Experiencing Landscape Resource This presentation includes all the artworks used in the Teachers Resource.

Transcription

1 Experiencing Landscape Resource This presentation includes all the artworks used in the Teachers Resource.

2 Introduction The Courtauld Institute of Art runs an extensive programme of learning activities for young people, schools, colleges and teachers. From gallery tours and workshops to teachers events there are many ways for schools and students to engage with our collection, exhibitions and the Institute s expertise. The Experiencing the Landscape resource is for teachers and students to learn about the history of Western Landscape painting looking at different historical and social contexts across time. The following Power Point presentation accompanies the teachers pack and we hope this will help bring the subject of Landscape Art, and the artists experience of landscape, alive for you and your students.

3 Peter Lanyon s Gliding Paintings Peter Lanyon ( ) was an English painter and sculptor born in St Ives, Cornwall Influenced by his native Cornish coast, Lanyon s paintings reflect the strong emotional connection he had to the area In the late 1950s Lanyon took up gliding to find new ways to immerse himself in the landscape and discover new viewpoints His paintings, like Thermal he capture the landscape, but also the changes in wind that he would have been sensitive to as a glider pilot.

4 Thermal, 1960 Artist: Peter Lanyon Medium: oil on canvas x cm Tate

5 Peter Lanyon: Soaring Flight Lanyon became aware that depicting the landscape from a single fixed-point perspective didn t provide an authentic experience of the landscape Soaring Flight is another of Lanyon s paintings which captures the sensation of gliding As with Thermal, this painting is highly abstracted, conveying the feelings of soaring and the changes in wind and air conditions, rather than a representative view of the landscape. The thick red line on the left and the sweeping diagonal blue stripe set the whole composition in motion, creating the impression of a bird (or glider) hovering, soaring and turning in the air.

6 Soaring Flight, 1960 Artist: Peter Lanyon ( ) Medium: oil on canvas x cm Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London

7 Peter Lanyon: Cross Country In gliding, the term cross country refers to long distance flights, last several hours, allowing the glider to travel hundreds of miles Cross Country is painted with a brush and palette knife In some places, the paint has been scraped away to reveal a layer below, which is similar the way French artist Paul Cézanne painted, who Lanyon cited as one of his influences

8 Cross Country, 1960 Artist: Peter Lanyon ( ) Medium: Oil on panel (180 x 216 cm) Private Collection

9 The Futurists Group of Italian artists working in the early 20 th century who aimed to capture the dynamism and energy of the modern world The group denounced the past and hailed the technology of the future, and often painted trains, cars or planes in movement Their paintings were often abstract, and resembled Cubism in their use of fragmented shapes within the composition

10 The Futurists Abstract Speed and Sound, Artist: Giacomo Balla : Italian ( ) Medium: Oil on unvarnished millboard in artist's painted frame (54.5 x 76.5 cm) The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice

11 Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson ( ) British figure and landscape painter, etcher and lithographer Painted the experience of flight in World War One Unlike the Futurists, he did not glorify war but rather saw it as a tragic event He used Futurist techniques to paint images of modern London, capturing the dynamism of the London Underground and city traffic Arial View from a Paris Plane has a similar viewpoint to Lanyon s paintings, but less abstract. Like the Futurists, the machine is at the forefront of the image, obscuring and dominating the landscape

12 Aerial View (from a Paris plane), Artist: Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson ( ) Medium: oil on canvas Owner: London, Peter Nahum

13 Richard Long (b.1945) English sculptor, photographer and painter. Closely associated with a category of art called Land Art A Line Made by Walking was created by walking backwards and forwards across a field until the grass became so trampled that the grass was visible It has been compared to minimalist sculpture, or sculpture that is very simple in form, but it differs in the fact that it will not last forever. Long s work is very different to Lanyon s but their engagement with the landscape has some similarities

14 A Line Made by Walking, 1967 Artist: Richard Long (b.1947) Medium: photography

15 Georges Seurat ( ) French Post-Impressionist artist In his short career as a mature artist (c ), he produced highly sophisticated drawings and invented the painting known as Pointillism, which was taken up by many of his contemporaries. He created the technique known as pointillism which relies on the scientific theory that colours are stronger if used in small dots than when mixed together The scene depicts an island called La Grand Jatte Seurat painted often He would have painted this scene in the studio, but he would have done a lot of sketches of the landscape outside before.

16 The Bridge at Courbevoie, Artist: Georges Seurat ( ) Medium: oil on canvas, 46.4 x 55.3 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London

17 Learning From Seurat Bridget Riley (1931) is a British contemporary artist based in London Riley began painting people in an Impressionist manner, then changed to pointillism in the late 1950s, and mainly produced landscapes. Riley wanted to understand George Seurat s pointillist method. In 1959 she painted a copy of The Bridge at Courbevoie. She drew upon his method to create her first black and white abstract paintings in the early 1960s their repeated geometric forms, a transformation of his marks. Riley then reintroduced colour with her stripe paintings, radically extending Seurat s approach to create works that heighten our perception of colour and space.

18 Bridget Riley: Learning From Seurat Pink Landscape, 1960 Artist: Bridget Riley (b.1931) Medium: Oil on canvas, x cm Private Collection

19 Netherlandish world landscape A term used to describe artists from Netherlands working prior to the Union of Utrecht in 1579 While in the service of Emperor Rudolf II, Roelandt Savery ( ) travelled extensively in the mountains of central Europe, drawing landscapes from nature Although Savery represented a real place, his drawing is closely tied to the tradition of the world landscape, with its varied topography and multiple viewpoints In Mountain Landscape the skilful handling of red and black chalk creates an ethereal atmosphere and contributes to the illusion of infinite space

20 Mountain landscape 1607 Artist: Roelandt Savery ( ) Meduim: Chalk on paper, 20.2 cm x 28.9 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London

21 JOHN WARWICK SMITH ( ) English topographical painter and draughtsman. The Valley of Terni, in Umbria, was a highlight of the Grand Tour when Smith visited Italy in the 1770s.

22 Valley of Terni 1770s Artist: John Irthington (Warwick) Smith ( ) Medium: Watercolour, 30.8 cm x 23.5 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London

23 Francis Towne Francis Towne ( ) was a British landscape painter and watercolourist. Towne adopted a technique based essentially on patches of colour. The result is works that often achieve great dramatic intensity through their economy of means and amazing colours. The long narrow format was created by joining two sheets of a sketchbook, a technique he frequently used late in life to create sweeping panoramic views.

24 Forest of Radnor, with the Black Mountains in the distance 1810 Artist: Francis Towne ( ) Meduim: Watercolour, bodycolour and grey ink washes with some drawing with the point of a brush and pen in dark grey ink over graphite on two sheets of wove paper, joined vertically at the centre 17.1 cm x 50.6 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London

25 Frank Auerbach s London Building Sites British painter born in Berlin in 1931 Auerbach painted the different building sites he observed as London was being rebuilt in the aftermath of the Second World War Auerbach reworked the painting Rebuilding the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square over many months, building the paint up to an extraordinary thickness Auerbach wanted to prove that he was a modern painter, and the building sites of London were the perfect contemporary subject

26 Rebuilding the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, 1962 Artist: Frank Helmuth Auerbach (b.1931) Medium: Oil on board, x cm The Courtauld Gallery, London

27 John Constable s Cloud Studies English painter ( ) born in Suffolk, active in the 1800s The sky and the ever-changing nature of clouds was one of the overriding preoccupations of John Constable s art In 1819 he made his first pure cloud studies using chalk He was interested in the physical processes and science behind the landscape and the weather He also believed that landscape could be used to express human emotion

28 Cloud Study, around 1822 Artist: John Constable ( ) Medium: chalk on paper The Courtauld Gallery, London

29 Cloud study circa 1822 Artist: John Constable ( ) Medium: Graphite on paper 9.4 x 11.5 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London

30 Constable s cloud studies continue to inspire us today Dr Rachel Sloan, Photo s taken on Hampstead Heath, 2013

33 Turner Painting in the Rain English painter Joseph Mallard William Turner ( ) was one of the most original and important of all European landscape and marine painters Turner famously claimed, in the appendix to Snow Storm: Steam Boat off a Harbour s Mouth (1842, Tate), that he had witnessed the storm he depicted while lashed to the mast of a ship for four hours. There can hardly be a more vivid illustration of an artist s dedication to capturing nature at its most dramatic

34 A Boat on a rough sea, around 1840 Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner ( ) Medium: Watercolour on paper, 17.8 cm x12.8 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London

35 Turner Painting in the Rain We have ample evidence of Turner s devotion to the practice of working out of doors in all weathers though his drawings and watercolours themselves A Boat on a Rough Sea (around 1840) was a period in which he made a large number of marine watercolours, many of them inspired by his visits to Margate

36 Storm on Margate Sands, around Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner ( ) Medium: Graphite, watercolour on paper, 22.5cm x 29.5 The Courtauld Gallery, London

37 Monet and his studio Boat Claude Monet ( ) French painter was the leader of the Impressionist movement in France Throughout his long career, and especially in his series from the 1890s onwards, Monet explored the constantly changing quality of light and colour in different atmospheric conditions and at various times of the day

38 Autumn Effect at Argenteuil, 1873 Artist: Claude Monet ( ) Medium: Oil on canvas, 55 x 74.5 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London

39 Monet and his studio Boat While living in Argenteuil in the early 1870s, Monet purchased a small boat, which he equipped to use as a floating studio on the river Seine Rarely used to navigate the river, Monet worked extensively from it to get a view from the water Monet painted a few works depicting the boat studio itself: in The Studio Boat we can even catch a glimpse of the painter himself in his boat

40 The Studio Boat, 1876 Artist: Monet Claude Monet ( ) Medium: Oil on canvas, 72.7 x 60 cm 2015 The Barnes Foundation

41 Cézanne s Landscapes Paul Cézanne ( ) dedicated his life as an artist to painting his experience of the world around him The painter must dedicate himself totally to the study of nature, and seek to produce paintings that will be an education Paul Cézanne in a letter to Emile Bernard, 1904 Like the Impressionists, Cézanne painted series of the same place, particularly in his later years when he moved back to his family s area near Aix en Province

42 Montagne Sainte-Victoire with Large Pine, around 1887 Artist: Paul Cézanne ( ) Medium: Oil on canvas, 66.8 cm x 92.3 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London

43 Painterly Methods with a Palette Knife The Etang des Soeurs, Osny What is striking about this work is the skilled use of the palette knife to apply paint in broad swathes to the canvas which was radical at the time Cézanne uses thickly applied diagonal bars of dark forest and zinging lime green to suggest light catching the leaves of the trees

44 The Etang des Soeurs, Osny, near Pontoise Circa 1875 Artist: Paul Cézanne ( ) Medium: oil on canvas, 73.5 x 60 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London

45 Painterly Methods with a Brush In The Tall Trees at the Jas de Bouffan, Cézanne returned to using brushes, but carried many of the liberating consequences of palette knife work to his brush technique. In this canvas, Cézanne builds planes through varying the direction of brushstroke Cézanne was interested in the use of form, colour and texture to express his response to landscape

46 Tall Trees at the Jas de Bouffan, around 1883 Artist: Paul Cézanne ( ) Medium: oil on canvas, 81 x 65 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London

47 Early Landscapes In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Netherlands witnessed the development of landscape painting Rather than simply providing a setting for religious and mythological figures, landscape paintings became an independent works in their own right. As Kenneth Clark noted in his essay Landscape Into Art (1949), travel and exploration enlarged the world of sixteenth-century artists, resulting in the panoramic views that dominated landscape painting not only in the Netherlands, but also in Italy and other artistic centres.

48 Siege of Saint Omer 1638 Artist: Stefano Della Bella ( ) Medium: Etching, 37.8 x 46.8 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London

49 Pieter Bruegel the Elder Pieter Bruegel the Elder (around ) was the first important member in a South Netherlandish family of artists and one of the greatest artists in 16th-century northern Europe The influence of his work, particularly his allegories and landscapes was widespread and long-lasting The freedom afforded by Bruegel etching technique allowed him to render the scene with remarkable naturalism and to vividly evoke light and atmosphere

50 Rabbit Hunt, 1560 Artist: Pieter Bruegel the Elder (around ) Medium: Etching, 22.2 x 29.9 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London

51 Landscape with the Flight into Egypt Pieter the Elder Bruegel depicts the story of the Holy Family fleeing persecution in Bethlehem is placed in an imaginary Northern European landscape Bruegel depicts a Northern European landscape featuring a river valley, bordered by craggy peaks The landscape is so dramatic and domineering that if it wasn t for Mary s red cloak we might miss that this is a religious painting representing the story of the Holy Family fleeing persecution in Bethlehem

52 Landscape with the Flight into Egypt, 1563 Artist: Pieter the Elder Bruegel (ca ) Medium: Oil on panel, 55.6 x 37.1 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London

53 Paul Bril: Imaginary Views Painter, printmaker and draughtsman ( ) Bril settled in Rome with his brother Matthijs in the last quarter of the 16th century. In the 17 th century they became the most important northern landscape artists in Italy Their art contributed to the rapid growth of landscape painting, both imaginary and topographical In Rocky Landscape a style very different to Bruegel, this landscape scene places the viewer within nature rather than above it

54 Rocky landscape 1607 Artist: Paul Bril ( ) Medium: Chalk, 20.1 x 27.2cm The Courtauld Gallery, London

55 Peter Paul Rubens Rubens ( ) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman, and diplomat; he was the most versatile and influential Baroque artist of northern Europe in the 17th century Rubens profound meditation on nature and his sense of wonder are evident in Landscape by Moonlight, where the moon is reflected in the surface of the lake Landscape by Moonlight was widely known and greatly admired in Britain in the nineteenth century, and it helped form the taste and style of the English school of landscape painters

56 Landscape by Moonlight, Artist: Peter Paul Rubens ( ) Medium: Oil on panel, 64x 90 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London

57 To book a visit to The Courtauld Gallery or to discuss booking a tour or workshop please contact: Education@courtauld.ac.uk Telephone:

58 Boat by the Riverbank Circa 1883 Artist: Georges Seurat ( ) Medium: Oil on panel, 24 x 15 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London