/lit/ - Literature

Title: Head of a Medical Student
Artist: Pablo Picasso in 1907

This is thought to be a precurso to Picassso's more famous later work, "The Young Ladies of Avignon" in terms of the face etc. I personally like it because I will soon be a medical student, and although I don't think it was particularly intended to show stress and anxiety, I get that vibe, or at least I associate it with that vibe based on experience of doing premed. You don't have to be really smart to do medicine you just have to have a lot of endurance, and it almost looks like a bicep curling on his head so I like to pretend it's the mind working out as the student crams down shit for his classes.

There's a painting I really love, but I can't recall the name. It's a man and a woman in a really idyllic countyside, with the man behind the woman, arms around her. At first it looks like he's embracing her, and then the more you look, the more it might be that he's strangling her. The background gradually shifts from green tones to more earthy, sinister ones. There's also a sheep.

I have a soft-spot too for American Gothic, and any woodcut with a depiction of death as the plague. Or a sea-monster. Bitches love sea-monsters.

>>1976178

Also as twee and Highlights Magazine as some of his stuff is, I like Norman Mailer. That one with the little girl outside the principal's office, all fucked-up and with a little shit-eating grin on her face, always makes me laugh.

>>1976196

Norman ROCKWELL. What the fuck. I need to go to sleep.

John Everett Millais, 1855
"The Ruling Passion"

i like the girl in the foreground most

>lol grandpa you fucking crack me up with all your rotting bird corpses. jk i am sick of it please die already. i thought the poison would have kicked in hours ago

>>1976178
Well this shit should sort of be right up your alley

Title: Head Surrounded by Sides of Beef
Artist: Francis Bacon in 1954

I like it simply because of how eery it is. It is a parody of Diego Velazquez's Pope Innocent X (1650). Bacon said the alughterhouse and meat is somehow supposed to bring to mind the crucifixion and make the viewer think that humanity's claim to the divine is hogwash. And he said some junk about the violence of reality itself yada yada. But first and foremost it is aesthetically pleasing to me in a strange and almost disturbing sort of way

>>1976214
wow, she's beautiful, save'd thanks for sharing.

>>1976196
>Also as twee and Highlights Magazine as some of his stuff is, I like Norman Mailer.

lol

would love for it to be revealed that mailer ghostwrote the timbertoes all those years

>>1976214

The left of the two twins almost doesn't even seem like he's looking at the bird. It's like he's watching Spongebob playing on the TV just out-of-frame.

"Young Man at the Window"
Gustave Caillebotte, 1875

I like this one because it makes me think of Mycroft Holmes and the scene in the Greek Interpreter where he and Sherlock are looking out the window together deducing things about people (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpTSWvFgtSc))

>>1976229
I think you've nailed it. that is exactly what he is doing

>>1976222
have another Millais girl, then--sorry its small

>>1976241
whoops

This is my favorite painting of all time.

"Self-Portrait. The Night Wanderer." by Edvard Munch. 1923-24

title: Diogenes and Alexander
Artist: Giovanni Battista Langetti in 1650

This painting depicts the scene when the famous philosopher Diogenes is basically sunbathing, ALexander the Great rides up as he just conquered Athens, Alexander is standing over Diogenes, and Diogenes proceeds to tell the ALexander to move since he is blocking the sun. Basically a homeless philosopher who sleeps in a tub with dogs told the most powerful man in the known world to go fuck himself, and Alexander simply let him be and left. Philosopher's used to be total badasses. I like this painting bcause it depicts that scene and Diogenes, with his body language seems to be saying "awwwwww shudup will ya"

>>1976250
>Philosopher's

it's by Cayetano de Arquer Buigas, that's the only specific information I have off the top of my head. I like it because look at it.

>>1976249
>>1976243
>>1976233
I'm diggin em and savin em thanks for contributing.

Title:The Small Cowper Madonna
Artist: Raphael in 1505

I like this one because for some reason I am drawn to her face and it seems very melancholy but still pretty. Raphael shat out a ton of paintings but he had his apprentices helping him churn out so many. This one is again just aesthetically pleasing to me

>>1976256
let me be, I am tired

>>1976250

Said Diogenes to Alexander, "Go away now, and take your stern friends with you, for I am trying to finish A Dance With Dragons, and your hovering annoys me."

>>1976243
>>1976214
Millais ftw, I don't know much about this but she's a babe, not really contributing to OP's thread but I want to add this anyways

The Old and The Young, by Yaroshenko Nikolay, 1881

I think it's fairly obvious that I'm into things from the 1800's...If I posted anything different you'd just be getting a ton of Albrecht Durer, my fav painter. I can't really even choose what to post of his. Anyway, I think this painting is cute. I dunno what the young guy is talking about, looks like he wants to go on an adventure or is having some major Milo Thatch nergasm over something

>bitch you are fucking up my rug, and grandma's solitaire game

>>1976278

I looked at that and thought "Lovecraft story", like the young man is expressing some gigantic horror. The young woman is glued to his every word; the old people are just like "ah, to be a crazy-haired young idiot once again..."

"Woman in Black Stockings." by Egon Schiele, 1913. Schiele women invariably remind me of Joyce's filthy letters to his lady. I think it's the frills that does it. The brown shading 'round this ones crotch and rump does not help me to shake the association at all.

>>1976262
lol

>>1976273
saved

Title: Chatterton (1855-56)
Artist: Henry Wallis

While I can't help but agree with Trollope's assessment of Pre-Raphaelite painting, there is something about this work that affected me in a powerful way. Seeing it online and in books simply doesn't do the work justice. When I saw this at the British Tate Museum two months ago I was struck with such feeling. It's easy to criticize the suicide of artists, but when they're this young, this devoted to their craft, one can't help but feel sadness.

Hate art.

>>1976291
That's probably it!

Albert Besnard, From Les eaux-fortes de Besnard (The etchings of Besnard), by André-Charles Coppier, Paris, 1920.

There's a few of these etchings that are really cool, this is the only one that I've saved though. but try googling André-Charles Coppier if you like it.

>>1976278
grandma looks pissed in the background there,since you mention him....

Title: Melencolia I
Artist: Albrecht Durer in 1514

I think this one is hella tight because the title obviously means a type of melancholy, and during this era, there were thought to be 3 forms of melancholy, each conceived as a different limitation in different professions.

Scientists and Doctors were limited by the second form of melancholy: reason. Theologians and philosopher's were limited by the third type: intuition. And finally artists were limited by the first type: imagination, Hence the title Melecolia 1

Also as a side note I love Gustave Dore and the more modern, Berserk Manga, both of whom drew heavily from Albrecht Durer

>>1976260

My favourite part of Raphael's paintings are the subjects that gaze out at the viewer. It's incredibly disconcerting because usually he paints large scenes with many people, and there's almost always one person standing in the background or on the sidelines who's looking straight at you, which was his way of participating in the relationship between artist and viewer.

"Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket" by James Abbott McNeil Whistler, 1870's.

fireworks!

>>1976304
forgot to mention the tools scattered around him are tools for craftsmen, and then there are tools for intellectuals. Just before making this he traveled to Italy where he saw artists treated as almost an intellectual endeavor, but in Germany they were treated as mere craftsmen or a lower tier in society. He was kind of bummed about that when he saw how much better artist were treated elsewhere, so this touches on the disconnect between where artists fall in realtions to social classes hence the intellectual tools (compass, ruler, scales etc.) and the lower crftsmen tools (saw boards etc.)

>>1976307
hah oh gosh

Kingfisher Perched on a Withered Branch
Miyamoto Musashi

I may not know art, but I know what I like. And what I like is minimalism with strong use of negative space.

>>1976311
don't worry man I'm not an expert on art by any means, everything I am posting is just stuff I like to look at and a few things I learned about them

Gustave Doré - The fatal first Ascent of the Matterhorn, 1865.

i cant help it, this one makes me lol

>"SHIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

>>1976311

I took a sumi-e class one time. It was pretty interesting. There was a very strong emphasis on expressing as much as you could with as little ink as possible. Sort of like if Hemmingway painted.

Which is interesting, because it's really the opposite end of the spectrum of the Western notion, where the idea is more like trying to render (capture?) a person, or an object, or a moment in as vivid detail as possible.

"Police work in the East End" - The Graphic (London, England), Saturday, December 28, 1895 - Issue 1361.

The Graphic has some neat artists/pieces in it. this is my fav so far

>The Graphic was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Limited.
>The Graphic's influence within the art world was immense, its many admirers included Vincent Van Gogh, and Hubert von Herkomer

>>1976318

>>1976319
That IS really interesting!

and now, a chick on whom i have no information gettin down with a sexy romance novel

>>1976321
he does not give a fuck!

title: Virgin and Saint Anne with the Christ child and young John the Baptist
Artist: Leonardo da Vinci in 1500

I like this a lot because, even though it is technically just a charcoal sketch the shading blows me away. Leonardo and Michelangelo were in a pissing contest over which was the ultiamte medium for art. Michelangelo argued sculpting was the best while Leonardo thought painting was the bees knees. Leonardo also fervently argued that shading was much more important than coloring for bringing the painting to life.

I think this best illustrates that, the facial features are very memorizing to look at and it's a load of eye candy, and this is all despite the fact it has no color.

>>1976327

He could totally kick that cop's ass.

Yknow.

If he felt like it.

He just doesn't feel like it right now.

From wiki:

"American artist and educator Arthur Wesley Dow (1857–1922) wrote this about sumi-e: "The painter ...put upon the paper the fewest possible lines and tones; just enough to cause form, texture and effect to be felt. Every brush-touch must be full-charged with meaning, and useless detail eliminated. Put together all the good points in such a method, and you have the qualities of the highest art".

"Dow's fascination with sumi-e not only shaped his own approach to art but also helped free many American modernists of the era, including his student Georgia O'Keeffe, from what he called a 'story-telling' approach."

>>1976333

Also
"Once a stroke is painted, it cannot be changed or erased. This makes ink and wash painting a technically demanding art-form requiring great skill, concentration, and years of training."

I completely forgot what a bitch that was in that class. So much "Let me just try . . . well fuck, now it's ruined. Guess I'll start over. Again."

Victor Gabriel Gilbert (1847-1933) - Le Jour De Marche

I am a sucker for street scenes. I'm more inclined toward photos when it comes to that, but I really like this painting.

>>1976329
Very interesting information. also, i dont know whose foot that is but they got some awesome toe socks goin on there

>>1976326
oh, it's love *songs* not stories, my bad. Also, that book case is absurdly short...and those cleaning supplies...Maybe she is Snow White?

>>1976330
fuck yer

Max Beckmann - Self Portrait

From Wikipedia:
"Beckmann enjoyed great success and official honors during the Weimar Republic"

For those that don't know, the Weimar Republic was Germany after WWI (1918) and before Hitler rose to power (1933).

Wikipedia describes this time/place as having a culture which inspired "the flourishing of the arts and sciences."

and

"The culture of the Weimar year was later reprised by the left-wing intellectuals of the 1960s, especially in France. Deleuze, Guattari and Foucault reprised Wilhelm Reich; Derrida reprised Husserl and Heidegger; Guy Debord and the Situationist International reprised the subversive-revolutionary culture."

tl;dr
The culture was "remarkable for the way it emerged from a catastrophe, more remarkable for the way it vanished into a still greater catastrophe, the world of Weimar represents modernism in its most vivid manifestation."
- Marcus Bullock

>>1976329
>>1976260
>dem faces

damn I guess they are the geniuses or masters for a reason. ON that note where are the rest of the ninja tutrtles?

>>1976337

that girl in the foreground just looks like the sweetest thing

>>1976333
>>1976335
Very interesting!

>Georgia O'Keeffe

LOL i love her. "dude i am just painting flowers and shit why you trippin" yeah whatever, georgia. vaginas, vaginas everywhere.

>>1976341
I actually just learned about this, Germany was apparently booming in the arts not just the sciences after WWI despite the economical woes. Hitler then proceeded to throw a wrench in everything.

"By 1906, Beckmann had become an accomplished painter. After moving to Berlin, he participated in exhibitions with the Berlin Secession, the predominant voice of Modern German painting at the time.

He was held in such high regard by his colleagues that, in 1910, he was elected to the executive board of the Secession, becoming the youngest member ever to achieve such a distinction.

The war interrupted his work, however, and after serving as a medical volunteer for a year, he suffered a breakdown and was discharged to Frankfurt in 1915 to recuperate.

After, his works became a mosaic of contemporary social criticism and religious or mythical themes, and he increasingly used masked or costumed circus characters as allegorical figures, a practice that became a hallmark of his art."

I don't have any information on this, I wish i did.

>>1976350

God, that's fantastic.

>>1976344
reminds me of this:

title: The DInner Party
Artist: Judy Chicago in 1974

She basically made a giant table to honor the great women of history. She placed the names of everyone from Georgia O Keeffe to Mary Wollstonecraft to Mary Shelley etc. and put all of their names in the floor and makes specials spots and plates for the best ones. Each plate and utensil etc. She pretty much hand made, and they ALL look like vaginas intentionally in a almost psychedelic sort of way.

By the mid-1920s, Beckmann had become one of Germany's foremost Modern painters. His work was hailed as a leading example of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity), a short-lived movement distinguished by the rejection of Expressionism and the revival of realism. Often cynical in its outlook, Neue Sachlichkeit moved away from the subjectivity of Expressionist emotion and chronicled the bourgeois excesses of Weimar culture with a frighteningly detached demeanor. While Beckmann certainly engaged in social criticism in his work during this period, he did so in a broader context than other artists associated with Neue Sachlichkeit, such as Dix and Grosz, continuing to confront metaphysical issues in his paintings.

>>1976360
>>1976341
I really like the faces on these

ITT: faggots post obscure painting and paraphrase the wikipedia about it.

>>1976353
That is awesome, but I don't know if I could eat off of that plate in the foreground.

Alfons Mucha. "Zdenka Cerny, the Greatest Bohemian Violoncellist". 1913.

Title: The Uncertainty of the Poet, 1913
Artist: Giorgio de Chirico

I could have chosen any one of his paintings, the man was simply a genius and was incredibly influential. This was truly a different time period. Artists were actually literate and well read, which I something I sadly can't say for today.

>>1976343
alright here's another one for ya then

title: Mary Magdalen
Artist: Donatello in ~1450

Pretty self explanatory, it's gold on wood. Magdalen was usually shows to be especially beautiful and had the sexy curves. Donatello rejected classical ideals and decided to show her in a depraved and sickly state. This was completely against the norm in Italy where everything was supposed to be pretty, it is more characteristic of German art to show brutal and harsh details of reality instead of idealizing everything.

>>1976366
0/10, you got to be more subtle

I really like Botticeli a lot so here

this one is the Primavera and it's pretty interesting and a somewhat complex allegory. It is a Neoplatonic reference since the poets and neoplatonic philosophers conceived of Venus (the goddess of love) as having two separate natures. The first one was she ruled over earthly and human love; the second was she ruled over Heavenly and divine love. In this sense Botticelli is portraying Venus as an equivalent to the Virgin Mary, since Mary knew love of humans (her natural family) and the love of the divine (her supernatural son) Hence the title Primavera. It is one of the few secualr paintings left form Botticelli along with the famous Birth of Venus. Botticelli went through a phase where he became intently religious and destroyed many of his old more secular paintings.

Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (French: Nu descendant un escalier n° 2) is a 1912 painting by Marcel Duchamp.

I've always just fucking loved the use of outside dimensions - be it the passage of time or constant perspectives, in some methods it's the most thoughtful art I enjoy.

There are many but this is the example the introduced me a few years ago.

I freaking adore De Chirico but I see he's already been represented. Well, here's "Multiplication of the Arcs" by a big fan of his, Yves Tanguy, from 1954.

I like it because it's somewhere between metaphysical, surreal, and abstract, yet doesn't seem as derivative as Tanguy's other paintings. And the title is cool.

>>1976558

Frederick Walker, Spring, 1864.

Millais was a fan of this dude...I think. Pretty sure I read that somewhere.

>>1976404
there is so much to look at in there, oh my god

Galveston Trolley - Nenad Mirkovich

Just an example of great seascape/harbor paintings - if I could fill a house with works, it would easily be of as many like these as possible.

The Bridesmaid, by James Jacques Tissot. c. 1883-85

got me cause it's a street scene, but it's also just cute

>>1976633
its so small, but it looks so nice

>>1976647
>>1976647

Ha-ha, that is fantastic! The expression of the man with the care to add faces to the background makes it seem like a capture.

Castle - Nikolai Romanov

Some more cubism...of a castle nonetheless! A great piece, and I'm loving the work with the spaced out cartoony looking clouds.

>>1976652
>>1976652

Whoops, forgot the image.

John Singer Sargent - "Bedouins", 1906

I like this one because it makes me think of Dune.

>>1976663
i forgot too! :D