Your favourite photographers or images

Great picture..
Can we see the Zeppelin bus again? Please. :)
Oh yes my friend :)
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'Stormtroops advancing under gas,' - Otto Dix. Etching - 1924. Not a photograph - obviously - but an image none the less. Dix served on the Somme and the Russian front before being seriously injured. When recovered he trained as a pilot. After the war he embraced Modernist art - particularly Dada - considered to be one one of the finest German Expressionists. To the extent that he annoyed the Nazis sufficiently to be branded a 'de-generate artist.' His work was shown and then burnt. They jailed him but he survived and died in 1969. I can't help but see his influence on the work of Ralph Steadman. Like this -

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Cheers - I.
 
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'Stormtroops advancing under gas,' - Otto Dix. Etching - 1924. Not a photograph - obviously - but an image none the less. Dix served on the Somme and the Russian front before being seriously injured. When recovered he trained as a pilot. After the war he embraced Modernist art - particularly Dada - considered to be one one of the finest German Expressionists. To the extent that he annoyed the Nazis sufficiently to be branded a 'de-generate artist.' His work was shown and then burnt. They jailed him but he survived and died in 1969. I can't help but see his influence on the work of Ralph Steadman. Like this -

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Cheers - I.
An extraordinary and somewhat eerie explanation behind the images.
Are there any works still remaining that escaped the Nazis burning from Otto Dix?

Thanks for sharing Iain.
 
An extraordinary and somewhat eerie explanation behind the images.
Are there any works still remaining that escaped the Nazis burning from Otto Dix?

Thanks for sharing Iain.

Wayne - yes -

'Dix, like all other practising artists, was forced to join the Nazi government's Reich Chamber of Fine Arts (Reichskammer der bildenden Kuenste), a subdivision of Goebbels' Cultural Ministry (Reichskulturkammer). Membership was mandatory for all artists in the Reich. Dix had to promise to paint only inoffensive landscapes. He still painted an occasional allegorical painting that criticized Nazi ideals. His paintings that were considered "degenerate" were discovered among the 1500+ paintings hidden away by an art dealer and his son in 2012.'

Yours - I.
 
Wayne - yes -

'Dix, like all other practising artists, was forced to join the Nazi government's Reich Chamber of Fine Arts (Reichskammer der bildenden Kuenste), a subdivision of Goebbels' Cultural Ministry (Reichskulturkammer). Membership was mandatory for all artists in the Reich. Dix had to promise to paint only inoffensive landscapes. He still painted an occasional allegorical painting that criticized Nazi ideals. His paintings that were considered "degenerate" were discovered among the 1500+ paintings hidden away by an art dealer and his son in 2012.'

Yours - I.
Many thanks for some fascinating info Iain.
I have much to read (and learn :))
 
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'Stormtroops advancing under gas,' - Otto Dix. Etching - 1924. Not a photograph - obviously - but an image none the less. Dix served on the Somme and the Russian front before being seriously injured. When recovered he trained as a pilot. After the war he embraced Modernist art - particularly Dada - considered to be one one of the finest German Expressionists. To the extent that he annoyed the Nazis sufficiently to be branded a 'de-generate artist.' His work was shown and then burnt. They jailed him but he survived and died in 1969. I can't help but see his influence on the work of Ralph Steadman. Like this -

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Cheers - I.
Extraordinary Iain. I see what you mean about Steadman. He also illustrated two of Will Self's 'walking" books.
 
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Modernism - let's go for it. Guernica - by Picasso. The most eloquent anti-war statement I have ever seen. Completed in June 1937 - in response to the bombing of the Basque town in April of the same year. Carried out mostly by the German Condor Legion, officially not involved in the Spanish Civil war but generally seen as rehearsing the Blitzkrieg tactics used in the following world war. Picasso - was in exile when he painted this and he stipulated that it could not be resident in Spain as long as Franco was alive. It was returned to Spain in 1981. It currently lives in the Reina Sofia gallery in Madrid. I have spent many hours looking at it. Point one - it's huge - 30 feet wide by 12 feet tall - pretty much. Point two - it's badly damaged - the edges are disintegrating because it has been nailed to so many walls in its life. As I say - it's an astonishing thing. Looking at this representation you can't understand its physical presence. The painting has become a pawn in Spanish politics - Madrid says it is too fragile to move but the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao has a custom designed space to show it. Which I think ought to be its natural home. Following a picture of Guernica - cheers - `i

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Modernism - let's go for it. Guernica - by Picasso. The most eloquent anti-war statement I have ever seen. Completed in June 1937 - in response to the bombing of the Basque town in April of the same year. Carried out mostly by the German Condor Legion, officially not involved in the Spanish Civil war but generally seen as rehearsing the Blitzkrieg tactics used in the following world war. Picasso - was in exile when he painted this and he stipulated that it could not be resident in Spain as long as Franco was alive. It was returned to Spain in 1981. It currently lives in the Reina Sofia gallery in Madrid. I have spent many hours looking at it. Point one - it's huge - 30 feet wide by 12 feet tall - pretty much. Point two - it's badly damaged - the edges are disintegrating because it has been nailed to so many walls in its life. As I say - it's an astonishing thing. Looking at this representation you can't understand its physical presence. The painting has become a pawn in Spanish politics - Madrid says it is too fragile to move but the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao has a custom designed space to show it. Which I think ought to be its natural home. Following a picture of Guernica - cheers - `i

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Oh yes Iain. It's impossible to describe how powerful 'Guernica' is in the flesh, so to speak. Just extraordinary. And as you say, 'the most eloquent anti-war statement I have ever seen'.
 
Work by - and influenced by - Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velasquez - (Oh - incidentally if you have ever wondered about the apparently long and confusing names Spaniards have - don't be, it's simple - they carry both their parent's surnames. Typically the first is your fathers and the second your mothers.' Born around 1599 and died 1660. For me the most important painter of the Spanish Golden age - technically - I think it's considered Baroque. Most famously court painter to Philip the IV. His royal patronage was important as it protected him from the worst excesses of the Inquisition. He was born in Seville with Portuguese Jewish converso grandparents. It should be born in mind - at this point in Spanish history - that an awful lot of time and effort was spent in people proving, and indeed blind eyes turned to, true Christian lineage. Torquemada - the first Grand Inquisitor was himself of Jewish blood. Velasquez best work is kept - perhaps unsurprisingly - in the Prado in Madrid. It's interesting to see it shown together - he developed - probably - either cataracts or some sort of retinal disease as he got older. The pictures become softer, more 'milky' as he aged. Unlike Goya - who just went mental due to syphilis. So -

First and second - 'Las Meninas' - the ladies in waiting - 1656. Astonishingly modern in composition. Observe the artist looking at us from the left. The central figure is the Infanta Margaret Theresa - daughter of Philip the IV. Seen in the background - half length are the King and Queen. A truly radical court portrait for its time. Next up is the photographer Joel Peter Witkin's take on the picture. Over three hundred years later Las Meninas is still inspiring artists.

Third and fourth - 'Pope Innocent the X' - 1650. Again radical for its time - in terms of realism. Not an idealised view of a Pope - the Pope. I'm pretty sure that exactly how he looked. This is not in the Madrid but in Rome but I was lucky enough to see it as a temporary loan to the Prado. Astonishing. It's late - so it's starting to take on the softness I mentioned. This painting most famously influenced - among others - Francis Bacon. He did a series of canvases influenced by it - this to mind is the best. 1953. Bacon didn't really make sense to me until I say them in 'real life' - visceral, almost breathing. Ralph Steadman anyone?

I hope you enjoy looking at them - cheers - I.

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Work by - and influenced by - Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velasquez - (Oh - incidentally if you have ever wondered about the apparently long and confusing names Spaniards have - don't be, it's simple - they carry both their parent's surnames. Typically the first is your fathers and the second your mothers.' Born around 1599 and died 1660. For me the most important painter of the Spanish Golden age - technically - I think it's considered Baroque. Most famously court painter to Philip the IV. His royal patronage was important as it protected him from the worst excesses of the Inquisition. He was born in Seville with Portuguese Jewish converso grandparents. It should be born in mind - at this point in Spanish history - that an awful lot of time and effort was spent in people proving, and indeed blind eyes turned to, true Christian lineage. Torquemada - the first Grand Inquisitor was himself of Jewish blood. Velasquez best work is kept - perhaps unsurprisingly - in the Prado in Madrid. It's interesting to see it shown together - he developed - probably - either cataracts or some sort of retinal disease as he got older. The pictures become softer, more 'milky' as he aged. Unlike Goya - who just went mental due to syphilis. So -

First and second - 'Las Meninas' - the ladies in waiting - 1656. Astonishingly modern in composition. Observe the artist looking at us from the left. The central figure is the Infanta Margaret Theresa - daughter of Philip the IV. Seen in the background - half length are the King and Queen. A truly radical court portrait for its time. Next up is the photographer Joel Peter Witkin's take on the picture. Over three hundred years later Las Meninas is still inspiring artists.

Third and fourth - 'Pope Innocent the X' - 1650. Again radical for its time - in terms of realism. Not an idealised view of a Pope - the Pope. I'm pretty sure that exactly how he looked. This is not in the Madrid but in Rome but I was lucky enough to see it as a temporary loan to the Prado. Astonishing. It's late - so it's starting to take on the softness I mentioned. This painting most famously influenced - among others - Francis Bacon. He did a series of canvases influenced by it - this to mind is the best. 1953. Bacon didn't really make sense to me until I say them in 'real life' - visceral, almost breathing. Ralph Steadman anyone?

I hope you enjoy looking at them - cheers - I.

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Tremendous Iain. That was a captivating look and read over my porridge early this morning. Spanish history, and the art that reflects it, is endlessly fascinating. And I can never get enough screaming popes. Once again, I can see your Steadman reference.
 
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