Day Ninety Seven: Le Monastere Derrier Les-Arbres by Camille Corot
Hello and welcome to day 97 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is 'Le Monastere Derrier Les-Arbres' by Camille Corot.
Camile Corot was very influential on the Tonalist movement in American art. Camille was not actually a Tonalist painter himself, he was a member of the French Barbizon school. Today's video features a track from my album It Never Was, so please check that out.
I'd like to talk today about the concept of newness and modern art. Frankly, there is no such thing as newness in art. What passes for newness these days? Is it art that has been done over and over again for the last hundred years? The idea that the purpose of art is to shock, comment on societal ills or serve the whims of fashion is not new in any way, shape or form. Yet, these ideas are still passed off over and over again as fresh.
There is a conspiracy promulgated by art schools and the fine art establishment in general to keep artists from researching the true history of art, and also from developing a real skillset based on hours of experience drawing and painting. What is replacing this valid education based on experience, is some sort of idea that art should strike you like a lightning bolt out of the blue, that the less you know about (real) art the better you will be.
When people do not have a skill set based on actual experience most of their artistic output will be regurgitated from the work of others and not in a good way. What I mean is a lot of cribbing/stealing decorated with elusive,enigmatic titles and disguised as original work.
If the purpose of your work is to be clever and to receive accolades from the art establishment all you really need to do is learn how to do artspeak and kiss the asses of the local art establishment. I've talked about this negative idea called Modern art many times. I would apologize except for the fact that so many regular people have given up on fine art and just dismissed it (often deservedly) as vacant and lacking in true purpose or meaning.
When you see a painting of some colored dots assembled in rows above each other selling for 40 or $50,000 (that was not even painted by the artist whose name is going on the canvas), most normal people will disregard this as bogus and simply spend their time and attention in more fruitful pursuits, like sports, eating stuff or watching Netflix.
What's unfortunate about this state of affairs, is that fine art has the power and ability to spiritually uplift humanity and yet many worthy artists receive little support financially or emotionally from their communities. Perhaps the reason for this is that many of our museums are mostly full of claptrap instead of art of a moving and significant nature.
Getting back to our theme today. There is nothing new that has not already been done. Nothing. So what is a contemporary artist to do?
I believe that this question is best answered with self-examination and consideration of what has come before. When a cabinet maker creates a piece of furniture, he does not set out to create something new, he sets out to build something that is functional, useful and beautiful. I believe you can apply this same sort of criteria to the creation of fine art.
If your intention is to uplift people's spirits and create beauty, you need to acquire the skills that will make this possible. You should study the work of the past Masters to accomplish this goal. By doing this and being true to who and what you are as a human being and an artist, your work will be fresh and new, There can only be one of each of us, but to create great work, that uniqueness must be educated, tested, toughened and most of all experienced.
I'm not saying that you should actively copy the work of past Masters unless you are doing so (as I am in this series) for the sake of education or illumination. I believe you should create from the heart and from the deepest recesses of your own being. And there is absolutely no problem with that creation being informed by the great work that has come before.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Le Monastere Derrier Les-Arbres' by Camille Corot; this was an interesting study to do/ One of the best parts of Camille's painting is the atmospheric quality. I did my best to get this across in my study as well as the muted taupe and silver quality of his painting.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Painted after - Le Monastere by Camille Corot, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x7, Oil on wood panel |
Camile Corot was very influential on the Tonalist movement in American art. Camille was not actually a Tonalist painter himself, he was a member of the French Barbizon school. Today's video features a track from my album It Never Was, so please check that out.
I'd like to talk today about the concept of newness and modern art. Frankly, there is no such thing as newness in art. What passes for newness these days? Is it art that has been done over and over again for the last hundred years? The idea that the purpose of art is to shock, comment on societal ills or serve the whims of fashion is not new in any way, shape or form. Yet, these ideas are still passed off over and over again as fresh.
There is a conspiracy promulgated by art schools and the fine art establishment in general to keep artists from researching the true history of art, and also from developing a real skillset based on hours of experience drawing and painting. What is replacing this valid education based on experience, is some sort of idea that art should strike you like a lightning bolt out of the blue, that the less you know about (real) art the better you will be.
When people do not have a skill set based on actual experience most of their artistic output will be regurgitated from the work of others and not in a good way. What I mean is a lot of cribbing/stealing decorated with elusive,enigmatic titles and disguised as original work.
If the purpose of your work is to be clever and to receive accolades from the art establishment all you really need to do is learn how to do artspeak and kiss the asses of the local art establishment. I've talked about this negative idea called Modern art many times. I would apologize except for the fact that so many regular people have given up on fine art and just dismissed it (often deservedly) as vacant and lacking in true purpose or meaning.
When you see a painting of some colored dots assembled in rows above each other selling for 40 or $50,000 (that was not even painted by the artist whose name is going on the canvas), most normal people will disregard this as bogus and simply spend their time and attention in more fruitful pursuits, like sports, eating stuff or watching Netflix.
What's unfortunate about this state of affairs, is that fine art has the power and ability to spiritually uplift humanity and yet many worthy artists receive little support financially or emotionally from their communities. Perhaps the reason for this is that many of our museums are mostly full of claptrap instead of art of a moving and significant nature.
Getting back to our theme today. There is nothing new that has not already been done. Nothing. So what is a contemporary artist to do?
I believe that this question is best answered with self-examination and consideration of what has come before. When a cabinet maker creates a piece of furniture, he does not set out to create something new, he sets out to build something that is functional, useful and beautiful. I believe you can apply this same sort of criteria to the creation of fine art.
If your intention is to uplift people's spirits and create beauty, you need to acquire the skills that will make this possible. You should study the work of the past Masters to accomplish this goal. By doing this and being true to who and what you are as a human being and an artist, your work will be fresh and new, There can only be one of each of us, but to create great work, that uniqueness must be educated, tested, toughened and most of all experienced.
I'm not saying that you should actively copy the work of past Masters unless you are doing so (as I am in this series) for the sake of education or illumination. I believe you should create from the heart and from the deepest recesses of your own being. And there is absolutely no problem with that creation being informed by the great work that has come before.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Le Monastere Derrier Les-Arbres' by Camille Corot; this was an interesting study to do/ One of the best parts of Camille's painting is the atmospheric quality. I did my best to get this across in my study as well as the muted taupe and silver quality of his painting.
To see more of my work, visit my site here
 |
| Original painting, Le Monastere Derrier Les-Arbres by Camille Corot |