29 May, 2015

Blue Nude

Biskra Blue Nude. 2015. Pastel, Charcoal & Graphite. 17" x 14.75." Casey Klahn.



Sketch, White Nude on Blue. 2015. Graphite & Pastel. @6." Casey Klahn.




Blue Nude. Digital Drawing. Large. Casey Klahn.





My inspiration for the blue nudes originates with the 1907 work of the same subject by Henri Matisse, shown below. A disrobed woman in Algeria was his model, and the painting reflects his search for new imagery in north Africa. 

Matisse, in Biskra, Algeria: "I went from one surprise to the next - without being able to tell if my amazement came from the vastness of the country, or the new types of human being I was seeing, or from purely pictorial emotions."


A conversation between Picasso and Walter Pach, while viewing Matisse's Blue Nude: "Does that interest you?" asked Picasso. "In a way, yes...it interests me like a blow between the eyes. I don't know what he is thinking." "Neither do I," said Picasso. "If he wants to make a woman, let him make a woman. If he wants to make a design, let him make a design. This is between the two."

Late in his life, in 1952, Matisse revisited the Blue Nude title with his series of famous cut-outs. 








Henri Matisse, 1907, Blue Nude (Souvenir de Biskra), Nu bleu: Souvenir de Biskra, oil on canvas, 92.1 x 140.3 cm (36 1/4 x 55 1/4 in.), Cone collection, Baltimore Museum of Art.




26 May, 2015

Good Morning 99




This Day as Memory. 2015. Pastel, Oil, Graphite. 16" x 15." Casey Klahn.

This is #99/100 of my 100 Lives project.








18 May, 2015

Mask


Hush Your Mouth and Hold Your Breath. 2015. Pastel on Paper. 11.5" x 9." Casey Klahn.
















05 May, 2015

No Discord



Colors as Pickets Bouquet. 2015. Pastel. @18" x 13." Casey Klahn.

02 May, 2015

Life Painting



Wanda. 2015. Pastel, Conté Crayon, Charcoal & Graphite.12" x 8.5." All rag brown Stonehenge vellum. Casey Klahn.





Abstract Expressionism, Art Criticism, Artists, Colorist Art, Drawing, History, Impressionism, Modern Art, Painting, Pastel, Post Impressionism