Banksy (1974? -)

Skeleton Rower

Stenciled spray-paint on ship's plating, c. Death-size.

M.V. Thekla, Mud Dock, Bristol

Very little is known about the artist who calls himself "Banksy". He is widely believed to have been born in or near Bristol, in the west of England, in 1974, but he deliberately conceals his identity and rejects or ignores occasional claims by the press to have discovered his real name.

His artworks are often satirical pieces of art on topics such as politics, culture, and ethics.  He produces installations, often of a highly controversial and subversive nature, and works in various media. He is probably best known for his street art, which combines graffiti writing with a distinctive stenciling technique. It is similar to the work of Blek le Rat, who began to work with stencils in 1981 in Paris and members of the anarcho-punk band Crass who maintained a graffiti stencil campaign on the London Tube System in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His art has appeared in cities around the world. Banksy's work was born out of the Bristol underground scene which involved collaborations between artists and musicians.

“Skeleton Rower” is a large stencilled image of Death apparently rowing a small boat. It was painted on the side of M.V. Thekla, a floating alternative entertainment centre which is permanently moored in the centre of Bristol. The image is probably based on a nineteenth-century engraving: soon after it was painted, it was removed as “vandalism", but subsequently re-painted.

It is not known whether Banksy was aware, when he painted “Skeleton Rower” that M.V. Thekla had been built in Germany soon after World War II and fitted with engines originally intended for use in a U-boat.

Christopher Ryan

http://www.banksy.co.uk/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy

William Blake (1757 - 1827)
Frontispiece from Visions of the Daughters of Albion (c. 1795)
Colour Print with Watercolour on Paper, 17 x 12 cm,
Tate Gallery, London

William Blake is considered to be one of the greatest English poets of literary history today, who had famously illustrated his own works with a special printing technique; coloring each volume one by one. He did not considerably shape the romantic literary taste in his time, as his contemporaries – including Wordsworth and Coleridge – considered him mad for his idiosyncratic views, but even they acknowledged the attraction of his imagination. However, his words: ‘Posterity will judge by our Works’, proved to be true and he is highly regarded specially from the 1960’s for his expressiveness and creativity. Jonathan Jones critic regarded him as ‘far away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced’ (2005).

He was born on Nov. 28th, 1754 in London in a low middle class family. He studied drawing and painting and received hardly any formal education, but improved himself in Latin and Greek literature and in the Bible. Even though he already admired Dürer’s, Michelangelo’s, Raphael’s and Milton’s works as a child and started producing pictures and poems himself, both writing and painting were only leisure time activities of him at the beginning of his career. As an adult he earned his living as an engraver.

This particular picture is the watercolor frontispiece illustration of a relatively early prophetic poem of Blake, the Visions of the Daughters of Albion. The picture shows three nude figures: we see the left profile of Bromion, the tormentor, beside him Oothoon, the victim, bound back to back to eachother at the entrance of a cave, and Oothoon's lover Theotormon weeping in the background.The design suggests that it might be the illustration of two exact lines of the poem:"Bound back to back in Bromions caves terror & meekness dwell / At entrance Theotormon sits wearing the threshold hard".  All three characters seem to suffer in contracted positions bound by the expectations of their society, which is symbolically pictured with chains and the cave itself , as reference to Plato’s allegory, framing the picture. Some critics argue that the cave and the glowng disk of the sun flashing out from among the clouds gives the shape of a skull with an eye socket.

The picture itself, as well as the poem, raises several issues. The characters themselves can be looked upon as representations of stereotypical figures. The muscular Bromion with fire-like hair is the passionate man, full of lustful fire, enslaved by his violent act. The broken Oothoon represents the typical woman figure of Blake’s society, who has no charge over her own sexuality. Finally, Theothormon is the chaste man, who’s unable to realize that sex is not illicit and thus let his opportunity slip to a healthy relationship with his lover. Blake’s picture also criticizes the sexual morals of the Romantic era and organized religion that set up conventions enabling people to see the true nature of reality.

György Júlia

 List of references:

Jones, J.’Blake’s Heaven.’ Guardian. (2005).

www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/illusdescresults

www.wikipedia.com/Blake/William / Visions_of_the_Dauhters_of_Albion.htm  

Dali, Salvador (1904-1989)

The Sacrament of the Last Supper (c. 1955)

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marquis of Púbol (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989) was a Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres.

Dalí was a skilled draftsman, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work. His expansive artistic repertoire includes film, sculpture, and photography, in collaboration with a range of artists in a variety of media.

He attended drawing school and the Academia de San Fernando (School of Fine Arts). He experimented with Cubism, and it was his paintings that earned him the most attention from his fellow students. He also experimented with Dada, which influenced his work throughout his life. In 1929 he joined Surrealism, and rapidly became the most famous representative of the movement.

The painting

Our eye is first drawn to the center. By intersecting with both the line of the horizon in the distance and placing the source of the sunlight at that very point on the horizon, the figure of Christ is made to dominate the painting. Then our eye is then drawn to the figure above him: a giant torso.

Jesus’ gestures and the figure above Him. What does this massive torso mean? We can see that the figure is male and that he is presented to us without a face. Like Jesus, the figure is also transparent: the only other person like that in the image. Could they be the same person: a Jesus at table and a transcendent Jesus of some sort? Or could it be the Father? This reply seems a perfect translation of Jesus’ gestures: “Anyone who has seen me,” he indicates with his left hand, “has seen the Father” he points out with his right hand, indicating the figure that shows so much in common with Jesus („Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” – from the Gospel of John).

The Twelve-Sided Space. The space that Dali has taken great pains to represent is a dodecahedron. Dali makes this space transparent like the figures in the center of the painting. It is not “real” in the sense of being part of the physical architecture containing the altar. It is a “spiritual” space that is present, but is not visible or “present” in a physical way. The twelve-sided space, as Dali contends, is a symbol taken from antiquity of heaven: it is heaven that is present, heaven is the space in which the event we see in the painting is taking place. It is the figure of the Father, then, who fills both heaven and earth as they are presented in this painting, with His outstretched arms taking in the whole of the space.

The Twelve Around the Table. We can easily identify these as the Twelve Apostles, Jesus’ friends and disciples who were present at the Last Supper. However, we see that the twelve are mirror images of one another, these are idealized figures. They kneel in reverence, in prayer, and in worship. But their attention is not given to Christ. Indeed, they do not seem to be aware of the figure seated amongst them. None of them visibly react to Jesus sitting at the table because Jesus is not visibly there. What does inspire their worship and prayer is the bread and the wine, the Eucharist, the Sacrament of the Last Supper.

Szegedi Nóra

http://en.wikipedia.org;

http://www.nd.edu/~ndethics/archives/documents/Novak.pdf.

Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898 - 1972)
Relativity (Relativiteit) (1953)
Lithograph, 27.7 × 29.2 cm
Cornelis Van S. Roosevelt Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA

” Relativity” is a lithograph created by Maurits Cornelis Escher, and is considered his most appreciated and famous work of all time. Escher travelled a lot, and made drafts and sketches during his journeys, drawings which he later on turned into engravings and lithographs.

This particular piece of work features a seemingly plain setting: the interior of a building with doors and windows opening to outdoor areas that look like parks of some sort, and people doing their usual chores.

What makes it really confusing is that there are three different sources of gravity in the world depicted by Escher, instead of the usual one. This may not be obvious at first glance, but after a clooser look, it becomes clear that there is in fact a system in the apparent chaos. The inhabitants are not detailed at all, they look almost the same, only their simplistic clothing indicates their genders. The viewer might have a feeling that they are mere tools to help the artist illustrate his strange innovation – or rather to help the viewer find the order in the picture easier. Nevertheless, they are about evenly distributed between the three so-called ”gravity wells” that are functioning in the picture. Escher, beside using these people to illustrate the functioning of the queer system he has invented, placed them carefully to achieve the maximum amount of astonishment available from the first-time viewers’ standpoint. The most spectacular part of the picture is on the ”top” staircase, where two people are walking almost side by side, yet not only are they intriguing because they step on different faces of the staircase, but thanks to Escher’s masterful placement of the stairs, they look like descending and ascending the same stairs while at the same time, basically going the same direction.

Escher was deeply interested in mathematics, hence came his ”obsession,” which served as a topic for a great percentage of his works: to illustrate impossible objects and structures. He mastered the way of doing so by imagining those in three dimensions, and then illustrating them in two, from a well-planned perspective that gives us the feeling that ”hey, this could even be real,” although in fact they are not. The fact that his ”muse” basically was a stange and unusual field  in science concerning geometry and relativity produced a unique form of art, which was appreciated and celebrated not only among the art-loving public, but among scientists as well.

Somogyi Péter

FRAGONARD, Jean-Honoré (1732-1806)

L'escarpolette - The Swing (1767)

oil on canvas, 81 x 64 cm

Wallace Collection, London

The Swing (French: L'Escarpolette), also known as The Happy Accidents of the Swing (French: Les Hasards Heureux de l'Escarpolette, the original title), is an 18th century oil painting by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. It is considered as one of the masterpieces of the rococo era.

Jean-Honoré Fragonard (5 April 1732 – 22 August 1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. Fragonard produced more than 550 paintings (not counting drawings and etchings), of which only five are dated. Among his most popular works are genre paintings conveying an atmosphere of intimacy and veiled eroticism.

The painting was ordered by an unidentified French nobleman, who wanted his mistress on a swing pushed by a bishop, and himself put on the scene in a place where he would be able to see the lady’s legs.

The theme of the picture is of love and rising tide of passion, which is also symbolized by the sculpture cupids. Therefore, the young man under the swing is gasping with anticipation. The little fence around the flowering bush shows a private place for the two lovers. To continue, the hat in the 18th century erotic imagery covered another male body part, when exposed. The feminine counterpart of the hat is the shoe that flies off the pretty little foot, which in that time’s French paintings represented the loss of virginity.

However, it is not all filled with eroticism. These are only hidden symbols for the more refined kind of eyes to see. The painting is raging with joy of life and freedom, as well as love. This happens in a little paradise between leaves and rose petals, lit up by a sparkling beam of sunshine.  The woman rides the swing with happy, thoughtless abandon, as her legs part, her skirt is open. The young man in the rose-bush with his hat off reaches after her. Suddenly, as she reaches the peak of her ride, her shoe flies off.

Fragonard’s extremely sensuous picture became a universal image of joyous, carefree sexuality.

The picture is my personal favorite because of the perfection that it’s painted with. Moreover, it presents a lovely moment between a young couple who are in love. The natural environment, the girl’s puffy pink dress and the joy and happiness that are shining from the picture make it an unprecedented imagery of pure romanticism.

Nagy-György Borbála

Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337)

Last Judgement (1306)
Fresco, 1000 x 840 cm
Cappella degli Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua

Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337) was born in Florence as the son of a tradesman who was considered as a good standing person. Most likely Giotto went to the Dominican monastery to study and than he started to work at Cimabue’s workshop. According to a legend, he met Cimabue while he was looking after his father’s sheep and Cimabue saw him drawing and asked him to be his assistant. The fact that he was a pupil of Cimabue is widely accepted, though not proved yet.

He started his studies around 1272 and his first work, a painted crucifix in Sta Maria Novella is considered to be made around 1291. Already at this time it was clear that he had broken with the Byzantine painting formulas and became the painter who was and still is considered to be the one who made the first steps towards the Renaissance.

His first fresco cycle is the one about St Francis of Assissi’s life, in the Upper Church of Assisi the one he made with several contemporaries of his. Out of these works several are considered to be Giotto’s, for example the Life of Christ, Legend of St. Francis, and Isaac and Esau.

He also made several panels, for example the one with the Madonna and the Child which is now in the Diocesan Museum of Santo Stefano al Ponte in Florence or the Stigmata of St Francis which was originally in Pisa but now it is at the Louvre.

Giotto worked throughout Italy, in Rome, in Florence, in Asissi, and in Padua where he made one of his major works, the interior decoration of the Scrovegni Chapel. The fresco cycle consists of scenes from the Life of the Virgin, Life of Christ, the Last Judgment, and Virtues and Vices. On the three walls of the chapel the cycle is divided into 37 scenes. It starts at the upper register with the story of Joachim and Anna, continuing with the life of Mary and Christ’s life is the last part.

On the fourth wall of the chapel, above the western entrance Giotto painted the Last Judgement. In the centre there is Christ in Majesty, on his left and right there are the twelve apostles. Under them, in the lower half of the fresco the scene is divided into two parts by a cross. On the right side of the cross the blessed follow the angels in two lines towards heaven. They are divided into two groups, one of which consists the figures of the Old Testament and the middle ages, the other consists the contemporaries of Giotto. On the left side of the cross, in the Hell the damned can be seen, and in the centre the Prince of Hell sitting on a dragon and eating and torturing the damned.

In the middle, next to the cross there is also the donator of the fresco, Enrico Scrovegni, who holds the model of the chapel and offers it to the three Marys. He can be connected to the group of the blessed, indeed. He ordered the fresco cycle for the chapel in penitence to his father’s sins, who was a widely known usurer, and who also appears in Dante’s Seventh Circle of Hell.

It is important, especially in the case of Giotto that the window of the chapel is also combined into the fresco. The light of the window makes the colours of the fresco more lively and divine. The fact that it is combined into the conception is verified by the two guardians of Heaven on the two sides, behind whom the new shining golden Jerusalem appears to show that the Last Judgement has begun.

Greskovics Eszter

Philippe Halsman (1906 - 1979)
Dali Atomicus (1948)
Photographs, Photograph | Gelatin silver print, 27.31 x 34.45 cm  Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Gift of Frederick B. Scheel (not on view)

       In 1941, Halsman and Salvador Dalí met and started to collaborate in the late 1940s. The basis of their idea was  Harold Edgerton's “Coronet” milk drop photo from the 1930s. The 1948 work Dali Atomicus explores the idea of suspension, depicting three cats flying, a bucket of thrown water, and Salvador Dalí in mid air. After WWII the world had just been shoved into the atomic era. Dali's surreal paintings, at that time, conceptually portrayed the idea of the atom and how, through the repulsion of protons and electrons, everything was constantly in a state of suspension. The day after Halsman and Dali discussed “Leda Atomica” for the first time, Halsman contacted Dali about the idea he had for a photograph.

      They argued back and forth on aspects such as blowing up a chicken (!) and whether to use milk or water. Wanting to avoid animal cruelty laws in the United States and knowing that the photograph would be shown in Europe, where people wouldn't relish the idea of wasting milk, they agreed to use unharmed cats and water for the photograph. Halsman set up his New York studio and using the 4 x 5 format, twin-lens reflex camera that he had designed in 1947 (Bello 206), he prepared to capture one of his most memorable photographs. He suspended an easel, two paintings by Dali (one of which was “Leda Atomica”), and a stepping stool; had his wife, Yvonne, hold a chair in the air; on the count of three, his assistants threw three cats and a bucket of water into the air; and on the count of four, Dali jumped and Halsman snapped the picture. The title of the photograph is a reference to Dalí's work Leda Atomica which can be seen in the right of the photograph behind the two cats. Halsman reported that it took 28 attempts to be satisfied with the result.

 The portrait captured the essence of Dali, while giving reference to the painter's own work entitled “Leda Atomica” both literally and figuratively.

      “Six hours and twenty-eight throws later, the result satisfied my striving for perfection,” wrote Halsman in his book Halsman on the Creation of Photographic Ideas. “My assistants and I were wet, dirty, and near complete exhaustion—only the cats still looked like new.”

      The surreal and hysterical photograph was immediately given a two-page spread in LIFE magazine, for whom Halsman had taken many portraits of celebrities and other prominent people. Overnight, it seemed, the unusual photo was pirated worldwide, reprinted, and written about, with no payment to the artist.

      Halsman and Dali eventually released a compendium of their collaborations in the 1954 book Dali's Mustache, which features 36 different views of the artist's distinctive mustache. Another famous collaboration between the two was In Voluptas Mors, a surrealistic portrait of Dali beside a large skull, in fact a tableau vivant composed of seven nudes. Halsman took three hours to arrange the models according to a sketch by Dali.A version of In Voluptas Mors was used subtly in the poster for the film The Silence of The Lambs, and less subtly for the film The Descent.

 Kalmár István

References:

http://www.luhring-design.com/information/essays/dali-atomicus/philippe-halsman.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Halsman

Kahlo, Frida (1907-1954)
The Broken Column (1944).
Oil, canvas, wallboard
30,7 x 40 cm

Frida Kahlo (born Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954) was a Mexican painter. She painted using vibrant colors in a style that was influenced by indigenous cultures of Mexico and European influences including Realism, Symbolism, and Surrealism. Many of her works are self-portraits that symbolically articulate her own pain and sexuality. Kahlo was married to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera who had several love-affairs with other women (containing Frida’s sister) during their marriage.

  Kahlo contracted polio at age six, which left her right leg thinner than the left, which Kahlo disguised by wearing long, colorful skirts. It has been conjectured that she also suffered from spina bifida, a congenital disease that could have affected both spinal and leg development.

  On September 17, 1925, Kahlo was riding in a bus when the vehicle collided with a trolley car. She suffered serious injuries in the accident, including a broken spinal column, a broken collarbone, broken ribs, a broken pelvis, eleven fractures in her right leg, a crushed and dislocated right foot, and a dislocated shoulder. An iron handrail pierced her abdomen and her uterus, which seriously damaged her reproductive ability.

  Her picture, The Broken Column is an honest self-portrait that depicts her pain and suffering both from her illnesses and from her humiliating situation that Diego’s liaisons caused her. The Column itself that is broken, shows one of the sources of her pain, the nails in her body show in a physical way the pain she was enduring and the tears in Frida's eyes show that her pain was excruciating.  Frida's face shows both courage and resignation. Frida's nudity may say us that she couldn’t do anything for her situation either with her husband or with her health.

  In the case of Frida Kahlo it is obvious that her CV cannot and must not be separated from her art, because we need to know everything about her life to understand the message of her paintings.

Türk Dalma

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)
The Kiss (Der Kuss) (1907-8)
Oil & Gold Leaf on Canvas, 180 x 180
Österreichische Galerie, Vienna

Gustav Klimt, the Austrian symbolist painter was born in Baumgarten in 1862, near Vienna. His father, Ernst Klimt was a gold engraver and his mother, Anna Klimt dreamt of becoming a musical performer.

From 1876, Klimt was trained to be an architectural painter in the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts. Because of helping his teacher in painting murals in Vienna, Klimt received the Golden Order of Merit from the emperor, Franz Josef I. He also became an honorary member of the University of Munich and the University of Vienna. In 1892, Klimt’s father and his brother, Ernst died, which affected his artistic vision.

Klimt was the president of the Vienna Secession from 1897 until 1908. Moreover, he was also involved in the Art Nouveau age by collaborating with other artists on the Stoclet Palace, one of the grandest monuments of that period. Nevertheless, it was the ‘Golden Phase’ of Klimt that was marked by success. He used gold leaf in this period to create his pictures, one of which is The Kiss (1907 – 1908). Klimt used to travel to Venice and Ravenna, the places famous for their mosaics, which inspired his gold technique.

In 1915, his mother died, and Klimt died three years later in Vienna in 1918. He suffered a stroke and pneumonia. Because of his sudden death many of his paintings were left unfinished.

The Kiss (originally Der Kuss) depicts a couple in various shades of gold and symbols, who share a kiss against a bronze background. These two figures are situated at the edge of a flowered escarpment. The man is wearing neutral coloured rectangles, while the woman wears brightly coloured circles.

Some think that Klimt and his lover modelled for this painting; and some argue that the picture not only depicts a kiss, but a sexual intercourse as well. Whichever is the case, it can be stated that The Kiss is not free from eroticism. It is currently at the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere museum in Vienna.

Simon-Balla Teodóra

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Klimt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kiss_(Klimt_painting)

Mathis, Andy

Penske (2009 September)

watercolor on Yupo board, 5x7 inches

Andy Mathis began painting as something to do in an adult education, once a week class, through a local junior college around 1994. The class consisted of several people, some beginners, others a bit more experienced.  It was much more difficult than he had believed, since he hadn't taken any art classes in high school or college, with the exception of required humanities classes in college.  Yet, he always had a knack for creating great and colorful posters for school projects.  In fifth grade, he won a poster contest for a local production of the Atlanta Ballet.  Everyone else's poster was made out of crayons, markers, etc. - his poster was made out of oil pastels that his mother had stored away from a short stint as a school teacher. 

     During 1994-96 he became a "sponge" reading lots of books and artists magazines  to learn more about the medium of watercolor.  It took a while to train his eye to see the details of things and images- the color and values and how they  relate to the other.  He found that by entering local festivals and exhibitions, his paintings  improved by staying focused and motivated to get them  started and finished. 

      He began entering national juried watercolor exhibitions in 1998.  One of his paintings was selected as the official image of the 1999 Atlanta Dogwood Festival.  By spring of 2000, he had enough entries accepted into Georgia Watercolor Society national and member exhibitions to obtain signature status.

His painting subjects vary- florals, still life, landscapes, people.  Some images are very personal (his cat, his family) while others have more commercial appeal. 

 Artist's Statement 

             ”I strive to create paintings that are both interesting to view and technically challenging.  Watercolor is my favorite medium.  I love when colors bleed together with transparent luminosity.  I would describe my style as "loose with a bit of restraint"- combining fluidity and detail together.  I try not to overwork the painting and lose its freshness.  Subjects vary from florals, stilllifes, people, and architectural subjects.  I vary the subjects, mediums (wc, acrylic, and egg tempera) and supports (paper, clayboard, and canvas) for collectors to choose as my paintings are created to share and enjoy.”

 His painting called Penske is a 5x7 inches, varnished watercolor painting on Yupo board. It was painted from a photograph of a cat named Penske. In the original photo the lighting is not the best, because it is all backlit and in shadow, so Mathis changed the colors a bit. Also, the cat sleeps with one eye half opened – it would have been strange in the picture, so Mathis closed both his eyes.

Krezinger Cintia

 Sources:

http://www.andymathis.com

http://andymathis.blogspot.com

Munkácsy Mihály (1844-1900)

Poros út I (1874)

Oil, 77×117.5 cm

Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, Budapest

Munkácsy Mihály (1844 – 1900) was an outstanding Hungarian realist painter of the 19th century. He started to paint during the years he spent in Arad as a joiner. With the help of patrons be studied at the Viennese, Munich and Düsseldorf academies. Munkácsy painted his first major work, the outstanding "The Condemned Cell" in Düsseldorf, in 1872, together with his friend László Paál, he moved to Paris, where be lived until the end of his life.

Munkácsy painted his genres in the style of realism between 1873 and 1875: "Midnight Ramblers", "Farewell". "Churning Woman", "Woman Carryng Brushwood", and "Pawnshop" were the zenith of his career. He married the widow of Baron de Marches in 1874, and his style changed from that time on. Departing from the typical subjects of realism, be produced colourful salon paintings and still-lifes. This was the period when be also turned to landscape painting; his growing interest is marked by such great paintings as "Dusty Road".

In 1874 Munkácsy visited the town of his childhood in Hungary, Békéscsaba. The two versions (executed in 1874 and 1883) of the painting Dusty Country Road commemorate the painter's visit to his homeland.

A cart is moving on the road slowly, stirring up the dust painted pink by the beams of the sun. This canvas is a pink vision flooded with light, a snapshot almost approaching plein-air painting. It sheds light on Munkácsy's new approach to Nature, and it also reveals a potential path, which the painter, unfortunately, never pursued. Contemporary critiques often called this small masterpiece impressionist: he himself, however, refused to have anything to do with this style. The only other painting in which such a painterly approach is evident is "Dusty Road I": in the paintings to come he returned to the style of realism.

Szabó Lívia

Sources:

http://www.hung-art.hu/frames-e.html?/english/m/munkacsy/muvek/3/poros_ii.html

http://www.hung-art.hu/frames-e.html?/english/m/munkacsy/index.html

http://www.mihalymunkacsy.org/biography.html

Chris Sickels (1974–) (Red Nose Studio)
[untitled]
desktop computer wallpaper; miniature set photographed (c. 2008-2009)
 commissioned by Microsoft Corporation for Windows 7

Chris Sickels of Red Nose Studios is self-taught sculptor from Indiana, United States. He was trained as a painter at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. He works with many different materials, in order to create special characters and scenes in three dimensions, and then photographs these creations, to achieve the final work.

Sickels’ untitled photo features as a desktop wallpaper in Windows 7, the recently released operating system by Microsoft. The work was specifically created for this purpose, commissioned by Microsoft Corporation. Prior to the actual creating process was an iterative back-and-forth swapping of ideas between the artist and the company. After a few pencil sketches, the final concept was agreed upon, which was followed by a color study, and then the actual creation of the set and photo.

The picture is different from most of Sickels’ other works, in the sense that it is a much less dark and sinister picture. The wallpaper is inspiring, happy, and conveys a sense of freedom.

In order for the photo to be as functional as a computer background as possible, it was designed in a way so that it is not obtrusive. That is, it has to perfectly fit into a computer screen, regardless of the resolution or size of screen itself. Also, it needed to work aesthetically with the new transparent Taskbar in Windows 7 that resides at the bottom of the screen; and, since many users tend to fill their desktops with an arsenal of shortcuts and icons, it needed to have space for that, especially in the left half of the screen.

Said Dániel

Vallejo, Boris

Birth of the Dragon (1981)

Boris Vallejo was born in Lima, Peru in 1941. First he wanted to become a violinist, later he studied medicine. With another change of heart he decided to study art. He moved to the United States in 1964. He became an illustrator for a chain store's advertising department. 8 years later he went freelance and begun working on book cover illustrations.

He became famous with his fantasy art. His love for human anatomy and his distinctive style is the 'Vallejo-trademark'. His pictures are full of prehistoric monsters, dragons, fairies, mythological heroes and heroines. He made film posters, book covers, his early works appear in comics and as book illustrations. By today in almost every bigger bookstore we can find a few albums complementing his work.

His main medium is oil paint on board, he uses pencil sketches and in the past he used digital techniques as well.

This picture, the Dragon's birth, was created in 1981. The theme of the painting is one of the curiosities of fantasy art. Traditionally dragons are the protectors of people and treasures, and thus the greatest enemies of their protégés. The birth of such a powerful mythical creature is one of those special moments of any fantasy or mythological tale that inspires the imagination of many artists of both pictures and written words. This painting with the new born dragon overlooked by a naked female figure, who may be human or a fairy, is a very nice, powerful, yet tranquil interpretation of the theme

Csörgő Erika

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Vallejo
 

CANOVA, Antonio (1757-1822)

Amor e Psiche - Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss (1793)

White Marble, 155 cm

Louvre, Paris
 

Antonio Canova (November 1, 1757 - October 13, 1822) was an Italian sculptor who became famous for his marble sculptures that delicately rendered nude flesh. The epitome of the neoclassical style, his work marked a return to classical refinement after the theatrical excesses of Baroque sculpture. Antonio Canova's statue Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, first commissioned in 1787, exemplifies the neoclassical obsession with love and emotion. It represents the god Cupid in the height of love and tenderness, immediately after awakening the lifeless Psyche with a kiss, a scene excerpted from Lucius Apuleius' The Golden Ass. A masterpiece of its period, it appeals to the senses of sight and touch, yet simultaneously alludes to the Romantic interest in emotion co-existing with Neoclassicism.

The Metamorphoses of Lucius Apuleius, which St. Augustine referred to as The Golden Ass (Asinus aureus), is the only Latin novel to survive in its entirety. The protagonist of the novel may in fact be the author himself. The plot revolves around the protagonist's curiosity and insatiable desire to see and practice magic. While trying to perform a spell to transform into a bird, he accidentally gets transformed into an ass. This leads to a long journey, literal and metaphorical, filled with in-set tales. He finally finds salvation through the intervention of the goddess Isis, whose cult he joins. Psyche is the most beautiful woman on earth, and Venus jealously arranges for Psyche's destruction. Cupid, Venus's son, secretly preserves Psyche; Cupid becomes Psyche's anonymous lover. Psyche's jealous sisters arouse her curiosity and fear; Psyche, against Cupid's commands, looks at him; Cupid abandons Psyche, who wanders in search of him. William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a paraphrase of this story.

Joachim Murat donated the first version (pictured) to the Louvre Museum in Paris, France in 1824; Prince Yusupov, a Russian nobleman who acquired the piece in Rome in 1796, gave a later version (created in 1796) to the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. The plaster cast for this later version is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

It is my personal favorite because of its divinity and simplicity. However, the moment sculpted is a very passionate one, it remains intimate, thanks to the two heads facing each other with closed eyes, and that the genital areas are covered with a veil and the woman’s breasts by Cupid’s hugging hands.

Nagy-György Borbála

References: 1. Antonio Canova: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Canova

                         2. Psyche & Cupid: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psyche_Revived_by_Cupid's_Kiss

                         3. The Golden Ass: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Ass

Unknown Artist

Carved Melon

Watermelon

The art of fruit and vegetable carving derives from the age of the Chinese Tang Dynasty (AD 618-906) and Sung Dynasty (AD 960-1279). This exquisite craft has been slowly developed and refined over the years in China. These beautiful garnishes and fruit carvings were not only created for the Emperor's feudal banquets but they were also popular among average people, who enjoyed beautiful artistic food presentations.

In Thailand, where the method of carving originated in the Royal Thai courts, and Japan food carving is considered part of the presentation of the meal. The stunning designs that can be created, make the food the centre of attention when you serve your guests.

Nowadays you would usually find fruit and vegetable carvings gracing the restaurants of five star hotels or cruise ships and of course in Thai restaurants. Now you can have these beautiful fruit and vegetable carvings at your function, event or wedding. They are also ideal for birthday gifts, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day and hospital visits. There are also several vegetable carving competitions worldwide, in which the professionals can show how creative they are and make proof of their carving skills.

The represented work of art is based on Thai's vegetable carving, which are made by only one fruit carving knife.

Vegetables and fruit are changed to beautiful decoration by composing several carving styles.

 Szabó Lívia

Sources:

http://www.geocities.jp/zozocyan2/p2e/index2e.htm

http://artchef.com/

http://www.thaicarving.co.uk/

Černý, David  (1967 -)

Entropa, 2009

Steel & Glass-reinforced Plastic, 16.4 x 16.5m

Centre of Contemporary Art DOX,  Prague

Entropa is a sculpture created by Czech artist David Černý under commission for the Czech Republic to mark the occasion of its presidency of the Council of the European Union. The sculpture was supposed to have been created jointly by 27 artists and artist groups from all member countries of the EU; but in a hoax, Černý and his three assistants created the satirical and controversial work.

The sculpture is an ironic jab at the issue of European integration and the stereotypes associated with each country. It is subtitled Stereotypes are barriers to be demolished, in accord with the Czech European Union Presidency motto of Europe without barriers. According to the artist it "lampoons the socially activist art that balances on the verge between would-be controversial attacks on national character and undisturbing decoration of an official space".

The work is made of GRP (the joints of steel), approximately 256 square metres (2,760 sq ft) in area (16.4 metres (54 ft) high and 16.5 metres (54 ft) wide), weighs almost 8 tonnes and was installed between 5 to 11 January 2009.

It resembles an unassembled model kit containing pieces in the shapes of the 27 member states of the EU. Each piece has a distinctive theme that portrays the stereotypes which the artist perceived to be the most associated with that country. Some of these are portrayed in a particularly provocative manner. Among the pieces which have attracted the most attention are those of Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Poland and Slovakia.

In an interview, Černý stated that the sculpture was influenced by the Monty Python brand of humour. At the launch ceremony, he added Sacha Baron Cohen and Les Guignols de l'info's portrayal of Nicolas Sarkozy as other influences.[6]

Entropa has inspired debate in Europe since the day of its first unveiling, and in the Czech Republic several days before. Various commentators have noted that this is probably the first such exhibition in the history of art displays on behalf of the rotary Presidency of the EU Council, the usual intent being to go by unnoticed and avoid criticism and offence at all costs. The work drew what have been described by one reporter as "never-before-seen crowd[s]."It has been praised by some viewers for being "hilarious" and for inspiring discussion about art, and has angered and offended others.

Černý originally stated that he meant for the sculpture to be amusing, saying, "Irony is about making fun. It is not meant to offend anybody" and later issuing an official statement saying, "We wanted to see if Europe is able to laugh at itself".

Christopher Ryan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropa

Keith Haring (1958 - 1990)

Untitled (The Boxers), 1988

Polyurethane Paint on Aluminium, 118x84x64 cm

Potsdamer Platz, Berlin

Keith Haring was born on May 4, 1958 in Reading, Pennsylvania. He spent his early childhood in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. His father, an amateur cartoon drawer was the first effect on his enthusiasm for drawing which developed at an early age. In 1976, after graduating from high school, he enrolled a commercial arts school in Pittsburgh, but he dropped out after the first year because he lost his interest in commercial graphic art. In 1978 he enrolled in the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he also found a thriving art community.

The art of Keith Haring is inspired by different kinds of media and by different artists. The works of Jean Dubuffet, Pierre Alechinsky, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and the writings of William Borroughs were as influencing for him as were street art, television commercials, cartoons and comic strips.

In the 1980s he found a new medium for himself that allowed him to communicate with the wider audience: he made unauthorized chalk drawings on blank black advertising panels in the New York subways. These drawings can be called public art, the kind of art Haring preferred the most. He also made sets and backdrops for theatres and clubs, watch designs for Swatch, design for Absolut vodka, and public sculptures.

Till 1986 he achieved international recognition, his public works can be found all over the world. He painted the western side of the Berlin Wall, near Checkpoint Charlie, he decorated children’s hospitals and daycares, he made sculptures that were usually set in parks, playgrounds, or places where they are accessible for people.

In 1988 he was diagnosed with AIDS and he died two years later, on February 16, 1991. During these two years he founded the Keith Haring Foundation the mandate of which is to provide funding and imaginary to AIDS organisations and children’s programs, and to expand the audience for Haring’s work throughout exhibitions, publications and the licensing of his images.

The untitled sculpture, known as The Boxers, was made in 1988. It is set up on Potsdamer Platz when Daimler-Benz, now Daimler asked seven artists (Keith Haring, Jeff Koons, François Morellet, Nam June Paik, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark di Suvero and Jean Tinguely) to chose an existing sculpture of theirs or make a new one for the project. They all were supposed to reflect somehow to “the city as a space that tells stories.” The chosen artists had their own strategies to show the relationship between art and urban place, and they also tended to create their art this way.

The sculpture of Haring has two figures, a red and a blue one. Their moves can be understood in many different ways. The first is suggested by the lately given title, so they can be boxers; this is the aggressive understanding. Secondly, it can be seen as two men who make love which is a less aggressive viewpoint; however, love also can contain aggression, and this also can reflect to Haring’s life-long fight with his homosexuality and later on with his AIDS. The third way to see the sculpture can be a little bit far-fetched: the two figures may symbolize fire and water (red and blue) the two elements that can not exist together but can not even exist without the other.

 Greskovics Eszter

Sources:

­         http://www.sammlung.daimler.com/sculpt/potsdamerplatz/skulpt_index_e.htm

­         http://haring.com/

Jenkins, Mike

Seoul, S. Korea

Mark Jenkins was born in 1970 in Fairfax, Virginia. He is an American artist most widely known for his
street installations, which he creates using box sealing tape. His absurdist work has been featured in various publications including Time, The Washington Post, Reuters, The Independent and on the street art blog Wooster Collective. He has exhibited in galleries in the U.S., Europe, Japan and Brazil and is represented by various galleries including the Lazarides Gallery in London. He maintains the Website tapesculpture.org and teaches his tape casting process in workshops in the cities he visits.
Jenkins makes his installations by wrapping himself or others in kitchen foil and then with layers of scotch tape. When the foil layer is thick enough he cuts it off and re-seals the empty shape creating a life-size dummy. He then dresses up his dummies and places them on  the streets. These installations are provocative and absurd.

Csörgő Erika

www.markjenkins.net
www.xmarkjenkinsx.com
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Mark_jenkins

 

Leshan Buddha (713 - 803)

Rock Carving, 71m high

Sichuan Province, China

This sculpture, which is also called Dafo, is the tallest stone Buddha statue in the world. It is located in China's Sichuan province in the vicinity of Minjang, Dadu and Qingyi rivers facing the sacred Mount Emei. According to a local saying, “The mountain is a Buddha, the Buddha is a mountain.” Hai Tong, a 8th century monk, found that the turbulent waters can be calmed by the huge amount of rubble carved away from the cliff and deposited in the river. Thus, it allowed the currents to alter and the waters to calm. The construction started in 713 AD and took 90 years to finish be finished in 803. The monk - who was so committed to his idea that he is said to have gouged out his own eyes when the project was threatened by the government - passed away when the statue was half ready. The construction was carried on by his disciples. For me, it is an unusual Buddha with its sitting posture and open eyes. This seated kind of Buddha with his hand resting on his knees is also called the Maitreya Buddha. The broad smile, the naked breast and paunch were popular characteristics of the Buddha statues during the 4th to 7th centuries. The size of this Buddha is very impressive. It is 71 meters (233 feet) tall, his shoulders are 28 metres (92 feet) wide, each eyebrow is 18 feet long. His smallest toenail can accommodate a seated person. The ears, each 7 meters (about 23 feet) long, are made of wood and are decorated by mud on the surface. You can imagine how difficult it was to fix them to the stone head. A complete drainage passage system, hidden in the hair, collar, chest and holes in the back of his ears, helps to prevent the Buddha from serious erosion and weathering. Thanks for the 1200 years of permanent care we can admire this statue with its full beauty. Mount Emei and the Giant Buddha of Leshan share the title of UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.

Kalmár István

 References:

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/china/leshan-giant-buddha

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/sichuan/leshan/buddha_statue.htm

Unknown (Norwegian) Craftsman

Queen (11th-12th Century) from Lewis Chessmen

Walrus Ivory, c. 10cm

British Museum, London

The “Lewis Queen” is part of a collection of chessmen and other game counters or tokens that were found in the early nineteenth century in a small stone chamber in a sand dune on the island of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides off the north-west coast of Scotland. The collection included a total of 93 pieces; 82 of them are now in the British Museum in London, the remaining 11 in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The chess pieces probably represent at least 4 complete sets, possibly more. They are made of walrus ivory and whales’ teeth, and were probably carved in Norway, where similar pieces have been found, in the second half of the 12th century. There is evidence that some of them were originally stained red (rather than black). All the pieces represent human figures, except for the pawns, which are smaller, geometric shapes. The knights are shown holding spears and shields, mounted on rather diminutive horses. The rooks depict standing soldiers or warders holding a shield and sword, four of which are shown as wild-eyed berserkers biting their shields with battle fury.

The pieces are in excellent condition and were probably never used. This has led archaeologists to believe that they may have belonged to the stock of a merchant travelling to Norse settlements in Ireland, but there are many legends surrounding their history, and exactly how they came to be buried on Lewis will probably never be known.

Several of the pieces look rather glum, especially the queens, who seem to be suffering from toothache. Their expressions may appear comical to modern eyes, but one of the leading authorities on the collection declares that the comic or sad expressions were not intended or perceived as such by the makers, to whom these images instead displayed strength, ferocity or, in the case of the queens who hold their heads with a hand, "contemplation, repose and possibly wisdom".

There is considerable controversy about where the collection should be kept; meanwhile they are a favourite among visitors to the British Museum, and replica sets made out of moulded resin are popular items in the museum shop.

Christopher Ryan

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/t/the_lewis_chessmen.aspx

http://www.scotland.com/blog/the-lewis-chessmen-of-scotland-are-masterpieces-of-craftsmanship

http://textualities.net/geoff-chandler/not-even-from-lewis-mate-2/

Machu Picchu

Although it’s debatable whether architectural masterpieces like Machu Picchu can be regarded as forms of art, this ancient site has undoubtedly been one of the most beautiful and enchanting tourist attractions in the word ever since it has been known to the public. Although the place escaped the Spaniards’ destruction, very little is known of Machu Picchu’s history. There is basically no other base for our guesses than what is visible, since the Inca’s ‘script’, the “kipu” is not decoded, yet.

 The Native American Inca nation erected hundreds of buildings including palaces, temples, baths, etc. from the early 15th century on, but Machu Picchu might have been a sacred place of power from a far earlier time. There are various assumptions for the function of this 5-square-mile small city. It might have been a secret ceremonial city, a place of training for the children of the Inca nobility, or a fort. Whatever it was, its inhabitants left the city for mysterious reasons some 40 years after the Spanish took the Inca capital city, Cuzco, in 1533. The city was finally rediscovered by a Yale archaeologist, Hiram Bingham, in 1911.

 The buildings miraculously survived in relatively good condition. The Inca were masters of the architectural technique called ashlar, using no mortar at all. They put the gray granite blocks from the mountain top together with such exactitude that it is said that not even a thin knife-blade can be inserted between the blocks. These dry, mortar-free constructions were able to resist earthquakes, since they are able to move slightly. Several further design features help the protection of the buildings. All the doors and windows are trapezoidal for example and they tilt from the bottom to the top.  The blocks are rounded at the corners and sometimes they incline slightly into the inner space. “L”-shaped blocks were often used to tie outside corners and the walls are slightly offset from row to row.

 Details of the construction of the buildings are not known at all. Although the Inca used wheels in toys, they never employed them for architecture, which is understandable considering the mountain- conditions. Probably they used manpower to move the stones on inclined planes, but there is no evidence of this excepting a few remained knobs on the blocks that might have been used to lever them into position.

 All in all, this extraordinary little city can be regarded as a piece of art for several reasons. It is unquestionably beautiful as it complements the nature surrounding it; not ruining its picturesque harmony. Moreover, Machu Picchu has something to express as well: the greatness of the bygone Inca Empire. 

 György Júlia

Heitor da Silva Costa (1873 - 1947)

&

 Paul Landowski (1875 - 1961)

Christ the Redeemer (1922-31)
Soapstone on Reinforced Concrete, 36.9 x 30m
Mount Corcovado, Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer

Christ the Redeemer (Portuguese: O Cristo Redentor) is a statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; considered the largest art deco statue in the world. The statue stands 39.6 metres tall, including its 9.5 metre pedestal, and 30 metres wide. It weighs 635 tons, and is located at the peak of the 700 metres Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city. It has become a symbol of Christianity, and an icon of Rio and Brazil.

The idea for erecting a large statue atop Corcovado was first suggested in the mid 1850s, when Catholic priest Pedro Maria Boss requested financing from Princess Isabel to build a large religious monument. Princess Isabel did not think much of the idea and it was completely dismissed in 1889, when Brazil became a Republic, with laws mandating the separation of church and state.The second proposal was made in 1921 by the Catholic Circle of Rio. The designs considered for the "Statue of the Christ" included a representation of the Christian cross, a statue of Jesus with a globe in his hands, and a pedestal symbolizing the world. The statue of Christ the Redeemer with open arms was chosen.

Local engineer Heitor da Silva Costa designed the statue; it was sculpted by French sculptor Paul Landowski. A decision was made to build the structure out of reinforced concrete instead of steel, more suitable for the cross-shaped statue. The outer layers are soapstone, chosen for its enduring qualities and ease of use. Construction took nine years, from 1922 to 1931. The monument was opened on October 12, 1931. The cost of the monument was $250,000.

The statue was struck by lightning during a violent electrical storm on Sunday, February 10, 2008. The storm caused havoc in Rio, but the statue was left unscathed because soapstone, the material forming the outer layers of the statue, is an insulator. In October 2006, on the statue's 75th anniversary, Archbishop of Rio consecrated a chapel under the statue. On 7 July 2007, Christ the Redeemer was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

A fantastic miracleof our world, which speaks to your heart, it does not matter if you are religious or not.

Szegedi Nóri

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_the_Redeemer_%28statue%29

Wigan, Willard (1957-  )

The Obama family (2009)

Needle's Eye

My Little Eye Gallery, London

Willard Wigan was born in 1957 in Birmingham. He struggled at school because of his dyslexia, so he escaped to a fantasy world and started sculpting at the age of five. First he made houses for ants, then he made them shoes and hats, and finally his micro-sculptures have become so minute that they are only visible through a microscope.

 Each piece sits within the eye of a needle, or on a pin head, so the creation of them needs a personal sacrifice. Wigan has to enter a meditative state in which his heartbeat is slowed. This allows him to reduce hand tremors and sculpt between pulse beats. He often works through the night when there is minimal disruption, as even the reverberation caused by traffic outside can affect Wigan’s work.

With each piece on average taking up to 3 months to complete, and given the huge demands now being made of Wigan to host his exhibitions, only a limited number of original works are released for general sale each year. Private collectors of Wigan’s work include for example Sir Elton John and Mike Tyson.

Wigan’s work is described as “the eighth wonder of the world.” Despite the fact that he is completely self taught, his work is both inspirational and ground breaking in both artistic and scientific spheres.

Mini Obamas

Wigan has carved Mr Obama and his family into the eye of a 24-carat gold needle. The sculptor said he worked nearly 18 hours a day for seven weeks in a cupboard to create this piece. The artwork is so small that a powerful microscope that magnifies the object 400 times is needed to see the detail clearly. He used a small splinter of a diamond as a chisel and to paint it he used a hair of a dead fly.

Wigan revealed that it is the President Obama sculpture he is most proud of. He wanted to celebrate the election of a black president. To create his masterpiece, Wigan used images of the First Family from the night Mr Obama was elected president.

Simon-Balla Teodóra

Sources:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4296808/Barack-Obama-inauguration-artist-Willard-Wigan-creates-microscopic-sculpture.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1192307/Mini-Obamas-micro-wave-British-sculptors-work-fits-eye-needle.html

http://www.willard-wigan.com/

Muiredach High Cross

A high cross is a freestanding Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. They were raised primarily in Ireland and Britain during the Early Middle Ages and sometimes later. They often, though not always, feature a stone ring around the intersection, forming a Celtic Christian cross.

The Celtic Cross tradition includes Scotland, Brittany, Cornwall, Wales, and England. There is much speculation about the symbolism, ritual, and meaning expressed in the Celtic Cross. Its unique combination of circle and cross may suggest a melding of pagan sun-worship with early Christianity. The circle may be traced back to ancient concepts of the omphalos or center of the world. It might suggest a cosmic wheel, part of the constant movement of the heavens. It may also derive from the Celtic artifact of the Torc or welded circle, symbolic of the strength of the gods.

High Crosses cover the landscape of Ireland, almost always associated with the remains of the great monasteries. These monastic settlements go all the way back to the 6th century in Ireland. The crosses at Clonmacnois, Co. Offaly; Monasterboice, Co. Louth; and Kells, Co. Meath are of particular importance. The Irish High Cross itself is a kind of holy text: images from the Old and New Testaments, from the Lives of the Saints, and in some cases from pagan mythology, cover the crosses from top to bottom and side to side. In the pages that follow, you may view these images in detail, getting a sense both of the overall unity of the Cross and of the individual stories that the Cross contains.

Muiredach's High Cross is a high cross from the 10th or possibly 9th century, located at the ruined monastic site of Monasterboice, County Louth, Republic of Ireland. There are two other high crosses at Monasterboice; in local terms Muiredach's cross is also known as the South Cross. Muiredach's cross has been described as the most beautiful specimen of Celtic stonework now in existence; and the crosses at Monasterboice have been stated to be Ireland's greatest contribution to European sculpture.

Recently concerns have been raised over the well-being of Muiredach's cross; and it has been suggested that the cross should possibly be brought indoors in order to protect it from the elements. In 2004 Barry McGahon, chairperson of the Monasterboice Tour Guides, stated to an Irish newspaper that it was not well protected; and suggested that a railing around the cross would temporally keep people from interfering with it. McGahon stated that the cross had begun to take longer drying out and that it seemed like rain was seeping into it.

In 2008, Harbison stated that the crosses at Monasterboice could probably be regarded as Ireland's greatest contribution to European sculpture. In April 2009 The Irish Times reported that the Government of Ireland was about to submit a list of sites—among them Monasterboice—to UNESCO to be considered a World Heritage Site.

Sánta Balázs

Sources:

 Article “Muiredach’s High Cross” on Wikipedia. Retrieved Nov. 27, 2009 from
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muiredach%27s_High_Cross>

“High Crosses at Monasterboice.” Ireland.wlu.edu. Retrieved Nov. 17, 2009 from
<http://ireland.wlu.edu/cross/index.html>

For those more interested in the cross:
Description of panels:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muiredach%27s_High_Cross#Description_of_panels>

Brunelleschi,

The History of the Dome of Brunelleschi

(Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence)

  The construction of the Cathedral started in 1296 in Gothic style by an Italian architect, Arnolfo di Cambio.  The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore is evidently part of the UNESCO World Heritage.

By 1418 the construction of the baptistery, the campanile of Giotto and the church itself were finished and the only missing part remained: the Dome. For its extreme size ( 42 meters in diameter, a round roof with an octagonal base) the architects had to face the problem of not being able to build to Cupola. Firstly, they did not have any plan for creating such a dome for its monumentality (it was bigger than the Pantheon’s dome in Rome) and for the fact that no similar cupola was built since antiquity. The situation got even worse when the City Fathers forbade the use of buttresses . Rafters, as another solution, at this height were impossible to obtain. As stresses of compression were not clearly understood at that time and the mortar would only set after several days keeping the strain on the scaffolding for a very long time, this possible solution was disapproved again.

Finally, the Wool Merchants’ Guild ( ’Arte della Lana’- in Italian) held a competition to solve the problem by putting out to tender the construction of the dome. The competition consisted of one exercise: the architects had to stand an egg upright on a piece of marble. None of them could do this, except for Filippo Brunelleschi who defeated his former master, Lorenzo Ghiberti. According to Giorgio Vasari: ’…Brunelleschi gave one end of the egg  a blow on the flat piece of marble, made it stand upright...’ Several architects protested that they could have done the same, but Filippo gave a mean answer: ’You could have made the dome if you had seen my design.’

So, finally the construction began although nobody beleived Brunelleschi’s plan. He found out how to make the dome self-supporting by designing two shells for it. The inner shell was made of lightweight material, so workers could sit atop it to build the outer shell that was obviously made of heavier wind-resistant material . Brunelleschi’s next revolutionary idea was to devise the so-called ’ring and rib support’  in which rings hug both shells and supports ran through them (Apart for a few modifications, it still holds up the entire dome).  The architect also created the ’herringbone brick pattern’  that redirected weight of bricks towards the dome supports, instead of downwards to the floor. In the end, the total height of the cupola reached 114,5 meters with lantern.

On the inside of dome there are beautiful, world famous ferscos ( Last Judgement frescos) painted by Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari.

All in all, it is clearly seen that Filippo Brunelleschi’s dome is a landmark in Renaissance Architecture. Moreover, we can say that Renaissance architecture was born in Florence by his monumental and fascinating cupola.

If somebody would like to read the entire (interesting, detailed, sometimes funny) story of the Dome, I offer Ross King’s brilliant book: Brunelleschi’s Dome - The Story of The Great Cathedral in Florence

Türk Dalma

Schloss Neuschwanstein

Hundertwasser

Friedensreich Hundertwasser

 His stage name is Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser, his real name is Friedrich Stowasser. His name Friedensreich Hundertwasser means, "Peace-Kingdom Hundred-Water". (peaceland + rainy day + darkly multi-colored + hundred-water) (sto=hundred in Slavic)

He was an Austrian painter and architect and also worked in the field of applied art. He was half-Jewish, as his mother was Jewish, his father was a Catholic. He bean his career as a painter, he spent three months at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and started to sign his art as Hundert and not Stowasser. He left to travel, using a small set of paints he carried at all times to sketch anything that caught his eye. His characteristics in painting can be seen in his architectural art as well: bright colors, organic forms, a reconciliation of humans with nature, and a strong individualism, rejecting straight lines. He was fascinated with spirals, and called straight lines "the devil's tools". He had his first commercial painting success in 1952-3 with an exhibition in Vienna. Hundertwasser also worked in the field of applied art. He created flags, stamps, coins, posters. His most famous flag is the Koru Flag. The Koru Flag has been proposed as a secondary flag for New Zealand.

As of the early 1950s he had increasingly focused on architecture. He began this undertaking with manifestos, essays and demonstrations, such as "Mouldiness Manifesto against Rationalism in Architecture". In the Mouldiness Manifesto he claimed for the first time the "Window Right": "A person in a rented apartment must be able to lean out of his window and scrape off the masonry within arm's reach. And he must be allowed to take a long brush and paint everything outside within arm's reach. So that it will be visible from afar to everyone in the street that someone lives there who is different from the imprisoned, enslaved, standardized man who lives next door." Hundertwasser condemned the enslavement of humans by the sterile grid system of conventional architecture and by the series production of mechanized industries. He expressed his rejection of rationalism, of the straight line and of functional architecture.

 It wasn't until 1981 that he designed his first building. His revolutionary architectural designs incorporate natural features of the landscape, and use of irregular forms in his building design. In his architectural works of art, Hundertwasser puts diversity before monotony, replaces a grid system with an organic approach that enables unregulated irregularities.

The Hundertwasserhaus block is in the 3rd district in Vienna and was constructed from 1983-86. It has 52 flats, 4 shops, 16 private and 3 joint roof balconies. It features undulating floors ("an uneven floor is a melody to the feet"), a roof covered with earth and grass, and large trees growing from inside the rooms, with limbs extending from windows. He took no payment for the design of Hundertwasserhaus, declaring that it was worth it, to "prevent something ugly from going up in its place". This house is very noticeable between the grey block houses and symbolizes people’s desire for harmony, uniqueness and humanity. Hundertwasser reconstructed this house with the help of a university professor, Joseph Krawina. This was the first project where a painter could cooperate. None of his houses he later constructed were this successful, concerning the publication and the number of visitors. The reason for this can be the fruitful cooperation of a well-known and experienced architect and a painter who emphasized emotions and fantasy. However, it turned out that the changes on the house were defective, as the windows can only be cleaned while the road is blocked, the bricks for the walls are too soft and the tap-root of the plants caused many additional charges.

Their work has become one of the most visited buildings of Austria and it belongs to the most important cultural possessions of the country. He said that “This house is my soul!”

 Horváth Anita

http://www.hundertwasserhaus.info/information/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedensreich_Hundertwasser

http://www.wien-konkret.at/sehenswuerdigkeiten/hundertwasserhaus/

Cow Parade

CowParade is the name of a public art exhibition that has been featured in many major world cities in the past decade. During a given CowParade, fiberglass sculptures of cows are decorated by local artists, which are then spread out
in the city, in public places. The decorations on the animals are often specific to the given culture, or feature issues related to urban life. After a few months of the exhibition, the cows are auctioned off, and the proceeds go to charity.
In 2006, locals to and visitors of Budapest had the luck of having a CowParade event held in the streets of the capital. The cows showed a great variety in style, messaging and inventiveness. The sights were a joy to see, although at least one of the cows, a melting ice-cream cow exhibited in front of St. Stephen's Basilica, raised a minor controversy, and was illegally moved by presumably Christian protesters.

Said Dániel