The Dutch Masters
THE DUTCH MASTERS
Art and culture flourished in Holland in the 1600's. The seventeenth century was to be the golden age of painting in the Netherlands and produced the great Dutch masters. Within a span of 55 years, there was in chronological order: Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Flemish; Frans Hals; Anton Van Dyck; Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669); Jacob van Ruysdael and Jan Vermeer (born 1632), among many others.
Between 1568 and 1648, the Dutch fought for their independence from Spain. During this time, secular art (non-religious, such as portraits, still life, landscape and genre) largely replaced religious art in Holland. All the secular themes (non-religious) that loom so large in Dutch and Flemish painting in the Baroque era (1600-1700) were first defined between 1500 and 1600. The process was gradual and shaped by a need to cater to popular taste as church and state commissions became steadily scarcer. Dutch artists did not have the large-scale public commissions sponsored by State and Church that were available throughout the Catholic world. This was so because Protestant iconoclasm (no religious images allowed) was particularly widespread in the Netherlands where the Reformed Faith was the official religion.
The general public developed so insatiable an appetite for pictures that the whole country became gripped by a kind of collector's mania. One observer noted in 1641, "It is an ordinary thing to find a common farmer lay out two to three thousand pounds in this commodity. Their houses are full of them ..."
The Dutch looked for themselves in art and therefore wanted portraits of themselves, their wives and children and also scenes representing their own life within the home (genre) and outside it. They were realists and the paintings they commissioned from their artists were realistic.
The naturalism of the great Italian painter Caravaggio was being felt (a big influence on the young Rembrandt) outside Italy and the Dutch painters that studied in Italy brought back paintings in the new style and a knowledge of its techniques.
The paintings of the Baroque period have always been a favorite of mine and especially seventeenth century Dutch paintings. Represented here are my versions of some great works by Hals, Rembrandt, Ruisdael and Vermeer.
Rembrandt
ARISTOTLE CONTEMPLATING A BUST OF HOMER
This Rembrandt is the first great painting that I ever tried to copy. Rembrandt painted the original in 1653.
Rembrandt is my personal favorite. He is noted today as one of the greatest portrait painters of all time, for his individual as well as the group portraits the old Dutch masters are famous for. Rembrandt's portraits are unparalleled in their rendition of human character, expression and reflection of inner thought and psychological insight. In the strictest sense, "Aristotle" is not a portrait but an "historical" painting, but nevertheless has all the qualities of Rembrandt's finest portraits.
Rembrandt was a master of the Baroque period (1600-1700) which itself is characterized by its expressive, ornate, complex and very dramatic effects in art, poetry, architecture and music. These dramatic effects are seen in Rembrandt's paintings. One such effect is "chiaruscuro" which Rembrant learned indirectly from the great Italian master Caravaggio. Almost all of Rembrandt's paintings use chiaruscuro which is the juxtaposition of light and dark areas in the same painting. Many of Rembrandt's paintings are very dark, especially the backgrounds while the faces and other important features are bathed in a flood of light. Notice the use of chiaruscuro in this painting with the light bathing Aristotle's face and robe and the bust of Homer.
Another dramatic effect is the use of diagonal elements. Dramatic Baroque painting often used diagonal elements to create an illusion of movement since many of these painting were so full of action. Diagonals suggest instability and hence movement, and they draw the eye. Notice how the curtain, Homer's bust, Aristotle's right arm and chain form a diagonal line. Aristotle's head and left arm parallel and form a second diagonal line. This arrangement causes the eye movement to focus and flow from one important object to the next and creates a sense of rhythm, order, and balance in the painting. The diagonals also bring the painting "to life" by creating the illusion of movement. And although there is no true movement depicted in this painting, Rembrandt has created "action in repose" as in Michelangelo's David.
This Rembrandt was sold in 1961 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for 2.3 million dollars - a record at that time for any single painting. The sales event made the cover of Time magazine. The museum curator when questioned about the price stated confidently, "The chain alone is worth 2.3 million." Make sure you see this painting on your next trip to The Big Apple.
Pastel on paper 1977
Rembrandt
THE POLISH RIDER
This is my version of the Rembrandt painting popularly known as "The Polish Rider". The picture, which first entered Poland in the eighteenth century, has been the subject of intense investigation and is still not well understood. Polish scholars stress the Polish connection in terms of both costume and subject. Still others insist the work is a commissioned equestrian portrait of a young Polish nobleman who has studied in Holland. Because the painting is dated at the time of Rembrandt's intense interest in Eastern things, the identity of the equestrian hero is most likely found in the Old Testament and is not an actual portrait at all but an historical painting.
This is one of only a very few of equestrian (horseback) portraits by Rembrandt. Notice the use of chiarruscuro with the evening light highlighting the rider's face and costume. Also notice the use of the diagonal element again: the rider's right forearm, the arrows, the right thigh and the horse's right foreleg comprising one diagonal. This diagonal is paralleled by that diagonal passing through the heads of the rider, horse and left arm.
Rembrandt painted "The Polish Rider" c. 1655. I painted this copy in 1978. The original hangs in the Frick Collection in N.Y.C.
Pastel on paper 1978
Rembrandt
THE FEAST OF BELSHAZZAR
The dramatic composition, Baroque splendor and exotic costumes from the East are typical of Rembrandt's style during the middle 1630's. Here the action is frozen at its apex with the faces charged with emotion. King Belshazzar was the last king of Babylonia and here he sees the hand of God reaching out to give him a message. Chiaruscuro is used as the brilliance of the Hebrew letters light up the faces and the elegant costumes. Notice the use of diagonals to emphasize the drama and action as your eye follows each line. A diagonal on the left is formed by the four heads. A center diagonal is formed by the king's head, arm, hand, and the hand of the lady on the left. A diagonal is also formed on the right by hands, the goblet and the lady's head.
Rembrandt lived in a Jewish section of Amsterdam and had many Jewish friends. He painted many scenes from the Old Testament as well as Jewish subjects. In 1639, Samuel Manasseh ben Israel of Amsterdam published his treastice on Belshazzar. In it he suggested that the king's wise men could not read the writing (hence the cliche"-"did not see the writing on the wall") because the letters had been reversed, reading up and down instead of from right to left as in regular Hebrew. (reading down from the right: mena, mena, tekel, oofar, sin)
S | U | T | M | M |
e | e | e | ||
I | F | K | N | N |
a | e | e | e | |
N | R | L |
Rembrandt must have, learned of this novel explanation since he followed it exactly in his picture. Rembrandt always strived for archaeological and Biblical accuracy in his paintings. The prophet Daniel explained the text in the book of Daniel. The writing on the wall explained by Daniel is: "God hath numbered thy Kingdom and finished it. Though art weighed in the balance and found wanting".
The original painting was finished in 1637 and is now located in the National Gallery in London. My copy here was my last pastel. After this painting, I moved on to acrylics and then oil.
Pastel on paper 1981
Rembrandt
Portrait of a Rabbi
Rembrandt painted several pictures of Rabbis. In this one, Rembrandt dispenses with the accessories and gestures which are common in his earlier portraits. The body is only vaguely indicated, nothing distracts our attention from the face.
Rembrandt is most noted for his portraits and his ability to capture and portray the subject's physical and spiritual being. You can see this in the Rabbi's face and dark, sad eyes. Rembrandt lived in the Jewish section of Amsterdam and painted many scenes from the Old Testament.
Rembrandt painted the original in 1657 and it hangs in the National Gallery of Art in London.
Pastel on paper 1978
Rembrandt
ALEXANDER the GREAT, C. 1655
(or Man in Armor )
This painting together with "Aristotle with a Bust of Homer" and "Homer Dictating to a Scribe", make up the only certain extended series of paintings Rembrandt executed. Even more unusual is that the commissioner was an Italian nobleman. There is little doubt that Rembrandt was, at this time, the only Dutch artist with a truly international reputation. This fact, however seems to have had little effect on his creditors at home. In 1656, Rembrandt's long expected financial disaster finally occurred. Rembrandt held a number of sales of his personal effects and his art collection to satisfy his creditors. Nevertheless, despite these problems, some of most beautiful and moving works were executed during this trying period.
I recreated this Rembrandt in 1988. I called the Glasgow Art Gallery in Glasgow Scotland and asked them to mail me a poster of the painting which is what I used for the reproduction.
Oil on canvas 1988
Hals
THE MERRY TOPER
This is my rendition of "The Merry Toper" by Frans Hals (1581-1666). The famous artist worked in Haarlem (in Holland, not in N.Y.C.!) and is considered by many to be the best Dutch portrait painter after Rembrandt. Hals was the painter of smile and happiness. Common findings are rosey cheeks, partying, with lots of drinking going on, especially in his group portraits. His brushwork is modern and vigorous. As did many other great artists before and after him, Hals died poverty-stricken, in a workhouse. The original "Toper" is in the great Rijks museum in Amsterdam. The fake you see here hangs on my dining room wall.
Pastel on paper 1978
Vermeer
THE ALLEGORY OF PAINTING
Jan Vermeer is in the company of Rembrandt, Hals and Ruysdael as one of the great Dutch Masters and is now esteemed as one of the greatest artists who ever lived. Still, nothing certain is known of his personality, training, teachers, patronage or method of working. While Vermeer was not prolific, a very high percentage of his production has survived.
Vermeer's life and art are closely associated with the city of Delft, Holland where he was born in 1632 and lived until his death in 1675. Vermeer was a "genre" painter in which scenes from everyday life are painted in a realistic way. Vermeer usually painted common domestic scenes like a woman pouring milk or a girl reading a letter. Checkerboard floors are usually a tip-off its a Vermeer. The fascination of Vermeer's paintings, however, is not in his choice of subject but in the poetic ways his images are portrayed.
Seen here is my copy of Vermeer's "The Allegory Of Painting" from 1667, the most detailed painting I have done, with its many different materials and textured objects. The "Allegory" is one of the few allegorical (symbolic) paintings done by Vermeer, in which he attempts to elevate the status of the artist and equate the art of painting with the arts of antiquity: history, music, poetry (epic and lyric), dance, tragedy, comedy and astronomy. To do this, he "sets the stage" with the drawn curtain and portrays an artist (in a costume from a past era) painting the allegorical figure of Clio, one of the nine daughters of Zeus. In Greek Mythology, each daughter of Zeus presided over an area of art and is called a "Muse". Clio, the Muse of History, is posing with her history book, trumpet and crown of laurel symbolizing fame. Perhaps Vermeer felt history painting (depicting scenes from mythology, the Bible and allegory) should be the inspiration and source of fame to the artists as history painting was considered the highest form of painting by 17th art theorists. The elegant interior suggests the importance of painting in cultural and esthetic pursuits and the map of Holland suggests that the artist's work will enhance the fame of his city and country.
The real "Allegory" is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Oil on canvas 1984
Vermeer
THE GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Girl with a Pearl Earring is an oil painting by 17th-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. It is a tronie of a girl with a headscarf and a pearl earring. The painting has been in the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague since 1902.
The painting was originally titled Girl with a Turban and it wasn't until the second half of the twentieth century that the name was changed. It is regarded as the Mona Lisa of the North or the Dutch Mona Lisa.
The girl in the painting is believed to be Vermeer's eldest daughter, Maria, who was about twelve of thirteen-years old at the time it was created. Her facial features appear in several of Vermeer's works but his various techniques on his subject make it difficult to compare the female faces in his paintings, as the women are portrayed in different lighting conditions and poses.
The painting is a tronie, the Dutch 17th-century description of a 'head' that was not meant to be a portrait, popularized by Rembrandt. It depicts a European girl wearing an exotic dress, an oriental turban, and an improbably large pearl earring.[1] In 2014, Dutch astrophysicist Vincent Icke raised doubts about the material of the earring and argued that it looks more like polished tin than pearl on the grounds of the specular reflection, the pear shape and the large size of the earring.
The work is oil on canvas and is 44.5 cm (17.5 in) high and 39 cm (15 in) wide. It is signed "IVMeer" but not dated. It is estimated to have been painted around 1665.
After the most recent restoration of the painting in 1994, the subtle color scheme and the intimacy of the girl's gaze toward the viewer have been greatly enhanced. During the restoration, it was discovered that the dark background, today somewhat mottled, was initially intended by the painter to be a deep enamel-like green. This effect was produced by applying a thin transparent layer of paint, called a glaze, over the present-day black background. However, the two organic pigments of the green glaze, indigo and weld, have faded.
Dr. Singer's reproduction was painted in 2016 and is displayed in his office. It is faithful to the original but Dr. Singer took some license by making her a little prettier by reducing the convexity of her face and nose and giving her green eyes.
Vermeer
Life
Relatively little was known about Vermeer's life until recently. He was born in Delft Holland in 1632. He seems to have been devoted exclusively to his art, living out his life in the city of Delft. He married and had 15 children, 10 living past childhood.
Career
Vermeer's father, Reijnier began dealing in paintings around 1625. When Vermeer's father died in October 1652, Vermeer took over the operation of the family's art business.
Vermeer was a painter in the Dutch Baroque Golden Age of the 17th Century along with Rembrandt, Hals, Ruisdael, Dou, de Hooch and many others.
It is unclear where and with whom Vermeer apprenticed as a painter. Liedtke suggests that Vermeer taught himself, using information from one of his father's connections. Some scholars think that Vermeer was trained under Catholic painter Abraham Bloemaert. Vermeer's style is similar to that of some of the Utrecht Caravaggists, whose works are depicted as paintings-within-paintings in the backgrounds of several of his compositions. Caravaggio's use of chiaroscuro (use of dramatic lighting) is particularly evident in Vermeer's the Girl with a Pearl Earring.
Style
Vermeer's works are largely genre pieces and portraits or tronies, with the exception of two cityscapes and two allegories. Genre art is the pictorial representation of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, and street scenes. Tronies are portraits of a stock character in costume or with an exaggerated facial expression not intended to be a portrait of any particular person. Vermeer's subjects offer a cross-section of seventeenth-century Dutch society, ranging from the portrayal of a simple milkmaid at work, to the luxury and splendor of rich notables and merchantmen in their roomy houses. Besides these subjects, religious, poetical, musical, and scientific comments can also be found in his work.
One aspect of his meticulous painting technique was Vermeer's choice of pigments.[31] He is best known for his frequent use of the very expensive ultramarine (The Milkmaid), and also lead-tin-yellow (A Lady Writing a Letter), madder lake (Christ in the House of Martha and Mary), and vermilion. He also painted with ochres, bone black and azurite.[32] The claim that he utilized Indian yellow in Woman Holding a Balance[33] has been disproven by later pigment analysis.[34]
Legacy
Vermeer had been a respected artist in Delft, but he was almost unknown outside his hometown. A local patron named Pieter van Ruijven had purchased much of his output, which reduced the possibility of his fame spreading. Only 34 paintings are firmly attributed to him with three additional possibilities. Several factors contributed to his limited body of work. Vermeer never had any pupils, so there was no school of Vermeer. His family obligations with so many children may have taken up much of his time, as would acting as both an art-dealer and inn-keeper in running the family businesses. His time spent serving as head of the guild and his extraordinary precision as a painter may have also limited his output.
Wars and death
In December 1675, Vermeer died after a short illness. He was buried in the Protestant Old Church on 15 December 1675. In a petition to her creditors, his wife later described his death as follows:
...during the ruinous war with France he not only was unable to sell any of his art but also, to his great detriment, was left sitting with the paintings of other masters that he was dealing in. As a result and owing to the great burden of his children having no means of his own, he lapsed into such decay and decadence, which he had so taken to heart that, as if he had fallen into a frenzy, in a day and a half he went from being healthy to being dead.[26]
Fun Fact
Tracy Chevalier's novel Girl with a Pearl Earring (1999) and the film of the same name (2003) present a fictional account of Vermeer's creation of the famous painting and his relationship with the equally fictional model. The film was nominated for Oscars in cinematography, art direction, and costume design. It stars Colin Firth and Scarlet Johansson in her debut starring role. Scarlett Johansson played Griet, the girl with the pearl earring. Johansson was nominated for various awards including a Golden Globe Award[16] and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
Johannes Vermeer
Ruisdael
The Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede
This name looks like someone fell asleep at the typewriter. Actually, this is the name of the most popular painting in Holland after masterpieces by Rembrandt and Vermeer. Art historians have a simple criterion for gauging the popularity of a work of art - it's the number of postcard reproductions that are sold. In the Netherlands, not surprisingly, the best-selling art postcard is Rembrandt's "Night Watch", second is Vermeer's "View of Deift" and third is Frans Hal's "Laughing Cavalier", right?. Wrong. It's "The Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede" by Jacob van Ruisdael.
Ruisdael was the finest Dutch painter of landscape in an age when this modest genre had just been brought to the level of high art by other Dutch painters. Ruisdael may also be the greatest Dutch painter after the Rembrandt- Hals -Vermeer triumvirate. His more than 700 surviving paintings are scattered throughout the museums of the world.
Little is known of Ruisdael's life, no portraits' of him, no words of his or comments on him by his contemporaries survive. He was born in Haarlem in 1628 or 1629 to Isaack van Ruisdael, a framemaker who apparently dabbled in painting. Isaack's brother, Salomon van Ruisdael, was a noted landscapist who may have taught the young Jacob.
Characteristic of Ruisdael's landscapes are big billowing clouds which seem to change shapes and move even as you look at them. Tiny houses and windmills meticulously rendered may be crammed into the lower third of a canvas dominated by enormous gray clouds and patches of faint blue sky. These are magical pictures because Ruisdael's intentions remain ambiguous, open to many interpretations. "Nature here is conceived in its fundamental instability where everything may change at any moment and these landscapes are through their particular formal properties, symbolic of human existence".
This was my first oil painting after experimenting with small canvas acrylics and one oil stilllife, and first large scale canvas.
Oil on canvas 1982
Rena Rubenesque
Portrait of Rena Singer
In this painting, I copied Rubens' painting "The Straw Hat" but I put my wife's face in the painting. I call it "Rena Rubenesque". You can watch me doing some touchups in the video below.
The original is a painting by Peter Paul Rubens, probably painted around 1622-1625 and hangs in the Nation Gallery, London. Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish Master painter in the Baroque style who had a profound influence on the Dutch Masters to follow later in the century. He is one of the most famous, prolific, and influential artists in all of art history.
The portrait's subject has not been securely identified, but she may be Susanna Lunden, née Fourment (1599-1628), the older sister of Rubens' future second wife Helena Fourment. If the identification is correct, the portrait probably dates to the time of Susanna's marriage to her second husband, Arnold Lunden, in 1622. The ring on her finger might mean that the painting is a marriage portrait.
Rubens' portrait was engraved in 1823 by Robert Cooper (active 1795-1836). At that time, it acquired the name Le Chapeau de Paille, which incorrectly describes the hat as "straw" (paille).
Rubens traveled to Italy and Spain and was influenced by the great works of Titian, Veronese, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo. He returned to Antwerp upon his mother's death in 1608, and remained there as court painter for the Archduke of Austria, and received special privileges as both a painter and a court diplomat. In 1610, Rubens moved into the house that would become his studio, where he taught students and created most of his paintings. This house has now become the Rubenshius Museum. His most famous students, friends and collaborators were Frrans Snyders, Anthony van Dyck, and Jan Brueghel the Elder.
Throughout his life, Rubens was relied upon not only as a master painter, but one whose diplomat talents were required by many a court. Between 1627 and 1630, he traveled between England and Spain, in attempts to create a truce between the two nations. He was knighted by both the Spanish monarch, Philip V, and the English King, Charles I. Cambridge University also awarded him an honorary Master's Degree.
Four years after the death of his first wife, Rubens, who was 53 years old at the time, was married to a 16 year old named Helene Fourment, whom he used as model in many of his later paintings. His fondness for the full figured woman has since spurned the term "Rubenesque," which is still used in Dutch to refer to such women.His biblical and mythological nudes are especially well-known. Painted in the Baroque tradition of depicting women as soft-bodied, passive, and to the modern eye highly sexualized beings; his nudes emphasize the concepts of fertility, desire, physical beauty, temptation, and virtue. Skillfully rendered, these paintings of nude women are thought by feminists to have been created to sexually appeal to his largely male audience of patrons, although the female nude as an example of beauty has been a traditional motif in European art for centuries. Additionally, Rubens was quite fond of painting full-figured women, giving rise to terms like 'Rubensian' or 'Rubenesque' (sometimes 'Rubensesque').
One of the greatest triumphs of art, and most spectacular display of art in one room, is The Marie de' Medici Cycle in the Louvre in Paris. This is a series of twenty-four paintings by Peter Paul Rubens commissioned by Marie de' Medici, widow of Henry IV of France, for the Luxembourg Palace in Paris. Rubens received the commission in the autumn of 1621. After negotiating the terms of the contract in early 1622, the project was to be completed within two years, coinciding with the marriage of Marie's daughter, Henrietta Maria. Twenty-one of the paintings depict Marie's own struggles and triumphs in life. The remaining three are portraits of herself and her parents. Rubens large-scale cycle representing Marie de Medicis focuses on several classic female archetypes like the virgin, consort, wife, widow, and diplomatic regent. The inclusion of this iconography in his female portraits, along with his art depicting noblewomen of the day, serve to elevate his female portrait sitters to the status and importance of his male portrait sitters.
Rubens Painting Lesson
French Impressionism
FRENCH IMPRESSIONISM
The impressionists celebrated light and its effects, seeking to capture pure visual sensation. This was realized through such techniques as "pointillism" (tiny flecks of paint, esp. Seurát), painting of subjects at different times of day or different seasons (esp. Monet), the use of vigorous brushwork with bright colors, and the adoption of the new attitude of "art for art's sake". The impressionists often painted outdoors to capture the effects of light ("plein-aire"), while painting scenes of modern contemporary life.
It has been suggested that with the invention of photography in the 1800s, painting was forced to seek a new direction, away from the strictly representational and realistic manner of reproducing the world, to a more subjective, and personal way by the artist, as he reacted to the effects of light. Of this, no camera was capable.
Started in France by a group of avant-garde artists, Impressionism has now become the most beloved and sought after of all art styles. Of the early French impressionists, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), together with Claude Monet (the movement's two principle founders), are perhaps the best known and most highly regarded today.
Renior
DANCING AT THE MOULIN DE LA GALETTE
This is my reproduction of Renoir's "Dancing at the Moulin de la Galette" (Galette Mill). Renoir loved life, festive occasions, women and the out-doors, and celebrated these subjects in his paintings. These subjects are typical of impressionism in general which usually chose to reflect the brighter side of life.
"Dancing at the Moulin de la Galette" is one of the most successful in all of Impressionism. Many typical elements are here and in particular, many features characteristic of Renoir: the dance, the excitement in the faces, beautiful women, festivity, bright pastel colors and patches of sunlight filtering through the leaves onto the clothes (a dead-giveaway of any Renoir). Most of the figures are either models or friends of Renoir as his friend Estelle, front and center. The original was painted in 1876 and hangs in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.
Pastel on paper, 1979
Renior
THE LUNCHEON OF THE BOATING PARTY
This painting is one of the most famous, beautiful and popular paintings in the world. It has been reproduced countless times in all manner of art books, posters, films, ceramics, wine advertisements, and even jigsaw puzzles. It is a part of everyone's cultural subconscious— a world treasure. Renoir started painting The Boating Party in 1880 and completed it in 1881, 5 years after completing "Moulin de la Galette". During this period, Renoir had acquired public and critical success and made his reputation as a portrait artist.
THE SETTING
The scene is at the Restaurant Fournaise, built in 1850, on the island of Chatou, one of several islands on the Seine, 20 minutes by train from Paris. It was a popular gathering place for notable artists, writers and others.
The guests who arrived at the Restaurant Fournaise to make up Renoir's party were his friends and supporters, all connected in one way or another with Impressionism or the Impressionists. They were an interesting mix, typical of "Gay Paris" gatherings— rich, poor, bohemian, aristocratic - from all walks of life. There are actresses, writers, businessmen, bureaucrats, and even a prostitute.
Although Barbier, the man in the center with his back towards us, had little, if any appreciation of art, he was very fond of boats, women, and Renoir, and offered to do all he could to set the stage for what sounded like a delightful project. Finally, in the summer of 1880, Renoir announced he was ready. Barbier rounded up boats, models, made reservations for the terrace of the Restaurant Fournaise, and the work began on what was to become one of the crowning achievements of Impressionism.
THE PEOPLE
Aline Charigot is in the lower left with the dog. She was radiant and possessed the "Renoir look". She and Renoir started living together in 1882 and married in 1890.
The owner of the restaurant was Alphonse Fournaise, Sr., leaning on the railing behind Aline. His daughter Alphonsine leans on the railing to his left and his son Alphonse Jr. is behind her at the far end of the terrace talking to a man in the top hat.
The woman drinking wine is Agele who was a florist in Montmarte and also a prostitute.
The man in the top hat chatting with Alphonse is Charles Ephrussi. He was a banker, art historian and editor of an art journal.
Paul Lhote is in the red-banded straw hat, in the upper right. He was a close friend of Renoir, traveled widely and a frequent model. He speaks to a highly respected actress Jeane Samary who pretends not to want to hear it.
Eugene Lestrinquez, an official in the Ministry of the Interior, looks on with amusement. Lhote and Lestrinquez can be seen among the background dancers in the Moulin de la Galette.
Ellen Andree was another actress friend of Renoir's though less acclaimed than Jean Samary. She is seated at the right in the blue dress and ruffled lace collar.
Ellen is conversing with Gustave Caillebotte while the journalist in the blue striped yellow suit looks on. Caillebotte was a naval architect and amateur painter who exhibited with the Impressionists and championed their cause.
THE COMPOSITION
The Boating Party's appeal and magnetism is generated from different levels. The richness of color and texture vibrates across the entire canvas. The psychological interest in the people and their social interaction captivates us. Finally, the composition and formal design is a piece of balance and engineering that draws us into the painting. Based on classical design principles, the structure is integral to the painting but hidden. The painting is divided into four sections by 2 dividing diagonals, intersecting at Barbier's hat. Each section is balanced by the other with people and objects and use of color. Barbier's brown hat is the apex of an inverted pyramid which anchors the surrounding action and commands the eye to enter the painting.
The Boating Party is a work that not only celebrates joy, love and conviviality, but also the art of painting itself. The original Boating Party is in the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., acquired in 1923. Dr. Singer's recreation hangs on his mother's living room wall. It is 90% scale, one of the largest canvases he's done.
Oil on canvas 1993
Monet
The Garden Path, Giverney
Giverney was Monet's country estate. He created his gardens there which became the subjects of many of his late period paintings including his water lily and Japanese bridge series of paintings which are the most famous. In this scene, Monet painted the path to his home. Giverney gardens are opened to tourists to this day where one can appreciate Monet's home and gardens.
Monet 1900
Singer 2001
Oil on canvas
Monet
Palazzo da Mula, Venice
Monet's impressionistic style was well- suited to capture the shimmering effect of water which he did fabulously in his many water-themed paintings. The locations included his gardens at Giverny, at Argenteuil on the Seine River north of Paris, at Le Havre and other towns on the French Coast on the English Channel, and in Italy like this one in Venice.
(Please see Water Lilies at Giverny and Red Boats at Argenteuil in our office collection.)
Monet 1908
Singer 2001
Oil on canvas
Monet
Red Boats at Argenteuil
Claude Monet returned to France from London in 1872 and settled in Argenteuil (a town on a picturesque stretch of the Seine, eleven kilometres from central Paris), where he lived until 1876. His contemporaries Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Édouard Manet and Alfred Sisley joined him and, for a time, Argenteuil became a hub of artistic activity. It was during this time that Monet created some of his most characteristic paintings. In order to observe the effects of sunlight on water more closely, Monet often worked from a boat-turned-studio. In Argenteuil, the rust-red boats, painted in contrasting colors to the blue water and sky and the green water plants, are depicted surrounded by shimmering light - perhaps the true subject of the painting.
Monet painted the original in 1875 and it hangs in the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris. Dr. Singer's reproduction, painted in 2010, hangs in the Coral Springs office.
Oil on canvas 2010
Monet
WATER LILIES
Claude Monet (1840 - 1926) was a leading French painter of the Impressionist Movement. His "Impression - Sunrise" exhibited in 1874 gave the movement its name. Monet painted outdoors only, at different times of day and in differing atmospheric conditions in order to capture the color values of light. Monet did not outline forms in his pictures, but painted in many short strokes of color. Seen close up, his subjects are difficult to visualize but are perfectly clear when viewed from a distance. He painted many series of the same subject (Water Lilies, Waterloo Bridge, Rouen Cathedral, Haystacks) capturing the blue of dawn, the yellow-white of noon, the red of sunset and the gray of dusk.
This is my rendition of one of Monet's many water lily paintings. I painted it on 3 separate panels (tryptych), as Monet often did.
Oil on canvas 1983
Monet
WATER LILIES
Claude Monet (1840 - 1926) was a leading French painter of the Impressionist Movement. His "Impression - Sunrise" exhibited in 1874 gave the movement its name. Monet painted outdoors only, at different times of day and in differing atmospheric conditions in order to capture the color values of light. Monet did not outline forms in his pictures, but painted in many short strokes of color. Seen close up, his subjects are difficult to visualize but are perfectly clear when viewed from a distance. He painted many series of the same subject (Water Lilies, Waterloo Bridge, Rouen Cathedral, Haystacks) capturing the blue of dawn, the yellow-white of noon, the red of sunset and the gray of dusk.
This is my rendition of one of Monet's many water lily paintings. I painted it on 3 separate panels (tryptych), as Monet often did. This is the left panel of the tryptych.
Oil on canvas 1983
Monet
WATER LILIES
Claude Monet (1840 - 1926) was a leading French painter of the Impressionist Movement. His "Impression - Sunrise" exhibited in 1874 gave the movement its name. Monet painted outdoors only, at different times of day and in differing atmospheric conditions in order to capture the color values of light. Monet did not outline forms in his pictures, but painted in many short strokes of color. Seen close up, his subjects are difficult to visualize but are perfectly clear when viewed from a distance. He painted many series of the same subject (Water Lilies, Waterloo Bridge, Rouen Cathedral, Haystacks) capturing the blue of dawn, the yellow-white of noon, the red of sunset and the gray of dusk.
This is my rendition of one of Monet's many water lily paintings. I painted it on 3 separate panels (tryptych), as Monet often did. This is the center panel of the tryptych.
Oil on canvas 1983
Monet
WATER LILIES
Claude Monet (1840 - 1926) was a leading French painter of the Impressionist Movement. His "Impression - Sunrise" exhibited in 1874 gave the movement its name. Monet painted outdoors only, at different times of day and in differing atmospheric conditions in order to capture the color values of light. Monet did not outline forms in his pictures, but painted in many short strokes of color. Seen close up, his subjects are difficult to visualize but are perfectly clear when viewed from a distance. He painted many series of the same subject (Water Lilies, Waterloo Bridge, Rouen Cathedral, Haystacks) capturing the blue of dawn, the yellow-white of noon, the red of sunset and the gray of dusk.
This is my rendition of one of Monet's many water lily paintings. I painted it on 3 separate panels (tryptych), as Monet often did. This is the right panel of the tryptych.
Oil on canvas 1983
Post Impressionism
Van Gogh
Sidewalk Café at Night
1886 marked the last Impressionist exhibition in Paris and the official birth of Neoimpressionism or "Post-impressionism". One of the founders and great contributors to this movement was Vincent Van Gogh.
Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) was a Dutch painter whose tragic life and brilliant canvases have made him almost a legend. Intense, difficult, and unhappy, he spent his life searching for an emotional relief he never really found. From his deeply religious family, he inherited a desire to serve his fellow man. After disappointments in both love and religious ministry, he turned to art. His early work is dark and thickly painted, but has a massive solidity.
Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in Zundert, The Netherlands. His devoted brother Theo, an art dealer, supported him for most of his life. Under the influence of the brilliant coloring of Impressionism, Van Gogh's palette soon grew light and even gay. His brush began to form thick linear strokes, which give an unusual animation to the surfaces of his pictures. Van Gogh moved to Arles in southern France. Here he collaborated with his friend and fellow post-impressionist painter, Paul Gauguin. Their friendship became strained however and Van Gogh had severe mental disturbances. After a few months he entered the sanitarium at St. Remy. His art, now expressionistic, expressed his inner reactions to the world through turning, swirling brush strokes, thick paint, and brilliant color.
In 1890 Van Gogh was placed in the care of Dr. Gachet, a friend of many leading painters. Van Gogh committed suicide in July.
A critic of the day summarized Van Gogh this way:
Vincent Van Gogh is not thus merely a great painter, he is also a dreamer, a fanatical believer, a devourer of beautiful Utopias, living on ideas and dreams.
Van Gogh said of his style:
Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I have before my eyes, I use color more arbitrarily so as to express myself vigorously.
The key elements of the style he was developing were saturated evocative color and a vigorously calligraphic style of drawing. Hence the swirls of color Van Gogh is noted for. Sidewalk Café at Night, painted in 1888, demonstrates these qualities.
Oil on canvas 1985
Cezanne
STILL LIFE WITH BASKET OF APPLES
Paul Cézanne painted with bold brushwork and bright colors, typical of the post-impressionists (Van Gogh, Seurat, Gaugin). However, Cézanne stressed the essential architectural form and structure of all subjects in his compositions, emphasizing the fundamental shapes of the sphere, cube, and pyramid present in everyday objects.
Still-life painting was more important to Cézanne than to any of the other artists associated with Impressionism. For a painter as dedicated as he to the close and prolonged study of objects, it offered and unparalleled opportunity for formal analysis within a fixed and controlled space. The few familiar objects represented in the still lifes produced during Cézanne's last decade may belong to the traditional repertoire of the genre; but the artist ignores their visual and tactile properties in order to concentrate on their formal essence. One would never look on these apples as something to eat. But they are beautiful spheres nonetheless.
Original is in the Art Institute of Chicago
Cézanne 1890-1894
Singer 1996
Picasso
NIGHT FISHING AT ANTIBES
Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1975) was the Spanish-born painter and sculptor who is the most famous and probably the most influential artist of the 20th century.
Picasso played a major role in the development of Modern Art. His ability and imagination resulted in many styles or "periods" but it was "Cubism", which he invented in 1909 with Georges Braque for which he is most famous. Cubism had tremendous significance to Modern Art. In Cubism, a form is broken into planes and volumes and portrayed as if seen from several angles simultaneously. For example, in a person's face, you might see the full face and profile at the same time.
Around the 1930's, Picasso inclined toward "Surrealism" in paintings, which presents the world as if a dream or a place out of one's imagination. "Night Fishing At Antibes" was painted in 1939 and is surrealistic and has elements of Cubism. The copy seen here is 36" x 60". The painting is somewhat grotesque, as were many of Picasso's paintings, especially the Cubist portraits. The colors are fantastic.
Oil on canvas 1983
Paul Gauguin
STILL LIFE WITH FLOWERS
Paul Gauguin "painted and dreamed at the same time." Yet he forecasted in the last two decades of the nineteenth century, much of what is basic to twentieth-century art. Painted subjectively, from what he remembered rather than from what he saw before him, much of Gauguin's work, in its simple lines and rich color, has a "primitive" look. Indeed, his wanderer's life took him to the coast of Brittany in northwest France and to the Caribbean isle of Martinique, both far from the heartland of French culture, and eventually to the South Pacific where he ended his days in the primitive society of the Marquesas Islands.
Gauguin struggled as a young artist in Rouen and Paris France. Then he had success in Brittany where his true painting style first emerged. Then, fleeing his marriage, he developed a troubled friendship with Vincent van Gogh and they painted together in Arles in the Provence region in southern France. After a heated argument on December 23, 1988, Van Gogh cut off a part of his left ear. Gauguin left the next day and the two friends never saw each other again but they continued to correspond as friends. Then Gauguin voyaged to Tahiti and the Marquesas, where he died in 1903, one month short of his fifty-fifth birthday. Gauguin traveled far to find peace as an artist and found an art setting beyond compare in Tahiti.
Gauguin said: "What is sweeter to an artist that to make perceptible in a bunch of roses the tint of each one? Although two flowers resemble each other, can they ever be leaf by leaf the same? Why embellish things gratuitously and of set purpose By this means the true flavor of each person, flower, man, or tree disappears…..it is preferable to render it just as you see it rather than to pour your color and your design into the mold of a theory prepared in advance I your brain."
Gauguin was influenced by the French painter Odilon Redon who painted brilliant floral still lifes with the utmost attention to minute detail. Gauguin said he carried to Tahiti the memory of all Redon's works and the influence can be seen in this painting. Though the painting has Gauguin's characteristic broad brush strokes, the flowers themselves have the brightness and the contrast (and especially the opposition of red and blue) that recalls Redon's more delicate renderings. The vase is one of Gauguin's own conception, decorated with a motif found in several of his woodcuts and paintings, and the mask behind introduces a characteristic note of exotic mystery. These are subordinated to a display of bright and even acid color rare among his Tahitian works.
The original Gauguin is in the private collection of the estate of Stavros Niarchos, who was a Greek shipping tycoon of petroleum oil (1909-1996). A giclé of my recreation of Gauguin's painting hangs in the office next to Van Gogh's Sidewalk Café. Gauguin would be pleased.
Oil on Canvas, 2015
Contemporary
Nieman
STENMARK
Leroy Neiman is probably America's most popular and commercially successful artist of all time. His serigraphs have allowed many people to purchase limited editions of his paintings.
Neiman was born in 1926 and grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. When World War II erupted, he dropped out of high school and joined the Army where he found himself painting highly suggestive wall murals for the troops in the mess hall. Everybody liked them and Neiman liked doing them. So he decided to become an artist when he returned to his hometown in 1946. He studied art in St. Paul, Paris and then at the Art Institute of Chicago under the G.I. Bill.
Modern artists have been inspired by the conceptual breakthrough of the Post-impressionists, Symbolists, Expressionists and especially the masters of the School of Paris. Color and form are free to serve as symbols of how nature is working inside each artist. Neiman's colors are so intense that they are "outrageous" to the eyes of people raised on the cool, relatively subtle harmonies of the School of Paris masters.
The art of Neiman is unique and has become controversial because he has broken the barriers of many of the most hallowed assumptions of modern art history and contemporary criticism. This is due mostly to the fact that he had the "Audacity" to merge the semi-sacred contemporary and colorful Abstract painting ("Action Painting") with traditional figurative painting ("Antiquated") of people and traditional Social Realism or "Genre" painting - the painting of life's daily events. Few "important" painters of the 20th Century have engaged in narrative (story-telling) picture painting since Cubism fragmented and then shattered the human figure until nothing was left to relate to except the nonúfigurative elements of an abstract composition. So it has been difficult (psychologically) for some critics to consider figure painters (painters of people) "important" no matter how good they may be. However, studies have shown that only about 1% of the American people are able to appreciate non-figurative painting. One reason why some artists from Picasso to Neiman have insisted on the use of the human figure is so that the general public can understand what they're doing. One of the tragedies of The Modern Tradition is that so few people have been able to understand and appreciate it. It is unprecedented in the history of art for a society to be so disconnected from the inspiration of the greatest artist of the time. Neiman has helped change that for 20th Century art lovers.
Neiman is best known and most admired as an artist who specializes in sporting events and sports figures. He was the Official Artist of the 1980 Olympic Games.
This is my reproduction of Neiman's painting of Swedish skiing legend, Ingmar Stenmark, at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York. It was one of Stenmark's last races.
Oil on Canvas, 1988
Behrens
VARENNA VILLA
Howard Behrens was born in Chicago in 1933. He has been a resident of the Washington, DC area for over 60 years. He holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Fine Art from the University of Maryland.
Behrens paints with a palette knife. His skill with this instrument has earned him recognition as the undisputed leader of American palette knife artists. The masters Monet and Van Gogh, and the Italian palette knife artist, Nicola Simbari, influenced him.
Behrens' works have graced the cover of most art publications, and he has been the subject of numerous feature stories in magazines and newspapers. After a trip to Giverny, France in 2001- he completed an entire series as "Tribute to Monet" that was exhibited in the Embassy of France. As one of the official artists for the Winter Olympics 2002, his painting, "In Motion" was featured at the Winter Games. Numerous celebrities collect Behrens' works, and they are in the permanent collection of many museums.
Behrens' motivation comes from his strong passion to capture the "essence" of the places he visits around the world as a passionate global traveler. The subjects for his paintings are the beautiful photogenic locations, usually waterfront, of Greece, France, Italy, Hawaii, the Caribbean, Bermuda, Florida and California.
His works are published and distributed worldwide as limited-edition serigraphs and giclees, and open edition posters. These Behrens reproductions are commonly found in many art and frame shops and seen in many businesses and commercial establishments to decorate their office space.
The Coral Springs Museum of Art hosted a Behrens exhibit June 8-August 24, 2002. Mr. Behrens personally appeared and taught a palette knife painting lesson, unfortunately, I missed it. But I did not miss the exhibit and seeing many of his paintings together "live" was spectacular. 34 oil paintings were for sale. The range in price was $5,000 for the smallest, an 18 by 18 inch "Near Nice" while the "Lily Garden" at 44 by 60 inches was listed for $32,000.
I bought the book "Romance With The Sun" at the Coral Springs exhibition. I chose "Varenna Villa", one of the featured paintings in the book, to reproduce and use as a mural for a "window seat view" for our "resort lobby" reception area in our office. We also used several other waterfront promenade paintings in the book as the inspiration for the giant mural in the open treatment bay.
Singer reproduction of Behrens "Varenna Villa"
Oil on canvas mounted on drywall, 2006
Early Works and Original Paintings by Dr. Singer
Constable
WIVENHOE PARK, ESSEX
John Constable, was born June 11, 1776 in Suffolk, England. He stands beside Gainsborough and Turner as one of Britain's greatest painters. A remarkable portraitist and maker of "conversation pieces", his real dedication was to nature, which he believed offered compositions far more beautiful than any he could arrange in a studio. His rapid, accurate, and exquisite oil sketches made in the open air and his manner of handling paint have been said to anticipate the Impressionists.
During his lifetime, Constable was in the peculiar position of being widely appreciated in France and all but ignored at home. When shown at the Louvre and in Lille, his paintings were awarded gold medals. Dealers came from France not only to buy but to commission paintings. Yet in England, Constable struggled for years before gaining full membership in the Royal Academy; it was not until he was fifty-three years old that he won the mark of official recognition that was so crucial for success, both critical and financial.
Constable painted Wivenhoe Park for the owners, the Rebows, members of the British squirearchy. Constable painted portraits of the general and his family; they then wanted a record of their country seat. The English estate shows meadows with clumps of trees, a rippling lake with swans and fishermen netting their catch, the glimpse in the distance of a rose-colored house, neither too large nor too small. All seem to suggest an ideal rural existence.
The original was painted in 1816 and hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington. I painted this reproduction in 1988.
Oil on Canvas, 1988
Singer
Karli at 3 & 3/4
This is my portrait of my daughter Karli at 3-3/4 (3 years and 9 months). I painted this from a photograph I took of her at the Miami Grand Prix in 1992. Karli and the car appear as in the photograph. The grandstand, race track and trophy were my added elements ("artistic license") to make it appear as though Karli just won the big race, posing in the winner's circle. Karli herself painted the "K" on the car.
Oil on Canvas 1999
Singer
The First Flight
This is my painting of one of the most famous and most reproduced photographs of all time. Probably nowhere else in the annals of scientific achievement has the singular moment of achievement been so documented as in the photograph of Orville Wright's take-off of man's first successful powered flight on December 17, 1903 at 10:35 a.m. on the Dunes of Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.
I had never seen a painting based on the photograph, although I had seen paintings depicting fictional scenes of the flight and other flights of the Wright Brothers. Therefore, I chose to paint the original photographed scene albeit in an impressionistic style for color and interest.
I had the opportunity to go to Kitty Hawk for the Centennial Celebration of Flight, December 13-17, 2003. The admission ticket and National Park museum seal of December 17, 2003, the centennial day, is pasted to the bottom right corner of the painting, memorializing the 12 seconds that changed the world.
Oil on canvas 2003