Monday, September 28, 2015

Pope Innocent X



















The image on the left is called Pope Innocent X by Velasquez, 1650.

The image on the right is called Study after Velasquez Portrait of Pope Innocent X by Francis Bacon, 1953.  

Francis Bacon was an artist that created works of art that depicted images of pain, distortion, and emotionally raw scenes.  


How are these portraits similar?  Explain.   How are they different?  Explain.

Why do you think Francis Bacon would portray the Pope in this manner?  Explain.

What is the overall message in Bacon's work?  Explain.  Remember your answers are opinions.  There is no right or wrong answers. 

***********************REMEMBER NEW RULES***********************************
*Blog responses are due Sundays, no exceptions.
*You have one week to complete blogs
*No more going back to make up blogs
*Each response must be a paragraph (5-10 sentences)
You must comment on someone else blog (agree, disagree, add to it, or make them understand your point of view)
*Your blog response must have your correct name (or else how do I know who you are?)

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Calder's Mobiles

 Alexander Calder





Calder's first New York City exhibition was in 1928, and other exhibitions in Paris and Berlin gained him international recognition as a significant artist. A visit to Piet Mondrian's studio proved pivotal. Calder began to work in an abstract style, finishing his first nonobjective construction in 1931.
In early 1932, he exhibited his first moving sculpture in an exhibition organized by Marcel Duchamp, who coined the word "mobile." In May 1932, Calder's fame was consolidated by the first United States show of his mobiles. Some were motor-driven, His later wind-driven mobiles enabled the sculptural parts to move independently, as Calder said, "by nature and chance."  Calder returned to the United States to live and work in Roxbury, Massachusetts in June 1932.
From the 1940s on, Calder's works, many of them large-scale outdoor sculptures, have been placed in virtually every major city of the Western world. In the 1950s, he created two new series of mobiles: "Towers," which included wall-mounted wire constructions, and "Gongs," mobiles with sound.
Calder was prolific and worked throughout his career in many art forms. He produced drawings, oil paintings, watercolors, etchings, gouache and serigraphy. He also designed jewelry, tapestry, theatre settings and architectural interiors.   Calder died in 1976.  (text from http://rogallery.com/Calder_Alexander/calder-biography.htm)




















Calder's art today is known as kinetic art.  Art based on movement, time, and space.  
1.  How do you think that this type of art changes the way people look at art?  Explain.
2. What do you think about Calder's choice of colors?
3. Calder's work has also served the purpose of installation art.  How do you think that works like those above can change the environment of where it is installed?  How will people react?  
4. How would you react if one of Calder's works were put outside of our school?


***********************REMEMBER NEW RULES***********************************
*Blog responses are due Sundays, no exceptions.
*You have one week to complete blogs
*No more going back to make up blogs
*Each response must be a paragraph (5-10 sentences)
You must comment on someone else blog (agree, disagree, add to it, or make them understand your point of view)
*Your blog response must have your correct name (or else how do I know who you are?)