Andre Edouard Marty

I have a book review for you all, but before I can get to that let's all enjoy the illustrations of Andre Edouard Marty. He was born in Paris in 1882 and worked in the Art Deco style -many of his illustrations were used by the London Underground, some of which can be seen/purchased here.

{Where runs the River?, 1931}

{Children's parties, 1931}

{Come, on wings of joy, 1931}

{Bushy Park; Chestnut Sunday, 1933}

{Wimbledon tennis, 1933}

{Bluebell time,1933}

Howard Pyle

You may remember a week or so ago I mentioned that I had visited the Delaware Art Museum. I was on assignment - doing research for my Historic Properties class about the sustainability of the organization & various other intrigues of the preservation minded.

Anyways, while I was there I discovered the works of Howard Pyle, who has since become a component of my paper. Not going to lie - I had never heard of him before, but this Wilmington, Delaware native was an amazing illustrator, often compared to his cohort, Norman Rockwell.

Pyle {1853-1911}, a member of the Brandywine School, illustrated many children's books, including The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, King Arthur, and lots of books on pirates - in fact he created our mental image of pirates. His illustrations colored the pages of many magazines in the early 20th century, including Harper's Bazaar, The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, etc.

The Delaware Art Museum, seeing as how Pyle is the reason for their existence, has the foremost collection of his works - I copied down the titles of my favorites while I was there, but I couldn't find most of them online...so here's hoping that you'll go out & search for more of Pyle's works.

{image: Catherine De Vaucelles, in her Garden, from "In Necessity's Mortar," October 1904.}

{image: from The True Captain Kidd, 1902}

{image: Sindbad on Burrator, 1902}

{image: King Arthur and His Knights, 1903}

{image: The Travels of the Soul, 1902}

{image: The Mermaid, 1910}

{image: Published in Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott, 1881}

{image: When All the World Seemed Young, 1909}

The Running Fence

When I went to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C this weekend, unfortunately, their Aaron Douglas exhibit was on rotation. However, Nate {a contributor over at this music blog} & I did see a wonderfully executed exhibit on The Running Fence.

This was an enormous art endeavor taken by Christo & Jean-Claude in the mid 1970's. This artist duo is known for their large scale, environmental art projects. Some famous enterprises include wrapping the Reichstag & the Pont Neuf, and most recently a venture called The Gates in NYC. Almost always controversial, due to the enormity of their work, as well as the negotiations required with various governments, their main goal has always been to beautify the world - or in the very least trying to make something look good that was never thought to be able to look any different. They want people to see the same thing or place in a new way - often this transpires in a global realm due to the abundancy of media coverage.

Running Fence

Progress began on this installation in 1972 and, after much deliberation with governmental officials, it was completed in September of 1976 and removed exactly 2 weeks later, leaving absolutely no trace of its existence. The "fence" was 18 feet high and was comprised of Nylon sails. It spanned 24.5 miles of land through Sonoma & Marin counties in northern California. Beginning near Highway 101 it crossed 14 roads and traversed the private lands of 59 ranchers {whose testimonies of cooperation were part of the Portrait Gallery's exhibit} and ended in the Pacific Ocean -the most beautiful part, in my opinion.

It was the first art project that required an environmental impact report {completed in 450 pages!}-which probably wouldn't have been required if it had been even a decade earlier as the environment {NEPA, Clean Air & Water Acts, etc} wasn't really on the agenda until the 1970's.

Besides being impressive merely in its size and the number of people it required to complete, the two messages I took away from this project were: fences don't necessarily have to divide people & people {i.e ranchers} who probably weren't too sure about art -especially conceptual art from foreigners who barely spoke English- can be willing & excited participants in such an undertaking {really anything might be possible!}.

"The work of art is a scream of freedom!" - Christo

Aaron Douglas

Yesterday, I went to the Delaware Art Museum {surprisingly fantastic!} & saw one reproduction of a mural by one of my favorite 20th century artists & this weekend I'm heading to Washington D.C & I'll hopefully have time to stop by the National Portrait Gallery to see their extensive exhibit on him.

Aaron Douglas

Born in Topeka, Kansas in 1899, Douglas was always interested in art & his mother was very influential in encouraging him to follow his passion. He graduated from the University of Lincoln-Nebraska with a B.A in 1922 & quickly made his way to Harlem, just in time for the Harlem Renaissance. He began writing for The Crisis & Opportunity, two important newspapers during the Harlem Renaissance period.

Douglas was heavily inspired by Africa & African Americans, which can be seen in his jazzy, silhouette-like large paintings, many of which depict the hardships of slavery combined with the fortitude of African people. His most famous works, the large-scale murals at Fisk University, were completed in the 1930's.

His most recognized work are sort of abstract & feature flat figures with geometric bands radiating outward from these figures, although he also did some traditional sketching. His response to being called the Father of African American Arts was: "Do not call me the Father of African American Arts, for I am just a son of Africa, and paint for what inspires me."

{image: Study for Aspects of Negro Life: The Negro in an African Setting, 1934}

{image: Idylls of the Deep South, 1934}

{image: Building More Stately Mansions - 1944}

{image: Gods Trombones - 1926}

{image: The Creation - 1935}

{image: Power Plant in Harlem}