Subject matters

Ordinary meets extraordinary.

Still life paintings by Vija Celmins.

(love the blunt titles!)

 Pan, 1964

 Heater, 1964

 Eggs, 1964

Lamp #1, 1964

Knife and Dish, 1964

Representation

Rene Magritte, La Clef des Songes (The Interpretation of Dreams)

A surreal primer

The exhibition, Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary is at the 

MOMA in New York until January 12, 2014

Photo source

Original album cover for Cassius, 1999

Re-imagined by painter Tomas Saliot

Perfection in an irreverent red kitchen

Love it!

Going Dutch

You may have already seen other advertisements inspired by classical paintings.

The Fall/Winter Valentino campaign pays homage to the Dutch masters

in brilliant fashion.

Homage

The lighting remains diffused, the young girls are dressed in traditional school uniforms, the decor is distinctly Asian not European, yet Japanese photographer Hisaji Hara has carefully recreated the paintings of Balthus with exacting detail.

A Study of Happy Days, 2009

Happy Days, 1945

A Study of Katia Reading, 2009

Katia Reading, 1974

A Study of the Salon, 2009

The Salon, 1941

Capturing Igor

The composer Igor Stravinsky posed for many portraits in his lifetime.

Jacques-Emile Blanche, 1915 

 Pablo Picasso, 1920

 Robert Delaunay, 1918

Richard Avedon, 1969

Albert Gleizes, 1914

Renegade

It was only a matter of time that public opinion would alter the power that Parisian Salons held in determining who was 'in' or 'out' in the world of art. In 1863, nearly half of all submissions were promptly rejected by the official Salon. This did not sit lightly with the art community nor the public, and in a bold response, Napoleon III created Le Salon des Refusés (Exhibition of Rejects). 

Included in the 1863 exhibition were 3 paintings by Edouard Manet.

Listed as item 363. Le Bain (The Bath), Manet's largest painting of the three submitted attracted immediate attention and criticism.  Otherwise known as Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (Luncheon on the Grass), the primary offense was the subject matter: a nude woman enjoying a picnic with two clothed men, while another scantily clad female bathes in the distance. Aside from the depiction of modern debauchery, the flat application of color, the lack of perspective, the unusual and awkward depth of field was thought to be subversive contempt for the Academic standards of the time. 

Colorful language

Paintings by Franz Lerch (Austrian, 1895-1977)

I love the deep colors and the austereness. There's a modern graphic quality, and illustrative style I find so appealing.

Crashing

Grace Cossington Smith, Sea Wave (1931)

Edvard Munch, The Wave (1921)

Ando Hiroshige, Whirlpools and Wave at Naruto (1797-1858)

Emil Nolde, Tall Breaker (1948)

Hand in Hancock

Chicago and the John Hancock building

Paintings by Roger Brown 

This is your captain speaking...

Oliver Jeffers Disaster series

Oil paint and collage on found landscapes and postcards