Christina Boufis
Portfolio
Multimedia
Andy Warhol
Self-Portrait
1986
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Permanent Collection
Like the celebrities he was fond of portraying, Andy Warhol is larger than life in this startling self-portrait. Notice the dramatic gaze. Look at the contrast of colors: the contrast of vivid purple and shiny black.. Even the artist’s hair seems to be dynamic. What do you know about Warhol?
More than any other artist of his generation, Warhol understood the dynamics of marketing and advertising in art. He took images from commercial art — magazine photos of celebrities, comic strips, advertisements — and used them as subjects.. Warhol’s Pop Art style became so distinctive that even though the images he used were not unique, each was instantly recognizable as a “Warhol.”
Warhol began his career by making screen printed paintings of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Elizabeth Taylor. Ultimately, he became as much of a popular icon as the stars he celebrated. This self-portrait was made through a silk screening process, printing a shiny black silhouette over the striking purple. Warhol made multiple copies of this work in different sizes and colors.
Warhol was frequently photographed but made only few self-portraits, of which this is the last. Unlike other artists, he rarely made statements about himself. He once said, “If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface: of my paintings and films, and me, and there I am. There is nothing behind it.”
Agnes Martin
Untitled #12
1990
NARRATOR: Artist Agnes Martin once said, “When I think of art I think of beauty. Beauty is the mystery of life.” At first glance, this painting by Agnes Martin may appear almost simple. But step up closer and look at the alternating bands of gray that traverse the composition.** Notice how the thicker light gray lines of paint wrap around the edge of the canvas. And see how the graphite lines stop just short of the edge. Now step back a few feet and examine the painting as a whole.*** What feelings do you get from looking at this delicate and precisely ordered composition?
Martin began producing such linear and simplified works in the early 1960s. But unlike other artists who also make use of geometric abstract forms, Martin uses lines and geometry to show the perfection of these forms: perfection that the artist believes exists only in the mind, never completely on the canvas. Martin’s use of alternating gray lines show the artist attempting to come close to this ideal using an imperfect tool — the human hand. Yet in this serenely beautiful and meditative work the artist has achieved what one critic has described as “something otherworldly.”
Pablo Picasso
The Rower
1910
Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Permanent Collection
NARRATOR: This work by Pablo Picasso is misleadingly titled “The Rower.” It was probably given this name by an art dealer who thought the work depicted a seated person rowing. But look carefully at the dark rounded form at the top.* Does this look like a woman’s head? Follow the diagonal lines as they reveal perhaps a neck, shoulder and arms.** Notice how the lines end in a v-shape that is repeated in the lower part of the canvas. Today, the painting is thought to portray a woman reading. The v-shape is believed to show a large book, not the oars of boat.
NARRATOR: In this style of painting known as Cubism, Picasso is working to describe the three dimensional figure of a person while emphasizing the flat surface of the canvas. He breaks the figure into geometric forms. The complexity of the interlocking geometric shapes in the center of the picture emphasizes the figure. Picasso deliberately restricted his colors to neutral browns and tans that focus attention on the structure of the figure and on the delicate play of light and shadow that washes across the composition.
Arnold Böcklin
Island of the Dead V, 1886
Colored varnish on panel
80.7 x 150.cm. (36 2/3 x 68 inches)
Narrator: A sense of mystery seems to pervade this work by artist
Arnold Böcklin
. A seemingly deserted rocky island. An eerily still sea. A white veiled
figure approaches a gate. What’s that in the tiny rowboat?** It looks
like a white coffin draped in red. This island is home not to the living,
but to the dead .
Look now at the towering rocks on the right and left sides of the
island.* Notice the rectangular openings cut into the rocks.* Do they
remind you of tomb entrances?** See the sculpted lions on the
columns flanking the entrance to the island?* This necropolis may
be an ancient and sacred site. The veiled figure recalls a character
from antiquity. It seems a ritual is about to be performed. Böcklin’s
haunting work invites you to witness it.
The artist achieved these provocative effects through the careful use
o strong vertical and horizontal elements. Notice the group of
cypress trees in the middle.** Compare these with the other upright
shapes in the painting: the rock formations, pillars, even the figure.**
All rise sharply from the horizontal plane of still water.
The low horizon also makes the island loom larger. The tiny scale of
the boat and the figure show how insignificant humankind is
compared to the forces of nature and death.
This haunting and dramatic work fed the creative dreams of many
artists and musicians.
You’re listening to composer Rachmaninoff’s “The Isle of the Dead,”
inspired by this monumental painting.