For "the essay" - or should that be The Essay - this term, the brief is to compare and contrast works by a modernist artist and a postmodernist artist - oh and to put the artists in context of their "ism". I'm having a hard time chosing my artists. So many possibilities; so many I'd like to know more about...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEili3w1enrKkhJUQY9dcSXnwp5gwI9aDI9yqWZkZE8sELprsds0GIbh3alQw9tMZO-CKW8p0FT1hgd9C3_neeY97IGIPLyETH-PgYkoYdeaKw5-iQ9s6N4AB9ueDpXkyKwLA1EuFA/s280/research.jpg)
Friday after class I spent a few happy hours in the Westminister Art Library checking out some leads -
-
Elizabeth Frink (love her drawings, especially the one for "
Harbinger Bird" seen at the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne recently, and I'm very fond of her horse-and-rider statue on Piccadilly);
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQOHQpPwNzc1AxeOmWjsGuC6Htm1VKpXuzPZkfw2ZfwFaO1Sk7PI7Pq5Itx2b9msRMgpHWmEIXpPiaDbQo2awzxtyeYM-WXbUB-Qwbe1ID9vBjLsyYftHfyd0K9Mv2hOusARiG9w/s320/fink.jpg)
-
Louise Nevelson (she of the wood assemblages) "the most celebrated sculptor of American modernism";
-
Tacita Dean (ah those chalk drawings on blackboard!);
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyqfEJWpI0NOFVKOxtdKqS4WlB2E8OV6tFLBQ_lXt4h1E-FaoNkPT_pxbLBMAffpjekAXQLkg86x9-PZBoHo_-0mzIWzBF_Gg-afLHfhOTqIK5sWocFGru14v_f4xyzX30GtOXig/s280/tacita+dean.jpg)
-
Rosa Bonheur (in 1853 her 16-foot Horse Fair sealed her reputation)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgznvq1viSEAeRjvXZwM46yVsAKhzGHu892GRz0Vfv3d2kDQOcXlu4RrvLuL3M8dT-gFadUvTU6zN0mVtCAtXbBs8s9ab12LsgZK7QjhxPHWOwegLBLE_5yyegaceRurpzmj8LpCA/s280/bonheur.jpg)
and finding some interesting "stuff" along the way - Dean Hughes' paintings/drawings inside brown paper bags, for instance.
Also I'm considering pairing Tracey Emin (of the
tent and the unmade bed) with Meret Openheim (of the
fur-lined teacup).
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZ0nvefyzScU74_rRoykaqZZuuCnbKw2lCw6p3WO_QuyhG-J0b1m1_ZsiXo_eceF8UVbyb-ig-vQBvZjSEQq7ZBWLpSyxJYgYludfO-2mKtfVSe838HCDFAoJ4hE2qKjVGTBRyQ/s280/virtue.jpg)
I've tried to fit
John Virtue's landscape painting into the postmodernist box, so as to pair his huge London monochrome riverscapes with Monet's
views of London's river (or perhaps
Whistler's paintings) -- but into that box Virtue would not go; although he's working after the 1970 watershed, he fits none of the postmodern criteria - does not collage or use words, doesn't depict consumer or popular culture, there's no performance art or appropriation, and the wrong kind of simplification. OK, think again ...
Any suggestions?
I saw the Horse Fair in person at the NYMet and was totally captivated. It is so amazingly full of activity, and when I found out that it painted by a woman!
ReplyDeleteI like your pairing of Meret Oppenheim (self aware irony) with Tracey Emin (ironic self obsession). I think that I would look at the pairing and the comparing rather than going for one artist that is interesting, and then trying to find a pair. Interesting subject, though.
ReplyDelete