renaissance - old master - donatello

donatello.. probably the least known of the ninja turtles.... he was more of a sculptor than a painter.. but what he could do with marble and bronze is still... quite.. impressive..

Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi (circa 1386 – December 13, 1466), also known as Donatello, was an early Renaissance Italian painter andsculptor from Florence. He is, in part, known for his work in bas-relief, a form of shallow relief sculpture that, in Donatello's case, incorporated significant 15th-century developments in perspectival illusionism.

renaissance - old master - raphael

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (April 6 or March 28, 1483 – April 6, 1520), better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.

renaissance - old master - michaelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), commonly known as Michelangelo (Italian pronunciation: [mikeˈlandʒelo]), was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Despite making few forays beyond the arts, his versatility in the disciplines he took up was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with fellow Italian Leonardo da Vinci.

renaissance - old master - da vinci

The Renaissance (UK /rɨˈneɪsəns/, US /ˈrɛnɨsɑːns/, French pronunciation: ​[ʁənɛsɑ̃ːs], from French: Renaissance "re-birth", Italian: Rinascimento, fromrinascere "to be reborn") was a cultural movement that spanned the period roughly from the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe.

and whenever we talk about the renaissance.. we must always start with the first, the grand master...leonardo da vinci.

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (Italian pronunciation: [leoˈnardo da ˈvintʃi]  pronunciation (help·info)) (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519, Old Style) was anItalian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. His genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance Man, a man of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination". He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.  

leonardo was a master painter. when he painted, he painted in oils, in layers. one painting could take years, as he slowly painted layer on layer of transparent and varnishes and oil layers.  if you see on of leonardo's paintings up close you can see all the layers as they are beginning to crack with age.  they are also cracking because the paint that was used was actually pigment (ground minerals and rocks) mixed with oil and egg...

leonardo also invented a technique called 'sfumato' a technique to make shadows rather smoky and blurry.  this is one of the reasons the mona lisa is so famous, as no one can tell for sure the exact nature of her smile as it is blurred. 

abstraction - schamehorn

these works are by a friend of mine; elizabeth schamehorn.  we used to belong to the same art gallery.  she used to paint local canadian landscapes.  but she too.. has evolved, blending ideas and emotions to create her masterpieces.

this work is called 'narcissus'.  does anyone know the greek myth about narcissus?  who was so in love with his reflection he couldn't move from the water side.  consequently, he starved to death......

in her work 'samuel champlain' you can see her inspirations - the samuel champlain statue in orillia, ontario, canada and the reflections of the waters of lake couchiching...

her work 'gaia' is inspired by the rocks of the area... but it also seems very familiar   anyone ever seen picasso's blue nude?  

abstraction - kandinsky

next guy - kandinsky

Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky /kænˈdɪnski/ (Russian: Васи́лий Васи́льевич Канди́нский, Vasiliy Vasil’yevich Kandinskiy, Russian pronunciation: [vaˈsʲilʲɪj kɐnˈdʲinskʲɪj]; 16 December [O.S. 4 December] 1866 – 13 December 1944) was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first purely abstract works.  

If we follow the timeline of his works, we can see how he started painting realistic landscapes in Russia.  He let his emotions and senses take over in his works as you can see by his colour choices and geometric shapes.  Then he went figure to make his work pure representational works.

abstraction - mondrian

once you get good a drawing.. so good that its realistic, the next step is to simplify your work, abstract it, cut away at the details until it is just a representation of your idea.

for example, look at Piet Mondrian.

Pieter Cornelis "Piet" Mondriaan, after 1906 Mondrian (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈpiːt ˈmɔndriaːn], later [ˈmɔndriɔn]; March 7, 1872 – February 1, 1944) was a Dutch painter. He evolved a non-representational form which he termed Neo-Plasticism.   Look at the transition of his paintings, from the realistic first Red Tree (1908)  then the Gray Tree (1912) , Compostion Trees(1920),  Broadway Boogie Woogie (1930) to finally the very linear graphic Composition with Red Blue and Yellow (1930)