Visual Culture: 3: Renaissance in Europe: Hans Holbein

Hans Holbein

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/hans-holbein-the-younger

• One of the most accomplished portraitists of the 1500s
• Born in Germany, Augsburg in 1497
• He was taught to paint by his father, also named Hans Holbein
• In 1519 he joined the Basel Artists' guild
• He traveled a lot, in Italy and France he produced woodcuts, fresco designs and panel paintings.
• Lived in England from 1526-28 and then again from 1532-43 until he died from the plague
• His portrait of Henry VIII from the National Portrait Gallery in London dates between  the 1532-43 period of his stay in England
• Also from this period was "The Ambassadors", one of them was a potential wife for the king

    

Self Portrait, Hans Holbein, 1542, Color Chalk, pen and gold, 32cm x 26cm 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Holbein_the_Younger

• He worked in a Renaissance style
• Produced religious art, satire, and reformation propaganda
• Made a contribution to how books were designed
• Called himself " The younger" to distinguish himself from his father, a painter from the Late Gothic School
• He worked in Basel as a young artist
• He worked for reformist clients when the Reformation reached Basel, whilst continuing to serve traditional religious patrons.
• His style comes from artistic trends in Italy, France and the Netherlands, and by Renaissance Humanism.
• In England, he worked under the Patronage of Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell.
• By 1535 he was King's Painter to Henry VIII

Visual Culture: 5: The Nineteenth Century: War Photography

Photography was invented in the 1830s and during wars around this time the photographic process had not been refined enough to create quick captures. The long exposure time needed meant that a lot of the conflict could not be documented, only the aftermath.

Roger Fenton was the first official war photographer with images such as "Shadow of the Valley of Death".
In this image some people think that there were actually soldiers fighting, but they never stayed still long enough to become part of the image. Another instance of this happening was in Louis Daguarre's "Boulevard Du Temple", believed to be the earliest photograph depicting a living person. On this occasion a busy street was photographed, but only 2 figures can be seen; a man having his shoes shined by a young boy. The reason these figures are there is because they stayed in that position long enough to make an imprint on the image.

Afterwards, in 1855, Fenton left and was replaced by James Robertson and Felice Beato. There was a contrast in images from then on, because Fenton portrayed dignified aspects of war, where the new team preferred showing the destructive side. They traveled to Calcutta to document the destruction after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and took what is believed to be the first photograph depicting a human corpse outside the palace of Sikandar Bagh (seen below). It is also believed that the corpses were rearranged to heighten the photographs. Perhaps this is where the images transitioned from documentation of war to photographs for artistic purposes.

Visual Culture: 9: 1940s and 50s: Illustration, Graphics and Posters in the Second World War

Posters from WW2 had several purposes,
• Specialist Recruiting
• Industrial Production
• Maintianing morale
• Security Concern
• Savings and austerity
• Health and Safety









The posters were quite simple, one large attention grabbing object or figure, usually with a background with large, to the point text. They were designed to grab attention from passersby. 

Posters were a good way to keep morale high as they were easy to produce and distribute and could be placed anywhere for long periods of time without much manpower after application. 

Quite similar to art nouveau which got its style from Japanese wood block prints from the 1800s. 

Visual Culture: 8: 1930s USA: Art Deco

The Royal Mail Line to New York poster,
 Horace Taylor, 1920-1925. Museum no. E.516-1925

Art Deco:

• Started in France after WW1
• Became Widespread around 1930/1940
• Popularity declined after WW2
•  The style combines traditional motifs with Machine Age imagery and materials
• Was mostly Symmetrical 
• Represented luxury and glamour

• roots from Universal Exposition of 1900
• Afterwards a handful of artists from the show established Society of Decorator Artists


These were:

• Hector Guimard
• Eugene Grassat
• Raoul Lachenal
• Paul Bellot
• Maurice Dufrene
• Emile Decoeur

These artists influenced the principles of Art Deco

Visual Cultures: 11: Late Nineteenth Century: Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau was a movement consciously driven as an attempt at modernism, the same aesthetic qualities in everything including fashion, painting, sculpting, glass work, architecture and decoration. Artists scrapped their traditional European influences to use art and styles from Japan, Celtic and folk art as the foundation for the new movement. Most themes of Art Nouveau come from nature though many designs could be symbolic; for instance, a leaf may represent a leaf, or it may represent femininity.

For a style, there really isn't much to say because it consists of different other styles all with things in common, though one rule for Art Nouveau is because of its motifs in nature, there are no straight lines.

It is found in many stained glass windows in churches and cathedrals.

"It had been seen as a collection of different styles with little in common except, perhaps, a taste for excess and flamboyant decoration."- stazjia.squidoo.com/art-nouveau-beginners-guide 

To this day still influences things such as tattoo design.