Thanks to Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun exhibition in Paris, I have discovered the work of this artist. Before, I mainly knew her portraits of Queen Marie-Antoinette.

Self Portrait with Cerise Ribbon circa 1782 (click the pictures to enlarge)

Her life could have been the subject of a novel. Her father was a pastellist and she started drawing as she was very young. She painted many portraits and finally was recommended to French queen Marie-Antoinette. She soon became Marie-Antoinette official painter.

Marie-Antoinette wearing a nightshirt circa 1783. This painting was criticized because people found disrespectful to show the queen wearing a nightgown.

Marie-Joséphine Louise de Savoie, Countess of Provence and King Louis XVI’s sister-in-law in 1782 (she was wearing a nightdress too)

During the French Revolution broke out, being close to Marie-Antoinette became risky. Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun fled France with her daughter and travelled through Europe. Her reputation and her social skills helped her to fit in different European courts. She earned a living painting high society and celebrities. In her paintings, I found people who were also in history books.

Vigée Le Brun revealed the personality of her models by playing with poses, backgrounds, she represents some characters with a rose, a book or a a sheet of music. But her paintings have in common a form of softness.

Isabella Teoto chi Marini in 1792. This painting was for Dominique Vivant Denon, Isabella’s lover.

Princesse Karoline Felicitas Engelberte von und zu Liechtenstein in 1793

At that time, painting replaced photography. Portraits were also used to become better known and to look good. And Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun was a master in the art of photoshopping making her models look beautiful.

In addition to portraits, Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun painted a lot of family paintings and child portraits.

Jeanne Julie Louise Le Brun looking at herself in a mirror in 1787. This painting shows Vigée Le Brun dear daughter.

Alexandrine Emilie Brongniart in 1788

What is interesting too is the evolution of hairstyles and outfits as fashions was changing, such as those two portraits that were painted 30 years apart.

Comtesse de la Châtre circa 1789

Tatiana Borssovna Potemkina circa 1820

Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun wished she were a history painter, the most prestigious category at the time, and she would paint historical and mythological scenes but moral used to forbid women to paint naked men. It didn’t prevent her from making paintings inspired by Mythology such as this painting of Lady Hamilton as a bacchante.

Lady Hamilton as a bacchante dancing in front of Vesuvius in 1792

Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun was allowed to come back to France by Napoléon. She painted portraits and drew pastel landscapes until an advanced age.

For more information:

* Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun exhibition in Paris website

* You can still attend Vigée Le Brun exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Canada until September 11, 2016

The following pictures show several views of a several meter long metal beam with a Keith Haring drawing. The american artist is well known for his stylized figures who look like road signs figures. He drew on all kinds of surfaces: on tarpaulins, walls, vases or here on a metal beam.

On this marker drawing, figures are running to escape barking dogs. They are fleeing but at the same time they are laughing in the face of danger: some figures are turning cartwheels and other are giving a high five.

In my mind it could evoke street artists fleeing the polive, given that Keith Haring started his career by drawing on subway advertising panels in New York and he was several time arrested by the police. However this work of art is untitled so it is open to interpretation.

Keith Haring used symbols. The simple figure has no distinguishing feature. He represents the human being in general. The barking dog represents an oppressor. That being said, Keith Haring never gave the keys to his visual language so that people can see what they want in it.

You can admire this decorated beam and many other works of art at the exhibition “Keith Haring The political line” in Paris until August 18 2013. I have found this exhibition very interesting. It evokes New York art scene in the eighties and shows that Keith Haring was a committed artist. Indeed he expressed himself on racism, oppression by state and religion, fear of a nuclear war and aids that was decimating New York gay community at that time. Before this exhibition I didn’t know that Keith Haring colorful and happy drawings also tackled darker and more complex subjects.

For more information:

• the website of the exhibition “Keith Haring The political line”
  
• Keith Haring foundation with many works of arts classified by year.
  

I’m not an expert on modern art. But I like some contemporary works of art. Among them I like Hélène Hurot’s paintings that always speak to my imagination.

 

Ville verte (which means “green city”, this painting reminds me of Vancouver)
(c) Hélène Hurot All rights reserved

This painting belongs to the series called “Urban Landscapes”. The ensemble has special meaning for me who am in North America. The paintings evoke impressive and gigantic skyscraper districts in North American big cities.

The “Urban Landscapes” exhibition runs through November 15, 2009 in Paris. I am not able to visit it because it is in France but I hope I will be luckier for the next exhibition.

Invitation to “Urban Landscapes” exhibition

For more information: Hélène Hurot’s official website