The Fine Art Thread

Well, I couldn't find a dedicated thread about fine art here, so I thought it was about time we had one. This is discussion about art, so I think it goes here, not in the galleria.

All I'm after here is for everyone to list their favorite artists. Modern art, Classical, Asian, Sculpture, whatever. Just tell us who you like & why. Provide links or attach images if at all possible. I'm sure the members of this board have diverse enough tastes to ensure that we are all exposed to something new through this thread.

**Please, lets keep this limited to fine artists. No anime, Video Game, or Comic book/Manga art here. There are already threads & boards dedicated to that. Thanks**

Alphonse Mucha - One of my very favorite artists. He is one of the forefathers of Art Nouveau, most of his work was commercialy comissioned. This doesn't keep it from having some of the finest linework & design I have ever seen.
http://www.empiregiftsandantiques.co...cts/1712_b.jpg

Gustav Klimt - Just amazing. I have a hard time picking one painting to show here, so I will go with a more obscure piece. I just love his use of patterns.
http://www.jigboxx.com/jps/ag/ag01022.jpg

Odd Nerdrum - A Swedish painter from Oslo, Nerdrum paints in the style of the 17th century masters. His execution is amazing. I could sit & study his work for hours. Be forewarned! His subject matter is sometimes very disturbing. Any of you who whined about having to draw a penis, may want to avoid digging any deeper into his work.
http://www.oddnerdrum.com/a1_oddhome.gif

Ivan Albright - insanely detailed paintings that generally tended to show things in various states of disarray & decay. The detail in his work is staggering, & it is wonderfully creepy.
http://www.cegur.com/Albright/PoorRoom.jpg

OK, that is enough from me for now, I will post more later.
Discuss & enjoy.

JM

I wish I knew more about it ^^;

The nerd inside me says, "umm... I like the art in Panzer Dragoon." I lack culture :(

I love all the art from The Divine Comedy. This is my favorite, though.

Hey, that's used on Emperor's "Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk" album. Cool find.

Which?

The one you posted.

Ah.
Sonuvabitch took me 2 hours to find on the internet, because apparently it goes by 2 names, and the amount of art in The Divine Comedy is staggering, so I had to search..ALOT of art, and most stuff I searched didn't even have it. Even searching for Gustave Dore (Artist), I couldn't find it. :)

M. C. Escher is probably my favorite artist. His spatial illusions, impossible buildings, and tessellations are all a mix of mathematics and art.

A fine example of one of his impossible buildings is "Waterfall"
http://www.worldofescher.com/gallery/jpgs/P14L.jpg

"Day & Night" does a fine job of showing the incorporation of tessellations.
http://www.worldofescher.com/gallery/jpgs/P7L.jpg

More odd architecture in "Ascending and Descending;" whose main focal point is an endless loop of stairs.
http://www.worldofescher.com/gallery/jpgs/P19L.jpg

I enjoy Medieval Art. Byzantine Art is stunning, especially the mosaics and the illuminated manuscripts, and Gothic Art is among the best the world has ever produced. When you get into late Medieval/Early Renaissance, its a real treat.

Here is a picture from San Vitale in Ravenna, of Empress Theodora. This picture quality sucks ass, but when you realize that mosaics are basically little cubes fitted together, you can kinda get an idea of how cool they are:
http://www.ou.edu/class/ahi4263/byzslides/081-1.jpg

Byzantine Mosaics are incredible, especially later ones (900+). This is an earlier one, from maybe 550.

Anyway, here's the Book of Hours for Jeanne d'Evreux, from 1325-1328:

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/hb/hb_54.1.2.jpg

The Book of Hours was a fabulous marriage of form and function. If anybody has ever had the pleasure of seeing one of these in person (drag your ass to a museum), it's pretty fucking awesome. They're so small (this book is roughly 3"x3", so you can imagine it), so beautiful. The art style here is called graisalle, and its meant to emulate sculpture. Oftentimes, though, the artists used gold extensively, which gives the pages a brilliant, vibrant, lively look - which is the total opposite of the adjectives that pop in one's head with the word "gothic".

The pictures that are shown here, if you're not up on your Gospels, is of Judas' Betrayal and the Anunciation. Cool stuff.

One of the most stunning examples of Medieval Art is the 10th century Book of Kells. Here's one picture from it:

http://www.dubois.ws/people/paul/kells/kells2.gif

You can spend a fair bit of time just enjoying each individual page, but this is a huge work, about 340 pages I think, and many are lavishly detailed like this one. You need a higher quality picture, though, to fully see the craftmanship in the work. Most of the latticework is created out of a single thread! You can't see that on this picture.

Gothic Sculpture is simply brilliant. Oftentimes entire Biblical stories would be told in sculpture, or there would be processions of kings, saints, etc. Gothic Cathedrals often had 50 or more sculptors working on them, and for the most part, individual styles were suppressed so that the look would be consistent. Quite amazing if you think about it:

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fna...es_sculp02.jpg

And few seem to really appreciate stained glass, though it's amazing and stunning. This is from Chartres in France.
http://vrcoll.fa.pitt.edu/medart/ima.../m0537hsds.jpg

Nobody really gives Medieval Art the time of day anymore, which is a shame, because its obviously brilliant in so many ways.

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Originally posted by JM
**Please, lets keep this limited to fine artists. No anime, Video Game, or Comic book/Manga art here. There are already threads & boards dedicated to that. Thanks**
JM

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But could any of these guys draw an awesome Nightcrawler? :)
I like this thread.

Jan Van Eyck is truly the master of oil paintings. His Arnolfini painting is incredible, not necessarily the figures standing in the foreground but the jaw dropping detail in the background. The chandelier is insanely detailed, so realistic, hard to believe one small object can make a piece shine

Some other favorites:

Michelangelo's Pieta:
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/citta/Bs-Pieta.jpg

Bernini's Theresa:
http://www.english.uga.edu/wblake/SONGS/41/ecstacy.GIF

Raphael's School of Athens

Reni's Aurora

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Originally posted by JM
Alphonse Mucha - One of my very favorite artists. He is one of the forefathers of Art Nouveau, most of his work was commercialy comissioned. This doesn't keep it from having some of the finest linework & design I have ever seen.
http://www.empiregiftsandantiques.co...cts/1712_b.jpg

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Wow.

Klonoa, like whatever-his-name from Penny Arcade said:

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If you can look at the Pieta - I know the accents aren't right on that word, I don't know how to produce them - if you can look at Michaelangelo's Pieta and then crack some fucking jokes, then something other human blood animates you. I kept trying to remind myself that a person made it.

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Truly stunning. I want to take a trip to the Vatican one day just to see that and Michaelangelo's Last Judgement fresco - the centerpiece of said fresco is my current desktop wallpaper, its unbelievable. Just for that art, really, Rome is #2 on my want-to-go list, behind Japan.

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Originally posted by diffusionx

Truly stunning. I want to take a trip to the Vatican one day just to see that and Michaelangelo's Last Judgement fresco - the centerpiece of said fresco is my current desktop wallpaper, its unbelievable. Just for that art, really, Rome is #2 on my want-to-go list, behind Japan.

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The scene of creation was my wallpaper for a while until I saw that Street Fighter cover thread. The countless number of human figures on that ceiling fresco, jeez. If you do go there, how can you take that all in? I have so much respect and admiration for the high renaissance artists. It's amazing that Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo all existed during the same time.

To me, nothing can come close to the way they drew the human figure.

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Originally posted by Klonoa
It's amazing that Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo all existed during the same time.

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Cowabunga, dude! :p

I like that picture of that guy holding the glass ball.

I knew this thread was a good idea. It is alreay off to an amazing start. :) Nice stuff guys. I especially like the illuminated page.

JM

I'm also a fan of Mucha. I really regret not going to the Mucha museum when I was in Prague. My favourite modern artist is Kandinksy:

[thumbnail]http://www.artunframed.com/images/compressed9/kandinsky651.jpg[/thumbnail]


I'm also a big Jackson Pollock fan:

[thumbnail]http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/images/lists/work/129_6_lg.jpg[/thumbnail]

I also like Paul-Émile Borduas and Mark Rothko.

If we're talking even more modern / technological art I am also a big fan of video artist Pipilotti Rist.

Here's some more stuff from Gustave Dore because he rocks. :)
http://www.artpassions.net/galleries/dore/bible4.jpg

I'm assuming this is the Tower of Babel, because it's from the Bible. So much detail..

http://www.artpassions.net/galleries...paradisio0.jpg

Good thread, but it belongs in the Galleria, don't you think?

The Raft of the Medusa is a great painting, but I'm a huge fan of Paul Klee and Cezanne myself.

I find Medieval art to be fugly, for the most part.

I like caricaturists, guys like:

Hogarth

http://www.library.northwestern.edu/.../1.69.half.jpg

http://www.library.northwestern.edu/.../1.52.half.jpg

Daumier

http://www.umt.edu/partv/famus/image...ier/49-051.jpg

Goya

http://www.louvre.fr/img/photos/coll...yen/rf6912.jpg

I have a series of Daumier caricatures on sport up in my bedroom.

Heh, Goya's one hell of a "caricaturist", alright.

I read this great play once, I think it was actually a restaging and retelling of one of those old English revenge tragedies, featuring a giant projection of a Goya painting in back of the stage at all times.

Damned if I can remember what it was called.

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Originally posted by sleeveboy
Heh, Goya's one hell of a "caricaturist", alright.

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Yeah, caricature has gone downhill over the past few hundred years, a little bit. Goya has some really incredible series of etchings.

Great thread idea JM!! :)

I love fine art and I have been going to museums for as long as I could remember. Both my mum and her sister studied art and even though neither became a "professional" artist it had a huge impact on me as a child. Growing up just outside of Manhattan I would visit MOMA and the Met quite often. Getting accepted to the art programme at my grammar school was the happiest day of my young life.....

Ahem, anyway... my favourite artists and art movements tend to be modern (that's why MOMA is my favourite museum)... but I have an appreciation for a diverse and rather eclectic group of things. I wish I had my gigantic History of Art textbook here to jog my memory... Doh! But here are a list of some of my favourites (highly influenced by stuff I have bookmarked).... ;)

»»» Jackson Pollock

[thumbnail]http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/pollock/pollock.number-8.jpg[/thumbnail]

What moves me most in art is the feeling of abstract. Put into my own words and into my own life (art, music, writing, everything) it is what drives me most. I love love love trying to create things that evoke feelings abstractly. I love the interpretations. I love giving the impression of something that is not obvious. Pollock was one of my first favourites when I started going to museums. It just struck a chord with me that has always resounded.

The best fine art exhibit I ever went to was Jackson Pollock at MOMA in NYC. I went with Icepop we were both very moved by the experience.

»»» John Squire

Yes, the guitarist for the Stone Roses! No, I am not being daft. He was a fine artist and his favourite was Jackson Pollock. He used his own artwork for the Stone Roses sleeves and I always found it really touching and interesting. He stopped making decent music after the Roses broke up but I'll always love his art. I have a poster of Double Dorsal Dopplegänger Five that I need to frame and put up on the wall.

http://www.unsuave.com/~q/garage/pics/doubled.jpg

»»» Wassily Kandinsky

[thumbnail]http://witcombe.sbc.edu/modernism/images/kandinsky-composition8.jpg[/thumbnail]

Everything you ever wanted to know about me can best be summed up by the fact that I feel like I am looking into a mirror when I look at that image.

»»» Yoshiko Masuda

[thumbnail]http://www.yoshikomasuda.com/image1.jpg[/thumbnail]

= :)

»»» Japanese Woodblock

http://importimagesnewyork.com/shop/...C8740-wave.jpg
^ great wave. hokusai.

I mainly like natural scenes. Here is a nice index of images I just found: http://www.ukiyoe-gallery.com/gallery3.htm

What appeals to me about Japanese woodblock is that it reminds me of my youth. I grew up in a Japanese neighbourhood and all of my friends were Asian, except for one. So, this was really the culture I grew up with and the type of thing that always stood out when I was little. It still gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.

»»» Icepop (the TNL poster)

I am not joking. She does not have her work uploaded right now or I'd link it, but she is an inspiration to me. She does everything. Painting, watercolour, drawing, collage, and all of it touches me and I think she is amazingly skilled and has an amazing style and talent.

»»» Yves Tanguy

[thumbnail]http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/tanguy/tanguy.indef-divisibility.jpg[/thumbnail]

I actually wrote a report and did a presentation on Tanguy in French at university for my French language class. Yikes, how did I pull it off? I forget the criteria but I think it had to be on a famous French person and I figured my French teacher would not want to hear about Gérard Houllier (Liverpool's French manager.. heh).

Anyway, Tanguy was an underrated surrealist who is a bit reminiscent of Dalí.

»»» Anders Zorn

I don't know what it is about Zorn but his work is touching. It feels like a fuzzy memory of a place I have never been to but always wanted to visit. Or a dream.

http://www.algonet.se/~mgus/zorn/nudes/tof257.jpg

His nudes are particularly impressive.

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OMG.. I just realised I could go on all day. I am just scratching the surface. I'll leave what I linked so far (that was just some stuff I had bookmarked) and I may make another post or two along the same lines at a later date. :)

I will mention a few other thoughts first though. What I don't like.... Well, I don't like Renaissance era art. Art History class at uni was practically a Renaissance art class with one pre-Ren and one post-Ren class sandwiched around it. I really do appreciate and find the innovations in art, style, and technique interesting. But the period personally does very little for me and I was annoyed that the professor decided to concentrate so much on one specific period and region, regardless of how important it was. It's just not my bag. I do like classical art much more though, especially Egyptian and Chinese.... so I am not just "all about the modern art". :p

Anyway, that's enough for now. :)

sggg, I didn't know that guy from the Stone Roses did the art work. In fact, just yesterday for some reason I pulled out their first album and took a good look at the cover. A map of someplace with the Pollock streaks all over, it's really cool.

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Originally posted by Green
sggg, I didn't know that guy from the Stone Roses did the art work. In fact, just yesterday for some reason I pulled out their first album and took a good look at the cover. A map of someplace with the Pollock streaks all over, it's really cool.

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Yeh, he made all of the Roses sleeves - they were all based on his artwork. Also, a little known fact is that he worked in the animation dept for the cartoon Danger Mouse. :)

Anyway, here are some links I just found:

» http://merseyparadise.net/fans_downloads_desktop.html
» http://johnsquire.com/artwork/

I'm back with more.

Andrew Wyeth - He is one of the painters that I learned about in highschool, & immediately dismissed as lame since my retarded art teacher spoke so highly of him. Now that I look back at his work, it makes my head spin. Easily my favorite American painter.
http://www.clag.org/images/february.jpg

John Singer Sargent - From a few feet away, his paintings look photo realistic, get a few inches away & you can see the wonderfuly messy brush strokes done in very thick paint. Simply amazing.
http://www.listonart.com/Art_Of_The_...ish_Dancer.jpg
http://people.bu.edu/rcarney/ampaint...JSSmadamex.jpg

I'll have more later.

JM

Leon Spilliaert- Symbolist, I learned of him only in the past few years and related to the guy's work habits and use of light and dark in his works. His paintings tend to be monotone and heavily pattern based, they look peaceful but seem very tense if you sit and look at them.

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/S/spilliaert.html

Edward Hopper- His work has a technicolor glow to it, I've always been amazed how he could take a simple citicape or bit of daily life and make a compelling work from it.

http://www.boomspeed.com/neoalpha0/hopper.jpg

Giuseppe Arcimboldo-

http://www.boomspeed.com/neoalpha0/arcimboldo.jpg

Jacek Yerka-

http://www.boomspeed.com/neoalpha0/v...icBarnyard.jpg

Guilty pleasures, I love to sit and explore their paintings, marveling at the little details and how no one thing dominates a composition.

Giorgio De Chirico- His early works achieve the dream-like state that many Surrealists failed to capture, though he disliked being associated with the surrealists.

*-neo

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Originally posted by Andrew
Good thread, but it belongs in the Galleria, don't you think?

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Originally posted by JM
This is discussion about art, so I think it goes here, not in the galleria.

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Oh yeah, good call on Hopper. It never fails to amaze me what he could do with a building. I guess if you have enough talent, any subject matter can be beautiful & captivating.

Yerka is neat. Every time I see one of his books in a store, I'm tempted to finally pick one up.

Neo, have you been working on anything lately. I've seen some of your stuff in the Galleria & it is very nice. I want to see more.

JM

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I mainly like natural scenes. Here is a nice index of images I just found: http://www.ukiyoe-gallery.com/gallery3.htm

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Many thanks for that link. Some beautiful images there.

in no particular order...okay, I lie. I loooooooove Mucha. I just started getting into his art this year, but man oh man...if I could my style to just hint at some of the cool stuff he does, just for one picture, that would make my day.

Okay, now in no particular order:

- Rembrant
- van Eyke (sp)
- Michelangello
- Raphael
- Da Vinci (the Last Supper - awesome ^^)
- Goya

I know there's more, but I'm terrible at keeping names. Maybe I'll have to post again, and next time with pictures.

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Originally posted by diffusionx

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fna...es_sculp02.jpg

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That is beautiful.

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Nobody really gives Medieval Art the time of day anymore, which is a shame, because its obviously brilliant in so many ways.

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Actually, there's a Medieval Art and Architecture Museum called The Cliosters that's not too far from where I live that I've been to several times. It's amazing, you'd probably love it. It's located in a castle that's actually made up of several different sections of various buildings and castles brought over from Europe. Here's the link to their site: http://www.metmuseum.org/collections...ment.asp?dep=7

Dolemite, Ive never been there... been to the Met, but not to there. Maybe Ill go one day.

The portal sculptures, way back when, used to be painted in various colors, red, gold, etc., which made them look that much more lively and eye-popping. The paint doesnt survive today, but if you can imagine it, the effect is likely even more powerful than what we see of Gothic sculpture today.

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Originally posted by Lobo
M. C. Escher is probably my favorite artist. His spatial illusions, impossible buildings, and tessellations are all a mix of mathematics and art.

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I think that Leonardo Da Vinci is interesting, yet Escher takes the cake. I could look at some of his work and ponder endlessly about It.

My favorite painters are:

Jean-Leon Gerome

Pygmalion & Galatea
http://www.oil-paintings.com/gerome/jlg04.jpg

Thumbs Down!
(supposedly helped inspire Ridley Scott w/Gladiator; I loved the painting before that)
http://www.kingsgalleries.com/1024x7.../gerome/48.jpg

Vermeer
(best use of lighting IMO)

The Astronomer
http://hypatia.ss.uci.edu/lps/home/w...astronomer.jpg

(unsure of title)
http://www.lindamann.com/otherpainters/vermeer.jpg

and George Inness
(best landscapes ever IMO, pix don't do the textures and lighting justice. I'm very lucky that my work has a couple originals in the Art Collection)

Lackawanna Valley
http://www.majbill.vt.edu/history/ba...slackanna.jpeg

(not sure of the name of this one, sorry)
http://www.clag.org/images/innessoxen.jpg
I also love Escher, Hopper, and Rubens.

Great thread. Ahh, thank you Art History 1, or else I would not of been able to post in this thread.

Okay, In response to some of the earlier works posted here, I just wanted to toss in my two cents. Maybe it's because I haven't studied it yet, and I lack a understanding as to why this particular form of art is good, but I find, for the most part, modern art to be pure crap. I can remember walking through the modern art section of the Met and seeing paintings on the wall that were just one solid color, and nothing more, and thinking to myself "Why the hell is this here?". The same goes with the random splashes of paint that Pollock does, or any of those other abstract shapes people make.


Anyway.


Right now I'll just post a bunch of sculptures I think are cool.

http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~cls180/Week13/492.jpg
Apparently there is a copy with him looking in another direction.

- The Hellenistic Period -

The Great Altar of Zeus:
http://163.238.8.169/roccos/art103/pergathena.jpg
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/classi...gamonstair.jpg
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/classi...amongiants.jpg


http://www.utexas.edu/courses/classi.../gaulfront.jpg
Dying Gaul

http://www.utexas.edu/courses/classi.../gaulgroup.jpg
Gallic chieftain killing himself and his wife

http://www.utexas.edu/courses/classi...samothrace.jpg
Nike of Samothrace

http://www.utexas.edu/courses/classi...oxer_angle.jpg
Terme Boxer

http://www.uoregon.edu/~arthist/arth...es/laokoon.gif
Athandoros, Hagesandros, and Polydoros of Rhodes



- The early Roman Empire -

http://www.talariaenterprises.com/images/tal1017_s.jpg
Portrait of Augustus as a general, man I wish I could find a better picture of this.








There's also this amazing looking peice called the Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus, but I can't find any pictures of it, it's a shame too because it's stunning.



Oh, and if you ever do go to the Met, be sure to check out the Lamassu!

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/hb/hb_32.143.2.jpg
They've got two of them, and I think they are so damn cool.



And I love Escher as well.

Nice shots, Regus. Nike of Samothrace is gorgeous.

In response to your modern art vs. classical ("fine") art question, you may find The Romantic Manifesto by the philosopher Ayn Rand worth reading. She puts forth some very interesting arguments; for example, she doesn't really consider photography to be art because the reproductive process takes place within a machine (i.e. the camera) instead of the more artistic & organic eye-brain-hand process.

Case in point: put an apple on a table. Have ten random people take a picture of it with the same camera & lighting, at the same angle. The ten results will be practically identical. But give the ten people a pen & paper and have them draw the apple from an identical viewpoint, and you'd more than likely get ten completely different-looking results. Which method is more artistic?

Sometimes her writing style is overly dense (thank goodness the book's relatively thin), but she's got some fascinating insights to the definition of art.

And yes, JM, a great thread indeed. :)

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Originally posted by BioMechanic


Pygmalion & Galatea
http://www.oil-paintings.com/gerome/jlg04.jpg

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Lovely.

Yeah, Pygmalion & Galatea was a very popular subject at one time. I think most of the Pre-Raphaelites had a go at that one. :)

JM

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but she's got some fascinating insights to the definition of art.

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Well, as far as I know "art" is just the communication of an idea, so photography falls into that catagory.

I don't know if anyone here likes Canadian art. Does anyone like the Group of Seven? I really like the bold painting style and it also reminds me of being at my cottage on Georgian Bay.

Here's a couple to give you an idea.

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/CAN/947.jpg

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/CAN/920.jpg

I also like Emily Carr:

http://www.library.ubc.ca/finearts/ubcpic.jpg

Not Canadian, but I also really like Georgia OKeefe:

http://www.ou.edu/fjjma/images/colle...fe-cos_cob.jpg

http://www.christophersbythebay.com/...ngs/okeefe.jpg

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Originally posted by Regus
Well, as far as I know "art" is just the communication of an idea, so photography falls into that catagory.

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Agreed, but Rand argues that there's definitely more to "fine art" than just communication.

Eh, I hate talking art theory. So many people act like they have the inside scoop as to what art is about. It all comes down to personal opinions. The opinions of the Critics, Artists, & Viewers are all different. Any Theorist out there is going to be called a phony by some other theorist that "Knows" what art is all about. And so on. Personally, if an artist needs a 10 page manifesto to get his point across, I question the effectiveness of his or her art.

If it makes you stop in your tracks and think, smile, or wonder how someone could make that, it is good art.

JM

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Originally posted by JM
John Singer Sargent - From a few feet away, his paintings look photo realistic, get a few inches away & you can see the wonderfuly messy brush strokes done in very thick paint. Simply amazing.

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Oh man, I love Sargent! I saw a huge collection of his work at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston -- I think they were showing all the landscapes he did near the end of his life, when he got fed up doing portraits. Boston is really the place to see Sargent's work; between the Gardner and the MFA you can see most of his best stuff, including this one which is my personal favorite:

http://www.inter-art.com/images/bilder/op/2105.jpg

Such personality! I love it.

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Originally posted by diffusionx
This is from Chartres in France.

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That cathedral is one of the most awe-inspiring things I've seen in my life. For those of you who haven't seen it, it's really difficult to explain just how mindblowing the glasswork is. It's even more amazing when you realize it's been there for over seven hundred years.

You really need to check out the Cluny Monastery in Paris one of these days, diff.

And now for some paintings, and stuff.
All of these can be seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, so if you've never been, do yourself a favor and go.


I really love some of these European paintings which deal in some religious themes, there a ton of these black and white oil paints and such in the met that are cool, but I didn't list them because the provided pictures weren't detailed enough.

There are so many amazing peices (over 2,000!) it's hard to choose which ones to display here.

http://www.kgi.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/pi...4/paninni2.jpg
Ancient Rome, by Giovanni Paolo Panini

This painting blew me away when I saw it for the first time. The attention to detail is simply staggering. Not only does he incorporate all those amazing paintings, but he even tosses in some sculptures just for good measure, including both Athandoros, Hagesandros, and Polydoros of Rhodes and the Dying Gaul statues I posted before!

This is a pendant to "Modern Rome" and shows the most famous ancient monuments in the city. It was painted for Count de Stainville, later the Duke de Choiseul, who is shown in the center with a guidebook in hand. Panini shows himself behind the chair. The figures are admiring a copy of the "Aldobrandini Wedding"—one of the most admired ancient frescoes. The Pantheon, the Coliseum, Trajan's column, the Farnese Hercules, and the Laocoön can be readily identified.

http://www.crca.ucsd.edu/~rmayeri/le...ce/planets.jpg
Allegory of the Planets and Continents by Giovanni Tiepolo

This picture, Tiepolo's largest and most dazzling oil sketch, shows Apollo about to embark on his daily course across the sky. Deities around the sun god symbolize the planets and allegorical figures on the cornice represent the four continents. Tiepolo presented this preliminary sketch to Carl Philipp von Greiffenklau, the prince-bishop of Würzburg, on April 20, 1752, as his proposal for the decoration of the vast staircase ceiling of the Residenz, often considered the artist's greatest achievement. The figures in grisaille at the corners were executed on the ceiling in stucco by the decorator-sculptor Antonio Bossi.


http://www.metmuseum.org/collections...0.83.bw.L_.jpg
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Mary Magdalen and John the Baptist, by Giuliano di Piero di Simone Bugiardini

http://www.metmuseum.org/collections...1.443.bw.L.jpg
Allegory of Avarice, by Jacopo Ligozzi


http://www.metmuseum.org/collections...9.38.bw.L_.jpg
Venice: Santa Maria della Salute, by Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal)

http://www.metmuseum.org/collections...00.81.bw.L.jpg
Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist, by Andrea Solario

http://www.metmuseum.org/collections...2.14.bw.L_.jpg
Saint Matthew and the Angel, by Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo


http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2000/...img/panini.jpg
Modern Rome, Giovanni Paolo Panini

Panini strikes again, this time showing off modern Rome.

Among Panini's most brilliant inventions are this picture and its pendant, "Ancient Rome." They contrive to show the most famous monuments of the city as paintings arranged in a sumptuous gallery. They were painted for the great French collector, Count de Stainville, later the Duke de Choiseul, who was ambassador to Rome between 1753 and 1757. The artist is in an armchair. Among the most famous works are Michelangelo's "Moses" and Bernini's statues of "Constantine," "David," "Apollo" and "Daphne," and his fountains in the Piazza Navona. Panini also shows his own, unexecuted, proposal for the design of the Spanish Steps.


http://www.physics.hku.hk/~tboyce/ap...idsocrates.jpg
The Death of Socrates, by Jacques-Louis David

I love the guy leaning against the arch wall, there is so much emotion there it's amazing.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/hb/hb_40.174.1.jpg
The Last Judgment, by Joos van Cleve

In this ambitious depiction of the Last Judgment, the upper and lower zones of the composition are linked by two angels with fantastic multicolored wings and swirling garments who blow lily-shaped trumpets. Christ appears at the moment of judgment in a burst of light and color, surrounded by apostles and a host of winged putti, interspersed with folds of voluminous clouds. The effect of this brilliant radiance and variegated color is in sharp contrast to the subdued tones and relative monochrome in the area reserved for the mass of humanity, awaiting judgment below. That the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Baptist—traditional intercessors between the heavenly and earthly realm—do not appear indicates that Christ judges alone. This change in the hierarchical arrangement of the scene may signify that the panel was made for a Protestant-leaning patron. The figure of Christ seems to be inspired by the ancient sculptural group of the Laocoön, and the poses of some of the nudes reflect the study of Italian prints after Raphael's designs. This Italianate character, together with the soft figure types and lively, somewhat dissonant color scheme, are some of the elements that have led to the attribution of this work to Joos van Cleve. In this ambitious representation of the Last Judgment, a subject not otherwise treated by Joos, the artist combined Italianate models with a distinctly Northern rendition of the Mannerist style.


http://www.metmuseum.org/collections.../ep10.73.L.jpg
Wolf and Fox Hunt, by Peter Paul Rubens

This little jpg doesn't do this work justice, since the original so big. Check out more of his work and a few other guys here: http://www2.truman.edu/~capter/jins343/baro.htm







Okay, that's it for now, I got tired of digging through the met's massive data base, I know there's a ton of cool stuff I missed.

Quote:

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Originally posted by JM
Eh, I hate talking art theory. So many people act like they have the inside scoop as to what art is about. It all comes down to personal opinions. The opinions of the Critics, Artists, & Viewers are all different. Any Theorist out there is going to be called a phony by some other theorist that "Knows" what art is all about. And so on. Personally, if an artist needs a 10 page manifesto to get his point across, I question the effectiveness of his or her art.

If it makes you stop in your tracks and think, smile, or wonder how someone could make that, it is good art.

JM

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Sorry man, I wasn't trying to jack your thread. I think art theory and the philosophy of it can make for interesting discussion....

....but it's never as enjoyable or productive as just checking out some great works, not to mention creating yourself.

Regus: Beautiful stuff. I've never been to NYC, but when I get there, the Met will be my first stop.

Quote:

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Originally posted by BioMechanic

Regus: Beautiful stuff. I've never been to NYC, but when I get there, the Met will be my first stop.

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If you do go, here's one peice of advice, be sure to check out the museum's website before you go and plan out what you want to see most. Because it's really easy to just wander around and waste a ton of time in some of the exhibits. The place is so damn big that when I went, me and a friend would walk through the same areas over and over again in a circle, yet see new things eatch time.

This is one amazing thread. Thank's, JM!

I must admit some of my favorite art is architecture. Especially of the gothic church variety. And particularly of the Byzanntinian Orthodox variety.

Here's a picture of the most beautiful Orthodox church I could find. They all have the same layout, though, so they tend not to differ too much from one another.

http://www.romanorthodox.com/graphics/cathedral4.jpg

The 11 archways at the front of the sanctuary are illuminated with the patron saint of the particular church, Mary the mother of Jesus, Jesus as a man, Jesus resurected (with wings), and two angels at archs 2 and 10 which are doors for the acolytes. The center archway is a door where only the priest is allowed to go, but is usually opened for all to see the cross and images of Christ.

Simply beautiful. I do believe, however, that Catholic churches are much more awe inspiring...but diffx already touched on that, and some people are getting their panties in a bunch about bandwidth.

Quote:

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Originally posted by JM


Neo, have you been working on anything lately. I've seen some of your stuff in the Galleria & it is very nice. I want to see more.

JM

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Most of my stuff of late has been bland arts/craft stuff and greeting cards (requested). I hope to start a original piece soon to flex a little creativity, if it turns out well I'll scan it. *-neo

Quote:

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Originally posted by BioMechanic
Sorry man, I wasn't trying to jack your thread. I think art theory and the philosophy of it can make for interesting discussion....

....but it's never as enjoyable or productive as just checking out some great works, not to mention creating yourself

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No Worries! I wasn't trying to bitch at you, I was just stating my distaste for theory. That's just my personal stance, that's all.

JM

http://cas1.elis.rug.ac.be/avrug/beeld04/luctleo.jpg
Luc Tuymans 'Leopard' 2001

http://www.christies.com/images/depa...a/9782_337.jpg
Alex Katz 'Blue Umbrella #2' 1972

http://www.thearchitectpainter.com/M...ark125.350.jpg
Richard Diebenkorn 'Ocean Park #125' 1980

http://images.forbes.com/images/2001...ey_377x392.jpg
David Hockney 'A Bigger Splash' 1967

http://www.thecityreview.com/f99scont3.gif
Mark Rothko 'No. 15' 1952

http://www.ifa.de/a/a1/foto/pics/real_demand.jpg
Thomas Demand 'Detail II' 1996 (photograph of paper sculpture)

http://www.manuscript.org/graphics/nymtg4.jpg
Jeff Koons 'Michael Jackson and Bubbles' 1988

http://www.exporevue.com/images/maga..._install01.jpghttp://www.exporevue.com/images/maga..._install02.jpg
James Turrell 'The Other Horizon' 1998 (Light work. Two views of room.)

http://www.imagearts.ryerson.ca/arth...20of%20may.JPG
Francisco De Goya 'Third of May 1808' 1814

http://discipline.free.fr/peint/schiele_scornful.jpg
Egon Schiele 'Scornful Woman' 1910

http://www.sitesantafe.org/beaumonde...murakami_1.jpg
Takashi Murakami 'Blue Black' 1998

http://www.hasselbladcenter.se/utsta...0Wall/Milk.jpg
Jeff Wall 'Milk' 1984

What church is that CV?

Oh and for Byzantine Churches, obviously Hagia Sophia is among the most beautiful structures ever built.

Oh, and Regus, that Last Judgement painting is very nice... but eh, I dont know, nothing can top Michaelangelo's work on that subject. I know that different expressions of the same theme is a hallmark of art, ESPECIALLY art dealing with Christian themes... but Michaelangelo's is as close to definitive as you are gonna get.

Quote:

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Oh, and Regus, that Last Judgement painting is very nice... but eh, I dont know, nothing can top Michaelangelo's work on that subject. I know that different expressions of the same theme is a hallmark of art, ESPECIALLY art dealing with Christian themes... but Michaelangelo's is as close to definitive as you are gonna get.

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Post that shit, I don't think I've seen it before, knowing Michaelangelo it's probably amazing.

You're kidding right?

http://facstaff.uww.edu/allsenjm/WOT...S/LastJudg.jpg

Largest fresco of the Renaissance. 40 feet high.

Visit this to look at a bigger, more detailed picture. This is seriously my favorite piece of art. It's wondrous. The work touches my soul. It nearly brings tears to my eyes.

Wow, that really is exquisite.

That's the first time I have ever seen it, or at least that I can remember. I've never really taken the time to look into the art work of the Sistine Chapel before. I've always had a passing desire to go to Rome and the Vatican to see the art work, but after seeing that I don't I have much of a choice, I have to see that in person.

Man, I love Schiele. Great stuff guys! This is turning out better than I had hoped. Seems we aren't a bunch of uncultured geeks after all. ;)

Here is some more.

Chuck Close - I like all of his work equally, even though it has changed so much over time.
Here is his first major work.
http://www.haberarts.com/close.jpg
Here is another pic of it to show how big it is.
http://www.richardgraygallery.com/images/close.jpg
Here is his more recent work, his style changed radically when he had a brain embolism that paralysied most of his body. He now works in a special chair that is part forklift to get him to the higher parts of his canvasses. He has a special glove with a loop on it to hold his paint brush. It is simply astounding that he can still work at all. Keep in mind that the new stuff is just as big as the first piece I posted.
http://btr0xw.rz.uni-bayreuth.de/cjackson/c/close1.jpg

Francis Bacon - He is responsible for some of the most disturbing images ever put on canvass. You simply cannot look at his work & not have a strong reaction to it. It is pretty much love or hate, but like I said, this fits into my definition of effective art.
http://www.widemedia.com/fashionuk/n...0/23/bacon.jpg
Most of his portraits look like someone took a hammer to the sitter right before he started painting.
http://www.filmwork.it/Immagini/bacon.jpg

Once again, I'll have more later.

JM

Edgar Degas:

http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/images/degas.jpg

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/news_comme...gas_ballet.jpg

http://rand.pratt.edu/~giannini/degas_ballet1.jpg


Rene Magritte:

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~boozer/s...itte-human.jpg

http://www.menil.org/images/background-magritte.jpg

http://www.sri.com/psd/lifbase/magritte.jpg

http://www.uic.edu/classes/psych/psych100f/magritte.jpg

Diffx, it's the Roman Orthodox church in Rome, I believe.

el greco!

rich says Ah.

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Sonuvabitch took me 2 hours to find on the internet, because apparently it goes by 2 names, and the amount of art in The Divine Comedy is staggering, so I had to search..ALOT of art, and most stuff I searched didn't even have it. Even searching for Gustave Dore (Artist), I couldn't find it

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umm who helpd u waste her time and would have found it if u had the correct spelling????

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/a...&postid=435826

:D

Quote:

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Originally posted by nightwolfie
umm who helpd u waste her time as well and would have found it had u known the correct spelling ??

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I both knew and had the correct spelling, and gave it to you. It was just hard to find. :(

I wanted to post a painting or some traditional art or something that is even intended as art by a single person but I find some things more moveing an momentous (not that the acheivements of artist are not great, I love most everything posted here so far, though little is new to me besides the actual names)

http://www.marssociety.org/images/kees/galecrater.jpg

I really really like this. For some reason it evokes stronger emotion in me. Though it is a photograph and it's not taken by a person.

Some of the things that have come back from Voyager are also amazeing just to look at, but are unbeliveable in thier scope.

Back to paintings: I'm suprised Raphel's "School of Athens" hasn't been posted. I like that one.


http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/art/r/raph...u/1/athens.jpg

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Originally posted by Tracer
http://www.marssociety.org/images/kees/galecrater.jpg

I really really like this. For some reason it evokes stronger emotion in me. Though it is a photograph and it's not taken by a person.

Some of the things that have come back from Voyager are also amazeing just to look at, but are unbeliveable in thier scope.

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If you're at all interested in remtoe sensing (images taken from above the earth aerially or by satellites in space), I suggest you look at the Space Imaging website. I especially like the images from the satellite IKONOS which has a really high spatial resolution of about 1 km.

Though these images are taken often as a method of collecting data and analyzing spatial issues including urban issues, forestry, coastal management, pollution, glacial movement, and so on ... it's hard not to look at them as art. So many of the images are just breathtaking. I wish I could show the image of the Montréal olympic tower because it is pretty cool. Anyways, have a look at the gallery. :)



Oke, I'll stop being a nerd now. :p

http://www.imprs-astro.mpg.de/images..._fdf_rgb_1.jpg

The legendary "Deep Field". The farthest back in time and space man has ever peered.

ºTracer

And yet, it looks no different than any other space pictures. :p

"...and man looked upon the form of God and he said 'Gee, I thought he'd be taller."

ºTracer

Quote:

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Originally posted by Tracer


Back to paintings: I'm suprised Raphel's "School of Athens" hasn't been posted. I like that one.


http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/art/r/raph...u/1/athens.jpg

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I agree, this piece is totally kick ass. I didn't know this until recently but Raph and Michelangelo are both in there.