I love looking at art and there are many artists I admire – Caravaggio, Lautrec, Alice Neel and Lucien Freud, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, Renoir and Degas, John Singer Sargent, Chagall, Andrew Wyeth, Thomas Eakins, Andy Warhol, Franz Marc, Goya and Velasquez, Edward Hopper, Modigliani, Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot, Cezanne, Raphael Soyer and Ben Shahn, Will Barnett and Jacob Lawrence, Picasso, Magritte, Max Beckmann and Otto Dix, Van Gogh, and my favorite Edouard Manet.
I’ve no idea what these artists have in common if anything, but none is an abstractionist. The fact is I don’t understand abstract art. I know I should be open-minded, and I shouldn’t look for a story line in an abstract painting, but I just can’t help it.
I was once in a museum staring at a large canvas that was entirely blue, and I told a museum docent I was having a hard time figuring out what the painting was about.
“Try to think of it as simply a statement about the color blue.”, she suggested.
I tried hard, but I had no eureka moment about the color blue.
Recently we were at MOMA with our friend Belinda who was visiting from abroad and were looking at that famous Jackson Pollack with all the drips that my husband loves.
”I don’t like this painting,” I told Belinda, “where my husband sees energy and excitement, I see only chaos.”
“Of course you don’t like it,” she said, “you’re an organizer so when you see a mess you want to clean it up.”
She was right! But tell me honestly, which painting do YOU like better?
This one ..
… or this one?
I totally agree with your choice. In fact I find I am depressed by all those black drippy lines. The young lady in the second painting could use your skills. Her hair is a mess and her clothes seem somewhat awry.
Yes! If art restorers touch up the old masters, why not art improvers to correct imperfections? Picasso and Dali, watch out!
Dana, I have the same reaction to most abstract art. I look for beauty in art, and I just don't find it there. My favorite artists are the Impressionists. I grew up in a home filled with Impressionist reproductions. My mother's criterion when we regarded a painting in a museum was, "Would I want to look at that over the breakfast table every day?"
Thanx Sharon, I expected to ruffle some feathers but many apparently see it as we do. Your mother might have agreed with my father who called some stuff he saw in art galleries CHUTZPAH!
I feel about abstract art the way I generally feel about dogs: as a group I'm not a fan, but I appreciate certain examples! (Although I do not particularly like Pollack, the photo you posted is not a fair representation of his work. It it blurry and does not show the gradations in the thickness of the paint.)
Sara, I knew I'd ruffle some feathers with my abstract art opinions, and I agree the Pollack is a bad reproduction, but hey, all's fair in the culture wars! xox D
For whatever it’s worth, after Renoir this might be my favorite painter: https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrE1x48HlJivlsAYCtXNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNiZjEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3BpdnM-?p=ruane+manning+paintings&fr2=piv-web&type=E211US667G0&fr=mcafee
Thanx Joe for introducing me to Ruane Manning, I hadn’t heard of him before!
You are most welcome, ma’am. Check out: https://www.icanvas.com/canvas-art-prints/artist/ruane-manning?product=canvas&sort=popular. Have a safe and groovy Sunday!