An american style of painting
Painting began in this country in the 17th century when America was a colonial dependency of the Old World, and the earliest American pictures, when compared to European works, can be recognized only by their provincialism. But gradually as settlements grew into towns, as political independence was finally achieved, a national school is distinguishable. Yet, the parenthood of Europe remained, until George Bellows broke the tradition, and significant American artist Copley, West, Stuart, Whistler, Sargent showed that there was a style in this country which was different from European painting.
G
eorge
Wesley Bellows (1882-1925) was an American realist painter, known for
his depictions of urban life in New York City. He was affected by the
geographical position of the country, physically separated from the
central tradition of Western Art.
On the whole the American style compared to European painting seems naïve, brusque, even awkward. But the impulse toward art in the country, from colonial times to the present day, is so strong that the American school produced works of genius distinguished in the tradition of Western painting for their honesty, their sincerity and their hard grasp of fact.
(From “Great American Paintings”
by John Walker)
“A great artist can paint a great picture
on a small canvas.”
Charles Dudley Warner (1829-1900)
Pablo picasso
P
ablo
Picasso (1881-1973)
was a Spanish painter, sculptor and stage designer who spent most of
his adult life in France. One of the greatest and most influential
artists of the 20th century, he is widely known for co-founding the
Cubist movement and for the wide variety of styles that he developed
and explored.
Pablo Picasso could not sit without doing something – at dinner he drew on the table-cloth, sculpted different forms from bread. His day began with sketching or drawing something. Picasso often worked while guests were present; sometimes he left them after saying some words. He could work all night and the next morning the painting was finished. In painting Picasso forgot everything. Before going to bed he often watched a late movie or boxing, sketching forms with the sound switched out.
W
ords
& Expressions:
influential – влиятельный
to sculpt – лепить
to sketch – делать набросок
Questions:
Why did Picasso draw and sculpt even during his dinner?
What did his day begin with?
What did he usually do before going to bed?
What did Picasso do when guests were present?
Have you seen any pictures by Picasso?
What is your impression?
Issac levitan
There are many brilliant landscape-painters in Russian art. We all love Shishkin’s forests, Polenov’s charming views of Russian nature, Savrasov’s fresh and optimistic landscapes and many others. But Levitan is unique.
Isaac I. Levitan (1860-1900) was a classical Russian landscape-painter who advanced the genre of the “mood landscape”. When you stand before his lovely canvases you forget that just a few steps away there is a big city full of movement, where people are hurrying here and there, where cars are speeding along the streets. And you are alone with Beauty, alone with Russia.
Levitan’s landscapes are full of loneliness and sadness. His art is like the music of Tchaikovsky and Rakhmaninov. It is lyrical and melancholic. His palette is not bright. It is soft and gentle. The names of his pictures reflect the feeling of hopelessness and sadness, for example, “Eternal Peace”, “Golden Autumn”.
Words & Expressions:
a landscape-painter – пейзажист
a view – пейзаж
“mood landscape” – «пейзаж настроение»
loneliness – одиночество
palette – палитра
Questions:
What Russian landscape-painters do you know?
What genre did Levitan advance?
What are his landscapes full?
What can you say about the palette of his pictures?
Have you seen Levitan’s landscapes?
What museums are Levitan’s paitings exhibited?
