Claude Monet, The Pond at Montgeron
If still waters can restore the soul, certainly lingering with this Monet masterpiece can bring a similar balm. The challenge to linger with a Monet painting for 60 seconds has come to its final day. I hope it has at least given you a chance to slow down a bit and remember how much life has to offer when you’re not rushing past it.
“Every day bring a choice: To practice stress or to practice peace.” – Joan Borysenko
Claude Monet, Poppies
Got a minute for a Monet? The challenge this week is to spend 60 seconds lingering with a Monet masterpiece. The goal? Reclaiming the pause in the era of high speed in an effort to reclaim the pastoral in the era of the viral.
Claude Monet, Argenteuil Basin with a Single Sailboat
There’s nowhere to scroll here, just a challenge to spent 60 seconds with this painting by Monet… Got a minute?
Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise
In an effort to promote lingering in our scrolling world, here is the latest masterpiece for your Monet Minute. If you can spare 60 seconds to linger with this artwork, please do so.
Henri Matisse, Portrait of Lydia Delectorska
I’ve been thinking about women a lot lately. Nothing to worry about, that’s fairly normal for me. Plus, the month of March includes International Women’s Day. We also saw the “Day Without Women” protest transpire this month. It got me thinking about Art Without Women. Frankly (and ironically), that’s almost unthinkable. Women have been the muse and subject matter of so many artists throughout the centuries that it would be impossible to consider the history of art without them.
Of course, in art, as in all other areas of society women have been objectified. But I believe art, for the most part, has helped to give a profound and significant image of women, one that reaches far beyond the superficial. There are countless examples of works that show women in so many facets: tender, strong, intelligent, fierce, graceful, vulnerable, soft, resilient, powerful, beautiful, compassionate and creative. All in all, art has served to present a true representation of the feminine spirit. As a man, I know art in its many forms has helped me to gain a greater appreciation for women in a society that still has a long way to go to reach full equality.
So, in praise and honor of women, I give you a gallery of images of women in art, some famous, some not-so-much. These are all simply of my choosing. I am sure there are better and more comprehensive lists and galleries than this. Â But I offer them as a part of my perspective.
A world without women would be a pathetic place. Art without women? Well, it would be even more pathetic still.
Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa
Frida Kahlo, Self Portrait with Necklace
Edouard Manet, Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets
Mary Cassatt, Woman with Child
Claude Monet, Madame Monet and Child
Edgar Degas, Dancers at the Barre
Albert Marquet, Standing Nude
Mary Cassatt, The Long Gloves
Edouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergere
Pablo Picasso, The Dream
Paul Klee, Women Harvesting
Vincent Van Gogh, Young Peasant Woman in Straw Hat
Edgar Degas, After the Bath
Albert Marquet, Portrait of Marcelle Marquet
Paul Gauguin, Tahitian Women on the Beach
Johannes Vermeer, Woman in Blue Reading a Letter
Edgar Degas, Women Ironing
Henri Matisse, Women with Hat
Andy Warhol, Ingrid Bergman with Hat
Henri de Toulouse-Latrec, Portrait of Suzanne Valadon
Claude Monet, Woman with Parasol
Henri de Toulouse-Latrec, Young Woman at the Table
Johannes Vermeer, Girl with the Pearl Earring
The saying goes: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. It also happens to be a dynamite way to re-educate yourself in art!
About 25 years elapsed between the time I graduated from Calvin College with a Fine Arts Degree to when I began to seriously make art again. I had dabbled in things, of course. I drew cartoons, did the occasional artwork for some church event, whipped out a drawing for my kids to color, etc. but to actually sit down and draw for drawing sake… it had been a loooooong time. So I set about putting myself through some basics of art education. One of my favorite things to do was look up famous portraits by the masters and attempt to copy them. Now “copy” sounds like I was sharpening my forgery skills. No – I was looking at the Greats in order to teach myself more about color and form, the use of line and shade, and all those things that flow so much better when you haven’t been NOT doing art for a loooooong time! I wasn’t trying for exact replicas and  was using cheap oil pastels and pencil crayons on lousy paper. Basically they were ramshackle sketches of masterpieces. But I enjoyed the process and the results gave me confidence to create again.
Here is a gallery of of my Sincere Flattery and my sincere attempt to get my Art-Jones back again! It probably goes without saying but the original is on the left! And if you want to know the artist and artwork, the caption is supposed to pop up when you put the cursor on the portrait (at least it did for me – sorry if it doesn’t work for you). All of my copies are done in oil pastels with some pencil crayon touches. The one just below was done with a $2 set of pastels from a teacher’s supply store! Enjoy.
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