Arshil Gorki
Incorrigible stubborn: brilliant impressionist with a heavy character
Claude Monet is known as one of the founders of impressionism. The artist could magically convey on canvas the impressions of what he saw. Considering his paintings, full of appeasement, it is difficult to imagine that the master who wrote them had a terrible character. Claude Monet was known as an incredible stubborn, ready to take extreme measures, if only to insist on his own.
1. Monet did not want to sell paintings to everyone
The 1860s and 70s were financially difficult for the artist. He barely made ends meet. When the debts grew to incredible sizes, the creditors, not knowing what to remove from the poor artist, demanded his paintings. Monet decided to take a radical step, but did not concede – he simply burned his paintings. Continue reading
Dumas’ Three Musketeers for Almost 175 Years: Masterpieces Illustrations Drawn in Different Years
Many in adolescence were read by the works of Alexander Dumas, and especially the novel “Three Musketeers”, filled with adventures and historical events of 1625-1628, as well as entertaining illustrations. Next year, the novel will celebrate 175 years, during which artists from different countries have repeatedly illustrated it. One of the best publications is considered an anniversary edition – to the 50th anniversary of the novel with masterpiece illustrations by the French artist Maurice Leloir. But after so many years, contemporary artists also do not bypass the immortal creation of Alexander Dumas. Continue reading
People-birds, beautiful ladies and the joy of life
They worked in the harsh conditions of socialist realism, but paintings with farmers and tractors are not their style. Their paintings were crushed by bulldozers, not allowed to go to exhibitions, forgotten for many years. Some of them were lucky, and they received professional recognition, participation in exhibitions, posters mentioning their names … but few today remember their work. Artists of the Soviet era combined art and family – or preferred the workshop to a family hearth, searched for their own path, fought, dreamed … and, of course, did it.
Alexandra Beltsova was born in Latvia. During the years of training, she met the artist Roman Suta, who became her husband and associate. Together they traveled to Berlin, where they met many avant-garde artists, and to Paris, where they participated in exhibitions along with Picasso and Le Corbusier. Continue reading