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This artist who graduated from Tverskoye art school in 1994, majoring in graphic design, amazes the imagination with her extraordinary style and beautiful compositions.
He is the creator of truly unique illustrations with a retro touch. Waldemar Kazak is an artist with a sense of humor, he has a special vision of everyday life, he knows how to laugh at everyday life, and often makes fun of the meaning of children's fairy tales, of politicians and modern youth.
A modern illustrator works in everyday genre with a caricature twist. The characters from Kazak’s works are difficult not to notice and remember. All of them are very colorful, expressive, and bright.
His breathtaking compositions are filled with the style of post-war aesthetics, which came into its own in the 50s of the twentieth century; retro shine is manifested in literally everything: from the choice of subject of the picture to the choice of colors.
This is what Waldemar Kazak himself says about his style:
Like any person (or artist), I have my own handwriting. But I don’t nurture him because I’m afraid to fall into mannerisms. In addition, bright individual writing is in demand in the market. Yes, in fact, everyone already knows this.
Stunningly bright, exciting, eye-catching art drawings in the retro style of Waldemar Kazak will not leave anyone indifferent!
Genres of painting appeared, gained popularity, faded away, new ones emerged, and subtypes began to be distinguished within existing ones. This process will not stop as long as a person exists and tries to capture the world around him, be it nature, buildings or other people.
Previously (until the 19th century), there was a division of painting genres into the so-called “high” genres (French grand genre) and “low” genres (French petit genre). This division arose in the 17th century. and was based on what subject and plot were depicted. In this regard, to high genres included: battle, allegorical, religious and mythological, and low - portrait, landscape, still life, animalism.
The division into genres is quite arbitrary, because elements of two or more genres may be present in a painting at the same time.
Animalistics, or animalistic genre
Animalism, or animalistic genre (from the Latin animal - animal) is a genre in which the main motif is the image of an animal. We can say that this is one of the most ancient genres, because... drawings and figures of birds and animals were already present in life primitive people. For example, in the well-known painting by I.I. Shishkin "Morning in pine forest“Nature is depicted by the artist himself, and the bears are depicted by a completely different artist, who specializes in depicting animals.
I.I. Shishkin “Morning in a pine forest” How can a subspecies be distinguished? Hippo genre(from the Greek hippos - horse) - a genre in which the center of the picture is the image of a horse.
NOT. Sverchkov “Horse in the stable” Portrait
Portrait (from the French word portrait) is a picture in which the central image is of a person or group of people. The portrait conveys not only external resemblance, but also reflects inner world and conveys the artist’s feelings towards the person whose portrait he is painting.
I.E. Repin Portrait of Nicholas II The portrait genre is divided into individual(image of one person), group(image of several people), by the nature of the image - to the front door when a person is depicted in full height against a prominent architectural or landscape background and chamber, when a person is depicted chest- or waist-deep against a neutral background. A group of portraits, united by some characteristic, forms an ensemble, or portrait gallery. An example would be portraits of members of the royal family.
Stands out separately self-portrait, in which the artist depicts himself.
K. Bryullov Self-portrait Portrait is one of the oldest genres - the first portraits (sculptural) were already present in ancient Egypt. Such a portrait acted as part of the cult of afterlife and was a “double” of a person.
Scenery
Landscape (from the French paysage - country, area) is a genre in which the central image is the image of nature - rivers, forests, fields, sea, mountains. In a landscape, the main point is, of course, the plot, but it is no less important to convey movement and life. surrounding nature. On the one hand, nature is beautiful and arouses admiration, but on the other hand, it is quite difficult to reflect this in a picture.
C. Monet “Field of poppies at Argenteuil” A subspecies of landscape is seascape, or Marina(from French marine, Italian marina, from Latin marinus - sea) - an image of a naval battle, the sea or other events unfolding at sea. A prominent representative of marine painters is K.A. Aivazovsky. It is noteworthy that the artist wrote many of the details of this painting from memory.
I.I. Aivazovsky "The Ninth Wave" However, artists often strive to paint the sea from life, for example, W. Turner for his painting “Blizzard. The steamer at the entrance to the harbor gives a distress signal after getting into shallow water,” spent 4 hours tied to the captain’s bridge of a ship sailing in a storm.
W. Turner “Blizzard. A steamer at the entrance to the harbor gives a distress signal after getting into shallow water."The water element is also depicted in a river landscape.
Separately allocate cityscape, in which the main subject of the image is city streets and buildings. A type of urban landscape is Veduta– an image of a city landscape in the form of a panorama, where the scale and proportions are certainly maintained.
A. Canaletto “Piazza San Marco”There are other types of landscape - rural, industrial and architectural. In architectural painting, the main theme is the image of the architectural landscape, i.e. buildings, structures; includes images of interiors ( interior decoration premises). Sometimes Interior(from the French intérieur - internal) is distinguished as a separate genre. Another genre is distinguished in architectural painting — Capriccio(from Italian capriccio, whim, whim) - architectural fantasy landscape.
Still life
Still life (from French. nature morte- dead nature) - a genre dedicated to the depiction of inanimate objects that are placed in general environment and form a group. Still life appeared in the 15-16th centuries, but as a separate genre it emerged in the 17th century.
Despite the fact that the word “still life” is translated as dead nature, in the paintings there are bouquets of flowers, fruits, fish, game, dishes - everything looks “like living”, i.e. like the real thing. From the moment of its appearance to this day, still life has been important genre in painting.
K. Monet “Vase of Flowers” As a separate subspecies we can distinguish Vanitas(from Latin Vanitas - vanity, vanity) is a genre of painting in which the central place in the picture is occupied by a human skull, the image of which is intended to remind of the vanity and frailty of human life.
The painting by F. de Champagne presents three symbols of the frailty of existence - Life, Death, Time through the images of a tulip, a skull, an hourglass.
Historical genre
Historical genre - a genre in which the paintings depict important events and socially significant phenomena of the past or present. It is noteworthy that the picture can be dedicated not only to real events, but also to events from mythology or, for example, described in the Bible. This genre very important for history, both for the history of individual peoples and states, and of humanity as a whole. In the paintings historical genre It can be inseparable from other types of genres - portrait, landscape, battle genre.
I.E. Repin “The Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan” 
K. Bryullov “The Last Day of Pompeii” Battle genre
The battle genre (from the French bataille - battle) is a genre in which the paintings depict the culmination of a battle, military operations, a moment of victory, scenes from military life. Battle painting is characterized by the depiction of a large number of people in the picture.
A.A. Deineka "Defense of Sevastopol" Religious genre
Religious genre is a genre in which the main story line– biblical (scenes from the Bible and Gospel). The theme relates to religious and icon painting, the difference between them is that paintings of religious content do not participate in religious services, and for the icon this is the main purpose. Iconography translated from Greek. means "prayer image". This genre was limited by the strict framework and laws of painting, because is intended not to reflect reality, but to convey the idea of God's principle, in which artists are looking for an ideal. In Rus', icon painting reaches its peak in the 12th-16th centuries. Most famous names icon painters – Theophanes the Greek (frescoes), Andrei Rublev, Dionysius.
A. Rublev “Trinity” How the transitional stage from icon painting to portrait stands out Parsuna(distorted from Latin persona - person, person).
Parsun of Ivan the Terrible. author unknown Everyday genre
The paintings depict scenes Everyday life. Often the artist writes about those moments in life of which he is a contemporary. Distinctive features This genre is about the realism of the paintings and the simplicity of the plot. The picture can reflect the customs, traditions, and structure of everyday life of a particular people.
TO household painting include such famous paintings as “Barge Haulers on the Volga” by I. Repin, “Troika” by V. Perov, “ Unequal marriage» V. Pukireva.
I. Repin “Barge Haulers on the Volga” Epic-mythological genre
Epic-mythological genre. The word myth comes from the Greek. "mythos", which means tradition. The paintings depict events of legends, epics, traditions, ancient greek myths, ancient legends, plots of folklore.
P. Veronese "Apollo and Marsyas" Allegorical genre
Allegorical genre (from the Greek allegoria - allegory). Pictures are painted in such a way that they have hidden meaning. Insubstantial ideas and concepts, invisible to the eye (power, good, evil, love), are transmitted through images of animals, people, and other living beings with such inherent characteristics that have symbolism already fixed in people’s minds and help to understand general meaning works.
L. Giordano “Love and vices disarm justice” Pastoral (from the French pastorale - pastoral, rural)
A genre of painting that glorifies and poetizes simple and peaceful rural life.
F. Boucher “Autumn Pastoral” Caricature (from Italian caricare - to exaggerate)
A genre in which, when creating an image, consciously applies comic effect by exaggerating and sharpening features, behavior, clothing, etc. The purpose of a caricature is to offend, in contrast, for example, to a caricature (from the French charge), the purpose of which is simply to make fun. Closely related to the term “caricature” are such concepts as popular print and grotesque.
Nude (from the French nu - naked, undressed)
The genre in which paintings depict the naked human body is most often female.
Titian Vecellio "Venus of Urbino" Deception, or trompe l'oeil (from French. trompe-l'œil - optical illusion)
Genre, character traits which - special moves, creating an optical illusion and allowing one to erase the line between reality and image, i.e. the misleading impression that an object is three-dimensional when it is two-dimensional. Sometimes blende is distinguished as a subtype of still life, but sometimes people are also depicted in this genre.
Per Borrell del Caso "Running from Criticism" To complete the perception of decoys, it is advisable to consider them in the original, because reproduction is unable to fully convey the effect that the artist depicted.
Jacopo de Barberi "The Partridge and the Iron Gloves" Thematic picture
A mixture of traditional genres of painting (domestic, historical, battle, landscape, etc.). In another way, this genre is called figure composition, its characteristic features are: main role a person plays, the presence of action and a socially significant idea, relationships (conflict of interests/characters) and psychological accents are necessarily shown.
V. Surikov “Boyaryna Morozova” In art there are eternal themes. One of them is the theme of women, the theme of motherhood. Each era has its own ideal of a woman, the entire history of mankind is reflected in how people saw a woman, what myths surrounded her and helped create Her. One thing is certain - in all centuries and times The female character has attracted, is attracting and will continue to attract Special attention artists.
The images of women created in portrait art carry the poetic ideal in the harmonious unity of its spiritual qualities and appearance. From portraits we can judge how a woman’s appearance and her mental makeup are influenced by social events, fashion, literature, art and painting itself.
We present to you various images of women in painting different directions
REALISM
The essence of the direction is to capture reality as accurately and objectively as possible. The birth of realism in painting is most often associated with creativity French artist Gustave Courbet, who opened his personal exhibition “Pavilion of Realism” in Paris in 1855. The opposite of romanticism and academicism. In the 1870s, realism was divided into two main directions - naturalism and impressionism. Naturalists were artists who sought to capture reality as accurately and photographically as possible.
Ivan Kramskoy “Unknown”
Serov "Girl with Peaches"
ACADEMISM
Academicism grew by following external forms classical art. Academicism embodied traditions ancient art, in which the image of nature is idealized. Russian academicism of the first half of the 19th century is characterized by sublime themes, a high metaphorical style, versatility, multi-figures and pomp. Were popular biblical stories, salon landscapes and ceremonial portraits. Despite the limited subject matter of the paintings, the works of the academicians were distinguished by high technical skill.
Bouguereau "Pleiades"
Bouguereau "Mood"
Cabanel "Birth of Venus"
IMPRESSIONISM
Representatives of the style sought to capture the most natural and unbiased real world in its mobility and variability, to convey your fleeting impressions. French impressionism didn't pick it up philosophical problems. Instead, impressionism focuses on superficiality, the fluidity of a moment, mood, lighting, or angle of view. Their paintings presented only the positive aspects of life, did not disturb social problems, and avoided problems such as hunger, disease, and death. Biblical, literary, mythological, and historical subjects inherent in official academicism were discarded. Subjects of flirting, dancing, being in a cafe and theater, boating, on beaches and in gardens were taken. Judging by the paintings of the Impressionists, life is a series of small holidays, parties, pleasant pastimes outside the city or in a friendly environment.
Boldini "Moulin Rouge"
Renoir "Portrait of Jeanne Samary"
Manet "Breakfast on the Grass"
Mayo "RosaBrava"
Lautrec "Woman with an Umbrella"
SYMBOLISM
The Symbolists radically changed not only different kinds art, but also the very attitude towards it. Their experimental character, desire for innovation, cosmopolitanism became a model for the majority modern trends art. They used symbols, understatement, allusions, mystery, enigma. The main mood was often pessimism, reaching the point of despair. Unlike other movements in art, symbolism believes in the expression of “unattainable”, sometimes mystical ideas, images of Eternity and Beauty.
Redon "Ophelia"
Franz von Stuck "Salome"
Watts "Hope"
Rosseti "Persephone"
MODERN
Modernism sought to combine the artistic and utilitarian functions of the created works, to involve all spheres of human activity in the sphere of beauty. As a result, interest in applied arts: interior design, ceramics, book graphics. Art Nouveau artists drew inspiration from art Ancient Egypt and ancient civilizations. The most noticeable feature of Art Nouveau was the abandonment of right angles and lines in favor of smoother, curved lines. Art Nouveau artists often took ornaments from the plant world as the basis for their drawings.
Klimt "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I"
Klimt "Danae"
Klimt "The Three Ages of Woman"
Fly "Fruit"
EXPRESSIONISM
Expressionism is one of the most influential artistic movements XX century. Expressionism arose as a reaction to acute crisis first quarter of the 20th century, First world war and subsequent revolutionary movements, the ugliness of bourgeois civilization, which resulted in a desire for irrationality. Motifs of pain and scream were used, the principle of expression began to prevail over the image.
Modigliani. Using the bodies and faces of women, he tries to penetrate the souls of his characters. “I am interested in the human being. Face - greatest creation nature. I use it tirelessly,” he repeated.
Modigliani "Sleeping Nude"
Schiele "Woman in Black Stockings"
CUBISM
Cubism is a modernist movement in the fine arts (mainly painting) of the 1st quarter of the 20th century, which highlighted the formal task of constructing a three-dimensional form on a plane, minimizing the visual and cognitive functions of art. The emergence of cubism is traditionally dated to 1906-1907 and is associated with the work of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. In general, cubism was a break with the tradition of realistic art that had developed during the Renaissance, including the creation visual illusion world on a plane. The work of the Cubists was a challenge to the standard beauty of salon art, the vague allegories of symbolism, and the instability of impressionist painting. Entering the circle of rebellious, anarchistic, individualistic movements, Cubism stood out among them by its attraction to asceticism of color, to simple, weighty, tangible forms and elementary motifs.
Picasso "The Weeping Woman"
Picasso "Playing the Mandolin"
Picasso "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon"
SURREALISM
The basic concept of surrealism, surreality- combination of dream and reality. To achieve this, the surrealists proposed an absurd, contradictory combination of naturalistic images through collage and moving an object from a non-artistic space to an artistic one, due to which the object opens with unexpected side, properties that were not noticed outside the artistic context appear in it. The surrealists were inspired by radical leftist ideology, but they proposed starting the revolution with their own consciousness. They thought of art as the main instrument of liberation. This direction developed under the great influence of Freud's theory of psychoanalysis. Surrealism was rooted in symbolism and was initially influenced by symbolist artists such as Gustave Moreau and Odilon Redon. Many of the popular artists were surrealists, including René Magritte, Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, Alberto Giacometti.
World history visual arts remembers many amazing incidents related to the creation and subsequent adventures famous paintings. This is because for real artists, life and creativity are too closely connected.
"The Scream" by Edvard Munch
Year of creation: 1893
Materials: cardboard, oil, tempera, pastel
Where is it located: National Gallery,
Famous painting“The Scream” by Norwegian expressionist artist Edvard Munch is a favorite subject of discussion among mystics around the world. Some people think that the painting predicted the terrible events of the 20th century with its wars, environmental disasters and the Holocaust. Others are sure that the picture brings misfortune and illness to its offenders.
Munch’s own life can hardly be called prosperous: he lost many relatives, was repeatedly treated in psychiatric clinic, has never been married.
By the way, the artist reproduced the painting “The Scream” four times.
It is believed that she is the result of manic-depressive psychosis from which Munch suffered. Anyway, the look of a desperate man with a big head, open mouth and hands placed on the face, and today shocks everyone who looks at the canvas.
"The Great Masturbator" by Salvador Dali
Year of creation: 1929
Materials: oil, canvas
Where is it located: Reina Sofia Arts Center,
The general public saw the painting “The Great Masturbator” only after the death of the master of outrageousness and the most famous surrealist Salvador Dali. The artist kept it in his own collection at the Dalí Theater-Museum in Figueres. It is believed that an unusual painting can tell a lot about the author’s personality, in particular about his painful attitude towards sex. However, we can only guess what motives are actually hidden in the picture.
This is akin to solving a rebus: in the center of the picture there is an angular profile looking down, similar either to Dali himself or to a rock on the coast of a Catalan city, and in the lower part of the head a naked woman rises female figure- a copy of the artist’s mistress Gala. The painting also contains locusts, which caused inexplicable fear in Dali, and ants - a symbol of decomposition.
"Family" by Egon Schiele
Year of creation: 1918
Materials: oil, canvas
Where is it located: Belvedere Gallery,
In my time beautiful painting Austrian artist Egon Schiele was called pornography, and the artist was sent to prison for allegedly seducing a minor.
At this price he was given the love of his teacher’s model. Schiele's paintings are one of best examples expressionism, while they are naturalistic and full of frightening despair.
Schiele's models were often teenagers and prostitutes. In addition, the artist was fascinated by himself - his legacy includes many different self-portraits. Schiele painted the canvas “Family” three days before own death, depicting his pregnant wife who died from the flu and their unborn child. Perhaps this is far from the strangest, but definitely the most tragic work of the painter.
“Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer” by Gustav Klimt
Year of creation: 1907
Materials: oil, canvas
Where is: New gallery,
History of creation famous painting Austrian artist Gustav Klimt's “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer” can rightfully be called shocking. The wife of the Austrian sugar magnate Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer became the artist's muse and lover. Wanting to take revenge on both of them, the wounded husband decided to resort to an original method: he ordered a portrait of his wife from Klimt and tormented him with endless nagging, forcing him to make hundreds of sketches. Ultimately, this led to Klimt losing his former interest in his model.
Work on the painting continued for several years, and Adele watched as her lover’s feelings faded away. Ferdinand's insidious plan was never revealed. Today, the "Austrian Mona Lisa" is considered a national treasure of Austria.
“Black Supermatic Square” by Kazimir Malevich
Year of creation: 1915
Materials: oil, canvas
Location: State Tretyakov Gallery,
Almost a hundred years have passed since the Russian avant-garde artist Kazimir Malevich created his famous creation, and debates and discussions still do not stop. Appearing in 1915 at the futuristic exhibition “0.10” in the “red corner” of the hall intended for the icon, the painting shocked the public and forever glorified the artist. True, today few people know that supermatic paintings are non-objective paintings in which color rules the roost, and “Black Square” is actually not black and not square at all.
By the way, one of the versions of the history of the creation of the canvas says: the artist did not have time to finish work on the painting, so he was forced to cover the work with black paint, at that moment his friend came into the workshop and exclaimed: “Brilliant!”
"The Origin of the World" by Gustave Courbet
Year of creation: 1866
Materials: oil, canvas
Where is it located: Orsay Museum,
The painting by the French realist artist Gustave Courbet was considered extremely provocative for a very long time and was not known to the general public for more than 120 years. A naked woman lying on a bed with her legs outstretched still evokes controversial reactions from viewers today. For this reason, at the Orsay Museum, the painting is guarded by one of the employees.
In 2013, a French collector announced that he had stumbled upon the part of the painting in which the sitter’s head was visible in one of the antique shops in Paris. Experts confirmed the assumption that Joanna Hiffernan (Joe) posed for the artist. While working on the painting, she was in love affair with Courbet's student, the artist James Whistler. The picture provoked their separation.
"Man and Woman in Front of a Pile of Excrement" by Joan Miró
Year of creation: 1935
Materials: oil, copper
Where is it located: Joan Miró Foundation,
For a rare viewer, when looking at a painting Spanish artist and the sculptor Joan Miró would have been associated with horror civil war. But it was precisely the period of pre-war anxiety in Spain in 1935 that served as the theme of the film with the promising title “Man and Woman in Front of a Heap of Excrement.” This is a premonition picture.
She depicts an absurd “cave” couple who are drawn to each other, but cannot budge. Enlarged genitals, poisonous colors, scattered figures on dark background- all this predicted, according to the artist, approaching tragic events.
Most of Joan Miró's paintings are abstract and surreal works, and the mood they convey is joyful.
"Water Lilies" by Claude Monet
Year of creation: 1906
Materials: oil, canvas
Where is it located: private collections
Cult painting French impressionist Claude Monet's “Water Lilies” has a bad reputation - it is no coincidence that it is called “fire hazardous”. This series of suspicious coincidences continues to surprise many skeptics. The first incident happened right in the artist’s studio: Monet and his friends were celebrating the completion of a painting when suddenly a small fire broke out.
The painting was saved, and soon it was bought by the owners of a cabaret in Montmartre, but less than a month later, the establishment also suffered from a severe fire. The next “victim” of the canvas was the Parisian philanthropist Oscar Schmitz, whose office caught fire a year after “Water Lilies” were hung there. Once again, the painting managed to survive. This year, a private collector purchased “Water Lilies” for $54 million.
"Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" by Pablo Picasso
Year of creation: 1907
Materials: oil, canvas
Where is the museum contemporary art,
“It feels like you wanted to feed us tow or give us gasoline to drink,” said Picasso’s friend, the artist Georges Braque, about the painting “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.” The canvas really became scandalous: the public adored the artist’s previous, tender and sad works, and the abrupt transition to cubism caused alienation.
The female figures with rough male faces and angular arms and legs were too far from the graceful “Girl on the Ball”.
Friends turned their backs on Picasso; Matisse was extremely dissatisfied with the painting. However, it was “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” that determined not just the direction of development of Picasso’s work, but the future of fine art in general. The original title of the painting was “Philosophical Brothel.”
"Portrait of the Artist's Son" by Mikhail Vrubel
Year of creation: 1902
Materials: watercolor, gouache, graphite pencil, paper
Where is it located: State Russian Museum,
The brilliant Russian artist of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Mikhail Vrubel, succeeded in almost all types of fine art. His first-born Savva was born with a “cleft lip,” which deeply upset the artist. Vrubel depicted the boy in one of his canvases frankly, without trying to hide his congenital deformity.
The gentle tones of the portrait do not make it serene - shock can be read in it. The baby himself is depicted with an amazingly wise, childlike look. Soon after completing the painting, the child died. From that moment in the life of the artist, who was deeply affected by the tragedy, a “black” period of illness and madness began.
Photo: thinkstockphotos.com, flickr.com
Chinese artist and photographer Dong Hong-Oai was born in 1929 and died in 2004 at the age of 75. He left behind incredible works created in the style of pictorialism - amazing photographs similar to the works of traditional Chinese painting.
Dong Hong-Oai was born in 1929 in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. He left the country at seven years after unexpected death your parents.
As the youngest of 24 children, Dong went to live in the Chinese community in Saigon, Vietnam. He later visited China several times, but never lived in that country again.
Upon arriving in Saigon, Dong became an apprentice in a Chinese immigrant photography studio. There he learned the basics of photography. He also fell in love with photographing nature, which he often did using one of the cameras from the studio. In 1950, at the age of 21, he entered the Vietnam National University of Arts.
In 1979, a bloody border opened between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the People's Republic of China. The Vietnamese government began a repressive policy against ethnic Chinese living in the country. As a result, Dong became one of the millions of "boat people" who fled Vietnam in the late 70s and early 80s.
At the age of 50, speaking no English and having no family or friends in the United States, Dong arrived in San Francisco. He was even able to purchase a small room for developing photographs.
By selling his photographs at local street fairs, Dong was able to earn enough money to periodically return to China to photograph.
Moreover, he had the opportunity to study for some time under the guidance of Long Chin-San in Taiwan.
Long Chin-San, who died in 1995 at the age of 104, developed a photography style based on traditional Chinese depictions of nature.
Over the centuries Chinese artists created majestic monochromatic landscapes using simple brushes and inks.
These paintings were not supposed to depict nature exactly, they were supposed to convey the emotional atmosphere of nature. IN last years of the Song Empire and early Yuan Empire, artists began to combine the three on one canvas different shapes arts... poetry, calligraphy and painting.
It was believed that this synthesis of forms allowed the artist to fully express himself.
Long Chin-San, born in 1891, studied precisely this classical tradition in painting. At some point in his long career, Luhn began experimenting with transferring the impressionist style of art into photography.
While maintaining a layered approach to scale, he developed a method of layering negatives that corresponded to three levels of distance. Lung taught this method to Dong.
In an attempt to imitate traditional Chinese style even more closely, Dong added calligraphy to the photographs.
Dong's new works, based on ancient Chinese paintings, began to attract critical attention in the 1990s.
He no longer had to sell his photographs at street fairs; he was now represented by an agent, and his work began to be sold in galleries throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.
He no longer had to depend on individual clients; his works were now sought after not only by private art collectors, but also by corporate buyers and museums. He was about 60 when he achieved some level of financial success for the first time in his life.
Pictorialism is a movement in photography that emerged around 1885 following the extensive presentation of the photography process on wet printing plates. The movement reached its peak at the very beginning of the 20th century, and the period of decline occurred in 1914, after the emergence and spread of modernism.
The terms "pictorialism" and "pictorialist" came into widespread use after 1900.
Pictorialism is concerned with the idea that art photography should imitate paintings and engravings of that century.
Most of these photographs were in black and white or sepia tones. Among the techniques used were: unstable focus, special filters and lens coating, as well as exotic printing processes.
The goal of such techniques was to achieve the “personal expression of the author.”
Despite this goal of self-expression, the best of these photographs ran parallel to the Impressionist style rather than in step with modern painting.
Looking back, one can also see a close parallel between composition and the pictorial subject genre paintings and photographs in the style of pictorialism.
