Geraldine's Files in Art

EDWARD WESTON (1886-1958)       Edward Weston was one of the great American photographers who revolutionized and modernized photography in every sense of the world.  Whether photographing elemental landscapes, sculptural nudes or everyday objects, Weston's brilliance was allied to a democratic approach to his subject matter. Edward's interest of style fell first into mechanical imitations of painting styles, but soon he became restless with pictorial-ism, which took inspiration from impressionism and symbolism. In time though he found a new sense of style that fit his taste in photography and that was constructivism and cubism. Constructivism was a style or movement in which assorted mechanical objects are combines into abstract mobile structural forms and then with cubism, Edward abandoned the use of single viewpoint and within his photos showed simple geometric shapes. Also he focused on realism, which for Edward he was more focused on the meaning behind the object him

Claude Monet's painting "Impression, Sunrise," depicts an impressionism type of artwork. As it can be seen, Monet paints a beautiful sunrise on the port of Le Havre, his hometown. Claude Monet decided to name this artwork "Impression, Sunrise" due to his hazy painting style in his depiction of the subject.  The imagery of this work of art presents a focus on the calm feeling of a misty maritime scene.  Slightly below the center of the painting, a small rowboat with two indistinct figures floats in the bay.  The early morning sun is depicted rising over the foggy harbor with ships and other various boats at port.  The shadows of the boats and figures and the reflection of the sun’s rays can be seen on the water’s surface.  Monet incorporates a palette of mostly cool, dull colors into the painting with blues and grays, but also includes splashes of warm colors noticed in the sky and the red-orange sun.  This usage of a noticeably bright color draws attention t

Renaissance Artwork Filippino Lippi's Madonna and Child One beautiful piece of artwork that I saw at The Metropolitan Museum of Art was Filippino Lippi's "Madonna and Child." Filippino Lippi is from Italy and he painted this beautiful artwork around 1485 for a wealthy banker named Filippo Strozzi. This painting is also held up with a stunning golden thick and well-designed frame. This painting shows the Madonna and Child seated inside a closed area, with a view of the landscape with a river through a window. Lippi definitely put a lot of work into this painting as it can be seen with the details of the still life and landscape view. What attracted my attention so much was the vibrant colors that he used. Complementary colors are definitely shown here with the bright blue and yellow and then red with green. This ultramarine blue was used in this painting in particular because Strozzi valued material display and insisted that his paintings had that specific c