Now Admiring

[Anonymous]

I thought this would be a nice topic to complement the "Now Reading" thread. Post here your thoughts about your favourite works of art, and present them to the others. It would be nice to provide a picture of the work as well.
A little note: This thread is about visual art, which, in turn, is defined by paintings, sculptures and architecture. Carvings, mosaics, (artful) photographs and the like are also accepted. Conceptional art should be a borderline: Works by Christo or Andy Goldsworthy are welcomed, but please try to keep away from dubious art projects such as the one where a guy went through the city kicking an empty cardboard box.
Also, in these frames, anything is welcome. If you feel you must point out how great the Mona Lisa is, do it. On the other hand, I ask you to try and point out artworks which may not be known to many people, so they get exposed to a broader public.
A final plea: Try to resist the temptation to post album covers and the likes. We all know how great the Powerslave cover is, but that just isn't the subject of the thread.

I will start out by posting a work of one of my favourite painters, William Turner. I hope you all have heard of him, as he is one of the most prominent representatives of impressionism. While most of his works are stunning to look at, this one was stuck in my head for years:

[img src=\'http://www.literatura.hu/lexikon/images/williamturnersnwstorm.jpg\' border=\'0\' alt=\'user posted image\' /]

Art and artists are always surrounded with myths and legends, some true, some not. About this particular painting, I was told Turner had bound himself to a mast of a ship during a storm and later made the painting out of memory.

As you can see, the painting is not very realistic to the detail. Other paintings of ships and storms will show you every drop of water on a plank. But show me one painting that captures a storm so dramatically and, in its way, realistic as this one.



I'm looking forward to people's posts here.


[Edited to find a proper picture]

 

[Anonymous]

[!--QuoteBegin-Perun+Sep 23 2005, 05:50 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Perun @ Sep 23 2005, 05:50 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]But show me one painting that captures a storm so dramatically...

[snapback]119151[/snapback]​

[/quote]Indeed. I can only add that, among realists, Rembrandt is known for being able to capture tension in the air in his landscapes.
Here's an example:
[img src=\'http://www.klineschool.com/Art_Masters/Art_Masters-Rembrandt.jpg\' border=\'0\' alt=\'user posted image\' /]

I like modern art, and one of my favourites is Amadeo Modigliani, an Italian born Jewish painter who lived in Paris. He mainly painted his lovers and friends but also still lifes. I love his colours and the ability to convey the inner world of his models.
[img src=\'http://www.irishart.com/blog/Modigliani-irish-art.jpg\' border=\'0\' alt=\'user posted image\' /]

Oh, and
[!--QuoteBegin-Perun+Sep 23 2005, 05:50 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Perun @ Sep 23 2005, 05:50 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]dubious art projects such as the one where a guy went through the city kicking an empty cardboard box

[snapback]119151[/snapback]​

[/quote][!--emo&--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/lol[1].gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'lol[1].gif\' /][!--endemo--]

 

[Anonymous]

[!--QuoteBegin-charlotte+Sep 23 2005, 05:23 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(charlotte @ Sep 23 2005, 05:23 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]Indeed. I can only add that, among realists, Rembrandt is known for being able to capture tension in the air in his landscapes.

[snapback]119153[/snapback]​

[/quote]

Rembrandt was the first artist I got into, if you like to put it that way. When I was very, very young (Maybe five), my parents took me to a widely acclaimed Rembrandt exhibition. I remember being so impressed by the paintings I saw there, and although I couldn't describe you the details anymore, the sheer impression of them are still in my mind, some fifteen years later.
I also remember waiting outside the museum for a horribly long time because the queue was endless. I think it was the first major art exhibition in East Berlin after the fall of the wall, and the first opportunity for us westerners to see the magnificence of the eastern part of the city.

Which, allow me the ruthlessness, is basically a nice link to another favourite subject of mine, architecture. The architecture of Berlin, to be precise.
Much of Berlin, particularly what after the war became known as East Berlin, is a standing museum of Classicist architecture. In the early 19th century, one particular Prussian architect, Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) became renowned for his expertise in this epoch of the history of art and architecture, and his buildings largely emboss the image of the Berlin district of Mitte. This picture of the city was largely unknown to the West until 1989.

[img src=\'http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/pix/baubilanz/geschaeftsgebaeude/gendarmenmarkt.jpg\' border=\'0\' alt=\'user posted image\' /]

His masterpiece is the Gendarmenmarkt, an enseble of thee buildings, the French dome, the German dome and the Schauspielhaus (a theatre hall). In the above image, you can see the Schauspielhaus and one of the domes (they are identical, so I often mix them up; the other dome is at the opposite, and was probably under renovation at the time this picture was taken).
In my opinion, this is one of the most beautiful spots in the world, at least of those I have visited. If you wouldn't know it is Berlin, you would think you are standing somewhere in Paris or Rome.

[img src=\'http://www.dauerer.de/eug_/ngermany/berlin_schiller.jpg\' border=\'0\' alt=\'user posted image\' /]

Incidentally, the picture of me you can see in my profile was taken in front of this statue of Schiller.

Many other grand pieces of Prussian and early imperial German architecture seam the streets of Berlin, particularly Unter Den Linden, but I felt this one deserves particular attention.

 

[IronDuke]

I'm a fan of Gothic architecture. There's something about the long lines and ornate angles that I find asthetically pleasing. One of my favourite examples is the Peace Tower, which houses Canada's Parliament. It's widely celebrated by art critics as one of the finest examples of Victorian Gothic in the world.
[img src=\'http://www.acemile.ca/photo/photogallery/peacetower.jpg\' border=\'0\' alt=\'user posted image\' /]

When it comes to pictures, though, I'm a big fan of the French painter Eugene Delacroix. His Revolution-era paintings have captured the imaginations of critics for generations, some have even become symbols in their own right. By far his most famous (though not artistically best) is "Liberty leading the people"
[img src=\'http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/history/virtual/portrait/delacroix-liberty.jpg\' border=\'0\' alt=\'user posted image\' /]

 

[Anonymous]

That's actually Marianne leading the 1848 revolution on the barricades, mate. [!--emo&--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'smile.gif\' /][!--endemo--]

 

[Anonymous]

I had to copy that pic in school. I think I still have it somewhere. It was horrible; the lowest point in the history of my drawing skills.

 

[Nephellim]

Salvador Dali - The Temptation of St. Anthony

[img src=\'http://www.freedesktopwallpapers.ru/art/images/dali_temptation.jpg\' border=\'0\' alt=\'user posted image\' /]

 

[Anonymous]

[!--QuoteBegin-charlotte+Sep 23 2005, 10:23 AM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(charlotte @ Sep 23 2005, 10:23 AM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]Indeed. I can only add that, among realists, Rembrandt is known for being able to capture tension in the air in his landscapes.
Here's an example:
[img src=\'http://www.klineschool.com/Art_Masters/Art_Masters-Rembrandt.jpg\' border=\'0\' alt=\'user posted image\' /]

[/quote]

I liked that one very much.... Yes, you can really fell the tension in the air...

 

[syl]

That's The Danaid, a white marble sculpture by Auguste Rodin which can be seen in the Musée Rodin in Paris. I don't really know why I like it so much. It's very expressive and graceful and also full of melancholy. All I know is that I spent a whole hour staring at it and I couldn't take my eyes of it and didn't see much of the other works of art of the museum.

 

[Onhell]

If i knew how to post images I would, but either way, I REALLY like Rembrandt, and my favorite painting is actually a mural. Diego Riveras "The man controling the universe" is simply brilliant. Every time I go to Mexico I make sure I visit the palace of fine arts at least once during my stay just to see that mural, I never get tired of it.

 

[syl]

If you want to post a picture you have to load it first on an image hosting website like Photobucket and then when you post on the forum you just have to click on "insert image" and copy/paste the link provided by photobucket.

More simply you can post a link to a website where we could see the painting

 

[Forostar]

I love paintings with big, "epic" scenes or landscapes or paintings with a lot of "action".

Breughel is my favorite (definitely when we talk about action). Paintings like "The Triumph of Death" are so fantastically detailed!

Bigger version (with zoom-function):
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/bruegel/death.jpg.html

Joachim Patinir, who was known for his 3-layer landscapes:
http://www.flaemische-landschaft.de/data/e...en/flamen_1.htm
http://museoprado.mcu.es/iestigia.html

Albrecht Altdorfer: The Battle of Alexander at Issus (1526).:
http://www.texaschapbookpress.com/chiliast...n/altdorfer.htm

 

[Anonymous]

[!--quoteo(post=130576:date=Mar 4 2006, 12:42 AM:name=Forostar)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Forostar @ Mar 4 2006, 12:42 AM) [snapback]130576[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
Albrecht Altdorfer: The Battle of Alexander at Issus (1526).:
http://www.texaschapbookpress.com/chiliast...n/altdorfer.htm
[/quote]

I was going to post that. The amount of detail in this painting is absolutely breathtaking.

I'm a person who is fascinated by the subject of power, how it affects different people and what the term itself has ment throughout the ages. To me, this painting could be an encyclopaedia article on that term:

David, le consecration de Napoléon. Can be admired in it's full glory in the Louvre.

By the way, sorry for the size, but this is in fact the smallest image I could find that shows the whole painting.

 

[Anonymous]

First of all, it's great that Syl renewed this thread.

[!--quoteo(post=130441:date=Mar 3 2006, 03:17 AM:name=Onhell)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Onhell @ Mar 3 2006, 03:17 AM) [snapback]130441[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]Diego Riveras...[/quote]What about Frida Kahlo? Not everyone's taste, but I like her colours. This is one of my favourite self-portraits of hers:

And,
[!--quoteo(post=130621:date=Mar 4 2006, 12:41 PM:name=Perun)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Perun @ Mar 4 2006, 12:41 PM) [snapback]130621[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]By the way, sorry for the size...[/quote]Per, size is not everything [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/biggrin.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\"\" border=\"0\" alt=\"biggrin.gif\" /] (sorry about this joke but I just couldn't resist :: )

 

[Anonymous]

[!--quoteo(post=130634:date=Mar 4 2006, 02:00 PM:name=SilentLucidity)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(SilentLucidity @ Mar 4 2006, 02:00 PM) [snapback]130634[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]And,
Per, size is not everything [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/biggrin.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\"\" border=\"0\" alt=\"biggrin.gif\" /] (sorry about this joke but I just couldn't resist :: )
[/quote]

At least Napoleon would agree [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\"\" border=\"0\" alt=\"tongue.gif\" /]

 

[Anonymous]

[!--quoteo(post=130634:date=Mar 4 2006, 02:00 PM:name=SilentLucidity)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(SilentLucidity @ Mar 4 2006, 02:00 PM) [snapback]130634[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]size is not everything [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/biggrin.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\"\" border=\"0\" alt=\"biggrin.gif\" /]
[/quote]
Most women say that... and most women don't mean it! [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\"\" border=\"0\" alt=\"tongue.gif\" /]

 

[Anonymous]

Alright, back on topic.

I quite like Rodin's The Eternal Idol (1889):

 

[Anonymous]

On a vaguely similar topic (sorry, bad inside joke):

A classic by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), one of the most famous artists of German Renaissance. He lived in Nuremberg, and is perhaps the son the city is most proud of.
His art was very controversial at that time, a fact which can not quite be understood by modern contemporary people. Even the above bunny was something completely new and strange at that time. People were obsessed with sacral art, and a good artist was supposed to paint a crucifixion scene or a Madonna, but not something as profane and vulgar as a simple rabbit.
To further highlight Dürer's controversy, one must only look at this self-portrait:

Does this remind you of someone? Dürer was an outright punk in his time.

It has to be said though, that despite the controversy, Dürer was a successful and popular artist in his time. He also made sacral artworks such as the following:

Another very famous one. Why? Try drawing hands like that, and you'll see why.
A last one, this was my introduction to Dürer in the first place. Another one I had to draw in school, and another miserable failure for me:

It must be noted that Dürer was not only a painter, but created artwork in many fields. In fact, three of the above are not paintings at all, but copper carvings. I also seem to remember that he made wood carvings, but I can't seem to find any examples right now.

 

[Onhell]

I think that last one was used by Haggard for their "...And Thou Shalt Trust the Seer" Album...

 

[Anonymous]

Veit Stoß -aka Wit Stwosz- (1447-1533) was an artist mostly known for his woodcarvings. His masterpiece is the above High Altar of St mary in Kraków. It is one of the most famous artworks of the late Gothic period in Central Europe.
Veit Stoß spent most of his life in Nuremberg and several years in Kraków. He made exclusively sacral wood carvings and wooden sculptures and was very influental on the further development of these art forms in Franconia.

Most late Medieval churches in both cities and surrounding areas featured some works of Stoß. Both cities were badly damaged during WW2, and much of Stoß' work was lost; much was also removed from the original location and can now be admired in local museums.