Alphonse Maria Mucha

Alphonse Maria Mucha was a Czech painter and decorative artist for distinct style in women in the Art Nouveau era. He was born in the town of Ivancice, Miravia, now known as Czech Republic).
Singing allowed him to continue studying at a higher level in the Moravian capital of Brunn but his first and true love was drawing.
He worked at decorative painting jobs in Moravia, painting scenes for theater productions. He moved to Vienna to work for a big Viennese theatrical design company in 1879. While there, he also studied art, furthering his education, discreetly.
in 1887, Mucha moved to Paris, working at a magazine and advertising illustrations while continuing his studies.
the Advertisement for the play Gismondaby Victorien Sardou appeared on the streets on January 1895. The ad was an overnight sensation. This exposed Alphonse Maria Mucha and his style to Paris. Bernhardt was satisfied by its success, she gave Mucha a 6 year contract.
On June 10, 1906, Mucha married Maruska. Together they visited the U.S from 1906 to 1910 in which in that time, their daughter, Jaroslava, was born in New York City. They later had a son, Jiri, born on March 12, 1915 in Prague.
Alphonsa Maria Mucha died on July 14 1939.


Lady in Green.


Lovely Protector.

 
Princezna Hyacinta.

information gotten from: Alphonse Mucha - Biography. 2013. Alphonse Mucha - Biography. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.rogallery.com/Mucha_Alphonse/mucha-biography.htm. 

who are you? -Art Exhibition.

 Visited exhibition on the 8th of April 2013.
The exhibition was held at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Malta. 
The exhibition features a lot of Maltese artists. Full list below.

The exhibition was about giving identity to people by not just giving them a name but a personality in the work itself. A woman taking care of the exhibition phrased it as "giving them an identity by not giving them one" This was because on the actual notes next to the sculptures, their names were not listed. Only their occupation. They're occupation and status in their life can also be noticed from the sculptures themselves.

 Those were 5 pieces that caught my eye at the exhibition.
There was also a big mirror on to wall. This was to reflect on who you are. I think it was an ingenious idea and fit very well with the exhibition.

Josiah Wedgwood

Josiah Wedgwood was born on 12 July 1730 in Burslem, Staffordshire. He was born in a family of potters and his father's death(in 1739) made him start working as a 'thower' in a pottery place.
Wedgwood had improved the ordinary tableware of that day, introducing durable,simple tableware. His new earthenware was christened 'Queen's Ware' after Queen Charlotte, appointed him queen's potter in 1762. Empress Catherine II (Russia) who ordered 952 pieces in 1774.
in 1773, Josiah experimented with baruim sulphate, producing from it jasper. This is used for a ornaments, blending metallic oxides.
In 1783, Wedgewood was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. This was primarily for inventing the pryrometer. This is used to measure oven temperatures. He took great interest in factory organisation, improvement of transport of raw materials and finished wares.








source: BBC - History - Historic Figures: Josiah Wedgwood (1730 - 1795). 2013. BBC - History - Historic Figures: Josiah Wedgwood (1730 - 1795). [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wedgwood_josiah.shtml. [Accessed 05 March 2013].

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Chadwick Gray and Laura Spector

Chadwick Gray and Laura Spector are both artists from Austin,Texas. These artists have found how to incorporate 19th century art with body painting.
To find 19th century artworks, they contacted museums from all over the world, asking them for permission to photograph specific 19th century paintings. According to Peta Pixel, the duo tried to find artworks that haven't been exhibited in the last 50 years or some that were never exhibited at all.
The body paintings would start by projecting the image of the desired artwork onto the model's body, trying different positions until the perfect pose was found. After it is found, Laura spends between 8 to 15 hours in one setting trying to reproduce every detail. The body art would have been painted with special-effects makeup.

some works:







source: Museum Anatomy - Historical Artworks Painted on Human Bodies | Oddity Central - Collecting Oddities. 2013. Museum Anatomy - Historical Artworks Painted on Human Bodies | Oddity Central - Collecting Oddities. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/living-art-museum-masterpieces-painted-on-human-bodies.html. [Accessed 05 March 2013].

Francisco Goya

Francisco Goya was a Spanish artist that was very important in 19th and the 20th century. He was born on March 30th 1746, in a village in Northern Spain. At the age of 14, he was an apprentice with Jose Luzan (a local painter) he later went to Italy to study more about art. 
When he returned to Spain, he started painting frescoes for the local cathedral.
His artworks are known for violence, especially those by the French invasion of Spain. 
In 1792, Goya became seriously ill, resulting in permanent deafness. This targeted his imagination more, making him more observant of his surroundings. His paintings became more bold, showing how Goya really saw the world.
From 1795 to 1797, Goya, was a director of painting at the Royal Academy. He was also appointed first Spanish court painter in 1799.
Goya served as court painter to the French between 1808 and 1814, during the Napoleonic invasion and the Spanish war of Independence.
In a series of starkly realistic etching on the war, named The Disasters of War, Goya expressed his feelings towards armed battles. They were not published until 1863. Goya did not see this series get published due to dying in 1828.


 The Naked Maja 


image link: http://www.oceansbridge.com/oil-paintings/product/50786/thenakedmaja

The clothed Maja


image link: http://www.franciscodegoya.net/The-Clothed-Maja-(La-Maja-Vestida).html

Source: Francisco De Goya Biography. 2013. Francisco De Goya Biography. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.franciscodegoya.net/biography.html. [Accessed 04 March 2013].

Caspar David Friedrich

Friedrich was born in Greifswald in northern Germany in 1774. He was a landscape painter as well as a draughtsman. He was also considered a very important painter in his time, which was the time during the nineteenth century German Romantic movement.
His works were mostly about nature, featuring silhouettes against night skies, barren trees and Gothic ruins. His symbolic and anti-classical work seeks to convey the spiritual experiences of life.
Although he was very well known, as Germany evolved from Romanticism to Modernization, his work had become less appreciated. His rediscovery began in 1906 in Berlin, when an exhibition displaying 32 of both his paintings and his sculptures.

Some of his works:



A walk at dusk.



The wanderer above the mists



Rocky Ravine

Source: Caspar David Friedrich, Available at: http://www.caspardavidfriedrich.org/ (Accessed: 2nd March 2013).