I have already written about oil paints. You know that artists used to have to grind minerals into powder and then mix the powder with oil to make their paint. It was long believed by art historians and scholars that oil paints were not used until the 1600s. They also believed that oil paints were invented in Europe. Recently an act of terrorism allowed us to find new information about the history of oil paint.
In 2001 members of the Taliban blew up two, huge sculptures of Buddha. Behind the sculptures were paintings from the 5th to 9th centuries. The paintings had always been protected from the sun and the environment by the Buddha scultures but the attack put the paintings at risk. While trying to protect the paintings, scientists were able to study them.
Using a special type of light, scientists studied each layer of the paintings. They discovered that oil was used in paintings from the 7th century. Oil painting began in the Middle East 800 years earlier than art historians had thought!
From destruction came new knowledge. Sometimes there is a thin silver-lining.
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Monday, May 5, 2008
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Blogroll Update
I have added two links to my blogroll!
Check out Gifts for Kids which, just as it says, features great gift ideas for boys and girls.
Also, if you haven’t yet discovered Kids Craft Weekly, it is a terrific resource for craft ideas especially for young children. Though it isn’t exactly weekly, every issue is creative and well done.
Hope you’re all having a great weekend!
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Check out Gifts for Kids which, just as it says, features great gift ideas for boys and girls.
Also, if you haven’t yet discovered Kids Craft Weekly, it is a terrific resource for craft ideas especially for young children. Though it isn’t exactly weekly, every issue is creative and well done.
Hope you’re all having a great weekend!
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Friday, May 2, 2008
Paul Klee
Last week I wrote about Surrealism and some of the movement’s important members. Paul Klee was a bit different from Salvador Dali and Max Ernst. Klee’s style was a blend of surrealism, cubism, and expressionism. He also loved the drawings of kids and tried to mix that energy and simplicity into his own work.
Paul Klee was born in Switzerland in 1879. When he was young he loved music and thought he might become a musician when he grew up. His grandmother gave him a box of chalk and he drew with it often. He began to love art as well. As a teenager he decided he enjoyed drawing more than playing the violin. He went to school at the Munich Academy in Germany to study his craft.
He did not think he was a very good painter and he struggled at school. Throughout his life, Klee met many great painters, including Kandinsky, and each helped him improve a little.
Klee’s early works were colorless. He created mostly pen-and-ink drawings and etchings. During this time (early 1900s) he thought that color was just decoration. He didn’t think it was essential or even needed. Then he traveled to Tunisia and saw the color and the light. He fell in love with color and his artistic style changed forever.
Click here to see the color in some of Klee’s paintings. Most of his painting were very small and used a lot of color.
During World War I, Klee painted camouflage on German planes. Following the war, he taught at the Bauhaus school then at the Dusseldorf Academy. He was targeted by the Nazis during the years leading up to World War II and he had to leave his teaching job. Seventeen of his paintings were shown in the Nazi exhibition of “degenerate art.”
When he died in 1940, Klee had painted nearly 9000 works.
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Paul Klee was born in Switzerland in 1879. When he was young he loved music and thought he might become a musician when he grew up. His grandmother gave him a box of chalk and he drew with it often. He began to love art as well. As a teenager he decided he enjoyed drawing more than playing the violin. He went to school at the Munich Academy in Germany to study his craft.
He did not think he was a very good painter and he struggled at school. Throughout his life, Klee met many great painters, including Kandinsky, and each helped him improve a little.
Klee’s early works were colorless. He created mostly pen-and-ink drawings and etchings. During this time (early 1900s) he thought that color was just decoration. He didn’t think it was essential or even needed. Then he traveled to Tunisia and saw the color and the light. He fell in love with color and his artistic style changed forever.
Click here to see the color in some of Klee’s paintings. Most of his painting were very small and used a lot of color.
During World War I, Klee painted camouflage on German planes. Following the war, he taught at the Bauhaus school then at the Dusseldorf Academy. He was targeted by the Nazis during the years leading up to World War II and he had to leave his teaching job. Seventeen of his paintings were shown in the Nazi exhibition of “degenerate art.”
When he died in 1940, Klee had painted nearly 9000 works.
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Thursday, May 1, 2008
I'm Back!
It’s been awhile! Travel doesn’t always go quite as planned. I had a great time seeing my family but the trip was tiring. I won’t bore you with the details.
Also, I promised to tell you what I was celebrating last week and, now that it’s official, I will. I was accepted to graduate school and will finally begin studying to teach elementary education! I’ll try to keep the grad school stories to a minimum…
Also, I promised to tell you what I was celebrating last week and, now that it’s official, I will. I was accepted to graduate school and will finally begin studying to teach elementary education! I’ll try to keep the grad school stories to a minimum…
Friday, April 25, 2008
Max Ernst
Max Ernst was born in Germany in 1891. His father enjoyed painting (as a hobby) but Ernst’s interest in art did not begin until he went to Bonn University in 1909 to study psychology and philosophy. He began painting in 1910.
When World War I broke out, Ernst was forced to serve in the army. He was not pleased to do so and thought of his time in the army as an annoying interruption of his passion: art. He was able to do some painting, though, and showed work in 1916 in Berlin, Germany.
After the war, Ernst became friends with some Dadaists and joined the movement. He created Fruit of a Long Experience from junk, just as you did if you created your own recycled art last week. In 1922 he moved to Paris to be nearer to other Dada artists.
Ernst turned to Surrealism as many other Dadaists did (including Salvador Dali). Most interesting about Ernst’s Surrealist paintings was the bird he used to symbolize himself. Rather than painting himself into his paintings, as many artists did including Sandro Botticelli, Ernst painted a bird. The bird was called Loplop and can be found in a number of Ernst’s paintings: Loplop Introduces Loplop, Surrealism and Painting.
During World War II, Ernst was twice sent to a concentration camp. The first time he was freed. The second time he had to escape. Peggy Guggenheim (Goo-gen-high-m), a lover and collector of art who set up museums all over the world, helped Ernst to safely reach the U.S. He and Peggy Guggenheim married but the relationship didn’t last long.
In New York, Ernst helped to bring about Abstract Expressionism (the art movement that included Jackson Pollock).
Ernst moved back to France in 1953 where he lived until his death in 1976.
___________
No post on Monday. I'm going to Massachusetts to visit my family! Enjoy your weekend and be sure to check back on Tuesday.
Return to main page.
When World War I broke out, Ernst was forced to serve in the army. He was not pleased to do so and thought of his time in the army as an annoying interruption of his passion: art. He was able to do some painting, though, and showed work in 1916 in Berlin, Germany.
After the war, Ernst became friends with some Dadaists and joined the movement. He created Fruit of a Long Experience from junk, just as you did if you created your own recycled art last week. In 1922 he moved to Paris to be nearer to other Dada artists.
Ernst turned to Surrealism as many other Dadaists did (including Salvador Dali). Most interesting about Ernst’s Surrealist paintings was the bird he used to symbolize himself. Rather than painting himself into his paintings, as many artists did including Sandro Botticelli, Ernst painted a bird. The bird was called Loplop and can be found in a number of Ernst’s paintings: Loplop Introduces Loplop, Surrealism and Painting.
During World War II, Ernst was twice sent to a concentration camp. The first time he was freed. The second time he had to escape. Peggy Guggenheim (Goo-gen-high-m), a lover and collector of art who set up museums all over the world, helped Ernst to safely reach the U.S. He and Peggy Guggenheim married but the relationship didn’t last long.
In New York, Ernst helped to bring about Abstract Expressionism (the art movement that included Jackson Pollock).
Ernst moved back to France in 1953 where he lived until his death in 1976.
___________
No post on Monday. I'm going to Massachusetts to visit my family! Enjoy your weekend and be sure to check back on Tuesday.
Return to main page.
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