Author Archives: arthipstory

Jul 23 2014
Art

steeple chase

degas horse

Edgar Degas painted Scene from the Steeplechase for a Salon exhibition in 1866. Mary Cassatt wanted to purchase the painting for her brother, but Degas kept the work in his studio, basically repainting every darn inch.

Well, Cassatt’s momma wasn’t happy about that. In a letter, she wrote:

“I doubt if he ever sells it—…it is one of those works which are sold after a man’s death & artists buy them not caring whether they are finished or not.”

DEAD ON, MOM. The painting was in his studio when he died in 1893. It’s now a part of the National Gallery in DC, thanks to Paul Mellon.

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Jul 22 2014
Art

the debate

rockwell, debate

Sister, you can pout all you want, but you should realize three things:

a.) your husband is rude-looking,
b.) Harry Truman wins the election (spoiler!), but most importantly,
c.) those house slippers and that messy bun are TO DIE FOR.

I guess I should also tell you girl that your kid looks annoying, but I’m a major fan of the overall comeback, so I’ll just let you gloat over that Truman victory some more.

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Jul 21 2014
Art

bernini

marble

Are you feeling relatively accomplished today after the weekend? Maybe you completed a memo, maybe you marble-painted your nails, maybe you even had time this morning to pick up Starbucks for the boss and had time to swing by the dry cleaners. Bravo, fine readers!

Welp, I’m about to blow all that self-pride and relative worth out the darn window when I tell you that Bernini made this fleshy thigh (belonging to Persephone) out of MARBLE at the age of twenty-three.

Right. Forget the dry cleaning. I’m feeling worthless.

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Jul 21 2014
Art

red vineyard

red vineyard

This painting is supposedly the only one Vincent van Gogh ever sold. Anna Boch, a painter herself, purchased it for 400 francs in 1888. When you go to Russia for the World Cup in 2018, you can check this beauty out at Moscow’s Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.

Vincent used oil on burlap. Take that, Martha Stewart! Your take on the fabric for country-rustic stenciled curtains and high-backed chairs now bores me permanently.

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Jul 21 2014
Art

one small step

neil armstrong

Sometimes art is a scientific achievement. We landed on the moon 45 years ago today.

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Jul 20 2014
Art

rosie and isaiah

blog

Rosie the Riveter stands on Hitler’s Mein Kampf during her lunch break while Michelangelo’s Isaiah from the Sistene Chapel nonchalantly acknowledges what is a very possessed angel. Same sitting pose (three cheers for art appropriation!), but Rosie wins this contest, hands down.

I mean, obviously, she had me at those muscles alone, but don’t even get me STARTED on those loafers. *swoon*

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Jul 20 2014
Person

hbd, degas

the dance class

Huffington Post made me feel TERRIBLE this morning when it mentioned Degas celebrated his 180th birthday and I didn’t even know about it. Well, I’m going to go ahead and pretend that turning 180 years old requires two days and therefore, I am RIGHT ON TIME.

Degas is well-known for his ballerina paintings and sculptures, but he wasn’t always the popular Impressionist at school. Critics often called his work “appalling ugliness.”

His response?

“Art critic! Is that a profession? When I think we are stupid enough, we painters, to solicit those people’s compliments and to put ourselves into their hands! What shame! Should we even accept that they talk about our work?”

Preach, Degas. I feel that way when girls stare. It’s a printed maxi, ladies, and I am OWNING IT.

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Jul 20 2014
Art

favorite

I feel this captures every single sentiment about a Saturday. The lounging, the leisure, the expensive silk robes…all of it. And these girls are like, “Yeah, and we about to do it all over again tomorrow.”

Jul 19 2014
Art

let’s be real

cezanne

While I am ALL FOR bottomless pitchers for brunch (but like, where can I get that china?!), there just aren’t enough crumpled linens and tapestries at my normal Saturday eateries.

 

 

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Jul 15 2014
Art

seven deadly sins

seven deadly sins

Hieronymus Bosch is only a little crazy. Luckily, we’re looking at a painting that comes before his insane, invented lands where humans and birds live together in uproarious, straight up, and bizarre ways.

This is a work acquired by Spain’s Philip II, and you can see this amazing panel at the Prado. Each of the corner’s small circles represents “Death,” “Judgment,” “Hell,” and “Glory.” The panels within the greater circle illustrate the seven deadly sins. Christ is in the middle, standing knowingly above the scroll that reads, “Beware, Beware, God Sees.”

So, the scariest combination of Pictionary and Wheel of Fortune that I have EVER SEEN.

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