Category Archives: Art

May 05 2016
Art

dorrance wright

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Is there anything better than an exposed clavicle? I think not!

Mary Cassatt exhibited this work at the Salon in 1879. It ended up in the hands of Alexis Rouart, and was passed along his various heirs until it was acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, thanks to the Dorrance Wright Collection.

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Well, guess what? The same collection gave the PMA its first Gauguin. Sweet Christ, things are getting gauguinmossroses.gifbetter and better. Why don’t you go ahead and tell me Charlotte Dorrance plans to cancel Christmas?

At least she had some sense and had a work that was “pre-Yellow House,” when Gauguin really showed his true colors of being a gossipy high school girl.

OR WORSE, TAHITI!

 

May 04 2016
Art

girls reading

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Renoir’s Two Girls Reading makes me miss Mandy, and the moments we’d snicker over Tinder’s most insane introductions while savoring peach sangria and veggie korma.

May 03 2016
Art

you’re joking

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I don’t understand how so many days can truly exist between Monday morning and Friday at 4:30. It’s like each minute between Thursday afternoon and Friday has its own darn federal holiday.

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May 02 2016
Art

quappi

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Though I don’t take long pulls off cigarettes, I often wear chunky necklaces and contrasting cuffs while looking off in the distance and cursing Mondays.

Matilde von Kaulbach, aka Quappi, was Max Beckmann‘s second wife. quappi.jpg

She looks fierce as hell. Her style is everything. This cornflower blue is doing a lot for me, and the DISGUST she has for anything that doesn’t have to do with cocktail hour is measurably unparalleled.

Needless to say, I’m obsessed.

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May 01 2016
Art

unione

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Raphael thought Leonardo da Vinci’s colors were boring, and while Raphael isn’t the most popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Italian painter, he’s definitely on to something.

Enter unione. It’s basically the same as sfumato in its hazy smokiness, but with much more vibrant color. I like to think of it as seeing something full price one day, and on sale the next: similar, just better.

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May 01 2016
Art

how novel

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Josef Danhauser went ahead and named this work The Novel Reading. Cute, right?

Well, what he doesn’t know is, my ideas are usually frequently better than everyone else’s.

Might I suggest the title to read, Woman Realizing Monday’s Impending Doom. Even the Farnese Hercules in the background knows it’s a better title.

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Apr 30 2016
Art

tgi…

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I told my girlfriends I’d be ready right after spin…

…that was about four hours ago. Woops. It’s just so hard to get dressed.

Apr 30 2016
Art

cangiante

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Cangiante is the third installation in this series on Italian Renaissance painting styles. WAHOO!

Michelangelo‘s Sistine Chapel is a particularly miraculous example of cangiante (it’s Italian for “change”). It means to use lots of tints and shades of color, even if it means using different colors completely to achieve a realistic shadow. For example, mixing red into the shadow of yellow to make it appear darker on canvas (or, in this case, plaster).

Note: I’ve already covered this, but ICYMI: The Prophet Isaiah, pictured above, was the influence behind Norman Rockwell‘s Rosie the Riveter. 

Boom! Drop that tidbit on a girl over burgers tomorrow and see what happens!

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Apr 30 2016
Art

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How much does Cindy Sherman from 1977 look like Iggy Azalea?!

Just DON’T CALL HER BECKY.

Too soon?

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Apr 29 2016
Art

sfumato

monalisa

Happy Friday, party people! I hope you’ll catch this series’ second post while you’re still at bars serving twofer Fireball shots, so you can impress all interns just a bar booth away!

Sfumato comes from the Italian word sfumare, meaning “shaded off.” It creates a smoky haziness that blends colors without the appearance of brushstrokes. Leonardo da Vinci is best-known for using sfumato in the facial features of Mona Lisa, as well as other works.

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