Category Archives: Art

Aug 01 2014
Art

medici family dogs

medici

Why isn’t there a Shazam app that can scan a painting or work of art to tell me WHO THIS Medici Family dog walker is?! I have so many questions about the dailly responsibilities, let alone the shoes and the pocket watch accessorizing. He’s sitting in the Boboli Gardens, Florence’s Central Park.

Tiberio de Tito was a Florentine court painter, known best for his strange portraits of royal babies and dogs.

medici pair

The Gardens were designed for Eleanor of Toledo, the wife of Cosimo I de Medici, the first grand Duke of Tuscany. I feel like they’re straight out of Game of Thrones, particularly that masculine armor! Well done Bon Fatto, d’Medicis!

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Jul 31 2014
Art

girl with a dog

girl with a dog

Berthe Morisot was the only woman to exhibit in the first Impressionist show of 1874. She was married to the brother of Edouard Manet and dear, dear friends with Mary Cassatt.

Cassatt once wrote her,

“Women should be someone and not something.”

I totally agree. And, let’s be real — girl, you are rockin’ that look of being someone with that pup and full-floral hat!

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Jul 30 2014
Art

portrait of cassatt

cassatt
Mary Cassatt often modeled for Edgar Degas. Though she kept this in her studio, she sold it later in her life without him knowing. I’m imagining Degas finding out and playing that “Last Christmas” on just straight repeat. Or like, ANY Taylor Swift song.

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Jul 29 2014
Art Image

perseids

perseid

Sometimes art is a meteor shower. The annual Perseid meteor shower starts now and peaks August 12 and 13th, during the supermoon.

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Jul 29 2014
Art

laocoön

laocoon

The agony, the pain, the anguish. I feel this way whenever anyone mentions Monday on a Sunday or Paul Gauguin EVER.

Laocoön (lie-oh-kwahn) was a Trojan priest who, with his sons in tow, were attacked by all sorts of sea serpents. (Note: This is what happens when you try and spoil the Trojan Horse and Poseidon finds out.) It dates between 27 BC and 68 AD.

Uh, I don’t know about you, but I can’t do anything without electricity and I’ve died about a bazillion times on the Oregon Trail and that’s a GAME. I mean, that’s not even the same time period and I’m still a goner.

Michelangelo was present during its excavation from a vineyard in 1506. You know who else was?! Francesco da Sangallo, the architect of the Duomo in Florence.  In his description of the excavation, he writes:

“They dug the hole wider so that they could pull the statue out. As soon as it was visible everyone started to draw [or “started to have lunch], all the while discoursing on ancient things, chatting as well about the ones in Florence.

I mean, I don’t know about you, but I always celebrate centuries-old discoveries with food.

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Jul 28 2014
Art

l.h.o.o.q.

duchamp

Marcel Duchamp takes the Mona Lisa to a whole new level.

L.H.O.O.Q in French sounds like “elle a chaud au cul.” She has a hot…well, behind. Nice, Duchamp.

Duchamp also translated the phrase as, “there is fire down below.”

Double nice, Duchamp. What would Lisa del Giocondo think about all that gossip you spreadin’?!

ALSO! Happy birthday, Duchamp!

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Jul 28 2014
Art

madonna of chancellor rolin

chancellor rolin big

Jan van Eyck painted this panel of the Madonna and Nicolas Rolin, chancellor to Phillip the Good, in 1435. The whole thing, with such exquisite detail, is barely more than 2 feet high. You can see it at the Louvre.

chan rollin 1

Lots of mind-blowing things are happening in this panel. First, Jan van Eyck inserts himself in the background of the work; in doing so, his selfie creates a liminal, in-between space. Next, the columns in the work are actually squashing bunnies. Rabbits were known as symbols of sexuality and fertility. Well, now they’re all dead. See ya, temptation!

chan crown

Lastly, while I’m all about the iconography of the work, that crown though…

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Jul 28 2014
Art

another monday

Sur-la-terrasse-a-Sevres

Every single emotion from all these subjects are how I feel on this particular Monday. Disgust, nostalgia, general frustration, you name it. I’m not scheduled to go to the dentist or view a Gauguin today! Ugh, Monday, you’re so terrible!

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Jul 26 2014
Art

Manet’s Monets

manet

Manet painting Monet’s family. Say THAT five times fast. Also, I really need to venture out in a full skirt and bonnet to enjoy a leisurely Saturday with chickens. I need that like I need another Anthropologie dress, so that’s actually a goal today.

Anthro members save 15% today, so this goal’s quickly turning into a reality…now about that poultry…

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Jul 26 2014
Art

chairs

chair van gogh

Vincent van Gogh painted this chair as a relative self-portrait. Artists love personification. I mean, darling, right?! Humble, quaint, simple.

Now, get ready to cringe. Below, van Gogh’s portrait of Gauguin.

chair gauguin

Showy, gaudy, just completely over the top. If this is to “portray” Gauguin, my hate level just rose exponentially. And, personally, I’m not even a little surprised. I just feel even worse for van Gogh for wanting to hang out and do this loser’s homework. Though if he did it on purpose to show how much Gauguin sucks, bravo, fine fellow.

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