The Great Art Debate

[William the White]

Sorry - it was the bish with the portraits...

Worthy likes Canaletto - I've never really found a way of engaging with his work... maybe in Venice?

[Worthy4England]

Sorry - it was the bish with the portraits...

Worthy likes Canaletto - I've never really found a way of engaging with his work... maybe in Venice?

I suspect it's because it's something recognisable and tangible that I can relate to it, maybe the architectural solidarity. You know what it's like with men of "Science".

That said, there's plenty from the Renaissance that I like too Titian, Bottecelli etc.

[TANGODANCER]

But hey, anything is tons better than that pre-Raphaelite mince... Like pouring sugar on a loose filling...

*Ducks* as he sees Tango whirling across the ballroom floor...

Each unto his own. I think the use of light and shade in Mummy's candlelight study is masterly. I also can live with Canaletto and this Turner is not dissimilar in style:



As for WTW (who has no romance in his soul) this Pre Raphaelite style painting by Edmund Blair Leighton is quite magnificent in my eyes:

[thebish]

My problem with Turner - as evidenced in Tango's example above - is that it is as if you are looking at all of his paintings through a steamy bathroom window - nothing is quite in focus...

I know this is deliberate - and (presumably) brilliant - and Turner is a National Treasure - but I think I am turned off his work in the same way as my brain does not settle on photographs that are out of focus or poorly composed... (not that Turner is poorly composed - just too blurry!!)

PS - the style of the Turner in Tango's post is consequently NOTHING like the style of Canaletto.... not to my eyes anyway...

[Bruce Rioja]

Worthy likes Canaletto - I've never really found a way of engaging with his work...

Yeah, I thought that we paid way over the odds for him, too.





What?

[thebish]

Worthy likes Canaletto - I've never really found a way of engaging with his work...

Yeah, I thought that we paid way over the odds for him, too.





What?

Len Cantello was a god in football shorts... errr...

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

This is proving very enjoyable...

Bish's selection I really like - the rembrandt, obviously, which is very moving, but i loved the Nativity and the Last Supper also, made me grin.

Worthy's from the Nat Portrait Gallery also very engaging

Not that taken by mummy's lot, i take the point about the mini-dramas, just not my taste...

But hey, anything is tons better than that pre-Raphaelite mince... Like pouring sugar on a loose filling...

*Ducks* as he sees Tango whirling across the ballroom floor...

Fair enough William, fair enough. I know it doesn't need saying, but all these paintings look better in person than in a postage stamp

I have been deliberately quite parochial and stuck to examples on my doorstep. As I say, I really like the work of Jacques Louis David I have seen in the Louvre - good selection here on his Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques-Louis_David

I'm also a big fan of the Polish painter Jan Matejko, who painted similarly huge historical scenes. His 'Prussian Homage' which I saw in a special exhibition the Royal Wawel Castle in Krakow must at be at least 8 paces across and is nothing short of awesome. The subject of the painting is an important event in Poland's history – the homage paid on April 10, 1525, to Sigismund I the Old by Albrecht von Hohenzollern the last Grand Master of the Order of the Teutonic Knights.



Also, one of my favourite rooms in the Vatican was the Sobieski room in which hangs a similarly huge painting by Matejko of Polish King John III Sobieski’s victory over the muslim Turks in Vienna in 1683. (http://www.vaticanstate.va/EN/Monuments ... _Rooms.htm)

The only reason the content of these paintings meant anything at all to me, by the way, was because I was given a crash course in Polish history (which is actually pretty interesting and impressive) by my Polish girlfriend's father.

Speaking of the Vatican, this seems like a reasonable place to mention that the Sistine Chapel was one of the most disappointing places I have ever visited. It was absolutely rammed full of tourists, with very boring daylight lighting, and the ceiling itself really did nothing for me. The restoration has been so thoroughly done now that the brightness of the colours just seems wrong... like some loud mural painted by primary school children in some council-funded community project! Perhaps I was expecting too much.

[thebish]

Have to agree, I just don't get the national treasure status, at all. I have seen a few in person in Liverpool and in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge that really don't appear to have any discernible merit whatsoever. This on, 'Landscape' in the Walker, looks no better in person, I promise:

did they hang it the right way around? maybe that's the water-stained backing board?

[Lord Kangana]

I like it. I get it. I think. Art and the critique therof always spins me in circles, because half the time we're told what we're meant to like. So anyway, I like it.

[William the White]

I like it. I get it. I think. Art and the critique therof always spins me in circles, because half the time we're told what we're meant to like. So anyway, I like it.

Do you mean the Turner? If so, me too.

and mummy promises it looks no better in real life than this, but, hey, there's the consolation that it looks better than lots of curly hair, stockings and water..

[thebish]

I like it. I get it. I think. Art and the critique therof always spins me in circles, because half the time we're told what we're meant to like. So anyway, I like it.

Do you mean the Turner? If so, me too.

and mummy promises it looks no better in real life than this, but, hey, there's the consolation that it looks better than lots of curly hair, stockings and water..

maybe so - but you can't disagree that the turner would benefit from a well-placed, well drawn badger?

[William the White]

I like it. I get it. I think. Art and the critique therof always spins me in circles, because half the time we're told what we're meant to like. So anyway, I like it.

Do you mean the Turner? If so, me too.

and mummy promises it looks no better in real life than this, but, hey, there's the consolation that it looks better than lots of curly hair, stockings and water..

maybe so - but you can't disagree that the turner would benefit from a well-placed, well drawn badger?

How easily tempted by a feed line - well done the bish...

[thebish]

I rest my case....

[Dujon]

Here's one of Flint's Pre Raphaelite style works:

I'd be a bit worried by the hidden meaning behind that image, TANGO. The bloke behind the lass blowing a horn; the bloke following him; the strangely shaped strand behind the figures; the fact that the major character has shot her bolt; the same character seems to wear a pseudo chastity belt whilst wearing the key around her neck (and what's that lioness doing to the poor sod chasing the horn blower?)

Blimey! You can read just about anything into some paintings.

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

I like it. I get it. I think. Art and the critique therof always spins me in circles, because half the time we're told what we're meant to like. So anyway, I like it.

Do you mean the Turner? If so, me too.

and mummy promises it looks no better in real life than this, but, hey, there's the consolation that it looks better than lots of curly hair, stockings and water..

Ha, nobody's telling anybody what to like here - it's more of a confessional, if anything!

And yeah, it's part of what makes art interesting that Bish and I think that that Turner is like a cup of coffee spilled over a piece of paper (the line about the well-drawn badger had me laughing ), whereas you and LK can find something there that's enjoyable to look at...

Bish, you're great value on this stuff - have you seen the Sistine Chapel? I'd be intrigued to hear your 'commentary' there.

[Hoboh]

But hey, anything is tons better than that pre-Raphaelite mince... Like pouring sugar on a loose filling...

*Ducks* as he sees Tango whirling across the ballroom floor...

Each unto his own. I think the use of light and shade in Mummy's candlelight study is masterly. I also can live with Canaletto and this Turner is not dissimilar in style:



As for WTW (who has no romance in his soul) this Pre Raphaelite style painting by Edmund Blair Leighton is quite magnificent in my eyes:

Nowt wrong with a fit bird!!!

[thebish]

Bish, you're great value on this stuff - have you seen the Sistine Chapel? I'd be intrigued to hear your 'commentary' there.

Alas I am not that well travelled and have never been to Rome. I mentally noted your comments above about the sistine chapel - was it to you all it is cracked up to be?

[William the White]

i too was disappointed by the sistine chapel...

but raphael's 'school of athens' was fantastic...

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/x-Sched ... 0_big.html

[TANGODANCER]

Tis nought but a comment, never having seen the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel except in photographs, as below, but anyone who has had a crick in their neck from simply applying one-colour emulsion to their living room ceiling might just spare a thought for someone lying on their back on scaffolding for years to turn out this sort of art. Is it not a point worth considering?

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Tis nought but a comment, never having seen the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel except in photographs, as below, but anyone who has had a crick in their neck from simply applying one-colour emulsion to their living room ceiling might just spare a thought for someone lying on their back on scaffolding for years to turn out this sort of art. Is it not a point worth considering?

It is certainly a magnus opus, an enormous achievement, Tango. And it is a peculiar objection, as a tourist, to complain about the presence of other tourists, but the room had no feeling of magic at all when I was there.

Perhaps I'll have to try and obtain a backstage pass for the next conclave or something, and see if there's a better atmosphere then!

And yes William, I thought all of Raphael's room were tremendous, even if I didn't spend the time to look at them that I might have liked (sometimes girlfriends are like children and need drinks, toilets, ice cream, food etc. ).