ART “4”
“2”-DAY 30 December
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Died on 30 December 1917: Federico
(or Federigo) Zandomeneghi,
Italian painter born on 02 June 1841. — His father Pietro and grandfather Luigi tried to interest him in the plastic arts, but from a very early age he showed a stronger inclination for painting. Zandomeneghi soon rebelled against their teachings, and by 1856 he was attending the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice, studying under the painters Michelangelo Grigoletti [1801–1870] and Pompeo Molmenti [1819–1894]. As a Venetian he was born an Austrian subject, and, to escape conscription, he fled his city in 1859 and went to Pavia, where he enrolled at the university. In the following year he followed Garibaldi in the Expedition of the Thousand; afterwards, having been convicted of desertion and therefore unable to return to Venice, he went to Florence, where he remained from 1862 to 1866. This period was essential for his artistic development. In Tuscany he frequented the Florentine painters known as the Macchiaioli, with some of whom he took part in the Third Italian War of Independence (1866). Zandomeneghi formed a strong friendship with Telemaco Signorini and Diego Martelli, with whom he corresponded frequently for the rest of his life. In this period he painted the Palazzo Pretorio of Florence (1865), in which the building, represented in the historical–romantic tradition, is redeemed by a remarkable sense of air and light, elements derived from the Macchiaioli. Zandomeneghi moved to Paris in 1874 and identified increasingly with the Impressionists. During the late 1870s, he frequented the Café de la Nouvelle-Athènes, and became closely acquainted with Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, and Edgar Degas. At Degas's insistence Zandomeneghi participated in the Impressionist exhibitions of 1879, 1880, 1881 and 1886. The critic F. C. de Syène wrote in 1879 in L’Artiste ‘Zandomeneghi has completed a bold group of paintings that have fresh, opulent, and even tonality… He is a modern who will become a forefather.’ Zandomeneghi chose almost exclusively to portray the petites bourgeoises of Paris either in the privacy of their homes, on the boulevards of Paris, or in refined social settings. — Zandomeneghi è stato in un’epoca di rinnovamento, trainante e timoniante di una nuova filosofia pittorica. Conosce per cultura anche famigliare la grande scuola antica Veneta. Gli affreschi del Tiepolo, illuminano e arricchiscono, i palazzi, le chiese di Venezia, e le ville lungo il Brenta con punte altissime di eleganza estetica. Questo l’humus culturale in cui vive e si forma pittoricamente. Zandomeneghi con prodigioso equilibrio sarà mediatore tra l’arte Veneta e quella Toscana derivante da secoli di eccelso splendore, in perfetta simbiosi con gli avvenimenti culturali politici e sociali del suo tempo. Non sarà mai imitatore, ma sempre estremamente identificabile. Questo stupendo dipinto è emblematico di questo iter pittorico. Non è macchiaiolo, non è propriamente canonicamente impressionista , di quell’Impressionismo imperante dei suoi amici colleghi Francesi, non è divisionista, anche se dal 1890 al 96 realizza opere con una tecnica a filamenti di colore puro, approdando a un divisionismo personale che ne evidenzia la portata innovativa. Per gusto estetico, delicatezza e senso cromatico compendia tutto ciò che è stato detto. — LINKS –- La Conversazione (1895, 55x46cm; 1208x1000pix) –- Fillette (46x29cm) –- Donna in Rosso (1873, 46x25cm; 2077x1000pix, 285kb) –- Reading by the Window (54x46cm; 932x804pix, 198kb) –- A Young Beauty (45x38cm; 1000x783pix, 227kb) –- Young Girl Reading (39x46cm; 811x1000pix) — a different Young Girl Reading (38x46cm) — Mother and Daughter (1879, 61x51cm) — At the Theater (87x71cm) –- Femme au balcon (65x54cm; 1200x1004pix, 130kb) _ L’elegante figura femminile affacciata ad un balcone con un viso bellissimo e sognante non è affatto statica, ma estremamente vitale, si affaccia alla vita, a ciò che sarà, ci suggerisce immagini e pensieri. Ritroviamo la stessa apertura al mondo, all’ignoto dei dipinti antichi, dei neoclassici, dove ogni gesto e particolare ha un preciso valore simbolico. Per epoca e tecnica ci è più vicino, ci appartiene. Nel suo volto ci sono tutti i volti che abbiamo amato, i volti vivaci e impertinenti delle “Tose” della sua giovinezza a Venezia con le leggere veste fluttuanti nel vento dei calli. Nel sole abbagliante, nella ricca florida vegetazione, ritroviamo la pace, la speranza dei nostri mattini. –- Lucie (45x37cm, 897x725pix, 86kb) –- S*>#Tête d'Enfant (45x37cm, 900x741pix, 119kb) _ It looks like the young girl has splashed blue ink all over her skin and her dress and is not at all happy about being pictured like that. — Donna in Nero su Fondo Rosso (524x441pix, 55kb) _ Il ritratto è semplice per composizione ed uso di campiture omogenee di colore, ma intenso per sguardo ed espressione della protagonista. — Melle Jeanne (1901 drawing 33x20cm; 604x377pix, 60kb) — Riflessione (428x511pix, 57kb) _ Questa è una opera significativa dell'artista veneziano. Emigrato a Parigi ed entrato in contatto con i pittori impressionisti francesi, alle cui mostre partecipa, Zadomeneghi ritrae l'universo femminile nei suoi propri ambienti quotidiani. La giovane signora nel salotto di casa adornato di sculture, con libri e giornali che la accompagnano in questo momento di riflessione, non può non richiamare alla mente la suggestione di una certa parte del mondo borghese, colto e appassionato d'arte. — La Toilette (651x343pix, 70kb) _ Le movenze femminili colte in momenti di intimità e in gesti quotidiani sono tra i soggetti preferiti del veneziano Zandomeneghi, che trascorse la maggior parte della sua vita a Parigi a contatto dei pittori impressionisti, vicino in particolare ad Edgard Degas e precursore di Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. — a very different, fully clothed La Toilette (1894 63x53cm; 480x399pix, 21kb) –- Place Blanche le matin (1911, 74x92cm; 960x1226pix, 95kb) _ The present painting is one of the artist’s finest works demonstrating a uniquely personal style which evolved from a harmonious and concrete vision of reality. La Place Blanche is a superb portrayal of ‘la vie moderne’, a study of a broad range of urban types going about their business, the fashionable young lady carrying a colorful bunch of flowers, the well-dressed gentleman in a top hat preoccupied with his newspaper, the flower sellers plying their trade and in the background a young delivery girl carrying a large hat box. In the middle distance, underneath the shade of the trees there is a glimpse of a horse and carriage and in complete contrast in the right foreground one of the first automobiles is just about to drive into the scene. The setting is La Place Blanche in Montmartre, the home of the famous Moulin Rouge, which is situated just to the right of this scene. It is so called because it was a used as a thoroughfare by the quarrymen of Montmartre and the dust from their heavy loads of plaster coated the buildings and pathways with a thick layer of white. Zandomeneghi’s studio was just around the corner in the rue Caulaincourt at the junction of the rue Tourlaque in an area popular with his fellow impressionists. Renoir and Toulouse Lautrec had studios nearby and, like Zandomeneghi they were inspired by the variety of people from all walks of life that inhabited the district. This area was famous for its nightlife, the Moulin de la Galette, located at the other end of the rue Lepic which bordered the square, was where Renoir painted Bal au Moulin de la Galette (1876, 131x176cm; 790x1073pix). The present scene is reminiscent of Renoir’s famous painting, it is peopled by men and women from similar walks of life and conveys the same relaxed, happy atmosphere in the shade of the trees in the center of the square. Movement is central to Renoir’s painting, and the characters in Zandomeneghi’s painting are equally animated, captured in one brief moment as they make their way through the streets of Montmartre. — The Red Roof (53x46cm) —(061227) |
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>Died on 30 December 1941: Lazar
Markovich Lisitskii “El Lissitzky”,
Russian painter born on 23 November 1890. — El Lissitzky was born Lazar Markovich Lisitskii, in Pochinok, in the Russian province of Smolensk, and grew up in Vitebsk. He pursued architectural studies at the Technische Hochschule in Darmstadt, Germany, from 1909 to 1914, when the outbreak of World War I precipitated his return to Russia. In 1916, he received a diploma in engineering and architecture from the Riga Technological University. Lissitzky and Kazimir Malevich [26 Feb 1878 – 15 May 1935] were invited by Marc Chagall to join the faculty of the Vitebsk Popular Art School in 1919; there Lissitzky taught architecture and graphics. That same year, he executed his first Proun (an acronym in Russian for “project for the affirmation of the new”) and formed part of the Unovis group. In 1920, he became a member of Inkhuk (Institute for Artistic Culture) in Moscow and designed his book Pro dva kvadrata. The following year, he taught at Vkhutemas with Vladimir Tatlin and joined the Constructivist group. The Constructivists exhibited at the Erste russische Kunstausstellung designed by Lissitzky at the Galerie van Diemen in Berlin in 1922. During this period he collaborated with Ilya Ehrenburg on the journal Veshch/Gegenstand/Objet. In 1923, Lissitzky experimented with new typographic design for a book by Vladimir Mayakovski, Dlya golosa, and visited Hannover, where his work was shown under the auspices of the Kestner-Gesellschaft. Also in 1923, Lissitzky created his Proun environment for the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung and executed his lithographic suites Proun and Victory over the Sun (illustrating the opera by Alexei Kruchenykh and Mikhail Matiushin), before traveling to Switzerland for medical treatment. In 1924, he worked with Kurt Schwitters on the issue of the periodical Merz called “Nasci,” and with Arp on the book Die Kunstismen. The next year, he returned to Moscow to teach at Vkhutemas-Vkhutein, which he continued to do until 1930. During the mid-1920s, Lissitzky stopped painting in order to concentrate on the design of typography and exhibitions. He created a room for the Internationale Kunstausstellung in Dresden in 1926 and another at the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum Hannover in 1927. He died at Schodnia, near Moscow. — wikibio — LINKS –- Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge (1919; 1138x1200pix, 70kb _ .ZOOM to 1405x1797pix, 126kb) –- Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge ~ 3D (1138x1200pix, 78kb) — Announcer. Victory over the sun (1923, 51x43cm; 2402x1869pix image in 3644x3116pix background, 957kb) –- Abstraction in Black and White (lithograph 36x35cm; 926x746pix, 37kb) — Proun 19D (1922, 97x97cm; 914x881pix, 132kb) — Proun G7 (1923, 77x62cm; 1013x816pix, 102kb) _ The pseudonymous Sainlazare Markawitch Licitsea has transformed this into the colorful anthropomorphicized abstractions, rich in fine details, _ Pronoun (2007; 550x778pix, 153kb _ ZOOM 1 to 778x1100pix, 315kb _ ZOOM 2 to 1100x1556pix, 622kb _ ZOOM 3 to 1710x2418pix, 1400kb _ ZOOM 4 to 2658x3760pix, 2630kb) and _ Pronounce “Cheese Heaven” (2007; 550x778pix, 153kb _ ZOOM 1 to 778x1100pix, 315kb _ ZOOM 2 to 1100x1556pix, 622kb _ ZOOM 3 to 1710x2418pix, 1400kb _ ZOOM 4 to 2658x3760pix, 2630kb) — Homme Nouveau, la Société Anonyme (1258x1289pix image in a 2147x1800pix yellowed background, 702kb) — Proun (1923; 1400x925pix, 182kb) — Untitled (1920, 80x50cm) [loosely stacked multicolored rectangles] _ This painting reveals the principles of Suprematism that El Lissitzky absorbed under the influence of Kazimir Malevich in 1919–1920. Trained as an engineer and possessing a more pragmatic temperament than that of his mentor, Lissitzky soon became one of the leading exponents of Constructivism. In the 1920s, while living in Germany, he became an important influence on both the Dutch De Stijl group and the artists of the German Bauhaus. Like Malevich, Lissitzky believed in a new art that rejected traditional pictorial structure, centralized compositional organization, mimesis, and perspectival consistency. In this work the ladder of vividly colored forms seems to be floating through indeterminate space. Spatial relationships are complicated by the veil of white color that divides these forms from the major gray diagonal. The linkage of elements is not attributable to a mysterious magnetic pull, as in Malevich’s untitled painting of ca. 1916, but is indicated in a literal way by the device of a connecting threadlike line. The winding line changes color as it passes through the various rectangles that may serve as metaphors for different cosmic planes. — Entwurf zu Proun (1923, 21x30cm) _ Lissitzky was the Russian avant-garde’s unofficial emissary to the West, traveling and lecturing extensively on behalf of Russia’s modern artists who believed that abstraction was a harbinger of utopian social values. Basing himself in Berlin and Hanover in the 1920s, Lissitzky helped produce publications and organize exhibitions promoting both Russian and Western art that shared a common vision of aesthetics steeped in technology, mass production, and social transformation. While Lissitzky was teaching architecture and graphic design at the Artistic Technical Institute in Vitebsk, his art shifted from figuration to geometric abstraction. Under the tutelage of Suprematist painter Kazimir Malevich, Lissitzky began a body of work he would later call Prouns (an acronym for “Project for the Affirmation of the New” in Russian). These nonobjective compositions broadened Malevich’s Suprematist credo of pure painting as spiritually transcendent into an interdisciplinary system of two-dimensional, architectonic forms rendered in painted collages, drawings, and prints, with both utopian and utilitarian aspirations. Blurring the distinctions between real and abstract space, a zone that Lissitzky called the “interchange station between painting and architecture”, the Prouns dwell upon the formal examination of transparency, opacity, color, shape, line, and materiality, which Lissitzky ultimately extended into three-dimensional installations that transformed our experience of conventional, gravity-based space. Occasionally endowed with cryptic titles reflecting an interest in science and mathematics, these works seem engineered rather than drawn by hand, further evidence of the artist’s growing conviction that art was above all rational rather than intuitive or emotional. Proun (Entwurf zu Proun S.K.) is exemplary of Lissitzky’s unique enterprise. One of two studies for a larger oil painting, this composition uses different mediums to suggest a range of properties for the otherwise straightforward geometric forms, which become dynamic through their suspension within a precariously balanced visual field. Like all of the Prouns, this work is a highly refined object. Thus, while they parallel certain tenets of the Russian Constructivists, who used a similarly reductive visual vocabulary and sought to merge art and life through mass production and industry, Lissitzky’s Prouns lack the rough-hewn experimental nature of Contructivist objects, remaining more on the side of aesthetics than utility. —(091230) |
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