Paul Gauguin

Paul Gauguin

Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a French post-impressionist artist who was born on the 7^th of June 1848 and died on the 8^th of May and was an extremely important figure in the Symbolist movement. He was a painter, print maker, sculptor, ceramist and writer. Gauguin began painting at the age of 27 but wasn’t appreciated for his works until after his death. He was later recognized for his experimental use of colour and influenced many modern artists including Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. He also influenced the use of wood engraving and woodcuts as art forms. Gauguin was a rather poor man, his wife earning the most money from her teaching. In the eyes of his family he was seen as a monster not to be earning money and he began to get fed up of it all, so he abandoned his family and moved to Brittany in Paris where he lived on credit. He liked the wildness and primitiveness of this new place and his works were much loved by the people in Brittany, especially loved by the Americans who lived there. Gauguin saw hope for the future so he decided now free from family problems, he would devote himself entirely to art. In 1890 he moved to the island of Tahiti where he began creating works of a supposed paradise. Many of his works were based around a lie, a made up paradise where the woman of the island roamed around naked and were sexually available for the men though, in his painting you don’t see any men which I believe this was another lie to make people jealous and believe that he is the only man on an island filled with beautiful women. A woodcut which I looked by Gauguin was the "Woman under a tree" made between 1895 and 1903. In my opinion, I don’t like this piece. I think my opinion is merely based on his subject matter. The fact of making up everything in his works is pretty remarkable but the actual subject doesn’t go down well with many people.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Piranesi was an Italian artist born on the 4^th of October 1720 and died on the 9^th of November 1778. He was most famous for his etchings of Rome and atmospheric prisons and belonged in the Neoclassicism movement. Neoclassicism is the name given to the Western movements in the decorative and visual arts like literature etc that draw inspiration from the classical art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome. An etching by Piranesi that I extremely like is the Veduta dell'Anfiteatro Flavio detto il Colosseo (View of the Flavian Amphitheater known as the Colosseum). He had already produced three views of the Roman coliseum and his skill at perspective rendering allowed him to produce this beautiful view of the amphitheatre seen as if from up in the sky. By allowing the monument to fill the whole piece of paper and by doting tiny figures around in the centre of the image he effectively conveys the sheer size of the ruin. The bird’s eye view also adds to the piece by revealing the actual plan of the colesium and exposes all of the damaged walls while the bird's-eye view reveals the plan and exposes the broken down structure. In my opinion I just adore this piece. The detail on it is so mesmerising. I feel the more you look, the more you find and I just can’t stop looking at it.                    

                                                                                                       

Printmaker- Tom Davidson

Printmaker- Tom Davidson

Tom Davidson was born in 1956 in the Scottish borders. He attended Cumbria College of Art and Design in Carlisle from 1973 to 1977 and graduated from Graphic Design in 1977. By 1984 he had turned to the art of printmaking. Out of all types of printmaking he chose lino cuts as his favourite but on top of printmaking he also paints in other different types of media. He opened his very first gallery, "The Tom Davidson Gallery" in Earlston in the Scottish Borders in 1995. His work is situated in private collections around the whole world. Including places nearer his home in the collections of Paintings in Hospitals in Scotland, The Palace of Westminster, Durham University, Floors Castle and Mellerstain House near Kelso. His prints are produced in limited editions of around twenty to thirty each and all of his works are hand made by himself. Tom Davidson's lino-cuts are made from a block of lino using a reduction process. He prints each colour on top of the last colour working from the lightest colours, to the darkest. Tom Davidson was hugely inspired by the landscape of the Scottish Borders and most of his works show his interest in the use of light and contrast which gives a feeling of depth. One of my favourite prints by Davidson which shows clearly this interest is “Summer Woodland Sunrise”. It is the 21^st edition of his prints and measures in at 31cm by 41cm. In this piece he is looking directly at the sun which gives off a fascinating, glowing warmth. This is an extremely beautiful print and in my eyes it creates the feel that you are actually walking through the forrest of trees, which I love.