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

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 9, 2021

Birth of the Muses - Jacques Lipchitz


We just learned about the scuplture Clown Tight Rope Walker by Louise Nevelson.

Another famous American sculpture is the Birth of the Muses by Jacques Lipchitz, made in 1950 in Massachussetts.

This sculpture comes from the story of Pegasus landing on Mt. Helicon causing four springs of water to come up from the ground, which were the source for the muses.

It is an abstract art sculpture, so it is not just a nice sculpture of a horse with some water, it looks a little twisted and turned so the artist wanted people to use their imagination to see the real picture.


(from: wikipedia - birth of the muses)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: The Willing Captive - Captive Ives

Saturday, January 2, 2021

Clown Tight Rope Walker - Louise Nevelson


We just learned about the Cubi VI by David Smith.

Another Clown Tight Rope Walker by Louise Nevelson in 1942 in New York.

Louise was born in the Ukraine, and moved with her family to Maine in 1905.
She studied some artwork in high school, and then later moved to New York where she got married and studied art more.

When she was young her father was a lumberjack, which gave her some interested in working with wood for her art.

In 1943 she put on an art show called "The Clown as the Center of his World" where she had many sculptures about circus things like clowns, and all of the art was made with found objects.

"Found Object" art, also called "objet trouvé" is when an artist takes something from the normal world like a shoe or a spoon and uses it as part of their sculpture.


(from: wikipedia - louise nevelson)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Clasped Hands of Robert and Elizabeth

Saturday, December 26, 2020

Cubi VI - David Smith


We just learned about the sculpture of Winged Man by Richard Hunt.

Another famous American sculpture is CUBI VI by David Smith made in 1963.

In the 1960s in America, a lot of artists started making more abstract art.
Artist Roland David Smith was born in Indiana, and went to college for art, worked in a factory for a while, and then met some other famous artists.

In 1965 he started making a set of "Cubi" sculptures made out of stainless steel.
They are mostly just a bunch of shapes, but they also look like people in different positions.

There are 28 different CUBI sculptures, all numbered with roman numerals from Cubi I to Cubi XXVII.


(from: wikipedia - david smith (sculptor))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Doctor John Witherspoon - Couper

Saturday, December 19, 2020

Winged Man - Richard Hunt


We just learned about the Dogon Mother and Child by Jerry Harris.

Another famous American sculpture is Winged Man - Richard Hunt.

Hunt was born in Chicago, and grew up learning about art.
He started making sculptures in the 1960s when it was a difficult time for African American people to be allowed to make public sculptures.

There are many of his sculptures all over Chicago and the US, like the Winged Man sculpture made in 1987 in Chicago.


(from: wikipedia - richard hunt (sculptor))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Statue of Charles Sumner - Thomas Ball

Saturday, December 12, 2020

Dogon Mother and Child - Jerry Harris


We just learned about the sculpture Bearing Witness by Martin Puryear.

Another famous American sculpture is Dogon Mother and Child by Jerry Harris.

Jerry Harris was an artist who made sculptures in abstract art, using mostly wood and metal.
He was born in Pennsylvania in 1945, and then later moved to England and Sweden to learn more about art.
When he was 53 years old he moved back to America.

His sculpture is an abstract picture of an African Dogon woman and her child.


(from: wikipedia - jerry harris (artist))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: The Rescue - Horatio Greenough

Saturday, December 5, 2020

Bearing Witness - Martin Puryear


We just learned about the sculpture of Students Aspire by Elizabeth Catlett.

Another famous American sculpture is Bearing Witness by Martin Puryear made in 1998 in Washington D.C.

This sulpture is 40 feet tall and weighs 20,000 pounds.
It is made out of sheets of bronze metal, wrapped on a steel sculpture underneath to hold it up.

Puryear was famous for sculpting abstract art.
He liked to use big shapes and simple things like metal to make sculptures taht could really stand out.

He grew up in Washington D.C, went to college for art, and then went into the peace Corps and traveled to Sierra Leone and Sweden where he learned some other kinds of art.


(from: wikipedia - martin puryear)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Statue of Freedom by Thomas Crawford

Saturday, November 28, 2020

Students Aspire - Elizabeth Catlett


We just learned about the sculpture of Booker T. Washington by Richmond Barthé.

Another famous American sculpture is Students Aspire by Elizabeth Catlett made in 1978 in Washington D.C.

This is a sculpture of an African American man and woman holding each other and raising their hands toward a circle with a picture of an equals sign in it. There are 4 other circles for some of the different types of science and engineering in the world, like gears for a mechanical engineer, a protractor for a civil engineer, a glass bottle for chemistry, and a circuit picture for electrical.
At the bottom is a tree trunk, and the two students are holding each other and reaching out like branches of the tree.

The sculptor Elizabeth Catlett was born in 1915 in Washington D.C.
Her grandparents had been slaves, so growing up she knew that life had been hard for African Americans.
She tried to go to college at one university, but they would not let her in because she was black.
So she ended up going to Howard University, which was a college where they let black people in.

She spent many years making art and teaching, and later moved to Mexico to be a teacher and artist.


(from: wikipedia - students aspire)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Benjamin Franklin - Hiram Powers

Saturday, November 21, 2020

Booker T. Washington - Richmond Barthé


We just learned about the sculpture of Alice in Wonderland by Jose de Creeft.

Another famous American sculpture is Booker T. Washington made by Richmond Barthé in New York in 1946.

In America after the Civil War was over and slavery was made illegal, a lot of African American people who lived as slaves in the south moved to the north to find places to live and get jobs.

Many places in the south were still not very friendly toward African Americans, so they wanted to go to places in the north where they felt more free.

Barthé was born in Mississippi and grew up wanting to be an artist.
He tried to go to a college in the south but they would not let him because he was African American, so he went to art college in Pennsylvania.
Later on he moved to New York where a lot of African Americans were living and getting jobs, and he became a famous artist there.

Booker T. Washington was a famous African American who fought for the rights of freed slaves after the civil war.


(from: wikipedia - richmond barthé)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Water Nymph and Bitterna - William Rush

Saturday, November 14, 2020

Alice in Wonderland - Jose de Creeft


We just learned about the American sculpture of Puma by William Zorach.

Another famous American sculpture is Alice in Wonderland by Jose de Creeft made in New York in 1959.

This is a bronze statue in Central Park in New York, and it is a favorite for little kids to climb on, so the bronze has become worn down and shiny all over it.

It has Alice sitting on a mushroom, the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter.
The sculpture was made to honor a famous rich person's wife who loved the stories of Alice in Wonderland.

The artist Jose de Creeft was born in 1884 in Spain, and grew up learning about art in different places in Europe.
In 1929 he moved to New York and set up a studio there and made many sculptures like this one.


(from: wikipedia - jose de creeft)


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Saturday, November 7, 2020

Puma - William Zorach


We just learned about the sculpture Dream Lady by Edward McCartan.

Another famous American sculpture is Puma by William Zorach made in 1954 in Philadelphia.

Zorach was born in Lithuania in 1889, and moved to America when he was 5.
He grew up learning how to be an artist in America.
While he was an artist, a lot of other artists in America were making things in the old classical style, but Zorach liked the cubism style.

He made many paintings and sculptures in America and was even a college art teacher for many years.


(from: wikipedia - william zorach)


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Saturday, October 31, 2020

Dream Lady - Edward McCartan


We just learned about the statue of Prometheus by Paul Manship.

Another famous American sculpture is Dream Lady by Edward McCartan made in Chicago in 1922.

This statue was made to honor Eugene Field, who was a famous writer who wrote some very famous poems like Wynken, Blinken and Nod.

The sculptor McCartan was born in 1879 in New York where he grew up studying art.
He went to Paris for a few years to study art, and usually made things in the old Classical style which meant everything looked very realistic.


(from: wikipedia - edward mccartan)


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Saturday, October 24, 2020

Prometheus - Manship


We just learned about the Vision of Peace by Carl Milles.

Another famous American sculpture is Prometheus by Paul Manship in New York in 1934.

In the 1920s in America, some sculptors started making statues that were a lot like the very old Greek statues in the art style called Classical Art.

Paul Manship was born in Minnesota in 1885 and grew up learning to be an artist.
When he was 24 he won an art competition and got a trip to to go Rome Italy.
While he was there he really learned to like the old Classical style, and when he came back to America he started making statues like he saw in Europe.

The Prometheus sculpture is made of bronze, and it is in New York at the famous Rockefeller Center.
It is 18 feet tall and weighs 8 tons.
Prometheus is a Titan from Greek mythology who brought fire to people by stealing it from the sun.
In this sculpture it has a big ring around Prometheus that he is falling through toward the earth.

On the wall behind the statue are the words: "Prometheus, teacher in every art, brought the fire that hath proved to mortals a means to mighty ends."


(from: wikipedia - prometheus (manship))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Toltec Atlantean figures from Tula

Saturday, October 17, 2020

Vision of Peace - Carl Milles


We just learned about the statue of Georgia O'Keefe by Gaston Lachaise.

Another famous American sculpture is the Vision of Peace by Carl Milles made in Minnesota in 1936.

This statue was made to remember the people from Minnesota who died in World War I.

At the bottom of the statue are 5 Native Americans sitting around a fire, and in the middle in the smoke coming up from the fire is a Native American God of Peace.
It wasn't made just for Native Americans, but for the whole world.

The statue is 38 feet high, and made of onyx.
It is on top of a moving base at the bottom that slowly spins the statue around about 1 time every few hours.

Carl Milles was born in Sweden in 1875, and became a famous artist working there until he was 56.
In 1931 he moved to Michigan to be part of the Cranbrook school, and made many sculptures for the school grounds.
He made many other sculptures in Michigan and other parts of the midwest like Minnesota and Wisconsin.


(from: wikipedia - carl milles)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Montezuma's Headdress

Saturday, October 10, 2020

Georgia O'Keefe - Gaston Lachaise


We just learned about the sculpture of Richard Yates by Albin Polasek .

Another famous work of American art is the sculpture of Georgia O'Keefe made by Gaston Lachaise in 1927.

Lachaise was born in 1882 in France, where he grew up learning how to be a sculptor.
He met an American woman named Isabel and fell in love with her, so when he was about 20 years old he moved to America with her and they got married.

He was mostly famous for making sculptures of women that looked very big and powerful, like a force of nature.
Most people made sculptures of women that were very small and delicate, so this different way of making sculptures of women was seen as a way to give power to women who were seen by some people as weak.

He also made sculptures of famous people like Georgia O'Keefe.
She was a famous American artist, who some people called the Mother of American modernism.


(from: wikipedia - gaston lachaise)


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