learn more about art

I’m taking History of Modern Art. Interesting stuff. Just did my homework on German Expressionism. WOW! I don’t usually do homework.

i already have a good foundation, just would like to dive deeper.

i want to improve my knowledge about art in general- i need to find good general books to read and maybe watch videos etc

Just because I’ve gotten into the habit of every time I go to the library picking up a book on a different artist. Today it was Lucian Freud. The man loved to paint flesh! Lots of it! This painting sort of fascinates me, because it’s surprising. I mean, this is not the sort of nude I’m used to seeing. And the way her face is all scrunched up is unflattering. Not that you have to be flattering or even should be, but I just wonder what kind of feeling he had toward this woman’s body as he painted it.

I treated myself to a subscription to this magazine after I found a copy in a bookstore and fell in love with Amy Sol’s paintings on wood, which were featured in Volume V. The girl often looks sad but they’re so beautiful and loving and gentle.

Amy Sol

Did he go there? Yes he did. And he was condemned as a blasphemer and excommunicated for it. This cracks me up. And gives me a touch of superstitious guilt about it too! Look how his little halo has fallen to the ground. And his little cheeks all red! This is positively scandalous.

Thanks, Pavosvenus for the inspiration for this goal. I hit up the library pretty hard recently, and I think it will be interesting for me to see what my eye takes to, and what it doesn’t like. This one I liked right away.

About this painting:

His fiancée wanted to decorate his room with flowers and colored shawls for this birthday. While she was still holding the flowers in her hand, he asked her to stand still so he could paint her. She later wrote, “You flung yourself upon the canvas so that it quaked under your hand; you snatched the brushes and squeezed out the paint—red, blue white, transporting me in a stream of colour. United we float over the decorated room, come to the window and want to fly out. The brightly hung walls whirl around us. We fly over fields full of flowers, over shuttered houses, roofs, yards, churches.”

They were married until she died in 1944. He didn’t paint for nine months after her death.

From the start, my family has raised me to be cultured. The MFA saw me frequently, and one of my prouder moments was securing free admission for UMass students there. I know most of the artists, but I would like to get to know more of the styles and movements, and also begin to grow comfortable with some of the technical terms.