Claude Monet and his Water Lilies

Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge, by Claude Monet (1899): Wikimedia Commons

There is perhaps no image more associated with the Impressionism Art Movement than Claude Monet’s water lilies. Comprising a series of roughly 250 oil paintings created between 1896 and his death in 1926, these beautiful, bright works were a triumph amidst personal lose and health issues. Monet’s second wife, Alice Hoschedé, died in 1911. His oldest son died in 1914 from tuberculosis. His younger son Michel was deployed to the front to serve in the French Army during World War I. Monet even developed cataracts which would eventually require two surgeries to remove them so that he might continue his painting. Despite this, Monet would continue creating his water lily paintings until he died from lung cancer on December 5, 1926 at the age of 86.

Japanese Footbridge, Giverny (1895): Wikimedia Commons

To Monet the paintings he did at his home in Giverny would become a consuming passion and the pinnacle of his artistic masterpieces. The world would agree, and the paintings he did while living in his home at Giverny would be amongst the most appreciated, and most prized, of his long life. They would replace the varied contemporary subjects he had painted from the 1870s through the 1890s. The focal point of this series would begin with Monet’s flower garden in its entirety, portraying the water garden and smaller pound over which rose the Japanese footbridge he had built. Initially, the pond environment would include the plants, bridge, and trees with a neat horizon astride it all. Over time, however, Monet moved away from the more traditional pictorial space in favor of no horizon line whatsoever, instead focusing on the surface of the pond itself with all the plants and reflections it contained.

Water Lilies, 1919: Wikimedia Commons

“Try to forget what objects you have before you — a tree, a house, a field, or whatever. Merely think ‘Here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow,’ and paint it just as it looks to you, the exact color and shape, until it gives you your own impression of the scene before you.” — Claude Monet

Monet put this into practice with each of his water lily paintings, and the the subject was largely the same the feeling, the presence of each was uniquely its own. Each of the roughly 250 paintings has its own character, its own significance, one which complements the series yet can stand along in evoking feeling and introspection in the viewer.

Water Lilies, 1915: Wikimedia Commons

“Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love.” — Claude Monet

Every single time I see one of this series of paintings in person the authors words strike me again. My first few times I had tried to break down the paintings I was looking at by composition, colors, and brushstrokes, to better get a sense for Monet himself through his work. Over time, as I simply looked instead of dissected these pieces the power of them struck me more. The feel of nature, at once so complicated yet so simple in presentation. The contentedness that seemed to emanate from the pond, of a relaxing day unaffected by the stressors of everyday life. Despite the tumultuous events of Monet’s later years, the water lily paintings do not meaningfully vary from the core messages of the series that he sought to capture starting in 1896. Though Monet would likely laugh at my thoughts, insisting I got it all wrong, I can’t help but see a representation of an ideal life of creativity in these works.

Water Lilies, 1906: Wikimedia Commons

The appreciation of Monet’s water lilies continues today. In 1966, Monet’s home, garden, and waterlily pond were bequeathed by his son Michel to the French Academy of Fine Arts, and after a period of restoration were opened to the public in 1980. The home and garden remain one of the major attractions in Giverny and see many tourists from around the world every year.

The track record of the paintings made by Monet in this series is even more impressive. Auctions of paintings from this series have gone for tens of millions, such as the sale of Pond with Water Lilies, 1919 for over $80,000,000 in 2008, The Water Lilies, 1906 for over $54,000,000 in 2014, and The Water Lilies, 1905 for over $43,000,000 in 2012. Given the enduring popularity of his work, these paintings will likely continue to make record sales far into the future.

Where To Learn More About Claude Monet and the Water Lilies

1. Claude Monet Gallery
2. Water Lilies of Monet: The Magic of Water and Light (watch for free with Prime Video)

Books

1. Claude Monet: Waterlilies and the Garden of Giverny: A beautiful new edition of a book that discusses Monet, his water garden in Giverny, and the famous paintings that emerged from his work there.
2. Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature: This book spans the artist’s entire career, exploring Claude Monet’s enduring relationship with nature and the landscapes he returned to again and again.
3. Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies: Using letters, memoirs, and other sources not employed by other biographers, and focusing on this remarkable period in the artist’s life, Ross King reveals a more complex, more human, more intimate Claude Monet than has ever been portrayed and firmly places his water lily project among the greatest achievements in the history of art. Available in print, digital, and audiobook.
4. Monet Water Lilies: The Complete Series: A complete catalog of Monet’s famous Water Lilies, featuring 210 paintings from private and public collections. Truly a beautiful work.

Giclee Prints of Water Lilies for Purchase

LINK: Water Lilies Reproduction Giclee Print

LINK: Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge Reproduction Print (36 x 36)

LINK: Water Lilies 1906 Reproduction Giclee Print

LINK: Water Lilies Reproduction Giclee Print (28 x 60)

This article contains some affiliate links to art prints and books that serve as references to Claude Monet and his amazing art. If you choose to purchase these books or resources via my affiliate links, you will help support my writing and research at no additional cost to you.

The 5 Best Books To Learn About Impressionism

Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet, 1872: Wikimedia Commons

One of my favorite art movements is Impressionism, though it took me some time to truly appreciate it. As a young boy, I had been more a fan of more realistic paintings. When I got older, however, the impressionist style of small, thin, yet still visible brushstrokes combined with open composition and the emphasis on light and color really began to speak to me. Today, works created during the Impressionism art movement are some of the most appreciated and collected in the world. To truly understand them and the artists who made them, however, I decided to borrow or purchase a number of books.

These are the books I found most helpful:

The Sunflowers Are Mine: The Story of Van Gogh’s Masterpiece, by Martin Bailey

This is the story of one of the world’s most iconic images. Martin Bailey explains why Van Gogh painted a series of sunflower still lifes in Provence. He then explores the subsequent adventures of the seven pictures, and their influence on modern art. Through the Sunflowers, we gain fresh insights into Van Gogh’s life and his path to fame. Based on original research, the book is packed with discoveries – throwing new light on the legendary artist.

Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse, by Monty Don, Ann Dumas, Heather Lemonedes, Jamies Priest, and William Robinson

While depictions of gardens are found throughout history, the impressionists were among the first to portray gardens directly from life, focusing on their color and form rather than using them as a background. This volume explores the close, symbiotic relationship between artists and gardens that developed during the latter part of the 19th and first part of the 20th centuries, centering on Monet, a great horticulturalist as well as a great artist who cultivated gardens wherever he lived, and the creation of his masterpiece garden at Giverny, where he painted his renowned water-lilies series.

Beautifully illustrated with masterpieces by Monet and later painters―Renoir, Bonnard, Sargent, Klee, Kandinsky and Matisse, among others―Painting the Modern Garden traces the evolution of the garden theme from impressionist visions of light and atmosphere to retreats for reverie, sites for bold experimentation, sanctuaries, and, ultimately, signifiers of a world restored to order―a paradise regained.

Van Gogh: Complete Works, by Rainer Metzger and Ingo F. Walther (Eds.)

Today, the works of Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) are among the most well known and celebrated in the world. In paintings such as Sunflowers, The Starry Night, and Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, we recognize an artist uniquely dexterous in the representation of texture and mood, light and place.

Yet in his lifetime, van Gogh battled not only the disinterest of his contemporary audience but also devastating bouts of mental illness. His episodes of depression and anxiety would eventually claim his life, when, in 1890, he committed suicide shortly after his 37th birthday.

This comprehensive study of Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) offers a complete catalogue of his 871 paintings, alongside writings and essays, charting the life and work which continues to tower over art to this day.

Monet: The Triumph of Impressionism, by Daniel Wildenstein

No other artist, apart from J. M. W. Turner, tried as hard as Claude Monet (1840–1926) to capture light itself on canvas. Of all the Impressionists, it was the man Cézanne called “only an eye, but my God what an eye!” who stayed true to the principle of absolute fidelity to the visual sensation, painting directly from the object.

It could be said that Monet reinvented the possibilities of color. Whether it was through his early interest in Japanese prints, his time as a conscript in the dazzling light of Algeria, or his personal acquaintance with the major painters of the late 19th century, the work Monet produced throughout his long life would change forever the way we perceive both the natural world and its attendant phenomena. The high point of his explorations was the late series of water lilies, painted in his own garden at Giverny, which, in their approach toward almost total formlessness, are really the origin of abstract art.

This biography does full justice to this most remarkable and profoundly influential artist, and offers numerous reproductions and archive photos alongside a detailed and insightful commentary.

America’s Impressionism: Echoes of a Revolution

From the late 19th century to the Second World War, American painters adapted Impressionism to their own ends, shaping one of the most enduring, complex, and contradictory styles of art ever produced in the United States. This comprehensive book presents an original and nuanced history of the American engagement with the French style, one that was both richer and more ambivalent than mere imitation. Showcasing key works from public and private collections across the United States, this expansive catalogue contextualizes celebrated figures, such as Claude Monet (1840–1926) and William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), among their unduly overlooked—and often female—counterparts, such as Lilla Cabot Perry (1848–1933), Emma Richardson Cherry (1859–1954), and Evelyn McCormick (1862–1948). Essays from leading scholars of the movement expand upon the geography and chronology of Impressionism in America, investigating regional variants and new avenues opened by the experiment. Beautifully illustrated, this volume is a landmark event in the understanding of an important era in American art.

These five books have lead to leaps forward in my understanding and appreciation of impressionist art, and I hope they prove just as useful to you.

Making a Profit as an Artist: How to Make and Sell Art Prints

An example of an art print, Source: Pixabay

In the hyperconnected globalized world of today, it has never been easier to make a living as an artist. With websites, social media, and email, any artist can reach out and begin to build a following to support themselves and their creative work. It is still difficult, however, to move beyond the starting stages of being an artist who occasionally sells a piece into one who makes a full-time income from their work.

Creating and selling prints of your art is an effective means to bridging this gap in income and, most importantly, it easy to get started. As I see it there are a number of ways that you, as an artist, can benefit from producing your own art prints for sale.

1. Avoid Selling Originals: Often when we create works of art we grow attached to them, which can sometimes make it difficult to sell them as it feels like we are giving away a bit of ourselves. Since you still need to pay bills, however, creating prints of your work allows for you to make some profit of each without necessarily feeling like you have to give up your creations.
2. Sell Your Art For A Lower Price: Sometimes people examining your work become really taken with a piece but hesitate to buy it because of the price point an original often carries with it. Creating prints allows you to sell the same work at a lower price, which may encourage others who are interested to make a purchase.
3. Exposing More People To Your Work: Creating and only selling originals of your work can be profitable if you have a large enough audience, but often only those who directly buy your work will end up seeing it. By creating prints, especially of your more popular pieces, opens up the possibility for more people to buy your work, which in turn gets it in front of more people thereby potentially increasing demand.

What Are Fine Art Prints?

At this point you are probably asking “What exactly is a fine art print?” Generally speaking, your best bet is to pursue creating Giclée (“zhee-clay”) prints which ensures the print is of high quality and longevity for any collector. Moreover, and just as importantly, prints in this style are very close in detail to the original artwork. To create prints in this style you will need a modern, large format inkjet printer that uses ink of sufficient high quality to be considered “archival.” For maximum quality, the finished print itself needs to be of a minimum of 300 dpi in quality (which can be altered with a photo editing program like Photoshop).

What You Need to Begin Producing Art Prints to Sell

Camera: The only thing more necessary than a printer set up in the creation of prints of your art is a camera. Though any camera will work (up to and including your phone’s camera), the more megapixels the camera has the better your print will likely be. Here are some of the recommendations I have been given, as well as the setup I actually use:

1. Pentax K-70 Weather-Sealed DSLR Camera Bundle and Photo Software Kit: 24.2 Megapixels at $799.95 including everything to get started and photo editing software to make the best prints.
2. Canon PowerShot SX70 HS Digital Camera Bundle: 20.3 Megapixels at $549.00 including everything to get started, as well as travel.
3. Canon EOS Rebel T7 DSLR Camera Bundle: 24.1 Megapixels at $449.00 including everything you need to get started. (This is the setup I use).

Photo Editing Program: Though this is not necessary, it can help depending on the pictures you take of your work. Using something like Photoshop in the creation process cuts the curve a bit in making prints as close to the original as possible.

Printer: Again, much like the camera, its all in the resolution and quality. Much like cameras, there is a wide range of options but no matter your choice make sure that it puts out at least 300 dpi, and that it can handle paper the size of the prints you wish to make. Here are a few options that have been recommended to me:

1. Epson Expression Premium ET-7750 Ecotank Wireless Wide-format 5 Color All-in-One Supertank Printer with Scanner, Copier, and Ethernet: Wow, what a mouthful. Still a quality printer, though a bit more expensive at $549.99.
2. Canon Pixma Pro-100 Wireless Color Professional Inkjet Printer with Airprint and Mobile Device Printing: $499.99, though there are sometimes discounts down to ~$360.00.

Quality Ink: This is a bit easier, as once you have selected your printer, the box and owners manual will tell you exactly what kind of inks you need to purchase.

Quality Paper: There are a range of print-ready papers out there at various sizes. An example is the Strathmore texture paper for pastels or watercolor prints, but at the end of the day, I recommend you shop around before you make a decision on what you wish to purchase.

If you are purchasing this equipment for the first time this can really take a bite out of your wallet. That being said, having this equipment can open up another revenue source for you, allowing you to continue to profit off of previous works you have created, even if the originals have been sold. Moreover, apart from the relatively cheaper costs of ink and paper, once you purchase the equipment you should be good for a while. I hope this has proven insightful and helpful to those interested in additional income as an artist. Below you will find a few options on how to go about selling your art prints once you have made them, as well as a couple book recommendations for those among you still struggling with the myth of “the starving artist.” Good luck with all your art and I wish you every bit of success!

Selling Your New Prints

1. Sell Them Online On Your Personal Website: The best option if you can generate enough traffic to view/purchase your work, it not only allows you creative freedom in designing how your site looks to visitors but also allows you to post things beyond the art you are selling, such as articles about your artistic process or life. Don’t underestimate the power of these extra tidbits of information about yourself. Many have argued that creating good art is only half the equation for sales and that being able to sell yourself is just as important. I use WordPress though I have also heard good things about Weebly.
2. Sell Your Art Through A Site Like Etsy: You might also consider creating an account on an eCommerce site like Etsy which makes it easier for you to build your brand, generate traffic, and provides access to trusted, secure shopping. The main downside is that there is a small fee to list your artwork ($0.20) and that they take a combined total of 8% + $0.25 to cover the transaction fee and payment processing. That being said, it is nice that the service comes pre-built with no additional monthly fees, automatic deposits, secure transactions, and seller protection. I have not yet used this service, but I likely will once I have a bit more of a stockpile of work.
3. Sell Them In Person At Art Shows: Lastly, there is always the option of working the art show circuit, especially if you like traveling around and interacting with those interested in purchasing your work. Again, I haven’t done this yet, but there are some sites out there like ArtFairCalendar that make it easier to find out when art shows are happening and where. When in doubt, you can also just google “Art Fair + Your area” to see when ones are upcoming.

I hope you enjoyed this article on art prints, how to get started making them, and how to get them in front of prospective buyers. So go, shed the mantle of a starving artist. What are you waiting for?

Bonus: Additional Books On Making Money As An Artist

1. Death To The Starving Artist: Art Marketing Strategies for a Killer Creative Career: contains an approach to a comprehensive marketing model for ambitious artists who are ready to reach a wider audience of art lovers, and to turn their art hobby into an art career.
2. Real Artists Don’t Starve: Timeless Strategies for Thriving in the New Creative Age: In this book the author debunks the myth of the starving artist by unveiling the ideas that have created it, and by replacing it with 14 rules that (if followed) will allow any artist to thrive.
3. “Starving” to Successful: The Fine Artist’s Guide to Getting Into Galleries and Selling More Art: A source of pragmatic advice and concrete, actionable steps you can begin immediately to become more successful in marketing your work to galleries. In addition, devotes significant time into explaining why common strategies to hey your work into galleries is ineffective.

This article contains affiliate links to books, cameras, paper, and printers that I recommend as starting points for creating your own art prints to sell. If you choose to purchase these products via my affiliate links, you will help support my writing and research at no additional cost to you.

Leonardo da Vinci and His Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci (1503–1506): Wikimedia Commons

Background

When one thinks of great art oftentimes one of the first paintings mentioned is the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. On its surface, it is simply an archetypal half-length portrait painting of a woman from the Italian Renaissance. In reality, it is so much more. Over the centuries, the Mona Lisa has become one of the best-recognized works of art. It is also the most valuable since it was insured at $100,000,000 in 1962, which converts to more than $852,000,000 in 2019 dollars.

The painting itself was likely painted between 1503 and 1506, and is believed to represent the likeness of an Italian noblewoman by the name of Lisa Gherardini. Not long after its completion, the painting was acquired by King Francis I of France, where it would eventually become the property of the state and go on permanent display in the Louvre Museum from 1797 onwards.

Following its establishment in the Louvre, it would only be moved a few times. It would briefly adorn the bedroom of Napoleon, and later spend some time in the Brest Arsenal during the Franco-Prussian War. Its longest time away from the Louvre would be during World War II, when it was moved to Château d’Amboise, then to Loc-Dieu Abbey, Château de Chambord, and finally, the Ingres Museum before it would return.

For a time the Mona Lisa was even stolen from its place of rest. In 1911 it disappeared from the Louvre only to reappear more than two years later at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, where it would be on display for two weeks before eventually being returned to the Louvre. Following additional attempts at theft, and the occasional attempts to damage the painting in protest of some other cause, it has since been put under bulletproof glass for its protection.

The painting itself is notable for a number of reasons. It bears a strong resemblance to the Virgin Mary, often portrayed in this period as the ideal of womanhood, and she appears to be looking at the observer. Leonardo was skillfully able to do this by not drawing outlines, and utilizing soft blending of the colors to create ambiguity in the corners of the mouth and at the corners of the eyes. Along with the shading, this explains why she appears to be smiling when the observer does not look directly at her. The Mona Lisa is also notable as one of the first paintings to depict its subject in front of a imaginary landscape, rather than being based on real world locations. Lastly, though the Mona Lisa appears to have no eyebrows or eyelashes, recent high resolution examinations of the piece suggest they were originally portrayed but faded over time due to exposure and cleaning.

Leonardo da Vinci

Presumed Self-Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519): Wikimedia Commons

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the Renaissance period who studied, and more significantly made lasting contributions to, invention, drawing, painting, sculpture, science, math, music, architecture, engineering, geology, astrology, literature, botany, anatomy, paleontology and cartography. He has even been called the Father of paleontology and architecture.

Though born out of wedlock to a peasant woman and a notary, and despite receiving no formal academic training, he has been hailed as one of the prime examples of Universal Genius, and one possessed of amazing curiosity and imagination. Though known for his painting, he also conceptualized flying machines hundreds of years before they were flown, concentrated solar power, and an adding machine among others. Unfortunately, many of these inventions required levels of technical know-how to create that would not come into being for several more hundred years. Honestly, another article entirely is needed to cover the length and breadth of his work to do it proper justice.

His professional life would see him travel across much of Italy and parts of France. Ultimately Leonardo would die on May 2 of 1519 at the not so old age of 67. Interestingly, though this may only be legend, it is said that King Francis I of France held Leonardo’s head in his arms as he died. Whether or not this is true, Leonardo proved to be generous in his will, making sure his two pupils and servants received some inheritance, and giving to his brothers land.

Where to See the Mona Lisa and other Works by Leonardo da Vinci

1. The Louvre Museum: The Mona Lisa is on permanent display here, as well as other works by Leonardo da Vinci
2. Galleria Nazionale di Parma, National Museum of Scotland, National Gallery London, and the Basilica di Santa Maria Delle Grazie all have more work by Leonardo da Vinci

For More Information

1. Leonardo da Vinci website
2. The Secret Lives of Leonardo da Vinci (A New Yorker Article)

Books

1. Mona Lisa: The History of the World’s Most Famous Painting:
2. Mona Lisa (Art Print): Love this iconic piece of art? Now you can own a print of it yourself! Each print is beautifully rendered in a 12 x 16 inch format for your appreciation.
3. Saving Mona Lisa: The Battle to Protect the Louvre and its Treasures from the Nazis: In August of 1939, the curators of the Louvre in Paris secreted the Mona Lisa in a special red velvet-lined case to be spirited away to the Loire Valley in order to protect her from the pending arrival of the Nazis. Moved several times during the war alongside some of the greatest cultural treasures of France, the story that served as a vignette in The Monuments Men (also on Amazon Prime Video) gets full treatment here.
4. Leonardo da Vinci: Based on thousands of pages of Leonardo’s work, the author weaves a narrative in this biography that connects his artistic genius with his equally amazing scientific acuity.
5. Leonardo: The Complete Paintings and Drawings: An anniversary edition of an earlier work showcasing the catalogue raisonné of Leonardo da Vinci, including both his surviving and his lost paintings. The images included in excruciating detail are so good they show individual brushstrokes.
6. Leonardo da Vinci Rediscovered (warning: expensive): An authoritative four volume study that was published in the 500th anniversary of the polymath’s death. This definitive account of Leonardo’s life and work includes some 1,500 illustrations over 2,200 pages. Through the authors exhaustive research, Leonardo truly comes to life as one of history’s greatest artists, scientists, and inventors.

This article contains mainly affiliate links to books (and in one case an art print) that I recommend as references to the Mona Lisa and the art and life of the Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci. If you choose to purchase these books via my affiliate links, you will help support my writing and research at no additional cost to you.

The Life and Art of Francis Bacon, 1909-1992

Source: Portrait of Francis Bacon by Reginald Gray, Oil on Board (1960)

Background

Born on October 28, 1909 in Dublin to Captain Anthony Edward Mortimer Bacon, a veteran of the Boer War and descendant of the famous Sir Francis Bacon, and Christina Winifred Firth, an heiress to a Sheffield steel business as well as a coal mine. His early life was characterized by his family’s moving back and forth several times between Ireland and England, which contributed in some degree to a sense of displacement throughout the artist’s life.

As a child, Bacon was characterized as being a shy boy, but one who enjoyed dressing up. Unfortunately, this combined with an effeminate manner for the time period, lead to information coming to light in 1992 that his father supposedly had Bacon horsewhipped by grooms from their stables. In 1926, following an incident where his father caught him in Straffan Lodge dressed in his mother’s underwear in front of a mirror, he was thrown out of the household.

For the rest of 1926 he lived in London. Destitute, with little money to his name, he would often attempt to avoid paying rent and resort to petty theft in order to survive. Bacon drifted between a number of jobs in this time period, before finally moving to Berlin in 1927. It would prove to be a short stay, moving on to Paris after only a few months, where he would attempt to learn French and spent time seeing the city’s art galleries. In this year and a half period, Bacon would be inspired to take up painting.

Upon his return to London, Bacon would work as an interior designer while working part-time as a telephone operator. His 1933 painting called Crucifixion would be his first work to attract public attention, but the response was negative and not what he had hoped. This led to him abandoning painting for nearly a decade, and suppressing his earlier works. Bacon himself said his work, in part, was delayed due to his struggle to find subject matter that would hold his interest long-term.

By 1944 Bacon had gained new confidence in his work, with his Three Studies for the Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion being hailed as a landmark work. What would follow would be decades of artistic brilliance, including his Heads series among others. By 1958 he entered into a partnership with the Marlborough Fine Art Gallery, which served as his sole dealer until 1992.

While on holiday in Spain in 1992, Bacon was admitted to a private clinic when his asthma developed into a more severe respiratory condition. On April 28, 1992 he would die of a heart attack, leaving his estate of nearly 11 million pounds to his heir, John Edwards.

Art

The work of Francis Bacon can be characterized by a number of themes. The crucifixion itself weighed pretty heavily on his work, as he believed it was a way to spark a range of sensations and all types of feelings, and as a means to examine specific areas of human behavior.

Source: Early Art by Francis Bacon (1929)

Another recurring motif in his work was the screaming mouth, which especially featured in his works from the late 1940s and early 1950s. He would regularly seek inspiration from a still of a screaming nurse’s face that was taken from Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 silent film, Battleship Potemkin.

Source: Art by Francis Bacon (1961)

Following his death, in 1998 the Hugh Lane Gallery acquired and moved his entire studio from London to Dublin, where it had the entirety of its contents examined and catalogued, both via picture and through written entries. The final database constructed would prove to have entries on 570 books and catalogues, 1500 photographs, 100 slashed canvases, 1300 leaves torn from books, 2000 miscellaneous artist materials, and some 70 drawings. Though additional contents were included in the database, these were the main contents.

Where to See His Work

Tate Modern: a modern art gallery located in London, which holds a national collection of British art from 1900 to the present, alongside international modern and contemporary art.

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA): an art museum located in New York City, often identified as one of the largest and most influential museums of modern art in the world.

Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane: One of the foremost public collections of contemporary art in Ireland, based in Dublin.

For More Information

Francis Bacon Website: The official website of the estate of Francis Bacon, which aims to serve as the source of information on the art and life of the artist. A go-to source to see all 584 numbered works published in the Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raisonné including the exhibition history of the works.

Books

1. Bacon (Basic Art Series 2.0): An excellent book on the artist, the book blurb from Amazon states: Largely self-taught as an artist, Francis Bacon (1909–1992) developed a unique ability to transform interior and unconscious impulses into figurative forms and intensely claustrophobic compositions. Emerging into notoriety in the period following World War II, Bacon took the human body as his nominal subject, but a subject ravaged, distorted, and dismembered so as to writhe with intense emotional content. With flailing limbs, hollow voids, and tumurous growths, his gripping, often grotesque, portraits are as much reflections on the trials and the traumas of the human condition as they are character studies. These haunting forms were also among the first in art history to depict overtly homosexual themes.
2. Francis Bacon: Phaidon Focus: According to the book summary — “The art of Francis Bacon (1909–1992) epitomises the angst at the heart of the modern human condition. His dramatic images of screaming figures and distorted anatomies are painted with a richly gestural technique, alluding to such old masters as Titian, Velazquez and Rembrandt. Displaying repressed and raw emotion, his body of work includes portraits of Lucian Freud and John Deakin.”
3. Looking Back at Francis Bacon: “Controversial in both life and art, Francis Bacon was one of the most important painters of the twentieth century. His monumental, unsettling images have an extraordinary power to disturb, shock, and haunt the spectator, “to unlock the valves of feeling and therefore return the onlooker to life more violently.” Eminent writer and curator David Sylvester provides the definitive account of the career of an artist whose friend and collaborator he was for more than forty years. Drawing on his unparalleled personal knowledge of Bacon’s inspirations and intentions, he first offers a critical overview of the development of Bacon’s work from 1933 to the early 1990s, and then addresses its crucial aspects. Sylvester also reproduces previously unpublished extracts from his celebrated conversations with Bacon in which the artist speaks about himself, modern painters, and the art of the past. Finally, he gives a brief account of Bacon’s life, correcting errors that elsewhere have been presented as facts. Accompanying the incisive and revealing text are reproductions of almost every Bacon work discussed, including twelve triptych fold-outs. The most complete work on Bacon yet, this book constitutes a portrait of one of the creative geniuses of our age by a writer of comparable distinction.”
4. Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raisonné (WARNING! ABSURDLY EXPENSIVE!): In this deluxe, five volume boxed set you can find the entire oeuvre of Bacon’s paintings. The product of nearly a decade of dedicated work, it allows the most dedicated of fans of Francis Bacon to see all of the artist’s works in full color, including the paintings unable to be seen in public exhibitions or in any other publication. Includes 800 illustrations and is the penultimate work on Francis Bacon.

This article contains some affiliate links to books that I recommend as references to the art and life of the Irish-born British Artist Francis Bacon. If you choose to purchase these books via my affiliate links, you will help support my writing and research at no additional cost to you.

The Life and Abstract Art of Josef Albers

Source: Josef and Anni Albers Foundation

Background

Born on March 19, 1888 in the town of Bottrop in Westphalia, Germany, Josef Albers is an artist who made significant contributions to the modern art education programs of the 20th century. Though he began work as a schoolteacher in his home town, art truly became his passion. In 1916 Albers started in printmaking at the Kunstgewerbschule in Essen, and in 1918 he received his first public commission for a stained-glass window for a church in the area.

With his skills as a maker of stained glass, he joined the faculty of the Bauhaus in 1922. Doing well in his roll, he was eventually promoted to professor in 1925, the same year he would marry his wife, Anni Albers (née Fleischmann). At the same time he was at the Bauhaus, other notable artists included Oskar Schlemmer, Wassily Kandinsky, and Paul Klee. Unfortunately, with the rise of the Nazi’s in Germany the Bauhaus was closed in 1933. Following this Albers and his wife emigrated to the United States where he would take a job as the head of a new painting program in Black Mountain College in North Carolina. He would stay there until 1950 when he left to head the department of design at Yale University. Albers would retire from teaching in 1958. In 1963, he would publish one of his most well known works called Interaction of Color which presented a theory of color being based on an internal and deceptive logic.

Every perception of colour is an illusion…we do not see colors as they really are. In our perception they alter one another. — Albers in 1949

His contributions to art would see him elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1973, and he would remain active until his death in 1976.

Art

Source: Homage to the Square, 1949+

Though he had great skill as a designer, photographer, typographer, printmaker, and as a poet, it is primarily his work as an abstract painter and theorist for which he is remembered. Albers most famous works are the hundreds of paintings and prints he created to make up the series Homage to the Square. In this series, he explored chromatic color interactions with nested squares. His technique called for him to paint on Masonite, using a palette knife with oil colors.

Albers is particularly known for meticulously recording information on the specific manufacturer’s colors and vanishes he used in his work. In fact, he would often leave notes on the back of the works denoting which colors he used. The colors of his abstract works would go on to influence hard-edge abstract painters, while his interest in perception would spur on conceptual artists.

Source: Light Construction, 1945

Where to See His Work

• Josef and Anni Albers Foundation
• Museum of Modern Art, New York
• Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York
• Tate Museum, London

For More Information

Josef and Anni Albers Foundation: Founded in 1971 and located in Bethany, Connecticut, it is a nonprofit organization that aims to further the “revelation and evocation of vision through art.” To this day it serves as an office to the estates of both Josef Albers and his wife Anni Albers, and continues to support exhibitions and publications focused on their works.

Books

1. Interaction of Color: 50th Anniversary Edition: Conceived as a handbook and teaching aid for artists, instructors, and students, this influential book presents Albers’s singular explanation of complex color theory principles. this new edition presents a significantly expanded selection of close to sixty color studies alongside Albers’s original text, demonstrating such principles as color relativity, intensity, and temperature; vibrating and vanishing boundaries; and the illusion of transparency and reversed grounds. A celebration of the longevity and unique authority of Albers’s contribution, this landmark edition will find new audiences in studios and classrooms around the world.
2. Josef Albers: To Open Eyes: This book reveals Albers’ formative philosophies on art, life and the nature of perception through first-hand accounts of more than 150 students and colleagues over more than 40 years.
3. Josef Albers: Life and Work: Drawing on extensive unpublished archival writings, documents, and illustrations, this is the first full-scale biography of one of the 20th-century’s great artists. In his accessible study of the “whole” Albers, Charles Darwent combats the fables while telling the fascinating story of an artist, friend, and intellectual. Among Albers’s unpublished papers are letters from friends John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, Richard Serra, and Eva Hesse, as well as fans and collectors ranging from the composer Virgil Thomson to the cartoonist Saul Steinberg. If his network of influence was surprisingly wide, so too, were his interests. He started life at the Bauhaus as a glass-maker and went on to create fonts, to run their famous wallpaper workshop, and to make furniture whose designs are still in production eighty years later. He pioneered the study of color at Black Mountain College in North Carolina and chaired the design department at Yale University. While books have been written about Albers for specialist audiences, this new volume fulfills the clear need for a more general study.

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