[image_with_animation image_url=”9204″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Yesterday I posted a fragment of a sculpture and asked you to guess when it was made and who made it. I worded my question to be misleading by asking specifically “who” and “what year.” Some of the guesses I received were:
Brancusi, 1952?
Isamu Noguchi?
Henry Moore late 1800s?
African, or African influenced Picasso?
Ancient Chinese?
Aztec?
Thank you for your guesses! I posted this sculpture because I was so taken aback by how contemporary it looked. In truth, this is a fragment of an ancient Olmec mask, dated 300 BC.
This Jade face might represent the Olmec Maize God. According to the Met Museum, the Olmec Maize God can be identified by his upturned lip. Many of the masks weren’t worn on the face, but were likely used as belt buckles, on headdresses, or as necklaces.
The earliest Olmec sites presently known date to 4000 years ago ( about 2000 BC). By 1400 BC, Olmec artisans were creating amazing earthworks, stonework, and ceramics that still captivate the viewer. To their 19th century discoverers, Olmec cities seemed to have sprouted full-blown out of the earth, complete with sophisticated directional alignment, symbolic writing (which we still can’t decipher), a complex set of spiritual beliefs, and finely crafted stonework, much of which was imitated by the Maya and other peoples who came to prominence after the Olmec faded.
Day 21 of our 30 day creative challenge in January was a transcription of Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne. The transcription didn’t have to be a copy, but I was looking for artists who were seeing the underlying story, structure, movement, and composition – as well as artists who took the inspiration into their own new …
He couldn’t draw or paint. He didn’t consider himself an artist, instead he called himself a “maker” or “designer.” Living in New York City in the depression, Cornell became a collector of small objects and photographs, things he found on his walks through the city. One day in 1931, Cornell visited Julian Levy as he …
“I paint both abstractions and figurative works. I make no distinctions, because what I am thinking of is space, light, and form.” [image_with_animation image_url=”5766″ alignment=”” animation=”None”] “There is no subject, no object, only a single truth, which encompasses everything and exists in nothing. Earlier paintings involve bowls stacked up on other bowls that fill the …
Thank you to all the friends of banjo players who forwarded this post, and thank you to all the banjo players who contacted us. We have found our banjo player: Charlie Beck will be serenading our steamroller printmaking event. See you Saturday! Saturday, August 24th Event Location: Seattle Artist League 10219 Aurora Ave N We’re …
Mystery Mask
[image_with_animation image_url=”9204″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Yesterday I posted a fragment of a sculpture and asked you to guess when it was made and who made it. I worded my question to be misleading by asking specifically “who” and “what year.” Some of the guesses I received were:
[image_with_animation image_url=”9212″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”]
Map from Misfits and Heroes; New Thoughts on Olmec Art
Olmec Masks
This Jade face might represent the Olmec Maize God. According to the Met Museum, the Olmec Maize God can be identified by his upturned lip. Many of the masks weren’t worn on the face, but were likely used as belt buckles, on headdresses, or as necklaces.
More information is found on Misfits and Heroes; New Thoughts on Olmec Art:
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Day 21 of our 30 day creative challenge in January was a transcription of Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne. The transcription didn’t have to be a copy, but I was looking for artists who were seeing the underlying story, structure, movement, and composition – as well as artists who took the inspiration into their own new …
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Thank you to all the friends of banjo players who forwarded this post, and thank you to all the banjo players who contacted us. We have found our banjo player: Charlie Beck will be serenading our steamroller printmaking event. See you Saturday! Saturday, August 24th Event Location: Seattle Artist League 10219 Aurora Ave N We’re …