Episode 40: What You'll See at the Uffizi

Marie and Julia talk with Dr. Steven Bule about the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

The Uffizi is one of the oldest museums in the world, the building was begun in 1560 for Cosimo Medici as an office building for the city of Florence (wouldn't you love to work in an office like that!) but now holds one of the most amazing collections of Renaissance art in the world!

Botticelli's, The Birth of Venus and Primavera

Van Eyck, Giovanni Arnolfini and his Bride, 1434

This is another painting we discussed which implements the use of oranges as a symbol of fertility.

da Vinci's, The Annunciation

Lippi's, Madonna and Child

The Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy

Episode 39: The History of Japanese Animation

In the late 19th century, Japanese, American, European and other cartoon artists communicated cross continentally.  They traveled, taught, and joined in business with each other.  The Japanese cartoons, called Manga today, developed into a unique graphic style rich in Japanese culture with strong Western influences.    

 The target audience of Charles Wirgman’s “Japan Punch”  was a small but expanding group of English speaking people residing in Japan.

Manga began as cartoons in magazines and newspapers, then spread to illustrations in books in the early 1900’s.  Osamu Tezuka is credited for creating narrative manga, where the images themselves, in succession, tell the story, instead of simply illustrating the words.

1949 Rakuten’s take on censorship; and the train company heads sinking in a "sea of shame", from the book “Kitazawa Rakuten: Founder of the Modern Japanese Cartoon”

New Treasure Island, Tezuka, 1947

“Anime” is the term for Japanese animation.  Manga artist and animator Hayao Miyazaki has directed several successful films, including “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Ponyo”.  He advocates hand drawing in anime, allowing no more than 10% of footage in his films to be computer generated.

   

We also need to give a huge thank you to Helen McCarthy, for all your great information that was made available to us on your website and on youtube! Go check out her videos if you want to learn more about this history!

Episode 38: Sydney Nolan's Ned Kelly Series

This is an episode Julia and Marie had lots of fun with! For starter, we should thank listener Arina Miteva for the suggestion on this one.

For anyone who is unaware of either of the names (as both of us were), Sidney Nolan is an Australian painter who often highlighted the Australian landscape in his work.

One of his most famous series is the Ned Kelly Series. Ned Kelly has become as much myth as historical figure in Australia as one of the most infamous bandits in the outback. Most of our information on the series came from the National Gallery of Australia. (Great website with LOTS of information!)

One reason this series is well loved is because it incorporates Australian landscape in many of these pieces.

 The court room shows Nolan's very collage-like style. He pulls into the courtroom different elements of Australian locations and personal experience.

You will notice that every time Ned Kelly appears he's in strangely shaped clothes... this is the actual armor Ned Kelly would have used in his last stand and this becomes iconic for dear ol' Ned!

Thank you again Arina and if you have any suggestion feel free to tell us!

Episode 37: What You'll See at the Woodbury

We had the opportunity to have our very own curator on the podcast: Melissa Hempel!

Not only will we tell you what you'll see at the museum, but Melissa gave us an inside peek at what it takes to be a curator!

The Woodbury Museum of Art (or the WAM) operates as a non-profit museum, there for the public and (especially) UVU students to experience artwork.

Their exhibit coming up in October has pieces of Soviet art such as Victor Sevastyanov's Harvesting from the 1970's.

 Many of the pieces that will be up are on loan from private collectors, so this will certainly be a show to see! The opening is October 16th, so get over and see the wonderful exhibit Melissa and the staff at the WAM are putting up!

Also, you will always find great pieces in their permanent collection. Here are a couple examples, but you will definitely want to go check these out for yourselves!

Frenchies by Jessica McCoy

Violinist W. Eugene Smith

To find out more about the WAM and to find a time to go, check out their website here.

For UVU students, don't forget to be getting ready for the student show in the spring!!!

Woodbury Art Museum Student Show/ BFA

Each spring semester our school's museum hosts an exhibition of student work. They also allow for several areas of specific BFA projects to be displayed for students finishing up their degree in the arts.

We have some amazing talent at UVU (we aren't bias at all) and wanted to share a video of our time at the Student show this last year!

Bachelor of Fine Arts Show at Woodbury Museum from Man Of Sound Studios on Vimeo.

Don't forget to go see the Faculty Show at the museum before it comes down and keep an eye out for all the amazing events going on at the museum!

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?