On this Date in History: September 1, death of Jan Brueghel the Younger and King Louis XIV, birth of Zuccari

The French King Louis XIV died on September 1, 1715.  This marked the end of the longest reign of any European monarch.  

Under his reign (May 14, 1643 – September 1, 1715) there were many advances in French art: 1648, the French Royal Academy opened and turned the small hunting lodge of Versailles into an enormous Royal Palace. Louis XIV patronized artists such as Charles Le Brun and Hyacinthe Rigaud and architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart.

Rigaud's famous full length painting of the king is shown below, today it is in the Louvre.

King Louis XIV, Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1701

Also September 1 marks the date of the death of Jan Brueghel the Younger (September 13, 1601 – September 1, 1678).  Brueghel was the son of a famous Flemish painter known as Jan Brueghel the Elder and was a successful painter in his own right.

The Garden of Eden, Jan Brueghel the Younger, c.-1650

Brueghel was born in Antwerp and spent most of his career there.  He is best known for his landscape, religious painting and allegorical paintings and had a large influence on the work of Flemish Baroque painters.


Italian mannerist painter Taddeo Zuccari (September 1, 1529- September 2, 1566) was born near Urbino.  Zuccari worked mainly in Rome as a fresco painter.

His best know works were a series of scenes of the Passion of Chris in the Roman church of Santa Maria della Consolazione and historic scenes in the Villa Farnese.

Zuccari died in Rome the day after his 37th birthday and was buried in the Pantheon near Raphael.

2016-17 Art History Lecture Series at Gage

Based on our lecture popularity this past year, Gage Academy of Art will again be offering series of 12 lectures on art history from the 15th through 20th Century on a wide variety of subjects.



Degas, The Rehearsal Onstage, c-1874, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Featuring Gage teaching artists as well as art historians from the Seattle art community, these lectures will give a thoughtful look inside the artists and movements that helped shape art from the Renaissance through the 20th Century.

 

Register online for a single lecture, a quarterly series or the entire 2016-17 program, and delve into the techniques, ideologies and personalities that define art in our world.

 

Gates of Paradise, East baptistery doors, Ghiberti, 1425-52

Fall 2016
RENAISSANCE & BAROQUE ART
Wednesdays
7:00pm-8:00pm

Oct 26 - CAROL HENDRICKS: The Gates of Paradise

I have visited Florence several times, where I have been fortunate to have seen this work of art in person.  The Gates of Paradise is endlessly inspiring and was transformative in art history.

In addition to authoring this blog I am the Adult Program Director at Gage and earned my MA in Art History from Temple University.

Adoration of Christ, Central Panel of the Portinari Triptych, Hugo van der Goes, c-1473-78

Nov 2- HAMID ZAVAREEI: Northern Renaissance: History, technique and materials

Hamid has taught painting for years at Gage and he has been researching various historic pigments and techniques of the of the Renaissance.

Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas,1656 Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

Nov 9 - JIM PHALEN: Rembrandt vs. Velázquez: The Clash of the Titans

Gage Artistic Director and Co-Founder Gary Faigin is an extremely knowledgeable art historian.  The Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio is one of his favorite topics.

Nov 16 - REBECCA ALBIANI: Juan Sánchez Cotán and Spanish Baroque Still-Life

Rebecca has been lecturing at the Frye Art Museum for years in a very popular sold out lecture series. She was a Graduate Lecturing Fellow at Washington’s National Gallery and a Fulbright Scholar in Venice. She received an MA from Stanford University and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley.

Winter 2017
19th TO EARLY 20TH CENTURY ART
Wednesdays
7:00pm-8:00pm

Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917). The Thinker, 1904. Cast bronze

Legion of Honor Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco 

Gift of Alma de Bretteville Spreckels

Jan 25 - MIKE MAGRATH: Rodin

Mike teaches a variety of sculpting classes at Gage, including the Sculpting Atelier.  He has an MFA from the University of WA and has been creating his own figurative sculptures for years. 

Feb 1 - KIMBERLY TROWBRIDGE: Landscape Painting 

Kimberly earned her MFA in painting from the University of WA and launched her own Atelier at Gage this fall.  She is one of the most engaging and dynamic speakers.  She says of teaching-

“It is through my desire to communicate with others that I have developed a meaningful lexicon as an artist; recognizing the relationship between my creative and teaching practices has been profound for me in uncovering the role and importance of my audience.”
-Kimberly Trowbridge

Degas, Café Concert at Les Ambassadeurs, 1876-77, Musee des Beaux-Arts, Lyon

Feb 8 - TERRY FURCHGOTT: Degas

Terry has been a popular instructor at Gage for over 15 years.  She works in acrylic and pastel and counts Degas among her influences.  You can find her work at the Lisa Harris Gallery in Seattle.

John Singer Sargent, The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, 1882 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 

Feb 15 - RICHARD WEST: John Singer Sargent and the American Mural Renaissance

Richard West is an expert on 19th Century American painting, he was a long time Gage Trustee and was the Director of the Frye Art Museum from 1994-2003.  Before that West was a scholar and former director of Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Maine; the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento; the Newport Art Museum, Rhode Island; and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

Spring 2017
20TH CENTURY ART
Wednesdays
7:00pm-8:00pm 

April 12 - GARY FAIGIN: Giorgio Morandi

Gage Artistic Director and Co-Founder Gary Faigin is an extremely knowledgeable art historian.  The Italian painter Morandi is one of his favorite painters.  He has put the Morandi Museum in Bologna on his Top 10 Art Must See list.

April 19 - OLIVIA BEAUFAIT: Constantin Brancusi

Olivia is a painter, instructor and arts administrator.  She received her MFA in painting from the University of WA and has shown her work in local art galleries.  She is very interested in modern, contemporary and abstract art and Brancusi is an inspiration for her.

April 26- RYAN WEATHERLY: Giacometti

Ryan is a painter and a popular instructor at Gage.  He received his MFA in painting from the University of WA. He told me he has always been interested in the Italian 20th century sculptor Giacometti.


May 3 - CHARLES EMERSON: Richard Diebenkorn

Charles studied with Josef Albers at Yale and has been a popular painting instructor at Gage for years.  His lectures are not to be missed, he is a font of knowledge!

On this Date in History, August 25: Birth of George Stubbs and death of Henri Fantin-Latour

What happened on August 25 in art history?

English painter George Stubbs (August 25, 1724- July 10, 1806) was born in Liverpool in 1724.  Stubbs is best known for all his drawings, prints and paintings of horses and his research on horse anatomy.

Whistlejacket, George Stubbs, 1762, National Gallery of Art, London

Stubbs wrote a book in 1766, The Anatomy of the Horse, which was a groundbreaking text and contained 24 etchings of detailed horse anatomy, skeletons and muscular structures.

Homage to Delacroix, Henri Fantin-Latour, 1864, Musee D'Orsay, Paris

Also on this day French painter Henri Fantin-Latour, (January 14, 1836 – August 25, 1904) died in 1904 in France. 

Fantin-Latour was one of the artists who exhibited work in the famous Salon des Refusés in Paris in 1863.  His participation in the exhibit inspired his 1864 painting Homage to Delacroix (shown above).

Fantin-Latour was best known for his beautiful floral still-life paintings, he was known for his talent in painting colors and textures and continued to paint in a realist manner throughout the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist periods.

Asters and Fruit on a Table, Henri Fantin-Latour, 1868, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Hammershøi lectures at the Frye Art Museum- August 2016

I am very excited to announce I will be teaching a lecture series at the Frye Art Museum this summer on Vilhelm Hammershøi!

The Frye Art Museum is located in Seattle, they show a wide range of art exhibits ranging from the collection of the founders Charles and Emma Frye, to vibrant local art to national and international artists and the Frye is always free.

Vilhelm Hammershøi, Interior With Potted Plant on Card Table, 1910-11, Malmö Konstmuseum, Sweden

 

 

The lecture series I am teaching will tie in with the upcoming exhibit-
July 16–September 25, 2016

Chronicles of Solitude: Masterworks by Vilhelm Hammershøi from SMK—The National Gallery of Denmark

Vilhelm Hammershøi. Interior in Strandgade, Sunlight on the Floor, 1901. Oil on canvas. 18 5/16 x 20 1/2 in. National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, ©SMK Photo.

Hammershøi and His Contemporaries

Lecture with Carol Hendricks

Tuesday, August 2 – Friday, August 5, 2016
9:30 am - 12 pm



This lecture series examines Vilhelm Hammershøi’s many influences in order to put his work into context. The days are divided into Hammershøi’s four main genres: portraits, interior spaces, landscapes, and cityscapes. The course begins with a comparative history of subject matter from Dutch Baroque painters, such as Rembrandt and Vermeer who had an influence upon his style.




The Love Letter, Vermeer, 1669, Rijksmuseum

Portrait of the Artist, ca. 1665, Rembrandt van Rijn,
Kenwood House, 1927

 

 

After examining these influences we will thoroughly discuss the work of Hammershøi, each day will focus on a different genre of the artist.



Ida Reading a Letter,  Hammershøi

The series continues to contemporary Scandinavian painters, such as Swedish painters Anders Zorn and August Strindberg, Norwegians Edvard Munch and Harriet Backer, and Finish painter Askeli Gallen-Kallela.

I would love to have you join me for this lecture series this summer, I am very excited to be discussing all of these fascinating artists and am looking forward to seeing the Vilhelm Hammershøi exhibit at the Frye this summer.

Emma Zorn Reading, Anders Zorn, 1887

The Artist's House, Harriet Backer, 1886

 

On this Date in History, May 26: Birth of Aaron Douglas, Gwendolyn Knight and Philippe de Champaigne

On this date in history: May 26

What happened in the world of Art History on May 26?  It was the birthday of three artists.

Aaron Douglas was born on this day in Topeka, Kansas in 1899 (May 26, 1899 – February 3, 1979).   Douglas was an African-American painter and print maker who was an important artist in the Harlem Renaissance.  After studying at the University of Nebraska and the University of Kansas, he moved to New York City where he worked as an illustrator.  He was known for his modern figurative style of paintings and unique color palate.  Later he moved to Nashville where he was a painting professor at Fisk University.  He taught a the University for over two decades and spent the rest of his life in Nashville.  His work and style had a lasting impression on many artists.

Aaron Douglas, Let My People Go, c-1934-39, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gwendolyn Knight (May 26, 1913 – February 18, 2005) was an American painter who was born in Barbados, moved to America and spent much of her life in Seattle.  Knight studied in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance. She was the wife of painter Jacob Lawrence who was a Professor in the Art Department at the University of Washington.

Knight had a large retrospective when she was nearly 80 years old titled "Never Late for Heaven: The Art of Gwen Knight," at the Tacoma Art Museum in 2003.  The Tacoma Art Museum says this of Knight on their website-

"An expressionistic painter with a strong interest in people, Gwendolyn Knight has developed a fluid sense of design using a brilliant palette of bright greens, reds and blues over the past seventy years. As an artist on one of the federal government’s Depression-era public art projects, Knight met her husband Jacob Lawrence in 1937. They lived in New York City until 1970 when they moved to Seattle. Each maintained their own artistic style, while their humanist interests created a strong intellectual bond. For most of her career Knight painted people who posed for her at home or in various studio settings and recreated scenes from the various neighborhoods in which she lived."

Annunciation, Philippe de Champaigne, 1644, Metropolitan Museum of Art 

Our final artist born this day was Philippe de Champaigne, born in Brussels in 1601 (May 26,1602 – August 12,1674).  He was a Baroque painter who spent the majority of his life in Paris.  He moved to Paris in 1621 to work with the French painter Poussin.  Later de Champaigne became a founding member of the Académie de Peinture et de Sculpture which opened in Paris in 1648.

On this Date in History, May 15: Salon des Refusés, Hammershøi and Edward Hopper

May 15th is a notable date in art history-

On May 15, 1863 an exhibit was created in Paris from the paintings that were rejected by the jurors of the Salon of the French Academy. In that year of the Annual Salon more than half of the works of art, over 2,000, were not selected to be part of the exhibit. Therefore the "Salon des Refusés" was held, giving those artists a chance to exhibit their work.  The idea for this alternative Salon was that of Emperor Napolean III who felt the jurors were too harsh, and this would give the public a chance to decide for themselves.

Manet, The Luncheon in the Grass, 1863, Musee D'Orsay, Paris

 

As Robert Rosenblum wrote in the book 19th-Century Art:

"This so-called Salon des Refusés, however, immediately took on the stature of a counterestablishment manifestation, where artists at war with authority could be seen and where the public could go either to jeer or to enlarge their ideas of what a work of art could be.  The counter-Salon opened two weeks after the official one, on May 15, and immediately attracted hordes of Parisians, who numbered as many as four thousand on a Sunday, when admission was free."*

The Salon des Refusés was a turning point in French 19th century art and included works by Manet, Whistler and Henri Fantin-Latour.

Vilhelm Hammershøi, Interior with Ida Playing the Piano, 1910, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan

Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi was born on this day in Copenhagen (May 15, 1864 - February 13, 1916).  He studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen from 1879 -1884.  Hammershøi painted several subjects including portraits, landscapes and cityscapes, but he is best known for his interior spaces and was called De Stillestuers Maler (The Painter of Tranquil Rooms).  He has also been called the Danish Vermeer as he has been influenced by Dutch Baroque painting.

Edward Hopper, The Nighthawks, 1942, Art Institute of Chicago

On May 15th 1967 American painter Edward Hopper died in New York City (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967). Hopper spent most of his life in New York, studying at the New York School of Art and Design under William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri.  He worked as both an illustrator and painter, creating works in oils and watercolors, as well as making many etchings.  Hopper is best known for his realistic style of painting and portraying contemporary American life, both in urban scenes and landscapes.  He painted throughout his life and died at age 84.  His works have had a big influence on later generations of American artists.

Books on the Salon des Refuses-

The Judgement of Paris by Ross King. 2006

19th-Century Art. by Robert Rosenblum and H.W. Janson. 1984.

Footnote-

*Rosenblum, Robert. and H.W. Janson. 19th-Century Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1984. p. 281.