Mid-Modern Art Blog thing

 

After last week's debacle with modern art, we have transitioned to a period that has some super cool stuff. One of my favorite movements in fiction is the creation of the fantasy genre and in particular the sword and sorcery genre. If there is one artist who is still making an impact on the fantasy and science fiction genre today it is Frank Frazetta. Frank Frazetta did this album cover for the band Molly Hatchet in 1973, and it is called Death Dealer. I don't listen to them, I heard its music, but I appreciate the album art. Frazetta's work pulls forward the style of Baroque artists, using mythological themes, over-the-top representations, and formidable visuals. His art style is largely responsible for the style of art that is in the fantasy genre today. Frazetta started to pick up traction in the 1960’s and 1970’s and his style is the classic retro fantasy style. Death Dealer is one of my favorite pieces. I like how the ground is impressionistic, with very wavy brush strokes but all of the nuance and detail is on the rider. There is this real tenable feeling of foreboding. I really enjoy this piece. 

This is another one by Frazetta and it is called Scramble made in 1978 for the TV show Battlestar Galactica. It is also like the previous piece amazing. In this piece, he uses pale colors to contrast with the darkness of space. The oppressive darkness seems to pull tenebrism forward into the 20th century. It's Rembrandt-esque, with dynamic poses. The background seems kind of flat as does the foreground and this helps to emphasize the pilots in the middle trying to run to their Vipers in order to fight the Cyclons. In the background, there are many Cyclon spacecraft strafing the Vipers. This style of art is what sets the tone for all following science fiction movies thereafter. It’s a solid piece for one that doesn’t use a lot of color and mainly uses contrast to get the job done. 

The final piece from Frank Frazetta is called The Barbarian and this was the cover of the first book of the Conan series, Conan the Adventurer. It was made in 1965 and this is the quintessential culmination of the sword and sorcery fantasy genre. The entire genre starts with the visual messaging of the book cover which is further reinforced by the writing. It’s simple the poses aren’t complex, there are some faint hints of things in the background, like a skull and faces. There is a pile of bodies the figures are on, which is an audacious mythological warrior trope. It isn’t his strongest piece, but this is probably his most important one because this becomes the standard for how fantasy is marketed in the near future.  

The next artist is going to be M.C. Escher with his work The Waterfall made in 1961in the Netherlands, it’s a lithograph. Where Frazetta was fantasy pop art, Escher is my favorite out of Op art. M.C. Escher was always working with illusions, strange optics, and he attempted to put mathematical concepts in his work. As far as color and contrast, that isn’t the main attraction of his work. Most of his lithography has this washed-out mid-tone grey look. It’s kind of boring. He is also not into detailed line work. His lithographs look like they are made primarily of stippling or pointillism-styled prints.  Where his pieces shine like in this piece is through the use of shape. He makes these really confusing and interesting shapes or perspectives that enthrall the eye and the mind. In some cases like in The Waterfall, it almost seems like it’s purposeful that he makes the building so bland, that you almost have to do a double take to notice that it's an optical illusion. If you are just seeing this for the first time and walk by it you aren’t going to notice that it's an illusion until you stop to look deeper. 

This piece is called Relativity where he presents three worlds in a triangle wrapped up in each other. It is kind of an oblique nod to the theory of relativity, where each of the figures in the picture has a different idea of what constitutes normal. It depends on your perspective.  Relativity was made in 1953 and is both a lithograph and a woodcut print. M.C. Escher was a printmaker and he usually made works that revolved around printing. In this work, he actually uses lines which is kind of unusual for him, but they still kind of look stippled. It isn’t sharp lines, and that just appears to be something of his style where he will make these sharp geometric shapes with a dull instrument. There is more contrast in this work but its not very dynamic, and that’s the point.  

I haven’t done a piece of architecture this semester so I figured I would give it a shot. So I chose to do Boston City Hall. I visited Boston about two years ago and when I was heading to the harbor I walked by this massive beast of a building. It is incredibly imposing. It was made in 1968 by the architecture firm Kallmann McKinnell & Knowles working with Campbell, Aldrich & Nulty. It features one of my favorite austere architecture types, brutalism. It’s a utilitarian design, that is about showcases the materials and the quality of the materials for what they are to create functional buildings. Brutalism also has the effect of imposing itself upon you. The buildings feel intimidating. If I took away the flags and put in some storm troopers you might believe this is a fortress for the next bad guy in Star Wars. Brutalism was this kind of architecture that comes out post World War  2 as a means to build back faster, and it's really prominent in Eastern Europe and Germany. 

References

Frazetta Art Museum Official Website. Frazetta Art Museum, www.frazettamuseum.com/?gad_source=1%26gclid=CjwKCAjwnqK1BhBvEiwAi7o0X3AqRpW57X1VVMwIwkCpA_WtaDj6ePQ2TVEE1s4BoTVBLXAc8ZTinBoCL28QAvD_BwE. Accessed 29 July 2024.

Plečnik, Jože . Boston City Hall. Architectuul, architectuul.com/architecture/boston-city-hall. Accessed 29 July 2024.

Prepare to Be Amazed by the Works of M.c. Escher. Museum Escher in The Palace, www.escherinhetpaleis.nl/?lang=en. Accessed 29 July 2024.