![]() The workhouse had been set up as part of a tightening of standards after the company became concerned that the level of skill of goldsmithing was being diluted. In London, in the 17th century, the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, for instance, required an apprentice to produce a masterpiece under their supervision at a "workhouse" in Goldsmiths' Hall. Great care was therefore taken to produce a fine piece in whatever the craft was, whether confectionery, painting, goldsmithing, knifemaking, leatherworking, or many other trades. His fitness to qualify for guild membership was judged partly by the masterpiece, and if he was successful, the piece was retained by the guild. Originally, the term masterpiece referred to a piece of work produced by an apprentice or journeyman aspiring to become a master craftsman in the old European guild system. They would have to produce a masterpiece to become masters at the end of their apprenticeships. Nude was one of a handful of paintings Duchamp made before turning full time towards the conceptualist experiments (such as the Readymades and The Large Glass) for which he’s known.Federico Zuccari, Two Painter's Apprentices, 1609. The New York Times's art critic dubbed it "an explosion in a shingle factory," and The New York Evening Sun published a satirical cartoon version of Nude with the caption, "The Rude Descending a Staircase (Rush Hour at the Subway),” in which commuters push and shove each other on their way onto the train. The figure's planar construction drew the most ire, making the painting a lighting rod for ridicule. A stylistic mixture of Cubism and Futurism, Duchamp’s depiction of the titular subject in multiple exposure evokes a movement through time as well as space, and was inspired by the photographic motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge and Étienne-Jules Marey. At the center of the brouhaha was this painting by Marcel Duchamp. It was a succès de scandale of epic proportions, sparking an outcry from critics that landed on the front page of newspapers. The show was officially titled the "International Exhibition of Modern Art," but has simply been known as the Armory Show ever since. The diner was based on a long-demolished one in Hopper's Greenwich Village neighborhood, and some art historians have suggested that the painting as a whole may have been inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s Café Terrace at Night, which was on exhibit at a gallery Hopper frequented at same time he painted Nighthawks Also of note: The redheaded woman on the far right is the artist's wife Jo, who frequently modeled for him.Īt the beginning of the 20th-century, Americans knew little about modern art, but all that abruptly changed when a survey of Europe's leading modernists was mounted at New York City's 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue between 25th and 26th Streets. It's a study of alienation as the figures studiously ignore each other while losing themselves in a state of reverie or exhaustion. The restaurant's glass exterior creates a display-case effect that heightens the sense that the subjects (three customers and a counterman) are alone together. Its brightly lit interior-the only source of illumination for the scene-floods the sidewalk and the surrounding buildings, which are otherwise dark. In other words, are the subjects of Las Meninas (all of whom are fixing their gaze outside of the frame), looking at us, or looking at themselves?Īn iconic depiction of urban isolation, Nighthawks depicts a quarter of characters at night inside a greasy spoon with an expansive wraparound window that almost takes up the entire facade of the diner. Meanwhile, Velázquez’s full length rendering of himself at his easel begs the question of whether he’s looking in a mirror to paint the picture. Immediately this suggests that the royal couple is on our side of the picture plane, raising the question of where we are in relationship to them. It’s the visual art equivalent of breaking the fourth wall-or in this case, the studio’s far wall on which there hangs a mirror reflecting the faces of the Spanish King and Queen. Las Meninas is also a treatise on the nature of seeing, as well as a riddle confounding viewers about what exactly they’re looking at. ![]() A painting of a painting within a painting, Velázquez masterpiece consists of different themes rolled into one: A portrait of Spain’s royal family and retinue in Velázquez’s studio a self-portrait an almost art-for-art’s-sake display of bravura brush work and an interior scene, offering glimpses into Velázquez’s working life. ![]()
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