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Modigliani Institute Korea (MIK) is
currently introducing artworks of Amedeo Modigliani one by one every week.
The 33rd work to introduce for this
week is “Beatrice Hastings, Seated (1915)”.
This work is a portrait of an
expressionist style and an oil painting on canvas with the size of 73.5 x 49.5
cm.
This work is one of many paintings
for modeling Beatrice Hastings by Modigliani.
A columnist for the British weekly magazine,
“New Age”, she came to Paris as a correspondent in Paris in 1914 and met
Modigliani.
Hastings was also a woman who was controversial
because of her unusual attire and behavior.
Modigliani and Hastings were lovers
for two years, sharing alcohol and drugs, constantly fighting, and arguing.
Modigliani was a genius artistic, talented
painter who was famous for wonderfully expressing the characters or
personalities of the models in his paintings.
However, this work is unique in
that it is painted so that the character or personality of Hastings is not
recognized at all.
Painted as simple as if it feels
lacking in expressiveness, it seems like this work shows the reappearance of
Modigliani's regret for the sculpture.
Elongated neck, oval head, curved
and simple contours, everything evokes a sculptural style, especially very
similar to the Caryatid style.
There is also no background
decoration except Hastings' chair and the chair is rounded to match the curved
and rounded model.
Hastings' eyes are drawn without
pupils, giving the impression of seeing the background through the eyes.
The model's face and neck were
tilted to the right for a balanced composition against the model, who is sitting
biased to the left, throughout the canvas.
In addition, Hastings' face and her
body including her wrapped arms are in oval form, and it feels like small and large
ovals are symmetrically attached.
For the colors used, Modigliani used
red and warm colors throughout the work, which make Hastings' shadow look like
black smoke from behind her.
Friends
and Co-workers: Claude Lorrain, Gian Lorenzo
Bernini
Salvator Rosa was an Italian Baroque painter, poet, and printmaker, who was
active in Naples, Rome, and Florence. As a painter, he was a proto-Romantic with
"unorthodox" and "perpetual rebel.”
Today's
lecture is five operas featuring “Tragic Love between Man and Woman”, which was
introduced in “The 36th ACJ Music Academy” on February 27, 2016.
1. Lucia
di Lammermoor (Donizetti)
It is a three-act tragedy opera written byDonizetti and Salvadore Cammarano wrote libretto based upon Sir Walter Scott's novel
“The Bride of Lammermoor”.
Enrico Ashton tries to marry his sister
Lucia to a rich Arturo to revive his family, but Lucia is in love with Edgardo,
whose families were enemies between ancestors. Recognizing this relationship,
Enrico interrupts the love of the two by intercepting and changing the contents
of love letters from Edgardo to Lucia. Not knowing this, Lucia blames Edgardo
for a change of his heart, accepts her engagement with Arturo, which her
brother forces, and signs her marriage certificate. Then, Edgardo appears and
Lucia knows the truth, but in despair, she stabs the groom and kills herself on
the first night of the marriage. Upon hearing the news, Edgardo suffers
affliction and goes to Lucia's grave to commit suicide.
2. La
Traviata (Verdi)
It is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe
Verdi set to a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on “La Dame aux Camélias
(1852)”, a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas fils.
The main character, Violetta, lives every
day in nobles and bourgeois men who are enjoying parties with social
prostitutes every night. One day a young bourgeois Alfredo, who was watching
her, confesses his love to Violetta, whose health deteriorated with alcohol and
cigarettes, but she knows that it is impossible to realize. In the end,
however, the two live in a suburb of Paris, without marriage. But Alfredo, who
has not yet inherited his possessions from his father, lives in the house where
Violetta sells her stuff to make money for living. He doesn't even care about
what money they're living, but after hearing from Annina, Violetta's maid, he
goes out to earn money. In the meantime, Alfredo's father, Germont, comes to
the country house where Alfredo and Violetta live to find his son. At first, he
thought his son would feed the prostitutes and attack Violetta, but knowing that
his son is living due to her, he changes his attitude toward her. However, Germont
asks her to break up with Alfredo because Alfredo's sister has to marry, but the
marriage might be broken due to the rumors that her brother is living with a
prostitute. Eventually Violetta leaves and returns to the world of
prostitution. Misunderstanding her, Alfredo appears at a party and insults Violetta
and leaves. Finally, the truth is revealed, Alfredo returns to Violetta and Germont
accepts her, but she dies of illness.
3. Evgeny
Onegin (Tchaikovsky)
It is a three-act opera composed by Tchaikovsky
and the libretto was organized by the composer himself and his friend
Konstantin Shilovsky, based on a novel by the same name by Alexander Pushkin.
An aristocratic youth, Onegin, comes to a
relative in the countryside to receive a legacy, becomes close to the poet Lensky.
They go to the home of Lensky's lover, Olga, where Onegin meets Olga
and her sister, Tatyana. Passionate Lensky falls in love with Olga, who has lively
and active character, but Onegin is interested in Tatyana, who is a passive
dreamer and a book lover. In a quiet rural life, Tatyana felt intense affection
for Onegin and tried to restrain her feelings all night, but eventually wrote a
letter for the confession of love to Onegin. But Onegin, who doesn't want
marriage and family bondage, refuses to Tatyana’s love. At the ball at Olga's house,
Lensky gets upset when he saw Onegin dances with Olga, and as Onegin and Olga
laugh at him, infuriated Lensky filed a duel with Onegin. In the duel, Onegin killed
his friend Lensky, and he wanders the world for a while, and reunites with Tatyana
at the ball. Seeing Tatyana, who married to the Prince Gremin, the battlefield
veteran, and became the social queen, Onegin begged her to start again. Tatyana
bids him farewell forever, leaving him alone and in despair.
4. Werther
(Massenet)
It is a four-act opera composed by Jules
Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges
Hartmann, based on the novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther” by Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe.
The main character, Werther, loves Charlotte,
who was engaged to Albert, but she is married soon. Werther, in desperate love,
is obsessed with the poetry of the ancient Irish poet Ossian with the same
sentiment. Werther and Charlotte, who were reading the poems of Ossian
together, “Pourquoi me réveiller?,” feel passionate emotions, weep, hug and
kiss. However, Charlotte declares an eternal farewell to Werther. Then, Werther
leaves a long letter to Charlotte and commits suicide with the pistol of Albert.
5. La
Bohème (Puccini)
It
is an opera in four acts, composed by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by
Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on “Scènes de la vie de bohème” by
Henri Murger published in 1851.
Set
in the Latin Quarter of Paris, where poor artists and young people live,
Rodolfo, a poet, talks with a painter Marcello in an unburned room, and when
Colline, a philosopher, comes in, they burn the manuscript of Rodolfo's drama.
Musician
friend, Schaunard, comes in and says, “I made money with a weird part-time job
by playing music and killing annoying parrots” and he goes with his friends to
enjoy Christmas Eve.
Rodolfo,
who stayed for writing, falls in love with Mimì, who lives in a neighboring room
and comes to get matches. The two begins to live together but Rodolfo, who
couldn't make enough money, suffers from the fact that Mimi's illness of lung
disease and the asthma is getting worse, and finally declares her separation.
However,
Mimi, weakened by the despair of parting, eventually returns to Rodolfo after wandering
and dies while his friends watch.
You
can listen to all the arias selected in this course from following YouTube
link.
1.
Il dolce suono, Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)
Modigliani Institute Korea (MIK) is
currently introducing artworks of Amedeo Modigliani one by one every week.
The 32nd work to introduce for this
week is “Beatrice Hastings (1915)”.
This work is a portrait of an
expressionist style and an oil painting on cardboard with the size of 43 x 35
cm.
It is currently owned by “Museo del
Novecento” in Milan, Italy.
This work is one of many paintings
for modeling Beatrice Hastings by Modigliani, which is characterized by the
appearance of Hastings, remote from the depiction by her colleagues or her depiction
in her own memoirs.
A columnist for the British weekly magazine,
“New Age”, she came to Paris as a correspondent in Paris in 1914 and met
Modigliani.
Hastings was also a woman who was controversial
because of her unusual attire and behavior.
Modigliani gave up his sculptures devoted
to several years and returned to painting in 1914.
This work was influenced by the
Cubism that Modigliani was interested in at the time.
Modigliani, who was fascinated by
Cézanne from around 1907 after moving to Paris in 1906, was in the process of
completely overcoming Cézanne's influence and moving on to his own art style.
In this work, Hastings has a round
but angular face, small mouth, thin eyebrows, small, pierced eyes, and high
positioned big ears, with some elements of Cubism.
In addition, the green color used
in the work contrasts with the complexion close to ocher color.
Although this is a finished work,
it feels as if it is an unfinished work with rough brushstrokes that seem to
leave empty spaces in places.
Hastings was thirty-six years old
at the time of painting, but Modigliani generally portrayed her as a very soft,
doll-like face.
There are also some peculiarities
in this work.
First, in addition to the signature
"modigliani" in the top right, there are letters on the bottom right
that are hard to read by the naked eye, which may be the name of the person to
whom Modigliani dedicated this work.
Second, when we look at the
photographs of the works by time, we can see that the green areas gradually
disappeared over time, which is probably the result of the restoration work.
Finally, the work has holes in the
corners and some of them were filled during the restoration.
In Hastings' memoirs, the place
where Modigliani and Hastings met was the Chez Rosalie restaurant run by
Rosalie Tobia.
Rosalie, the owner of the
restaurant, provided food to the poor Modigliani free of charge and Modigliani gave
her his paintings in return.
However, Rosalie, who didn't know
art well, did not recognize the value of Modigliani’s paintings.
Therefore, many works have been
damaged due to her neglected management, such as nailing them on the toilet.
Perhaps the holes in the corners of
this work are such nail holes.
Then, this may be one of
Modigliani's paintings for Rosalie in return for a free meal.
Luca Giordano was an Italian late Baroque painter. He worked successfully in Naples and Rome, Florence and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain.
Born in Naples, Giordano was the son of the painter Antonio Giordano. In around 1650 he was apprenticed to Ribera on the recommendation of the viceroy of Naple and his early work was heavily influenced by his teacher. Like Ribera, he painted many figures of philosophers, either imaginary portraits of specific figures, or generic types.
Following a period studying in Rome, Parma and Venice, Giordano developed an elaborate Baroque style fusing Venetian and Roman Influences. He is also noted for his lively and showy use of colour.
Currently, “J art”, an internet mall of “Art Collage JANG” is selling artprints of worldwide famous artists.
In relation with this sale, I will introduce one by one every week, whose artprints are on the sale list, by following categories.
1. Artist’s Bio: Introduce brief bio of selected artist 2. Famous Works: Move to the corresponding artprints in J art by clicking 3. All Works List: Move to all works of selected artist in J art by clicking 4. Related Artists: Move to the works of the artists in J art, who are related to the selected artist. 5. All Artists List: Move to the list of all artists selling artprints in J art
The opera lecture for this week was the 35th lecture of ACJ Music Academy on February 20, 2016. The theme of the operas is “Identity” treating conflicts between nobles, commons, servants, maids or demons. I introduced 50 operas over 10 weeks, with 5 operas every week by theme.
1. La Serva Padrona (Pergolesi)
La Serva Padrona is an opera buffa by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, calling “Mozart of Italy”, to a libretto by Gennaro Federico based on the play of Jacopo Angello Nelli. It is regarded as an important work bridging the gap between Baroque and Classical periods. An elderly Uberto, who remains single, declares his marriage because he is so hard to live with Serpina, who is his maidservant. However suddenly lost her job and has loved Uberto for many years, Serpina tries to stop his marriage by disguising one servant as a soldier, deceiving him as her fiancé, and asking Uberto for a dowry. Surprised with the dowry and felt compassion to Serpina who has to be married to a man looking wild, Uberto decides to marry her, and eventually clever Serpina has both identity and love.
2. Don Giovanni (Mozart)
It is an opera written by Mozart in 1787 with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. The main character, Don Giovanni, seduces Donna Anna and her father, the Commendatore, became angry. Then Don Giovanni kills the Commendatore with his sword during a duel. But afterwards, he keeps seducing women, enticing the country virgin Zerlina, and sees the knight's statue at the cemetery and invites him to dinner. The knight's statue visits his home that night, but Don Giovanni have no remorse and eventually he falls into hell.
3. Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini)
It is a two-act opera buffa, composed by Rossini, with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy “Le Barbier de Séville (1775)”. The young Count named Almaviva accidentally sees a virgin named Rosina who lives in an old guardian's house and dreams of marriage at first sight. Almaviva introduces himself as a poor college student in fear of burdening Rosina, a commoner. Due to the guardian's surveillance, he doesn't even get a chance to talk to her, but the town's problem solver, Figaro, comes to his life. He seduces the Count that the two can get married with his tricks if Almaviva gives him enough money. Eventually the Count, Rosina, and Figaro are on one side and Almaviva and Rosina get married.
4. Der Freischütz (Weber)
Der Freischütz is the first German romantic opera in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind. Max, who is in love with the head forester Kuno's daughter, Agathe, can only marry her when he wins the No. 1 in shooter contest. However, as his practice scores are deteriorated, he becomes anxious. At that time, the hunter Kaspar, who sold his soul to the devil, seduces Max, saying, "If you use magic bullets, you can easily win the first place." The two went to the "Wolf Valley", where devils and ghosts gather, to make magic bullets and Max scores the best point on the day of the contest. But when Max shoots the seventh bullet, the devil's bullet knocks down Agathe. However, Agathe, who thought she was dead, had only fainted for a while, and the place where the seventh bullet was actually inserted was the heart of Kaspar, who was trying to hand over his friend to the devil. Max, who confessed that he used magic bullets, was ordered to be deported from the lord, but the respected wise man moved his heart. Then, the lord allowed Max to marry Agathe after a year's grace.
5. Falstaff (Verdi)
Falstaff is a comic opera in three acts composed by Giuseppe Verdi, one of the best opera composers in Italy. The libretto was adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's “The Merry Wives of Windsor”. It is the last opera of his 28 operas as well as the only comic opera. Alice and Meg have received Falstaff's letters of courtship that are identical at the same time. The two decide to hoax this patient of megalomania and drive him to the corner.
You can listen to all the arias selected in this course from following YouTube link.
1. Aspettare e non venire, La Serva Padrona (Pergolesi) 2. La ci darem la mano, Don Giovanni (Mozart) 3. Largo al factotum, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) 4. Und ob die Wolke sie verhülle, Der Freischütz (Weber) 5. L'onore! Ladri, Falstaff (Verdi)
How are you? Modigliani Institute Korea (MIK) is currently introducing artworks of Amedeo Modigliani one by one every week. The 31st work to introduce for this week is “Beatrice Hastings (1915)”. This work is a portrait of an expressionist style and an oil painting on paper with the size of 69 x 49 cm. Modigliani left the signature "modigliani" on the bottom right of the work, which is currently owned by private collection. Beatrice Hastings was an English writer, poet, and literary critic and the pen name of Emily Alice Haigh. A columnist for the British weekly magazine, “New Age”, she moved to Paris in 1914 as a correspondent for Paris. She was a woman of much controversy with her unusual attire and behavior. She met Modigliani in Paris and the two had a rough and tough love affair for 2 years. Dreaming of a sculptor, Modigliani abandoned sculpture and dedicated to painting when he met Hastings, creating a number of paintings and drawings. Hastings, who returned to London after breaking up with Modigliani, suffered from depression later in her life and died of suicide in 1943. In her diary at the end of 1914, the year Hastings met Modigliani, she wrote "Someone magnificently painted my picture. I look like the most beautiful Virgin Mary without any accessories in the world." While Modigliani and Hastings met, she was his muse that gave Modigliani artistic inspirations. Modigliani expressed this feeling in his paintings, and it seems that Hastings wrote this feeling in her diary. This work features the most naturalandrealistic appearance of Hastings among the works that Modigliani painted her. This work is also almost unique painting of Hastings that depicted her shadow in the background. The shadow of Hastings in the background, along with her pure and gentle appearance, reminds her of the aura radiating from her, making her look divine as she expressed in her diary as Virgin Mary. This shadow is also emphasized on the right side of the work to compensate for the void on the right, which is caused by Hastings' body tilting to the left. Like other works of Modigliani, this work also used lines to geometrically divide the background. However, Modigliani weakened the intensity of the background lines, making the distinction blurred and somewhat dreamy. And the horizontal line at the head of Hastings makes it feel like the background is divided into wall and ceiling or wall and sky. This background also makes her aura feel ascending from her body through her head to the ceiling or sky with clouds. In addition, her left face line and right shoulder line and right face line and left shoulder line were drawn in a similar form to balance the overall spaces in this work. Although this work is an oil painting, it gives the impression of an unfinished watercolor by wakening the intensity of the color. Also, the transparent hand of Hastings painted in the lower part of the work balances the upper part of the painting, which is like a mixture of clouds and her aura. It also seems that Hastings is trying to convey to viewers through her hand that she is a woman of sincerity with her conscience like Virgin Mary. Thank you. Korean Blog
