I have a soft spot for Christina Robertson, although this is largely because she provided me with the idea for an article that I wrote for a local magazine. She was a portrait artist at the Russian royal court in the 19th century and was born about three miles from where I live. I like the painting of George Paul Chalmers (not to be confused with George Chalmers, another Scottish painter). I find a pleasing depth to both his portraits and other works. http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/search/painted_by/george-paul-chalmers_artists
Christina Robertson's work is amazing. It's interesting that her subjects were almost all women. I saw one male she had done but clearly it did not meet my expectations after seeing her female portraits. You can tell she didn't enjoy painting it as much.
I encountered the work of another 19th-century woman artist, Katarina Ivanović, when I visited Belgrade about four years ago. She was a Hungarian-born Serb and became one of the few women to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.
So, Tom, you're sayin' ya' like portraits . For fun lets compare the three. Of the three, okay, Katarina Ivanović is the clear winner (stunning!)...but Christina is also very good and I do like the looser, more expressive style of Chalmers (sorry pic is so much smaller).... However, I greatly admire the talent of the all the artists for their gorgeous use of colors, and, oh, the lighting is exquisite. Christina Robertson Katarina Ivanović George Paul Chalmers
I like a portrait, but I also like a scene with loads of people and with all sorts of activity going on. One of my all-time favourites is Pieter Brueghel the Elder's Fight Between Carnival and Lent, a mad riot of chaos and mayhem. It had been a favourite for years and I tracked it down in Vienna a few years ago.
RE: Fight Between Carnival and Lent by Brueghel…too much going on for my taste but for those in medieval times I have to respect it for it's era. It's like a medieval Where's Waldo to me. Composition is lost. Lights and Darks have no dramatic impact. Nothing leads your eye anywhere. Like you said, chaos and mayhem…but nowhere for the eye to rest. My eyes just dart everywhere and can't see anything. I see enough of that on the top of my desk. Maybe I should just frame it and call it art
I like the chaos...there is a narrative there and it's almost like reading a novel, albeit with your own interpretation. We were lucky enough to have an exhibition of Goya prints in our local art gallery recently and one could see the line through Goya to Hogarth to modern cartoonists like Steve Bell and Martin Rowson (both British artists). Very political, but very forceful. I also like the work of the American Garry Trudeau, which appears alongside Bell's cartoons in the UK paper The Guardian.
I like your explanation of how you relate to Brueghel's painting. Goya's etching are too much war for me. Very strong and masculine so I can appreciate why you like them.
Here I am back in St.Petersburg and it's evening here at 6pm after a gloomy day, snow was forecast but none came in the end. Here is a pic from the balcony I just took.
One of the many things like about St Petersburg is that the buildings are all in proportion. I may be wrong, but I think there's a regulation that says you can't stick unsightly skyscrapers up everywhere like happens in London. The uniformity isn't dull, though, because there are various styles of architecture.
@Terry Page , What a great picture, and it must be exciting to live in the middle of it all. I will definitely never see such a sight here in Texas. I was amazed when I went to the cities of New York, Boston, and Chicago. If I was where you are, they people would think me simple minded. Mainly because my eyes and mouth would always be wide open. I wish tuition wasn't going up, it might be fun to study Art History. I admit I can not tell one artist from another. Maybe that's why I've never felt like an artist. Everything I've done was out of necessity. Even the portraits began because I needed to save the high school image of one of my kids that was fading away. I guess in a way it comes from growing up with poor people that made whatever we needed.
Here is the same picture at 9:00am today after an overnight snowfall, this time of year there would normally be several feet of snow, but that hasn't happened for several winters now.
Yes you are right Tom, Catherine the Great decreed that no building in the city must exceed the height of the Winter Palace, ( now the Hermitage ) There are ongoing discussions about some buildings on the outskirts of the main city being demolished because they obscure the view of some historic buildings. In my opinion the London skyline was wrecked long ago by allowing the building of many ugly skyscrapers, The Winter Palace (Hermitage)
Ina from what I have seen of your art and pottery work you are a true artist, you don't need education to express your art, I wish I had half your talent, I can only appreciate art not create it like you.