Art historians have for over a century been writing on the impact and influence of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1876). Leader of the Barbizon School, premiere artist of the Realist Movement, teacher to the young impressionists, and celebrated in his lifetime as one of the greatest painters of his generation. But unlike many of his successors, (Monet, Renoir, Degas, etc.) or his contemporaries, (Manet, Courbet.) Corot is not a house-hold name among the public, and does not usually adorn post cards or coffee cups in the gift shops of major museums, although his work is in almost all of them.
I think the reason for this is that Corot was the anti-artist artist. By the 1880s Victorian Academic painting was "Go-Big or Go-Home" (Gerome, Bouguereau, Alma Tadema, et al.), while the New Modernist art was Avante Garde, ( Impressionism, Symbolism, Art Nouveau, PreRaphaelite, Post-Impressionism, etc.) Corot wasn't any of these, he just made beautiful, little, unassuming paintings.
Whenever I visit a museum, there are invariably one or two Corots. These little canvases are like post cards. Many no bigger than your computer screen. Limited palette, no drama, no showmanship of craft or technique. Just flawless and zen-like composition of texture and form. They tend to get over-looked by the gawking tourists with guided head sets who want to see the Van-Gogh or the Monet, or the giant Seurat painting ("Look, Its just like in Ferris Bueller!" )
Next time you're in a museum, seek out the Corot. I promise that you will not be crowded or bothered. His little paintings will draw you in close and you can just stand as long as you like and quietly enjoy a master painter.
Enjoy-
WOC
©2011 William O'Connor Studios
A lot of students and young artists always ask when they see a complex work like this "Where do you start?" The answer is the same for every painting, at the thumbnail-design stage. Develop a simple design motif. In this example, the aspect of the art description that struck home for me was "Good vs. Evil". That was the heart of the image. As you can see by the attached thumbnail I quickly developed a concept based loosely upon a yin-yang symbol. This motif was reinforced by the idea that as a board game (similar to a chess game) the color coded game pieces of both sides should be given equal prominence. In this instance the description detailed Silver&Blue vs. Black&Red.
Once I have a design established I can start developing details like costumes. This is the part of the process I love the most and I think is the most creative. I often spend several days doodling in my sketchbook developing costume designs. As you can see by the attached sketch, the central figure was originally an elf on a unicorn, which got altered by the designers to a human on a warhorse.
Art historians have for over a century been writing on the impact and influence of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1876). Leader of the Barbizon School, premiere artist of the Realist Movement, teacher to the young impressionists, and celebrated in his lifetime as one of the greatest painters of his generation. But unlike many of his successors, (Monet, Renoir, Degas, etc.) or his contemporaries, (Manet, Courbet.) Corot is not a house-hold name among the public, and does not usually adorn post cards or coffee cups in the gift shops of major museums, although his work is in almost all of them.
