Art History
Drawing Aids, from the Grid to the Prism
How grids and optical aids have helped artists place a shape, and why the eye still has to finish the job.
Tag
art history
11 posts tagged "art history".
Art History
Soft Pastel and the Close Portrait
Why soft pastel suited close eighteenth-century portraits, and how its powdery colour behaves on paper today.
Art History
The Street Poster: Type, Shape and a Glance
How late nineteenth-century street posters joined type and image, and what their glance still asks of a layout.
Art History
Fauvism: Colour Chosen for Feeling
How the Fauves let colour leave local truth, and how to borrow that freedom without losing the picture.
Art History
Vanitas Still Life: Objects That Keep Time
How vanitas still life used ordinary objects to talk about time, and how to borrow the looking without the costume.
Art History
Gouache: Opaque Colour on a Working Desk
Why gouache stayed useful on illustrators' desks, and how its opaque, matte colour helps a study or a design.
Art History
Egg Tempera: Yolk, Thin Layers, a Firm Panel
How egg tempera binds pigment with yolk, why it suits thin layered strokes, and what oil painting later made easier.
Art History
What Ukiyo-e Taught Painters About the Crop
How Japanese woodblock prints used bold cropping and flat shape, and what that still teaches about framing a picture.
Art History
Pointillism: Dots, Optical Mix and Patience
How pointillist dots ask the eye to mix colour at a distance, and what that patience still offers a painter.
Art History
How the Paint Tube Helped Create Impressionism
A look at how portable tube paint, new pigments and a changing art world made it possible for the Impressionists to paint outdoors.
Art History
The Story of Ultramarine: From Lapis Lazuli to the Tube
Explore how ultramarine went from a precious stone ground by hand to a synthetic pigment, and why this deep blue shaped painting history.