In which the author acts like a pretentious arty-farty person - PART 2

Sooooooo, in an effort to further put off doing my essay (and I woke up in such a good mood to do it too... *sigh*), I bring you 'In which the author acts like a pretentious arty-farty person - PART 2'!

William Hogarth (1697-1764)

A plate from the series 'A Harlot's Progress'

A plate from the series 'A Harlot's Progress'

Hogarth, Hogarth, Hogarth. Well, he had his morals and by God he expounded them. :P Dear old Hogarth was made famous by his engraving prints of his series of pictures of 'A Harlot's Progress', starting with the meeting of a bawd (first picture), to her shameful and degraded end, the whore's death of venereal disease (second picture) and the following merciless funeral ceremony. He insisted on showing the unglamorous side to life in London, of both the poor and the rich, when most artists strived to cover it up, and oh the level of detail he put in! I love how there's always something going on in every corner of his pictures - that's what I want in a picture really, something I can stare at for hours and still find something else to look at or think about it. Check out the rest of his pictures, because they are utterly awesome.

John Everett Millais (1829-1896)

Cinderella

Trust Me

Oh Millais. How are you so awesome? I love the expressions and body language in his paintings. They can sometimes be a little too plain, but then there are these sort of paintings. It's the small flashes of colour in 'Cinderella' that bring the beauty: her little red hat, the slight blush on her cheeks, the glow of the dying embers behind her, and the blue of the peacock feather in her hand. And the SYMBOLISM. Good God. You all know my weakness for symbolism and iconography. Oh the many and varied meanings of the peacock feather. Win. You know what I also love? Pictures that can tell a story. 'Trust Me' can have so many different meanings I hardly know where to start :D If we're looking at technical skill as well, take another look at the carpet and the folds on her dress. Wow.

John William Waterhouse (1849-1917)

Boreas

Study for a naiad

Where do I begin? Waterhouse is one of my favourite favourite artists. There are so very few of his works that I don't love - it was exceedingly difficult to pick just two for here. He usually paints scenes from classical myths, Shakespearean scenes, or Arthurian legends, and every one of his works has this strange, kind of thoughtful, otherworldly quality that I don't think I can accurately describe because I haven't pinned it down myself yet. So, why did I pick these two pictures? 'Boreas' I picked because, as before with Collier's 'Annunciation', this is the type of picture I usually hate, with a load of boring wildflowers and not much going on. And yet, I don't hate it. I LOVE it. Looking at it, I can hear the wind whistling as she waits. It's got this beautiful, quiet quality to it. I can't really be any more specific than that: there's just something about it. I chose 'Study for a naiad' to show his skill - even in a mere study, with rough rendering, there is something astonishingly beautiful about it; something youthful and innocent, but the colours make me think of nature and the woods. Love.

John Wilson (?- still going today! yay!)

A Night at the Museum

Hall of Fame

What's this? An artist I like who's still alive? Yay! I appreciate a good bit of fun in art, and this certainly qualifies. I love the technical skill and sense of humour involved in making this. It's just such a shame I couldn't find a larger image to link you to, because you just can't get the same impression from these smaller pictures. What you're missing, is the incredible mini reproductions of famous works of art that are hanging on the walls, which you can only get a sense of from these small pics. I really enjoy the juxtaposition of the childish scribbles with the artistic masterpieces, and one could have a lot of fun thinking up arty-farty meanings for it. There are prints of his work for sale... I've seen them in galleries in York (which is where I first saw him: 'A Night at the Museum' being the first I ever saw of his work), so have a look around - you'll appreciate his work a lot more if you can see it in detail!

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Cool. So now I have educated/bored you with a brief once over of my wonderful taste in art, I will cease and desist... for now. Maybe I'll go do some essay work... maybe not. I'm mysterious like that.

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Random Fact of the Day: Ants never sleep. (They just watch... and wait. *shifty eyes*)

Random Image of the Day:

The internet is weird.