Sarah Williams Art Explorations Blog

  Baroque   "The Happy Family" oil on canvas by Jan Steen (c.1668) The Artist Jan Steen was a Dutch painter who lived during 1626-1679. He was taught paining in school by the German painter Nicolaes Knupfer and you can see the influences of Knupfer in Steens work with the composition and color. He later married to have eight children and founded a painters guild where he worked for five years until an explosion caused the art market to collapse afterwards he ran a tavern until his death.  Art Analysis This baroque genre painting can be identified by the moment in time scene, realistic character designs and especially the dramatic effect of light in the painting. The scene consists of boisterous father and melodies played by the instruments of his children around a dinner table. The moral of the picture, as given away by the note hanging from the mantelpiece reading "So de ouden songen, so pijpen de jongen" ("as the old sing, so shall the young pipe"), is t...

Death and the Miser by Hieronymus Bosch, oil on paint, circa 1485/1490 Netherlandish   Author   Hieronymus Bosch was born in 1450 in the Netherlands. Not much is known about his life as he left behind no journals, the only evidence of is existence are his artworks he left behind as well as brief references in municipal records of where he was born.  Painting  The painting "Death and the Miser" illustrates a busy scene of a Miser moments before his death. The painting makes great use of line work by having many of the creatures in the scene pointing towards or at something.  Death at the door pointing an arrow towards the Miser as well as an angel pointing up towards the crucifix at his window and perhaps a demon trying to bargain with the Miser using money in exchange for his soul, all images use line work and make the eye travel all across the painting. Bosch and Humanism Humanism is a belief of putting more importance on humans other then the divine or su...

  For this assignment I chose Mark Rydens painting Saint Barbie. I chose this artist for his surreal "cutesy" style and this painting for the feminine symbolism and motifs. About the Artist Mark Ryden is an American born painter and his artistic style can be categorized in the "pop surrealist" or "lowbrow surrealist" movement. This art movement contains depictions of impish characters with a sense of humor for the subject matter. Color and Tone This paintings hues are reds,purple,orange,pink and whites with a little bit of brown. The focus of pink, red and purple with varying intensity and saturation would represent the colors that are often found in children's products, specifically girls toys such as the Barbie line and would make sense in this world the paintings created where a little girls worship idol would be a Barbie doll.  Line and Shape The shapes and lines in the painting are structured in a way to have your eye look at the Barbie idol at a ...