Art. object is placed in the foreground, in this case a chair, in order to draw the viewer into the scene. This type of chair is not usually found in a restaurant. The colour of this painting is basically all blue but when you look out of the window there is a lot more colour and life. Most of the shapes in this painting are rectangles and squares, also most of the lines are straight. Patrick Caulfield (1936-2005) was an English painter and printmaker known for his pop art canvases. He was born in London, although his parents were from the north of England. After attending evening drawing classes while serving in the Royal Air Force (1953-1956), Caulfield decided to study art full time. He began studying graphic design at the Chelsea School of Art and then transferred to the department of painting. He went on to study at the Royal College of Art between 1960 and 1963. As a student Caulfield was influenced by the work of American abstract painters such as Jackson Pollock and Marko Rothko, but he only experimented with abstract work for a short time. Many of his early works are characterised by thick black drawing or an outline used to bring out the full strength of other colours. In the 1970s, Caulfield began painting interiors, often combining different styles of representation.
e Little White Girl by James Abbott McNeil Whistler
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ames Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was an American born, British based artist. The work shows a woman in three-quarter figure standing by a fireplace with a mirror over it. She is holding a fan in her hand, and wearing a white dress. The model is Joanna Heffernan, the artist's mistress. Though the painting was originally called The Little White Girl, Whistler later started calling it Symphony
in White, No. 2. By referring to his work in such abstract terms, he intended to emphasise his ‘art for art's sake’ philosophy. In this painting, Heffernan wears a ring on her ring finger, even though the two were not married. By this religious imagery, Whistler emphasises the aesthetic philosophy behind his work. The colours of this painting are quite dull, but at the top graduate brighter. Most of the lines in this painting are straight but then on the young girl’s dress they are feathery. This is a two-dimensional painting apart from the side of the fireplace.
e Plains of Heaven by John Martin
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ohn Martin (1789-1854) was an English Romantic painter, engraver and illustrator. This is the second picture in Martin’s triptych. Unlike the others it is characterised by tremendous tranquillity and harmony. In the central panel, The Last Judgement, the good are shown assembling in ‘the plains of heaven’. The celestial landscape continues into this picture, representing salvation. Martin included a number of poets and artists among the good, who are seen in white on the crest of the hill in the foreground of the picture. Behind them stretches the deep blue expanse of a heavenly lake, filled by the rushing water of the distant falls, and surrounded by majestic scenery.
e First Book of Urizen pl.6 by William Blake
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illiam Blake (1757-1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. He did not attend school, and was educated at home by his mother Catherine Wright Armitage Blake. The Blakes were Dissenters, and are believed to
have belonged to the Moravian Church. The Bible was an early and profound influence on Blake, and would remain a source of inspiration throughout his life. Blake started engraving copies of drawings of Greek antiquities purchased for him by his father, a practice that was then preferred to actual drawing. Within these drawings Blake found his first exposure to classical forms through the work of Raphael, Michelangelo, Marten Heemskerk and Albrecht Durer. His parents knew enough of his headstrong temperament that he was not sent to school but was instead enrolled in drawing classes. He read avidly on subjects of his own choosing. During this period, Blake was also making explorations into poetry; his early work displays knowledge of Ben Jonson and Edmund Spenser. The Book of Urizen is one of the major prophetic books of the English writer William Blake. It was originally published as The First Book of Urizen in 1794. The book gets its name from the character Urizen in Blake's mythology, which represents alienated reason as the source of oppression. The book describes Urizen as the "primeval priest" and tells how he became separated from the other Eternals to create his own alienated and enslaving realm of religious dogma. Los and Enitharmon create a space within Urizen's fallen universe to give birth to their son Orc, the spirit of revolution and freedom.
Self Portrait Strangulation by Andy Warhol
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ndrew Warhola (1928-1987), known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as Pop Art. He had been drawing self-portraits since he was a teenager. He was dissatisfied, to the point of obsession, with the way he looked and was very careful with the way he both presented himself artistically and marketed his image. In these six works (displayed as a group) he shows himself seemingly in a life-threatening situation. The hands of an unseen assailant strangle him, while his eyes are directed heavenward rather like a martyred saint. The predominantly dark colours, some partly obscuring his head, as well as the ‘expressionist’ brushwork, give the paintings a distinctly ominous feel. Warhol was shot and critically injured in 1968 and, although death was a recurring theme in his work since the early 1960s, this experience heightened his fears about dying. Eve Webb 8R
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