Heir to the precepts of antiquity and Bernini, Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) was just as influenced by Michelangelo, in particular by his Slaves. And like Michelangelo, Rodin, at the same time as receiving such honours as the Légion d’honneur (amongst others), was embroiled in many scandals and controversies during his career. His sculptures of Victor Hugo and Balzac were censured and The Kiss was deemed too erotic. However, despite racking up female conquests, and having got involved romantically with his student Camille Claudel, Rodin is considered the most important sculptor of the 20th century, representing the female body better than it …
The Post-Impressionist period was one of solitary painters; Gauguin, Sisley, Cézanne, Van Gogh etc… “There is no longer a unique school. There are a few groups, but even they break up constantly. All these movements remind me of moving geometrical pieces in a kaleidoscope, which separate suddenly only to better come together again. They move apart then get together, but, nevertheless, stay in the same circle – the circle of the new art.” (Emile Verhaeren). Nathalia Brodskaïa, curator at the State Hermitage Museum, describes with her own unsurpassed talent the different paths taken by the heirs of Impressionism towards Modern …
What do the thousands of images of bras and panties on perfectly sculpted bodies that we see spread across billboards and magazines say about our society? Many women indulge in lingerie to please men. Yet, since antiquity, women have always kept lingerie hidden away under outer garments. Thus, lingerie must be more than erotic bait. Authors Muriel Barbier and Shazia Boucher have researched iconography to explore the relationship of lingerie to society, revealing the economy and corridors of intimacy. They correlate lingerie with emancipation, querying whether it asserts newfound freedoms or simply adjusts to changing social values. This Mega Square …
A painter and printmaker of the Rococo movement, Jean- Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) is recognised as one of France’s most prolific artists. His genius however almost went forgotten after the Revolution due to the expanding influence of neo-classicism and the loss of his bourgeoisie clientele. He studied under the great Boucher and painted over 550 works in various genres including landscapes and portraits illustrating the erotic, the domestic and an abundance of religious scenery. His smooth brushstrokes never faltered in depicting the charm and wit of 18th century France. Fragonard’s talent lies in bringing his creations to life in a refined …
Las flores constituyen el elemento fundamental en la mayoría de las representaciones pictóricas de naturalezas muertas. Al trazar sus formas y colores, numerosos artistas desde Brueghel a O’Keeffe han creado símbolos tanto de vida como de mortalidad. Los girasoles de Van Gogh, los nenúfares de Monet y los ramos de Matisse permanecerán en nuestra memoria para siempre. La mayor parte de los trabajos incluidos en Flores son verdaderas obras maestras que, a menudo, han marcado estilos y épocas enteras. Con el formato práctico y compacto característico de Mega Square, este título constituye un regalo ideal.
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) es considerado por muchos el artista más importante del siglo XX. Nacido en Málaga, Picasso demostró su talento desde una edad muy temprana y se apresuró en tomar contacto con los círculos artísticos más importantes de su tiempo, primero en Barcelona y posteriormente en París. En su modernista búsqueda de la novedad, Picasso acudió a la historia premoderna y al arte primitivo para encontrar la inspiración. A él y a su compañero Georges Braque les debemos la invención del cubismo, que no se trata únicamente de uno más de entre los muchos movimientos vanguardistas, sino de la …
La biografía gastronómica de Leonardo da Vinci centrada en su lado más humano, alrededor de la mesa.El libro está estructurado en diecinueve capítulos que tratan sobre su alimentación en su infancia en la Toscana rural; su vegetarianismo y amor por la naturaleza, de su único libro de recetas y sus listas de la compra de alimentos, de sus ensayos y experimentos en la cocina, de lo que se ponía en la mesa de su propia casa, de su actividad como productor de aceite y también como bodeguero y experto en vinos. También de cómo se alimentaba cuando pintaba, y de …
El Simbolismo apareció en Francia y Europa entre la década de 1880 y el principio del siglo veinte. Los simbolistas, fascinados por la mitología de la Antigüedad, intentaban escapar del reino del pensamiento racional impuesto por la ciencia. Deseaban trascender el mundo de lo visible y lo racional para alcanzar el mundo del pensamiento puro, coqueteando constantemente con los límites del inconsciente. Los franceses Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon, los belgas Fernand Khnopff y Félicien Rops, los ingleses Edward Burne-Jones y Dante Gabriel Rossetti, así como el holandés Jan Toorop son los artistas más representativos del movimiento.
Romanticism was a reaction against the Neoclassicism that invaded the 19th-century, and marked a veritable intellectual rupture. Found in the writings of Victor Hugo and Lord Byron among others, its ideas are expressed in painting by Eugène Delacroix, Caspar David Friedrich and William Blake. In sculpture, François Rude indicated the direction this new artistic freedom would take, endowing his work with a movement and expression never previously seen. By retracing the different stages of its evolution, this book offers a study of the different aspects of the Romantic movement. Thanks to a thorough and in-depth analysis, the reader can understand …
While Impressionism marked the first steps toward modern painting by revolutionising an artistic medium stifled by academic conventions, Post-Impressionism, even more revolutionary, completely liberated colour and opened it to new, unknown horizons. Anchored in his epoch, relying on the new chromatic studies of Michel Eugène Chevreul, Georges Seurat transcribed the chemist's theory of colours into tiny points that created an entire image. With his heavy strokes, Van Gogh illustrated the midday sun, while Cézanne renounced perspective. Rich in its variety and in the singularity of its artists, Post-Impressionism was a passage taken by all the well-known figures of 20th-century painting …
