Tag Archives: self portrait

Day 359- Paul Duhem- Locked Doors

It’s Day 359 and it’s Christmas Day!  Merry Christmas to you all.  I had a great time doing today’s piece and now I have to cook a bunch of food for my husband, brother and myself and try to have a nice relaxing day.  Please join me in honoring Paul Duhem today!  I wanted to honor his style, but also honor today’s holiday. 🙂

Paul Duhem

Paul Duhem

Paul Duhem

Paul Duhem

Paul Duhem was born in Blandain, Belgium. He left school at 14 and worked as a farmhand for various agricultural concerns. During the Second World War he went to Germany, where he laid rails for the railways. Going to France at the end of the war, he was arrested for his collaboration with the Germans. But not being in full possession of all his faculties, he was transferred from prison to a psychiatric hospital before being employed as a labourer in farms in the region.

In 1977 he was admitted to a home where he did horticulture. Twelve years later, at the age of 70, Paul Duhem started to draw within the framework of a

Paul Duhem

Paul Duhem

workshop. He devoted himself to this activity, continuing until he died.

The human figure is a recurrent motif in his compositions. He drew the same face, which can be interpreted as a self-portrait, over and over again in an obsessive manner, declining it in series, introducing subtle variations in shape, rhythm and color.

Biography above is from Art Brut.com’s website.

Paul Duhem had been institutionalized for more than 40 years and was well into his seventies when he established a grueling quota for himself. He made up his mind that he wanted to produce six artworks a day, every day, for the remainder

Paul Duhem

Paul Duhem

of his life. Each morning after taking breakfast at a hospital for mental patients in southern Belgium, he brought out his crayons and jars of paint and crayons and, in the three or four hours before lunch, produced three new drawings. Then, in the hours between lunch time and dinner, he turned out three more works. Duhem’s subjects mostly took just two forms — a sad-eyed homme whom everybody understood to be Paul himself, and also the locked doors that he encountered everywhere in the mental institution.

Duhem was born in Blandain, a farming region. Because his parents were too poor to care for all their children, he was mostly

Paul Duhem

Paul Duhem

raised by grandparents. He attended school until his fourteenth year, and then left to work on a farm. Duhem was serving in the Belgium Army during World War II when, after being wounded and suffering shell shock, he was taken captive and held for two years in a German concentration camp.

Duhem finally resumed the life of a farmhand, but the war and prison years had taken a toll on his mentalstability. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, he was admitted to a mental institution in 1977. Because of his years as a farm worker, Duhem was given assignments as a gardener and groundskeeper at the institution.

Paul Duhem

Paul Duhem

In 1990, after beginning to show fragility of health, he was retired as a day worker. Soon after, he started producing colored drawings, at first turning out works with a variety of subjects, including birds, floral still-lifes and windmills, and then gradually limited his art to his own visage and the locked doors. He was 81 when he died in the summer of 1999.

Duhem’s work is widely admired art brut enthusiasts today, and is to be found

Paul Duhem

Paul Duhem

in nearly every significant museum collection of art brut in Europe. A large Paul Duhem museum show was presented in Brussels in 2001. The show then traveled to museums in France and The Netherlands.

Biography is from Dean Jensen Gallery’s website.
I hope you enjoy my piece today!  I had a great time painting it.  I will see you tomorrow on Day 360.  Then only 5 paintings left.  I can hardly believe it.
Best,
Linda
Santa- Tribute to Paul Duhem Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic on Canvas

Santa- Tribute to Paul Duhem
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic on Canvas

Side-View Santa- Tribute to Paul Duhem Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic on Canvas

Side-View
Santa- Tribute to Paul Duhem
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic on Canvas

Close-Up 1 Santa- Tribute to Paul Duhem Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic on Canvas

Close-Up 1
Santa- Tribute to Paul Duhem
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic on Canvas

Close-Up 2 Santa- Tribute to Paul Duhem Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic on Canvas

Close-Up 2
Santa- Tribute to Paul Duhem
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic on Canvas

Close-Up 3 Santa- Tribute to Paul Duhem Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic on Canvas

Close-Up 3
Santa- Tribute to Paul Duhem
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic on Canvas

Day 293- Valentin Serov- Carried Away by the Human Face

It’s Day 293 and I fell in love with today’s artist.  I started it last night because I knew it would take a little longer.  My piece didn’t turn out exactly like the artist’s work, but I think I captured his style and I did use his paintings as constant inspiration. 🙂  Join me in honoring Valentin Serov today! PS He has a planet named after him, a minor one…but still!

Valentin Serov

Valentin Serov

Portrait of Anna Benois- Valentin Serov

Portrait of Anna Benois- Valentin Serov

Valentin Alexandrovich Serov (Russian: Валенти́н Алекса́ндрович Серо́в; January 19, 1865 – December 5, 1911) was a Russian painter, and one of the premier portrait artists of his era.

Serov was born in St. Petersburg, son of the Russian composer Alexander Serov, and his wife Valentina Bergman, a composer of German-Jewish background. In his childhood he studied in

Portrait of Ida Rubinstein- Valentin Serov

Portrait of Ida Rubinstein- Valentin Serov

Paris and Moscow under Ilya Repin and in the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (1880–1885) under Pavel Chistyakov. Serov’s early creativity was sparked by the realistic art of Repin and strict pedagogical system of Chistyakov.

Further influences on Serov were the old master paintings he viewed in the museums of Russia and Western Europe, friendships with Mikhail Vrubel and (later) Konstantin Korovin, and the creative atmosphere of theAbramtsevo Colony, to which he was closely connected.

The greatest works of Serov’s early period were portraits: The Girl with Peaches (1887), and The Girl Covered by the Sun (1888), both in the Tretyakov Gallery. In these paintings Serov concentrated on spontaneity of perception of the model and nature. In the development of light and color, the complex harmony of reflections, the sense of atmospheric saturation, and the fresh picturesque perception of the world, there appeared the features of early Russian impressionism.

Portrait of Helena Ivanovna Roerich- Valentin Serov

Portrait of Helena Ivanovna Roerich- Valentin Serov

From 1890 on, the portrait became the basic genre in Serov’s art. It was in this field that his early style would become apparent, the paintings notable for the psychologically pointed characteristics of his subjects. Serov’s favorite models were actors, artists, and writers (Konstantin Korovin, 1891, Isaac Levitan, 1893, Nikolai Leskov, 1894, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, 1898, – all in the Tretyakov gallery).

Initially abstaining from the polychromatic, brightly colored painting style of the 1880s, Serov often preferred a dominant scale of black-grey or brown tones. Impressionistic features appeared sometimes in composite construction of a portrait, or to capture a sense of spontaneous movement.

As in the work of his contemporaries John Singer Sargent and Anders Zorn, the impressionism is

Portrait of Pobedonostsev- Valentin Serov

Portrait of Pobedonostsev- Valentin Serov

not doctrinaire, but derives as much from the study of Hals and Velázquez as from modern theory. Receiving wide popularity, in 1894 Serov joined with the Peredvizhniki (The Itinerants), and took on important commissions, among them portraits of grand duke Pavel Alexandrovich, (1897, Tretyakov Gallery), S.M. Botkin, 1899, and F.F. Yusupova, 1903 as well as Princess Olga Orlova (these in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg).

In these truthful, compositionally skillful, and picturesque executions in the grand manner, Serov consistently used linear-rhythmic drawing coupled with decorative color combinations.

Child Portrait- Valentin Serov

Child Portrait- Valentin Serov

At the same time, he developed a contrasting direction: he frequently produced intimate, heartfelt, chamber portraits, mainly of children and women. In portraits of children Serov aspired to capture pose and gesture, to reveal and emphasize a spontaneity of internal movement, sincere cleanliness and clearness of attitude of the child (Children, 1899, Russian Museum; Mika Morozov, 1901, Tretyakov gallery).

Serov frequently called upon various graphic techniques – watercolors, pastels, lithographs and so forth. Figures in Serov’s portraits gradually became more and more graphically refined and economical, particularly during the late period (Vasily Kachalov, 1908, Tamara Karsavina, 1909; numerous figures from Ivan Krylov’s fables, 1895–1911). From 1890 to 1900 Serov produced many landscape compositions on country themes, in which the artistic direction took a romantic turn.

Serov married Olga Trubnikova in 1887. His wife and his children were the subject of many of

Portrait of Maria Botkina- Valentin Serov

Portrait of Maria Botkina- Valentin Serov

his works. Notably, his painting “Children” was of his sons Yura and Sasha.

During his late period, which began in 1900, Serov was a member of “The World of art”, an influential Russian art association and magazine which grew, in part, out of dissatisfaction with the Itinerants movement. At the start of the 20th century, Serov was at a stylistic turning point: features of impressionism disappeared from his work, and his modernistic style developed, but the characteristic truthful and realistic comprehension of the nature of his subjects remained constant. In the early 20th century Serov created heroic portrait images; within the genre of the fashionable portrait, Serov focused on the dramatic depiction of creative artists, writers, actors, and musicians of import:Maxim Gorki’s portraits (1904), A.M. Gorki’s museum, Moscow; Maria Yermolova (1905), Feodor Chaliapin (charcoal, 1905) – both in the Tretyakov Gallery.

Self-Portrait- Valentin Serov

Self-Portrait- Valentin Serov

Serov’s democratic beliefs were clearly shown during the Revolution from 1905 to 1907: he depicted a number of satirical figures exposing chastisers. A full member of theSt.Petersburg Academy of Arts since 1903, in 1905 he resigned as a gesture of protest against the execution of striking workers and their families on January 9, Bloody Sunday. His late creativity found expression in historical painting (Peter II departure and Empress Elizabeth Petrovna on hunting, 1900, Russian Museum), and depth of comprehension of the historical maintenance of an epoch (Peter I, distemper, 1907, Tretyakov Gallery).

The last years of Serov’s life were marked by works on themes from classical mythology. While addressing images from the ancient tradition, Serov endowed classical subject matter with a personal interpretation.

Valentin died in Moscow on December 5, 1911. He is buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

The best works of Serov are among the greatest of Russian realistic art. He taught in the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture from 1897 to 1909), and among his students were Pavel Kuznetsov, N. N. Sapunov, Martiros Saryan, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, N.P. Ulyanov, and Konstantin Yuon.

A minor planet 3547 Serov, discovered by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravlyova in 1978 is named after him.

Biography is from wikipedia.

Any human face is so complex and so unique that you can always find in it traits worthy of portrayal be they good or bad. For my part, each time I appraise a person’s face I am inspired, you might even say carried away, not by his or her outer aspect which is trivial, but by the characterization it can be given on canvas.~ Valentin Serov

I hope you like my self portrait I did in tribute to Serov today!  I love his style.  I did my best with the time I had!  I will see you tomorrow on Day 294.

Best,

Linda

Self-Portrait- Tribute to Valentin Servo Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic on Canvas

Self-Portrait- Tribute to Valentin Serov
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic on Canvas

Side-View Self-Portrait- Tribute to Valentin Servo Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic on Canvas

Side-View
Self-Portrait- Tribute to Valentin Serov
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic on Canvas

Close-Up 1 Self-Portrait- Tribute to Valentin Servo Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic on Canvas

Close-Up 1
Self-Portrait- Tribute to Valentin Serov
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic on Canvas

Close-Up 2 Self-Portrait- Tribute to Valentin Servo Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic on Canvas

Close-Up 2
Self-Portrait- Tribute to Valentin Serov
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic on Canvas

Close-Up 3 Self-Portrait- Tribute to Valentin Servo Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic on Canvas

Close-Up 3
Self-Portrait- Tribute to Valentin Serov
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic on Canvas

 

 

Day 223- Frida Kahlo- Painting her own Reality

It’s Day 223 and I actually prepared last night for today’s piece.  I haven’t done that for a while because of intimidation.  But I did it today!  And I think I did a good job.  Join me in honoring the amazing Frida Kahlo today!

Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo

Roots- Frida Kahlo

Roots- Frida Kahlo

Born in 1906, in Coyoacan, Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter, who is most well known for the self portraiture work which she created during her career. The intense vibrant colors, the “pain and passion,” and the intensity, were some of the key features which marked the works which she created. In Mexico, her work has been celebrated for the emblematic, as well as the indigenous tradition; it has also been celebrated by feminists, due to the fact that she painted the female form, which was something that was not common during the period she lived.

The work which Frida Kahlo created, has been coined as being traditional of the figures

Self Portrait Dedicated to Dr. Eloesser- Frida Kahlo

Self Portrait Dedicated to Dr. Eloesser- Frida Kahlo

in Mexican culture, and has also been labeled as surrealist work. This was mainly because of the fact that her art work took a traditional image (of the female form), yet she conformed it to distort the traditional style of portraiture work. She would create features on the face which were larger than proportionate sizes, she would use distinct colors to capture emotion, and she would use descriptive, thick brush strokes, all of which stepped outside of the norm, with self portraiture work.

Self-Portrait with a Monkey- Frida Kahlo

Self-Portrait with a Monkey- Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo suffered from many illnesses in her childhood years. A traffic accident she was involved in during her teenage years, also served as a base for many of her health problems, and these ailments were described through the work she created. As the youngest of four children, she was a survivor of polio, and did not intend on becoming an artist until an older age. At the age of 18, she was involved in the car accident, and had to spend one year in a hospital bed, recovering from the injuries to her pelvis, collar bone, shoulder, and foot injuries. Over her lifetime, she underwent over 30 surgeries, and to help distract her from the pain and suffering, she turned to painting.

In the paintings and self portraiture work which Frida Kahlo created, she incorporated a deliberate naivety in the art forms, and she also drew on Mexican folk art, to create the distinct form and artistic style she was known for. At the age of 22, she married Diego Rivera, who was a famous Mexican muralist, and 20 years her senior. This was a marriage that was full of turmoil, infidelity, struggles in their career paths, and a number of additional hurdles the couple overcame while married. She claims to have suffered two major accidents in her life; the car accident which injured her physically, and the marriage which injured her emotionally.

During her career, Frida Kahlo composed more than 200 pieces of art; this included paintings, sketches, and drawings, all of which were

Self Portrait with Necklace of Thorns- Frida Kahlo

Self Portrait with Necklace of Thorns- Frida Kahlo

related to her personal life, and the physical and emotional turbulence which she experienced. Out of the 143 paintings which she created, a total of 55 of these were self portraits. And, when people in the art world asked why she painted so many self portraits, her response was that she was often alone, and was the subject which she knew best.

The Broken Column- Frida Kahlo

The Broken Column- Frida Kahlo

In 1953, Frida Kahlo had her first solo exhibit which presented her art work to many visitors. One observer noted that it was impossible to distinguish her personal life from her work, and that her art served as a biography of her life. Due to poor health at the time, Frida’s doctor told her she would not be able to attend, due to the fact that he wanted her to remain under bed rest. But, she insisted on being at the opening, and was transported in her bed by ambulance, and was carried in to the exhibit, to meet the greeting public who was present.

Both Frida Kahlo and her husband Diego were active members in the Mexican Communist party; in 1954 she attended her last rally, and soon after, on July 17 of the same year, passed away at the age of 47. The day following her death, mourners of the famous artist’s work gathered at the crematorium, to witness her cremation. Her ashes were eventually placed at the “Blue House” which she shared with her husband. One year following her death, Diego Rivera gave the home to the Mexican government, to serve as a museum where visitors and her fans could pay tribute to the work she created, and to her short lived life.

After her death, the popularity of the portraiture work she had created during her career, became extremely desirable pieces of art for

The Wounded Deer- Frida Kahlo

The Wounded Deer- Frida Kahlo

collectors. Today, over a half century after her death, the art work which she created, brings in a higher value than any other female artist has ever earned. And, many of the works which she created, have been replicated in print, to sell to collectors, and to be displayed in museums and art exhibits.

Her home, which was passed over to the Mexican government, is now known as the Museo Frida Kahlo (the museum of Frida Kahlo). Visitors can see all of her personal effects which are left behind in the home, and the urn which carries her ashes are also on display in the home. Many of the pieces that are still in the home, seem to have been left the way they were when the couple lived in the home, and visitors describe it as being with her, and feeling her presence, when visiting the museum.

Although Frida had a very short, and troubling life, she was able to capture a magnificent audience, with the art work which she created during the course of this

Reference photo...

Reference photo…

short life. Described as her biography in art form, the self portraiture work created by her, showcases a troubled woman, and the difficult life she lived. And, today, she is still known as one of the most famous female artists in history, and sells more pieces (for more money), than any other female artist throughout history.

Biography is from www.fridakahlo.org.

Starting to sketch...

Starting to sketch…

I was very nervous about today’s painting.  I think I did a good job, but I definitely would’ve done things a little differently now that I finished the piece.  I think it’s a matter of materials…again acrylics/watercolors vs. oils.  I also think my lines are a little harder than hers.  I’m still happy with it though!  I hope you enjoy it and I’ll see you tomorrow on Day 224.

Best,

Linda

“I don’t paint dreams or nightmares, I paint my own reality.”

“I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it’s true I’m here, and I’m just as strange as you.”

― Frida Kahlo

Self Portrait with Lexi- Tribute to Frida Kahlo Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic/Watercolor on Canvas

Self Portrait with Lexi- Tribute to Frida Kahlo
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic/Watercolor on Canvas

Side-View Self Portrait with Lexi- Tribute to Frida Kahlo Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic/Watercolor on Canvas

Side-View
Self Portrait with Lexi- Tribute to Frida Kahlo
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic/Watercolor on Canvas

Close-Up 1 Self Portrait with Lexi- Tribute to Frida Kahlo Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic/Watercolor on Canvas

Close-Up 1
Self Portrait with Lexi- Tribute to Frida Kahlo
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic/Watercolor on Canvas

Close-Up 2 Self Portrait with Lexi- Tribute to Frida Kahlo Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic/Watercolor on Canvas

Close-Up 2
Self Portrait with Lexi- Tribute to Frida Kahlo
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic/Watercolor on Canvas

Close-Up 3 Self Portrait with Lexi- Tribute to Frida Kahlo Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic/Watercolor on Canvas

Close-Up 3
Self Portrait with Lexi- Tribute to Frida Kahlo
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic/Watercolor on Canvas

Day 222- Francesco Clemente- Many Faces

It’s Day 222 and I loved painting today’s piece.  I was a little intimidated at first because I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do, but once I figured out a concept I got excited.  Please join me in honoring Francesco Clemente today!  I just absolutely love this man’s artwork!

Francesco Clemente 1984

Fire- Francesco Clemente

Fire- Francesco Clemente

Francesco Clemente (born in Naples March 23, 1952) is an Italian contemporary artist. His work is influenced by thinkers as diverse as Gregory Bateson, William Blake, Allen Ginsberg, and J Krishnamurti. Dividing his time between New York and Varanasi, India, Clemente has adopted for his paintings a vast variety of supports and mediums, exploring, discarding, and returning to oil paint, watercolor, pastel, and printmaking. His work develops in a non-linear mode, expanding and contracting in a fragmentary way, not defined by a style, but rather by his recording of the fluctuations of the self.

Clemente’s work spans four decades. His work is stylistically varied, inclusive, erotic,

Silver and Stone- Francesco Clemente

Silver and Stone- Francesco Clemente

and nomadic. It embraces diverse mediums and diverse cultures as well, aiming at finding wholeness through fragmentation and witnessing the survival of contemplation and pleasure in our mechanical age.

Clemente’s work is rooted in political utopia and expresses an anti-materialistic stance. In the 1970s he moved from photography to drawing and anticipated the return to painting of the 1980s.

Self Portrait with Black Gloves- Francesco Clemente

Self Portrait with Black Gloves- Francesco Clemente

Clemente’s work is nomadic. In the 1980s he divided his time between India and New York. While briefly associated with Neo-Expressionism he took an interest in collaborative works both with Indian craftsmen and with painters like Basquiat and Warhol, and poets like Robert Creeley and Ginsberg in New York. In an interview with The Brooklyn Rail, Clemente commented “these poets had been looking at the East for inspiration and I was also anxious to evade the materialism of the West.”

In the 1990s Clemente’s work explored intensely erotic imagery, inspired by the Tantra

Francesco Clemente

Francesco Clemente

traditions both of India and Tibet, and turning contemporary preoccupations with identity and sexuality into an occasion to ask questions about the nature of the self.

Francesco Clemente, Grisaille Self-Portait 1998

Francesco Clemente, Grisaille Self-Portait 1998

In the 2000s Clemente’s work went through a darker and grotesque phase, returning in the last years to luminous images of repose and transformation.

Since the 1980s until today Clemente also chronicled New York intellectual and social life through a great number of portraits, contributing to the revival of a genre until then somehow discredited.

Clemente’s art has been presented in solo and group shows internationally. Major

Francesco Clemente

Francesco Clemente

retrospectives have been held in the 1990s at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, at The Royal Academy in London, at the Centre Pompidou, Paris and at the Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo. Clemente’s art was also featured in 1999-2000 at the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York, and at the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao. In the 2000s retrospectives were held at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, at the Museo MADRE, Naples and at the Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt. An exhibition of self-portraits and of Clemente’s own version of the Tarot Cards was held at the Uffizi Gallery, Florence in 2011.

Francesco Clemente Virgine, 1995. Pastel on paper

Francesco Clemente Virgine, 1995. Pastel on paper

The artist is currently represented by Bruno Bischofberger in Switzerland and BlainSouthern in London and Mary Boone Gallery in New York.

Clemente’s work is featured in the 1998 movie, Great Expectations_(1998_film).

Francesco Clemente is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Biography is from wikipedia.

I hope you enjoy my piece today and I will see you tomorrow on Day 223!

Best,

Linda

Self-Portrait with Antlers- Tribute to Francesco Clemente Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic & Watercolor on Canvas

Self-Portrait with Antlers- Tribute to Francesco Clemente
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic & Watercolor on Canvas

Side-View Self-Portrait with Antlers- Tribute to Francesco Clemente Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic & Watercolor on Canvas

Side-View
Self-Portrait with Antlers- Tribute to Francesco Clemente
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic & Watercolor on Canvas

Close-Up 1 Self-Portrait with Antlers- Tribute to Francesco Clemente Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic & Watercolor on Canvas

Close-Up 1
Self-Portrait with Antlers- Tribute to Francesco Clemente
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic & Watercolor on Canvas

Close-Up 2 Self-Portrait with Antlers- Tribute to Francesco Clemente Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic & Watercolor on Canvas

Close-Up 2
Self-Portrait with Antlers- Tribute to Francesco Clemente
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic & Watercolor on Canvas

Close-Up 3 Self-Portrait with Antlers- Tribute to Francesco Clemente Linda Cleary 2014 Acrylic & Watercolor on Canvas

Close-Up 3
Self-Portrait with Antlers- Tribute to Francesco Clemente
Linda Cleary 2014
Acrylic & Watercolor on Canvas