Julia Margaret Cameron: 1815-1879

Julia Margaret Cameron began her photography career late in her life at the age of 48 when she was given a camera as a gift from her daughter. After this, she became engulfed in this labour intensive practice of capturing the world around her for all its beauty. Her love was the portrait; the soft focus and closely framed face became something she was noted for. The relationships that her subjects take with the viewer is quite strong and striking. They interact with those who peer into their eyes, penetrating the photographic surface and being able to see into the actual person. Her portraits appear sculptural, the figures frozen in time, with the cool surface and colours of the wet plate. Harsh shadows create dramatic both harsh and soft features. In the photograph at the bottom of the list, the gentleman (Sir Henry Taylor) grasps his neck with his hand. His hand almost disappears within his beard and hair allowing the first focus to be upon his gaze, and then followed by the eye traveling down his nose, mouth until you reach his hand. His hand does not appear constricting nor does it feel comfortable and relaxed. It exists in this uncomfortable grasp, not quite a hand of "the thinker" with a chin gently resting upon it. 

Her work was at first an excellent tool to use to practice the drawing of portraiture for my own work. After more skills were obtained her work became a source of inspiration for the energy and softness her work depicts. 

Stepan Fedorovich Kolesnikov: 1879-1955

Stepan Fedorovich Kolesnikov was an Ukrainian artist studying under Ilya Repin. Many of his works depict the desolate landscape, free from human interaction or animal life. These landscapes however, are full of life, movement, emotion and energy. The trunks and branches of trees twist and sway, conveying a sense of emotional responses to the viewer. Even without their leaves, when life is lost to the cold, the trees live and stand tall, confident and full of individuality. When human and animal life are introduced within the composition, a relationship is formed and a narrative established. The landscape itself does not take on a secondary roll, nor do the individuals added. He gives them both a sense of equality and respect in his attempts to depict them in paint. The figures live in unison within the landscape and are humbled at its immensity and subtleties. The most incredible aspect of his works in my opinion (particularly the snow scenes) is how he captures shadows. The life and energy of the tree branches and trunks is projected onto the snow covered ground. The cool blues decorate the still snow as a delicate lace, extending the viewers eye into the distance as the mesh of blue veins combine into a whole. Finally, the brush strokes he uses are confident and purposeful but loose and broad. The interplay of colour creates incredible atmospheric affect. The most notable would be the lady in red with a basket against a wall. Here, the warm red tones of her clothing, ground and wall and subjected to a cool evening sky while the last light flickers in and dances upon the wall. 

James Abbott McNeill Whistler: 1834-1903

Many of Whistler's paintings were titled with the names of "Harmony", "Arrangements", and "Nocturnes" linking his artistic practice to the ideals of music. Particularly, what I enjoy about a title such as "Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1" (the portrait of Whistler's mother) is its call to the two dimensionality of the medium itself. The title calls into attention the illusion that the black and grey arranged in such a manner create the portrait of his mother. The title seems to abstract the painting into colour shapes placed in a harmonious composition. His choice of titles lends to his philosophy of "art for art's sake". The colours and interplay of line work within his etchings creates a sense of harmony and uniformity amongst his pieces. My eye feels at ease to dance around his image, from colour shape to colour shape, line to line, never offended or caught off guard at a jarring colour that interrupts his creations. The softness of his atmospheric elements are soothing. In his painting "Symphony in White, No 1." (the white girl), the dress and background get lost within each other. Her hair frames her face as the focal point, allowing your eye to then travel down vast whiteness towards the wolf skin rug she stands upon and the wolf face and dropped flowers that capture your attention in the bottom of the composition. The model herself was Whistler's mistress and with that comes associations of innocence lost with the flowers dropped upon the floor and the masculinity of the wolf's skin she stands upon. The symphony in white series continued in other pieces Whistler created. Overall, it is the atmospheric muted tones Whistler establishes that pleases my eye and allows me to travel around the pieces locating lost and found edges. 

Anders Zorn (1860-1920) : A Master of Flesh

Anders Zorn depicts such beautiful fleshy figures in both his etchings and oil paintings. His etchings, in comparison to his paintings, add a great sense of dramatic lighting with the use of darks and a wonderful understanding of line in establishing forms. Particularly, the etching of the nude figure entering the water displays his vast understanding of line and light. The figure appears soft, under the lighting of the sun without harsh shadows in comparison to the dark water with light dancing off of it in the ripples she creates. In his paintings, Zorn is able to establish such wonderfully believable figures. The muscle and fat beneath their skins takes such a presence. Through his limited palette (Titanium white, ivory black, vermillion (cadmium red), and yellow ochre), the colours appear very balanced playing between warm and cool. In some paintings there is the introduction of blues and greens much more vibrant than those that can be produced in his limited palette. In this case he often introduced cerulean blue and viridian. His understanding of form and light is impeccable as well as his interplay between soft and hard edges. He is truly a master of his craft and an artist often sought after in learning technique and application of paint. I have recently ventured into attempting his limited palette and was quite pleased with the outcome. I'd suggest making a colour chart if anyone else would like to dabble into Zorn's genius. I found that the limited colours pushed towards a more unified palette and a greater understanding of the cool vs. warm colours within the painting. The ivory black is a quite cool colour and the cadmium red is very warm. The earthy yellow ochre is a wonderful addition to draw the warmth out of the red or add to the black in order to produce dark shades of green. (The link I used to create my colour chart  as well as get the palette information for the blog post is this... http://michaellynnadams.com/zorn-palette/) 

Happy painting if you choose to explore!

Bruno Walpoth

Bruno Walpth's sculptures stand in isolation, existing in a state of utter silence. The technical aspects of his work are astounding. These solid wood figures appear to the viewer as a fleshy substance, soft to the touch. The effects of gravity on the figures pulls skin and muscle downwards in a convincing life-like feel. The two full bodied figures fool the eye in the reality of these figures requiring what I can imagine as a second and third glance when seen in life. White paint is smeared amongst their bodies echoing a layer of dust and dirt, collected from the air and settling on the figure. I can't help but feel they exist in total isolation, and the viewers presence makes them uneasy. They think, they feel, they exist. 

Felicia Forte

Felicia Forte is an artist currently based in San Francisco. She has a vast understanding of form, light, shape relationships, and compositions. As an artist who is currently trying to develop technical skills, her artwork is sought after as she often not only presents the final product but the process work along the way. I find her work to be most accomplished when they are presented in their beautiful simplicity. By this I do not mean by any means of what she does is simplistic in nature, but her understanding of her subject matters allows her to capture only the most vital aspects of colour and form and the simplicity of these forms is magical to view. Something I am particularly drawn to in any art form is the concept of time. The time that occupies the world within the painting, drawing, sculpture etc. Forte's works seem to convey a sense of connection between reality, and the world within the painting. Through painting from life, Forte slows down time, she analyzes the subject at hand and examines all of its nuances and through this slowing down of time, she is able to convey a similar sense of the slowing down of time in her artworks. It is in her ability to pause time, to compose her subject and to simplify forms allows her to depict a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the most beautiful light.

http://www.feliciaforte.com/felicia-forte/

Antony Williams

I had the pleasure of viewing some of Antony Williams' paintings this weekend at the Toronto Art Fair. The meticulous quality of layers upon layers of brush work in tempera paint was marvelous to view in person. The depth of the medium itself was something to see. Through this layering, Williams establishes these figures appearing deep within thought, disconnected from the world around them. Maybe it is by nature of sitting after sitting after sitting (paintings may take upwards of a year of weekly sittings) where Williams painstakingly analyzes and depicts every nuance, these sitters have a chance for reflection, and in this mindful state they are depicted. I couldn't help but think of another painter while viewing Williams' works; Lucien Freud, specifically his earlier works. The layers of paint echoes an approach of Freud but also the atmosphere that the figures take part in share similarities. The viewer becomes engulfed in the figures head space, the workings of their mind. We see their exteriors but what intrigues us is what lives they have lived, what memories they have, what are the influences responsible for tampering with their beings to make them who they are as they stand before us represented in brush stroke layered on top of brush stroke. And what light was shed during each sitting? What became of these relationships between sitter and artist? 

http://www.antony-williams.com/