Today's postings
- [Baren 32423] Fwd: Japanese prints (ArtfulCarol # aol.com)
- [Baren 32424] Re: Happy Holidays: Thousand-Hand Guanyin (Nancy Osadchuk)
- [Baren 32425] Re: excitement - Davidson Galleries (Julio.Rodriguez # walgreens.com)
- [Baren 32426] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)
- [Baren 32427] help for dogs (L Cass)
This is very interesting, from _robert@theodigitalgallery.com_
(mailto:robert@theodigitalgallery.com) , Robert Genn
Carol Lyons
>Japanese prints
>
>December 12, 2006
>
>Dear Carol,
>
>It's raining in Paris. The open-air book and print kiosks along
>the Right Bank of the Seine are clothed in plastic sheeting,
>their owners huddled in overcoats. They smoke soggy cigarettes,
>pull down their caps and complain to their neighbors how the
>weather is ruining the business. Notre Dame Cathedral rises up
>behind, a grey eminence, as if it has always been there.
>Through the streaming droplets I'm looking at contemporary
>Japanese woodblock prints, clothes-pegged alongside inexpensive
>shrink-wrapped reproductions of Hiroshige, Hokusai and Utamaro.
>At one time, on this exact pavement, the likes of Van Gogh,
>Bonnard, Degas, Cassatt and Toulouse-Lautrec would have
>examined these same images. Here are some of the
>characteristics they might certainly have noticed:
>
>Gradations in large areas with intermediate tones
>Integrated forms with implied borders
>Stylized, neutralized and formulized expressions
>Beguiling combinations of curved and straight lines
>Dynamic and slow-fast-slow nature of some curves
>Two-dimensional patterns within three-dimensional forms
>Plain, formalized and controlled perspective
>Use of solid black for strong contrast
>Pattern gradations on particular fabrics
>Hard-won gradations for sensitive areas such as hairlines
>Pictorial attention to ordinary domestic scenes
>Decentralized or off-picture subject placement
>
>I've asked Andrew to illustrate some of these characteristics
>in the current clickback. See URL below.
>
>The early Impressionists would also have understood the origins
>of this art form. At first there was Japanese painting with its
>characteristic Sumi-e brushwork, and its "first stroke right
>on--no going back" limitation. Then there was the translation
>of this freehand skill into the stubborn resistance of the wood
>block. So that the fine lines on the key blocks would stand up
>in relief to take the printer's ink, the incising had to be
>made carefully around and up to the lines. The adaptation from
>one form to another presented special problems and invited
>special solutions. The early Impressionists would have seen
>that technical awkwardness, while frustrating and demanding,
>often becomes the generator of a new way not only of making art
>but of looking at things. Forcing one art form to become
>another opens new opportunities for invention.
>
>Best regards,
>
>Robert
>
>PS: "This day I have found something wonderful that I shall
>surely copy." (Vincent van Gogh)
Very impressive and enjoyable! Thanks for sharing.
Nancy O
Barbara,
Congratulations.....love your solar plate prints.....I get a monthly
newsletter from the Seattle Art Dealers with all the upcoming shows and
introductions by the area's galleries....I just checked and the December
06 one features under Davidson Gallery works by Michael Barnes and Eunice
Kim.....here's hoping we
will see your prints mentioned in the next month's newsletter....
Julio Rodriguez
In an attempt to mail out my remaining dogs before 2007 and because
I'm dreadfully disorganized could the
following bareners please let me know if they've received my dogs or not?!
Robert Simola
Anna Huskey
Carole Baker
Bridget Pilip
Sharon Van Ruiswyk
Sarah Hauser
thanks
Louise Cass
www.lcassart.com