Showing posts with label Abstract Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Abstract Art. Show all posts

Saturday, March 27, 2021

Caterpillar - Norman Carlberg


We just learned about the famous American sculpture Stegosaurus by Jim Gary.

Another famous American work of art is Caterpillar by Norman Carlberg, made in Baltimore Maryland in 1976.

Carlberg was born in 1928 in Minnesota, and went to art school in Minnesota and at Yale.

He was famous for a kind of art called Modular Constructivism, which meant he used the same shape over in different patterns to make a sculpture.


(from: wikipedia - norman carlberg)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Theodore Roosevelt, Rough Rider - Alexander Phimister Proctor

Saturday, March 20, 2021

Stegosaurus - Jim Gary


We just learned about the sculpture Street Crossing by George Segal.

Another famous American sculpture is Stegosaurus - Jim Gary.

Jim Gary was born in Florida but moved to New Jersey when he was very little.
When he was growing up at age 11 he moved out of his parents home, and started making money doing jobs and selling decorations he made himself.

In high school he learned how to be a sculptor, and when he was in the Navy he learned welding.
He used his sculpting and welding to make a lot of works of art, and later decided to make a bunch of dinosaur sculptures out of junk metal and old car parts.

Some of his sculptures were over 60 feet long and 20 feet high.
He painted them in bright colors so that they would look fun, and he was very famous in the art community and with kids who loved to see his bright colored metal dinosaurs.


(from: wikipedia - jim gary)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: The Bronco Buster - Frederic Remington

Saturday, March 13, 2021

Street Crossing - George Segal


We just learned about the sculpture of Contour by Richard Serra.

Another famous American sculpture is the Street Crossing by George Segal, made in 1992 in New Jersey.

Segal was born in New York in 1924, and went to college to be a teacher.

He was most famous for making life sized sculptures of people that were made out of plaster bandages.
These were like white cloth that was dipped in glue, then stuck to a person who was standing or sitting however Segal wanted them to.

After the glue dried it was hardened and the person could move away and there would be a hollow mold of them.

He made lots of these types of sculptures, and they looked like people made of white cloth standing around.
His sculpture called Street Crossing was of a bunch of people standing around like they were getting ready to cross the street.


(from: wikipedia - george segal (artist))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Abraham Lincoln - Vinnie Ream

Saturday, March 6, 2021

Contour - Richard Serra


We just learned about the sculpture of Untitled by Donald Judd.

Another famous American sculpture is Contour by Richard Serra, made in Maryland in 2004.

Richard Serra was born in California, and went to art school in California and Connecticut, and spent some time in Italy learning art.
When he was growing up his father worked in steel mills, and he said that gave him lots of memories that he used to think about what kind of art to make.

Serra was famous for a type of art called "Process Art".
In this type of art, the final work of art is not as important as the process of making the art.
So finding all the pieces for it, making all the plans and then how it is all put together is part of the process of the work of art.


(from: wikipedia - richard serra)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Nathan Hale - Frederick William MacMonnies

Saturday, February 27, 2021

Untitled - Donald Judd


We just learned about the Four Squares in Square Arrangement by George Rickey.

Another famous American sculpture is Untitled by Donald Judd, made in 1991 in New York.

Judd was born in 1928 in Missouri, and went to art school in New York.

He was famous for making art that was called Minimalism.
The sculptures that he made were very simple, with straight lines and edges and simple colors.
One big difference for his art is that he sometimes used machines to cut and shape his art, instead of making it using hand held tools.

His art "Untitled" is about 25 feet long, 5 feet tall and 5 feet wide.
It is made out of aluminum that is then painted.

Some of his art looks like a piece of furniture, and he even worked later on to make some tables and chairs for furniture companies.


(from: wikipedia - donald judd)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Standing Lincoln - Augustus Saint Gaudens

Saturday, February 20, 2021

Four Squares in Square Arrangement - George Rickey


We just learned about the Noguchi Table by Isama Noguchi.

Another sculpture by a famous American is Four Squares in Square Arrangement by George Rickey made in 1969 in Berlin Germany.

Rickey was born in 1907 in Indiana, and spent his life traveling all over Europe and America learning art.
He was in the military and worked on mechanical things like aircrafts and tanks, and when he got out he decided to make sculptures out of metal that moved.

Moving sculptures like these are called Kinetic Art.
Rickey's Four Squares sculpture is a metal pole with four metal squares on it that move a little as the wind blows.


(from: wikipedia - george rickey)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Charles Sumner by Anne Whitney

Saturday, February 13, 2021

Noguchi Table - Isamu Noguchi


We just learned about the Untitled by Larry Bell.

Another famous American Sculpture is the Noguchi Table made in 1947 by Isamu Noguchi.

Isamu Noguchi was born in California, then moved to Japan when he was young.
He moved back to America when he was a teenager, and then later went to art college in New York.
In the 1940s during World War II people thought that Japanese people in America were spies, and he was almost forced to leave America and go live in Japan.

Later in his life he was hired to design a nice looking table out of rosewood and glass.
A furniture maker named Herman Miller liked his table so much he asked Noguchi to make another one that they could make and sell.
It was very popular and became a famous thing for people to collect and have as fancy art that was also a table.


(from: wikipedia - noguchi table)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Abraham Lincoln - Vinnie Ream

Saturday, February 6, 2021

Untitled - Larry Bell


We just learned about the sculpture of Throwback by Tony Smith.

Another famous American sculpture is Untitled by Larry Bell, made in 1964 in Washington DC.

Bell was born in Chicago, Illinois and moved to Los Angeles, California where he grew up studying art and wanted to work for Disney some day making animations.

He was famous for making abstract art that was very simple and made people stop and think about his art.
The Untitled sculpture that he made in 1964 was made of metal like gold, and was made in a cube shape on top of a clear stand.

He made a lot of his sculptures with mirrors and glass, so that people would walk around them and look under, over and around all sides.
Part of the idea of his art was watching how people looked at it in different ways and came up with different ideas for what it meant.


(from: wikipedia - larry bell (artist))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Angel of the Waters - Emma Stebbins

Saturday, January 30, 2021

Throwback - Tony Smith


We just learned about the S, Metal by John Chamberlain.

Another famous American sculpture is Throwback by Tony Smith in 1979 in Washington DC.

Smith was born in 1912 in New Jersey, and was very sick as a child.
He grew up during the depresson, and went to an art school in New York while he was growing up.
Later on in life he worked as an architect and an art teacher in college.

He was known for making what was called Minimalist art, which was artwork that was very simple looking, but was still very interesting.

For his sculpture called Throwback, it was a 7 foot by 11 foot sculpture made of aluminum that was welded together.
The pieces were all at different angles so they made a sort of squarish ring with a lot of edges.

Smith really liked geometry, which is how shapes look and work together, so this sculpture that had a lot of different rectangle type shapes connected to each other in interesting ways.


(from: wikipedia - )


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Forever Free - Edmonia Lewis

Saturday, January 23, 2021

S, metal - John Chamberlain


We just learned about the sculpture La Grande Vitesse - Alexander Calders.

Another famous American sculpture is S, metal made by John Chamberlain in 1959 in Washington DC.

Chamberlain was born in Indiana and went to art school in Chicago.

He was most famous for making sculptures that were out of metal, mostly using rusted old car parts.

Some people thought he was one of the best makers of abstract art out there, and his art was put into museums next to other famous artists like Picasso.

One problem that he had was that because his art was made of old rusted car parts, not everyone knew it was art.
At a museum one time someone thought his artwork was just junk, so they took it and threw it away.


(from: wikipedia - john chamberlain (sculptor))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: The Woman of Samaria (Rebecca at the Well) - William Henry Rinehart

Saturday, January 16, 2021

La Grande Vitesse - Alexander Calders


We just learned about the Birth of the Muses by Jacob Lipchitz.

Another famous American sculpture is La Grande Vitesse by Alexander Calders Calders made in 1969 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Calder was born in 1898 in Pennsylvania. He was the third famous artist named Alexander Calder, after his father and grandfather who were both famous artists named Alexander.

Calder was famous for making mobiles, sculptures hanging from strings that would spin slowly with the air, and also "stabiles" that looked like they were moving but were big solid sculptures.

His sculpture La Grande Vitesse which means The Great Swiftness, or The Grand Rapids.
The sculpture is famous in the town of Grand Rapids, is nicknamed The Calder, and they even use it in the logo for the city.


(from: wikipedia - la grande vitesse)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Michigan Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Metz & Co showroom - van der Leck


We just learned about the famous work of art Composition VII by Theo van Doesburg.

Another famous work of art is the Metz & Co showroom by Dutch artist Bart van der Leck in 1941.

Like Mondrian and van Doesburg, van der Leck was part of the abstract art style called De Stijl.

Metz and Co was a store that asked van Doesburg to make a nice looking room, and he made it using simple shapes and colors, that weren't supposed to look like anything except a bunch of shapes.

(from: wikipedia - bart van der leck)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Raphael Rooms

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Composition II - Mondrian


We just learned about the work of art Revolving Torsion by Naum Gabo.

Another famous work of art is Composition II by Piet Mondrian.

We learned a while back about another of Mondrian's works called Broadway Boogie Woogie

Mondrian was famous for an abstract style of painting called De Stijl which is Dutch and means the style.

He only used the same shades of white, yellow, red, blue and black to make his paintings, and he used straight lines, squares and rectangles.


(from: wikipedia - piet mondrian)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Whistler's Mother

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Revolving Torsion - Gabo


We just learned about the work of art Dance. An Objectless Composition by Alexander Rodchenko.

Another famous work of art is the sculpture Revolving Torsion by Russian artist Naum Gabo.

This was another constructivist work of art.

(from: wikipedia - naum gabo)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: The Great Wave Off Kanagawa

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Dance. An Objectless Composition - Rodchenko


We just learned about the work of art Tatlin's Tower.

Another famous work of art is the painting Dance. An Objectless Composition by Russian artist Alexander Rodchenko in 1915.

This was another painting in the Constructivist movement.

Rodchenko used scales and compasses to make lines and shapes to try and get rid of the extra styling from normal paint brush strokes that he thought were not needed.

(from: wikipedia - alexander rodchenko)

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: American Gothic - Grant Wood

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Tatlin's Tower - Tatlin


We just learned about the work of art Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge by Lissitzky.

Another famous work of art is Tatlin's Tower, designed by Vladimir Tatlin in 1919 to be built in Russia.

The tower was never built because there wasn't enough money, but it was supposed to be a very large metal tower bigger than the Eiffel Tower in France, and there are smaller models of what it would have looked like.

It was supposed to be a really big tower to show how modern, strong and successful the Russians were.

(from: wikipedia - tatlin's tower)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Girl with a Pearl Earring

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge - Lissitzky


We just learned about the famous work of art Black Square by Malevich.

Another famous work of art is the painting Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge by Russian artist Lazar Markovich Lissitzky, also known as El Lissitzky in 1919.

In Russia there was a big fight between two groups of people called the red party and the white party.
The artist El Lissitzky liked the red party, so he made this poster to show the red party beating the white party.

Lissitzky's art was known as constructivism which meant it wasn't just art to look at,
it was made to help do something like help change people's minds in a war.
He also did a lot of work coming up with ideas for new buildings.


(from: wikipedia - beat the whites with the red wedge)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Luncheon of the Boating Party

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Black Square - Malevich


We just learned about the famous painting Dynamic Hieroglyph of the Bal Tabarin by Gino Severini.

Another famous work of art is Black Square by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich in 1915.

This art was part of something called suprematist art.
This type of art used simple shapes like circles, squares, lines and rectangles
painted in simple colors like black, white, grey or brown.


(from: wikipedia - black square (painting))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: The Persistence of Memory - Salvador Dali

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Dynamic Hieroglyph of the Bal Tabarin - Severini


We just learned about the famous work of art The City Rises by Umberto Buccioni.

Another famous work of art is the painting Dynamic Hieroglyph of the Bal Tabarin by Italian painter Gino Severini in 1912.

This was another futurist painting, showing a bunch of dancers moving around and looking lively.


(from: wikipedia - gino severini)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: The Scream of Nature

Saturday, November 14, 2015

The City Rises - Boccioni


We just learned about the famous work of art Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash by Giacomo Balla.

Another famous work of art is the painting The City Rises by Italian Painter Umberto Boccioni in 1910.

Just like Giacomo Balla, this artist was also famous for painting in the style of Futurism.

In this painting, there are things like buildings in the background, but most of the painting is people and horses that are all blended together.

The artist painted them in this way to try and make them look like there was a lot of action and movement.

(from: wikipedia - the city rises - (boccioni))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: The Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel