The Art History Blog

Yves Klein 1960 “Le Saut dans le Vide” or...

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:33:28 -0800

Yves Klein 1960 “Le Saut dans le Vide” or “Leap into the Void”

Yves Klein (1928 –1962 died age 34 after suffering 3 heart attacks) was a French artist considered an important figure in post-war European art. He is the leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme founded in 1960 by the art critic Pierre Restany. Klein was a pioneer in the development of Performance art, and is seen as an inspiration to and as a forerunner of Minimal art, as well as Pop art.

Le Saut dans le Vide (Leap into the Void); Photomontage by Harry Shunk of a performance by Yves Klein at Rue Gentil-Bernard, Fontenay-aux-Roses, October 1960.Klein is also well known for a photomontage, Saut dans le vide (Leap into the Void) [3], originally published in the artist’s book Dimanche, which apparently shows him jumping off a wall, arms outstretched, towards the pavement. Klein used the photograph as evidence of his ability to undertake unaided lunar travel. In fact, “Saut dans le vide”, published as part of a broadside on the part of Klein (the “artist of space”) denouncing NASA’s own lunar expeditions as hubris and folly, was a photomontage in which the large tarpaulin Klein leaped onto was removed from the final image.

British officials deem Dakota Fanning’s image in Marc...

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:18:37 -0800

British officials deem Dakota Fanning’s image in Marc Jacobs’s new campaign too racy for a minor. Do you agree? Yes or No….?

I went to the Occupy L.A. rally yesterday and this guy nails it...

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 16:10:27 -0700

I went to the Occupy L.A. rally yesterday and this guy nails it dead on. The whole experience made me proud to be an American. This video is called: WTF is Going On?

Check out part 4 of the documentary on Alfred Stieglitz. Learn...

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 13:30:00 -0700

Check out part 4 of the documentary on Alfred Stieglitz. Learn about the first modern art gallery exhibitions of 1908 in NYC and the emergence of modern art in the US.

Part 3 of the Alfred Stieglitz, The Eloquent Eye has been...

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:42:00 -0700

Part 3 of the Alfred Stieglitz, The Eloquent Eye has been posted
See the birth of the 1st modern art exhibition in 1908 at Galley.

Thanks for watching,
Sharon

Part Two Uploaded Alfred Stieglitz: The Eloquent Eye Often...

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:37:55 -0700

Part Two Uploaded
Alfred Stieglitz: The Eloquent Eye

Often called “The Father of Modern Photography” and revered as one of the most innovative photographers of the 20th century, Alfred Stieglitz was a visionary who challenged and revolutionized attitudes towards modern art in America. He not only championed the elevation of photography as an art form, but also played a primary role fostering new talent at the famous Gallery 291 in New York in 1905.

Documentary includes a rare interview with Georgia O’Keeffe, Stiegltitz’s wife and muse.

Stayed tuned for Part Three:
The birth of Gallery 291 and modern art exhibitions in America.

I just posted my first video on the Art History Channel on...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 02:04:51 -0700

I just posted my first video on the Art History Channel on YouTube. It’s on the father of modern photography, Alfred Stieglitz. This is from The American Master’s Collection documentary called The Eloquent Eye 2001.
This is part 1, more to follow….

This is a letter addressed to Andy Warhol in 1965…its from...

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 17:49:00 -0700

This is a letter addressed to Andy Warhol in 1965…its from his landlord, regarding his parties…if they only knew there were heroin-addicted transvestites living in the elevator…

Live in Los Angeles? Join me as I host the L.A. Art History...

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 14:30:52 -0700

Live in Los Angeles? Join me as I host the L.A. Art History Meetup Group at the Norton Simon Museum next Sunday. We are going to see the Johannes Vermeer painting that is on loan before it’s gone. This is the only Vermeer painting on display on the west coast! http://t.co/KNB6TW2

“Death of Marat” a 1793 painting in the Neoclassical...

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 08:27:00 -0700

“Death of Marat” a 1793 painting in the Neoclassical style by Jacques-Louis David

My Top 5 most favorite paintings in the whole world: Russian...

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 08:01:21 -0700

My Top 5 most favorite paintings in the whole world:
Russian Cubo- Futurism: Kasimir Malevich’s “Morning in the Village after Snowstorm” 1912

Caravaggio, St. Catherine at the Wheel 1595. It was rumored that...

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:54:40 -0700

Caravaggio, St. Catherine at the Wheel 1595. It was rumored that Caravaggio used a prostitute for his model of St. Catherine, I can see it in her eyes….

Arshile Gorky The Artist and His Mother (ca. 1926-1936) Arshile...

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:29:32 -0700

Arshile Gorky The Artist and His Mother (ca. 1926-1936)
Arshile Gorky was an Armenian-born American painter who had a seminal influence on Abstract Expressionism. In 1915 Gorky fled Lake Van duuring the Armenian Genocide and escaped with his mother and his three sisters into Russian-controlled territory. In the aftermath of the genocide, Gorky’s mother died of starvation in Yerevan in 1919.

When Gorky showed his new work to André Breton in the 1940s, after seeing the new paintings and in particular The Liver is the Cock’s Comb, Breton declared the painting to be “one of the most important paintings made in America” and he stated that Gorky was a Surrealist, which was Breton’s highest compliment

This peak period of Gorky’s work was cut short. His final years were filled with immense pain and heartbreak. His studio barn burned down, he underwent a colostomy for cancer, his neck was broken and his painting arm temporarily paralyzed in a car accident, and his wife of seven years left him, taking their children with her. Gorky hanged himself in Sherman, Connecticut, in 1948, at the age of 44.

Test you skills at 900 years of art history, play the Art...

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 22:48:22 -0700

Test you skills at 900 years of art history, play the Art History Game now! Click on The Man to play and good luck!

True or False: This painting was rejected by the church because...

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 18:25:00 -0700

True or False: This painting was rejected by the church because it showed a dead Virgin Mary modeled after a a corpse of a prostitute. Hint: it was also painted by a convicted murderer!

Find the answer and test your mad skills on the Art History Game:
http://bit.ly/jS30F7

Melting Building Optical Illusion: Believe it or not, this...

Mon, 30 May 2011 14:00:09 -0700

Melting Building Optical Illusion: Believe it or not, this isn’t a Photoshop job. This surreal building actually exists at 39 Avenue George V, Paris

Check out this optical illusion, the shapes and colors give a...

Mon, 30 May 2011 13:48:39 -0700

Check out this optical illusion, the shapes and colors give a startling impression of movement, even though this is actually a still image! The movement always seems to be occurring where your eyes aren’t focusing.

goodbyefuturehellopast: Celebration on Wall Street upon the...

Sun, 29 May 2011 13:51:16 -0700

goodbyefuturehellopast:

Celebration on Wall Street upon the news of Germany’s surrender in World War I.

November 1918 (W.L. Drummond)

Giorgio de Chirico. L’Angoisse du départ....

Sat, 28 May 2011 12:05:31 -0700

Giorgio de Chirico. L’Angoisse du départ. 1914
pre-Surrealism, Metaphysical art
“Psychologically speaking, to discover something mysterious in objects is a symptom of cerebral abnormality related to certain kinds of insanity.” Giorgio de Chirico quote

What I like most about De Chirico is the essence of silence envoked in each of his early empty city street paintings. Silence and Emptiness….
Sharon

Giorgio de Chirico Delights of the Poet,...

Sat, 28 May 2011 11:57:36 -0700

Giorgio de Chirico Delights of the Poet, 1913

“Mystery” is the most familiar word of De Chirico. He wrote the following: “there is much more mystery in the shadow of a man walking on a sunny day, than in all religions of the world”.