The Usborne Book about Famous Artists

Saptamana aceasta, rasfoim cartile noastre mai vechi si mai noi despre pictori faimosi ai lumii.

Recitim povestile lor, stabilim asemanari si deosebiri dintre ei si incercam sa tinem minte cel putin care o trasatura importanta a artei fiecaruia dintre acestia.

Ieri, spre exemplu, am citit despre Monet si Frida Khalo, iar azi vom revedea cartile cu povestile lui Gauguin si Van Gogh.

Pe Chagall si Dali, M. ii va cunoaste la sfarsitul saptamanii, cand vom incerca sa pictam in stilul lor.

De mare ajutor imi va fi in aceasta perioada de recapitulari The Usborne Book about Famous Artists, o carte fantastic de frumoasa, interesanta si utila, pe care Ioana ne-a trimis-o de mult timp, dar care acum isi va intra in rol asemeni unei regine (multumim din suflet pentru carte, draga noastra).

Este o carte de 270 x 230mm, complexa (96 pagini), care ne introduce in vietile si activitatea artistica a 35 dintre cei mai cunoscuti pictori ai lumii:

Giotto, Jan van Eyck, Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Dürer, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Hans Holbein, Bruegel, El Greco, Caravaggio, Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt, Diego Velázquez, Jan Vermeer, Goya, J.M.W. Turner, Eugène Delacroix, John Everett Millais, Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Gustav Klimt, Henri Matisse, Wassily Kandinsky, Pablo Picasso, Edward Hopper, René Magritte, Salvador Dalí, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol.

Este atat de frumoasa si pretioasa, realizata (in intregime) din carton gros si lucios si ilustrata in culori ce par sa-ti picure direct in palma, incat nu poti sa ramai indiferent la vederea ei.

Superbe reproduceri ale unor tablouri celebre, fotografii ale marilor pictori, ale caselor acestora, precum si ale unor obiecte personale ce au apartinut lor ne incanta ochii de la prima intalnire cu aceasta carte.

Si, pentru ca experienta sa fie una completa, nu lipsesc nici foarte utilele “quicklinks”, ce ne trimit, asa cum le spune si numele, rapid, la informatii si imagini publicate, de-a lungul timpului, pe Internet.

Iata cateva fragmente interesante, preluate din carte:

Some experts think Vermeer used an early type of camera, called camera obscura, when sketching his scenes. He would have sat in a darkened cubicle at the end of his studio. Light from the scene passes through a small hole onto the canvas, where it cast an upside-down image.

At Givency, Monet dammed a river to create an enormous pond, which he filled with hundreds of water lilies, despite the protests of local farmers who feared his exotic plants would poison the water. Monet made painting after painting of his pond, working from dawn to dusk, often on huge, wall-sized canvas.

By now, Monet was suffering from serious eye problems, but he kept working. […]

By his mid-70s, Matisse was too ill to paint. but this didn’t stop his creativity. He developed a new technique which he called “painting with scissors”. This involved cutting painted paper into shapes and making lively compositions with them.

Dali got the idea for the melting watches when he saw a round Camembert cheese melting in the sun. He called his paintings “hand-painted dream photographs”, meaning that they were accurate images of what he saw inside his head.

O zi frumoasa va dorim!

(6 ani si 1 luna)