Masterpieces are displayed across the globe throughout museums and galleries. Though do we know the artists behind the canvas? When studying paintings, sculpture, illustrations and visual art, we look back across art movements to discover the greatest artists to have existed.
Seasons continue year by year, ever changing and ever growing. As we’ve all come to re-discover and appreciate our natural surroundings more deeply, we take inspiration from the impressionist works of powerful compositions, capturing ‘instantaneity’ to create a momentary effect.
These paintings were sketched outdoors, capturing the views that allured these artists to harmonise the landscapes in their studios, capturing light, water, flora and human existence, let’s view the world through the eyes of Renoir, Pissarro, Van Gogh, Hale, Monet and Hassam.
Katsushika Hokusai brought Japanese culture to the global audience. In this episode, we are looking back to his most famous ukiyo-e woodblock prints which have influenced a generation of the Western artists. Other artists were influenced less by Hokusai's landscapes than by his renderings of human forms. Breaking free of the rigours of Western representation, Hokusai and his enchanting depiction of the Eastern culture last further, gave global artists a new dimension for inspiration, and techniques. We are presenting the whole collection of his Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji that represent an everyday life and activities of 'normal folk’, as well as a land of idyllic beauty thorough the fantastical wave.
How do we interact with the dynamism of the world, or live with the nature? Chinese philosophy gives an answer in literati paintings by merging the aesthetic and ethical pursuit. In the painting, most soft brushstrokes outline the sharp mountains peaks; ink drops join into the flow of water; the very tiny figures may disappear in the distance, yet they represent the artist’s yearning for a harmonious life with nature.
In this episode, we are proud to present the most precious Chinese literati paintings by Zhao Mengfu, Mi Fu, Wen Zhengming and Wang Xizhi, showing the great masters’ delicate depiction of the harmony of nature and humanity. We also present the works by Italian missionary Lang Shining (Giuseppe Castiglione), who served in the Qing court as a court painter, exploring how the fusion of Western realistic style and Chinese ink scroll painting created a unique aesthetic that has a long-lasting impact on Chinese art.
At the turn of the 20th century, radical movements gave birth to the most abstract art expressions. While the rapid booming of industries and metropolitans reshape the appearance of modern life, artists born at the moment started using their brushes to capture the speed of development. People who are attracted by the spectacles poured into the downtown area, and their entertainment and creations, especially pop music, led the reform. Like the songs of Broadway and Tin Pan Alley swept across the globe, saturated colours and geometric figures also occupied the canvas. In this episode, we would like to restage the golden age. And look! The jazz notes are dancing on the easel, belting out the rhapsody of modernism.
We have seen Van Gogh’s work, admired each brush stroke, swirly sky and luscious landscape. It is the story of this truly awe-inspiring yet impulsive and mentally struggled artist that captures admirers over 150 years after he last created his masterpieces. As a father of early-modern art, what would he have created today? With a spray can, a computer and a phone... we have an idea...
Artist Oscar-Claude Monet painted his beloved French countryside, gardens and cities from Normandy to Giverny and back again. It seems there is not a waterlily in his Japanese-inspired pond, nor ripple down the river that he did not capture. By founding impressionism, he believed in the “en plein air” techniques of painting – literally taking your paints and canvas outside to create what you see... will you have a try?
Albrecht Dürer, an artist in 1471, a time so unlike any experienced today? His passion for detail and representing his subjects accurately is ironic when viewing the angles, creatures and plants he draws. He gave a close enough illustration of the subject matters he was obsessed with that have roared their way into prominence in the history of art.
Mucha. A new, international style of art emerged in the mid-20th century, following the Arts and Crafts movement. Sinuous curves, dynamism and movement showcased the Art Nouveau movement, dissolving the distinction between fine arts and applied arts.
The fashion for art as design was used and created by many artists, particularly Alphonse Mucha, for for interiors, graphic art, textiles, homeware, jewellery, ceramics and metal work. Focusing heavily on nature, fantasy and the female form, let us inspire a change from the classic to signature simplistic forms and geometric design.
