida's husband, Diego Rivera. We got to see a lot of images specific to Mexico's political struggle in the 1930s. Also present in the images is Frida and Diego's sympathetic feeling towards Marxism.

Episode 23: What you'll see at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Located on the Mall in Washington, D.C., the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden hosts some of the best examples of modern art in the United States. Mary and Kenna talk about what can be seen there, both permanent pieces and rotating exhibits.

The ignominious "donut" building.

View of the Hirshhorn from the center ground level, much prettier

Rodin's Burghers of Calais

Finished Blue Nude on the left, which the sculpture on the right used as a reference. 

Both by Henri Matisse

Giacometti's Walking Man I

Moore's Family Group

Dan Flavin's "untilted (to Helga and Carlo, with respect and affection)" (1974) 

Nira Pereg 67 Bows

Andy Warhol Shadows

Episode 22: Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman is a major female photographer of our day. She is from the East Coast and is most known for her Untitled Film stills: a series of black and white images that are a mimic of film stills from b-grade films that don't exist.

These first two images are favorites of Marie's and Mary's (Number 14 and 35, respectively)

Untitled Film Stills # 14

Untitled Film Stills #35

Untitled Film Stills no. 37

Untitled Film Stills no. 13

Untitled Film Stills no. 3

Untitled Film Stills no.6

Untitled Film Stills no.21

Many of these images were shot by someone else, but directed by Cindy Sherman herself. She did her own propping, costuming, and makeup so that she would look different each time.


And because we love it when people cleverly mimic:

Just a little Bratz to brighten your day!

If you have topics in art history you're just itching to hear more about, leave us a comment or email us at: uvu.artsandfacts@gmail.com.