Liu Xiaodong - Disobeying the Rules [1996]

October 2, 2014, 9:43 am

≫ Next: Yue Minjun - Great Joy [1993-94]

≪ Previous: Nyoman Masiadi - Freeway (Bebas Hambatan) [2014]

Liu Xiaodong - Disobeying the Rules [1996]

Liu Xiaodong’s art has always been rooted in his own life, and his paintings are always based on everyday scenes or photographs. While driving, he happened to be able to photograph a truck filled with people and another one filled with pigs. The two images gave him a tremendous impact, inspiring him to make the migrant workers naked and place gas cans on the truck. “The Chinese are pitiable. They have no individual life. Everyone suffers through every day mechanically, doing nothing actively or energetically. Much like pigs, they are not in charge of their own fates.” Like cargo being transported from place to place, like pigs being transported to a slaughterhouse, they have no control over their lives. “They are still happy to be alive. I don’t want to say their lives are harsh or joyless. I have painted it all in this painting.” Born in 1963 in Jincheng, Liu Xiaodong arrived in Beijing as early as 1981 to attend the affiliated high school of the Central Academy of Fine Art.

[Sotheby’s, Hong Kong - Oil on canvas, 180 x 230 cm]

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Yue Minjun - Great Joy [1993-94]

October 2, 2014, 9:46 am

≫ Next: Manuel Álvarez Bravo - Frida Kahlo [1930s]

≪ Previous: Liu Xiaodong - Disobeying the Rules [1996]

Born in 1962 in Heilongjiang, Yue Minjun is part of the third generation of artists after the Cultural Revolution. In 1991, his move to the artist village Yuanmingyuan on the outskirt of Beijing was an important turning point in the young artist’s career. It was during his stay there where he could experience true artistic freedom away from the limits imposed by the government and academia. One of his first paintings created in Yuanmingyuan in 1991 was On the Rostrum of Tiananmen. It is often considered to be representative of his early period as it depicts four Chinese youths with different appearances standing atop the gate at Tiananmen Square where Mao Zedong pronounced the founding of the People’s Republic of China, with one of them laughing beyond the frame. As one will see, only two years later, Yue was able to reinvent the image of the Tiananmen rostrum with Great Joy, developing both in terms of scale and composition.

[Sotheby’s, Hong Kong - Oil on canvas, 182.4 x 251.9 cm]

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Manuel Álvarez Bravo - Frida Kahlo [1930s]

October 3, 2014, 6:36 am

≫ Next: Nick Alm - Bacchanal

≪ Previous: Yue Minjun - Great Joy [1993-94]

Manuel Álvarez Bravo - Frida Kahlo [1930s]

Manuel Álvarez Bravo (Mexico City, February 4, 1902 - Mexico City, October 19, 2002) was Mexico’s first principal artistic photographer and is the most important figure in 20th-century Latin American photography. His career spanned from the late 1920s to the 1990s with is artistic peak between the 1920s to the 1950s. His hallmark as a photographer was to capture images of the ordinary but in ironic or surrealistic ways. His early work was based on European influences, but he was soon influenced by the Mexican muralism movement and the general cultural and political push at the time to redefine Mexican identity. He rejected the picturesque, employing elements to avoid stereotyping. Over his career he had numerous exhibitions of his work, worked in the Mexican cinema and established Fondo Editorial de la Plástica Mexicana publishing house. He won numerous awards for his work, mostly after 1970.

[Sotheby’s, New York - Signed and annotated México in pencil on the reverse, framed, 1930s, printed later - 24.1 by 18.4 cm]

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Nick Alm - Bacchanal

October 3, 2014, 6:38 am

≫ Next: Joaquín Sorolla - Bacchante [c.1880]

≪ Previous: Manuel Álvarez Bravo - Frida Kahlo [1930s]

Nick Alm started out as an illustrator in 1999, but changed course when he discovered the joy of painting. In 2007 he got accepted to the Florence Academy of Art to study the figure from life in the classical manner. Here he also became a teaching assistant. After graduation Nick received a scholarship to join The Hudson River Fellowship to paint landscapes. During the stay he also explored the great art museums in New York City. A big part of 2011 was spent together with Odd Nerdrum in Norway and France before moving back to Sweden.

See: www.nickalm.com/

[Art Renewal Centre - Oil on canvas, 49.2 x 41.3 inches]

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Joaquín Sorolla - Bacchante [c.1880]

October 3, 2014, 6:39 am

≫ Next: Martha Walter - Lawn Tea at Mrs Parsons’

≪ Previous: Nick Alm - Bacchanal

[Sotheby’s, London - Oil on canvas, 70 x 45 cm]

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Martha Walter - Lawn Tea at Mrs Parsons’

October 3, 2014, 6:41 am

≫ Next: Article 3

≪ Previous: Joaquín Sorolla - Bacchante [c.1880]

Martha Walter - Lawn Tea at Mrs Parsons’

Martha Walter (Philadelphia, March 19, 1875 - January 1976) was an American impressionist painter. She studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, where she was taught by William Merritt Chase. She won the school's Toppan Prize and Cresson Travelling Scholarship. In 1909 she won the school's Mary Smith Prize for the best painting by a resident female artist. On her scholarship she travelled to Spain Italy, the Netherlands and France. In France she received tuition from Rene Menard and Lucien Simon at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière.

[Sotheby’s, New York - Oil on canvas, 54 x 66 cm}

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Article 3

October 3, 2014, 6:41 am

≫ Next: Ivar Arosenius - Backusfest [1900]

≪ Previous: Martha Walter - Lawn Tea at Mrs Parsons’

Gandalf's Gallery was founded as a non-profit making, educational website dedicated to the exhibition of art. The gallery claims no copyright over the art exhibited. Visitors may, therefore, download images for purely non-commercial purposes. If you feel that your copyright has been infringed, please contact the gallery immediately.

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Ivar Arosenius - Backusfest [1900]

October 4, 2014, 3:14 am

≫ Next: After Thomas Vernet - Algerian Hunter with a Falcon [1840]

≪ Previous: Article 3

Ivar Arosenius (October 8, 1878 - January 2, 1909) was a Swedish painter and author of picture books. In the latter capacity he is most noted for the book Kattresan (The Cat Journey), which was published after his death. He lived in the village of Älvängen, north of Gothenburg. After his death from the complications of haemophilia, his house fell into disrepair and was finally demolished. He is buried at Östra kyrkogården in Gothenburg.

[Bukowski’s Autumn Klassiska Sale - Watercolour, ink and pencil on paper, 12 x 18 cm]

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After Thomas Vernet - Algerian Hunter with a Falcon [1840]

October 4, 2014, 3:15 am

≫ Next: After Amadeo Preziosi - Refugees in the Gallery of the Mosque of Hagia Sophia

≪ Previous: Ivar Arosenius - Backusfest [1900]

After Thomas Vernet - Algerian Hunter with a Falcon [1840]

[Sold for Euro 30,750 at Sotheby’s, Paris - Oil on canvas, 51 x 43.9 cm]

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After Amadeo Preziosi - Refugees in the Gallery of the Mosque of Hagia Sophia

October 4, 2014, 3:17 am

≫ Next: Max Liebermann - In the Field [c.1890]

≪ Previous: After Thomas Vernet - Algerian Hunter with a Falcon [1840]

After Amadeo Preziosi - Refugees in the Gallery of the Mosque of Hagia Sophia

[Sold for Euro 34,350 at Sotheby’s, Paris - Brown ink and watercolour on paper, 52 x 69.5 cm]

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Max Liebermann - In the Field [c.1890]

October 5, 2014, 4:22 am

≫ Next: Berndt Lindholm - In the Harbour

≪ Previous: After Amadeo Preziosi - Refugees in the Gallery of the Mosque of Hagia Sophia

Max Liebermann (july 20, 1847 – February 8, 1935) was a German Jewish painter and printmaker best known for his etching and lithography. He used his own inherited wealth to assemble an impressive collection of French Impressionist works. From 1899 to 1911 he led the premier avant-garde formation in Germany, the Berlin Secession. Beginning in 1920 he was president of the Prussian Academy of Arts. In 1933 he resigned when the academy decided to no longer exhibit works by Jewish artists.

[Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg - Pastel on grey paper, 54 x 79 cm]

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