Nine Nudes by Warren B. Davis

Nationality: American
Born-Died: 1865-1928
Media: Oils on canvas 


I just discovered this artist's work and I think it's really nice.  I'm re-posting yesterday's painting by Davis here as well.  I suspect these works depict the same model.

Warren B. Davis' "Beside the Forest Pool"

Nationality: American
Born-Died: 1865-1928
Size: 20 x 13 in (50.8 x 33.02 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas 
Location: Private Collection

Jean-Marc Nattier's "Thalia, Muse of Comedy" and "Terpsichore, Muse of Music and Dance"

Nationality: French
Born-Died: 1869-1895


Creation Date: 1739
Size: 53.5 x 49 in (135.9 x 124.5 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas 
Location: The California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, California, USA

Unknown Sculpture by Unknown Artist

Media: Stone? (Marble?) 


I know nothing about this amazing sculpture but I have had this photograph in my files for years because I love it so much.

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres' "Oedipus and the Sphinx"

Nationality: French

Born-Died: 1780-1867
Creation Date: 1805

Media: Oil on canvas

Herbert James Draper's "Gates of Dawn"

Nationality: English

Born-Died: 1617-1694
Creation Date: 1900

Size: 78 x 40 in (198 x 100 cm)

Media: Oil on canvas

Location: The Drapers' Company Collection, London, UK

Great news, art lovers!  This blog has a new store where you can buy prints of your favorite works from 1OAOotD!   Draper's "Gates of Dawn" is now for sale for only $9.99!  Check it out.

This Print + Your Wall = Awesome

White Artists Painting 25 Beautiful Skin Tones

This post is a response to recent controversies involving the racist professor, Derrick Bell, and numerous discussions I have had with artist-friends of mine regarding the topic of race.  There is a horrible and utterly ignorant view in the minds of many that all white people are automatically racist.  Some even hold that all members of all races are automatically racist--that we are all tainted with the "original sin" of racism from birth.  These are views that only racists can hold and there is no excusing such views under any circumstances.  Lack of education does not make such views "okay" and neither do PhD's.  These days, anti-white views are unfortunately all-too-common in the arts industry.  Such views reveal an ominously "concrete-bound" mentality in a group that prides itself on independent, rational thinking.  I would like to draw attention to this disconnect.

Racism is a concept, and as such it's meaning is communicable and it's application can be appropriate in many contexts independent of historical, cultural and economic factors.  The concept "racist" is appropriately applied to anyone of any race independent of any other factors about his own race.

To contrast the false views above I am posting 25 details of paintings all made by white artists that show an incredible appreciation for--and even love for--skin tone variety.  Many of these paintings are well over 100 years old. The oldest is about 400 years old.

It is more than okay to appreciate these skin tones.  It is more than okay to think, "I love the look of this very dark skin" or "I love the look of this very pale skin" and everything in between.  It is no more necessary to criticize pale skin as "pasty" or "blindingly white" than it is to criticize some other skin-tone for being it's shade. 

I can only hope that this post will help combat those hurtful, irrational and indefensible ideas.

I hope you enjoy these beautiful skin-tones as much as I do!

All the best,
- Justin 

Unknown Egyptian Sculpture of a Woman

Nationality: Egyptian

Media: Ivory (?)

Location: The Louvre, Paris, France

Harriet Whitney Frishmuth "Aspiration"

Nationality: American

Born-Died: 1880 - 1980

Creation Date: 1933

Media: Stone

Location: Berwind Tomb, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Justin Wisniewski's "Nude Sketch"

Nationality: American
Born-Died: 1978 -

Creation Date: 2010

Media: Oil on primed masonite

Location: Private collection

A little oil sketch that I like.

Justin Wisniewski's "The self-sacrificer contemplated new ways of watering the plants"

Nationality: All American
Born-Died: 1978 -

Creation Date: 2011

Size: 9.875 x 5.625 inch (25.08 x 14.2875cm)

Media: 24K gold (goldpoint) on acrylic and gouache primed masonite

Location: Collection of the artist, USA
 

This is a goldpoint drawing.  It was drawn with a small stick of pure, 24K gold on a piece of masonite which was primed with an abrasive titanium ground.  It's just like drawing with a pencil only the metal filings which make up the drawing are much more permanent.  They will never fade or change color (because gold is inert) and they cannot be erased either.  Essentially, this drawing will last as long as the substrate it is drawn on lasts.

Illustration by Edmond Dulac for "The Little Mermaid"

Nationality: French
Born-Died: 1882-1953

Creation Date: 1911
Media: Watercolor?

Illustration by Edmond Dulac for "The Little Mermaid"

Nationality: French
Born-Died: 1882-1953

Creation Date: 1911
Media: Watercolor?

Peter Paul Rubens' "Venus Frigida"

Nationality: Flemish
Born/Died: 1577-1640

Creation Date: 1614
Size: 72.4 x 55.9 in. (183.89.5 x 141.98 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: Koninklijk Museum Voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp, Belegium

Just yesterday I participated in a life-drawing session which was based on this painting.  We projected the painting behind the model and posed her in this manner.  It was fun.

Peter Paul Rubens' "Perseus and Andromeda"

Nationality: Flemish
Born/Died: 1577-1640

Creation Date: 1639-1640
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: The Prado, Madrid, Spain

Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello

I was chatting with a friend about which of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' namesake was the best artist--I found it challenging to say. Which do you like best? Which do you like least? With this in mind, I thought it would be fun to show my favorite piece by each of these artists (in no particular order.)

Raphael's La Fornarina

Nationality: Italian
Born/Died: 1483-1520

Creation Date: 1518-1519
Size: 33 in × 24 in. (85× 60 cm)
Media: Oil on panel
Location: Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Italy

(This picture doesn't do this painting justice)



Michelangelo's Lybian Sybil

Nationality: Italian
Born/Died: 1475-1564

Creation Date: 1508–1512
Media: Frescoe
Location: Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome, Italy



Donatello's St. Mark

Nationality: Italian
Born/Died: 1386-1466

Creation Date: 1411–1413
Size: 93 in. (236 cm)
Media: Marble
Location: Orsanmichele, Florence, Italy



Leonardo's Lady with an Ermine

Nationality: Italian
Born/Died: 1452-1519

Creation Date: 1489-1490
Size: 21 in × 15 in. (54× 39 cm)
Media: Oil on panel
Location: Czartoryski Museum, Kraków, Poland

Jules Joseph Lefebvre's "Chloe"

Nationality: French
Born/Died: 1836-1911

Creation Date: 1875
Size: 41.375 x 29.5 in. (105.09 x 74.93 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: Private Collection

I think this is Lefebvre's best painting.

Daniel Chester French's "Memory"

Nationality: American
Born/Died: 1850-1931

Creation Date: carved 1917-1919, revised 1909
Size: 57.5 x 25 x 42.5 in. (146.1 x 63.5 x 108 cm)
Media: Marble
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York, USA

Bartholomaeus Spranger's "Venus and Adonis"

Nationality: Flemish
Born/Died: 1546-1611
Creation Date: 1597
Size: 64.2 x 40.9 in. (163 x 104 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie, Vienna, Austria

Attilio Piccirilli's "Fragilina"

Nationality: American
Born/Died: 1866-1945
Creation Date: 1923
Size: 48.5 x 15.5 x 25 in. (123.2 x 39.4 x 63.5 cm)
Media: Marble
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York, USA

Photos by me.