Within my own personal taste of the 20th century I have always had a particular interest in two decades, being the 1970s and 1920s, but in terms of artists have always been drawn to the 1920s movements of Art Deco, Cubism etc. One artist in particular that happened to come across started my whole fascination with the decade, and she was Tamara de Lempicka. When I first came across her work, I thought her use of colour, her style and the forms that she used were all wonderful, and I do believe that this has had an impact on my Assignment Five portraits as well as the artist Gerda Wegener. The use of chiaroscuro to a certain degree, creates a lot of mood and character within the figures, and conveys a secretive and mysterious atmosphere, which is hightened by the stylized beauty of de Lempicka’s models, and I believe that the sharpness and precision she captures creates bold portraits with a great presence within the scenes.
As previously mentioned I also like to take inspiration from Gerda Wegener’s work. Compared to Tamara de Lempicka, I believe I have grown to admire Wegener much more, due to a more delicate and pretty approach that she created in her paintings. Famous for her transgender husband, Lili Elbe, Wegener took inspiration and created a style of her own that created a solid subject that helped her work to exhibited. Wegener depicted everything that meant being a beautiful woman in the 1920s and the fashion and trends that were occurring at the time and with this she creates a much more subtle and lighter depiction of what it meant to be feminine in a world where women were breaking the rules and becoming outrageous.
The next artist notably from the 1920s that I admire is Georgia O’Keefe. O’Keefe has been known for her wonderful paintings of flowers for nearly a century and I believe that the control and manipulation of the paint is what makes the flowers seem so voluptuous yet fragile and delicate. Also I do think that these paintings are slightly sexual, with the flowers potentially representing a woman’s sexual organs expanding and unveiling the most intimate part of her being.With the use of the bright but also bruised and moody colours, O’Keefe invites the viewer into the depths of the flower and the hidden areas concealed by the layers of petals surrounding them.
One last artist that completes the 1920s styles is Gorge Wolfe Plank, who designed the Vogue covers during the 1910s and 1920s. Wolfe Plank is able to capture a true essence of the Art Deco period that everyone has heard of, and with feminine scenes, blocks of colour and line, he is able to create simple yet intricate sketches that memorised the world and fashion industry, and captured the true style and beauty of the extremely important and influential decade.
http://www.delempicka.org/artwork.html
http://www.artnet.com/artists/gerda-wegener/
https://www.pride.com/entertainment/2014/07/17/tbt-sensuous-art-gerda-wegener
https://www.georgiaokeeffe.net/
https://www.allposters.com/-st/George-Wolfe-Plank-Posters_c146888_.htm
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