Posted by Atticus on August 9, 2004, at 9:41:46
In reply to painting or visual art...who do you admire?, posted by Jai Narayan on August 8, 2004, at 8:25:42
Hi Jai,
My favorite painters begin with the Impressionists as well. I especially love the luminous creations of Degas. There are so many things about his work that fascinate me. For example, he crops more like a photographer than a painter, his ballerinas sometimes tumbling off the edge of the canvas and out of frame. His use of color, to my mind, is unparalleled, especially in his bathers. The incredible array and variety of relected colors he assembles in the women's wet skin is just stunning. As my college watercolor professor said, "That SOB could draw!" I also like Manet, not only for his brushstrokes but also for his social commentary. Manet's "Olympia," as I'm sure you know, is considered the first masterpiece of modern art, and deservedly so. The prostitute it portrays stares at the viewer (which would have most likely been a Parisian man in the salon) as an equal, as a businesswoman who knows that her body is a means to self-empowerment. She doesn't display a hint of shame or self-recrimination. The piece caused a worldwide stir when it came out, outrage and condemnation from all sides, but Manet remained unrepentant. I also love his famous painting of the barmaid at the Folies Bergeres, whose wistful, tired, beaten-down expression could just as easily be found today on a young woman working the graveyard shift at a Burger King. But most of my favorite painters are abstract expressionists and pop artists, the usual suspects: Pollock, Krasner, de Kooning, Rothko, Stella, Frankenthaler, Rauchenberg, Johns, Lichtenstein (although he's more of a one-trick pony than the others), Warhol, Basquiat. Among the abstract impressionists, I love the sheer energy of the brushstrokes and mark-making systems, the thick textural topography of the canvases, the focus on the movement of paint and presentation of color and value. The pop artists I like for their tongue-in-cheek commentary both on art and the fine-art world, and on popular culture. I think Picasso's "Guernica" is one of the most important pieces of the 20th century, a real stunner, but overall I'm not as attached to cubism as other movements. I like Miro, Mondrian, and Matisse the same way; I admire their work, but it just doesn't reach out and grab my by the guts, and that's what a great painting does for me. That's just a brief list off the top of my head. I'm sure I'm missing some others and they'll come to me later. Have a good day! :) Atticus
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