Painting

Tags

BMAC, Canada., China, docent, Europe, Fantin-Latour, museum, NGC, Ottawa, painting, Renaissance, Song Dynasty, Zhai Wei

This week I had 3 days of duty as docent at the National Gallery of Canada. One was hosting the Wednesday Morning Lectures-Mercredis Culturels, I coordinate that program in French and in English. Then I had a school group, the students around 9 years of age where quite good and had lots of good questions and observations, the teacher was also interested and helpful, that is not always the case. We also had a training session, unfortunately the NGC is under a lot of renovations in preparation for Canada’s 150th Anniversary of Confederation. The Canadian Galleries are being completely redone, the Bookstore is getting a facelift after 27 years in the same spot. There is also some work installations in the Contemporary Galleries which are taking more and more space at the NGC and slowly eclipsing the other collections. Also all the lights in the museum are being converted to LED, apparently that is better. I also presented a work of art by Matthias Stom, Flemish School of Painting, 1630, entitled The arrest of Christ. I never know who is going to come and listen to my presentation which last about 10 minutes,”officially”. I had a father with his little daughter who was 7 yrs old and she wanted to know what a Museum guide did, she was very attentive and a little overwhelmed. I also had a couple from Spain and a Muslim lady who told me how much she loved the museum and was appreciative of my presentation. Another lady wanted to give me a tip, which I declined.

The subject of this painting from the Baroque period is religious and so I was not sure how it would go over. You cannot count on people knowing about Biblical stories or even being able to identify the Deity nowadays. At any rate I concentrate on the colours, the light and other details of the composition such as facial expression, clothing, hand gestures etc. I speak about the painter and the technique he used and then speak about the frame and how it was made. One person did ask me where this scene was taking place and another asked who was Judas. Christ is looking up towards Heaven and one person asked what is he looking at given the violence around him, I said God the Father which confused them, many do not know who that is. A bit like in another tableau where the Virgin Mary and Jesus are featured, many Renaissance paintings (1300-1600) have a strong religious subject. One fellow asked me who was that women with the baby in her arms, before I had time to answer a 9 year old who was also looking at the painting said, that’s Mary and Jesus, thank you kid and shame on the adult.

Virgin and Child with St-Anthony Abbot by Hans Memling

I take that sort of lack of knowledge as a sign of the age we live in, we think we know a lot but in fact we know nothing and understand even less. To me that is really sad and unfortunate. Quite a few people do not understand why European paintings of the Renaissance and Baroque period feature religious themes, despite the fact that the explanation fact sheet explains where it came from. There appears to be this belief that since we all know religion is bunk then why show it, it’s boring I am told. Sad really, I often have to explain that the European galleries show 900 years of paintings and through the ages style and fashion evolve and we are showing this evolution in human history. The galleries are arranged like a clock when you start you are in 1290 and when you finish at the other end its 1970, still many just don’t get it. Well I console myself, thinking if one visitor I spoke too loved it and was inspired my job is done.

I wonder if anyone has done a study of why more women come to the museum than men. I am sure there must be a thesis some where on the topic. I did observe that in Europe there are more men in Museums in general but in North America it is different, culture no doubt.

Finally, I always make a point of going through the galleries whenever I have a moment at the museum to look at what is new. In the last week I counted 15 new works on the wall. They had replaced other works, so the rotation happens more quickly now than before, the NGC can only show about 1000 works at the moment with the space we have, the basement has over 35,000 in storage. This of course is not counting the sculptures, the Diploma works of the Canadian Royal Academy, the photographies and all the sketches and prints. We do have a very rich collection.

While I was walking in the 19th century gallery, a work by Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) caught my eye, entitled Roses, 1885. The simplicity of presentation and botanical accuracy of his still-life paintings prompted many critics to compare him to the 18th century painter Jean-Siméon Chardin.

What I did not know and discovered was that Fantin-Latour would pick flowers from his own garden early in the morning, arrange them and then create a painting of them. He became famous for his delicate portrayal of roses.

Les Roses, 1885 at the National Gallery of Canada.

I also noticed on the explication note that he would cover the canvas with a thin layer of transparent colour that would serve as a background- a neutral colour determined by the bouquet he wanted to paint.

During the Song Dynasty in China (960-1127) painters would do this also on their canvas applying a thin layer, with a broad brush, of black tea and ink.

Unfortunately the reflection of the glass does not help, however I purchased this in Beijing from an artist of the Chinese Central Academy of Arts, Ms. Zhai Wei. She applied a thin layer of black tea and ink before painting the little sparrows on a ficus branch, thus imitating the style of painters during the Song Dynasty.

Nativity

Tags

art., Caravaggio, Christmas, Gaugin, history, Modern, Nativity, painting, Rembrandt, Renaissance, Rubens

Nativity scene with St-Lawrence and St-Francis of Assisi by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, painted in 1609, the year before the painters death at Porto Ercole under unexplained circumstances. This large canvas was stolen by the Mafia in October 1969 and never seen again. It was in a Church in Palermo. 

What is wonderful about Caravaggio’s paintings is the use of ordinary citizens, street people as models in his compositions. It was at the time a revolution in art never attempted before. Many painters of his time and afterwards will imitate this style of painting and the light and dark effects (called Chiaro-Oscuro)

Peter Paul Rubens, Nativity, 1634, see the similarity with Caravaggio, thought Rubens paints for the Spanish Governor General of the Netherlands and has a more Noble approach, suitable for his Spanish patrons. The Virgin could be a Lady of the Court, the theatrical aspect also of the putti carrying a banner of proclamation look mischievous . St-Joseph is almost out of the picture behind the Virgin. Rubens liked to paint his subject in fleshy tones that emphasize the voluptuous, curvaceous aspect of the human body, Rubenesque.

Adoration of the Shepherds by Caravaggio, painted in 1609, this painting is in the Museum of Messina. Again none of the subjects in this painting are Nobles, Caravaggio represents them as simple, ordinary people. His paintings intrigue his patrons, the Pope, Cardinals and Nobles who paid little attention to the people in the street. 

Nativity scene by Rembrandt Van Rijn. Again the influence of Caravaggio can be seen in this painting, the play on light and darkness. The light shining on the baby is not from the torch being held up but from an unknown almost supernatural source.

 Rembrandt van Rijn,Simeon and Anna recognize Jesus. I love the way Simeon holds the baby while speaking with Mary and Anna expresses surprise. The Virgin Mary looks bemused, according to tradition she would have been 12 or 13 at the time and St-Joseph is almost forgotten outside the picture, some uncharitable soul could call him the cuckhold in this scene.

Paul Gaugin, post-impressionist Nativité, 1896. In his Tahitian style so foreign at the time to anything seen in Europe. The birth of the Saviour is shown with ordinary familiarity, Mary a young Tahitian women lying on the bed after labour, baby held by a wet nurse or Anna? We do not know. The man next to her, St-Joseph again in the background. There is also a white cat at the foot of the Virgin an unusual animal in such a scene. 

In the Pre-Raphaelite school, Edward Burne-Jones, Nativity, 1888. This art movement used for its inspiration a return to the early days of the Renaissance before Raphael (1483-1520) I would say almost Giotto like in style but with lots of romanticism and classicism, look at the folds of the sheet on the bed of hay, the formal posture of the sexless messenger angels and a St-Joseph reading the Torah perhaps or just a newspaper birth notices. The sky is also golden bronze in colour again reminding us of antiquity, Homer uses that description of the sky in his poetry. All symbolism the Victorians loved.  

Gustav Klimt, Nativity 1905, Secessionist movement. This art movement cuts itself off from the formal academic style of the time bringing in a modernity to the subject matter. 

Filippo Lippi, Nativity, 1437. Italian Renaissance. Lippi was a highly educated man and we see this here in his painting with geometrical forms and perspective. Lippe was a Friar and he also follows the convention set by the Catholic Church, see the Cloak of the Virgin, symbol of protection how it extends to the baby. At the same time the Virgin is in adoration towards her baby who she knows is the Son of God. St-Joseph is asleep or in a pensive dream like mode? The one where the Angel warns him to flee to Egypt.

 

School year tours completed until the Fall

Tags

art culture, art., baroque, classical studies, museum, painting, Renaissance, sculpture

The Canadian School year is winding down, today I gave my last two guided tours of the Wonders of our National Gallery. There is a wide choice on where to start and what to present. I usually like to start with the Italian Renaissance and early Church paintings dating from 1350 and then move on to the 19th century.

Question that come back all the time, how much is it worth, how much is the whole collection worth, usually meaning in dollars. I am very careful to explain that a work of art is unique, the value is in the eye of the beholder. I also tell them not to be fooled by stories in the newspapers about this or that work fetching an astronomical amount at some auction house. This is a very false value since values can go up and down depending on fashion, buyers taste, an artist being in demand or not. I try to get the kids to understand that art is about imagination, ideas, fantasy and emotions it is not about how much is it worth. I ask them do you like this Monet or this painting by Titian, how about the Rembrandt ? Some will say they don’t like it, ok no problem I say, find one you do like and then look at it carefully.  I want them to have confidence in their own choices.

Questions on the MonaLisa are also common, it is one painting that has been over presented in the media and unfortunately I do not find it that interesting. It appears to be the measure by which to judge all other art. I have to explain it is only one painting in a specific period of time and does not represent much really.

Another question I got recently was why are there so many nudes in painting. Paintings from various artists on classical themes often show naked figures of gods, heroes, putti, in a bucolic decor. Coming from a young audience, you have to think carefully how to present your answer. With the late Renaissance and the Baroque, Bacchus or Apollo, Paris, Diana, Venus etc. make constant appearances. Their nudity is not sexual but that of immortals, other wordily. I also refer to the themes of Antiquity, how figures tell a story based on ancient Myth which has nothing to do with our world but a reference to Classical studies.

Asking children today to imagine a world long gone is somewhat difficult, they seem unaware of anything outside their own frame of reference in their surrounding immediate world. Often looking at the paintings as something weird. It is not always the response I get but it comes often enough to make me wonder if imagination still plays a part in our modern technological world.

The best experience is when I get boys who are far more interested in sports and see art as a girl thing. Boys even if they are only 7 or 13 have these specific likes and dislikes, where does it come from? Maybe their family or society at large who dictates taste and what is in or not. Yesterday I had this little jock hockey type who told me I made it really interesting for him and he really enjoyed looking at pictures. The teacher was so happy, she told me afterwards that this was great given he never showed interest before.

If the group ask a lot of questions and make lots of observations even if it is not spot on it really does not matter, the point is to encourage them to speak up and give something. I always give strong positive reinforcement which I think is helpful to them.

On the other hand I do get groups who are less than interested, and simply refuse to participate, I always wonder what is going on here. I discover often that the teacher got the kids to agree to the museum visit by promising a shopping trip or a swim in the pool at the hotel or fast food. That has got to be the worst form of bribe, the kids just want to get the visit done quickly and get the hell out. It is very discouraging for me because you cannot get through to them.  I also know that it is very unlikely for mom or dad to bring them to the museum, so this is the one chance.

Danseuse by Canova

Children and impressions

Tags

appreciation, art., baroque, boys, Bronzino, Canaletto, Florence, girls, Italy, Medici, museum, painting, Renaissance

Carl Nielsen, Danish Musician, Violinist, Composer and writer (1865-1931) wrote, this is a quote from his book My Childhood;

It has often surprised me how little we realize that the moment a child receives a strong impression, one strong enough to remain permanently in the memory, then that child is really a poet, with his own distinctive gift of receiving the impression and reproducing or merely retaining it. Poetic talent, I imagine, is fundamentally the faculty, the gift, of distinctive observation and perception. Thus we have all at one time been poets and artists, each after his manner. The rough way in which life and adults summon the child from its beautiful world of poetry and art to harsh, matter-of-fact reality must, I think, be blamed for the fact that most of us forfeit these talents, with the result that the divine gift of imagination, innate in the child, becomes mere day-dreaming, or is quite lost.

The great poets, philosophers, scientists and artists are only exceptions that prove the rule.

I have been looking for just such a citation to express what I wish to achieve with classes who visit our National Gallery in Ottawa. I always make a point of explaining to the group, they are usually children between 8 to 12 years of age, that the NGC is their’s, it is not a closed off institution belonging to some governmental entity. What they look at is our national heritage, something to be cherished and not rooms full of paintings and sculptures with a big price tag.

Yesterday I had a group and I started with the Italian Renaissance around 1300 with paintings done for a private chapel in a Church in Florence. The painting is full of beautiful colours, lots of people, angels, flowers and an active scene. I briefly explained the context of the painting and what they were looking at. Explaining that this painting was done at a time when 99% of people could not read nor write. How paintings were images conveying a story and an illiterate person could understand a story by simply looking at the painting. I also spoke about how the painter had to make his own paint, how you could not buy it in a store. Same with the frame, all of it is hand made from scratch. An important point with children who are raised and socialized in our society to be perfect little consumers.

We also looked at the portrait of Mary Fiennes, née Nevill, Lady Dacre (1524-1576) by Hans Eworth, a famous story and person from the time of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. I point to the book she holds and her quill and ink pot. The picture of her husband Thomas on the wall and other details. This painting has lots of texture to it. I always like to make a little point about hygiene in those days. She is portrayed covered in jewels and looking regal with a great fur on her shoulder. I tell the kids that the fur served a practical purpose, that of attracting lice since people did not bath often. The fur could be shaken off and you got rid of your body lice that way. The expression on their faces is priceless.

We then went on to the next room, at this point I explain to them that we are travelling in time, more than one hundred years, the next painting was the period of the 30 years war in Europe between Catholics and Protestants (1618-1648). The Old Church in Delft by Emanuel de Witte. I showed them two paintings one done by an Italian painter for the Pope on the next wall comparing it to de Witte’s painting in the City of Delft, both are church scenes but with stark differences so you can see the effect of the Reformation on painting.

We then went on to look at other paintings by Bronzino the Court Painter of Cosimo Medici in Florence and scenes of Venice by Canaletto, the point being that I wish to impress on the kids that painters are practicing a trade and have clients and work in a social environment which dictates how they will paint and what will be the subject of their paintings. Something that does not exist today.

I also ask them to look carefully at paintings a bit like you look at a puzzle and try to solve the riddle, what is the painter trying to tell you? What do you see in the painting? Texture, colour, light, etc.

With this group I had good participation, lots of remarks, lots of questions. I always get more questions from girls than boys. Boys often are baffled by their surroundings in the museum and appear to question if this is important to know or not. They may be only 8 to 12 years old but already concepts of masculinity and manliness is ingrained in their minds. Whereas girls are much more open to the whole experience and are ready to be charmed by what they are looking at. With boys they often cannot tell me what they are looking at, they do not want to look foolish in front of others. Girls do not have such reservations.

I am just happy if I was able to impress upon a few of them, the beauty of what they are looking at and come away with a new understanding or appreciation of art.

Giovanni Antonio Canaletto, Piazza San Marco

Education

Tags

Cologne, Florence, Germany, Goring, Gozzoli, Monet, Munich, Paul Drey, Pisa, Renaissance

The Virgin and Child with SS. Pope Gregory the Great, John the Baptist, John the Evangelist, Julian, Dominic, and Francis
by Benozzo Gozzoli (1476)

In the new repainted European Renaissance Gallery room 201 of the National Gallery of Canada you will find this painting with a very beautiful golden frame to enhance this very large tableau. Very typical in style to the Italian Renaissance works you see in Italy in Churches and private Family chapels. In this case the name of the Saints appear in Latin in their halos, something Gozzoli liked to do in his paintings. It is done in brilliant colour and is a spectacular piece of art. At the bottom there is a dedication to the Salviati Family of Florence. This painting a Sacred Conversation was intended as an Altar piece for a church in Pisa where the Compagnia dei Fiorentini met. Like other painting of that time period at the NGC it was bought after the Second World War from families or institutions who had been forced to sell their art works or was looted art by the Nazi Regime. The Paul L. Drey Family of New York sold it to the NGC in 1951.

Originally it had been in the collection of the Wallraf-Richartz Museum of Cologne, inventory #500. In 1943 Walter Bornheim who had acquired the A.S. Drey Firm of Munich and who had Reichsmarshall Hermann Göring as an important client, acquired (forcibly sold) this painting. It was confiscated by he USA Army in 1945.

This Altar piece painting format Gozzoli will repeat it differently and it can be seen at the National Gallery in London,UK.

It is an important piece of art of the Italian Renaissance period. I try to interest people in it and take a closer look at this Altar piece. One of the difficulties is that often people do not know what they are looking at. They have no idea who is in the painting despite the name being written on the halos. One gentleman with his family looked at it for a while and when ask my his child what was it, he explained that there was this woman with a baby and Jesus was speaking to them, he was confusing Saint Francis for Jesus because of the stigmata on the hands. As for the other characters he had no idea who they might be. Now this fellow was a ”traditional” Canadian, white Christian male. It is very common today to find people under the age of 50 who have no concept or knowledge of religion of any kind.  History is a jumble of confusion, I have to be careful not to inject too many details in my explanation because again people may not understand what I am talking about. I find this very sad and often bewildering. I also see this at the Canadian War Museum, total confusion on the First and Second World War, Korea never heard of it, Vietnam there are vague memories but mostly not sure what it was about. Anything before 1990 and it is ancient history.

I remember the Priest who sang the Funeral service of my mother, telling me afterwards how impress he was with relatives and friends who attended the service because we knew the prayers and responses of the Mass. I said to him, what do you mean Father, he replied you have no idea the ignorance of people today, they only come to Church for a Funeral because they think they have to, so I just make the service short for them, otherwise they are bored.

We have other paintings, in fact the NGC has a collection of 35,000 works of art in its vault. It is the same with other works of art, no matter the era or the painter. Currently the NGC is preparing a Monet exhibition and to attract people we are showing one painting by the master entitled Le pont de bois (1872) a newly built temporary bridge over the Seine River outside Paris. People are invited to leave comments in a book with question they might have about the piece. Next to the painting there is a description of the art work, despite the fact that people read the information notes, many will ask why is the bridge destroyed or who destroyed it, what war was it? It is all explained in the notes next to the painting but it does not sink in. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 is unknown to most people despite its terrible impact it had on France and its consequences for the future in Europe. In Canada we participated to the Boer War in South Africa and has one person asked once, is it called bore war because it was boring?

I find ignorance amongst children the most troubling and the blame can be laid squarely at the feet of their parents. Though I can see with children whose parents read to them or speak to them or involve them in activities other than watching TV or sports, those children are more aware and can follow a discussion. In class I find often that children whose parents or relatives paint or take them to the museum are those who are the bright lights in the class, those who have absent parents or who only hear about hockey are often the laggard in the class. What a terrible disservice such parents do to their children.

Night reading

Tags

Italy, Monteverdi, painting, Renaissance, Titian, Venice

I read some time ago that the idea of sleeping 8 hours straight is a relatively new invention due to the Industrial age and people working long shifts in factory. In a gentler age people lived differently. Per example in Antiquity you will note when reading an ancient text that it speaks of hours of the day meaning that the ancients lived their lives following the cycle of the Sun from Sun rise to Sun set. Once the Sun had set and the darkness of the night engulfed the sky, people went indoors and to bed. In many cases for very practical reasons since there was only candle light or oil lamps and also for safety sake since it was far too dark to go out in the streets and dangerous. In Rome you often read of people going out at first light to visit a friend or for business, morning meals were light affairs and during the day meals were taken at varying hours depending on the activities of the day. Dinner parties took place before sunset and everyone went home before dark unless one had a strong well armed escort to bring you home. It was not infrequent that guests spent the night at the home of their host if too drunk to walk or lacked an escort. Rome did not have a police force, it did have a Vigili which was and is to this day a Fire Watch Vigil known today as the Firemen or Fire department. But for your own protection you had to have either a body guard or a sharp knife concealed in your toga.

So to come back to the night sleep and how this activity was shaped, it would appear that many people had two sleep periods in the night. The first one would have been from sunset until somewhere around eleven pm and then a period of wakefulness reading by candle light or oil lamp, conversation with family members or friends staying over night. Then sleep again until dawn which happens depending on the Season as early at 3:30 am sunrise being later around 4:30 am.

I remember the first dawn I ever saw, it was in 1990 at the top of Mount Sinai where it is said God gave Moses the Ten Commandements. It does feel like the top of the world. The colours of Dawn at that altitude is a marvellous sight to behold, diaphanous colours of light ever changing as we wait for the first ray of the Sun to come from the East and hit a specific spot on the mountain top where legend or scripture says the stone tablets were inscribed by the finger of God.

When I wake up usually around 3:30 am I will read, I love that time of the day because the world is asleep, the streets are deserted and there is not a noise anywhere. A perfect time to think, reflect on many things and come to a decision. The other night I started thinking about Venice, I had been reading a book on the last year of the life of the Renaissance Painter Titian and his life in his great house in Venice or La Serenissima, as Venice is known in Italian.

What I was remembering was the Venice of 1998 when people still lived in the City and it had a real city feel. I was trying to remember if we had ever been by the house of Titian. Back in 1998 the Opera House La Fenice was still a ruin waiting to be rebuilt, what a sad sight it was. It was rebuilt and we attended a performance, a lady who was sharing our box told us that she had been to La Fenice some 40 year before and the re-built theatre was exactly like the old one.

In the quiet of the early morning I was able to remember all kinds of details of the strolls in Venice and one was going to visit the Church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (1330). Titian (1488-1576) painted one of his masterpieces which hangs above the main altar, the Virgin ascending into Heaven. There are 16 other masterpieces by Renaissance artists hanging in the Church.

 

We had gone to listen to a concert of music by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), I was sitting next to his tombstone in the Church. How many places can you go and listen to a composer’s music and be sitting by his grave.

In the same church you can also see the Mausoleum to Titian.

Born Tiziano Vecellio in what is now Pieve di Cadore, Italy, sometime in 1488, Titian is considered one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance. The oldest of four children born to Gregorio and Lucia Vecellio, Titian spent his early years in the town of Pieve di Cadore, near the Dolomite mountains.

In his teens, Titian became an apprentice to the Venetian artist Sebastiano Zuccato. He soon worked with such leading artists as Giovanni Bellini and Giorgione. Giorgione proved to be especially influential to the young painter. Titian was a leading artist of the Italian Renaissance who painted works for Pope Paul III, King Philip II of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

Venice is full of such places and treasures, all you have to do is look around and take your time, leave the day-trippers behind and go down those little alley ways.