NAPOLEONIC WARS AND OTHERS

Other than art, history has always been an important part of me and what my interest are, and in particular art history, and I have recently been interest in the art depicting the Napoleonic Wars and found two artists who really caught my attention who were Jaques Louis David and Robert Alexander Hilligford. The paintings…

THE DICKSEE FAMILY

Whilst visiting the Harris Museum, Preston, Lancashire, I came across the Victorian portrait and genre painter, Frank Bernard Dicksee, whose ‘Hesperia’ captured my admiration and love. When researching Dicksee, I found more of his portrait work that is shown below along with ‘Hesperia’ and I found that the way he used romantic situations and a…

The 1920s

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…

BLOOMSBURY GROUP AND OTHERS

One fascination that I have recently had, is that of the lives, lovers and work of the Bloomsbury Group members, a group in the first half of the 20th century, consisting of artists, writers, intellectuals and philosophers connected with Cambridge University and King’s College London, and who lived near the district of Bloomsbury, London. Famous…

MARGARET KEANE

Amongst my favourite artist is a lady called Margaret Keane, who rose to fame when her ex husband Walter Keane took plagiarism to the maximum by taking credit for Margaret’s portraits of waif like children with distinctive and recognisable ‘big eyes’. After 10 years of an unhappy and dominating marriage, Margaret filed for divorce in…

USEFUL YOUTUBE CHANNELS AND VIDEOS

For this section of my blog, I simply wanted to make a few notes on the videos and youtube channels that have helped me in my time completing this OCA course. The first channel that I want to mention is that of Croquis Cafe who have 20 minute long model reference videos, showing one or…

Life in Squares, 2015

This BBC series from 2015 is a 3 episode mini series that shows the life of Vanessa and Virginia Stephen, who later became Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf. The central story is that of the sisters’ relationship as they both moved into different paths with their husbands and how the met and lived amongst the…

Effie Gray, 2014

Effie Gray is a 2014 biopic about the relationships between Euphemia Gray, John Ruskin and John Everett Millais. When Euphemia ‘Effie’ Gray marries art critic John Ruskin, she dreams of a life of happiness, love and children, but unfortunately instead she receives orders, mockery and a husband unwilling to complete the most intimate act of…

Carrington, 1996

This biopic follows the life of painter Dora Carrington, who was associated with several members of the Bloomsbury group, and also follows the platonic relationship that she had with the writer Lytton Stratchey. The film stars Emma Thompson, Johnathan Pryce, Steven Waddington, Samuel West, Rufus Sewell and Penelope Wilton, who all convey the lives of…

Frida, 2002

Frida Kahlo’s dramatic 2002 biopic ‘Frida’ follows the life of the Mexican artist who steadily rose to fame as a self taught artist with the help of her husband, Diego Rivera. The film begins as Frida is still at school and is involved in a bus crash that nearly has fatal effects. Frida survives and…