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Fellas, I appreciate your opinions, but Renoir will remain one of the Impressionists I like. The very few I have seen in person are very full of life. I like that. I am not saying he is the end all of the Impressionists. Tim, I agree Mary Cassatt is very underated. I also like Van Gogh, because he was Van Gogh and had wonderful color, but I don't like late Picasso, unless of course Marvin has drawn it for him.

Regarding drawing, it is interesting to study the Impressionists. Sometimes it seems they drew badly on purpose, like it was "hip". Toulouse-Lautrec's drawing wavered all over the place.

Now compared to our own Sharon K. ...
Maybe I have this all wrong. Here is a Degas (who wouldn't like a lovely dancer?) example that I hope makes my point. If you squint at this the foreward leg should go back. So with the chroma increase in the sample the leg is even 4 times longer:

Van Gogh
 

I like the work of Van Gogh (and Renoir ;) ). My father was born in Zundert, on the same village square as Vincent.

It's the Van Gogh year over here, and as an homage to Van Gogh I painted him twice from photographs of his youth.

First I will post two photographs, then the paintings I made.

Greetings,
Peter

Van Gogh as a young boy
 

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Van Gogh at age 19
 

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Jim, you are a generous soul. Such open-mindedness is rare in either camp of visual arts.

Drawn out
 

Did Impressionists draw anything other than the ire of knowledgeble draftsmen? (The above statement was made in the hopes that those with a good sense of humour would appreciate the ironic use of "draw" in a dual context, commonly refered to as a pun.

Any one who took offense at the remarks should understand that this was intended for humorous purposes only and not intended as a putdown of any person real or fictional. There is however, an inferred criticism of the lack of fundamental skills as preached by the French Impressionist painters (not to be confused with the American Impressionists some of whom could actually draw.)

How about my boy Tim Mensching? Is he great or what? How lucky was I to have a student like him, at least after he threw away the alizarin crimson?

Mary Cassatt had trouble determining the proper length of arms.

Tim M. and that Bougie
 

Hi Tim M.

Wow, you made me feel sad that I haven't been able to pass by that Bouguereau painting anymore either! (and, of course, I don't even live in NYC and didn't know I'd missed it in the first place). Wish I could find her for you - but then, wish I could find just one more (we have one that is passed around frequently) in my state that was accessible!

What a beautiful description - and yes, all his "feet" are totally amazing. The draughtmanship! The pouts of the mouths, the deepness of the eyes, and of course, THOSE SKINTONES! Did Bougie actually use talcum powder in his upper layers of paint?

As for Renoir - anyone see Amelie (the French movie)? The Luncheon of the Boating Party is a subject within this movie. For the life of me I cannot figure out why they chose that painting (which is probably his best though) and Renoir as the much adored artist of this wonderful sickly old painter who was totally obsessed with painting copy after copy after copy of it.

I personally love the Impressionists as well as the Neo-Classicists (love that ECU art history class the most!) but firmly keep them separate in my opinions of stylization. They really, to me, should not be compared. As Beth said, Renoir was not per se, a portrait artist - but IMHO, (in my humble opinion) a figurative painter. I'm not saying he didn't paint portraits (Little Girl with the Watering Can, etc. etc.) but for the most part there were many buxom women taking baths, stepping into the bath or rolling around getting ready for a bath.

I have so many more artists I love to talk about and have lively discussions with other artists about. I surely hope we don't have to be all nice and sweet all the time and forgo real personal opinions about art, music, food, etc. etc. I'm off on another tangent!

Good night, Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow.....

Isn't this beautiful? Renoir's painting of that other great, great painter Monet? The master of light...

And here is another, much better scan of the boating-party... The atmosphere is so alive!