Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun by Gita May

Title: Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun

Author: Gita May

Publisher: Yale University 2005

Genre: Nonfiction – Biography

Pages: 256

Rating:  4 /5 stars

Reading Challenges: Dewey — 750s; Mixing It Up — Biography

How I Got It: Library Loan

The foremost woman artist of her age, Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755—1842) exerted her considerable charm to become the friend, and then official portraitist, of Marie Antoinette. Though profitable, this role made Vigée Le Brun a public and controversial figure, and in 1789 it precipitated her exile. In a Europe torn by strife and revolution, she nevertheless managed to thrive as an independent, self-supporting artist, doggedly setting up studios in Rome, Naples, Venice, Milan, Vienna, St. Petersburg, and London. Long overlooked or dismissed, Vigée Le Brun’s portraits now hang in the Louvre, in a room of their own, as well as in all leading art museums of the world.

I first encountered Vigee Le Brun in my Women Artists class in college.  I instantly liked her neoclassical style of painting.  I can’t believe that I never picked up a biography in the intervening years.  Thankfully I snatched this from the library shelves.  May does not disappoint in giving insight to a talented woman painter of the late 18th century.  Vigee Le Brun had the fortune of natural talent, a family that supported her painting, and the acquaintances of many rich patrons.  Originally my favorite of her paintings was Marie Antoinette with Her Children (1787), but after reading more about her own life, I love her self portraits.  She had a way of capturing people in a moment.  The paintings are less static than more neoclassicists.  I get a sense of movement in the poses.  They are almost like candid photographs.  Behind her actual art, I loved hearing about her early life and later travels throughout Europe.  And I now have a deeper understanding of the French Revolution’s effects on the participants.  Overall,  a great biography of a great artists.

My current favorite painting: Self Portait in a Turban with Her Child 1786

 

Spring Break Vacation Part 3/3

See Part 1

See Part 2

Days 8-9 were spent in the Pittsburgh area.

Day 8: Carnegie Mellon Museum of Art and Museum of Natural History.  Awesomely they are in the same building and one admission price gets you into both.  The boys were over the moon with the dinosaurs.  J loved the art museum.  And I really liked everything.  I really am a museum whore and proud of it!

Pictures: Working lab, Allosaurus, boys in front of the T Rexes, Boys being paleontologists, main staircase, Terpsichore Muse of Lyric Poetry

Day 9: We drove about an hour outside of Pittsburg to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater.  I’ve been to his house in Oak Park (Chicago) and see the designs there.  But I’ve always wanted to see Fallingwater.  The boys even enjoyed it!  Unfortunately you can’t take pictures inside the house.

 

Day 10: J and I drove back to Omaha.  On to the moving! 

 

Quote Wednesday — Moore

“To be an artist is to believe in life.” — Henry Moore

I don’t usually like abstract modern art, but something about Moore’s scupltures intrigue me.  I’m leaning toward form…

 

Quote Wednesday – Michelangelo

I saw the angel in the marble and I just chiseled till I set him free. — Michelangelo

Created in 1494-1495, this marble statue resides in the Basilica of San Domenico, Bologna.

I love the simplicity of Michelangelo’s quote.  He saw the beauty that could be and created it.  There was no divine intervention, no long drawn out artistic speech.  He saw, he did.  Beside the fact that he had such great talent, I envy Michelangelo in his simple outlook.  When I want to create, I obsess.  I think about what I want to do, how to do it, where I could go wrong.  I don’t just create.  I need to focus on my crafting techniques.  I want to just do.  And however it comes out, it is.  I won’t obsess over perfection.  I am sure that Michelangelo had many pieces left unfinished.  We see only the greatness of his work.  But I want to not be shamed by the unfinished, the imperfect.  I want to create.  And if I create something beautiful, I want to revel in its beauty without boasting.  Wish me luck…

 

Quote Wednesday — Brancusi

“Don’t look for obscure formulas or mystery in my work.  It is pure joy that I offer you.” — Constantin Brancusi

I am absolutely loving that I can look back at all the books that I’ve read since November.  I can see how my reading ebbs and flows.  I can see my wild genre swings.  It’s like a personal reading diary, but public.  I love seeing all the comments from people (those I’ve met in person and those I haven’t met, they’re all great!).

Taking a look at my reading, I’ve noticed something: I read some crap!  I haven’t picked up anything that could be classified as “High literature.”  And that’s okay.  Because the books I’ve read, whatever the genre, bring me joy.  I love reading whether it’s children’s literature (Hello Percy Jackson! Love you!) or Christian fiction (At the Scent of Water, anyone?) or zombie schlock (A Zombie’s History of the United States) or contemporary romance (Under Cover).  I love it all.  There’s no deeper meaning to these books.  I don’t have to ponder over the intent of the author.  I don’t have to read a critical review of the book to understand.  I just read them and love the stories.  I love the characters.  I love the settings.  I love the books for the joy that they bring me.  So up next Love Finds You in Treasure Island, Florida, just for a light romance.  That’s it.  Just for joy!

 

Quote Wednesday — Picasso

“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” — Picasso

There’s something very poetic about quote.  it makes me feel all inspired and creative; things I don’t think I am.  it is true that looking at a great piece of art, or hearing a beautiful piece of music, or writing a descriptive paragraph uplifts me.  I can escape the “dust’ of daily life and enter into a whole different world.  A world where things like doing laundry just don’t exist.  A world where I can really stop and appreciate the beauty of everything around me.  A world where worrying has no place.  Where tears are only expectable if they are because the beauty is too much to handle.  I need to visit there every once in a while.  It’s like getting a battery charged.  It helps me get through the rest of the crap that I encounter throughout the week.

The Dance of Youth

 

Art of Reading

Lady Reading in an Interior -- Marguerite Gerrard

Girl Reading or In the Orangery -- Charles Perugini

 

Beautiful paintings of women engaged in reading.  I love the postures, the colors, the facial expressions.  Nothing is better than relaxing in a great setting reading a book.  Somehow I don’t think that taking a photo of me reading would  convey the same sense of serenity.  These paintings are much more expressive of how I see the art of reading.  Hope you appreciate these as much as I do!

 

Beauty of Earth

I found these pictures of various locations of earth from one of my “interesting” blogs.  The images were taken by satellites and then false color was added.  The one I feature definitely reminds me of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”.  The green patches are phosphorescent plankton.  I love the swirls of the ocean compared with the green and brown of the land.  It’s a beautiful contrast.  Seeing an entire island this small, I feel like a speck on the earth.  And really I am.  I am one of ~6 billion people on the earth.  One of ~300 million in the United States.  One of ~6 million in Indiana.  One of ~300,000 in Allen county.  I am small compared to those giant numbers, but I love these photos.  They give me a tangible perspective.  I am really enjoying the beauty depicted.  And after the day I had today, I need something beautiful.  So enjoy!

 

Gotland, Sweden

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/11/earth-as-art-gallery/?pid=593&viewall=true

 

Frankenstein Apple

While randomly browsing through the internet, I ran across this photo.  Interesting, weird, slightly disturbing, beautiful… Are those contradictory?  No, I think not.  Those words describe this photo perfectly.

Phrases that come to mind: A juxtaposition.  Opposites attract.  A monster.  A mash-up of sorts.

Thoughts after viewing: This is a perfect visual representation of my life right now.  I feel like I have these two sides that I’m trying to stick together.  But they don’t connect naturally.  They may even in fact be polar opposites.  The flimsy staples are a an attempt to connect two very different pieces.

I have recently started a new job.  After three years of teaching high school social studies, my school closed.  I now have a part-time job doing marketing for a Facebook application company.  You might be thinking “Okay just a career change.”  But here’s the thing, I’ve always wanted to be a teacher.  And the three years I was getting paid (very little, but that’s another story), I absolutely loved it.  I love teaching (and teaching high schoolers to boot).  As a child, I would play “school” with my stuffed animals and dolls.  I think I was destined to be a teacher.  But my school closed and then I was going to move to another state to attend law school.  But then that plan had to be put on hold indefinitely.  So, then I needed a job.  And guess what?  The local school systems are in the process of cutting the budget and that means cutting jobs.  Bottom line: no teaching jobs available in the immediate area.

I went on unemployment and started applying for anything and everything that would make about the same salary.  (Hey!  I have two kids to try and support and need a livable income.)  Surprise surprise, nothing really out there.  Oh there are tons of job listings on Careebuilder and Monster and the like, but none of those companies really seem to be hiring.  For example, the local hospital was hiring patient registrars.  I worked for an orthopedic surgeon off and on for the past 6 years.  Guess what I did?  Check patients in and out, schedule. answer phones.  And this hospital told me that I wasn’t qualified for the position.  Phooey!

About two weeks ago I was offered a job as a Marketing Intern for this new company. What do I know about marketing?  Nothing really. I’m making this up as a I go along.  I’ve checked out books from the library.  I’ve read people’s blogs.  So far, so good…

But this isn’t my dream job.  I don’t want to be doing this for the next five years.  I want to get back into teaching or go to law school and be a student.

Right now my life really feels like this Frankenstein Apple.

http://wolkentanzer.deviantart.com/

 

Quote Wednesday — Chagall

“Great art picks up where nature ends.” — Chagall

What are my favorite pieces of art?  I love neoclassical pieces, impressionism, renaissance portraits.  I find beauty in the realistic.  Modern abstract paintings hold very little appeal.  I want to see a reflection of reality, but I better reflection.  The painting must be idealized.  It must pick “up where nature ends” as Chagall alludes to.  I want to see a approximation of perfection.  A dream, maybe, but very enjoyable to the senses.

So, here are a few pieces that have caught my eye.

The Cupid Seller — Joseph Marie Vien

Liberty Leading the People — Delacroix

Angelica Kauffman Self-Portrait

Jan Van Eyck — Arnolfini Wedding

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres — Grand Odalisque

Antonio Canova — Cupid and Psyche