Self with The Look. 2016. Pastel, Oil & Graphite. 12.5" x 13." Casey Klahn.
17 May, 2016
25 April, 2016
The Gothic. 2016.
It's been a year or so that I've been painting portraits, and here are some personal comments on them. The main idea is to be different each time. This woman is called "The Gothic," because of my observations of frescos in Italy last year. A fresco is a work on plaster, and my desire is to have the muted tones, and the textures, show. Also, the Gothic Era was a particularly spiritual one, and "perspective" was more akin to what the Modernists later wanted to show. This "sign" says that; there is an expression revealed. I notice the colors are muted, but the blue on red treatment reminds me of a celluloid flash from the end of a film reel.
The Gothic. 2016. Pastel, Oil, Charcoal, Dry Ground & Graphite. 16.5" x 13.2." Casey Klahn.
24 April, 2016
19 April, 2016
The Sign He Makes
Cimabue Decorates the Apse. 2016. Pastel, Dry Ground, Oil & Graphite. 12" x 8.75." Casey Klahn.
30 March, 2016
15 March, 2016
09 March, 2016
03 March, 2016
3 Phase Portrait Poster
We're still on Matisse Month, which I think may become Matisse Year before I'm done writing it all. In the meantime, there's no reason not to post new stuff. Please enjoy. This portrait is so much about the element of color intensity, that I decided to deconstruct it in Photoshop just to see what I could see.
3 Phase Portrait. 15" x 7.8." Photoshop. Casey Klahn.
Mostly Yellow Portrait. 2018. Pastel. 13.5" x 8.25." Casey Klahn.
15 February, 2016
Intermezzo
Henri Matisse with Model Henriette Darricarrère, in Nice. 1927.
From Hilary Spurling, Smithsonian Magazine, 2005. Matisse and His Models.
The same seems to have been true of the models for his odalisque paintings of the 1920s. The first of these odalisques—sprawling in “harem costumes” on improvised divans—was Antoinette Arnoud’s successor, Henriette Darricarrère, who was working as an extra when Matisse spotted her in the film studios in Nice. He liked her natural dignity, the graceful way her head sat on her neck and, above all, the fact that her body caught the light like a sculpture. A ballet dancer and musician, Henriette became part of the family in the seven years she worked for Matisse. His wife grew especially fond of her, and he himself taught her to paint.
Matisse said it was essential to start by finding the pose that made any new model feel most comfortable. Henriette’s specialty was discovered by accident after a carnival party attended by Matisse and his daughter, dressed respectively as an Arab potentate and a beauty from the harem. Marguerite Matisse, Lorette, even Antoinette Arnoud, all tried on turbans and embroidered Moroccan tops, but it was Henriette, always modest, even prim, in her street clothes, who wore the filmy blouses and low-slung pants without inhibition, becoming at once luxuriant, sensual and calmly authoritative.
The pictorial possibilities she opened up for Matisse were enhanced by her exceptional sensitivity and stamina. He saw the work they produced together as an increasingly complex orchestration of colored light and mass, culminating in his Decorative Figure on an Ornamental Ground, which was almost as incomprehensible in 1926 as the Blue Nude had been nearly 20 years earlier. The painting is a riot of exuberant trompe l’oeil wallpaper, flowers, fruit and patterned textiles, all pinned firmly in place by the pale upright figure of Henriette. She looked as impersonal and unyielding as a side of packaged butcher’s meat to Matisse’s friend, the painter Jules Flandrin, who was baffled and exhilarated in equal measure: “I can’t begin to convey the brilliantly successful contrast between the wallpaper flowers and the woman so skillfully mishandled,” he wrote to a friend. Soon after the completion of Decorative Figure, Henriette left to get married.
Matisse Month
09 February, 2016
03 February, 2016
29 January, 2016
At the Used Book Stall.
Come with me downtown. We'll be looking in my favorite book stall. The one where the paperbacks smell like stale cigarette smoke and/or mildew. I prefer books where the author does not use "and/or" and "he/she." English may be from the gutter, but it will flow if written with style.
Never mind all that. Today we're going to grab Matisse On Art, mostly translated from the French. Why did I add the article: "the?" I'll stick to visual art - this writing stuff has pitfalls.
In years past my blogging style has been to keep things brief. This year, I am shifting gears for some reason. It feels right that this platform become a place for luxuriously long reads and, when they are on topic, videos. I hope you'll stick around for this year of deeper content. This month we are Celebrating Henri Matisse and I have barely scratched the surface. Maybe we'll extend Matisse Month.
There. I just paid the vendor and now I'm going to walk straight to the waterfront cafe, grab a cup of coffee and read these essays and interviews by and of Henri Matisse.
26 January, 2016
Fifty Self Portraits
There Is No Model. 2016. Pastel, Graphite & Dry Ground. 10.5" x 8.4." Casey Klahn.
Fifty Self Portraits.
24 January, 2016
Virtual Walk Through of the Cut Outs and My Visit to the MoMA in 2014
In 2014 it was my thrill to see the Henri Matisse Cut Outs exhibit at the MoMA. Installed in multiple rooms, including a full scale model of the dining room in Nice where he created the Swimming Pool, this exposition brought Matisse's legacy forward. He still thrills and challenges visual norms. In the last paragraph below there is a link to a virtual walk through of the Cut Outs.
The indefatigable Hilary Spurling, Matisse's biographer, Sums up his life and the Cut Outs in this video from the Tate.
Although at first much of this new form of art seemed impenetrable to me, I slowly began to unlock Henri's messages. Some are as simple as how his maquette for a Vance window means "up," or how Oceana means "immersive and unified." Gustave Moreau taught Matisse and prophesied that he would "simplify art." Indeed, here in the final works of his long career, Henri Matisse distilled color and form into visual delights without missing a beat. It's as if you are awoken in an operating room and your visuals are being administered intravenously. There is no spoon-feeding of subjects or details; you feel directly the experience of a lifetime of seeing. You are walking around inside of Matisse's artwork.
Matisse was not being boastful when he said that it would take fifty years for people to understand these works. Here we are over sixty years hence, and mystery still enshrouds his works. What was he trying to say (and what gave him the iron nerve to say it?) with these childish decoupages?
MoMA provides this examination of what the Cut Outs are.
This walk-through link gives you nearly the experience of the actual show, except that it is linear instead of circuitous. Using clear colors and sharp photography, it provides you with a fine record of the event. Enjoy. Source: New York Times.
Attributions:
"When he’s genuinely tough and self-demanding, as he is in some later work, he’s on a plane of his own. Whatever pain it took, the late work is made for love."
Produced by Larry Buchanan, Alicia DeSantis and Josh Williams. Composite photograph by Emon Hassan. Images © 2015 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
22 January, 2016
20 January, 2016
17 January, 2016
Matisse Chapel and Tate Matisse Blog
Simple observations are often the kernel of genius. The rub is, they have to contain the truth. Henri Matisse had the genius of simplicity.
On the subject of simplicity, I keep coming back to what Françoise Gilot says (without wasting a word herself) about Henri Matisse and his work. She revered his objective of "...mounting the color to the extreme."
You can learn much by watching a master just drawing on the wall. Here is a short video of Matisse as he designed the Chapel of the Rosary in Vence, France.
For more resources on Matisse, on the subject of the chapel project and much more, I refer you to the Tate Modern blogs on Matisse.
On the subject of simplicity, I keep coming back to what Françoise Gilot says (without wasting a word herself) about Henri Matisse and his work. She revered his objective of "...mounting the color to the extreme."
11 January, 2016
Northwest School (Seen Differently)
Northwest School. Self Portrait. 2016. Pastel. 11.6" x 8.4." Casey Klahn.
09 January, 2016
Matisse - Short Bio
Henri Matisse. 1869-1954.
He migrated south within his native France; born in the north, then to Paris in the central part of the country, and finally he settled in the south on the French Riviera. He found color to his liking, and it became his chief tool of expression. M. Henri Matisse bestrode the Modern Era as a titan, and showed the visual world color and line in their pure forms, all the while working from life.
French painter Henri Matisse (1869 - 1954) in his studio.
May 01, 1913. Credit: Alvin Langdon Coburn.
Artworks:
Henri Matisse - Music. 1910. 260 x 389 cm. / 102.4" x 153." Oil on Canvas.
Henri Matisse - La Mimosa, 1951. Mimosa, 1949–51, a cut-paper maquette for a rug that was realized in 1951.
08 January, 2016
Matisse Drawings
I'm always the last to know about these exhibits. This was in Brisbane in 2011. Enjoy this short window into Henri Matisse's life practice of drawing.
07 January, 2016
Matisse Museum
The Musée Matisse.
This is funny. Anthony Peregrine of the UK Telegraph, writes this
"...word of warning: going to Nice solely for Matisse smacks of hair-shirted obsessiveness."
That'd be me. Can't do beaches or water sports. My shirt's too hairy, I guess. Hee hee.
I do plan on addressing the resistance to Matisse that many feel, which is like in kind to the resistance to Modern art, only more focused. Please return here for the Month of Matisse posts.
06 January, 2016
Matisse Month
Matisse Month.
Since Henri Matisse was born on December 31st, 1869, it seems good to spend a month celebrating the old keener. Matisse was the definitive colorist, and without doubt the greatest French artist of the 20th Century. It is worth noting that Pablo Picasso said: "In the end, there is only Matisse."
Drawing is of the spirit; color is of the senses.
I've been over forty years discovering that the queen of all colors is black.
Drawing is putting a line round an idea.
Seek the strongest color effect possible. The content is of no importance.
Creativity takes courage.
Quotes by Henri Matisse.
Quote Image: Like Success dot Com.
03 January, 2016
01 January, 2016
30 December, 2015
24 December, 2015
Carols
It seems appropriate this year to post a long Christmas service. Blessings to you, kind reader.
23 December, 2015
18 December, 2015
12 December, 2015
10 December, 2015
Self Portrait in Hell
Wearing My Hair Long, Headed for Gehenna. 2015. Pastel, Oil, Charcoal & Figment. 11" x 8.6." Casey Klahn.
05 December, 2015
29 November, 2015
Portraits Are What I Do Now
Vincent in Rejection. 2015. Pastel. 12.5" x 10." Casey Klahn.
Without overthinking it, my art has become about faces and figures. Expressionist and (forgive this phrase) Matissian is what I wish to do. By Matissian I mean decorative, which was Henri Matisse's way of describing the abstract elements of artwork.
The struggle is between the narrative and decorative styles. They are in opposition to one another. It turns out that if I can avoid the narrative in these portraits, then they become more powerful.
I have made several attempts to render Vincent van Gogh without looking at his paintings. This is the first time I liked one.
Why not post the Don McLean tune? Please enjoy.
27 November, 2015
23 November, 2015
13 November, 2015
Night Self Portrait
Night Self Portrait in Costume and with Severe Side Lighting. 2015. Pastel, Oil, Charcoal and Graphite. 17.75" x 11.1." Casey Klahn.
06 November, 2015
Nocturnal Self Portrait in the Expressionist Realm
Nocturnal Self Portrait with Costume Glasses. 2015. Pastel & Charcoal. 13.5" x 9." Casey Klahn.
24 October, 2015
03 October, 2015
To Italy!
Umbrian Woman. 2015.
Pastel.
9.75" x 7.5"
Casey Klahn
Beneath Riva Ridge.
Small, Graphite.
Casey Klahn
I promise to post some images from Italy soon. I'm gone to Umbria for most of October.
29 September, 2015
19th Century Man
SP as a 19th Century Man. 2015. Pastel with Some Oil, Charcoal and Graphite. 13.75" x 11." Casey Klahn.
27 September, 2015
Self Portrait with Red & Yellow
Self Portrait with Red & Yellow. 2015. Soft Pastel and Oil Pigment Stick. 20" x 17." Casey Klahn.
26 September, 2015
Charcoal SP
Self Portrait in Charcoal. 2015.
Charcoal heightened with White Charcoal and Pastel.
21.5" x 14.5."
Casey Klahn.
19 September, 2015
The Venetian
The Venetian with Black, Indigo & Red. 2015. Informal photo. Pastel & Oil. 18.75" x 11.75." Casey Klahn.
17 September, 2015
10 September, 2015
07 September, 2015
05 September, 2015
Unwinding
Blue Nude in Orange Jams. 2015.
Informal photo. Artwork: 15.5" x 12."
Pastel.
Casey Klahn.
04 September, 2015
come un affresco
Umbrian Woman. 2015.
Pastel.
9.75" x 7.5"
Casey Klahn.
When a portrait adopts the manners of a fresco (plaster painting) it is reminiscent of Roman and Classic era art. I enjoy looking to the past.
This portrait is from the imagination.
30 August, 2015
29 August, 2015
2015-2017 Workshops Update
This is my calendar of workshops scheduled to date. I also will add those planned but with roughed-in dates.
Sept. 12-13, 2015. DC Area / Gainesville. VA. Openings.
Oct. 7-21, 2015. Umbria, Italy.
Apr. 6-8, 2016. Albuquerque, NM.
Apr. 29-May 1, 2016. Norcross, GA (near Atlanta).
May 12-21, 2016 (proposed dates). Florence, Italy.
Mid Summer, 2016. Proposed Washington State. 3-5 days.
Mid Summer, 2016. Proposed Seattle. 5 days.
Sept., 2016 (proposed dates). Provence, France. 6 days.
Oct. @9-15., 2016. Portland, Maine.
2017. Proposed NYC at PSA. 3 days.
2017. Croatia.
27 August, 2015
18 August, 2015
La Romita is in Umbria
Riva Sole Reviso
8" x 9.75"
Pastel
Casey Klahn
Here is a blurb from their website:
La Romita School of Art first opened in 1966, under the guidance of Enza Quargnali, as the summer art program of Rockford College in Illinois. For over 50 years people have stayed at La Romita, painting the landscape, people, and towns in the beautiful Umbrian hill country, whose radiant golden light has charmed artists since the days of Perugino and his famous pupil, Rafael.
30 July, 2015
26 July, 2015
No Internet? Paint Lots!
Very recent paintings. That I am doing portraits is news to me! I don't plan ahead.
17 July, 2015
Internet, Shminternet
How important is your ISP (internet service provider)? I am finding out as I suffer from the loss of mine. My home without internet? I feel "homeless!"
The Colorist should be back up soon, dear readers. Thanks for your visits.
Meanwhile, here is some art and a silly shopped pic of moi.
The Colorist should be back up soon, dear readers. Thanks for your visits.
Meanwhile, here is some art and a silly shopped pic of moi.
03 June, 2015
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