Visual & Decorative Arts Blog

We may be halfway through the year, but we've still got six months left to indulge ourselves in some beautiful art. With that being said, we've compiled a list of the top 10 worldwide exhibitions that you can still visit throughout the year. Grab your tickets!

Topics: Museums & Galleries, Art Deco, Masterpieces of Art, Flame Tree Calendars, british art, religious art, art

This month is Disability Pride Month, so we’re taking a look at one of the most prolific disabled women to date and her revolutionary, lasting impact on society today. From queer feminist icon to Mexican fashionista - Frida Kahlo has become a household name, and here’s why.

Topics: Masterpieces of Art, art, frida kahlo, diego rivera, LGBTQ

This week marked the long awaited re-opening of museums and art galleries throughout the UK. We can finally indulge in some wonderful art culture again, so here’s a list of ten of the top UK exhibitions this year. Grab your tickets quick, we suspect they’ll be in high demand!

Topics: Museums & Galleries, street art, digital art, Banksy, Art Deco, Masterpieces of Art, Flame Tree Calendars, british art, religious art, art

William Blake (1757 – 1827) was an English printmaker, painter and poet. Since early childhood, Blake had wanted to be an artist. From the age of around ten years old, his parents enrolled him at Henry Pars’ Drawing School. While now considered a central figure in the history of English poetry and the Romantic movement, he was not hugely recognised during his life.

 

Topics: William Blake, Masterpieces of Art

One of only 35 girls to join some 2,000 boys at the national prep school in Mexico City, Frida Kahlo had dreams of becoming a doctor. In 1922, while at this school, Frida would come across a rather rotund painter doing some work in the school’s auditorium. Diego Rivera recounts, in his autobiography, remembering this young girl teasing him while he worked until she stopped and just watched.

 

Topics: Masterpieces of Art, frida kahlo, diego rivera

Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) was born to Clovis Gauguin (1814–51) and Alina Maria Chazal (1825–67) inParis. A man driven by his own desire above anything else, Gauguin is a celebrated artist with a story that now warrants people questioning his work. He would come to be defined by his travels and work in what he termed ‘primitive’ cultures, but from an early age this travelling was a central part of his life. 

Topics: Masterpieces of Art, Impressionism, paul gauguin, gauguin

Heath Robinson is a name synonymous with humorously complicated machines and inventions. Similar to the American Rube Goldberg, Robinson’s name became shorthand for these bizarre contraptions but differing in that they were generally not single use inventions like Goldberg’s. While these were central to his fame and success they were not the only illustrations he did and we thought we should take a look at some of his other beautiful work.

Topics: Masterpieces of Art, heath robinson, the many facets of...

The Art Deco movement came to fruition in the early 1900s. In 1925 the Exposition Internationale, which focused on Art Deco design then called Moderne, opened for a six-month run that garnered over sixteen million visitors. The United States did not exhibit at the show because, according to then-Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover (1874–1964), they did not have a sufficient collection of modern products to display. The United States did, however, attend the show. They sent over eighty delegates who were captivated by the designs they saw. It fell in sync with American optimism and American wealth and would come to heavily shape the style we now associate with classic Americana. They didn’t just replicate the art deco style but developed it in to something that was specific to American design.

Topics: Art Deco, Masterpieces of Art, raymond loewy

Egon Schiele (1890-1918) made no attempt to hide his desire to befriend Gustav Klimt (1862-1918). His admiration for Klimt, the star of the Viennese art circle, grew from his domination of the avant garde art scene in the early 20^th century. In 1907 he became determined to meet Klimt. He had heard that Klimt had his own admiration for those who sought to be successful.

Topics: Masterpieces of Art, Modern Art, art, egon schiele

John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) is hailed as one of the greatest portrait painters of his era. He is famed for his portraiture of aristocratic subjects and these have been compared with the work of painters like Velázquez (1599–1660) and Van Dyck (1599–1641) for their theatrical quality. Portraits are probably what he is most known for, but Sargent painted many subjects with many mediums. In this week’s blog we will be exploring some of these other avenues and looking at the many sides of John Singer Sargent.

 

 Image Courtesy of Boston Library

Topics: Masterpieces of Art, Art Movements, blog, john singer sargent