The Greatest Artist?

SteveJ

all-round nice guy, aka Uncle Joe Kardashian
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Just interested to know who Caf people consider to be the finest artist (in all media, not just painting) and/or their favourite. Mine is Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the sculptor:

tmp1821_thumb5.jpg

Detail of 'The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa of Avila'


Apollo-e-Dafne.jpg

Detail of 'Apollo and Daphne'


Gian%20Lorenzo%20Bernini%20-%20Anima%20dannata%20(Roma,%20Palazzo%20dell'Ambasciata%20di%20Spagna,%201619).jpg

Detail of 'Anima Dannata' ('Damned Soul')'

More:
Gian Lorenzo Bernini - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


My other favourites (no order):
Rembrandt
Rodin
El Greco etc
 
Surely you mean "Favourite"? It's all subjective isn't it?

I love the "Damned Soul" one by the way, great expression.
 
Pexbo said:
Surely you mean "Favourite"? It's all subjective isn't it?
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Yeah, you're right, mate. It's one of my typical mixed-up threads. :D
 
Very interesting choice, I'd have to think about this awhile.
 
Man Utd, who used to work in Tattoo City, Wellington, New Zealand.
 
David or Rodin for me I think.

Did you watch Simon Schama's 'The Power of Art'? The Bernini episode was very interesting, in fact the whole series was.
 
Picasso was immense in his talent and output. He was at the age of 12 tiechnically better than most artists who have ever lived. I do though prefer the childish iconography of Miro.
 
Agent Red said:
Did you watch Simon Schama's 'The Power of Art'? The Bernini episode was very interesting, in fact the whole series was.
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No, I haven't seen it, mate. It's on Youtube, so I'll take a look today. :)


For anyone else interested, the whole series is linked below:
The Power of Art - YouTube
 
SteveJ said:
No, I haven't seen it, mate. It's on Youtube, so I'll take a look today. :)


For anyone else interested, the whole series is linked below:
The Power of Art - YouTube
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The David episode was my favourite, though there are a couple I haven't seen yet. His paintings become so much more when you know the history behind them. Most people probably think of Goebbels or Kitchener when they think of propagandists, but Schama makes a brilliant case for David being the ultimate propagandist.

His paintings are the facade for the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, plus the way he managed to paint his way out of danger was remarkable. I like the way Schama focuses on their personalities so much, David seems like he was a wiley fellow.
 
I've always loved David's work, despite the propaganda element. I guess it's a little easier to admire such obvious propaganda given the 'distance' of years between respective ages; it isn't so easy to overlook, say, the content of Riefenstahl's films.

Schama's a fine presenter and writer. His A History of Britain is excellent (even when discussing the periods I wouldn't ordinarily find interesting!). :)
 
SteveJ said:
I've always loved David's work, despite the propaganda element. I guess it's a little easier to admire such obvious propaganda given the 'distance' of years between respective ages; it isn't so easy to overlook, say, the content of Riefenstahl's films.

Schama's a fine presenter and writer. His A History of Britain is excellent (even when discussing the periods I wouldn't ordinarily find interesting!). :)
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I studied History, so in a way the propaganda element was what I found most fascinating about David's work. All the major events of that period, death of Marat, march into Russia, crowning of Napoleon etc. were recorded through his paintings. Quite remarkable that he survived long enough to paint all these occasions given how politically involved he was and the fact that all the other notable Jacobins were eventually killed off.

I agree, Schama is excellent. I didn't have much of an interest in Art History before I saw that series really, as he makes it very accessible whilst keeping it quite intellectual, and not giving into the temptation to make all their back stories like some kind of smutty costume drama.
 
zdzislaw beksinski
Turner
Raphael
Rembrandt

Beksinski for me was wonderful.

EDIT: Oh dear, I forgot the all media part.
 
Oh, Millais is another favourite. I like most Pre-Raphaelite stuff.
 
Beksinski's a new name to me, mate. At first, I thought he might be one of those Polish artists who design/create movie posters (some of these are superb). Anyway, thanks for the tip - his art looks tremendous. :)
 
SteveJ said:
Beksinski's a new name to me, mate. At first, I thought he might be one of those Polish artists who design/create movie posters (some of these are superb). Anyway, thanks for the tip - his art looks tremendous. :)
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If you were to ever read my literary work, you could never properly critique it without having first seen Beksinski's work. He's a fantastic artist, though at first his work seems dark and forbidding, he's actually very hopeful.
 
If it ends in 'ski', they probably diddle kids. That's not art to me, buddy.
 
Agent Red said:
Oh, Millais is another favourite. I like most Pre-Raphaelite stuff.
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Me too, though he frustrates me - Millais could have been the greatest English artist, I feel.

I love most of the PRB output; Waterhouse's art too, though he wasn't a PRB member.
 
AdZzUtd said:
If you were to ever read my literary work, you could never properly critique it without having first seen Beksinski's work. He's a fantastic artist, though at first his work seems dark and forbidding, he's actually very hopeful.
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Having had a look, some of his work reminds me of Friedrich's (in spirit), which is no bad thing. :)
 
SteveJ said:
Me too, though he frustrates me - Millais could have been the greatest English artist, I feel.

I love most of the PRB output; Waterhouse's art too, though he wasn't a PRB member.
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My knowledge on him is a bit too limited really. Again I discovered him through a History route (his portrait of Disraeli) but there was a good exhibition of his work at Tate Britain a few years ago that I went to see, so I saw more of his work there.

I'm trying to remember the name of a painting I liked there, I can't remember if it was Millais or not. But it was definitely pre-Raphaelite. It has a young man in a bed reaching out to his lover (who is dead but there in ghost form). The bed is read and the surrounding area is quite dark apart from the whiteness of the ghost. Do you know the one I mean? Google is proving a bit fruitless.

Edit: Found it. It was a Millais, it's called 'Speak!'.
 
This one, mate?


Millais' Speak! Speak!

millais_speakspeak.jpg
 
Especially the ruins, certainly echoes. Friedrich was superb, perhaps you could help me think of another German Landscape artist, he painted primarily in tones and shades of black. Very stunning work, he has a very definite style, but I can't remember his name for the life of me. He was 20th century.
 
Anyway, from music:

Brahms
Beethoven
Mozart
Rachmaninov
Mahler
Hendrix
Dylan
Davis
 
Michael Jackson

Thomas Heatherwick

Damien Hirst

Gaudi

Messi
 
Spoony Youngblood said:
His work bores me senseless, sure his stuff''s pretty but that's about it, for me at least.
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Fair enough, I find it anything but boring, the Battle of Trafalgar is anything but boring IMO, to point out one specific image.
 
Didn't realise we were doing music as well. Classically I like Tchaikovsky, Bach, Elgar, Holst, Ravel, Strauss II, to name a few. I'll leave modern stuff because I've put all that in various pop/rock threads on here and I don't want to de-rail this one.

Back to conventional art, taking a more modern view, I like Anthony Gormley's work.
 
Agent Red said:
Didn't realise we were doing music as well. Classically I like Tchaikovsky, Bach, Elgar, Holst, Ravel, Strauss II, to name a few. I'll leave modern stuff because I've put all that in various pop/rock threads on here and I don't want to de-rail this one.

Back to conventional art, taking a more modern view, I like Anthony Gormley's work.
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Well art is a form of expression, it can encompass anything.
 
AdZzUtd said:
Especially the ruins, certainly echoes. Friedrich was superb, perhaps you could help me think of another German Landscape artist, he painted primarily in tones and shades of black. Very stunning work, he has a very definite style, but I can't remember his name for the life of me. He was 20th century.
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Hirzel? Otherwise, I'm clueless.
 
Spoony Youngblood said:
From lit

Franz Kafa. I'm sure I'm living his life, his work has a lot of pathos.
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Lit? Here we go mate, what do you reckon this:

Dostoevsky
Poe
Shakespeare
Goethe
Tolkien
Kafka
Conrad
Orwell
Steinbeck

Very Eurocentric, there are alot more I wanted to include, whom I've either forgotten or simply won't list because it'll drag on for pages.
 
AdZzUtd said:
Lit? Here we go mate, what do you reckon this:

Dostoevsky
Poe
Shakespeare
Goethe
Tolkien
Kafka
Conrad
Orwell
Steinbeck

Very Eurocentric, there are alot more I wanted to include, whom I've either forgotten or simply won't list because it'll drag on for pages.
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Tolkien can do one, Adzz.
 
AdZzUtd said:
Especially the ruins, certainly echoes. Friedrich was superb, perhaps you could help me think of another German Landscape artist, he painted primarily in tones and shades of black. Very stunning work, he has a very definite style, but I can't remember his name for the life of me. He was 20th century.
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Max Liebermann? He was both 19 and 20th century,
 
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