My artwork made it onto a laptop! how cool!

Holocaust rememberance day.

Today is Holocaust rememberance day, so to all the victims of the Holocaust, may you all rest in peace.

Similarities

Differences

Judging

Interviewing Gustav Klimt

Z: “What events in your earlier life influenced your decision to be an artist such as yourself? And possibly even inspired you to paint such beautiful pieces of art, especially in a time where Vienna carried no interest or a revolutionary spirit towards the arts.” (Wolf)

G: “Well, I grew up in a poor family with many financial problems. My brothers and I were introduced to art through my father, his profession being a silver and gold engraver. I kept myself busy drawing and painting along side my brother, Ernst. When I was fourteen, I was strongly suggested to apply Kunstgewerbeschule, the Viennese School of Arts and Crafts. In which I took into action and was finally accepted. Later on I was inspired to become a drawing master and I decided to eventually take a teaching job at Burgerschule, a basic public secondary school in Vienna. I grew a big interest in the artist Hans Makart, his technique really inspired and influenced my work, from the dramatic effects of light and theatricality.” (Wolf)

Z: “Nice! I bet when it came to art you were a shoe in! In order for more of these great art opportunities to happen did you have any mentors that really helped you thrive as an artist?”

G: “Thank you, and my first mentor was my professor, Ferdinand. He really taught my brother and I in a wide range of media other then just painting and drawing. I owe a lot of thanks to Ferdinand, because without him then I wouldn’t have gotten to meet Han Makart! Or take part in the Triumph of Maximilian 1 with Makart. Han Makart is so inspiring and I admire a lot. He plays a big role in influencing how my style of art evolved.”

Z: ”What was the art world like during the time you began entering it?”

G: “Lets see, I began training in Vienna during the Ringstrasse Era which was when the Vienna experiencing many changes.  For instance, the bourgeois class was greatly encouraging the arts like never before. I remember that Vienna was just entering its Golden Age of industry, science and research. The sad thing was, that Vienna expressed no revolutionary interests in the arts.”

Z: “That kind of situation sounds quite partisan, as from an artist myself.”

G: “It wasn’t a tragedy, we all got through it and I still got to experience great artistic opportunities, and since you are a young artist, I strongly suggest that you take as many artistic opportunities possible because it is well worth it and a great chance to try new and different aspects of art.”

Z: ”Thank you! I appreciate such wonderful advice coming from a great artist such as your self. Speaking of taking all opportunities as possible, where there ever times when you did but it ended up not as you wished? Possibly from any cultural, economic or political situations?”

G: “Well, in the year of 1894 I was asked to create three paintings to decorate the ceiling of the Great Hall in the University of Vienna. I painted the three pieces, one showing Philosophy, another I showed Medicine, and for the third one I showed Jurisprudence. The feedback I got weren’t so great. I received lots of critics and complaining. People claimed my three paintings to be ‘pornographic’ and my themes being to exhausting and different from one another. Although I didn’t mean to offend anyone in any sort of way, I just think there should be more acceptances of the human body and its natural beauty and shape as a form of art without being called ‘pornographic material.’ Feedback like this was usually received from various political, religious and artistic groups. Since my paintings had such an unfortunate outcome among the viewers, they were not shown on the ceiling, leaving that the last public request I accepted. Then later on even after my death in the year 1945, all three of my paintings were eventually destroyed by the dominating Nazi forces.”

Z: “Wow! that sounds like such a horrible thing to have to go through. The criticism and misunderstanding audience must have been overwhelming.”

G: “I have to admit, it wasn’t the happiest time of life.”

Z: “Can you tell me major accomplishment or method that you really think stood out the most in your art?”

G: “I would have to say that being a part of The Vienna Secession movement was a major part of my life. I got to be apart of the action trying to create a new style and trying to escape from industrial mass production and demands of the academies. We all responded against technology to restore the arts and improve the standards of decorative design.”

Z: “That sounds all so wonderful, you really tried to improve the arts for people. I think that’s really inspiring. In your paintings, I notice you use a lot of gold paint, is there a reason for this specific use of a color?”

G: “I do in fact use the gold color a lot in my work, as you know already, my father worked as a gold engraver and so I grew up with the color gold. It is also in general a beautiful and strong at the same time. I think I was influenced by the beautiful Italian mosaics at the Byzantine churches in Ravenna where you notice this gold color used.

Bibliography

Bucheit, Rita. "Vienna Secession History." Rita Bucheit, Ltd. Rita Bucheit, n.d. Web. 23 Feb 2011. <http://www.ritabucheit.com/library/articles/10>. (Bucheit)

Comino, Alessandra. Gustav Klimt. New York: George Braziller, 2001. 80. Print. (Comini, and 80)

damy, julian. "Gustav Klimt His Life & Work." iKlimt. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb 2011. <http://www.iklimt.com/life.html>.  (damy)

Wolf, Justin. "Gustav Klimt." The Art Story Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb 2011. <http://www.theartstory.org/artist-klimt-gustav.htm>.  (Wolf)

Three ages of woman 1905

Three ages of woman 1905

I created this painting to represent the 3 ages of a woman's life, Baby (childhood), Adult, Aged.

-Damy, Julian. "Gustav Klimt His Life & Work."IKlimt. Julian Damy, Web. 22 Mar 2011.      <http://www.iklimt.com/index.html#>.