Michelangelo

We’ve been looking at Michelangelo in my art classes.  On the Sistine Chapel ceiling, this is one of the Old Testament prophets that foretold Christ’s coming. Through time we’ve been looking at how symbolism is changing.  Can you look at this picture and guess who the prophet is? 

SPOILER ALERT!  The fish.  Jonah. The interesting thing here is that Michelangelo wasn’t content with just painting a figure.  As in all his work he wanted to create a figure at a particular moment.  An example is his sculpture David - at the very moment he was coiling his muscles and scrutinizing Goliath as he contemplated the kill (vastly different from all sculptures of David that went before.) 

So, Jonah? Can you see here that God’s telling Jonah to go, and Jonah is struggling with ‘No, I don’t want to do that! I... think I’ll run away... I’m going to fight this...’  Every fiber of his being in this painting is struggling with God.  Only got Jonah into, uh, deep trouble, wouldn’t you say?  I guess the moral of the story is - let’s obey God the first time, shall we?

I teach at two locations, The Training Center

www.ttcclasses.com

And HIS Classes (Homeschool Instructional Support Classes)

www.hisclasses.org

These are formal art classes that run through the entire school year for homeschoolers.  Both organizations offer all subjects; I just happen to be the lucky person to teach art.

I also teach super fun, super messy classes in the summertime so let me know if you’re interested.

Online Art Teacher

As long as we’re home, I might as well include you guys just a bit in my online art classes:

Japan is full of art! It’s not only in museums and galleries but right under your feet in the streets!  Aren’t they GORGEOUS???  My favorite is definitely the face.  And if anyone can figure out what that carwash looking one is, please let me know!

In the 80s someone came up with the idea of beautiful art on manhole covers to raise awareness and help pay for costly sewer projects.  Each city had art competitions for designs.  The designs usually speak about that which makes the city famous, for example if they make a certain product there or are famous for whale sitings.

The idea took off and soon cities were competing with each other for the best designs! Now there are manholes all over Japan and they are encouraging tourists and travelers to go to certain places to find special manholes!  Japan has been hard hit in the past years by acts of nature and these regions are creating special manholes to encourage tourists to come.  This will help with the rebuilding of these areas.

Even Pokemon has gotten into the game to help with disaster areas.  They want to encourage tourists to go see them.  Think about it… how could those Pokemon manhole covers help those places make money so they can rebuild?  (I wish WE had such pretty manhole covers!). They’re a delight, aren’t they? :)

Michelangelo vs. Bernini

I’ve been working through the Renaissance with my students and compared Michelangelo’s David to his predecessors.  Now we’re comparing his David to Bernini’s.  

Bernini took the majestic greatness of ‘The Divine Michelangelo’ and stepped it up with expression.  Whole body expression right down to the toes.  I love them both. 

Wow.

 Michelangelo’s David is determined to kill me but Bernini’s David is wound up like a top to kill.  Wow.  I love them both.  (Yes, I added the swag for my students’ benefit). Bernini literally changed the face of Roma, and when you walk the town you find his incredible work around every corner.  Rome is such a delightful place and the fact that you can find fountains and great work everywhere you turn is a big part of it.

As for me, there is no choosing between the two.  They were both great, they were different.  I choose both!

An interesting Sculpture

Take a look at this sculpture and tell me who it is before you read this.  There’s always a clue, and that’s what he’s holding.

...

Michelangelo misinterpreted scripture when he prepared for this piece.  When Moses came down from the Mount with the stone tablets his face was shining and the people couldn’t look upon him.  Michelangelo somehow misinterpreted ‘rays’ for ‘horns,’ thus this sculpture.  Moses with horns.  These are things we need to know to live a full life.

Hitler’s Art and WW2

Who knows how the world would have changed if Hitler had gotten his first wish - to be an artist.  Denied entrance to art school he was forced to change direction. They maintained his work was not original, his people needed work, and his work was inconsistent (some good, some not so good, as the dog sketch example I have here.) They suggested he go into architecture. 

It is a most fascinating study to see how his attention was divided in the 30s and 40s. 1. Conquer the world; 2. Identify, pinpoint and specifically plunder Europe’s art; and 3. Plan the building and planning of his hometown, Linz, Austria, which would feature the Fuhrer Museum.  To the very end, he and his architects poured over the scale models of this town.  It has been said many times that the world would be a different place if he hadn’t spent so much time stealing art.

This week my students and I wrestled especially with this painting of Mary and Jesus. First, to imagine that Hitler painted it, and second to remember that in God’s eyes, all sins are equal.  That means my sins are equal to those of Hitler. Also reminds us that no man can judge another’s heart. We couldn’t, for instance, look at this painting and judge a person’s heart by the work he produced.

Joseph Goebbels - “The Fuhrer loves art because he himself is an artist.  Under his blessed hand a Renaissance has begun.”

These are a couple postcards Hitler painted when he was 19. He copied them from tourist postcards and sold his watercolors to make money to eat.  He was trying to live the artist’s life, and it didn’t turn out very well.

It’s illegal to buy and sell Hitler’s art in many European countries.  These little watercolor cards didn’t sell for much.  One of my students said she’d like to buy them to burn them.

Maxfield Parrish Fan Here!

If I was forced to choose, I could pick ten of my most favorite artists of all time. Maxfield Parrish always floats to the top. 

This popular American artist painted in what I call a color-saturated on-steroids classical style, became a household name and introduced beauty upon beauty into American homes. 

He achieved great heights (pun intended) with his mountains, and used props - a mirror placed on his table upon which he placed well-chosen rocks and hit them with a strong side-light. Perfection.  

Oh,my goodness, the colors are so stunning I can hardly breathe!

Most of his scenes work was done later in his life.  He earned his (very rich) bread and butter working for magazines, illustrating calendars, illustrating books, etc., until his name became common.  As he got older, he had the luxury of being able to paint exactly what he wanted.  And boy, could he paint.

How many artists have the privilege of having a color named after them?  Look up Parrish blue.  It’s close to the colors in the first picture I posted at top.  Glorious.  These colors were achieved by his layering.  Rather than mixing them in his palette, he layered them on, adding clear layers of glaze in between.   

Pardon me, I’m going to leave now.  I’m going to wander around and find some cool rocks to light up.