Bundle 3: Ask Someone

When this bundle began I had no clue what to do it on. I made a list of possible topics but couldn't decide which one. While at work one day I was talking with my supervisor and found out she is an art major. From her I learned a bit about each topic I was considering. She recommended I do something different that people don't realy think about. She seemed to think things like surrealism was to easy and that impressionism would be a challenge and possibly fun. I asked if there were any art museums around here and she referred me to the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford. She didn't know much about the history besides that its a Paris based art form. She knew of some famous impressionist painters like Monet and Renoir. What I didnt even realize was that Van Gogh was an impressionist. With these names in hand I was able to do some research on these guys and use them for my brochure which will include a list of artists and their history. Every once and a while over the course of this bundle I would bring up some artists names and see what she knew. She knew of the artists but not much about their life history. Although she was not much of a help with the history, she did help me in choosing my topic a giving me a place to start with a couple of names.

Bundle 3: Go There

For this bundle I decided to create this impressionist gallery at a real existing museum, the Wadsworth Atheneum located in Hartford, CT. I was planing on going to this museum but saw that the hours were 11-5 on weekdays and 10 to 5 on weekends. Sadly I work during the times they were open including the weekends. I was looking forward to going but then saw that they had an online gallery on their website at http://www.thewadsworth.org/collection-2/  

and

http://www.thewadsworth.org/exhibitions-2/

Through these I was able to get a taste at what kind of art they have at the Atheneum. I was also able to study the layout of the online gallery for my bundle which will include an online gallery composed of only impressionist paintings. I notice each page has the Wadsworth logo so I will be sure to include the logo into my designs. Also for each picture you can click on the image and view a larger picture of the painting including a description of the painting underneath. When creating my website I will see if I can accomplish the task of enlarging the pictures when clicked on. If not, I learned from my workshop that I should make the pictures bigger and include a description of what impressionism art is. I noticed that the Wadsworth does not include a definition of any of its styles of arts, just a description of the painting. 

Bundle 3: Read More

On Thrusday July 14, I took a trip to the library to find a book about impressionism. I first went to the catalog computer and looked up impressionism. One of the vary first results was a book by John Rewald called The History of Impressionism. This seemed perfect so I searched the library for it and found it.

From the book I learned that impressionism originated in Paris, France around the 1870's with the first exhibit in the spring of 1874. The founders Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne and Morisot were just trying something new that was going to break from the tradition of the existing paintings. For the first couple of years the artists did not get much credit for their new style of painting. People though this was just a ploy to gain attention. Because of this they say the true beginning of impressionism was the next 20 years as the painters gained support and refined their technique. I also learned that the term Impressionism was coined by a satirical journalist to mock the painters. The painters latter embraced this title and called their work Impressionism.

Bundle 3: What I know

For bundle 3 I'm doing a gallery exhibit on Impressionism. At first when given the topic of art I had to brainstorm a list of types of art I know of. I thought of surrealism, modernism, cubism, abstract and impressionism. I then looked at some pictures of each and decided impressionism was something different. With impressionism its nice to see paintings that are not perfect replicas of what the image is portraying. With impressionism its painted from the painters eyes and can deviate form artist to artist even if they paint the same scene. Its different from many other styles in that you clearly see the brush strokes and the soft lines where colors seem to blend together with no distinct edges.