one year one painting a day: July 2012

Tuesday, 31 July 2012

Léon Augustin Lhermitte and The Haymakers

'The Haymakers' (1887) by Léon Augustin Lhermitte; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

For today I chose a painting that I have seen numerous times and that gets better with every viewing. It's part of the permanent collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and it's usually displayed on the ground floor. The painting is big in size so it's hard to miss. Its artist is Léon Augustin Lhermitte, a French Realist painter, born on July 31, 1844 (see the French Wikipedia page for the exact data of his birth and death). Lhermitte depicted the peasant worker and rural life. With this painting he might have wanted to illustrate the three stages of life by depicting a child, two adults and an old man. The painting has also been part of the exhibition 'Illusions of reality' at the same museum, from October 2010 till January 2011, and moved for that reason to the exhibition wing.

Monday, 30 July 2012

Palma Vecchio and Portrait of a Young Woman

'Portrait of a Young Woman' (1518-20) by Palma Vecchio;
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

The choice was a bit thin for today but I'm glad I found an Italian painter. This Friday I will go to Rome for the very first time and I am extremely excited about the prospect of being able to see so much fine art. I had never heard of today's artist Palma Vecchio, born in 1480 and died on 30 July 1528. Wikipedia doesn't give the exact date of his death (not even the Italian page) but Safran-Arts does. Vecchio's real name was Jacopo Negretti but there is little known of his life, training and work. I immediately liked his portraits of women who are voluptuous and being portrayed in rich colours. Apparently none of his paintings have been reliably signed but because of his distinctive style, they could be attributed to his name. I think that this painting of a young woman, also known as 'La Bella', is beautiful in depiction and colour. In fact, 'La Bella' had been attributed to Titian at first because of the similarity between this painting and one of the figures in Titian's painting Sacred and Profane Love. It's a shame that 'La Bella' is on display in Madrid but I just read that Titian's 'Sacred and Profane Love' is to be seen at the Galleria Borghese in Rome, and guess again where I am going this Friday?

Sunday, 29 July 2012

Robert Lewis Reid and Tempting Sweets

'Tempting Sweets' (1924) by Robert Lewis Reid; Private Collection

Today's painter, Robert Lewis Reid, born on July 29, 1862, is another American Impressionist painter unknown to me. When I googled the images of his paintings, there were some paintings I liked but there were also a lot of which I thought the colours were too faint. Reid studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School and also went to Paris to study under Gustave Boulanger and Jules Joseph Lefebvre. He painted landscapes, still lifes and murals. When he adopted a more Impressionist style around 1890 and started using a brighter palette, he focussed more on portraying women, often set amidst flowers and gardens. He was one of the founding members of the Ten American Painters, a group of Impressionists who rebelled against traditional art. Towards the end of his life, Reid was partially paralysed by a stroke and had to learn to paint with his left hand. I chose today's painting 'Tempting sweets' because of the colours and I also think the woman is beautiful.

Saturday, 28 July 2012

Judith Leyster and The Proposition

'The Proposition' (1631) by Judith Leyster; Mauritshuis, The Hague

Judith Leyster, born on 28 July 1609, was one of the few female painters of the Dutch Golden Age, at least still known to us. She painted genre scenes, portraits and still lifes and was influenced by Frans Hals and the Utrecht Caravaggisti. She was very succesful in her day and one of the few female members of the Haarlem Painters' Guild. She also took on students of her own. The story goes that she sued Hals succesfully for a breach of ethics after he stole one of her students. The artwork I chose for today is probably Leyster's most well-known painting. 'The Proposition' is a genre scene from everyday life. Leyster depicted a man offering money to a woman who is doing needlework. The man's seductive smile, the coins in his hand and the intimate candlelight might suggest that the man is offering money for love. This was a popular theme in Dutch painting. But nothing else in this work of art indicates that this might be a brothel scene (no cheerfulness, revealing clothing, hidden sexual symbols, etc.). The woman doesn't seem to be interested in what the man has to offer. Even more, she ignores him and doesn't look up from her needlework. It could have been just a domestic scene if it weren't for the coins in the man's hand. Leyster might have wanted to show the woman's virtue and strong character with this ambiguous work. I think this is a great painting from a great feminist painter who lived in a time when women were suppressed and uneducated.

Friday, 27 July 2012

Francis Luis Mora and Evening News

'Evening News' (1914) by Francis Luis Mora; James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown

Today's painter, Francis Luis Mora, is American, but Uruguayan by birth, and was born on 27 July 1874 as the son of the famed Spanish painter and sculptor Domingo Mora. His youth was full of art and he studied under his father before he got an art education at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Art Students League in New York. After his formal education, which he finished at the age of 19, he travelled to Europe. In Spain he got inspired and influenced by the great Spanish old masters like Diego Velázquez, El Greco and Goya. He found the subjects of his paintings on the streets of the American city and was drawn to painting people on public transportation. I like this painting 'Evening News' very much. Two women sitting amongst four men on the New York subway. They are all dressed for business and one of the women is reading the paper like she wants to keep up with the news just like the men. The other woman is looking the viewer straight in the eye. She is not holding a newspaper but a cane. I wonder what she's thinking.

Thursday, 26 July 2012

Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta and Portrait of Countess Mathieu de Noailles

'Portrait of Countess Mathieu de Noailles' (1913) by Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta;
Museo de Bellas Artes, Bilbao

Another Spanish painter for today, Ignacio Zuloaga, born on 26 July 1870, as the son of a goldsmith and metal worker. He was sent to Rome to study architecture but became interested in painting. He continued his studies in Paris where he lived on friendly terms with Toulouse-Lautrec and Gauguin. He came under the influence of Impressionism and the group of Catalan painters around Santiago Rusiñol. When he returned to his native country and visited Andalucía in 1892, his passion was aroused for Spanish gypsies and bullfights. It was in Spain that he discovered his true style influenced by the tradition of Goya and Velázquez. Today's painting reminds me a bit of Goya's 'The Clothed Maja', although I think this woman looks more sensual than Maja. What do you think?

Wednesday, 25 July 2012

Thomas Eakins and Portrait of Alice Kurtz

Due to my stay and volunteer work in Peru for most of June and July, I will continue to post a painting a day. I may add text upon returning to Amsterdam. I hope you will still visit to see the daily painting.