Art Lovers' Holiday Gift Guide 2020

Saturday, October 31, 2020

With the holidays quickly approaching, the time has come to start thinking about giving the perfect gifts to everyone. Do you have an art lover on your list? If so here are some perfect gifts that they are sure to love!! I have split it up into a couple different groups so you can judge what is the best based on who you are buying for! Note: It is always a great idea to go to museum websites to find gifts there too. All gifts are linked in the title.

BOOKS

1. ArtCurious

I have mentioned this book before and praised the podcast, but this is truly a perfect gift for people who love reading and learning about art history. I am still reading this book, but to get an understanding of what it is, listen to the ArtCurious Podcast.

2. The Museum of Lost Art

I got this book last Christmas, and I love it so much. It tells a narrative of lots of lost art and how they became this way. It is split into sections; Theft, War, Accident, etc. It is so interesting and I would highly recommend this book.

3. 30,000 Years of Art

30,000 Years of Art is a detailed book going through the years with art. It covers all time periods and all corners of the earth. From Venus of Willendorf to Contemporary art , this book has it all and explains it beautifully.

Toys for Children:

1. Monopoly: The Met Edition

This game is so fun. I have posted on Instagram about it. It is a monoploy game, but the properties are pieces of art, the moving tokens are all figures in art, and it is overall so much better than any other game I've ever played.

2. Puzzles

The website linked above offers many options for puzzles. I recently gifted one of these, and they loved it. The website has options including the one shown above, a Water Lilies one, a Van Gogh self- portrait, and more! Such a good gift for an early art lover.

3. Architectural Legos

I know someone who loves these so much. They are a perfect opportunity to teach children about architecture. There are many different buildings available, click the link above.

4. Professor Noggin's History of Art Trivia Card Game

I have heard nothing but amazing things about this game. It looks super fun and like a great way to inspire young children to learn about art.

Artworks and Prints

1. Artsy

If you are looking for a gift for someone who has an appreciation for art or a specific art or artist, it is a wonderful idea to get them a print. These prints can be of a specific work. Artsy is a wonderful resource for this.

2. Etsy

Etsy is another wonderful resource for prints and art. Shopping from Etsy is also awesome, because you are supporting small businesses in this time of need.

Wearables

1. Bauhuas T-shirt

2. Women in Art T-shirt

3. History of Art T-Shirt

3. Met Campus Champion Sweatshirt

4. Floral Impressions Face Mask Set

5. Artists' Signatures Patch Set

Happy Holidays!!!

Friday, October 30, 2020

Though it is a simple term, media is use almost constantly and is crucial to understanding art writing today. Media, the plural of medium, simply means the material used to create the specific piece of art in question. For example, in the post about Italian Baroque, it says, " During the Italian Baroque, prominent artists worked in many media including sculpture, painting, and architecture." I am saying that there was lots of art produced with all different materials.

Sunday, October 25, 2020

HAPPY NATIONAL ART DAY!!! Do something artsy today. Need suggestions? You could..... 1) take a look back through and learn some new art history from this blog 2) safely go a museum or visit online 3) take some time to make some art. I hope that you are enjoying this blog. Please take the time if you have it to answer the questions below!!

Saturday, October 24, 2020

The Gothic was a growing contrast to the Romanesque. There are three main stages of the Gothic: early, high, and late. Studying the growth through this movement is essential to understanding its purpose. First one needs to learn about the Romanesque, to understand the movement that preceded it.

The Church of Saint-Pierre (shown above) is the best example of Romanesque sculpture that is preserved today. Above is the facade of the church.

The sculptural elements here are unmistakably Romanesque. Romanesque sculpture, like other movements, was very involved in architecture. The sculpture of this time is recognizable by a few elements. The sculpture became more and more separated from the wall and articulated. Also to the left and right of the main column in the middle, there are small embedded columns into the sculpture. One can see these clustered columns throughout Romanesque architecture.

The Early Gothic 1140-1194

The early Gothic is only the beginning of the departure from the Romanesque. One can notice small changes in these structures and their decorative elements such as the sculpture.

The Church of Saint- Denis shows the first early remnants of Gothic Architecture. These components will become much more pronounced as the Gothic grows. Abbot Suger was a monk in this church in 1122 and became abbot to the church. Suger quickly noticed that Saint- Denis church was falling into dis-repair and it was much too small to accommodate the tombs and the growing number of pilgrims coming to the church. So Suger set out to campaign to rebuild this church. One of the main components changed was adding sculpture to the entrances. Another was adding radiating side chapels to the church where visitors would visit each one independently. There were dividing walls, unlike the Romanesque. Lastly, stained glass windows and oculus windows were added.

Interior shot- showing isolated chapels

In this plan, one can clearly see the radiating chapels.

High Gothic 1194-1300

As the Gothic continues to progress, architecture becomes more and more decorative. The sculpture becomes more pronounced, and the layout of churches continue to change.

** Note: this picture was taken before the 2019 fire **

The infamous Notre-Dame Cathedral is one of the best examples for the high Gothic. Many elements including flying buttresses, isolated sculpture, pointed archways, and more contributed to the trailblazing of the high Gothic. The pointed archways can be see on the inside of the cathedral as well as outside. Also Notre-Dame has small stained glass oculus windows in each bay.

Above is a diagram from a textbook. Use this diagram to understand the terminology used and where the components are located.

Above is the main entrance on the facade. Notice that the archways are pointed, and the sculpture is less and less relief.

This is the main facade of Notre Dame. This image was taken before the 2019 fire.

Late Gothic 1300-1500

During the late Gothic, sculptural embellishment took over the structure of churches. Also the intricate and delicate decoration became more and more exaggerated.

Not only did the Late Gothic still oppose Romanesque norms but Late Gothic shows even a small departure from the High Gothic. The Late Gothic is even more flamboyant that the late Gothic. Looking closely at the sculptural decoration of Église catholique Saint-Maclou (above), one can see the five sharply crafted entries into the church. Comparatively, this church is much small that the others earlier in the Gothic.

After the Gothic, the Renaissance movement started to form and strove to return order to art and architecture. Read THIS post to learn about the Renaissance.

Sources Cited:

"Art 205 Exam 1." Chegg, www.chegg.com/flashcards/art-205-exam-1-e15349f2-3fd5-4cbe-8cc9-ea18bdfe242b/deck.

By Bordeled - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21209769

By Diliff - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40697203

By Membeth at German Wikipedia - Own photograph of de:User:Membeth, originally from de.wikipedia; description page is/was here., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2303585

By Nortmannus - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31476744

By Peter Haas, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32131500

By sacratomato_hr - DSC_0732, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33334184

By Tango7174 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6433217

By Thomas Clouet - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42109690

Chapuis, Julien. "Gothic Art." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mgot/hd_mgot.htm (October 2002)

Gardner, Helen, and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Global History. Fifteenth edition, Student edition. ed., Boston [Massachussets], Cengage Learning, 2015.

Saint Maclou rouen france. Zephyrinus., zephyrinus-zephyrinus.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-church-of-saint-maclou-rouen-france.html. Accessed 22 Oct. 2020.

Do you like Art Movement Posts? Leave me a comment!

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

If something mentions or explains the facade of a building, they are referring to the face of this architecture. Most of the time it is the main place of entry or sometimes the part of the building that faces the street. Above is the facade of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, a baroque building (click the name to see the description). While facade is a fairly simple term, I feel it is important to understand the meaning, because it is used a lot when describing architecture. Below are some more examples.

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

As Art History: On Display gains followers, I wanted to upload a video of how to understand and get around the blog easily and efficiently so you can find what you need in no time. Watch the screencast or follow along to learn!

Monday, October 19, 2020

Diego Rivera was an artist well known for his marriage to Frida Kahlo and his mural painting in Mexico and the USA.

Sunday, October 18, 2020

Art History Terms to Know: posts will be exploring and giving brief examples art terms that will be helpful to know when looking and learning about art works.

Used mostly in the Baroque Period (click there for the art movement post), tenebrism is the use of light in a very dramatic and strategic way. It is a widely known and accepted fact that tenebrism was mostly trailblazed by Caravaggio the painter, but early remnants of tenebrism can be found in the art of Albrecht Dürer, El Greco, and others. Caravaggio follower, Artemisia Gentileschi, implemented this technique into her art. Check out some of the examples below.

Sunday, October 11, 2020

During the pandemic, many people can not make it to museum collections, and some museums are still closed; however there are many museums that have wonderful online collections and virtual tours.

1. The National Gallery of Art:

After exploring the website, I found a few really good virtual tours. Below is an example of me exploring one.

2. Metropolitan Museum of Art:

These tours are a bit different, but they are so cool!! They are 360 degree tours some of the Met's architecture. They are Youtube videos, but you can scroll around and explore while the video is playing. Below is a video of how to get there and one of the videos.

3. Musée d’Orsay, Paris

On Google Arts and Culture, there are many museums that offer 360 degree galleries. Here is one.

4. Google Arts and Culture

I have written about Google Arts and Culture before, but there are so many good tours of art museums and galleries! Start exploring.