Monica D. Murgia

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Matisse

Ode to Matisse

January 28, 2013 / 1 Comment

The Matisse show at the Met definitely was not what I was expecting.  Entitled In Search of a True Painting, the galleries are full of studies and series of paintings based around the same subjects.  After seeing the impressive paintings on George Bellows, it was a real contrast to see an artist’s studies and struggles with the canvas.

The truth is, Matisse really struggled with painting.  He never felt his work was complete, and wanted to push every painting to the next level.  This was really a surprise to me.  I’ve always considered Henri Matisse  (1869″“1954) one of the geniuses of the twentieth century.  I love his painting, Acanthus, which I am happy to report was at the Met.

 

Matisse

 

The curators at the Met go on to explain:

Unbeknownst to many, painting had rarely come easily to Matisse. Throughout his career, he questioned, repainted, and reevaluated his work. He used his completed canvases as tools, repeating compositions in order to compare effects, gauge his progress, and, as he put it, “push further and deeper into true painting.”

The show didn’t really make much of an impact on me until I got home to paint.  I sort of do the same thing with my own art.  Trees are really my favorite subject.  I spend a lot of time outdoors. I love to photograph, draw, and paint the beautiful trees I see while on my walks.  A few weeks prior to seeing the Matisse show, I’d done a few studies of the same tree:

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I do these kinds of studies a lot, especially when I’m not sure if I want to change the color palette.  I like to draw outside while I’m in nature.  I can see more colors than a photograph will capture, and I can play around with the intensity of the hues while drawing.  It’s a lot of fun.  But with the cold weather, I’ve been drawing more indoors.
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Since my visit to the Met, I really wanted to make a painting of a tree.  I love the bright colors of Acanthus, and wanted to incorporate them into my own work.  Since I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do, I made a few studies:

 

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Making a drawing or painting is like meeting a person that you like.  You just get a feeling that it’s a good fit – everything just seems to flow and there is a sense of harmony.  I definitely felt that in the last study I did above.  The composition worked, I liked the colors.  So I decided to try my Ode to Matisse out on the canvas.

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I mostly like to paint on the floor.  Standing at an easel at my studio doesn’t really give me the range of motion I like.  But when I paint with David Ohlerking, it’s especially helpful to have an easel.  The way he mixes his paints is so different – they’re sort of runny.  So the paint sort of drips down.  I love painting with him because of this!  It’s an entirely different experience.  I always learn so much.  If you paint, I really suggest venturing out of solitude once in a while.  Painting with someone else can really help you learn new techniques and ways to express yourself.

When I paint by myself, I try all sorts of things.  Sometimes I mix the paint directly on the canvas.  Other times, I use a palette to mix colors or revisit something I’ve mixed before.  (Oil paint never really dries!)  I’ll push it around with palette knives, brushes, and bits of cardboard.  My brushes are usually really dry.  I probably don’t get all of the paint off and it hardens.  So every time I use a brush, it manipulates the paint in a different way.  I didn’t get to finish yet, but here is what I have so far:

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Posted in: art, artists, creativity, Great Museums, Nature inspired, paintings, Travel Tagged: art exhibition, drawing, Henri Matisse, Matisse, Met, metropolitan museum of art, painting, paintings inspired by Matisse, sketches, studies

Art Improves the Quality of Life

April 25, 2011 / 2 Comments

Full Fathom Five by Jackson Pollock, 1947.

This week, I’ve revisited one of my favorite readings.   It’s a chapter from Lars Svendsen’s book FASHION: A PHILOSOPHY.   The chapter is simply called FASHION & ART.   There is a huge philosophical debate on whether or not fashion is an art form and where the bad rap comes from.   Fashion forefathers Charles Fredrick Worth and Paul Poiret are quoted, clearly bellowing that they are more than dressmakers – they are artists.

Some critics say that fashion could never be considered art.   It has no body of criticism; it is too associated with the market and consumers; the value of the work is lost in mass production.

But then I wonder, are the critics contradicting themselves?  There is a body of criticism – those that say fashion is not art.  Art is also associated with the market and consumers, more so now than ever before.  Art is reproduced at an alarming rate, and yet nothing compares to seeing a painting in person.  The best advice I received from this reading is the following:

Rather than asking whether something is art, we ought to ask the question as to what extent it is GOOD or RELEVANT art.

Svendsen, 107.

JACKSON POLLOCK (1912-1956) Untitled, c. 1949

In conversation, I find that many people are repulsed by post-modern art.   Abstract art is difficult to comprehend.   Is it good?   How can you tell if it’s well done – it’s just paint splattered everywhere.   But there is something so compelling about abstract art.   The color, the power of the brush strokes, the unusual geometry.   Somehow, I seem to related everything back to fashion.   Couldn’t this painting make an interesting textile print?   Of maybe the color pallet can inspire my new summer wardrobe.

Art, in it’s best capacity, moves us to incorporate it into our daily lives – even when we don’t fully understand it.

Fashion Study with painting by Jackson Pollock. Vogue, 1951 by Cecil Beaton.

Vogue Editorial on Pollock. March 1951.

Blogger Tavi Garrison Adapting Pollock for Fashion. April, 2010.

Detail. April 2010.

Galatea of the Spheres by Salvador Dali, 1952.

Dress Design by Adrian. Textile Design by Salvador Dali, 1947.

Dress Design by Adrian. Textile Design by Salvador Dali. 1947.

Tears Evening Dress by Elsa Schiaparelli, 1938. Textiles by Salvador Dali.

Wallis Simpson in the Lobster Dress.

Wallis Simpson in the Lobster Gown, sitting.

 

Lobster Dress by Salvador Dali and Elsa Schiaparelli. c. 1937

Lobster Dress by Salvador Dali and Elsa Schiaparelli. c. 1937

Cover of American Fabrics Magazine, Fall 1950.

Composition with Gray and Light Brown by Piet Mondrian, 1918

 

Vogue Cover with YSL Mondrian Dress.  September 1965.

Vogue Cover with YSL Mondrian Dress. September 1965.

Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue by Piet Mondrian, 1921.

Composition #10 by Piet Mondrian, 1939.

 

YSL Mondrian Dress, c. 1965.

YSL Mondrian Dress, c. 1965.

 

Galliano Inspired by Picasso.

Elie Saab’s Inspired by Chuck Close.

Miyake Inspired by Matisse.

Art improves the quality of life.   Enjoy it, wherever you find it.

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Posted in: american fashion, art, art history, Art's Influence on Fashion, artists, artists i love, criticism, Designers I love, fashion, Fashion and Identity, fashion and the body, Fashion as art, fashion history, fashion influenced by art, history, Inspiration, Make yourself smarter, Nature inspired, Uncategorized Tagged: Adrian, Adrian and Dali, American Fabrics Magazine, Chuck Close, dali, Elsa Schiaparelli, fashion, fashion inspired by art, Galliano, jackson pollock, jackson pollock in vogue 1951, jackson pollock inspired fashion, Lobster dress, Matisse, Miyake, mondrian, Picasso, piet mondrian, pollock, Saab, salvador dali, Schiaparelli and Dali, tavi

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