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The Artist’s Garden offers an intriguing study into 20 gardens that have inspired and been home to some of the greatest painters of history.
The most alluring image of an artist at work is surely one where he or she has come out of their studio, set up their easel on the garden path, pulled on a hat to shade their eyes from the sun and taken their brush and palette in hand.
This sumptuously illustrated and fascinating book delves into the stories behind the gardens which inspired some of the most beautiful and important works of art.
These gardens not only supplied the inspiration for creative works but also illuminate the professional motivation and private life of the artists themselves – from Cezanne’s house in the south of France to Childe Hassam at Celia Thaxter’s garden off the coast off Maine.
Flowers and gardens have often been the first choice for artists looking for a subject. A garden close to the artist’s studio is not only convenient for daily material and ideas, but also has the advantage of changing through the seasons and over time. Claude Monet’s Giverny was the catalyst for hundreds of great paintings (by Monet and other artists), each one different from the one before. Sometimes a whole village becomes the focus for a colony of artists as at Gerberoy in Picardy and Skagen on the northernmost tip of Denmark.
This book is about the real homes and gardens that inspired these great artists – gardens that can still be visited today. The relationship between artist and garden is a complex one. A few artists, including Pierre Bonnard and his neighbour Monet were keen gardeners, as much in love with their plants as their work, while for others like Sorolla in Madrid, his courtyard home was both a sanctuary and a source of ideas.
This book is as unmissable for art lovers as it is for anyone who knows the joy of time spent in gardens, offering an intriguing insight into the lives of these great painters and the gardens which inspired them to their creative heights.
From the Publisher
The Artist’s Garden: The secret spaces that inspired great art
Introduction
The most alluring image of an artist at work is surely one where he or she has come out of their studio, set up their easel on the garden path, pulled on a hat to shade their eyes from the sun and taken their brush and palette in hand. What could be more inspirational for a painter – amateur or professional – than to work surrounded by the sights and sounds of a garden, capturing its beauty and form?
One of the great advantages of a garden – as opposed to a still life, for example – is that it is constantly changing, offering different colours, shapes and views throughout the seasons. A garden also changes from year to year, providing endless possibilities for new features or angles to paint.
The Pool at Jas de Bouffan (1876) depicts the gardens of the house owned by Cézanne’s father, who later had a studio built here for his son.
Renoir’s Paysages des Collettes (circa 1907) was painted from his terrace at Les Collettes on the Côte d’Azur.
The Artist’s Granddaughter with her Governess in the Wannsee Garden (1923) depicts Liebermann’s garden on the lakeside near Berlin. above Self-Portrait in Painter’s Overall (1922). Portraits of himself and the garden he made were among Liebermann’s favourite subjects.
One of Sorolla’s most celebrated paintings, Sewing the Sail (1896) cemented the artist’s reputation as the Spanish ‘master of light’.
Color
When planning a composition, consider the colors you’d like to use. Color can bring balance and harmony and lead the eye throughout a piece of art. Color is also used to draw attention to or away from a subject, complement and bring unity to artwork, and help strengthen a weak composition.
Design Considerations
When designing an artwork, consider the light source, entry point, and structure, and avoid tangents to ensure that there aren’t any unwanted distractions in your piece.
LIGHT SOURCE Chosen to translate light and values in a piece of art, the light source helps create the illusion of volume and depth and the feeling of three-dimensionality.
ENTRY POINT This refers to the placement of an object, a shape, or a color used to draw the viewer’s eyes to a starting point in a piece of art. Most commonly used in still-life paintings, entry point ensures that the subjects don’t look like they are floating or suspended in air. The entry point guides the eyes in the direction that the artist wants the viewer to follow.
STRUCTURE The skeleton that supports the elements of a piece of art.
TANGENTS These occur when two lines touch each other, creating a distraction or disturbing intersection that detracts from the subject.
Landscape Dos and Don’ts
• Don’t place the horizon line in the middle of the canvas.
• Do avoid tangents. An example of a tangent in this painting is where the roof touches the horizon line. This makes for a less pleasing composition and gives the appearance that the roof is part of the horizon line.
• Do apply the rule of thirds and devote two thirds of the painting to the main subject. For instance, if you’re painting a landscape and the clouds are the main subject, give the clouds the majority of the space (two-thirds), while the foreground takes up only one-third.
Publisher : Frances Lincoln (October 29, 2019)
Language : English
Hardcover : 224 pages
ISBN-10 : 1781318743
ISBN-13 : 978-1781318744
Item Weight : 3.15 pounds
Dimensions : 9.7 x 1.1 x 11.9 inches