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Post by riotgrrl on Mar 4, 2009 10:33:11 GMT
 I'm not into art. I don't know or understand 'art'. I did art for 2 years at secondary school and got 22%. Anyway, yesterday I had a few hours to kill in Edinburgh, so I went a wee wander round the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and I came across the above painting, the Three Oncologists by Ken Currie. It's a portrait of three oncologists at ninewells Hospital in Dundee. I was blown away. You know that thing you see on the telly where people sit down in front of a painting and just gaze at it? Well, I was actually doing that. The painting is massive - the scale of it is not clear from the link - and it's very, very black. The oncologists themselves are like dark, death angels, yet all kinds of emotions on their detailed faces. You can't see properly in the reproduction, but there are big swishy curtains that the 3 oncologists are going through on their way into the dark. I sat and looked at it and I felt all these emotions, just like people who went to Art School say paintings are meant to make you feel. What do you think of this painting? Do you have a painting that stunned you? |
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Post by percyplum on Mar 4, 2009 11:15:53 GMT
That is amazing. Even from the small image I can see how poerful it would be full size.
I love art and the number of paintings that have made me feel weak at the knees would fill the page!
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Post by trubble on Mar 4, 2009 11:36:13 GMT
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Post by Patrick on Mar 4, 2009 11:37:06 GMT
There! See! You do have it in you, you just must have had a crap teacher at school.
Do you notice too that they almost resemble skeletons? It's in their faces and the baggy lines on the arms of their coats appear very "Ribcage" like.
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Post by riotgrrl on Mar 4, 2009 11:43:49 GMT
Although the 3 figures are blurry, almost as if the artis has painted an aura surrounding them, the detailing on their faces is almost photographic when you see it.
And it feels like they want us to follow them, through the curtain, into death . . .
Or something.
What paintings do other people like? And why?
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Post by motorist on Mar 4, 2009 11:47:05 GMT
What paintings do other people like? And why? "Night Watch". I saw the original in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam once. Absolutely fantastic. It's difficult to describe why. Seeing a picture online is not the same as being in front of it. Every time I looked at it, I seemed to spot some other clever detail |
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Post by riotgrrl on Mar 4, 2009 12:00:03 GMT
 This one Moto? What's it all about? |
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Post by trubble on Mar 4, 2009 12:19:07 GMT
I saw a Vermeer for the first time the other day. Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid  The thing you don't get from images of it is the effect of the light in the painting, it's quite a serene painting to view, I think it makes a big difference seeing the real thing as opposed to reproductions. The light in Turner's work is also beautiful. My favourite paintings are Japanese, in particular the Woodblocks (surimono). My favourite art gallery is the Chesterbeatty Library in Dublin because it's full of them.   I have always had a thing for them, even as a kid, so I am livid to discover that Japanese prints are the favourite of women my age. My age!!!  I have five surimono reproductions that I've had all my adult life and once they are up on the wall then I feel at home. One of them is only a 20 year old poster and is so faded it's almost disappeared but I can't get another one because the original is too delicate to be scanned again and the stupid printers destroyed their last scan. The original picture is small and exquisite. 3 geisha's giggling (at a queue of clients). I have spotted a reproduction in a hospital and I am sure it is bloddy wasted on them! In Venice I bought a poster to frame, you'd think of Venice, but no  of a Japanese painting. We even went to the Museum of Oriental Art there. I am a bit of a sad case. |
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Post by motorist on Mar 4, 2009 12:46:03 GMT
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Post by percyplum on Mar 4, 2009 13:26:44 GMT
I can't say much in the way of Oriental art does it for me. Same with Chinese & Japanese porcelain and bronzes. Much prefer European.
I like most art from Titian & Carravaggio to Vermeer & Van Gogh to Aubrey Beardsley & Dali. Banksy is another favourite but I can't stand Damien Hirst. His talent is wasted in making ridiculous "statement" pieces.
Not keen on Monet either.
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Post by percyplum on Mar 4, 2009 13:34:54 GMT
If I had to name two of the most powerful images in art, I think they'd have to be The Last of England by Ford Maddox Brown and The Third of May 1808 by Goya.
The first because of the look of desolation on the woman's face and the second because of the horrors of the Napoleonic wars in Spain.
But, there are dozens of paintings that make me just want to sit and stare.
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Post by riotgrrl on Mar 4, 2009 13:57:12 GMT
 Brown's 'The Last of England'. Percy, I think their eyes are WEIRD. |
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Post by riotgrrl on Mar 4, 2009 13:59:01 GMT
The Goya  |
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Post by percyplum on Mar 4, 2009 14:45:20 GMT
Ooops! Sorry, I forgot to post the links.  Bad Percy. I am beating myself severely with a chair leg studded with rusty nails...  |
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Post by Patrick on Mar 4, 2009 17:54:56 GMT
I saw a Vermeer for the first time the other day. Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid The thing you don't get from images of it is the effect of the light in the painting, it's quite a serene painting to view, I think it makes a big difference seeing the real thing as opposed to reproductions. The light in Turner's work is also beautiful. If I remember rightly - that comes from a series - another being "The Piano Lesson" I think, we had a copy of that years ago - all featured similar elements - like the B&W Tiled floor for instance. |
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Post by swl on Mar 4, 2009 19:12:01 GMT
I had to suffer Art Appreciation at college, but some of it rubbed off: Manet  Salvadore Dali (This one's in the Kelvingrove)  I just love the Glasgow Tryptych by Ken Currie. This doesn't do it justice. There's just so much going on in them along with an almost Soviet style of political imagery. I sat for hours looking at them.  Similarly, Peter Howson rocks my world. I saw this at the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art in 1991 and was transfixed. He captures the raw emotions and animalistic nature of a passionate football match perfectly.  Bugger, rotten image size. Google "Just another bloody Saturday" But for sheer jaw-dropping beauty, I have to give it to The Three Graces  There's no way you can see it there, but when it was at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery I just sat and gaped at the pure genius, the perfection. |
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Post by swl on Mar 4, 2009 19:25:57 GMT
Then there's Michelangelo's David  Did you know that he was modelled on Alexander the Great when the image was carved in 1501? And that all subsequent paintings of Jesus Christ were subsequently modelled on David? He's seen as the epitome of masculine beauty, with perfectly proportioned features. Many portraits of historical figures tended to be distorted a little towards the David ideal. However, if you look closely, there's a split in the styling of the face. From the nose up it's definately masculine - Roman nose, strong, furrowed forehead etc. But the mouth is feminine, sensuous & pouting whilst the chin is quite delicate and weak. |
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Post by trubble on Mar 4, 2009 19:45:13 GMT
If I had to name two of the most powerful images in art, I think they'd have to be The Last of England by Ford Maddox Brown and The Third of May 1808 by Goya. The first because of the look of desolation on the woman's face and the second because of the horrors of the Napoleonic wars in Spain. But, there are dozens of paintings that make me just want to sit and stare. Th Last of England was one of the paintings that Paxman featured and set in context it's a poignant piece. I have never really considered the sadness of emigration from an English point of view because emigration is such an 'Irish' thing. The Third of May is a wonderful painting and even though I thought I liked impressionism it was that very painting that lit my fire in Art Appreciation at school. I think I have seen the real thing, but I don't think I could have because it's in Madrid apparently, I am confused a bit now lol, but I know I have seen a Goya up close and decided he was magic.  |
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Post by trubble on Mar 4, 2009 19:46:16 GMT
Ooops! Sorry, I forgot to post the links. Bad Percy. I am beating myself severely with a chair leg studded with rusty nails... I should hope so. |
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Post by trubble on Mar 4, 2009 19:54:24 GMT
Salvadore Dali (This one's in the Kelvingrove) I love Dali.  Except his stupid clocks one.  Ugh. |
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A.P.P.S
S C 
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of a Japanese painting. We even went to the Museum of Oriental Art there. I am a bit of a sad case. 