a tragic love story

WASSILY KANDINSKY, 1866 – 1944, lived in MURNAU, a village near MUNICH in southern germany in front of the alps, from 1909 until 1914, together with GABRIELE MUENTER, 1877 – 1962. gabriele muenter had bought a house overlooking murnau in 1909, and the two of them stayed there frequently, using the countryside and murnau itself as an important source of inspiration for their paintings. kandinsky developed during these years his abstract painting style. the people in the village called the house the ‘RUSSENHAUS’ – THE HOUSE OF THE RUSSIAN.
the house should play an important role in the formation of a new group of artists, DER BLAUE REITER – THE BLUE RIDER. their members – FRANZ MARC, living in a village nearby, ALEXEJ VON JAWLENSKY, MARIANNE VON WEREFKIN, AUGUST MACKE and the composer ARNOLD SCHOENBERG, who often visited from MUNICH, were the new avant garde, the counterpart of the french FAUVISTS led by ANDRE DERRAIN and HENRY MATISSE in paris.
because of the start of the first worldwar in 1914 muenter and kandinsky first went to switzerland, kandinsky returned later in 1914 to his home and wife in moscow, gabriele muenter stayed in sweden until 1920 and lived in the murnau house from 1931 until her death in 1962. she never met kandinsky again.
a very tragic love story. but – because of the artistic exchange of the two of them in a beautiful place on earth, some of the most stunning paintings were created, masterpieces of GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM.

© wassily kandinsky

nautical art 2

maritime artists –
ivan konstantinovich aivazovsky , pieter bruegel the elder, bryan booth, jacob loutherberg, samuel scott, montague dawson, john stobart, marek ruzyk, geoffray huband, yves berube, alexander shenderov, winslow homer, willem van de velde, geoff hunt, william hodges, james brereton, patrick o’brien, caspar david friedrich, roger morris, andy simmons, samuel atkins, ludolf bakhuizen, joseph mallord william turner, philipp jacob loutherbourg, alexey bogolyubov, george hyde chambers, peter monamy, nicholas pocock, charles brooking

nautical art 1

as long as I can remember there was this fascination with pirates. I loved to read PETER PAN and STEVENSON’S TREASURE ISLAND, and then there were the old hollywood swashbuckler classics like CAPTAIN BLOOD, THE BLACK CORSAIR, THE BUCCANEER, THE SEA HAWK, THE BLACK SWAN and of course lately THE PIRATES OF THE CARIBEAN.
but it was not just the adventurous stories, the sword fights and buried treasures, that made it all so interesting, for me it was the world where all that took place – those huge sailing ships and the endless oceans, the huge waves and the storms.
a while ago I found more accidentally beautiful artwork that depicted this world, paintings done by MONTAGUE DAWSON and IWAN KONSTANTINOWITSCH AIWASOWSKI. and recently, with more time, I started to search more intensively through the endless world of the internet, and found hundreds of the most amazing paintings. this genre is called NAUTICAL-, MARINE- or MARITIME ART depicting the world of ships and the seas.
in a lot of cases these paintings are available without the name of the artist and the year they were painted. thats why I decided to give you just a general list of maritime artists and you can find out more about them in case you are interested.

maritime artists –
ivan konstantinovich aivazovsky , pieter bruegel the elder, bryan booth, jacob loutherberg, samuel scott, montague dawson, john stobart, marek ruzyk, geoffray huband, yves berube, alexander shenderov, winslow homer, willem van de velde, geoff hunt, william hodges, james brereton, patrick o’brien, caspar david friedrich, roger morris, andy simmons, samuel atkins, ludolf bakhuizen, joseph mallord william turner, philipp jacob loutherbourg, alexey bogolyubov, george hyde chambers, peter monamy, nicholas pocock, charles brooking

houses in art 4

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houses in art 3

eugene galien-laloue 9

after 5 years, here are some more beautiful scenes of the parisian life during the ‘belle epoche’ from EUGENE GALIEN-LALOUE

© eugene galien-laloue

style 9.4

beauty of art 6

romeo v.tabuena

accidentally I found out about this filipino painter, ROMEO V.TABUENA. for me his paintings represent the best the philippines, the life of the simple people in the countryside, the feeling of nature there with carabaos and houses on stilts. he was born in 1921 in iloilo city and learned his craft in new york and paris. for the past two decades he resides in mexico with his norwegian wife, his paintings are very much in demand from collectors and museums.

© romeo v.tabuena

edouard-leon cortes 2

© edouard-leon cortes

edouard-leon cortes 1

over the past years I have posted several articles about the PAINTERS OF PARIS, LUIGI LOIR ( 1845 – 1916 ), JEAN BERAUD ( 1849 – 1936 ), EUGENE GALIEN-LALOUE ( 1854 – 1941 ), EDOUARD-LEON CORTES ( 1882 – 1969 ) and ANTOINE BLANCHARD, ( 1910 – 1988 ), and the genre PARISIANISM. here now is the first part of a series about EDOUARD-LEON CORTES, and his beautiful paris city views.

© edouard-leon cortes

antoine blanchard

ANTOINE BLANCHARD, 1910 – 1988, is the pseudonym that french painter MARCEL MASSON chose, to experiment with nostalgic views of paris based on photo reference that he had collected from the turn of the century, the BELLE EPOCHE period. like EDOUARD CORTES and EUGENE GALIEN-LALOUE, LUIGI LOIR and JEAN BERAUD, he started to paint paris street scenes, often the same views in different seasons and weather situations. he became immensely popular and his style was faked by a lot of artists, using even his signature since the name was not copyrighted. different from CORTES expressive painting style BLANCHARD used smaller brush strokes characteristic to the great masters of the impressionist period, he used more vibrant colors and his motifs with pedestrians in period fashion are more alive than compared to his predecessors.

© antoine blanchard

hans feibusch

HANS FEIBUSCH, 1898 – 1998, was born to jewish parents in frankfurt, germany. after having served in WW1 on the russian front he joined in 1918 the berlin art academy and became master student of CARL HOFER. his admired artists at that time were the german EXPRESSIONISTS, especially FRANZ MARC, SCHMIDT-ROTTLUFF and KLEE. with a scholarship FEIBUSCH was introduced to mural painting in italy, with the works of GIOTTO, MASACCHIO and PIERO DELA FRANCESSCA. he was impressed by the grandeur and simplicity of their works. by 1923 he went to paris to continue his studies and from 1925 on he participated in exhibitions in berlin, frankfurt and duesseldorf. when the nazis took over in germany in 1933 feibusch was forced to emigrate to england, since his future wife was english. his work was considered as ENTARTETE KUNST ( degenerate art ) and destroyed by the nazis. in england feibusch became famous over the next decades for over forty murals in churches, cathedrals, synagogues and public buildings. later in his life he started to create sculptures and was active until just a few weeks before his 100th birthday.

© hans feibusch

peder mørk mønsted

please go here to my earlier post from 8-2010 about PEDER MORK MONSTED for more information. below some more of his stunning landscapes

© peder mørk mønsted

beauty of art 5

jean paul surin

on my last trip through southern france I stayed in a hotel in ROUSSILLON, provence. a mural in the entrance hall caught my eye because of its vibrant colors and expressive brushstrokes. it reminded me of VAN GOGH, the motif was one of the villages in the neighborhood, GORDES. I found a catalogue of the artists work on a table next to the wallpainting. JEAN PAUL SURIN, born in 1946 in the ardennes, france, a student of the ecole des beaux arts in paris is for some years now represented in galeries throughout the world. he is a nature painter, applies the oil colors in thick layers on the canvas using a palette knife as well as brushes, sometimes it looks as if he wanted to sculpt his paintings with the palette knife. I am fascinated by his color combinations, you have to spend some time in southern france to believe they really exist. no wonder that most beautiful spot on earth attracted so many artists in the past and still does. see yourself below and let me know what you think…

© jean paul surin

felix vallotton

FELIX VALLOTTON, 1865 – 1925, grew up in lausanne, switzerland, in paris he studied art at the academie julian. he admired HOLBEIN, DUERER and INGRES, and painted his first portraits in the academic tradition. during the 1890s he created many woodcuts and established himself as a leader in the revival of woodcut as an artistic medium. especially UKIYO-E prints and the japanese woodcut had a big influence on him. VALLOTTON was closely connected to LES NABIS, a group of young artists, and you can see during that time a stylistic change in his paintings, the avant-garde look combined with his woodcut experience, flat areas of color and simplification of detail. always a prolific artist, by the end of his life VALLOTTON had completed over 1700 paintings and about 200 prints.

© felix vallotton

mucha’s 4 seasons

ALPHONSE MARIA MUCHA, July 24, 1860 – July 14, 1939, a czech artist who studied in paris and munich, produced an immense amount of paintings, posters, advertisements, and book illustrations, as well as designs for jewellery, carpets, wallpaper, and theatre sets in what was initially called the MUCHA STYLE but became known as ART NOUVEAU ( new art ). MUCHA’S works frequently featured beautiful young women in flowing vaguely neoclassical looking robes, often surrounded by lush flowers which sometimes formed haloes behind the women’s heads. In contrast with contemporary poster makers he used pale pastel colors. the ART NOUVEAU style however, was one that MUCHA attempted to distance himself from throughout his life. he always insisted that rather than adhering to any fashionable stylistic form, his paintings came purely from within and czech art. he declared that art existed only to communicate a spiritual message, and nothing more.

THE SEASONS, 1896, was MUCHA’S first set of decorative panels and it became one of his most popular series. it was so popular that he was asked to produce at least two more sets based on the same theme in 1897 and 1900. designs for a further two more sets also exist. the idea of personifying the seasons was nothing new – examples could be found in the works of the old masters as well as in other publications at that time. however, MUCHA’S nymph-like women set against the seasonal countryside background breathed new life into the classic theme, MUCHA captures the mood of the seasons – innocent spring, sultry summer, fruitful autumn and frosty winter.

© alphonse mucha

style 11.1

the look of the city has changed over the last centuries, some of them grew from small marketplaces in medieval times to huge sizes with tens of millions of people. the once atmospheric cosy environments turned into concrete jungle, with architecture not for people anymore. artists all over the world have captured these changes through their eyes in very different styles. this incredible variety is fascinating for me and it might influence your work as well, in case you need to get some ideas about URBAN LIFE.

the painter poet

that’s what CARL SPITZWEG was called, he lived from 1808 – 1885 in munich, germany, where he portrayed the daily life in humorous scenes, painted cartoons. you can read more about him in my earlier post from january 6, 2009. below some more of his artwork

© carl spitzweg