The Art Tutor

Lovely venues…

As we crawl toward the new year and new beginnings, with the prospect of lighter, longer days, enjoy this sunrise by Northern artist Theodore Major 1908-1999.
Many of his artworks feature local scenes you may be familiar with and his work is in many North West gallery collections.
A true master of his art, with a wonderfully direct style using a limited colour palette, strong contrasts and bold compositions. Read and see more here: https://artuk.org/discover/artists/major-theodore-19081999
https://artuk.org/discover/stories/theo-major-a-forgotten-twentieth-century-master

Have you broken free of watching TV and eating mince pies, in this period between Xmas and New Year? Perhaps you’ve ventured into the local countryside for a walk.
Take a look at the quintessentially British work of Edward Bawden who, along with Eric Ravilious and Paul Nash, created new styles in watercolour. Utilising repeated marks and stylised, graphic shapes, these artists influenced many modern artists. Bawden is no twee recorder of old-world Britain but boldly describes the modern post-WW1 evolving industrial landscapes and cityscapes.
A truly versatile and creative illustrator and artist with a very distinctive style. Read more here: http://thestorybazaar.com/edward-bawden/

https://artuk.org/discover/artists/bawden-edward-19031989

Edward Bawden, Untitled landscape with sunset, 1927, watercolour on paper,
Private Collection, Photo: Mark Heathcote,
© Estate of Edward Bawden

In this Winter season we can enjoy the rendition of rainy scenes by Japanese artists. Their prints capture the essence of the season, in a beautifully stylised fashion, with limited colours and subtle tones. Read and see more here: https://arteingiappone.altervista.org/en/rain-in-the-japanese-art/

On a grey and rainy day we make the most of home comforts. Here John Atkinson Grimshaw captures the welcoming light from home and shop interiors. John Atkinson Grimshaw, Liverpool Quay by Moonlight (1887).
His skill was in painting wonderfully evocative urban night scenes in somber tones. Read and see more here…https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/atkinson-grimshaw-227 and here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Atkinson_Grimshaw

The holidays means spending time with children and grandchildren. Here Gainsborough celebrates a brief moment in time in the life of his children in a charming, beautiful and skillfully executed painting.
“The Painter's Daughters chasing a Butterfly’ (c1756)…the more we look at the Gainsborough, in which the two children run towards us, the more it gathers melancholy.
This is first signalled by the butterfly, symbolising life's frailty and short duration. It then expands, almost subliminally, through the butterfly shape created by the joint pose of the two girls, with their raised arms and the skirts of their dresses splayed out. “ Copyright National Gallery.
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/thomas-gainsborough

Post-Xmas we look for signs of Spring as snowdrops emerge and blossom tree buds develop.
Flowering peach trees. Souvenir de Mauve. 1880.
Van Gogh’s work is amongst the most familiar to us with his bold use of repeated brush marks and vibrant complementary colours.
His series of orchard subjects are sometimes more restrained in colour. Here his expressive and lively brushwork perfectly captures the shimmering delicacy of a blossom tree sparkling in iridescent sunlight. An outpouring of his soul and a visual feast.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowering_Orchards #/media/File:Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_013.jpg

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1088301035711655&id=100035953076106&mibextid=WC7FNe

From Covid times, when we shared artworks we loved, I’m re-posting for the holiday period, an artwork a day.
Night Nativity. Geertgen tot Sint Jan. 1490.
I could have chosen many of the Flemish masters from different centuries, but this small painting is a wonderfully intimate nativity. It’s a fine example of the use of chiaroscuro, which draws you into the image so that you peer through the darkness at the baby Jesus, as another onlooker.
Every artist puts a little of themselves into their art and this image is imbued with the very particular vision and touching humanity of this artist.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geertgen_tot_Sint_Jans