Francisco de Zubaran

Francisco de Zubaran, “Agnus Dei”, 1635-40, Oil on Canvas, 62 x 38 cm, Museo Nacional del Prado

Francisco de Zurbarán was a Spanish painter. He is known primarily for his religious paintings depicting monks, nuns, and martyrs, and for his still-lifes. Zurbarán gained the nickname Spanish Caravaggio, owing to the forceful, realistic use of chiaroscuro in which he excelled.

It is unknown whether Zurbarán had the opportunity to copy the paintings of Caravaggio; at any rate, he adopted Caravaggio’s realistic use of chiaroscuro and tenebrism. The painter who may have had the greatest influence on his characteristically severe compositions was Juan Sánchez Cotán. Polychrome sculpture—which by the time of Zurbarán’s apprenticeship had reached a level of sophistication in Seville that surpassed that of the local painters—provided another important stylistic model for the young artist

Francisco de Zurbarán created a pure and intense religious visual language. He worked in Seville in the days when the Andalucían city created its renowned Holy Week rituals. In Zubaran’s painting “Agnus Dei”, a trussed lamb, bound for death, symbolises Christ.

Ikebana

Ikebana: The Art of Japanese Arrangement

Ikebana is a disciplined art form in which nature and humanity are brought together. Contrary to the idea of floral arrangement as a collection of particolored or multicolored arrangement of blooms, ikebana often emphasizes other areas of the plant, such as its stems and leaves, and draws emphasis toward shape, line, form. Though ikebana is a creative expression, it has certain rules governing its form. The artist’s intention behind each arrangement is shown through a piece’s color combinations, natural shapes, graceful lines, and the usually implied meaning of the arrangement.

Another aspect present in ikebana is its employment of minimalism. That is, an arrangement may consist of only a minimal number of blooms interspersed among stalks and leaves. The structure of a Japanese flower arrangement is based on a scalene triangle delineated by three main points, usually twigs, considered in some schools to symbolize heaven, earth, and man and in others sun, moon, and earth. The container is a key element of the composition, and various styles of pottery may be used in their construction.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela

Akseli Gallen-Kallela, “Conceptio Artis”, 1894, Oil Paint and Gouache on Paper, Finnish National Gallery

Akseli Gallen-Kallela was a Swedish-speaking Finnish painter who is best known for his illustrations of the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. His work was considered very important for the Finnish national identity. He changed his name from Gallen to Gallen-Kallela in 1907.

In December 1894, Gallen-Kallela moved to Berlin to oversee the joint exhibition of his works with the works of Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. Here he became acquainted with the Symbolists. The Paris Exposition secured Gallen-Kallela’s stature as the leading Finnish artist. In 1901 he was commissioned to paint the fresco, “Kullervo Goes to War”, for the concert hall of the Helsinki Student’s Union.

From December 1923 to May 1926, Gallen-Kallela lived in the United States, where an exhibition of his work toured several cities and where he visited the Taos art-colony in New Mexico to study indigenous American art. In 1925 he began the illustrations for his “Great Kalevala”. This was still unfinished when he died of pneumonia in Stockholm on 7 March 1931, while returning from a lecture in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Many to http://cevans75.tumblr.com from whom I reblogged the image. Visit his blog.

Max Klinger

Etchings by Max Klinger

Max Klinger was a German Symbolist painter, sculptor, printmaker, and writer. Klinger was born in Leipzig and studied in Karlsruhe. An admirer of the etchings of Menzel and Goya, he shortly became a skilled and imaginative engraver in his own right. Klinger began creating sculptures in the early 1880s. From 1883–1893 he lived in Rome, and became increasingly influenced by the Italian Renaissance and antiquity.

Klinger was cited by many artists (notably Giorgio de Chirico) as being a major link between the Symbolist movement of the 19th century and the start of the metaphysical and Surrealist movements of the 20th century. Asteroid 22369 Klinger is named in his honor.

Images from Top to Bottom: “Pursuit of the Centaur”, 1881, “The Titans”, 1892, Metropolitan Museum of Art; “Abduction of Prometheus”, 1894. “Prometheus Unbound”, 1894

Sigils

Sigils

The term sigil derives from the Latin sigillum, meaning “seal”, though it may also be related to the Hebrew סגולה (segula meaning “word, action, or item of spiritual effect, talisman”). The current use of the term is derived from Renaissance magic, which was in turn inspired by the magical traditions of antiquity.

In medieval ceremonial magic, the term sigil was commonly used to refer to occult signs which represented various angels and demons which the magician might summon. The magical training books called grimoires often listed pages of such sigils. Such sigils were considered to be the equivalent of the true name of the spirit and thus granted the magician a supposed measure of control over the beings.

A common method of creating the sigils of certain spirits was to use kameas (magic squares) — the names of the spirits were converted to numbers, which were then located on the magic square. The locations were then connected by lines, forming an abstract figure.

The use of symbols for magical or cultic purposes has been widespread since at least the Neolithic era. Some examples from other cultures include the yantra from Hindu tantra, historical runic magic among the Germanic peoples, or the use of veves in Voudon.

Hannah Faith Yata

Hannah Faith Yata, “Caustic”, Date Unknown, Oil on Canvas, 86.4 x 111.8 cm, Private Collection

Born in Douglasville, Georgia in March of 1989, Hannah Faith Yata is an American artist of Japanese-American descent, whose realist works are fashioned through techniques and materials employed by the historic Masters of Europe’s artist guilds. Her surrealist, often psychedelic, large-scale works depict the energy and beauty of nature, but also relay a sense of unease as they examine threats of moral injustice and environment degradation.

Hannah Faith Yata spent her early childhood in a small rural town where, home schooled, she developed a deep love of nature and animals. She studied at the Franklin College of Arts and Science in Athens, Georgia, and at the University of Georgia where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drawing and Painting. After her studies in psychology, feminism, and art, Yata made the decision to relocate in 2012 to New York where she could focus on her work as a full-time painter.

Some of the prominent themes featured in Yata’s work are the origins of religion, the nature of the universe, and the symbolic significance of the feminine archetype in our consciousness. Fascinated with different cultures and tribal iconography, she often employs masks in her paintings to differentiate emotions and characters, as well as, to create a link between nature and humanity. Yata’s elaborate dreamscapes contained multiple layers of symbolism dealing with society and the world which surrounds us.

In 2015, Hannah Faith Yata was commissioned to produce several works of art for musician Bobby Ray Simmons Jr, popularly known as B.o.B. These paintings were featured on his album “Psycadelik Thoughtz” and those in his “Elements” series. Yata married fellow artist Jean Pierre Arboleda in 2016; both artists call attention to the impact of industry upon nature. In 2019, both artists had a dual-solo exhibition entitled “No Man’s Land” at New York City’s Booth & Last Rites Gallery; this show celebrated the mythology of a whole and unspoiled world.

Yata’s initial solo exhibition was “Dancing in Delirium” held at the Corey Helford Gallery, one of the premier galleries for contemporary art in Los Angeles, California. In this show, she called upon the symbolism of the female figure, often combining it with parts of animals to create metaphorical hybrid characters. In April of 2018, Yata had a solo show, entitled “Exile” at the Phaneros Gallery in Nevada City, California. This exhibition focused on the mythos of the story of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from the sacred garden.

Hannah Faith Yats’s 2021 “Daughters at the Edge of the Garden” was held at the Allouche Gallery in New York City. The work of this retrospective, deeply inspired by Paleolithic and Neolithic art, were paintings woven with motifs and symbols to celebrate nature’s cycles and pagan imagery which has been demonized by society. In March of 2023, Yata was again at the Allouche Gallery with her “The Alchemy and the Ecstacy”, paintings and dreamscapes which harmonized the human body, its rituals and its growth with all other living beings. Using myths and alchemical symbols, she portrayed the transformation of the soul through its metamorphosis in light and darkness.

Hannah Faith Yata and Jean Pierre Arboleda currently live and work in Pennsylvania; each has a considerable influence on the other’s work. Although each has their own work components, they both share a reverence and respect for the natural world.

Note: Hannah Faith Yata’s website contains images, exhibition information, as well as available limited edition giclée prints. Her site is located at: https://hannahyata.com

Top Insert Image: Photographer Unknown, “Hannah Faith Yata”, 2017, Color Print, Bein Art Gallery, Brunswick, Victoria, Australia

Second Insert Image: Hannah Faith Yata, “Holy Ghost”, 2020, Oil on Canvas, 101.6 x 213.4 cm, Private Collection

Bottom Insert Image: Hannah Faith Yata, “Monarch”, 2013, Oil on Canvas, 45.7 x 61 cm, Private Collection

Odilon Redon

Oil Paintings by Odilon Redon

Born in France in 1840, Odilon Redon was a painter and graphic artist, one of the outstanding figures of Symbolism. He had a retiring life, first in his native Bordeaux, then from 1870 in Paris. Until he was in his fifties Redon worked almost exclusively in black and white, producing charcoal drawings and lithographs. Influenced by the writings of Edgar Allen Poe, Redon developed a highly distinctive repertoire of weird subjects such as strange amoeboid creatures, insects, and plants with human heads.

Odilon Redon remained virtually unknown to the public until the publication of J.K. Huysmans’s celebrated novel “A Rebours” in 1884. The book’s hero, a disenchanted aristocrat who lives in a private world of perverse delights, collects Redon’s drawings. With the mention of Redon’s name in this classic expression of decadence, Redon too became associated with the French Decadent Movement which was flourishing in France and starting to spread throughout Europe.