Lisa, Lisa, Lisa...

I will just come out and say it...

I don't like the 'Mona Lisa'!
There, I've said it. I feel better now. :)

Alright, I now feel that I must clarify this my dislike for her... It's not that I hate this piece of work, but I do not find it to be as "glorious" as everyone else does. 'La Gioconda' (as the 'Mona Lisa' is also known) is a brilliant start to a masterpiece, but it's not my most favorite piece of Leonardo's work, in fact I wouldn't put her in the top five.

She's a beautiful woman, but so is La Belle Ferroniere (which if it wasn't painted by the Master himself, was done by his disciple, although I feel he may have painted her himself,) and Lady with an Ermine. I feel that Leonardo's horse sketches and his painting of the last supper have a great deal more weight on me than this one piece that everyone raves about, (whether or not they've actually seen it.) Sadly I have found Lisa rather, dare I say it... boring.

Master painter Leonardo, from Vinci, did have a great eye for detail and it shows in the wrinkle of her clothes, waves of her hair, and the jaggedness of the mountains. Despite my slight dislike for her, I do find that she shows the brilliance that was Leonardo, the style which he used to paint, to add more depth to the 2-D works. Just recently, scientist reveled the secrets* of how he created the depth and 'other world' look, using a technic called "sfumato.

I would venture to guess that part of the reason she may not make my lis of favorites has to do with the blind devotion surrounding her. I have heard people say things such as "she's the best piece of work he ever did", however when asked of which works of Leonardo they've seen, they reply "none." In fact there are a great many who love this work but have never really even looked at it, let alone anything else he did. She's become such an icon that stories were created about her, such as the romantic tale of a man saving this piece from a fire, having to cut her out of a much larger mural. I do not know if that is true, but I do know that she may be one of many portraits of the same woman. There are many more Mona's and all in the nude, that was displayed in an Italian museum, the Museo Ideale.**)

Seems as though there's a bit lost in translation, but in summary, it seems as though there's an original piece of 'Gioconda nel Nudo' by Leonardo and these here are the works of the students of his school copying it.

Georgia O'Keeffe

I have spent the past few hours getting sucked into the life of an intriguing figure, Georgia O'keeffe... They made a movie about her, and it wasn't the usual boring biography type. Although I nearly didn't rent it, don't get me wrong I love Ms. O'Keeffe's paintings, however I have many books on her, so I didn't know if my time would be better spent doing something else. Well I caved mostly because I didn't want to spend my whole day working and cleaning the house. I went to the Redbox and paid the $1.06 to see this movie. (Secretly I went to that machine to rent Ponyo, but it wasn't listed so I got Georgia O'Keeffe instead. Shhh... don't tell anyone, lol.)

What can I say about this film...

Joan Allen plays O'Keeffe and does a brilliant job of it. Jeremy Iron is Alfred Stieglitz's doppleganger, seriously both men look so much alike! He really brought this character to life. For those of you who don't know, Stieglitz was the photographer which made Ms. O'Keeffe well known (then and now.) He was also her husband and the love of her life. Sadly, I now must admit that I have never heard of him before this.
Over all, the casting for this movie was very well done. I especially love Tyne Daly's character Mabel, a free spirit and apparently a collector of husbands. Lol

There's a great deal of emotion portrayed throughout. You feel her anguish when she was exposed, the drain her life had upon her when things went awry, and her delight in seeing the color of the sun upon the landscapes in Taos for the first time. By far, the actors and director of this film did a wonderful job of bringing life to the story of Ms O'Keeffe's life!

I recommend every artist to watch this film and do have tissue's handy, because it may just make you feel a great deal, especially if you are as sentimental as me. :P



People to look up:

Mabel Dodge Luhan,  Alfred Stieglitz

Rebecca Salsbury, she married Paul Strand and was a painter herself, however wikipedia doesn't know of her!? (Here's snippet of her work.)

Artist mention in movie (as well as some O'Keeffe actually knew,) that everyone should know about:
Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Henri Matisse, Paul Cézanne, Paul Strand, Charles Demuth, Arthur Garfield Dove, Marsden Hartley, Georges Braque, and Edward Steichen

Art for art's sake?

My "beloved gentleman" showed me this page and I'm going to share it because it's weird and funny, as well as brilliant.

The Bobs: Art for Art's Sake

All I have to say is... Lol!

;-P