Signifier

Detail of Gainsborough's 1760 portrait of Countess Howe. His skill is evident here in the detailing of the lace and silk of the ostentatious dress, as well as the sensitivity of the face. Great care has been taken to pose the subject in a way that shows her elegance and also her fashion sense. The tree looks wind-tugged and the sky is a stormy grey - further description and analysis in article via link in post

Thomas Gainsborough & the Impending Storm

"It was traditional to show landed gentry in their gardens & formal grounds, but Gainsborough favoured more natural landscape ... here the background appears quite wild"

@remydean.bsky.social explores Rococo's dark side

🌩️ medium.com/signifier/th... #art

'The Sentence is Life'

@remydean.bsky.social on rereading the deceptively simple yet fascinatingly ‘ekphrastic’ Word Art of Louis Camnitzer

"Many of his text works read like Zen kōans & can create a conundrum in the mind of the viewer..."

🗺️ medium.com/signifier/th...

#art #ArtHistory #poetry

‘Apotheosis of Napoleon’ (cartoon showing the godlike emperor enthroned and flanked by angels for the fresco in the Throne Room of the Royal Palace, c.1806–1808) by Andrea Appiani, lead pencil, white highlights on paper, 2740 × 4750 mm. [Parigi, Musée du Louvre, Département des Arts graphiques]

'Andrea Appiani Against Neoclassicism'

Michele Vigorita ponders a paradox: the Emperor’s painter is at his best precisely when he stops serving the Empire.

✏️ medium.com/signifier/ap...

#art #ArtHistory #painting #drawing #history

one of glazed ceramic bass-relief animal motifs from the Ishtar Gate and Processional Way, this one depicts a roaring, winged lion

The Laws of Babylon directed that "the monarch be at all times benevolent & easily accessible to all citizens & duty-bound to protect the weak against oppression by the strong, no matter how high-place the oppressor"

Babylon, Ancient Champion of Equality?
🦁 medium.com/signifier/ba... #art #history

photographs by Samuel Belleville-Douelle showing details of the bronze sculpture emphasising a childlike body and a serene face with an enigmatic smile

'A Revolutionary Masterpiece'

"This iconographic choice is completely unprecedented for a biblical representation..."

Samuel Belleville-Douelle on how Donatello’s David changed art & our perception of the ancient King

👑 medium.com/signifier/da...

#art #ArtHistory #sculpture #history #mythology

illustration for Rowntree’s ‘Kit-Cat’ chocolate selection box (1920s) - a man in 17th-century clothing stands outside an olde style shop...

Jules Chéret’s poster for the ‘Land of Fairies Enchanted Garden’ at the 1889 Universal Exposition, Paris - detail including a liberated young woman who seems to dance above a row of fancy buildings the poster includes the text "Le Payes des Fees Jardin Enchante"

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'Choco l’art': what do mutton pies, a new format for portraits, the protestant monarchy of England, poster art, & chocolate snack bars have in common? - @remydean.bsky.social finds out:

🍫 medium.com/signifier/ch...

#art #design #food #history #FoodSky

three telephone hand-sets, one pale minty-green, one bright-red, and one duck-egg blue, on its side showing a dial in the base

'Ericofon, Calling the Future'

...the first one-piece telephone on the market embodied expectations for a brighter future @remydean.bsky.social appreciates a twentieth-century ‘design icon' & is colourful retro-futurist chic...

☎️ medium.com/signifier/er...

#design #history

‘Cormorant Island’ (2023) photogravure print by Takao Tanabe a contemplative landscape with a balance of dark land forms against pale sea and sky

"Takao Tanabe’s return to the West Coast meant a dramatic shift in subject matter as he focused on the familiar environment of magnificent, misty vistas..."

'We’ve Both Been There, in the Silence' by Rodrigo S-C

🌄 medium.com/signifier/we...

#art #ArtHistory #ContemporaryArt #landscape

To See the World in Dürer’s Great Piece of Turf Celebrating the small, tangible things in our everyday world with Dürer and considering why we still connect with his vision.

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"Have you ever sat in the grass of a summer meadow, perhaps as a child, to make a daisy chain, or to examine a cricket singing? Only to be mesmerised by the many plants & flowers flourishing together at your feet?"

🌱 medium.com/signifier/to...
#art #ArtHistory #botany #illustration

Leonardo da Vinci's intricate drawing of a cataclysmic deluge swirling over broken buildings (c.1518)

'Leonardo da Vinci, the Way of Water'

"water fascinated Leonardo & it’s believed his first #drawing was of water"

@kimvertue.bsky.social explores how aesthetics & mechanics flow together in the work of the great Renaissance #artist who was Master of Water for Florence

💦 medium.com/signifier/le...

grey corset with Thomas Gainsborough dog print (1992) by Vivienne Westwood

Westwood Bound

@remydean.bsky.social on how Vivienne Westwood popularised underwear-as-outer-wear involving corsets, bustiers, codpieces, crinolines & re-assigned British upper-class signifiers with costumes featuring Harris Tweeds, tartans, pinstripes

👗 medium.com/signifier/we... #fashion #art

detail from ‘Hell Courtesan Dreaming’ (1874) a highly detailed woodblock print by Kawanabe Kyōsai - description and analysis from article via link in post: "Of the many unique skeletons in this print, some play the shamisen, some smoke kiseru, and some play go… the viewer can enjoy perusing the picture to spot the different activities they are engaged in. They are supposed to be dead, but are doing the same things as when they were alive and Jigoku Dayu, the titular courtesan snoozes contentedly accompanied by her delightful skeleton. She simultaneously appears in life and in death yet her beauty and popularity are no different in this world or in hell. The use of colour is very accomplished for a woodblock — for example, the blue gradation has indigo and white undertones. The textures of white and red inks vary the ruddy hues. This work shows that while Kyōsai was a painter who created innovative and challenging paintings, he also valued and mastered traditional techniques..."

"skeletons play the shamisen, smoke kiseru & play go… Jigoku Dayu, the courtesan snoozes contentedly, her beauty & popularity no different in this world or in hell."

@mitsukinonaka.bsky.social explores Kawanabe Kyōsai’s Memento Mori

💀 medium.com/signifier/ha...

#Japan #illustration #イラスト #art

‘Times of the Day’ (1899) a series of four Art Nouveau lithographic prints by Alphonse Mucha in which the time of day is personified by a young woman beautifully rendered in a way that suggests the typical quality of light for each time and each framed within a decorative arch of natural motifs

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'Nouveau or Deco? What’s the Difference?'

@remydean.bsky.social explains: "Well, there’s a simple answer that lacks accuracy & an accurate answer that’s not that simple..."

🌷 medium.com/signifier/no...

#art #design #history #イラスト #illustration #ArtHistory

Still Life Painting by Joe Plaskett of a table cluttered with objects - "I imagined a gathering of friends, a slow-developing event from wine to coffee. The dessert plates tell the story of different appetites. The half-filled ashtrays hint at a long after-dinner conversation — casual yet intense. It is a still life with an implied narrative." - description taken from article vial link in post

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"In my decade as a fine art catalogue photographer, I have photographed hundreds of still lifes. Mostly, they failed to excite me, I could not connect, so I tended to dismiss them outright."

Rodrigo S-C ponders 'Is Still Life Still Relevant?'

🏺 medium.com/signifier/st...

🖼️Joe Plaskett⬇️

YouTube video by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu ( きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ ) Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - HARAJUKU IYAHOI(きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ - 原宿いやほい) Official Music Video

💃 🌸 🦇 🦈 🎉

🍾 Happy Birthday 🎂 #KyaryPamyuPamyu 💐

her #music never gets old either 🫶 here's a perennial favourite: 'Harajuku Iyahoi'🪵

& my extended article celebrating her prolific career @signifier.bsky.social 🍭 medium.com/signifier/ta...

🎶 youtu.be/mAGyQ5Rmz7o?...
#きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ #KPP #fashion #art

details from the three paintings of women done in different styles as described and discussed in article via link in post

'What the Impressionists Saw' - the #art of making the private public & the unremarkable remarkable

@kimvertue.bsky.social selects three #paintings of women to explore the interconnectivity & shared influences of the Impressionists

🎨 medium.com/signifier/wh...

mixed media abstract art by Jonathan Meades: a dark background with swathes of reds and yellows that suggest something of a landscape, perhaps a stormy coastline at sunset

Jonathan Meades: 'Treyfs and Artknacks'

was our online #art #exhibition for January 2023
in The Signifier : six : shot : gallery

6️⃣ medium.com/the-signifie...

#ContemporaryArt #landscape #photography #art

This guys. Japanese Sustainable Forestry is next level.

They harvest new growth off the old growth trees preserving the soil and special biome of the trees.

bsky.app/profile/sign...

a group of 10 people gather around an experiment involving a bird in a vacuum chambre - the style is baroque with a single light source illuminating the faces in a dark interior while the moon is glimpsed through a window - more description and analysis in article via link in post

"...a narrative very much of its moment that still poses questions to us in the C21st about our attitudes to advancements in #science"

@kimvertue.bsky.social watches the birdie in Joseph Wright of Derby's stunning yet perplexing #painting

🦜 medium.com/signifier/wa...

#art #ArtHistory #history

Ekco ‘AD65’ Radio Receiver (1932) designed by Wells Coates a circular frontage, dictated by its purpose, which is to house the speaker cone. The whole design is literally built around its defining function of projecting sound. All the other necessary components are arranged efficiently around this central feature - more details in linked article.

'Do You Speak Design?'

design language is the intrinsic information physically expressed in the form of the designed object but not all designers have used it as fluently as Wells Coates did… @remydean.bsky.social translates:

medium.com/signifier/do...

photograph of ‘Filzanzug / Felt Suit’ (1970) a multiple by Joseph Beuys hanging on a coat-hanger against a white wall (image cropped just below jacket) - it is a suit cut from grey felt.

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'Fat & Felt, Fact or Folklore'

meat, peat, blood, bees, barbeques, basalt, sleds, coyotes, horses, hares, lemons... @remydean.bsky.social on Joseph Beuys & the healing process of remythologising the post-war European psyche

🪑 medium.com/signifier/fa...

#art #ArtHistory #history #folklore

preparatory figure study (detail) for the satyr by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

'The Nymphs & Satyrs of Bouguereau'

"Local moralists protested, scared about the effect such a lude pagan image was having on the ladies it attracted & perhaps the fact it had been bought & hung by a convicted murderer"

@remydean.bsky.social uncovers an #art mystery

🐐 medium.com/signifier/th...

four film frames: two from ‘The Great Train Robbery’ (1903) of a cowboy looking into camera with a raised pistol and cowboys giving chase on horseback; three uniformed men arrest another man in hat and long dark coat in a still image from ‘The Story of the Kelly Gang’ (1906); and a colour-restored image the hand-coloured version of ‘A Trip to the Moon’ (1902).

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'It’s Still Moving' - before #film could become an #art medium, technology had to be invented & the conventions of #cinema set-out

@remydean.bsky.social looks back to the first 'motion pictures'

🎞️ medium.com/signifier/it...

#movies #ArtHistory #design #history #photography

Home Dance & the Biting Cat Celebrating the energising art of Yaorenmao and a joyous Chinese subculture that knows no bounds

#InternationalChoreographersDay

🕺 "So, how does one know if it’s #HomeDance? As styles are so varied & there are no rules... @remydean.bsky.social gives us a few pointers of what to look for in a performance..."

💃 medium.com/signifier/ho...

🧸 #咬人猫 😸 #Dance 🩰 #Music 🎶 #Yaorenmao 💝 #宅舞

love the poster 🐩 betting the #exhibition is well worth a visit for those in the #Tokyo area 🎀 #illustration #イラスト #animals #music #dogs #art

details from two illustrations: ‘Les Vampires’ aka ‘Vampire Grave’ (1820) etching by Berthe, printed in ‘History of Vampires and Evil Ghosts, With an Examination of Vampirism’ (1820) and ‘Le Vampire’ (1864) lithograph by René de Moraine - the following description is taken from article via link in post: "The artist of Les Vampires, whose identity is attributed to a signature reading Berthe, employs bold hatching and linework, creating a tension in the texture that imbues the scene with an uneasy atmosphere. The interplay of dramatic light and dark values explores a world suspended between reality and nightmare, where the boundaries between life and death collapse... In one swift plunge, the figure in the centre of Le Vampire (1864) drives a stake into the skeletal remains before him. Despite his wide-eyed, reluctant grimace, he remains determined to exonerate the beast which torments from beyond the grave. The figures in the background, shrouded in shadow and softened by the artist’s careful gradation of light — appear spectral and eerie, evoking an unsettling mood. They may be witnesses but their indistinct forms evoke the notion of lingering spirits, blurring the division between the world of the living and of the dead."

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'Visualising #Vampires The Undead in Art & Culture'

OliviA considers some ancient & modern representations that influenced our perception of these bloodthirsty fiends

🩸 medium.com/signifier/vi...

#art #ArtHistory #horror #history #illustration #movies

description taken from article via link in post: "All elements in Pearblossom Highway - road signs, shrubs, and discarded drink cans - are deliberately emphasised, flattened, or distorted. Through collage, David constructs the image with a clear visual hierarchy. For instance, the STOP sign is rendered oversized and forcefully assertive. Rather than guiding the viewer toward a single vanishing point, the composition directs attention across the entire picture plane. Consequently, the road functions not as a device of spatial recession, but as a cohesive formal element in the composition."

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'David Hockney’s Photographic Art'

Rodrigo S-C explores how Britain's favourite #artist, often cited as “the greatest living painter,” changed photography & influenced his own work...

🛑 medium.com/signifier/he...

#photography #art #ArtHistory

‘Basket of Bread, Rather Death than Shame’ (1945) a painting by Salvador Dali. The basket of bread is given a stark black background and it is poised at the edge of the wooden table, which gives precarious dynamism and strength to the image.

The Bread is the Life: Many artists have used the humble loaf of bread to speak of survival, cultural identity, transcendent spirit

@kimvertue.bsky.social considers this staple source of sustenance with a particular focus on Salvador Dali's bread-based obsession

🍞 medium.com/signifier/th... #art

‘Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite Valley’ by Carlton Watkins, probably photographed in the late 1870s [courtesy National Library of Wales] a sepia tinted photograph of a flat open area surrounded by trees before high cliffs and an impressive waterfall

'First Photographer of the American West'

@remydean.bsky.social celebrates Carlton Watkins & the pioneering photographers of the virgin territories who nurtured a desire to conserve the natural beauty of America’s majestic West

🌄 medium.com/signifier/fi...

#landscape #photography #art #History