Task 1 Design.

For Design I decided to find a Fashion Designer – Carla Grima Atelier

Carla Grima working in her studio.

The Designs.

• Date of Visit: 30^th October 2015.
• Venue of visit: Carla Grima’s Studio.
• Name of Design: Jess Skirt.

This Jess Skirt is a wrap over cut skirt. This skirt is in eclipse print. The fabric of this skirt is cotton jersey. This design has been produced in a printed skirt and a block coloured belt. The material is a very soft fabric and it help soften Winter’s Chill.

 This wrap over skirt is one of the Winter collections, it is inspired by the fluid movement of colours in melted glass and nature, abstract movements and unrestricted. The Deep colours take form as fabrics are transformed into organic silhouettes. It has a calm feeling.

This skirt has some different lines showing in the Design. It has value as the design in the fabric is light and the fabric colour is dark. Something in this design that shows excitement, is movement.

  

• Date of visit: 30^th October 2015.
• Venue of visit: Carla Grima’s Studio.
• Name of Design: Layla jacket.

This Layla jacket is a cosy wrap around cut. The fabric is very fine wool, it is a very delicate fabric. This jacket has a very long process to do it, as you have to be more creative.

This jacket can be worn both open and closed. The idea behind this cut is to allow the wearer to pass the front drape through a loop, adjusting the cowl according to the style they want. It has warm colours. 

This Layla jacket has different tones of reds and oranges mixed together. It shows that it has warm colours, it is stimulating ans passionate.

• Date of visit: 30^th October 2015.
• Venue of visit: Carla Grima’s Studio.
• Name of design: Anna Kaftan.

This Anna Kaftan has a Nigella Print. The fabric is Viscose jersey it isn’t man-made but it’s not natural it’s a mixture of both. This Anna Kaftan is a comfortable loose fitting Kaftan with a silky touch.The cut of this Kaftan makes it wearable to both casual and smart occasions. 

This design has an implied texture in itself. This Kaftan has a summerish feeling as it has a soft and silky touch in the Viscose jersey fabric. The colours are light and has different tones of light blues. This Kaftan is twin needled all around, this technique of the two needles create rows of parallel stitching lines.

• Date of visit: 30th October 2015.
• Venue of visit: Carla Grima’s Studio.
• Name of design: Lola top.

The Lola top is a playful take on a classic Kaftan. The fabric is silk chiffon, silk chiffon is an elegant, sheer fabric with a soft, beautiful drape and crepe-like texture.

The print is lemongrass. She got inspired to do this top from a book called the Perfume. It’s a versatile piece. 

This design has different lines and different shapes. This top is a fluid versatile piece and it is very summerish. This top is pin hemmed all around, this technique in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded narrowly and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric. The front hem is cut to a hip length whilst the back has a dramatic knee length look.

• Date of visit: 30th October 2015.
• Venue of visit: Carla Grima’s Studio.
• Name of design: JO Top.

This top was designed for the collection of Summer 2014. The material of this JO top is Viscose Jersey. The top colours are in the same colour tone.

The print on the top is done through block print in copper paint. This top is flow style. The colour of this top is very calming and it is summerish.  

This top is overlocked together and twin needled at the hem. The straps are handmade. It has a very summerish look. The woodblock printing on fabrics is the process of printing patterns, block printing by hand is a slow process.




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Task 2.
Bauhaus.

The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 in the city of Weimar by the German architect Walter Gropius. In 1923 there was the first Bauhaus exhibition; the exhibition poster was designed by Joost Schmidt.

 
Poster for Bauhaus Exhibition in Weimar
(Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin 1923)

Bauhaus is a modernist style. Bauhaus was an art school in Germany that combined both fine art and design education together. This school was famous for the approach to design. It operated from 1919 to 1933. The school was founded with the idea of creating “total” work of art, including architect.

Later the Bauhaus style became the most influential current in all the modern designs. The Bauhaus was influenced by De Stijl and Constructivism. In 1925, the Bauhaus moved to the industrial town of Dessau. A few years later in 1932, the school in Dessau was closed because of the Nazis, but in the same year it moved to Berlin, under the new director of architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. A year later in 1933 the school was closed down then the Nazis came to power.

The Bauhaus school was made up of different workshops which included metalworking, cabinetmaking, weaving, pottery, typography and wall painting.

The Bauhaus included important designers like Walter Gropius, Josef Alberts, Joost Schmidt, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and others. Many of the designers after the Bauhaus school was closed down by the Nazis in 1933 they fled to Britain and America. Afterwards the school lasted 14 years in America. Laszlo Moholy integrated technology and industry into the arts.

The characteristics of the Bauhaus were the Rejection of ornamentation, use of steel and concrete in buildings and the Asymmetry and Regularity vs. Asymmetry.

The principles of the Bauhaus can be seen in many contemporary designs.

The Bauhaus School in Germany
(Ryan,V 2010)
  
Bauhaus Furniture
(Bovory, J 2012)

Pictures Reference:

Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin.1923.Poster for Bauhaus Exhibition in Weimar[digital image online], Artists Rights Society,New York. Available from: <http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_image.cfm?image_id=4297> [Accessed on 13th December 2015]

Ryan,V.2010.The Bauhaus School in Germany[digital image online],Germany. Available from:<http://www.technologystudent.com/prddes1/bauhaus1.html> [Accessed on 13th December 2015]

Bovary,J.2012.Bauhaus Furniture[digital image online],HubPages. Available from: <http://hubpages.com/living/Bauhaus-Furniture [Accessed on 13th December 2015]

Information from:

• ·         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus
• ·         http://www.theartstory.org/movement-bauhaus.htm
• ·         http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bauh/hd_bauh.htm

Information Reference:

Bauhaus.2015.Bauhaus.[online] Available at: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus> [Accessed on 13th December 2015]

The Art Story.2015.Bauhaus.[online] Available at: <http://www.theartstory.org/movement-bauhaus.htm> [Accessed on 13th December 2015]

Heilbrunn timeline of art history.2015.The Bauhaus,1919-1933.[online] Available at:<http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bauh/hd_bauh.htm> [Accessed on 13th December 2015]

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Constructivism.

Constructivism was an artistic and architectural movement that originated in Russia in 1919. Constructivism rejected the idea of art for arts’ sake it means that art should serve a social and political purpose. Radical Russian art movement started before the Bolshevik revolution between 1917 to 1935.

The aim of constructivism was that artists should contribute towards the construction of the new communication. In this movement it ranged from the production of product packaging to logos, posters and other in Graphic Design. Rodchenko’s graphic design works were an inspiration to many people in the western.

Constructivism was led by Vladimir Tatlin. Often themes in this movement were geometric experimental and rarely emotional, they are quite basic. Kandinsky and Malevich took the direction as a spiritual activity separated from society needs.

One of the most innovative designers of the Constructivist ideal was El Lissitzky. He developed visual ideas about balance and space. Famous artists in this movement are Vladimir Tatlin, Kasimir Malevich, Alexandra Exter, Robert Adams, and El Lissitzky. Alexander Rodchenko produced many artworks following this movement. He experimented with many different mediums as a designer. He produced many famous posters for the propaganda during the war.

Constructivism began to die down due to the Bolsheviks and their hostility to the avant-garde art. However, Constructivism still remained a source of inspiration to other Western countries and many upcoming new artists.

Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge.
(Kovtun 2012)

The four words are placed to reinforce the dynamic movement.

Cover art for Veshch 3

(Bargsten 2015)

Pictures Reference:

Kovtun,Y.2012.Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge.[digital image online], EDT,New York Available at: <http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.131.html/2012/prints-n08849> [Accessed on 13th December 2015]

Bargsten,J.2015. Constructivism Cover art for Veshch 3.[digital image online],PBworks. Available at: <http://fau3110.pbworks.com/w/page/7498618/constructivism> [Accessed on 13 th December 2015]


Information from:

• ·         http://www.designishistory.com/1920/constructivism/
• ·        http://www.csun.edu/~pjd77408/DrD/Art461/LecturesAll/Lectures/lecture07/Constructivism.html

 Information Reference:

Design is History.2015.Constructivism.[online] Available at:<http://www.designishistory.com/1920/constructivism/> [Accessed on 13 th December 2015]

Russia Constructivism.2014.Constructivism.[online] Available at:<http://www.csun.edu/~pjd77408/DrD/Art461/LecturesAll/Lectures/lecture07/Constructivism.html>[Accessed on 13 th December 2015]

Task 1 Art.

I Visited the National museum of Fine Arts, an exhibition “Daring Complacency” in Cavalier Art Hotel , St.Julians  and another exhibition “Il-ħajja u x-xogħol ta’ Antoine Camilleri (1922-2005)” in St.James Cavalier.

• Date of visit: 24^th October 2015.
• Venue of visit: St. James Cavalier,Valletta Malta.
• Title of the Work: Wild Horse.
• Name of Painter: Antoine Camilleri. 
• Size: 73 x 115 cm
• Medium: Oil on board.

Wild Horses is a painting by Antoine Camilleri. In this painting the artist make use of cold colours. Since the hands and the legs of the horses are faded it shows that they are moving. In this painting one can notice the contrast, since one horse is black and the other is white. It represents balance between two objects such as light and darkness. The emphasis in this painting is on the horses.

 

•  Date of visit: 24^th October 2015.
• Venue of visit: National museum of Fine Arts, Malta.
• Title of the work: The Iceberg.
• Name of Painter: Albert Bierstadt.
• Date it was painted: 19th Century.
• Medium: Oil on canvas.

This painting by Albert Bierstadt take us back in the 19^th Century. This painting is a very detailed landscape. The artist gives an amazing detail in the iceberg and the reflection itself. In this painting we see different proportion as the iceberg is very big compared to the red boat.

 The emphasis in this painting is on the iceberg. The uses of different light of blues gives a cold feel in this work. This painting is very balanced and one can see the rough texture on the iceberg and the smooth texture of the sea. This painting is very calm due to the colours and how smooth the sea is.

• Date of visit: 24^th October 2015.
• Venue of visit: National museum of Fine Arts, Malta.
• Name of Painter: Frank Portelli.
• Title of the work: Agony of Christ in the Garden of Olives.
• Date it was painted: 20th Century- early 21st Century.
• Size: 102 x 102 cm.
• Medium: Oil on canvas.

This painting is a very modern and original. This painting is very religious, even by the title you can easily notice. Frank Portelli made a lot of use of shapes. As one can notice the figures are represented with shapes rather than forms. As one can see this painting is spilt in two, on one side there are the three figures and on the other side there is Christ. 

This artist wanted to keep his painting look real by making use of dark cold colours, it means that it’s a sad story. To create contrast the artist painted the three figures in blue and he painted Jesus on green and his background in red. He wanted to emphasis on Jesus. 

• Date of visit: 24^th October 2015.
• Venue of visit: National museum of Fine Arts, Malta.
• Name of Painter: Louis Ducros.
• Title of the work: View of Grand Harbour.
• Date it was painted: Late 18^th century - early 19^th century.
• Size: 211 x 128 cm.
• Medium: Mixed media on paper.
• Stylistic Period: Romanticism. 

 “View of Grand Harbour” is a painting by the Swiss artist Louis Ducros. This painting depicts a view of the Grand Harbour from Senglea point. To the right are the bastions surmounted by a look out post, while on the foreplane are groups of figures and the masts of lateen-rigged Maltese boats.

 The painting is very romantic and nostalgic and is probably one of the finest works by Ducros. The background is light blue and it reflects it was a sunny day. The brush strokes in this painting shows the texture that make the painting look more realistic. Louis Ducros used shading to take out some important lines and objects. 

• Date of visit: 24^th October 2015.
• Venue of visit: National museum of Fine Arts, Malta.
• Name of Painter: Antonio Barrera.
• Title of the work: Fishermen (Il Grano d'Oltremare)
• Date it was painted: Late 19^th century.
• Size: 140 x 166 cm.
• Medium: Oil on canvas.
• Stylistic Period: Romanticism.

“Il Grano d’Oltremare” is a painting by the Colombian visual artist Antonio Barrera. This painting has a strong social content, with workers represented in a very realistic manner. 

This painting depicts fishermen working next to the harbour. One of the fishermen stands with his back turned towards the spectator, while another sits on a sack holding a pitcher in his hand. A third fisherman carries a large sack on his shoulders. He did good texture and shading on the clothes. The faces on this painting looks very realistic. It looks like it was a sunny day. 

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Task 2.
Dada.

Dadaism was a form of artistic anarchy that challenged the social, political and culture as a reaction to the World War 1 in the early 20^th Century. It wasn’t a style of art like Cubism and Fauvism, it was more like a protest movement. Dada was not art, it was anti-art. Dada represented the opposite of everything which art stood for. Dada ignored aesthetics. If art was to appeal to sensibilities, Dada was intended to offend.

Dada began in 1916 at Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich, Switzerland and after it spread to Cologne, Berlin, Hannover and later New York and Paris. The Dadaists published manifestos to help communicate their ideas. Dada was not restricted to the visual and literary art, its influence reached into sound and music.

One important Dadaist was Marcel Dunchamp. He was a French, American painter and sculptor whose work is associated with Dada, Cubism and contextual art, he wasn’t directly with Dada groups. He is regarded, along with Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. These were later to move to Paris. Man Ray was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements. After experimenting with Impressionism and Pointillism, Francis Picabia became associated with Cubism later he was one of the major figures of the Dada movement in the United States and France.

The groups in Germany were not as firmly anti-art as other groups. The intensely political environment of Berlin had a dramatic impact on the Berlin Dadaists. The influence of French poets and the writings of German Expressionists liberated Dada from the tight interaction between words and meaning.

In 1921 Dadaism authorized itself strongly in Paris in the circle of the poet André Breton. The Dada group lasted till 1922 when it was dissolved. Many artists of the group after they became Surrealists such as Man Ray and André Breton.

Its Characteristics of freedom, disrespect and experimentation influenced consecutive movements.

'Incision With The Dada Kitchen Knife Through Germany's Last Weimar Beer Belly Cultural Epoch' 1920 

(Jorg,P 2006)

Fountain 1917 by Marcel Duchamp

(andrew mcinerney 2007)

Pictures Reference:

Jorg,P.2006.Incision With The Dada Kitchen Knife Through Germany's Last Weimar Beer Belly Cultural Epoch 1920.[digital image online],Anders, Berlin. Available from: <http://arthistory.about.com/od/dada/ig/Dada-at-MoMA---Berlin/Cut-with-the-Kitchen-Knife.htm> [Accessed on 13 th December 2015]

Mcinerney,A.2007.Fountain 1917 by Marcel Dunchamp.[digital image online] Available from: <http://www.surrealists.co.uk/viewReviewSingle/521/> [Accessed on 13 th December 2015]

Reference from:

·        http://www.artyfactory.org/art_appreciation/art_movements/dadaism.htm

·       

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dada

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Impressionism.

Impressionism was an art movement at the end of the 19^th century in France. The Impressionists were a group of artists, famous for their innovative painting techniques and approach to using colour in art. It is considered to be the first modern movement in painting. Impressionist painting include small and thin, however the brush strokes are visible and emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities.

Many artists contributed in the first exhibition of Impressionist paintings in 1874. The main artists who formed this movement were Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley and Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse Lautrec.

The Impressionists were delighted by contemporary developments in colour theory. This development helped them more to analyse the effects of colour and the light in nature. They were the first group to embrace painting outside (en plein air). These artists tried to capture freely the nature. Impressionist portraits and figure were painted by Renoir, Degas and Lautrec. The name “impressionism” was given by the art critic at the first exhibition of this art group. Early impressionists broke the rules of the academic painting, they began by given by colours and shades freely. Pissarro was the only one who exhibited his work in all eight shows.

To capture the atmosphere of a particular time of the day and the effects, the impressionist had to paint quickly. Impressionist compositions were firmly influenced by the development of photography and Japanese woodcuts. Post-impressionism developed from Impressionism.

It had a huge influence on the development of art in the 20^th century.

Soleil Levant by Claude Monnet

(Unknown)

This painting was one of the exhibited works in the first exhibition of Impressionists paintings.

 

The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

(Artpedia 2012)

Pictures Reference:

Unknown. n.d.Soleil Levant by Claude Monnet.[digital image online]Available from: <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Claude_Monet,_Impression,_soleil_levant,_1872.jpg>[Accessed on 13th December 2015]

Artpedia.2012.The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh.[digital image online]Available from: <http://artpedia.tumblr.com/post/22708338700/vincent-van-gogh-the-starry-night-1889-oil-on>[Accessed on 13th December 2015]

Information from:

• ·         http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/art_movements/impressionism.htm
• ·         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism

Information Reference:

ArtFactory.2015.Impressionism.[online]Available at: <http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/art_movements/impressionism.htm>[Accessed on 13 th December 2015]

Wikipedia.2015.Impressionism.[online]Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism>[Accessed on 13th December 2015]