Art

[eldargal]

We have a cooking thread, a beer thread and a thread for everything else but we don't have an art thread and as we saw in the brief art excursion in the Feminist thread (theres a couple of those too) some BoLSers know something about art. Others can't seem to tell the difference between naked men and women and are to be pitied.

So, post whatever art you like. No restrictions. Except perhaps conceptual art because if you want to look at glasses of water an unmade bed you can probably do that in the comfort of your own home without taking up bandwidth...

Some of my absolute favourites:

Venus Callipyge/Aphrodite Kallipygos (National Museum, Naples)

(Kallipygos translates as 'beautiful buttocks'). The head and shoulders are modern restorations. fun fact:Kallipygos was one of my nicknames at university, showing that even our male best and brightest are sexist pigs)

Winged Victory of Samothrace (Louvre)


The Blinding of Polyphemus (Sperlonga museum, Italy)

(those little figures are life size, the thing is huge. Illustrates a scene from the Odyssey where Odysseus blinds the cyclops)

Girl with Unicorn, Raphael (Galleria Borghese, Rome)

(jumping forward a bit in time, this painting possibly depicts Guilia Farnese, mistress of Pope Alexander VI)

[Psychosplodge]

I'm not sure why you find it surprising that even bright males are sexist pigs, we are genetically programmed to it

[Wolfshade]

Are you suggesting beer and cooking are not art?

Two Satyrs (Ruben):

[eldargal]

Who said I was surprised?

Post some art! *flails*

Apollo Belvedere/Pythian Apollo (2nd century. Vatican Museums)

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

Nope.

[Gotthammer]

I'm not much one for the classics for the most part, all a bit melodramatic for my tastes. I'm very fond of some of the Impressionists, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and even Pop Art to a degree. [URL="http://designspiration.net/data/l/4069373435171_b4GJnogy_l.jpg"]Street Art / Graffiti[/URL] is something I find quite intriguing as it initially seems to be completely free-form, but is often laced with meanings dictated by a hidden code. Same for [URL="http://www.gangsorus.com/gang_tats.htm"]prison tattoos[/URL] really. The [URL="http://www.antique-marks.com/image-files/art-deco-poster-2.jpg"]art of retro advertising[/URL] also appeals to me, but I think that's partially to do with the crossover with [URL="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/202/474931196_d79b07759e.jpg"]styles I like[/URL] and growing up with [URL="http://rlv.zcache.com.au/vintage_lner_railway_scotland_travel_poster_art_po stcard-ra6de30967bf74d8cac62e6a256f67d5c_vgbaq_8byvr_512. jpg"]LNER posters[/URL] on the walls. And there's nothing quite like the bizarreness of [URL="http://www.polishposter.com/"]an Eastern European movie poster[/URL].

That modern artists are more prolific / live longer allows us to see into people's heads, as it were. One of the more well known examples is Louis Wain's cats:





and how they changed as schizophrenia took hold of his mind. A more subtle one is how Monet's use of colours shifted subtly as he got older and blinder. One thing I sometimes get surprised by is how gigantic some pieces are, for instance Caillebotte's Paris Street, Rainy Day:



has pretty close to life-sized figures in it, same for [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sunday_Afternoon_on_the_Island_of_La_Grande_Jatt e"]A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte[/URL] (also, pointillism is insane).

Some other pics I like:


Have a necklace of this one:




I liked this one so much I [URL="http://collegiatitanica.blogspot.com.au/2010/10/studio-mcveys-lisbeth-complete.html"]recreated it on a mini[/URL]:

[Necron2.0]

First off, two of my favorite words ... Callipygian and Callimastian. Gotta love the greek language.

++++

As for my taste in art, I tend to favor the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles. Examples of my favorites are:





I'm also fond of Native American sand painting, but that's a heritage thing:


As for more "traditional" art, my favorite would be Michelangelo's "Pieta."

[Mr Mystery]

Very much with you on the Art Deco front.

Just a shame it suffered at the merciless hands of developers in the post war era

[Necron2.0]

As for what I collect, I seem to have a lot of stuff like this in my house:



I'm also quite fond of some of the pieces my [url=http://katherynsins.com/My_Albums/Pages/traditional,_functional_pots.html]ceramics instructor[/url] has done.

[Denzark]

Oh yawn - every time I hear the word kultur, I tale the safety catch off my browning - Hermann Goering... But actually, almost any print of Lady Butler's involving Redcoats waxing froggies is art in my book...