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.

Visual Culture: 6: The Late Nineteenth Century: 1900-1920 Art Photography/Alfred Stieglitz (1900s-1920s)

1900s to 1920s in Photography/Art Photography

Timeline of Photography from 1900 to 1920
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_photography_technology

• 1900 – Kodak introduces their first Brownie, a very inexpensive user-reloadable point-and-shoot box camera.
• 1901 – Kodak introduces the 120 film format.
• 1902 – Arthur Korn devises practical telephotography technology (reduction of photographic images to signals that can be transmitted by wire to other locations); Wire-Photos in wide use in Europe by 1910, and transmitted intercontinentally by 1922.
• 1907 – The Autochrome plate is introduced and becomes the first commercially successful color photography product.
• 1908 – Kinemacolor, a two-color process that is the first commercial "natural color" system for movies, is introduced.
• 1909 – Kodak announces a 35 mm "safety" motion picture film on an acetate base as an alternative to the highly flammable nitrate base. The motion picture industry discontinues its use after 1911 due to technical imperfections.
• 1912 – Vest Pocket Kodak using 127 film.
• 1912 – Thomas Edison introduces a short-lived 22 mm home motion picture format using acetate "safety" film manufactured by Kodak.
• 1913 – Kodak makes 35 mm panchromatic motion picture film available on a bulk special order basis.
• 1914 – Kodak introduces the Autographic film system.
• 1914 – The World, the Flesh and the Devil, the first dramatic feature film in color (Kinemacolor), is released.

http://www.brownie-camera.com/ <- the Brownie Camera from Kodak

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/early-modern-photography.html

Before 1900 - Portraits of families and wealthy people

1900 - the same but with a quicker shutter speed

1914 - WW1 photography used for documentation of events rather than documentation of individuals

1859 when photography was displayed alongside art, but was not considered to be art because of it's mechanical process whereas art was considered to be made by the skill of the artist. Kodak's slogan at the time was ''you press the button, we do the rest'' which went along with the effortlessness of taking a photograph.

Artists such as Alfred Stieglitz formed groups and societies that went against this idea that photography was too mechanical to be art. He took photographs like any other photographer but his process relied heavily on experimentation. He ran tests with different papers with different surfaces and different coatings. 

Alfred Stieglitz (American, 1864-1946), Equivalent, 1925, Gelatin silver print, 9.3 x 11.9 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1928

Alfred Stieglitz, Equivalent, 1925; printed 1927; gelatin silver print, 4 5/8 in. x 3 5/8 in. (11.75 cm x 9.21 cm); Collection SFMOMA, Alfred Stieglitz Collection, Gift of Georgia O'Keeffe

Alfred Stieglitz (american, 1864-1946), Equivalent, 1926, Gelatin silver print, 12.065 x 9.525 cm, The Alfred Stieglitz collection, gift of Georgia O'Keeffe, 1949

Visual Culture: 4: 17th and 18th Centuries: Wealth in the 17th and 18th century - The Dutch Golden Age and The Hierarchy of Genres

Tasked with researching how wealth, property and class is depicted in the 17th and 18th centuries, the only way I know that wealth was shown was through Still Life paintings. One artist that comes to mind is Clara Peeters; a Flemish painter mostly known for floral depictions and breakfast scenes, such as "Still life with Artichoke, and Cherries" (1625, Oil on canvas) shown below.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WLA_lacma_Clara_Peeters_still_life.jpg

Still Life paintings of food and delicacies were aimed towards the more wealthy, showing food that they may enjoy and served as a religious reminder to avoid gluttony. Owning paintings depicting still life scenes were more likely to be found in wealthier homes, or paintings in general, as poorer households could not afford to spend money on decorative items.

Another type of painting found within richer housing was Portraits. Around the 17th century in The Netherlands portrait painting became increasingly popular as part of what is known as The Dutch Golden Age. It was around this time that the artist Rembrandt became successful before he moved away from portraits due to boredom. Another artist around this time was Bartholemeus Van Der Helst who painted many portraits including the portrait of ''Sophia Trip, wife of Balthasar Coymans''(1665), who was a member of one of the wealthiest families in Holland.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_sophia_trip_wife_of_balthasar_coymans.jpg

There were many similarities in Dutch Portrait Paintings, and this is mainly due to the fear of showing the sin of Pride. It was due to this that possessions were not included in paintings, nor were views of the land and the seated pose was much the same amongst paintings as a standing position may also show pride. Women were mainly restricted to seated positions in portraits but children would be allowed more freedom. Portrait paintings and paintings including human figures were very high up in the "Hierarchy of Genres", where genres were in ranks, with the more difficult paintings being ranked as more prestigious, thus worth more and favoured more amongst the wealthy; Landscapes were amongst the bottom of the ranks, above Still Life paintings whilst portraits were high at the top of the ranks.

"He who produces perfect landscapes is above another who only produces fruit, flowers or seafood. He who paints living animals is more estimable than those who only represent dead things without movement, and as man is the most perfect work of God on the earth, it is also certain that he who becomes an imitator of God in representing human figures, is much more excellent than all the others ..."- André Félibien, a historiographer, architect and theoretician of French classicism

An interesting painting to analyse after reading this quote would be Paulus Potter's "The Bull" from 1647, which contains a landscape, living animals and a human figure; this means that we can see the different genres  (minus Still Life) compiled into one painting.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Paulus_Potter_-_Young_Bull.JPG