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ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Edward Hicks

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Edward Hicks (1780-1849) was an American painter known for his naive depictions of the farms and landscapes of Pennsylvania and New York, and especially for his many versions of the Peaceable Kingdom, an eschatological state inferred from texts such as the Book of Isaiah. The Cornell Farm, oil on canvas by Edward Hicks (1848) National Gallery of Art, Washington DC He is sometimes considered a primitive painter due to the depiction of the “state of nature” they found in Pennsylvania ( Penn – Sylvania, from Latin silva: (rain)forest), which must have been an area of outstanding natural beauty. Naive features can be seen in the tendency toward the use of brilliant, saturated colours, rather than more subtle mixtures and tones, as well as the characteristic absence of perspective and the sense of still space. His works bear a slight resemblance to the paintings of the French artist Henri Rousseau. He is also called a ‘folk’ painter, perhaps due to his wish to preserve his rel
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ART CRITICISM: The Return of the Prodigal Son

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The painting I am going to analyse is The Return of the Prodigal Son, by the Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, one of the most renowned Baroque painters. It is an oil on canvas which measures 205 cm by 262 cm. It was painted between 1663 and 1665, and is held in the State Hermitage Museum, in Saint Petersburg, Russia.  In this masterpiece Rembrandt rendered the famous parable of the prodigal son narrated in the Gospel of Luke (15:11-32). The son asked his father for his inheritance and left the parental home only to squander what he had received. When he lost all his wealth, he came back home, sick, starving and penniless. His old father welcomed and forgave him, feeling joyful because his son was alive and at home after all. The main figures are the son (knelt and repentant) and the father (a man both wealthy and loving). They are accompanied by some onlookers: the older son (who disagrees with the father’s compassion), two people who are supposed to be servants, an
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GLOSSARY

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At this juncture it is interesting to check some terms that pertain to the two main subjects addressed in this blog: art and religion. It should help the readers understand the content of the articles posted so far and get more information. The terms have been arranged alphabetically in order to make the glossary ‘easy on the eye.’ ALIENATION (n): the feeling that you have no connection with the people around you: alienación ‘Depressed people frequently feel a sense of alienation  from those around them.’ ARTWORK (n): an object made by an artist, e.g. a painting: obra de arte ATONEMENT (n): [formal] something that you do to show that you are sorry for something bad that you did (a sin); in Christian theology it also means the reconciliation between God and mankind through Jesus Christ: expiación TO ATTAIN (v): [formal] to succeed in getting something: alcanzar, lograr ‘Art can be a means to attain enlightenment.’ AWE (n): a feeling of great respect
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THE INTERESTING FACT: The Secrets of the Raphael's Rooms or The Cathartic Power of Art

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OVERVIEW The Catholic Church, over the centuries, has been a great sponsor of the arts and under its shelter some of the most beautiful and remarkable artistic works have been created. Along with Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, the Rooms of Raphael are the magnificent frescoes that epitomize the High Renaissance in Rome. The four rooms, also known as Stanze of Raphael or Stanze di Raffaello, formed part of the apartment situated on the second floor of the Pontifical Palace (or Apostolic Palace) that was chosen by Julius II, pontiff from 1503 to 1513, as his own residence and was also used by his successors. He was the pope who also commissioned the rebuilding of the St. Peter’s Basilica and the decoration of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The pictorial decoration of the rooms was executed by Raphael and his school between 1508 and 1524. Portrait of Pope Julius II, by Raphael (1511-1512) National Gallery, London/Uffizi Gallery, Florence T he Room of Constantine,
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ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: George Tooker

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G eorge Tooker, whose timeless artworks are immediatly recognizable, is one of the most enigmatic American painters of the 20th century. He has been considered a symbolic or magic-realist painter. However, he seems to be a figurative painter, but neither a symbolist nor a magic-realist. He also refused to be considered a surrealist artist  −“I am after reality painting impressed on the mind so hard that it returns as a dream, but I am not after dreams as such, a fantasy ” −  and yet there is something mysterious about the way he depicted modern urban scenes, in what appears to be an otherworldly element juxtaposed with the mundane situations. George Tooker, by George Platt Lynes George Clair Tooker Jr. was born on August 5, 1920, in Brooklyn and grew up in Bellport (Long Island), where he studied painting with a local artist. Later he attended Harvard, where he studied English Literature, after graduating in Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He was a close frie
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ART CRITICISM: Christina's World

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The artwork I am going to analyse in this second art review is Christina’s World,  by the American artist Andrew Wyeth, who was primarily a realist painter. It is a tempera on panel which measures 81,9 cm by 121,3 cm. It was painted in 1948 and hangs currently in the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), in New York. This is the most famous painting created by Wyeth, and one of the most important and known artistic icons of XXth century (along with American Gothic, by Grant Wood). Wyeth’s favourite subjects were the lands where he lived and their people, especially his hometown, Chadds Ford (Pennsylvania), and his summer home in the Mid Coast of Maine. This painting, set in this second geographic location, depicts an ageless girl, Christina, lying on a bare field. A vast area of the grass, surrounding the house is cut. The girl, leant back among the grown grass, is looking at an old house and other adjacent buildings, such as a barn, in the distance. In his works, Wyeth sought to d
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INTERESTING FACT: The Inverted Cross ('The Crucifixion of Saint Peter')

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Many people link the fact of inverting the main symbol of Christianity to a satanic symbol, used in their practices and rites. This is true and false. Paradoxically, the inverted cross has been used as a Christian and, at the same time, anti-Christian icon. Let’s look at this artwork. It was painted by Caravaggio in 1601, and it is held in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome. Saint Peter, the apostle who was designated by Jesus to be the Church’s rock, provides the focus of the composition. The men are trying to put him head down, thus following the tradition that Peter chose to be crucified this way. That decision has been seen as a demonstration of his humbleness (he thought he was unworthy to die as Jesus did), and his acceptance of his martyrdom and death. Because of this, the inverted cross would go down in History as a symbol of the Papacy. But, why does this image appear in many films connected with satanic cults? This is due to a misunderstanding. When the inv
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