Piquant Paint

“While evocative of the aspirations of past immigrant populations on both sides of the bridge, the gold is used in an ephemeral way, in time worn away by the foot traffic of the daily commute. Made with the materials of urban monumentality, the work is integrated into the daily experience of the pedestrians and cyclists who use the bridge." 

Guiseppe Castiglione (Lang Shining)

Inauguration Portrait of Emperor Qianlong and 11 Imperial Consorts

China/Italy (1736)

Handscroll, ink and color on silk; 53.8 cm. x 1154.5 cm.

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Almost from its inception in 1534, the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits, sent missionaries to the Far East. Unlike other European religious orders, the Jesuits sought to gain influence and, consequently, converts by introducing specialized Western knowledge to the elites in the regions they visited. By the late seventeenth century, Jesuits trained in technical fields as diverse as hydraulics, astronomy, and cartography were resident in Beijing and serving the emperor.

At the same time, the society sent other members like Giuseppe Castiglione who affected the training and style of artists and artisans at court. Castiglione, a Jesuit born in Milan and trained in European painting techniques, proved influential and painted for three different Chinese emperors. Epitomizing Jesuit attitudes, Castiglione not only taught Western methods of perspective and chiaroscuro to his Chinese pupils but also studied his students’ traditional watercolor techniques, eventually achieving his own synthetic style combining the two.

The French poet and painter Henri Michaux coined the term apparitions for his frottages: images that are dictated by chance as much as by choice and that emerge onto the surface of the paper. A favored technique among surrealist draftsmen, frottage continued to be explored throughout the twentieth century and remains an experimental practice in studios today.

Do Ho Suh. Rubbing/Loving Project: Metal Jacket, 2014. Colored pencil on mulberry paper. 85.5 x 69 in. (217.2 x 175.3 cm). ©Do Ho Suh. Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong.

“I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say ‘he feels deeply, he feels tenderly.” –Vincent Van Gogh, born on this day in 1853

Women Artists Visibility Event: The Museum of Modern Art opens but not to women artists, NYC on June 14, 1984 Shot by Clarissa Sligh

Despite the increased visibility of women artists by 1984, most were not included in mainstream gallery or museum exhibitions. When the Museum Of Modern Art opened the exhibition the “International Survey of Painting and Sculpture,” with great fan fare, of the 169 artists chosen, all were white and less than 10 percent were women.

Women artists were incensed. The Women’s Caucus for Art and other women’s groups in the area organized to protest the underrepresentation of women artists.

Evening Gown

Jacques Doucet, 1898-1900

Women of the Bauhaus and their textiles

Wangechi Mutu Takes On Transmutation As a New Form of Existentialism

On the eve of Wangechi Mutu’s solo show, ‘Nguva na Nyoka’ (Sirens and Serpents) opening this October 14 2014 at London’s Victoria Miro gallery, the artist shared candid thoughts and insights on her latest body of work with Another Africa’s Joyce Bidouzo-Coudray much like what inspired her to delve into Kenya’s rich folkloric mythologies:

"The fact that women have this option to turn into these myths, these powerful, indefinable creatures – especially in a place like the coast of Kenya where the traditionally patriarchal cultures of the African Mijikenda tribes prevail – is such a testament to all the possibilities of what a woman can do in a place where she is not actually permitted to do much. That is completely inspiring to me also as an artist. So that is why I dug into it."

Wangechi Mutu

Source | anotherafrica.net

[© Wangechi Mutu. Even, 2014. ]

Image courtesy of Wangechi Mutu and Victoria Miro, London.