Art Blog

01 Work, The Art of War, Betsellère Emile's The forgotten, with footnotes

Betsellère Emile (1847-1880)

The Forgotten! c. 1870-1871

Oil on canvas

Height: 1.23 m, Width: 2m

Bayonne, Bonnat-Helleu museum

This soldier abandoned on a battlefield and trying to get up is both an iconic image of the war of 1870 and the illustration of a Bayonne story. The model is Théodore Larran (1845-1881), a young seminarian from Bayonne, conscripted at the time of the conflict. Seriously wounded in the heart at the battle of Saint-Privat, he was forgotten on the battlefield by the ambulances (which we can see in the distance), and it was a Red Cross nurse, Marie-Thérèse Jacquet, who saves his life. They married in 1874 and returned to live in Bayonne.

Betsellère, a Bayonne painter of the same generation, fell seriously ill following deprivations during the siege of Paris in 1870 and died aged 33. He was touched by the story of Théodore Larran and met his model several times, even making a cast of his hands. However, the work is not realistic and cleverly mixes a smooth technique for the idealized face of the soldier and a freer, knife-based technique for the representation of the snowy landscape. More on this painting

Émile Pierre Betsellère , born in Bayonne in 1847 and died in his hometown on April 9, 1880, is a French painter .

Betsellère was a student at the Imperial School of Fine Arts in Paris in the painting studio of Alexandre Cabanel .

He exhibited at the Salon of 1878 at the Palais des Champs-Élysées in Paris; where he was rewarded with a 3rd class medal for work, Jesus calming the storm. He was represented by The Betrayal of General Dumouriez and a Portrait of a Man at the Salon of 1880.

Émile Betsellère fell seriously ill following deprivations during the siege of Paris in 1870 and died aged 33. More on Émile Pierre Betsellère

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints, 365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.

01 Work, The Art of War, George Bellows' The Germans Arrive, with footnotes

George Bellows

The Germans Arrive, 1918

Oil on canvas

125.73 x 201.3 cm (49 1/2 x 79 1/4 in.)

The National Gallery of Art

A German soldier strangles a civilian while another woman is attacked near a burning cottage.

Artists played a role even before 1917. Reports of German atrocities galvanized George Bellows, initially an opponent of the war, into action. Bellows, channeling Goya, painted and made prints of rape, forced labor and the murder of children by gleeful monsters in German uniforms. Masterfully done yet extremely difficult to contemplate, these works were meant to rouse Americans in support of military action. More on this painting

As an illustrator for left-wing periodicals such as the Masses, George Bellows was accustomed to addressing social issues pointedly, but he condemned “obvious, heavy propaganda.” Nevertheless, in 1918, with the United States at war, the former pacifist completed a series of prints, drawings, and monumental paintings that was mobilized as just that. Drawing on press and government accounts—

Bellows enlisted in the United States army but did not fight overseas—and owing a debt to the themes in Spanish artist Francisco de Goya’s Disasters of War, Bellows represented extreme brutality in a highly classicized formal language. His depictions of reported German atrocities on the Western front were used by media outlets and the federal government to stoke anti-German sentiment. Bellows’s “War Series” highlights the complex and porous relationship between art and propaganda. The artist’s attempt to balance narrative strategies adopted from history painting with contemporary reportage, while ambitious, created an unresolvable tension that accounts, in part, for the series’ mixed reviews and limited endurance. More on The Germans arrive

American painter and printmaker George Wesley Bellows played a crucial role in early 20th century American art. He depicted contemporary scenes of everyday life in urban environments through an overtly Realist approach, presenting the realities of tenement life on the Lower East Side, the bristly physicality of men working on the docks, or widely attended popular sporting events. His sudden death from appendicitis at the age of forty-two tragically cut short an impressive, singular career.

Born in Columbus, Ohio in 1882, Bellows sustained parallel interests in art and sports, drawing, painting and playing baseball and basketball regularly from a young age. After declining an offer from the Indianapolis baseball team to play professionally, Bellows attended Ohio State University and later moved to New York City to study under Robert Henri and pursue a career as a painter. Within five years, Bellows gained critical and commercial success, exhibiting alongside Ashcan School painters William Glackens and John Sloan and regularly contributing illustrations to popular magazines. His paintings and prints depicting a rough, grimy New York City that was full of life and vitality have become iconic artworks of the early twentieth century. Over time, his work became increasingly politically engaged, as he openly criticized atrocities committed by Germany during World War I, or the bureaucracy and censorship of the United States government.

The Boston Public Library holds a considerable selection of his prints, while many of his major paintings can be found at the Columbus Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of Art, the National Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art and many other major institutions. More on George Wesley Bellows

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.

02 Works, The Art of War, George Bellows' Massacre at Dinant, with footnotes

George Bellows (1882–1925)

Massacre at Dinant, c. 1918

Oil on cardboard

height: 49.4 in (125.7 cm); width: 82.9 in (210.7 cm)

Greenville County Museum of Art (United States)

The Dinant massacre refers to the mass execution of civilians, looting and sacking of Dinant, Neffe and Bouvignes-sur-Meuse in Belgium, perpetrated by German troops during the Battle of Dinant against the French in World War I. Convinced that the civilian population was hiding francs-tireurs, the German General Staff issued orders to execute the population and set fire to their houses.

674 individuals died due to gunfire, claiming the lives of men, women, and children, as it spread throughout the town from August 23, 1914, and afterward. Dinant lost two-thirds of its domestic properties to the fire. After being stripped of weapons on August 6, the civilian population had been exhorted to abstain from taking up arms against the invaders. More on The Dinant massacre

George Bellows (American, 1882–1925)

Massacre at Dinant, c. 1918

Lithograph

Cleveland Museum of Art

A month after the atrocities in Dinant, the Belgian Government put out three reports on German war crimes committed during the invasion of their country. The contents of these reports shocked all those who read them and in Britain both Parliament and the newspapers clamoured for an independent British commission to be set up to investigate the atrocities. The British Prime Minister at the time, Herbert Asquith, bowed to public opinion and set up an inquiry. In December 1914, James Bryce was asked to chair what was termed, the “German Outrages Inquiry Committee”, which would look into all material and take witness statements appertaining to the massacre of Belgium citizens and to the complicity of the German officers into the behaviour of their troops during the summary executions of civilians. More on the atrocities in Dinant

American painter and printmaker George Wesley Bellows played a crucial role in early 20th century American art. He depicted contemporary scenes of everyday life in urban environments through an overtly Realist approach, presenting the realities of tenement life on the Lower East Side, the bristly physicality of men working on the docks, or widely attended popular sporting events. His sudden death from appendicitis at the age of forty-two tragically cut short an impressive, singular career.

Born in Columbus, Ohio in 1882, Bellows sustained parallel interests in art and sports, drawing, painting and playing baseball and basketball regularly from a young age. After declining an offer from the Indianapolis baseball team to play professionally, Bellows attended Ohio State University and later moved to New York City to study under Robert Henri and pursue a career as a painter. Within five years, Bellows gained critical and commercial success, exhibiting alongside Ashcan School painters William Glackens and John Sloan and regularly contributing illustrations to popular magazines. His paintings and prints depicting a rough, grimy New York City that was full of life and vitality have become iconic artworks of the early twentieth century. Over time, his work became increasingly politically engaged, as he openly criticized atrocities committed by Germany during World War I, or the bureaucracy and censorship of the United States government.

The Boston Public Library holds a considerable selection of his prints, while many of his major paintings can be found at the Columbus Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of Art, the National Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art and many other major institutions. More on George Wesley Bellows

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.

02 Works, The Art of War, Kenneth Forbes' Canadian Artillery in Action, with footnotes

Kenneth Forbes (1892–1980)

Canadian Artillery in Action, c. 1918

Oil on canvas

height: 157.5 cm (62 in); width: 245.3 cm (96.5 in)

Canadian War Museum

A Canadian 6-inch howitzer supports British troops in the attack on Thiepval on 16 July 1916 during the Somme offensive. The artist captures the exhaustion of the gunners, who appear to have been firing for hours. Prolonged exposure to the noise and shock artillery fire would rupture ear drums and ruin hearing. Most gunners suffered at least partial deafness as a result of their war service.

Kenneth Forbes (1892–1980)

Study; Canadian Artillery in Action, c. 1918

Oil on canvas

height: 157.5 cm (62 in); width: 245.3 cm (96.5 in)

Canadian War Museum

Kenneth Forbes had been wounded and gassed. "I had been in the front line trenches for over two years and had just been promoted to second-in-command of the 32nd Machine Gun Co. which includes the rank of Captain, when I received an order to report to Col. Barry... he informed me that I was to report to the Canadian War Memorials, London and be transferred to the Canadian Army." Canadian Artillery in Action reconstructs an incident on July 16, 1916, during the Battle of the Somme. Suffering under an intense barrage that resulted in many casualties, the Canadian gunners nevertheless stayed at their posts. More on this painting

Kenneth Forbes (1892 - 1980) was born in Toronto, Ontario. He started drawing at the age of four and received instruction from his father, a distinguished portrait painter. He was educated in Westmount Academy and then studied art in England.

One of his paintings was accepted by the Royal Academy in London in 1910 and purchased for the Lord Leverhulme collection. He became a private in 1914 in the Stock Exchange Battalion, London, of the Royal Fusiliers. He saw service in France in the machine gun corps and was wounded twice, mentioned in dispatches twice, and was invalided to England in 1916. He was promoted to Lieut., Machine Gun Corps, later, Captain, 2nd in Command, 32nd Machine Gun Corps.

He was recalled to London and transferred to Canadian War Records Office as a painter. He painted two large canvases, The Defence of Sanctuary Wood and Canadian Artillery in Action, and four portraits. He later returned to Toronto, where he resumed his career painting mainly portraits and occasional landscapes.

He was once quoted on his approach to painting as follows, "Traditional art is based on resemblance to nature, but to become a work of art it must have conception, composition and style, none of which is found in photographs."

He died in Toronto at the age of 88. More on Kenneth Forbes

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.

01 Work, The art of War, Cyril Henry Barraud's The Stretcher-bearer Party, with Footnotes

Cyril Henry Barraud

The Stretcher-bearer Party, c. 1918

Oil on canvas

height: 86.7 cm (34.1 in); width: 214.3 cm (84.3 in)

Canadian War Museum

Barraud depicts Highlanders carrying a wounded man off the battlefield. The shoulder patch, a light blue rectangle and dark blue circle, identify them as members of the 43rd Battalion. One soldier wears a red cross armband identifying him as medical personnel. Those who were hurt but still able to walk were called "walking wounded," like the two soldiers behind the stretcher party. More on this painting

In this painting, stretcher-bearers of the 43rd Battalion carry an injured man away from the battle. Behind them, we see the walking wounded and a German prisoner. Artist Cyril Barraud enlisted with the 43rd Battalion in 1915. For him, a pen and sketchbook were as much a part of his kit as a rifle and bullets. Wounded in early 1917, Barraud was subsequently assigned to the Canadian War Memorials Fund. The shoulder patch, a light blue rectangle and dark blue circle, identify them as members of the 43rd Battalion. One soldier wears a red cross armband identifying him as medical personnel. Those who were hurt but still able to walk were called "walking wounded," like the two soldiers with behind the stretcher party.

Cyril Henry Barraud left us with a fine collection of etchings, paintings and sketches from World War I. His careful attention to detail established a valuable record of some of the landscapes and villages that dotted the French and Belgian countryside during the war.

Born in Barnes, England, in 1877, Barraud studied art and then worked as a commercial illustrator. His commercial work experience provided him with a clear understanding of design and composition, important factors that are apparent in his later work. In 1913, Barraud emigrated to Canada and in May 1915 enlisted in the Winnipeg Grenadiers. He went overseas in August that year with the 43rd Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

He was with the battalion when it left for France in late February 1916. Eight months later he was wounded in the left leg, but recovered in time to return to France a few weeks before Christmas. The Canadian War Memorials Fund (CWMF) appointed him an official war artist on Nov. 1, 1917.

Long before his appointment, Barraud was busy sketching scenes along the front. The inevitable destruction of these locations is as carefully rendered as the original idylic settings. The colours of mud and rubble have crept into much of this work, and add to its elegance. His etchings are printed in browns, greys and sepias. Even his paintings have a subdued palette.

Barraud retired from service at the end of August 1919. He died in England in 1965, but his artwork continues to offer us a rare but permanent record of the life and death of villages along the frontline in WW I. More on Cyril Henry Barraud

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.

04 Works, The art of War, Alfred Théodore Joseph Bastien's Over the Top, A Sniper in the Cemetery and CANADIAN OFFICER KILLED, Neuville-Vitasse, with Footnotes

Alfred Théodore Joseph Bastien

Over the Top, Neuville-Vitasse, c. 1918

Oil on canvas

height: 140.5 cm (55.3 in); width: 229.6 cm (90.3 in)

Canadian War Museum

Bastien depicts an attack by the 22nd Battalion at Neuville-Vitasse, a German-fortified village in occupied France, in late August 1918. Major Georges Vanier, later the Governor General of Canada, maintained that he was the officer holding the pistol leading the assault.

One aspect of First World War trench warfare was the harrowing moment when soldiers left the trenches to go “over the top” and launch an attack.

Canadian soldier Harold Simpson described a soldier’s anxiety, “knowing exactly that at the end of a few minutes he will be called upon to face the most fiendish and effective instruments of destruction that modern science has been able to invent, from the fifteen inch shell to the Mills bomb, from liquid fire to gas.” More on this painting

Alfred Bastien (1873–1955)

Over the Top, Neuville-Vitasse, c. 1918

Watercolor paint on paper

height: 30.8 cm (12.1 in); width: 48.5 cm (19 in)

Canadian War Museum

Painted by Alfred Bastien in 1918. Bastien's watercolour study captures the heart-pounding experience of going "over the top." The soldiers scrambling over the trench parapet are Canadians. They are retaking the French village of Neuville-Vitasse from the Germans in August 1918.

Alfred Bastien (1873–1955)

A Sniper in the Cemetery, Neuville-Vitasse, c. 1918

Watercolor on paper

height: 35.2 cm (13.8 in); width: 50.5 cm (19.8 in)

Canadian War Museum

Alfred Bastien (1873–1955)

CANADIAN OFFICER KILLED, c. 1918

Watercolor on paper

Height 60.9 cm, Width 86.3 cm

Canadian War Museum

Alfred Théodore Joseph Bastien (16 September 1873, in Ixelles – 7 June 1955, in Uccle) was a Belgian artist, academic, and soldier.

He attended the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Ghent, where he studied with Jean Delvin. He then enrolled in the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, where he studied with Jean-François Portaels. He won the Prix Godecharle there in 1897.

He was in Paris when hostilities broke out in what would become the First World War.

Bastien served in the Belgian Army from 1915. Designated an official artist in 1916, he was placed at the disposal of the Canadian War Records Office in October 1917 and assigned to paint for the Canadian War Memorials Fund. Most of his time was spent with the French-speaking 22nd Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, one result of which was Over the Top, Neuville-Vitasse. Neuville-Vitasse, located just south of Arras, was the site of heavy fighting in 1918.

He traveled to Paris, were he studied the paintings of Courbet and Delacroix. He was also influenced by the Impressionists. Like the Impressionists, he focuses on the affects of light and developed a discrete luminism that characterizes his portraits and landscapes. Bastien taught at the Brussels Academy where he became Director in 1928. More on Alfred Théodore Joseph Bastien

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.

01 Work, The Art of War, Charles Le Brun's The passage of the Granicus, with footnotes

Le Brun, Charles, France , School of

The passage of the Granicus, c. 1664 / 1665

Oil on canvas

Height: 4.64 m; Width: 10.25 m

Louvre Museum

The Battle of the Granicus in May 334 BC was the first of three major battles fought between Alexander the Great of Macedon and the Persian Achaemenid Empire. The battle took place on the road from Abydus to Dascylium, at the crossing of the Granicus in the Troad region, which is now called the Biga River in Turkey. In the battle Alexander defeated the field army of the Persian satraps of Asia Minor, which defended the river crossing. After this battle, the Persians were forced on the defensive in the cities that remained under their control in the region. More on The Battle of the Granicus

Le Brun, Charles, France , School of

Left Detail; The passage of the Granicus, c. 1664 / 1665

Le Brun, Charles, France , School of

Center Detail; The passage of the Granicus, c. 1664 / 1665

Alexander rushes into battle, mounted on Bucephalus and wearing his helmet with its white plume.

Here Alexander is fighting against Rhesace, the most valiant captain of the Persian army, when he is about to be killed with a sword by the Persian satrap of Lydia, Spithridates. A companion of Alexander, Cleitos the Black, then appeared and saved the life of the Macedonian conqueror by cutting off Spithridates' arm with an ax.

Le Brun represents entangled horsemen raising their swords and horses, with bulging eyes, participating in the fury of the combat, like Bucephalus who violently bites Rhesace on the back! More on this painting

Le Brun, Charles, France , School of

Right Detail; The passage of the Granicus, c. 1664 / 1665

Charles Le Brun, (born Feb. 24, 1619, Paris, France—died Feb. 12, 1690, Paris), was a painter and designer who became the arbiter of artistic production in France during the last half of the 17th century. Possessing both technical facility and the capacity to organize and carry out many vast projects, Le Brun personally created or supervised the production of most of the paintings, sculptures, and decorative objects commissioned by the French government for three decades during the reign of Louis XIV. Under his direction French artists created a homogeneous style that came to be accepted throughout Europe as the paragon of academic and propagandistic art.

Le Brun studied first with the painter Guillaume Perrier and then with Simon Vouet. In 1642 he went to Rome. On his return to Paris he was given large decorative and religious commissions; his work for the Hôtel Lambert and for Nicolas Fouquet, the influential minister of finance, at Vaux-le-Vicomte in the 1650s made his reputation. His first commission from Louis XIV dates from 1661, when he painted the first of a series of subjects from the life of Alexander the Great. Le Brun was made first painter to the king, given an enormous salary, and until his death occupied a position of paramount importance in the artistic life of France. More on Charles Le Brun

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.

01 Work, The Art of War, Maurice Orange's The Defenders of Zaragoza, with footnotes

Maurice Orange

The Defenders of Zaragoza

Oil on canvas

3 meters by 4.60

Thomas-Henry Museum, Cherbourg-Octeville

The second siege of Zaragoza was the French capture of the Spanish city of Zaragoza (also known as Saragossa) during the Peninsular War. It was particularly noted for its brutality. The city was heavily outnumbered against the French. However, the desperate resistance put up by the Army of Reserve and its civilian allies had been heroic: a great part of the city lay in ruins, the garrison had suffered 24,000 deaths being augmented by 30,000 civilians dead. More on the fall of Zaragoza

A specialist in the representation of the Emperor's campaigns, Maurice Orange does not glorify Napoleon I , but rather honors the Spanish civilian population who resisted valiantly and paraded in front of the French grenadiers and Marshal Lannes, barely visible on his horse. More on this painting

Maurice Orange (9 March 1867, Granville - 28 February 1916, Paris) was a French painter and artist. He gained a scholarship to the École des Beaux-Arts in 1885, where he studied under Jean-Léon Gerome and François Flameng. He was mainly inspired by historical subjects, especially the Napoleonic era, though he also produced portraits, landscapes, townscapes and sketches, often adding drawings to his letters.

From 1887 to 1914 he took part in the Salon des Artistes Français. He won medals and travel bursaries to Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Africa and above all Egypt became a major influences on him. He worked in oils, watercolour, gouache, pastel and charcoal. He died of typhoid fever in 1916. More on Maurice Orange

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.

02 Works The Art of War, Bertalan Székely's Women of Eger, with footnotes

Bertalan Székely

Women of Eger, c. 1867

Oil, canvas

227 × 176.5 cm

Hungarian National Museum

On 29 September, 1552, an army of 35–40,000 men from the Rumelian army (and an Anatolian contingent) and the troops of Ahmed Pasha from Buda gathered at Szolnok and went on to attack the castle of Eger. The defenders of the castle numbered all together 2000, including serfs with no understanding of warfare, and many women and children, who threw stones and poured hot water, molten bitumen and lead down the siege ladders. Nevertheless, the defenders of the castle, under the leadership of István Dobó, repelled the attacks, and on 18 October, the Turks retreated from the castle.

In his composition, Bertalan Székely wanted to express the Hungarians’ disadvantage in the struggle, as he describes it in his journal. By depicting the central female figure with the attackers in front of her and the castle in flames behind her, he evokes a feeling of true heroism, while creating an eternal symbol of patriotic sacrifice.

Székely's painting Az Egri Nők (Women of Eger) depicts the defense of the fortress, especially by the womenfolk, and hangs in the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest. More on this painting

Bertalan Székely

Women of Eger (Sketch), c. 1860

Paper, pencil, sepia, heightened with white

223 × 198 mm

Hungarian National Museum

Bertalan Székely (8 May 1835 – 21 August 1910) was a Hungarian history and portrait painter who worked in the Romantic and Academic styles.

Born into a family that was originally part of the Transylvanian nobility, his father was a court clerk. Although his family wanted him to become an engineer, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna from 1851 to 1855, under Johann Nepomuk Geiger and Carl Rahl. He then returned to his hometown where, for the next three years, he worked as an art teacher. After a year of employment with Count Aichelburg in Marschendorf, he married and moved to Munich, where he studied with Karl von Piloty. It was there that he first developed his interest in history painting. In 1862, he settled in Pest.

The following year, he won a contest with his painting "The Escape of Emperor Charles VII" and used the prize money to finance a trip to the Netherlands and Paris, returning in 1864. He became one of the first teachers hired at the new "Hungarian Royal Drawing School" (now the Hungarian University of Fine Arts) in 1871 and served as its Director from 1902 to 1905, when he took over the master classes.

From the 1860s through the 1880s, he mostly painted portraits and female figures, then turned to landscapes. He also created decorative murals in the Matthias Church, Budapest Opera House and the City Hall in Kecskemét. Later, he became interested in the movement studies made by Edweard Muybridge and Étienne-Jules Marey and conducted some of his own. More on Bertalan Székely

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.

01 Work, The Art of War, Max Ginsburg's War Pieta, with footnotes

Max Ginsburg

War Pieta, c. 2007

Oil on canvas

50 x 60 inches.

Private collection

I thought of a mother losing her son and the Pieta paintings of the Old Masters and of Michelangelo's sculpture, Pieta, showing the Madonna mourning the death of her son. In my painting I sought to symbolically connect, and contrast, the image of a real mother screaming in anguish over the death of her soldier son with the Old Master images of the Madonna mourning the death of her son in a rather unreal, quiet and serene way.

For this painting I hired a photographer to do a photo shooting with models posing in various positions and expressions. I used photography because a model posing could not hold the intensity of this expression. About 100 photos were taken and I selected three to work from that had the facial expression and pose I wanted. I referred to scrap reference for certain details such as the dead soldier's facial expression and wounded soldiers in battle. In order to help express my outrage against the real horror of war I amputated the soldier's arm and leg in my painting..." Max Ginsburg

Max Ginsburg was born in France in 1931 to American parents. After the family moved back to the United States, he was raised in New York from an early age.

Growing up during the Great Depression and World War II had a profound impact on young Ginsburg, shaping his perspective on the world and influencing his artistic development. Art would be a means of visually connecting with other human beings on an emotional level to convey profound social meaning.

As his father was a painter, Ginsburg was surrounded by paints and canvases all his life. He first picked up a painting brush at age 2.

But his path as an artist began in earnest during his early teens. Ginsburg would enter art school in the 1950s. In 1953, Ginsburg graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor in Fine Arts. He received his Masters Degree in 1963 from City University of New York. More on Max Ginsburg

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.

Subscribe

A German soldier strangles a civilian while another woman is attacked near a burning cottage.