Art Rhapsody
presented by Bluegrass Youth Ballet
Scroll along for a sneak peek of the art work you will see brought to life through dance:
American Gothic by Grant Wood
The artist, Grant Wood, was born in 1891 and died in 1942. The medium used for this painting was oil on beaverboard. Wood was a realist painter.
Did you know? The figures in this painting were actually modeled by Grant Wood's sister and his dentist!
Credits:
Learn more about American Gothic by viewing Khan Academy's video.
Starry Night
Post-Impressionism
Starry Night can be found in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Swirling clouds, shining stars, and a bright crescent moon fill the painting. A small town is painted below the rolling hills of the horizon, and a massive dark structure is painted on the left side of the painting. There are different interpretations as to what this structure could be, from a mountain to a leafy bush.
The artist, Vincent Van Gogh, was born in 1853 and died in July 1890. He is known for using bold color, rough beauty, and emotional honesty in his paintings. Van Gogh suffered from anxiety and bouts of mental illness, but he produced thousands of works including oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, sketches, and prints.
Did you know? The Starry Night painting depicts the night view from the artist’s room at the Saint-Paul Asylum in Saint-Remy, France, though he painted it from his memory during the day.
Credits:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Starry_Night
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Van_Gogh
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starry-night.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Paul_Asylum,_Saint-R%C3%A9my_(Van_Gogh_series)#The_Starry_Night
Girl With a Pearl Earring
Baroque
Girl With a Pearl Earring is currently housed in a major pictorial art museum in The Hague, Netherlands. A pearl earring, worn by the girl in the painting, is the focal point. No one knows who this girl actually is, but the painter was able to portray her lively expression and her exotic clothes in his work.
This painting is by Dutch painter, Johannes Vermeer, and it is an oil paint on canvas. The painting sort of looks like a photograph because it is smooth and lifelike. Vermeer is known for his nearly invisible brushstrokes and his use of light.
Did you know? The background was originally dark green, but over time it has blackened.
Credits:
Dickins, Rosie. The Usborne Book Of Famous Paintings. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2010. Print.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_with_a_Pearl_Earring
http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/girl_with_a_pearl_earring.html
water lilies
Impressionism
Water Lilies is currently on display at National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, Japan. It shows a huge lily pond in the soft light of morning. It is painted with streaks and spots of unblended color and loose, swirling brushstrokes. It creates a very bold impression!
The artist is French Impressionist painter, Claude Monet, born in 1840 and died in 1926. It is an oil paint, and this is one section of four canvas panels. Monet built a lily pond in his garden, and painted it repeatedly at all times of day, to try to capture the changing effect of sunlight on the flowers and water.
Did you know? The lily canvases were so big, Monet had to build a special studio in his garden to put them in.
Credits:
Dickins, Rosie. The Usborne Book Of Famous Paintings. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2010. Print.
the frame
Naive Art (Folk Art/Primitivism)
The Frame is a self-portrait showing the face of Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo. The frame of flowers and decorative shapes was inspired by Mexican folk art, and celebrates Kahlo’s Mexican roots. In the painting, Kahlo is wearing traditional Mexican costume, with ribbons and flowers in her hair.
Frida Kahlo was born in Mexico in 1907 and died in 1954. She used art as a means of healing from a crippling car accident. She painted herself over 100 times, claiming that she was the subject she knew best. This painting is oil paint on metal with glass.
Did you know? The two birds in this self-portrait may have been based on Frida Kahlo’s pets. She often included her animals in her portraits.
Credits:
Dickins, Rosie. The Usborne Book Of Famous Paintings. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2010. Print.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frida_Kahlo
http://www.fridakahlofans.com/c0255.html
http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/frida-kahlo/self-portrait-the-frame-1938
Dancers in Pink
Impressionism, Modern Art, Realism
Dancers in Pink can be found in the Hill-Stead Museum in Connecticut. This oil on canvas painting is like a casual snapshot of theatre life. Dancers with overpowering pink costumes are crowded together on stage adjusting their costumes and warming up. The soft, almost hazy look of the painting creates a magical atmosphere. Dabs and dashes of color make up the painting, instead of clear shapes and lines. The dancers seem oblivious to the artist’s gaze.
Edgar Degas was a French artist who is specifically identified with the subject of dance. He was born in 1834 and died in 1917. He painted and sculpted hundreds of dancers throughout his life, and he was particularly good at capturing movement. He felt the way dancers practiced, with lots of repetitive exercises, was similar to the way an artist works. Degas is considered an Impressionist painter, but he rejected the idea, and preferred to be known as a realist.
Did you know? Edgar Degas had failing eyesight from the 1880’s through the end of his life, and he switched from oil painting to pastels and sculpture. The detail in his later work is not as great as in his earlier paintings.
Credits:
Dickins, Rosie. The Usborne Book Of Famous Paintings. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2010. Print.
http://www.jproach.org/id21.html
http://aboveboards-art.blogspot.com/2011/12/dancers-in-pink-degas-1880-1885-hill.html
http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/edgar-degas/dancers-in-pink-1885
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_did_Edgar_Degas_become_blind?#slide=1
Gardanne
Post-Impressionism
Gardanne is an oil on canvas on display at the Barnes Foundation in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It depicts Gardanne, a hill town near the artist’s birthplace, Aix-en-Provence. In this panoramic painting the artist tried to bridge the natural and artistic worlds. The landscape is painted with intense volumetric patterns of geometric rhythms that are most evident in the houses.
Artist Paul Cézanne, born in 1839 and died in 1906 composed his landscapes, arranging the trees and houses as he wanted them. Some of his work can be considered as the beginning of Cubism, a style of painting that used geometric shapes, interlocking planes, and later, collage.
Did you know? Paul Cézanne rarely signed his works, because he was never satisfied with them. He seldom considered them finished.
Credits:
Farbstudie Quadrate (Square with Concentric Circles)
Abstract Art
Farbstudie Quadrate is currently located at Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, in Munich, Germany. It is an abstract, mixed technique painting which contains circles within squares. In this painting color and rhythm combine to make beautiful music.
Russian painter and art theorist Wassily Kandinsky was born in 1866 and died in 1944. He believed that looking at shapes and colors could make people feel emotions. It is believed that he had synaesthesia-a harmless condition where he could appreciate two or more senses at the same time. To him, art and sound were one and the same. Kandinsky thought the circle was a symbol of the human soul.
Did you know? Kandinsky was also an accomplished musician, and he saw color when he heard music.
Credits:
Dickins, Rosie. The Usborne Book Of Famous Paintings. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2010. Print.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky
http://wassilykandinsky.co.uk/
http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Farbstudie-Quadrate-c-1913-Posters_i335877_.htm
http://www.art.com/products/p5991468444-sa-i802245/wassily-kandinsky-farbstudie-quadrate-c-1913.htm
http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/wassily-kandinsky/color-study-squares-with-concentric-circles-1913
The Machine
Local artist and Kentucky native, Steve Armstrong (born 1945), is mostly known for his “Automata” sculpture. He uses gears, pulleys, chains and the viewer’s energy to make his sculptures move. He hand-carves the moveable parts from various woods and then paints them. His “Automata” sculptures whirl and spin, and they open to reveal an amazing sense of humor. Mr. Armstrong received his degree from the University of Kentucky. His whimsical sculptures have been featured in galleries, educational institutions, and museums.
The Machine is a life-size Automata sculpture, made by Steve Armstrong, and incorporates the movement of real dancers.
Credits
Bluegrass Youth Ballet
Email: jen@bluegrassyouthballet.org
Website: http://bluegrassyouthballet.com
Location: 1595 Mercer Road Suite 150 Lexington, KY 40511
Phone: 859-271-4472
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bluegrass-Youth-Ballet
Twitter: @BYB_arts