Laia was a groundbreaking female artist in a male-dominated era. Born in Cyzicus (present-day Turkey) in the 1st century BCE, she earned her place in history with her exceptional portraits of women, a rarity at that time. Pliny the Elder praised her quick and high-quality work, noting she could crush her male peers in both quality and speed. With both quality and speed at her command, Laia earned more coin than any of the male painters. Her art focused on female subjects and self-exploration. Though none of her works survive, ancient texts like Pliny’s and Boccaccio’s elaborate at length about her artistic superiority, marking her importance in history as a great dame in art.
Unfortunately, Laia was born minutes before the Romans invented wifi, so she doesn’t have a professional webpage or social media presence. I can’t even find her on YouTube. I found only a few articles about her, and the apparent variety of articles all seem to be quoting from one source article, so basically I found one article and some copies. There are a few mentions of Laia in association with this painting, but Encyclopedia.com, perhaps the most reputable source from the handful I found, said there are no (as in zero) remaining images of her works. The pic above is credited to Laia by many, but actually was likely painted in the medieval era by Maria, possibly the same person who painted this one but who the heck really knows:
This concludes another installment of “no one really knows” art history. At least the painting was interesting. More questionable but well illustrated facts coming soon!
[image_with_animation image_url=”8549″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Several years ago I took a few Chinese Ink painting classes from Kiki MacInnis and Bang Jin Sun at Pratt. I learned about several styles of traditional and contemporary ink painting, none of which I can remember well enough to name at the moment (sound of shuffling through old …
On day 15, halfway through our 30 day challenge, I introduced inverse perspective, in which objects grow larger as they’re farther away. Beautiful examples of inverse perspective can be found in Chinese, Japanese, and Indian artworks, as well as Byzantine. Here are a few by adventurous artists who responded to the challenge:
Read Claes Oldenburg’s Manifesto below. At the top of your paper write “I am for…” Choose something within his list, and draw/paint/collage/photograph it. Having trouble choosing something? Close your eyes, loudly say “I am for the art!” and point. Take a picture of your drawing and post it to our Facebook page. Tag: #salchallenge The January Creative Challenge: 15 …
Yankee Doodle The paintings are credited to Archibald Willard. Color and composition versions, oddly varied, are the contributions of the internets. The original (dutch) nonsense words to “our” Yankee Doodle song: Yanker, didel, doodle down, Diddle, dudel, lanther, Yanke viver, voover vown, Botermilk und tanther. From Wikipedia:The term Doodle first appeared in English in the early seventeenth century[7] and is thought …
Laia’s Selfie (maybe)
Laia was a groundbreaking female artist in a male-dominated era. Born in Cyzicus (present-day Turkey) in the 1st century BCE, she earned her place in history with her exceptional portraits of women, a rarity at that time. Pliny the Elder praised her quick and high-quality work, noting she could crush her male peers in both quality and speed. With both quality and speed at her command, Laia earned more coin than any of the male painters. Her art focused on female subjects and self-exploration. Though none of her works survive, ancient texts like Pliny’s and Boccaccio’s elaborate at length about her artistic superiority, marking her importance in history as a great dame in art.
Unfortunately, Laia was born minutes before the Romans invented wifi, so she doesn’t have a professional webpage or social media presence. I can’t even find her on YouTube. I found only a few articles about her, and the apparent variety of articles all seem to be quoting from one source article, so basically I found one article and some copies. There are a few mentions of Laia in association with this painting, but Encyclopedia.com, perhaps the most reputable source from the handful I found, said there are no (as in zero) remaining images of her works. The pic above is credited to Laia by many, but actually was likely painted in the medieval era by Maria, possibly the same person who painted this one but who the heck really knows:
This concludes another installment of “no one really knows” art history. At least the painting was interesting. More questionable but well illustrated facts coming soon!
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[image_with_animation image_url=”8549″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Several years ago I took a few Chinese Ink painting classes from Kiki MacInnis and Bang Jin Sun at Pratt. I learned about several styles of traditional and contemporary ink painting, none of which I can remember well enough to name at the moment (sound of shuffling through old …
30SAL Faves: Inverse Perspective
On day 15, halfway through our 30 day challenge, I introduced inverse perspective, in which objects grow larger as they’re farther away. Beautiful examples of inverse perspective can be found in Chinese, Japanese, and Indian artworks, as well as Byzantine. Here are a few by adventurous artists who responded to the challenge:
SAL Challenge Day 4: I am for art!
Read Claes Oldenburg’s Manifesto below. At the top of your paper write “I am for…” Choose something within his list, and draw/paint/collage/photograph it. Having trouble choosing something? Close your eyes, loudly say “I am for the art!” and point. Take a picture of your drawing and post it to our Facebook page. Tag: #salchallenge The January Creative Challenge: 15 …
Yankee Doodle
Yankee Doodle The paintings are credited to Archibald Willard. Color and composition versions, oddly varied, are the contributions of the internets. The original (dutch) nonsense words to “our” Yankee Doodle song: Yanker, didel, doodle down, Diddle, dudel, lanther, Yanke viver, voover vown, Botermilk und tanther. From Wikipedia:The term Doodle first appeared in English in the early seventeenth century[7] and is thought …