Blossoming Almond Branch in a Glass (1888)

Blossoming Almond Branch in a Glass (1888)
One of my favorite still life subjects of Van Gogh, the cut branch in a glass, I ran across this one with the book behind creating a complicated compositional element. Note also the use of complementary colors, red and green, creating a vibration in the painting.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Walt Kuhn

Happy Birthday Walt Kuhn!! American painter, born in 1877, Walt Kuhn was interested in art and theater from an early age. He sold his first illustrations to a magazine at age 15. After traveling to Paris and Munich where he studied art, Kuhn returned to New York to begin his career in earnest. Kuhn was one of the artists responsible for initiating the Armory Show of modern art in 1913. He was especially enamored with the bold color and expressive style of the Fauves. His mature style focused on vaudeville, the circus and the colorful figures of that genre: clowns, acrobats, etc. Sadly his personality became more and more bizarre as he grew older and he was institutionalized at the end of his life. The painting The Two Clowns (1940) is an excellent example of his expressionistic style.

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