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Top ‘Liked’ art posts from facebook September 2011

The following is a list of the top posts of the week that we’ve shared with our facebook friends on the overstockArt.com facebook page. We try and make our facebook posts informative and engaging as we love to hear what our fellow art lovin’ friend have to say about particular artists and their art. So if you have a moment, check out the overstockArt.com facebook page and share your passion for art and wall decor with us!

• A Classic Chinese Painting that sold for $11.4 Million in auction is found to be fake!
  In a major embarrassment, a painting by the Chinese modern master Xu Beihong that sold at auction last year for $11.4 million has been denounced as a fake!

  The painting — listed as an oil-on-canvas nude study of the artist’s wife, painted in the 1920s — was knocked down for a multi-million dollar price at the Beijing Jiuge Auction House last June. Jiuge was recently named by France’s Conseil de Ventes as one of the top 20 auction houses in the world by auction turnover…

• Winslow Homer’s impact on Watercolor
  American painter Winslow Homer (1836 – 1910) had a revolutionary impact upon watercolor artwork, with his fresh, natural style and beautifully depicted veils of atmosphere that remain unparalleled. Homer’s 1870s watercolors, many of which like “Moonlight” feature children, nostalgically memorialize the simplicity and innocence of the halcyon days before the Civil War.

  Homer excelled at illustration, oil painting, and watercolor and produced a body of work that departed from Impressionism’s artistic conventions. While many of his works — depictions of children at play, bucolic farm scenes, hunters and their prey — have become classic images of nineteenth century American life, other works speak to more universal themes such as man’s primal relationship with nature.

• Fall Color Trends: Deep Red, Purple, Yellow & Neutrals

  Fall is almost here! The advent of a new season is a great time to give your home design a bit of a refresh. Many of the color trends for 2011 reflect the feeling of autumn and the colors mother nature reveals during this time: deep reds, romantic purples, lighthearted yellows and soothing neutrals. Fall calls for warm, rich and cozy spaces, and we’ve created a special collection of our favorite oil paintings that incorporate these lovely hues, including a mini-lesson on the meaning of each color and how to best use them for decorating.

  Red: Red commands attention and can be used to symbolize love, passion and excitement, but it can also represent volatility, danger, and anger. Red is a stimulating color that excites individuals mentally and physically. In general, a little red goes a long way; red is an excellent accent color that can make a focal point more noticeable.

  Purple: The color purple has mystical, magical qualities and is generally an uplifting color that encourages creativity. Historically, purple was the color of royalty, though the shade of purple varied across cultures. Being the combination of both red and blue (the warmest and coolest colors in the spectrum), purple is said to be the ideal color – the bridge between these two opposites that creates a balance.

  
  Yellow: Often associated with the sun, yellow is a positive color that evokes sunny, optimistic feelings of warmth, happiness, even enlightenment. A great accent color, yellow can become a blast of energy when surrounded by cool, subdued colors, while a pale (mellow) yellow can work as a neutral alongside darker or richer colors.

  Neutrals: The tone on tone effect of neutral colors is calming, elegant and versatile. Black, white, silver, gray and brown are classic neutrals that make a great complement when juxtaposed with brighter colors or used as a backdrop. Neutral colors can be cool or warm but are more subtle than blues and reds.

  Explore the seasonal color trends in our new Fall art collection with oil paintings on canvas with tones to match the season.

• Franz Marc’s Vivid Colors
  “Blue is the male principle, astringent and spiritual. Yellow is the female principle, gentle, gay and spiritual. Red is matter, brutal and heavy, and always the color which must be fought and vanquished by the other two.” – Franz Marc

  Known for his use of vivid colors, painter and printer Franz Marc was born in Munich in 1880. His father was a landscape painter, and so Marc’s artistic talents were nurtured from an early age. He studied art both in his hometown and in Paris, and while in France, he was particularly struck by Van Gogh’s expressive use of color. Marc frequented many artists’ circles, and was good friends with “the father of abstract art,” Wassily Kandinsky (who studied art in Germany).

  Both Marc and Kandinsky were proponents of using art to express personal spiritual truths, and Marc made use of bright colors, futurist methods, and cubist touches to get his point across. Colors held special meanings and purposes for him, and as World War I drew near, Marc began to express his emotional agony. Marc often painted animals and nature scenes, but depicted them in an intense style that contrasted the seemingly tranquil nature of his subjects. He joined the war in 1914, and died in battle two years later.

  Visit our Franz Marc Gallery for more animated pastoral scenes in oil on canvas.

This is it! We hope you will continue to enjoy reading our ArtCorner blog and come join us on facebook for more artistic discussions!