Painted Nudes

Saul Leiter (1923-2013) has been hailed as one of the great pioneers of 20th century colour photography. His body of work spans more than 70 years and is in the collections of many important museums. With the landmark publication of his monograph "Early Color" (2006) his work at last came to the fore. The book was followed by numerous exhibitions, the largest of which was a major retrospective at Deichtorhallen in Hamburg (2012). In 2013, Thomas Leach made In No Great Hurry, a full-feature documentary film about Saul Leiter and his work. But Leiter was more than a great photographer; he was and always had been a prolific painter, though this side of his creative life received far less attention. One strand among his paintings is noticeable: the art of painting over prints of nudes that he himself photographed and printed. This publication reproduces over eighty such painted nudes, created over a period of over forty years. This long overdue book sheds light on the vitality and originality of Saul Leiter s art and his mastery of colour. "

The nude has inspired artists for centuries and continues to inspire us today. Alongside a historical study of the nude in painting, this book introduces oil paint and gives advice on techniques when using this challenging and rewarding medium. Capturing the beauty of form and the delicate colours of the figure, it celebrates the powerful images that examine human relationships, personality and psychology. The topics included are instructions on materials, the colour palette and stretching your own canvas; the practicalities of working with a model in the studio; colour-mixing exercises that explore colour relationships and temperature, and finally step-by-step examples that demonstrate the progression of a painting. This beautiful and essential guide to painting the nude in oils is aimed at oil painters including beginners, more experienced, untutored groups, individual artists and art historians and is beautifully illustrated with 152 colour images.

Like music, art is a universal language. Although looking at works of art is a pleasurable enough experience, to appreciate them fully requires certain skills and knowledge." --Carol Strickland, from the introduction to The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern * This heavily illustrated crash course in art history is revised and updated. This second edition of Carol Strickland's The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern offers an illustrated tutorial of prehistoric to post-modern art from cave paintings to video art installations to digital and Internet media. * Featuring succinct page-length essays, instructive sidebars, and more than 300 photographs, The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern takes art history out of the realm of dreary textbooks, demystifies jargon and theory, and makes art accessible-even at a cursory reading. * From Stonehenge to the Guggenheim and from Holbein to Warhol, more than 25,000 years of art is distilled into five sections covering a little more than 200 pages.

Rembrandt’s extraordinary paintings of female nudes—Andromeda, Susanna, Diana and her Nymphs, Danaë, Bathsheba—as well as his etchings of nude women, have fascinated many generations of art lovers and art historians. But they also elicited vehement criticism when first shown, described as against-the-grain, anticlassical—even ugly and unpleasant. However, Rembrandt chose conventional subjects, kept close to time-honored pictorial schemes, and was well aware of the high prestige accorded to the depiction of the naked female body. Why, then, do these works deviate so radically from the depictions of nude women by other artists? To answer this question Eric Jan Sluijter, in Rembrandt and the Female Nude, examines Rembrandt’s paintings and etchings against the background of established pictorial traditions in the Netherlands and Italy. Exploring Rembrandt’s intense dialogue with the works of predecessors and peers, Sluijter demonstrates that, more than any other artist, Rembrandt set out to incite the greatest possible empathy in the viewer, an approach that had far-reaching consequences for the moral and erotic implications of the subjects Rembrandt chose to depict. In this richly illustrated study, Sluijter presents an innovative approach to Rembrandt’s views on the art of painting, his attitude towards antiquity and Italian art of the Renaissance, his sustained rivalry with the works of other artists, his handling of the moral and erotic issues inherent in subjects with female nudes, and the nature of his artistic choices.

This book, a sensuous evocation of images of the reclining nude, claims a female-identified pleasure in looking. Agnès Varda, Catherine Breillat, and Nan Goldin are re-imagining images of female beauty, display, (auto)eroticism, and intimacy. The reclining nude is compelling, for female-identified artists in the ethically adventurous, politically complex feminist issues it engages.

Based on the author’s successful courses and workshops, Painting for the Absolute and Utter Beginner really does start at the beginning, helping new painters find "what works" while providing information on all the necessary tools, tips, and techniques they’ll need to create a representational painting. The chapters follow a progressive sequence that teaches basic skills through practical, accessible exercises–how to handle a brush, achieve the right paint consistency, mix color, and create dimension–building a solid foundation that readers can rely on as painting projects grow more challenging. A special feature is the artwork and commentary of real students, which helps beginners set realistic goals and shows them how other artists at the same level of experience have worked through inevitable setbacks to achieve success.

Prepare to immerse yourself in the vibrant and breathtaking works of Michelangelo and other famous Renaissance artists. Painting in the Renaissance offers a telling look inside the art world of the Renaissance. Children will learn about the kinds of art and artists, patronage, and famous painters of the period.

On female sexuality