Chardin - Painter

Basket of Wild Strawberries, Chardin, 1761

"Jean Baptiste Siméon Chardin (1699-1779) was one of greatest masters of Still Life in the history of art. The painting style of the establishment in his day was Rococo: a pretentious style crammed with allegorical images from classical mythology swirling with ornate decoration. To Chardin this theatrical approach reduced art to some kind of intellectual conversation piece. It was totally alien to the world that he constructed - a simple world of truth, humility and calm played out in a few square inches on the wall.

The items he portrayed from his own home were selected for their shapes, textures and colours, rather than for any symbolic meaning they may have had. They were simply painted to convey the visual pleasure he experienced in looking at them. As his friend, the critic Diderot put it, “To look at pictures by other artists it seems that I need to borrow a different pair of eyes. To look at those of Chardin, I only have to keep the eyes that nature gave me and make good use of them.”

What Chardin strove for was an overall effect: a unity of tone, colour and form. His still lifes reveal themselves slowly, with his objects gradually emerging from their subtly toned background, summoned as the writer Marcel Proust puts it, “out of the everlasting darkness in which they have been interred.” "

- source:  http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/still_life/chardin/chardin.htm

Link Google Image Search

Howard Hodgkin - Painter

Reading the Letter, Howard Hodgkin

"Howard Hodgkin is a British printmaker and painter, born in London. He studied at the Camberwell School of Art and the Bath Academy of Art. He began exhibiting seriously at the age of 30. Hodgkin works in generally a small scale, often painting in a gestural style with flat colors. He often refers to memories and private experiences, but deliberately avoids the illustrational. Though his works are small and appear spontaneous, they are the result of a constant process of over-painting, sometimes extending over many years.

Hodgkin has also produced many prints, with a preference for screen-printing and lithography in his earlier works of the 60's and 70's. However, for his more recent work, Hodgkin has favored etchings and aquatint, as these provide a greater emphasis on texture. To further create a layering effect in his prints, Hodgkin sometimes hand-colors the image after printing.

In 1985, Hodgkin won the Turner Prize and took part in the Venice Biennale. He taught for some years at the Charterhouse School, then the Bath Academy of Art, and finally the Chelsea School of Art. He continues to exhibit frequently. The Tate Gallery in London has an impressive collection of his work."

- source: http://www.lesliesacks.com/gallery/artistPages/exhibitbios/hodgkinbio.htm

Link Howard Hodgkin Official Web Site

The Vitruvian Man - Leonardo and Stanford University

 

"The Vitruvian Man - you may not know his name, but you've seen him plenty of times before. You know, that multi-limbed man in the square and the circle. You may even know that Leonardo da Vinci drew him. But do you know anything else? Who is this guy, who has somehow become so famous?"

"This site seeks to explain the Vitruvian Man, both as an historical entity and as an image in the modern world. Enjoy!"

- source: http://leonardodavinci.stanford.edu/submissions/clabaugh/welcome.html