Author, Lecturer, Broadcaster & Cultural Arts Expert;
President of Art Collage JANG/J Music/J Art/J Books & Media.
Author of over 40 books published on Amazon, including The Crimson Horror series and The Great and Immortal Painters’ Stories series.
Dedicated to sharing insights into art, culture, literature, and creative expression through writing, lectures, media, and content creation.
Modigliani Institute Korea (MIK) is
currently introducing artworks of Amedeo Modigliani.
The 86th work to introduce for this
week is “Little Girl in Blue” in 1918.
This work is an expressionist style
portrait and an oil painting on canvas with the size of 116 x 73 cm.
This painting has a large size,
although Modigliani generally used a large canvas only when drawing adult
models: for example, the portraits of Leopold Zborowski (107 x 66 cm) and Mario
Varvogli (116 x 73 cm)
Portrait of Leopold Zborowski, Amedeo Modigliani (1917)
Portrait of Mario Varvogli, Amedeo Modigliani (c.1919)
The collection of the Barnes Foundation such as
“Redheaded Girl in Evening Dress (116.2 x 73 cm)” and “Young Woman in Blue (90.8
x 60 cm)” were also painted on a large size canvas.
Redheaded Girl in Evening Dress, Amedeo Modigliani, The Barnes Foundation (1918)
Young Woman in Blue, Amedeo Modigliani, The Barnes Foundation (1919)
The Collection, Barnes Foundation
This painting shows a young girl of
8-10 years old, standing in the corner of a room and is drawn almost life-size.
The blue color of the girl's dress and walls goes well with the girl's eyes and
the large wrinkled collar on her clothes. The composition based on the corner
of the room combines with the girl's shadow and the dark tiles on the floor to
give a sense of depth and stability, and the girl's boots and the dark color of
her hair are in good harmony with the red ribbon on her head.
This painting was
created in Nice, Southern France, and seems to have been painted on a warm,
sunny day in the bright shades of pastel blue and the girl's shadow on the
floor and walls.
Amedeo Modigliani (right) in Nice (1918)
It is very rare for Modigliani to
paint the floor in his paintings, and in this painting it seems that he painted
the floor to emphasize the girl standing in the corner of the room. In this painting, the floor is
tilted up and her feet are facing down, giving the feeling of the girl floating
in the air.
The girl's expression has sweetness
and innocence, but rather it gives a feeling of gloomy rather than joy. It also seems that she comes from a
poor family in the girl's expression, and maybe the dress the girl is wearing
is the only dress she has.
This week's lecture is “History”
of Classical Music, the second topic of “Classical
Music”, which is a summary of the contents of “87. Classical Music: 2. History” introduced
on May 13th, 2017.
Western music is
classified by period as follows.
1) Ancient music period
(before AD 500)
2) Medieval era
(500–1420)
3) Renaissance era
(1400–1600)
4) Baroque era
(1600–1750)
5) Classical era
(1750–1820)
6) Romantic era
(c.1800–1910)
7) Modernist era
(1890~)
1) Ancient music period
(before AD 500)
Symposium scene, c. 490 BCE
Various traces of music
can be found in ancient murals and sculptures, and music-related gods are
frequent in ancient Greek and Roman mythology. Especially, as Apollon was the
god of music among the Greek gods, it can be seen that music was closely related
to life for the Greeks.
Apollon
However, the music of the Ancient Greece was the basic
one that was mainly composed of simple melodies compared to the music of the
present day, and the music of the Ancient Rome was the succession and
development of this Ancient Greek music. In the Ancient Rome, music developed
enough to hold large-scale musical events in the amphitheatre.
The Colosseum, the largest amphitheatre ever built
2) Medieval era
(500–1420)
Troubadours entertaining a monarch
The oldest Western
music that remains close to the original today are those created in the
Medieval era. In this era when everything was stipulated by God, only music
that praised God was recognized. The mainstream music in this era was Christian
music, and it developed around church music. The motherhood of Western music
today is the music of this era, and the most distinctive is Gregorian chant. By
the 8th century, monophonic chant gradually developed into polyphonic chant,
and by the 11th century, secular music began to appear in addition to chant.
The most epoch-making development in the history of Western music during this
period was the musical notation method, through which the principles of music
was systematically organized, and many people could share the music by putting
it on the staff as musical notes.
3) Renaissance era
(1400–1600)
John Dunstaple (c. 1390–1453)
The Renaissance era
refers to the period of literary revival that began in Italy around the 15th
century and spread throughout Europe. Based on the consciousness that humans
should be free from the bondage of religion and the church, this movement
pursued the value that humans should be the center in all areas, including
politics and religion. Secular music and church music have been distinguished
as the value of the existence of music has changed to a human center. As
monophonic music was transformed into polyphonic music, it began to have a more
sophisticated composition with a compositional technique called counterpoint.
During this period, while vocal music became the mainstream, music for keyboard
instruments and lutes were made, and opera began to become popular in Italy.
4) Baroque era
(1600–1750)
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687)
During this period of
great social change through the Reformation, church-centered music developed
into court- and noble-centered music as the centralized absolute monarchy was
strengthened in European countries. In this era, all styles, including art
field, were extremely decorative, loud, and took on more complex and diverse
forms, and music of various musical styles with a larger scale and wider range
of expressions were born. The distinction between vocal music and instrumental music
was made clear, and many genres of music such as sonatas and cantata appeared
as keyboard instruments such as harpsichord and organ and many instruments such
as violin, viola and cello were made. The biggest change is that the system of
major and minor in composition has been fully framed and clarified. The musical
features of the Baroque era were compiled by Bach and Handel, and in addition,
Monteverdi, Vivaldi, and Telemann gained a reputation as representative
composers of the Baroque era.
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767)
5) Classical era
(1750–1820)
Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
While the Baroque era
was a time when musical diversity was dynamically expressed, the decorative and
formalistic aspects were strongly revealed, and a new consciousness against
such authoritarianism began to arise. In other words, as the Lumières, based on
the idea that all human beings are equal, emerged, the consciousness that music
must exist for all people has begun to arise. The Lumières, which began to take
root from the middle of the 18th century to the early 19th century, began to be
expressed mainly in the field of music, centering on Vienna. The music deviated
from a series of styles based on counterpoint, and pursued the beauty of music
itself, and respected harmony, unity and formal beauty based on harmony. This
music style was established as a new style in Mozart and Haydn, whose musical
style later dominated Europe. The most striking characteristic of the music in
this period are that the melody and harmony became simpler and expressed pure
beauty in balance between the melody and harmony compared to decorative Baroque
music. In addition, by marking all chords on the score, the improvisation style
disappeared and the tendency to play as indicated in the score began to settle.
This period was a time when instrumental music represented all music as marked
changes in the field of instrumental music, and the sonata form, the basic
style of symphony and concerto, was established. It was also a time when
musicians were able to engage in independent music activities, whereas in the
past, musicians could not do music without the support of nobles.
6) Romantic era
(c.1800–1910)
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
In the 19th century,
musicians who followed a certain form and theme required by the music of
Classical era gradually showed a tendency to express their own individuality
and feelings, and the music that reflects this tendency is called Romantic
music. While Classical music emphasized contrast or change in the subject
matter in music, Romantic music attempted to express the composer's emotions in
various forms and as a literary theme. The rise of status due to the economic
and social independence of composers and a free creative atmosphere also played
a big role. The composer who opened the door to Romantic era was Beethoven,
followed by Schubert, Weber, Chopin, Mendelssohn, and many other composers to
enrich the music of Romantic era.
7) Modernist era
(1890~)
Richard Strauss (1864–1949)
Music in the 20th
century is characterized by its radicality, diversity, complexity, and
experimentation. In this era, the music became very vast in terms of quantity,
and Romanticism, Impressionism, Expressionism and Nationalism coexisted.
Symphony, opera, electronic music, practical music and jazz were mixed, and
several new expression styles were embodied in the work of one composer. The
prosperity of the music recording and audio-related industries due to the
development of technology, and the rise of commerciality resulting from this
are also the hallmarks of this era.
Currently, I am
introducing the stories about various artists and their paintings with the
title “Interesting
Art Stories”.
The 49th story is “The Death of
Marat”by Jacques-Louis David.
Jacques-Louis David
“The Death
of Marat” is one of the most famous paintings related to the French Revolution,
painted by Jacques-Louis David in 1793.
It shows Jean-Paul Marat,
the radical journalist, murdered by Charlotte Corday on 13 July 1793, lying
dead in his bath.
Jean-Paul Marat
The painting is now
displayed in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, and at the Louvre there
is a replica created in David's studio.
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
Jean-Paul Marat (24 May
1743-13 July 1793) was one of the leaders of the "Montagnards", the
radical faction in French politics during the “Reign of Terror” until the
“Thermidorian Reaction”.
Charlotte Corday was a Girondin, Marat’s political enemy
who blamed him for the “September Massacre”.
Charlotte Corday
She entered Marat’s house and
stabbed him, who often worked in his bath, spending much of his time due to a
skin problem, and then she was executed for the murder.
David, the leading French
painter of his generation, was a member of Montagnard, and Jacobin, aligned
with Marat and Maximilien Robespierre.
Maximilien Robespierre
In this painting, which
focuses on the victim, Marat, David idealized his appearance, unlike the real
Marat, who suffers from skin problems, with clean and unblemished skin.
This painting has often been
compared to Michelangelo's“Pietà ”, whose major similarity is the elongated
arm, hanging down.
Pietà , Michelangelo (1498–1499)
David also admired Caravaggio's works, especially the
"Entombment of Christ," influencing this painting.
The Entombment of Christ, Caravaggio (1603–1604)
Widely admired during the
Reign of Terror, this painting was slowly forgotten after Robespierre was
executed.
The execution of Robespierre on 28 July 1794
At David's request, the painting was returned to him in 1795, and he
was prosecuted for his involvement in Reign of Terror. Then, the painting was
forgotten in people's memory and rediscovered by critics in the mid-19th
century.
In the 20th centuryPicasso and Munch created their own version of
this painting.
Death of Marat, Edvard Munch (1907)
This painting inspired many
areas in popular culture.
In 1897, French director
Georges Hatot made a silent film entitled “La Mort de Marat.”
Movie "La Mort de Marat", Georges Hatot (1897)
The cover of the 1980 album
“East” by Australian pub rock band Cold Chisel was inspired by this painting.
Album "East", Cold Chisel (1980)
In the 2002 movie “About
Schmidt,”Jack Nicholson's character Warren falls asleep in the bath while
writing a letter, reproducing this painting.
Movie "About Schmidt" (2002)
In 2013, Marat in this
painting was replaced by Lady Gaga for ARTPOP.
