As a design student in the early 2000’s the art movement that I was most drawn to was impressionism. Everything about the movement – from how it came into existence, it journey including Neo and post impressionism, the artists, their style, and the range of subjects fascinated. The more art and design history I studied, the more I started relating to the overall Positivist philosophy of art which is the rejection of Romantic subjectivism in favor of the objective description of the ordinary world. Impressionism, Post-impressionism, Expressionism, Fauvism are all the art movements of the positivist age and are linked not just by the time period or the striking brushstroke technique but also by the treatment of a subject that implied a certain degree of distortion. The paintings of this period depict what the artist feels (his/her impression of the idea, object or the people) rather than what is seen. Though the subjects are tangible, the presentation is mostly intangible and sometimes even abstract. Some differences do exist between the movements. For example, while Impressionism is more fluid and spontaneous, expressionism is more intense and emotional. Artists like Van Gogh were able to successfully bridge both.
September’s Art bead Scene challenge is to create an art bead/components or Jewelry with art beads inspired by Paula Modersohn-Becker’s “Old Woman from the Poorhouse in the Garden with Glass Ball and Poppies” which is an expressionist style of painting. While I found the colors in the painting calling to me, I somehow could not comprehend the imagery. I found it closer to Paul Gauguin’s primitivist impressionism works maybe due to the presence of brown skin tone and rust colored clothing.
You might wonder how difficult can it be to decode a picture of a woman holding flowers, but I didn’t find it compelling. So I took a leaf out of Edvard Munch’s Scream and Anxiety – the classic textbook reference in Expressionism, I decided to make pendants with streaks of colors and visual texture that is visible in Paula’s painting. Again I wasn’t very convinced by the color palette that was provided, so I proceeded to make my own from the painting. In usual design school style (where only a maximum of five colors are allowed in the color board) I picked an unconventional palette of reddish rust, muted blue, pale green, deep mustard and one neutral black.
I was not sure if just a colored canvas pendant would be considered a valid entry for the challenge, so I made another. I used an embossed copper circle, that was flame painted and partially enamelled with Vitreous crackle enamel (made by me at beadfest). I added pebeo paints and Ice resin jewel tints to get paints streaks and texture on it. This just has a hole on the top as I am figuring out bead options to make it into a necklace.
By this time I was on a coloring spree and I chanced upon an air chased piece of copper that I had made months ago with had bud and stalk like impressions reminiscent of the painting. I then cut it to size and colored it with patina inks and ice resin tints ( I seem to be reaching out for them for almost piece these days). I strung some faux gold pearls, ceramic and glass beads together and quickly made a necklace.
I hope to make the remaining pendants into necklaces for my upcoming festive line, but until then they must sadly, remain as components. In the meanwhile, here are photographs of some of my favourite impressionist paintings by Renoir, Claude Monet, Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas and Statues by Auguste Rodin taken during my recent visit to the Met, 5th avenue.
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| Pierre-Auguste Renoir La Grenouillère 1869 |
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| Vincent van Gogh -Wheat Field with Cypresses |
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| Paul Cezanne – Still life with Apples |
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| Sunflowers, Claude Monet |
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| Edgar Degas – Ballet Dancers |
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| Auguste Rodin – Two hands, Thinker |
Further Reading: impressionism Vs Expressionism
I hope you found it interesting
Cheers
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