Art thread?

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Eli1

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Apr 5, 2022
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#21
For me, the classics are the last true bastion of art in the West. Golden toilets, black canvasses... sorry, those are mockeries.

From the ancient Greeks to the Enlightenment, I think the West had its artistic peak, both in terms of visual art and music.

Most people today do not understand what art is, what's purpose is, or what makes it good (I said "most" because there are isolated exceptions). Photo-realism is not what makes something good art. Feelings / emotions thrown onto a canvass is not a formula for good art. Shocking your audience with crudeness is not what makes good art.

I hope real art will have a resurrection when Jesus comes to restore all things.
Post some stuff that you like.
 

Eli1

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#23
I’m not sure who the author of this one is but I can find the author if I look for it.
The last supper.

79BFF5DD-69FB-4E4D-AB34-4F38A87DA05B.jpeg

This second one has also made an impression on me and it was painted by a little girl/teenager over the course of many months. Her name is Akiane Kramarik: https://revwords.com/encounter-god-akiane-kramarik/
This level of detail on painting is simply stunning and I really enjoy it.

7F6459BE-C1FE-401B-A794-7562C933738E.jpeg
 

Seeker47

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2018
1,103
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#25
I posted these two pictures by Rembrandt several years ago, they have always fascinated me. The first was painted when he was 26 years old and at the heights of his talents and abilities. Th second is the last picture he ever painted just before his death. I wrote a poem:

Gone is the upturned prayerful face,
Cast in the glow of wonderous grace,
The royal colors are faded dim,
While no one bends to see.

Gone too, the Elders and High Priests,
Towering columns vault not above,
No sacred family kneels amazed,
While blessing hands hover o’erhead.

The Song of Praise is hushed and stilled,
Worn quiet with the rasp of time.
The brushstrokes once so fine and pure,
Are blurred and smudged unclear.

Dulled eyes now barely see the Child,
The head is gray and bare,
The mouth hangs open, no words to speak,
While hands are clasped in reverent prayer.

What once youth viewed from afar,
Is now held close to a worn-out heart.
What wrought the change we see so clear,
In the man with the Babe held so dear?

Simeon’s art speaks who want to hear,
Of truth that has become so clear,
Time beat upon a grey old head,
While Christ came near and touched a soul.


Simeon-Song-of-Praise.jpg rembrandt-simeon.jpg
 

notmyown

Senior Member
May 26, 2016
4,927
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#26
can i put in a word for the Hudson River School? since i live there, and all. :giggle:

Thomas Cole did a 4 painting set called The Voyage of Life. our son is fond of it, and owns high quality reproductions of it.
 
G

Gojira

Guest
#27
I posted these two pictures by Rembrandt several years ago, they have always fascinated me. The first was painted when he was 26 years old and at the heights of his talents and abilities. Th second is the last picture he ever painted just before his death. I wrote a poem:

Gone is the upturned prayerful face,
Cast in the glow of wonderous grace,
The royal colors are faded dim,
While no one bends to see.

Gone too, the Elders and High Priests,
Towering columns vault not above,
No sacred family kneels amazed,
While blessing hands hover o’erhead.

The Song of Praise is hushed and stilled,
Worn quiet with the rasp of time.
The brushstrokes once so fine and pure,
Are blurred and smudged unclear.

Dulled eyes now barely see the Child,
The head is gray and bare,
The mouth hangs open, no words to speak,
While hands are clasped in reverent prayer.

What once youth viewed from afar,
Is now held close to a worn-out heart.
What wrought the change we see so clear,
In the man with the Babe held so dear?

Simeon’s art speaks who want to hear,
Of truth that has become so clear,
Time beat upon a grey old head,
While Christ came near and touched a soul.


View attachment 256730 View attachment 256731
I love his work.
 

Eli1

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2022
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#28
I'm bringing back this art thread because i'd like to share with you in the next few posts an experience from a museum who collected and displayed Russian and Greek church icon artwork, which i personally found very inspiring and touching.
 

Eli1

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Apr 5, 2022
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#29
Today i visited the Icon Museum and Study Center in Clinton, Massachusetts.
More information about this place is listed here: Museum History - The Icon Museum and Study Center

Being around church icons for most of my life, i understand their meaning and purpose but the site's explanation is:
An icon is an image of a holy person or event created by an iconographer who follows the strict standards of the Orthodox Church. Icons range in size from the very small (for home use) to very large (for cathedrals). It is not worshiped, but rather venerated and used in prayer. Traditionally unsigned, icons are considered a window or portal into a divine realm
My personal take or explanation on icons is:
An icon is like having a picture of your child when they were young. It is supposed to bring you from one emotional state onto another. It's not the piece of paper that makes you emotional, but the memory and the connection.
An icon is supposed to do the same thing, take you from one spiritual state onto another and give you an emotional connection (based on our 5 senses) to our Creator. It is a vehicle, or a boat which takes you from one side of the lake onto the other.

More information on the Anatomy of an Icon is listed here which explains the strict standards and spiritual meanings:
Anatomy of an Icon - The Icon Museum and Study Center

Building and front entrance pictures below.

2.JPG 1.JPG
 

Eli1

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2022
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#30
On the first floor of the museum, there are pictures taken from an American neurosurgeon.
Here is his info:

artist.JPG

On the next few posts i'll post some of his work.
 

Eli1

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2022
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#31
This room on the first floor was dedicated to the photographer's work around churches, mainly in Russia.

author1.JPG

There were over 20 pictures here posted on very large canvases and i took pictures of only a few which i found touching and inspiring.

On the right side of the room we have:

authorRight1.JPG
The picture above was taken from the Church of our Lady of Kazan in Kolomeneskoye, Moscow.
I find this beautiful on many levels.

authorRight2.JPG
The picture above was taken from a church in Moscow, but i missed the rest of the details here.
This picture is very emotional because you can see that the person there who looks like either a woman or a child (girl) is not even looking, but touching with her eyes closed probably and is probably asking something from the heart.


authorRight3.JPG
The picture above was taken from the Cathedral of Assumption, Troitse-Sergieva Lavra, Moscow.
This is what looks like an elderly woman just looking at the icons deeply and directly into the eyes and wondering.
 

Eli1

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2022
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#32
On the left side of the room we have:

authorLeft1.JPG
Taken from Lecito Divina, Troitse-Servieva Lavra, Moscow.
This looks like a monk who has a prayer book or the Bible in his hands.

authorLeft2.JPG
Taken from the Cathedral of Smolensk, Moscow.
This is another emotional picture where we see an elderly woman crying her heart out and pouring her soul to Christ. She is talking to God here with all her heart.

authorLeft3.JPG
Taken from the Cathedral of Assumption, Troitse-Sergieva Lavra, Moscow.
Here we see a woman who's sort of like in my position who is just looking at something and trying to get more information.
Perhaps she's praying too.

authorLeft4.JPG
Taken from the Museum of History and Art, Veliky Novgorod.
A man making an icon.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
59,675
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#33




These images are wonderful photographic renderings, and have a three dimensional quality to them...
 

Eli1

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#34
These images are wonderful photographic renderings, and have a three dimensional quality to them...
Indeed, and up close they're even more wonderful. I was surprised that they even let you touch the icons with your hand, some of them dating to 17th or 15th century with the original wood which i got to touch and feel the emotions of all the people who poured their love in God in trying to create an emotional connection to our God.
Some other items were enclosed in glass, but I'm surprised why everything wasn't enclosed in glass.
 

Eli1

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#35
On the other side of the first floor there were many Greek-made icons.

The picture below shows the steps in creating an icon.

CreationOfAnIcon1.JPG
The text on the left says:

Creation of an Icon.

This group of icons-in-process was created by Maureen McCormick using the Prosopon School of Iconology’s twelve-step methodology, a modern expression of the Byzantine-Russian icon painting tradition. This is just one of the many ways to create an icon.

Step 1-2: The wooden board is prepared with a layer of linen, followed by a gesso, made of chalk, marble dust, water, and glue. The image is then transferred to the surface. A red clay mixture (“bole”) is applied to any area that will be covered in a thin layer of gold leaf.

Step 3-11: The first layer of egg tempera paint is applied. Tempera is traditionally made by mixing natural and man-made pigments with diluted egg yolk, creating a semi-translucent paint that is applied in layers, called highlights and floats. With each layer, depth and complexity are added to the icon, creating a multi-dimensional work of sacred art. The final highlight and the float make the icon glow. At this point, any painted lines that were washed out by the layers are re-established.

Step 12: The iconographer adds a descriptive title to the top of the icon and varnished the surface, using a linseed oil mixture called olifa to seal in the pigments and protect the icon.
 

Eli1

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#36
The tools and ingredients which are used to make an icon were shown in this floor and i did not get a closeup of the tools actually.

IconTools.JPG IconToolsCloseup.JPG
 

Eli1

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#37
Cross1.JPG
This cross enclosed in a glass enclosure was from around year 500. I was thinking about how young Christianity was back then and how persecuted believers were around those times. Also, in how many hands this cross has been held who were directing their prayers to Christ.

Cross2.JPG
This second cross from around 1700s was from Mount Athos in Greece, a favorite place of mine which is a peninsula of monasteries and monks was engraved with precious metals.

That's all for today. :D
 
G

Gojira

Guest
#38
View attachment 258882
This cross enclosed in a glass enclosure was from around year 500. I was thinking about how young Christianity was back then and how persecuted believers were around those times. Also, in how many hands this cross has been held who were directing their prayers to Christ.

View attachment 258883
This second cross from around 1700s was from Mount Athos in Greece, a favorite place of mine which is a peninsula of monasteries and monks was engraved with precious metals.

That's all for today. :D
Very interesting stuff bro.
 

Eli1

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#39
These pictures are from the St. Mary's church in Newport, RI.

StMaryNewportRI-1.JPG

StMaryNewportRI-2.JPG

StMaryNewportRI-3.JPG
 

Eli1

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#40
These ones are from the St. Anthony's monastery in Kennebunk, Maine.

StAnthonyMaine-1.JPG

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