jeudi 17 juillet 2014

Still Life And Landscape Art

By Coleen Torres


In the hierarchy of genres set up by the Academy, the most important genres are history painting, portraiture and genre painting. Still life and landscape art were considered less important, and still life is on the fifth, while landscape is on the fourth place. Even so, some of the most beautiful paintings ever painted emerged here, for example, Van Gogh's Sunflowers or his extraordinary landscapes made in different techniques.

Still life painting became popular in sixteenth century. Artists paint inanimate objects, natural or manufactured, anything that doesn't move or is dead, as it is explained in Tate museum Glossary. Natural objects usually include food, drinks, flowers and similar things. Manufactured objects painted on these pictures are often bottles, vases and books.

Flowers can be just beautiful flowers, and nothing else, but they can also be highly symbolic. For example, lilies symbolize purity, and may refer to Virgin Mary's purity as well. On the other hand, Cezanne was more interested in shapes and colors of his motifs, and didn't care much about symbolism. Other authors sometimes used this genre just to practice their technique.

The first recognized major work of Western still life is Caravaggio's basket of fruits. It was painted in 1596. During the early 1600s, this genre became popular in the Netherlands. These early works were mostly religious and symbolic. Floral motifs were especially prominent. Flowers were appreciated for their grace and fragrance, and paintings immortalized these values.

Breakfast and banquet motifs are very popular as well. Other popular themes are games and vanities. All pictures have one thing in common. The background is in dark, gray tones, tan colored, in one word, neutral. Main motif is usually bright colored, and there are some elements in gold and silver. Skulls, watches and similar objects are there to remind us of our mortality.

Landscape paintings usually depict mountains, rivers, sea, sky and grass, in one word, nature. Some pictures are really realistic, and some present idealized world. Impressionists often chose this genre, and there are numerous beautiful masterpieces you can see in museums. The most popular technique is oil, but numerous authors use water colors or pastels, or mixed media.

Although numerous examples of landscape art can be found all through the history, it became an independent genre in sixteenth century. This genre became more important in later periods. It is still popular today, but contemporary paintings of this type usually feature buildings, roads and similar, modern motifs.

In China, landscape art was highly appreciated long before. Western artists did paint them, but only as a background for their real motifs, mostly for different human activities. When Flemish and Dutch schools emerged in the seventeenth century, things have changed. Some famous artists such as Vermeer rose interest for this type of paintings. They finally became appreciated.

The most beautiful examples of landscape art were made in the nineteenth century, mostly in England and France. The most important artists in England were Constable and Turner. In France, there were several prominent artists such as Pissarro, Renoir and some other famous painters. Although you can maybe find people on their landscape pictures, the focus is always on the nature.




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