Christopher Coenen

@chrixcoenen.bsky.social

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posting art with ALT text sometimes own photos & history, politics or technology assessment #SpringerpresseEnteignen #XVerbieten MASTODON: https://todon.eu/@tsetse Pic: me, Bauhaus exhibition Berlin, armchair by Marcel Breuer, mask by Oskar Schlemmer

A fenced-in agricultural pasture. A narrow, winding stream (or ditch) cuts through the rural meadow, running in the direction of the observer and dividing the lower two thirds of the picture in roughly two halves. The left side is dominated by a huge pile of wood and a stone. The right side features a meadow and in the background a farmhouse with a barn. Behind is a forest and above stretches the vast, bright night sky of the Nordic summer with the full moon.
The painting depicts a vast coastal landscape along the Kalmarsund, the strait between Småland and the island of Öland. The foreground is characterized by a flat, rocky shoreline with a few dark cliffs and gentle waves. The dramatic sky, glowing in vibrant shades of orange, pink, and blue, dominates the scene. The warm, subdued sunlight is softly reflected on the relatively calm water’s surface.
The painting depicts an Arctic landscape during a polar night on the Siberian island of Dikson. It captures the rugged natural setting, combined with elements of the Soviet development of the North, such as a water airplane, buildings and a ship.
oil-on-canvas portrait, measuring 80.5 × 62 cm The painting portrays a young woman, the artist's wife, Zofia Seweryna Pruszkowska (née Katarzyńska), who was a painter herself. She is depicted sitting next to a table on which lie a violin, sheet music, a fiddle and quill pens. Her posture suggests a moment of sudden stillness or a pause brought on by heavy thought. Her expression is deeply contemplative. Subtle, dramatic lighting illuminates her face, hands, and the polished wood of the violin, leaving the surrounding environment enveloped in an atmospheric, shadowy void.
The print captures an iurban scene set in a narrow alleyway between buildings. Washed laundry lines stretch across the gap between the structures. To the left a person, probably a woman, rests on the ground In the background, at the end of the alleyway, another person is standing See also: https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/monday-morning-sunshine-10798
An early example of the Soviet Severe Style, this painting captures labour without idealisation. The painting breaks with academic perfection. It features angular silhouettes, rough contours, and a somber, minimalist color palette dominated by earth tones and a gloomy winter sky. In the foreground, four workers in warm clothing are being transported on the back of a lorry. One of them looks tired. The honesty of the portrayal is amplified by a grim winter setting, the rigid shapes of trucks on an uneven road, and a restrained color palette. In 1959, Nikonov traveled to Siberia to visit the Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Plant, which was under construction. Based on the material he gathered during the trip, the artist painted the work. The background of the painting was influenced by the work The painting was officially deemed a “creative failure” and sparked widespread public debate. https://www.tretyakovgallerymagazine.com/articles/2-2019-63/pavel-nikonov-moving-towards-freedom-remembering-momentous-epoch: The guidance of Alexander Deineka, an artist senior to him by a generation, was important: it was Deineka who bought Nikonov's “Fishermen" when it was first shown at a youth exhibition. But Nikonov's next painting, “Our Weekdays", which was painted with reference to the compositional structure of Deineka's “The Defence of Petrograd", left the elder artist perplexed. “It's strange - where did you get this German Expressionism from?"
https://www.artera.ae/artworks/35514818-fdad-4ea4-b27e-02e1bc2774c2 Ferdinand Hodler painted *The Dream* using oil on canvas. This composition is dominated by its verticality, reinforced by the almost regimented field of green. A seated woman draped in white is central, her fiery red hair contrasting with the cool tones around her. Her gaze is downward, drawing our eye to the unsettling panel below. Hodler uses symbolism to explore themes of mortality, memory, and the unconscious. The woman above, perhaps a representation of consciousness, seems to contemplate the image of a nude body, which could be her own, lying as if deceased. This stark juxtaposition destabilizes notions of life and death. Consider the formal elements at play: the upward reach of the flowers versus the downward slump of the figure. These directional cues create a visual tension, suggesting a world in conflict between life's vitality and the inevitable pull of death. This isn't just a painting; it's a philosophical inquiry into the human condition, rendered through form and symbol.
Essay: https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6269998 One of the largest canvases painted during a pivotal period of his career, Four Pinball Machines (1962) helped to establish Wayne Thiebaud as one of the most innovative artists of his generation. Throughout his career, the artist has sought to prove himself as a painter. Without formal training, he began his working life as a commercial artist (he worked for a time at the Walt Disney studios), and eventually he developed a distinctive form of figurative realism that stood apart from what is traditionally thought of as Pop Art. Like his contemporaries on the East Coast, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Thiebaud sought inspiration from everyday objects, but unlike his New York counterparts, he rendered them with a tactile brushstroke and a keen sense of color. Thiebaud was as concerned with the challenge of how to convey color, space and light as he was with the physical rendering of the forms themselves; in this row of pinball machines he renders his subject matter with brushstrokes of electric color portraying them in complex detail. From a seemingly ordinary object, Thiebaud is able to tease out loaded meaning and hidden visual potential. He remarked, “[My subject matter] was a genuine sort of experience that came out of my life, particularly the American world in which I was privileged to be. It just seemed to be the most genuine thing which I had done” (W. Thiebaud, quoted in Steve A. Nash, op. cit., p. 18). Across the center of this monumental canvas Thiebaud paints a row of colorful pinball machines, lined up as if standing to attention. Rendered in the artist’s signature precisionist style, tall slender legs support the body of the machines, with their kickers, slingshots, bells, and flashing lights all poised to spring into action once the player pulls back the pin to release the shiny stainless steel ball. We get a tantalizing glimpse of the maze through which these balls travel through the carefully an…
https://www.thehistoryofart.org/rene-magritte/representation/ #Football
Promotion for this book: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-032-22214-5 The chapter I co-authored: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-032-22214-5_7
Surrealist and symbolist painting. A young blonde woman with pale skin and a white dress, almost luminous, in the lower left corner. She rests on the edge of a small rocky island or peninsula. Above her, dominating the center—and, if it is a rocky island, perched atop it—stands the castle, whose towers are partly made up of people wearing tall pointed hats, one of whom is raising his hand upward, as if in the gesture of a blessing priest. The rocks are as black as the rest of the land visible in the background; the surrounding water is the same dark blue as the sky. The luminous woman and the colorful castle stand out against the blue-black darkness.
famous mural (fresco) from the ancient desert city of Dura-Europos in present-day Syria. It is dated to the late 1st century B.C. or the early 1st century A.D., when the city was under Parthian rule. It depicts the priest Conon and several generations of his male descendants performing a ritual sacrifice in the Temple of Bel (also known as the Temple of the Palmyrene Gods). The style of the painting combines Greek, Roman, and Oriental-Iranian influences. The figures are depicted strictly from the front, which is characteristic of Parthian art.
b/w photo montage Two hands with wrists (one with a watch) hover in front of a building facade; am unequal pair of eerie eyes stare at the viewer from the open palms. Bayer grew up in the Alps and refers here to the city of Berlin during the Weimar Republic.
Standing, in the sea, with the trident in his right hand, before his body, and horse to the right. More: https://www.artera.ae/artworks/7e1ae163-64ba-4635-9847-719eacee2cbe
b/w The focus is on the counter itself. The scene captures a moment between a customer and an employee, both middle-aged men. The customer is wearing a hat typical of the middle class at that time, wears glasses, and is standing at the counter, leaning forward slightly, tapping the glass counter with his right index finger and pointing to a dish below. He is speaking. The employee, who is wearing a uniform, is not looking at him but rather in the direction the customer is pointing. More food can be seen in the background. A cup sits on the counter in front of the employee.
This is the triumphant right panel of a monumental triptych (Resistance, Resurrection, Liberation) created between 1937 and 1952. It is very colorful, with a red circle in the center. A groom is holding a bride who is lying on the roof of a house; both are far larger than human size. Above them stands an even more gigantic violinist, surrounded by smaller figures, including other musicians. Behind them, people are marching and waving red flags; on the left—that is, in the upper left corner—what appears to be a crucified figure can be seen. Further details can be seen in other parts of the painting. More: https://www.marcchagall.com/en/story-three-paintings-monumental-work-triptych-between-france-and-united-states-1937-1952
Two ghoul-like figures reminiscent of SS officers wit a monstrous dog, behind them a huge monstrous humanoid being. To the left and a bit behind three naked victims. Between the two groups a banner with only thw ord FASCISM. In the backdrop a barren, flat landscape, barbed wire and in the distance perhaps a tower like of a concentration camp. There is a another huge figure, as huge as the one behind the fascists and the dog and next to it, without a face, holding something that looks like a wooden cross. Clouds, or smoke, in the sky
It depicts an emaciated, bandaged survivor stumbling through a field of corpses and ruined barracks, against a cloudy sky. More: https://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/artwar/artworks/art27620_blind-man-in-belsen_e.html
Peterssen’s most significant contribution is Summer Night, a lyrical depiction of a local lake, Dæhlivannet, in soft lighting. The surface of the lake is entirely serene, reflecting a pale, waxing moon and a few clouds that are red in the night sky. The artist has depicted the scene so close up that the tree trunk in the foreground almost seems tangible. To the left lies the uprooted trunk of a birch, which adds perspective to the picture; the composition is otherwise balanced and the colours are subdued.
Honoré Daumier, 'The uprising' (not earlier than 1848).jpg
A composition reminiscent of a relief, consisting of stone-like forms arranged closely together. Primarily various shades of brown and beige. The small, interlocking forms that dominate the canvas are reminiscent of dry, cracked earth—a topographical view of a vast desert landscape.
two persons in suits climbing in the cave
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulevard_des_Capucines_(Monet) This one is the horizontal version.
Arthur, clad in full armor (except for his helmet, which lies beside him), sits in a small boat, nestled close to Morgan. They are gently embracing and holding hands. One man steers the boat across the water, while another sets the sail. The boat itself is intricately designed and adorned with a detailed pattern on the sail and the hull. It is a sunny day, but parts of the settlement in the background are on fire, so a huge black cloud of smoke fills much of the sky. In the distance, a range of hills can be seen, behind which white mountains rise. There are forests on the shore near the boat.
A well-dressed teenager is standing there, resting his elbows on a table on which there is a chessboard with pieces and an open book. Apparently, the boy is thinking about the position on the board.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illarion_Pryanishnikov : "His picture Jokers. Gostiny Dvor in Moscow, painted in the last year of education, straight away brought to him a wide reputation. In this small canvas he gives an original solution of a theme of the humiliation of human dignity, callousness and cruelty in the world, where everything is bought and is sold. After depicting the tipsy merchants, who with a jeer are compelled to dance under the concertina and a poor elderly official, the artist authentically demonstrates a whole gallery of the specimens of moral deformity and complacent caddishness. The painting caused indignation in some adherents of official academic art who felt that the young painter appeared as the destroyer of the "high" destination of the art which was to express in the ideal form the eternal truths."
One cat is biting another on the neck, whilst a third, of which only the head is visible in the picture, is approaching from the right. The still life features roses, amongst other things
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Port_of_Greifswald The German article gives interesting details: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greifswalder_Hafen
b/w drawing – the bearded prophet, probably lying down, perhaps on cushions, with the cat curled up beside him, also lying down
https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/105TFJ#full-artwork-details Hunters and dogs are attacking a wildcat in a tree. Two hunters are armed with crossbows, and the cat is already wounded; a bolt is lodged in its body. Another hunter is blowing a horn and is carrying a halberd. The cat is perched on a solitary tree in a meadow. Behind it lies a forest. From a website in Spanish: "The painting depicts hunters and their dogs attacking a wounded wildcat clinging to a tree. The painting in question can be interpreted as a depiction of the persecution and killing of wildcats during the Middle Ages. The image is striking and shows the brutality of the hunters and their dogs attacking a wounded wildcat clinging to a tree, while other cats flee in terror. This can be seen as a critique of the unjustified persecution of cats, which was caused by the mistaken belief that they were carriers of the plague. During the Middle Ages, cats were a common sight in European homes. They were kept primarily as pets and as hunters of mice and rats in homes and farms. However, as the Black Death spread across Europe, cats began to be blamed for the spread of the disease. This belief was based on the idea that cats were carriers of the plague, and that their presence in homes contributed to the spread of the disease. Furthermore, cats were believed to be animals associated with witchcraft and black magic, and to be responsible for spreading disease and curses. Consequently, cats were persecuted and killed throughout Europe in an attempt to curb the spread of the disease. In some areas, they were burned alive, thrown from rooftops, or drowned in rivers..."
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/alex-karp-wielding-a-sword
BERLIN, 27.6., ab 17:00 "Festival linker Chöre Das große Jubiläum" Der KMC (Kreuzberger Männerchor) wird zehn Jahre alt. Dabei sind Or'Coro (Italien), Arbeiter*innenliederchor (Deutschland) und Hor 29 Novembar (Österreich)
Silhouette of a runner in a profile, created with pills in different colours
a huge Bonaparte, lying on the ground with his military cap, like the famous Sphinx, staring at the viewer, set against a rather flat, snow-covered landscape with a few trees and a man in profile—probably a peasant—standing next to Napoleon’s enormous right hand
Both look at the observer, the snake with one eye only, the rabbit with one and a half, so to say. The rabbit has hairy, but humanoid arms and hands, having the snake over its shoulders and the head in the arm
A mystical and atmospheric swamp scene at dusk or dawn. The overall color palette is dominated by muted greens, with accents of pale yellow. The sky occupies the upper portion of the painting and is a hazy, pale green with hints of yellow emanating from a diffused, round light source that appears to be the moon or a low-hanging sun. This light casts a soft glow across the scene. Dominating the right side of the composition is the silhouette of a large, gnarled tree, with its branches reaching out towards the center. Spanish moss hangs from these branches, adding to the eerie and ancient feel of the environment. In the middle ground and foreground, a swampy body of water is depicted, covered with dark green reeds and grasses. Scattered across the water's surface are small, white lily pads, providing a stark contrast to the darker surroundings. The water reflects the faint light from the sky, with the sund in the centre above, creating shimmering highlights that streak across its surface. Several birds are featured in flight. On the left side and in the centre, five dark silhouettes of birds with outstretched wings are in motion, appearing to be either taking off or landing near the lily pads. Their forms are somewhat stylised, suggesting a sense of speed and grace. In the mid-right, next to the tree, a single, lighter-coloured bird, is depicted, with its long neck extended.
A single, monolithic high-rise building stands isolated in the center of a vast, meticulously detailed park. The artwork is executed in Nazim’s signature "engineering graphics" style, using precise architectural lines, fine cross-hatching, and stark black-and-white contrast. The other parts of the picture feature a dense, rhythmic arrangement of stylized trees, park vegetation and ponds, which frames and anchors the massive structure. The contrast between the organic park and the rigid geometric concrete creates a a nice tension. One person, with stretched-out arms stands next to the building.
This is a figurative painting rendered in a dark and somber color palette. The scene depicts a group of figures, appearing to be in distress or protest, set against an abstract, muted background. In the foreground, a cobbled or uneven surface is suggested, creating a sense of texture and hardship. In the first row, two children are prominently featured. The child on the left, clad in reddish-orange, has a wide-open mouth, possibly shouting or crying, with wide, staring eyes. The child on the right, wearing a greenish-blue garment and a hood, also has a concerned expression with wide eyes. Their forms are rendered with soft edges and a somewhat unfinished quality, emphasizing their vulnerability. Behind the children and to their left, a group of adults is depicted. The leftmost adult, a man, wears a dark suit and a dark cap, their face shadowed and indistinct. Next to them is a figure in a vibrant blue garment, with arms raised and hands open, their mouth open in a scream or shout, conveying intense emotion and somewhat reminding if the famous Munch painting. To the right of the blue-clad figure is another adult in dark clothing, probably a woman, whose face is partly obscured and look somber, adding to the overall sense of mystery and despair. Further to the right, and slightly behind, are more indistinct figures, rendered in earthy tones of brown and ochre, their forms merging with the background. They stand close to each other, in disorderly rows. The ones in the forefront apparently look at something roughly in the directio of the observer, in horror. The artist's use of thick, gestural brushstrokes and the limited, muted color scheme contribute to the raw, emotional impact of the painting. The details, such as the open mouths and raised arms, are rendered with a raw, expressive quality, suggesting a powerful narrative without explicit contextual clues. To the right, a dark background is visible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Ciotat The scene is dominated by two hills with sparse vegetation; the buildings below, surrounded by denser vegetation, lie at their feet. The sky and the sea are also visible.
A teenager with relatively short dark hair, seen in three-quarter profile, sitting upright in bed with one elbow propped up, half-covered by the blanket
Read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sick_Child_(Munch)
very colourful, a dancing, smiling woman in the forefront in the centre and other people in the backdrop
Ernst Neuschul, 'Two tired women' (1925) They are sitting side by side on a bench in a room; one is sleeping with her head resting on the other’s shoulder, while the other looks wearily at the viewer.
Lucia, a painter herself (left); Europa, the youngest (middle), Minerva (right); a grey-haired woman to the right and a tree and behind it a beautiful landscape in the background More: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Chess_Game_-_Sofonisba_Anguissola.jpg And on the artist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofonisba_Anguissola
On the left, a well-dressed man in a black coat and wig sits on a chair, focusing on a game of chess. Between him and a lady is a small round table with the chess board. The lady, elegantly dressed, rests on a sofa to the right. She looks thoughtful at the board.
People sitting down. On the left, a woman drinking from a large cup; to her right, a man staring with an angry look and bizarrely large eyes with bizarrely large pupils. One more to the right is the smiling chess player, with a portion of the chessboard visible—and further to the right, another man in profile. Very colorful and somewhat cartoonish.
fairly abstract and hard to describe - probably three pawns in the upper left corner, below, also to the leftm perhaps a person; to the right something that looks a bit like an animal
Two men in front of each other at a table, playing chess and at least one (with the back to the observer) drinking beer. All kind of colourful stuff in the background
Holding flowers in her left hand and a mirror in her right hand. Simling at the observer. Red hair https://www.theglasgowstory.com/image/?inum=TGSE01171
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Experiment_on_a_Bird_in_the_Air_Pump
a small section of it; a portion of a promenade wall is visible; waterfront with no buildings; a cloudy day
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chocolate_Girl
Read https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/44176
Two people in a small boat steered by a third person. They are on their way to a house that appears to stand on a small island, along with two trees. The sky dominates the scene, complete with a large rainbow. More about the artist: https://www.scholten-japanese-art.com/kiyochika.php
b/w People walking in the rain with umbrellas, especially young women in the modern style of the 1920s