paintings and icons

◄	PAINTINGS AND ICONS

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René François Ghislain Magritte (21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images that fall under the umbrella of surrealism. His work is known for challenging observers' preconditioned perceptions of reality. Magritte's earliest paintings, which date from about 1915, were Impressionistic in style. From 1916 to 1918, he studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, under Constant Montald, but found the instruction uninspiring. The paintings he produced during the years 1918–1924 were influenced by Futurism and by the figurative Cubism of Metzinger.

The Human Condition displays an easel placed inside a room and in front of a window. The easel holds an unframed painting of a landscape that seems in every detail contiguous with the
landscape seen outside the window.

At first, one automatically assumes that the painting on the easel depicts the portion of the landscape outside the window that it hides from view. After a moment's consideration, however, one realizes that this assumption is based upon a false premise: that is, that the imagery of Magritte's painting is real, while the painting on the easel is a representation of that reality.

In fact, there is no difference between them. Both are part of the same painting, the same
artistic fabrication. It is perhaps to this repeating cycle, in which the viewer, even against his will, sees the one as real and the other as representation, that Magritte's title makes reference.

The Treachery of Images displays Magritte’s attempt to have the viewer question their reality. The painting portrays a large single pipe, and at the bottom of the painting, in French, states “This is not a pipe.” Magritte’s point is simple: the painting is not a pipe; it is an Image of a pipe. An anecdotal story is that when Magritte was asked if the painting was a pipe, he replied that of course it is not a pipe, and suggested that they try to stuff it with tobacco. He used the same technique in a painting of an apple, portraying a large green apple, with the line “This is not an apple.

David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer. He lives in Yorkshire, and Kensington, London. Hockney lived on and off for over 30 years in California. An important contributor to the Pop art movement (*) of the 1960s and he is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century. "I'd first visited Vichy in, I think, 1968 It's a very pretty town with a park in the middle, a kind of formal garden, and they use this false perspective of trees to make it look longer than it really is. And I thought, it's marvellous, the whole thing is like a sculpture "

Niko Pirosmani gradually taught himself to paint. One of his specialties was painting directly into black oilcloth. His paintings were represented at the first big exhibition of Georgian painters in 1918. From 1920th few articles were published about him in Georgian periodical press. Interest in Pirosmani increased in 1950's after many books were published in Georgia, Russia and other countries. Biographical film and plays were created, musical compositions were composed. His paintings were exhibited in distant countries, like the Soviet Union and Western Europe

An icon (from Greek εἰκών eikōn "image") is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches. More broadly the term is used in a wide number of contexts for an image, picture, or representation; it is a sign or likeness that stands for an object by signifying or representing it either concretely or by analogy, as in semiotics (meaning making).

Pskov, together with Nizhny-Novgorod, is the true heart of the Russian art, the two central cities in history of the Russia Orthodox church. There are as many gold dome-shaped tops as there are churches and chapels and people. Christianity flourished after the long time persecuted sect get firm ground in Byzantium in 313, because it was promoted to a state-religion. From there, faith and Scripture texts were propagated along Europe. The highest level of iconography was to copy Grecian-Byzantine original as true as possible, in stead to create art.

The Hospitality of Abraham (Old Testament Trinity), Pskov Museum. First half of the 16th century ->

More masterpieces (from Renaissance to 21st century)

Bazille's Studio allows a glimpse of the relationships and intimacy uniting these precursor artists ->

Edward Hopper (born July 22, 1882, Nyack, N.Y., U.S.—died May 15, 1967, New York City) American painter whose realistic depictions of everyday urban scenes shock the viewer into recognition of the strangeness of familiar surroundings. He strongly influenced the Pop art and New Realist painters of
the 1960s and 1970s.

Hopper was initially trained as an illustrator, but, between 1901 and 1906, he studied painting under Robert Henri, a member of a group of painters called the Ashcan School (*)

(*) Ashcan School, group of American realist painters based in New York City in the early 20th century. The group’s most prominent figures were known as “The Eight.”

(*) Pop art presented a challenge to traditions of fine art by including imagery from popular culture such as advertising, news, etc. In pop art, material is sometimes visually removed from its known context, isolated, and/or combined with unrelated material.The concept of pop art refers not as much to the art itself as to the attitudes that led to it.