Art and the Approval of Nature: Philosophical Reflections on Tom Roberts, Holiday Sketch at Coogee (1888)

This paper, based on a talk given at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, is presented as an example of philosophy done in an art gallery. Its subject is Tom Roberts’ painting Holiday Sketch at Coogee (1888), and as well as responding directly to the painting in the environment of the gallery, it draws on the author's memories of seeing that painting in other times and places. It draws on these personal experiences to relate Roberts’ painting to a controversial idea laid out by art historian Heinrich Wölfflin, and to more recent conventionalist and resemblance theories of pictorial representation. It finishes by affirming one of Roberts’ important achievements: his discarding of inherited European ways of picture‐making, and his place among the first generation of non‐indigenous artists to represent the real colours of the Australian landscape

The production and consumption activities relating to the celebrity artist

This paper considers the impact of the celebrity artist on the associated production and consumption activities. It also considers the role which entrepreneurial marketing plays in helping to create the celebrity artist aura. The artist Thomas Kinkade is used to illustrate how this occurs in practice. Here, authenticity and nostalgia dimensions are also influential factors. Underpinning these relationships are the roles played out by the media, including communication of celebrity artist identity, and the catalysing of its commodification within the celebrity artist brandscape. An enduring celebrity brand results due to the market creation activities of the celebrity artist. A conceptual model is developed which synthesises the factors behind the production and consumption of the celebrity artist which can stimulate further research. This paper provides innovative insight into the world of the celebrity artist by interrogating the market making and shaping devices behind successful production and consumption practices

Saints and lovers: myths of the avant-garde in Michel Georges-Michel's Les Montparnos

This article examines Michel Georges-Michel’s 1924 novel Les Montparnos as a study of the myths circulating around the Montparnasse avant-garde of the 1920s, and their function in relation to art. Key amongst these myths is the idea of art as a religion, according to which avant-garde artists are conceived as secular saints and martyrs. While this notion of artist as saint is strongly present in early-twentieth-century biographies of Van Gogh, Georges-Michel explicitly relates his fictionalized version of Modigliani’s life not to such recent models but rather to the Renaissance masters, and especially to Raphael, a link which is explained in terms of the post-war ‘retour à l’ordre’ in French artistic culture. The novel’s references to Raphael as archetypal painter-lover are also related to its construction of a myth of the artist as virile and sexually prolific, and to its identification of creative and sexual impulses

Os retratos de Maria Isabel e Maria Francisca de Bragança, de Nicolas-Antoine Taunay

Nicolas-Antoine Taunay, French landscape painter, produced also several portraits during his stay at the Rio de Janeiro Court. In this city, in 1816, he paints the queen Carlota Joaquina and all her daughters. In this group, two portraits have a very special way: the paintings still today catalogued as Maria Francisca and Maria Teresa, but probably being Maria Isabel and Maria Francisca de Assis - princesses that, in this year, left Brazil to marry the Spanish King Fernando VII, and his brother Carlos Maria Isidro de Bourbon. In this article, beyond to describe these portraits (and analyse the identities of the portrayed princesses), I analyse their functions in the Court society and the mains artists of this gender in Europe. I will discuss, as well, the hypothesis about the Taunay choices. In this sense, I will analyse the possible circulation of the typologies of portrait between Italy, Portugal, Spain and France, understanding these productions by Taunay and the functions occupied by these portraits in the political relations between Brazil and Europe.Nicolas-Antoine Taunay, pintor de paisagens francês, também realizou alguns retratos durante sua estadia na corte do Rio de Janeiro. Nessa cidade, em 1816, ele pinta a rainha Carlota Joaquina e todas as suas filhas. Nesse conjunto, dois retratos sobressaem-se de modo especial: os hoje ainda inventariados como de Maria Francisca e de Maria Teresa, mas que provavelmente são o de Maria Isabel e o de Maria Francisca de Assis - princesas que, nesse ano, deixavam o Brasil para casar-se, respectivamente, com Fernando VII, o rei espanhol, e com seu irmão Carlos Isidro de Bourbon. Neste artigo, além de descrevermos os retratos (e analisarmos a questão da identidade das princesas retratadas), abordamos suas funções na sociedade das cortes e os principais artistas do gênero na Europa. Discutimos, também, as hipóteses que permeiam as escolhas de Taunay para sua execução. Nesse sentido, tratamos da possível circulação de tipologias entre Itália, Portugal, Espanha e França, buscando entender a forma como Taunay os realizou e as funções que doravante tais retratos ocupariam nas relações entre o Brasil e a Europa.Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)UNIFESPSciEL

O caso da destruição das pinturas murais da sede da Fazenda Rialto, Bananal

This article is about the eighteenth century mural paintings at the headquarters of Fazenda Rialto, in Bananal, which were destroyed in 1996. These constituted one of the most important sets of ambient paintings with secular themes produced in the state of São Paulo during the period corresponding to the first cycle of coffee production. Orally attributed to the painter José Maria Villaronga y Panella, all that remains of these paintings are some photographs and dozens of fragments, impossible to reassemble. Studying the fragments of the paintings of Rialto as primary material documents, the main objective of this article is to identify the artistic, technical, and executive characteristics of three sets of murals attributed to a single painter. A methodology which combines laboratory tests and historical research on artistic techniques was adopted for objectively recognizing the artistic and artisan characteristics of the period and discussing the attribution of exclusive authorship to the work. The analytical systems adopted for this purpose were: examination with ultraviolet and infra-red radiation, optical microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (EDS) to analyze its chemical elements. Issues related to the limitations on official Brazilian preservation activities for this category of artistic work were also discussed, reflecting on the development and changes in notions of historicity related to the preservation of works from the past and their methodological implications for conservation and restoration.Este artigo trata dos murais artísticos oitocentistas da sede da Fazenda Rialto, em Bananal, destruídos em 1996, que constituíam um dos mais importantes conjuntos de pinturas ambientais de temática profana produzidos no Estado de São Paulo no período correspondente ao primeiro ciclo da cultura do café. Atribuídas oralmente ao pintor José Maria Villaronga y Panella, dessas pinturas restaram apenas algumas fotografias e centenas de fragmentos, de impossível reassemblagem. Estudando-se os fragmentos de pintura da Rialto como documento material primário, o trabalho apresentado tem como principal objetivo a identificação das características artísticas e tecnoexecutivas de três conjuntos de murais tributados a um mesmo pintor. Para reconhecimento objetivo dos fazeres artístico-artesanais do período e discussão da atribuição de autoria exclusiva, adotou-se uma metodologia que combina exames laboratoriais e pesquisa histórica das técnicas artísticas. Os sistemas analíticos adotados para esse fim foram: exame com radiação ultravioleta e infravermelha, microscopia óptica, microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV) e espectroscopia de energia dispersiva (EDS) para análise química elementar. Discutem-se também questões relativas aos limites da ação preservacionista oficial brasileira sobre essa categoria de obra artística, refletindo sobre o desenvolvimento e as mudanças das noções de historicidade relativas à preservação dos bens do passado e suas implicações metodológicas nos conceitos de conservação e restauro