On this Date in History, May 26: Birth of Aaron Douglas, Gwendolyn Knight and Philippe de Champaigne

On this date in history: May 26

What happened in the world of Art History on May 26?  It was the birthday of three artists.

Aaron Douglas was born on this day in Topeka, Kansas in 1899 (May 26, 1899 – February 3, 1979).   Douglas was an African-American painter and print maker who was an important artist in the Harlem Renaissance.  After studying at the University of Nebraska and the University of Kansas, he moved to New York City where he worked as an illustrator.  He was known for his modern figurative style of paintings and unique color palate.  Later he moved to Nashville where he was a painting professor at Fisk University.  He taught a the University for over two decades and spent the rest of his life in Nashville.  His work and style had a lasting impression on many artists.

Aaron Douglas, Let My People Go, c-1934-39, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gwendolyn Knight (May 26, 1913 – February 18, 2005) was an American painter who was born in Barbados, moved to America and spent much of her life in Seattle.  Knight studied in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance. She was the wife of painter Jacob Lawrence who was a Professor in the Art Department at the University of Washington.

Knight had a large retrospective when she was nearly 80 years old titled "Never Late for Heaven: The Art of Gwen Knight," at the Tacoma Art Museum in 2003.  The Tacoma Art Museum says this of Knight on their website-

"An expressionistic painter with a strong interest in people, Gwendolyn Knight has developed a fluid sense of design using a brilliant palette of bright greens, reds and blues over the past seventy years. As an artist on one of the federal government’s Depression-era public art projects, Knight met her husband Jacob Lawrence in 1937. They lived in New York City until 1970 when they moved to Seattle. Each maintained their own artistic style, while their humanist interests created a strong intellectual bond. For most of her career Knight painted people who posed for her at home or in various studio settings and recreated scenes from the various neighborhoods in which she lived."

Annunciation, Philippe de Champaigne, 1644, Metropolitan Museum of Art 

Our final artist born this day was Philippe de Champaigne, born in Brussels in 1601 (May 26,1602 – August 12,1674).  He was a Baroque painter who spent the majority of his life in Paris.  He moved to Paris in 1621 to work with the French painter Poussin.  Later de Champaigne became a founding member of the Académie de Peinture et de Sculpture which opened in Paris in 1648.

On this Date in History, May 15: Salon des Refusés, Hammershøi and Edward Hopper

May 15th is a notable date in art history-

On May 15, 1863 an exhibit was created in Paris from the paintings that were rejected by the jurors of the Salon of the French Academy. In that year of the Annual Salon more than half of the works of art, over 2,000, were not selected to be part of the exhibit. Therefore the "Salon des Refusés" was held, giving those artists a chance to exhibit their work.  The idea for this alternative Salon was that of Emperor Napolean III who felt the jurors were too harsh, and this would give the public a chance to decide for themselves.

Manet, The Luncheon in the Grass, 1863, Musee D'Orsay, Paris

 

As Robert Rosenblum wrote in the book 19th-Century Art:

"This so-called Salon des Refusés, however, immediately took on the stature of a counterestablishment manifestation, where artists at war with authority could be seen and where the public could go either to jeer or to enlarge their ideas of what a work of art could be.  The counter-Salon opened two weeks after the official one, on May 15, and immediately attracted hordes of Parisians, who numbered as many as four thousand on a Sunday, when admission was free."*

The Salon des Refusés was a turning point in French 19th century art and included works by Manet, Whistler and Henri Fantin-Latour.

Vilhelm Hammershøi, Interior with Ida Playing the Piano, 1910, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan

Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi was born on this day in Copenhagen (May 15, 1864 - February 13, 1916).  He studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen from 1879 -1884.  Hammershøi painted several subjects including portraits, landscapes and cityscapes, but he is best known for his interior spaces and was called De Stillestuers Maler (The Painter of Tranquil Rooms).  He has also been called the Danish Vermeer as he has been influenced by Dutch Baroque painting.

Edward Hopper, The Nighthawks, 1942, Art Institute of Chicago

On May 15th 1967 American painter Edward Hopper died in New York City (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967). Hopper spent most of his life in New York, studying at the New York School of Art and Design under William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri.  He worked as both an illustrator and painter, creating works in oils and watercolors, as well as making many etchings.  Hopper is best known for his realistic style of painting and portraying contemporary American life, both in urban scenes and landscapes.  He painted throughout his life and died at age 84.  His works have had a big influence on later generations of American artists.

Books on the Salon des Refuses-

The Judgement of Paris by Ross King. 2006

19th-Century Art. by Robert Rosenblum and H.W. Janson. 1984.

Footnote-

*Rosenblum, Robert. and H.W. Janson. 19th-Century Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1984. p. 281.

  

Art & Architecture in Florence 2017: Summer Drawing Workshop & Art History Tour

I am excited to announce that in the summer of 2017 my colleague, artist Geoff Flack, and I are co-teaching a two week art workshop in Florence, Italy!  Geoff and I work together at Gage Academy of Art where we have both worked since 2005.  He teaches Figure Drawing classes and the Flack Drawing Atelier and I am the Adult Program Director and I also lecture on art history.

"Il Duomo" Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy

Geoff Flack is an MFA graduate of the New York Academy and he a master at drawing, in particular drawing the figure and also architecture and perspective. He also sometimes works in gouache and drawing with mixed media.



Gouache study of Italy, Geoff Flack

I am really looking forward to the opportunity to show students around one of my favorite cities while viewing some of the world’s most beautiful painting, sculpture and architecture.  Lecturing on art history will take place both in the classroom and on site at several well-known museums and churches in Florence.  We'll discuss the history of this famous city that is considered by many to be the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance. 

Copy of Michelangelo's David, Piazza della Signoria

I have co-taught a Gage workshop in Florence twice before (in 2013 and 2014 with Atelier instructor Juliette Aristides) and everyone had a really memorable time.  Here is what I wrote in a past blog post after I took the students to the Brancacci Chapel (in St. Maria del Carmine) which contains the famous early frescoes of Masolino and Masaccio:

“The frescoes were so gorgeous, the painted equivalent to the Gates of Paradise. I think that Quattrocento Florentine art is really my favorite. The art brought tears to my eyes and my students told me the same thing.  After we all went to Santo Spirito in the adjoining piazza, it was one of the most beautiful churches and the students were really glad they went.”

Brancacci Chapel: Saint Peter Raising the Son of Theophilus and 

Saint Peter Enthroned as First Bishop of Antioch, Masaccio, 1425, fresco (Santa Maria del Carmine)

Outside of the classroom students had many opportunities to draw and sketch; copying sculptures in places like the Loggia di Lanzi, making studies of famous paintings in the churches and museums and drawing both small architectural details and larger panoramic vistas.  Geoff Flack stresses the importance of drawing from life and it shows in both his work and in the work of his students.



Geoff Flack, Gouache study

Geoff Flack, Gouache study



Geoff recently returned from living in Italy for two years where he got the opportunity to really learn about the art and culture.  Here are some painted studies in gouache he made while there.

The Birth of Venus by Botticelli (1486)  Uffizi Gallery

During the day our workshop will include visits to several churches, museums and other sites as a group including these among others: 

• Santa Croce- Contains work by Giotto, Taddeo and Agnolo Gaddi, Donatello and the famous Pazzi Chapel designed by Brunelleschi.
• Santa Maria Novella- Contains work by Giotto, Masaccio, Ghirlandaio and Filippino Lippi.







Santa Maria Novella, Leon Battista Alberti, 1456-70





• The Brancacci Chapel- Famous fresco cycle by Masaccio and Masolino.
• Basilica di Santo Spirito- Beautiful Renaissance church designed by Brunelleschi and filled with artwork including a crucifix by Michelangelo, sculpture by Sansovino and painting by Filippino Lippi.
• Bargello Museum- Sculpture museum of Florence with many works by Donatello, including his famous David and also sculptures by Michelangelo.
• The Loggia dei Lanzi- Beautiful open air sculpture court looks onto the Piazza dei Signoria and is a wonderful place to draw.
• The Pitti Palace- Contains many museums and the Boboli Gardens, the painting gallery holds many Old Master works including Raphael.
• Museum of artwork from the Duomo- (Museo dell’Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore di Firenze) Museum filled with artwork formerly in the Duomo including work by Donatello (St. Mary Magdalene), Michelangelo (late Pieta), and Ghiberti’s original Gates of Paradise.
  
  

 The Baptistery with the Duomo in the background

Here is some additional information from the current Gage Academy of Art catalog in case you are interested in joining us next summer:

Art & Architecture in Florence: with Geoff Flack and Carol Hendricks

Gage Academy of Art Drawing Instructor:
Geoff Flack, Atelier Instructor
Art History Instructor:
Carol Hendricks, Art Historian & Gage Adult Program Director

Thursday, June 28 to Saturday, July 14, 2013 (16 nights)

$4,300 double occupancy bedroom in shared apartment/airfare not included

Madonna and Child with Two Angels
Fra Filippo Lippi, 1465, Uffizi Gallery

We invite you to join Geoff Flack and Carol Hendricks for this unparalleled opportunity to study the magnificent art and architecture of the Renaissance while refining your drawing skills. During this 2-week Florence Intensive, your drawing instructor, Geoff, focuses on training your eye and your hand to capture the essence of the remarkable city that surrounds you.

Concurrently, Carol, your Italian art history expert, introduces you to some of Europe’s greatest masterpieces installed in the city’s beautiful churches and extraordinary museums.

Additionally,students will have their own apartments for the duration of their workshop and will be able to explore the city on their own.

 Carol Hendricks in The Boboli Gardens in Florence, July 2013

Florence is one of my favorite cities and teaching there next summer will be my 10th visit, it is really a city I know well.  I often keep a travel blog during my trips abroad, feel free to look over some of my past photos and blog posts, both of the workshops and my travels.

http://travelingwithcarol.blogspot.com/

We are both really excited to be teaching drawing and art history in Florence next summer and hope you can join us!

On this Date in History, May 12: Rossetti, Stella and the façade for the Duomo of Florence

What happened in the world of art history on May 12?

In 1828 English painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti (May 12, 1828 – April 9, 1882) was born in London.  Rossetti was the founder of a group of artists known as the "Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood" whose style changed the face of 19th century British art.  The Pre-Raphaelites took their inspiration from an earlier time (before the work of Raphael) and looked to Medieval and early Renaissance Art as well as Medieval literature such as the Italian poet Dante Alighieri after whom Rossetti was named.

Rossetti painted dozens of works in his lifetime, often focusing on female figures from classical mythology or literature.  The below work, Beata Beatrix, refers to Dante's muse, Beatrice Portinari and shows her at her moment of death.  The model for the painting was Rossetti's wife Elizabeth Sidall who had recently died.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Beata Beatrix, 1863, Tate Britain, London

On May 12 in 1887 the façade for the Cathedral of Florence (the Duomo) was unveiled.  The Neo Gothic façade was designed by Italian architect Emilio De Fabris in the 1860's.  As you can see from Giotto's 14th century Campanile (bell tower) to the right, De Fabris was interested in creating a 19th century façade that blended seamlessly with the rest of the much older cathedral.  The façade until the mid-19th century had a plain front.

The Duomo of Florence is one of the largest churches in Europe, the plans and design for it spanned over 600 years and the unveiling of the façade was one of the last steps towards its completion.

There was a revival of Gothic (12th-14th century) art and architecture in the 19th century, such as in the above example of the art of Rossetti.  With the advent of the Industrial Revolution the Gothic age was romanticized and presented as the return to a simpler time.  In the case of the façade of the Duomo, working in the Gothic style presented a harmonious design which visually unified the cathedral.

Façade of the Cathedral of Florence 'Duomo' in Italy with the Campanile to the right

1936 Frank Stella was born in Massachusetts, today he lives and works in New York City, he has lived there since graduating from Princeton in 1958.  He is well known in art history as a modern painter whose work in the late 1950's and 60's was a departure from Abstract Expressionism.  Instead he developed a style of minimalism and used geometric forms, his work influenced a new generation of modern painters.




Frank Stella, Harran II, 1967, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

On this Date in History, May 1: Birth of Theo Van Gogh, Inness and Beaux

On this date in history: May 1

What happened in the world of Art History on May 1?  During the 19th century three influential figures were born: George Inness in 1825, Cecilia Beaux in 1855 and Theo Van Gogh in 1857.

George Inness, In the Adirondacks, c- 1862. Yale University Art Gallery

In 1825 American landscape painter George Inness (May 1, 1825 – August 3, 1894) was born in New York.

Inness started studying art when he took classes at the National Academy of Design.  He was also very interested in the work of the Hudson River School artists. In the 1850’s he went to Rome to study the Baroque landscape painters and then went to Paris to study the work of the Barbizon school.   

When he returned to America Inness spent his career as a landscape painter on the east coast and painted dozens of works during his lifetime.  He was influenced by all of the earlier landscape artists that he saw, but developed his own style of panoramic views which are infused with deep color.

 

George Inness, On the Delaware River, Brooklyn Museum

Cecilia Beaux, the renowned American portrait painter was born in Philadelphia (May 1, 1855 – September 7, 1942).


Beaux is known as one of the most important American portrait painters of the late 19th and early 20th century.

She studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1877-1879 and later returned to teach there, when she was studying at PAFA the painter Thomas Eakins was teaching at the school.  After she studied in Paris.

During her lifetime Beaux had fourteen one-woman shows and won numerous prizes, she was the first female artist to teach at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.  

Dorothea and Francesca, Cecilia Beaux, 1898, Art Institute of Chicago

Vincent Van Gogh's famous brother, art dealer Theo van Gogh, Dutch art dealer (May 1, 1857 – January 25, 1891) was born in the Netherlands.  Besides being a successful art dealer, Theo helped encourage and support his older brother Vincent Van Gogh.  Theo suggested that Vincent move to Paris where he met the French Impressionists, he paid him for many of his paintings and hung them in his gallery in Paris and he gave him a stipend so he could move to Arles. 

Theo also collected and stored his brother's paintings and letters which allowed Theo's widow Johanna to share after his early death at age 33.  If Theo hadn't preserved these and especially if Johanna had not worked to exhibit Vincent's work and have the brothers correspondence published, the world may never know about Vincent Van Gogh.

Today the brothers Vincent and Theo Van Gogh are buried next to each other at the cemetery in Auvers-sur-Oise. 

A Wheatfield with Cypresses, Vincent Van Gogh, 1889

The National Gallery (London)