Tag Archives: Gustav Klimt

Egon Schiele at the Neue Galerie

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Egon Schiele_Portrait of Dr. Erwin von Graff_1910  schiele self-portrait with arm above head

Up through the holiday weekend, “Egon Schiele: Portraits” at the Neue Galerie was a surprising favorite show of mine last time I was in NYC: surprising because it’s not my era or area of interest. But Schiele’s portraits stand in graphic, psychological counter to the museum’s stunning portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer by Gustav Klimt. Klimt’s ornately decorative mode gives way to a bare, introspective style by Egon Schiele, who looked up to the older artist as both a father figure and a rival who he must supplant, as is appropriate given the theories Freud was elaborating on, also in Vienna, at this time. Room after room of portraits provides insight into Schiele’s interests (people, preferably lean and contorted) and working methods (a traditional command of draftsmanship and anatomy pointedly given over to more expressive lines). Well-worth a look if you have a chance this weekend.

Gustav_Klimt_Portrait of Adele Blauch Bauer

 

 

 

Ryan Pickart’s Portraits

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Ingrid, Ryan Pickart

I came across oil painter Ryan Pickart’s work over on Escape Into Life here. It’s a bit like a modern Klimt, in pastel oils rather than gilt, but still with those big languid eyes, no? They just jump out of the flat, decorative background.

The artist has more work, including some lovely sketches, on his blog.

Alina, Ryan Pickart

Kiss

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The first onscreen kiss was captured in 1896 by the Edison Co. in “The May Irwin — John C. Rice Kiss,” showing a couple kissing and talking. They were dressed formally, and he sported a large mustache. Audiences were scandalized.”The spectacle of their prolonged pasturing on each other’s lips was hard to bear,” fumed publisher Herbert S. Stone in a review. “Such things call for police interference.” Warhol’s 1963 film Kiss is a 54 minute long view of different couples kissing.

More on kissing, from The Science of Kissing: 
  • Do you tilt your head to the right when you kiss? 90% of the world does.
  • 90% off the world kisses with their mouths now, though the custom has spread from European civilization as recently as the 20th c. 
  • There here is a 50% chance that a first kiss with a person will be the last–people use the information gleaned from a kiss, like the genetic compatibility indicated by their smell, to take it or leave it.
  • Only 13% of prostitutes’ clients demonstrate an interest in French kissing, presumably because kissing involves more than physical pleasure