Art History, a Heavy Subject
Ed gave us a list of books to use as references in a handout that he gave to us. I checked Amazon, and found all four of them used. With shipping, the cost is still unbelievably low, right around $30!
I was excited to get three out of four of them in hardcover (I really love books) but then I tried picking them up. The photo opposite is the result. Makes me think I’m back in college! The four of them together weigh 13 pounds!
Finally, I am studying art history in a way that makes sense to me. Find what I like, what is similar to what I want to create in style, degree of realism, or whatever, and study how it was painted. Here is one of my favorite paintings, Scene from Thanatopsis by Asher Brown Durand (1796 – 1886).
Scene from Thanatopsis 39.5 x 61 Inches
Durand was an American romantic landscape painter, and a member of the Hudson River School. His paintings evoke the emotions of mystery, wildness and grandeur that were a staple of the breathtaking landscapes in the 1800s which were almost completely devoid of people, something rarely seen today. It is a fabulous painting, and my goal is to paint like this!
This painting is described in “What is Art, an Introduction to Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture” by John Canaday.
I grew up on fantasy artwork; primarily the works of the brothers Hildebrandt and Boris Vallejo. Hildebrandts’ works exhibit many similarities with painters from the romantic period.
Here’s an example, Old Man Willow by Greg and Tim Hildebrandt:
Many more of their paintings can be viewed here.
The other three books shown above are:
Drawing Lessons From the Great Masters by Robert Beverly Hale
A Treasury of Impressionism by Nathaniel Harris
Techniques of the World’s Great Painters edited by Waldemar Januszczak
I’ll talk about them in a different post. It’s time for me to get painting!
Megan
