Fauvism & Silent Cinema

Les maudits

• Modigliani

My first reaction to this, and I must say it, Modigliani looks like a serial killer in the photograph. 

Just like when we saw 'poetes maudits', from the name you expect the paintings to be very crazy, dark and interesting, and unlike the poets, I think this has actually fulfilled that name.

Modigliani's portraits are very interesting and dark because they do not have bright colors. Also, I like very the way he made the faces and their necks. It is very interesting style and sort of mysterious; although, it was probably all the drugs, but they are still amazing.

Also in his portraits the brushwork looks very messy in some of them like in 'Chaim Soutine', and I like that. Also I love the blood red colors.

Whenever I know that a painting caused a scandal and was banned by the police and confiscated I know I'm going to like it. And although I don't lke very much the nude painting, it is very realistic and harsh in certain aspects that aren't pleasant at all, that we have in reality, which he could've omitted in a painting but its a great painting.

• Soutine

One of my favourite painters so far in this course. I do not like the idea of painting food, but 'Carcass of Beef' woman in red and Plane Trees at Ceret are just amazing. Especially the beef. I loved it so much I would in fact like one in my house or room. It is so violent and I love the contrast of the colors and the abstract background and how it seems the blood is spilling on the left and the intensity of that red and although blood isn't so bright, this is an amazing painting

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After seeing Modigliani's portrait of him, I would't imagine that that guy painted such amazing and violent paintings.

• Valadon

Her paintings are great but I having trouble giving her much credit because she probably had the skill and everything but she didn't develop a style of her own at all, but she was entirely influenced by other great painters.

Even so, I like a lot the brightness of her paintings and the way it looks both realistic and like cartoons. Just like in 'The two bathers' in which they look realistic but at the same time more like cartoons because of the outline and the color. And when it comes to nude paintings and art I find it more interesting when they are not beautiful or perfect in any way like depictions of Venus and godesses, such as this one.

• Utrillo

His paintings are very realistic and good, but in my opinion they are the least interesting of les maudits, because they are very calm and bright and smooth brushwork which and too realistic. And all of these things add up to not draw too much attention to a painting.

Wild men of Music

• Igor Stravinsky

The fact that he had 'periods' in his career, I think is what is the most correct to do. When you do the same thing for your entire life, it may still be interesting and good and all but it won't shock people or cause disturb anymore, because they've gotten used to it or something. 

I don't usually like ballet, maybe because I can't understand it and mainly because what the do and how they move, at least 99.87% of the time has nothing to do with anything and it is very weird. Sometimes it is interesting to watch but most of the time it won't make sense at all and 'The rite of spring' is not the exception. But it is wild and a bit different which makes it interesting and nice in some moments.

Silent Cinema

I think motion pictures at that time must've been very interesting subject. I think is must've been to them as what we think now of flying cars, but they did it! and I hope flying cars as well. And silent cinema is very interesting and even today because you fill in in your head and the movie is not the same, something you can't do today. Now, in my opinion it doesn't really matter who got there first because we can't know for sure, but the Autochrome color photographs look amazingly good. It looks like a picture taken yesterday with a huge high-tech camera, and the program of 50 second films must have been amazing to watch when you didn't think a picture could move.

Its is in fact amazing how far we've come and how fast because prior to the 1880's there was probably not even beginnings of movied and nothing had been done for all those years befor 1880, but once the first ones were made it blew up and in less than 40 years we had movies which were longer, looked better, had color had better plot and weren't so complicated to produce anymore. 

Nosferatu from 1922, a movie I've watched several times, just 20 years later is more than an hour long and the detail is much better since the movie shows more real thing, unlike Le voyage dans la lune which looks quite fake.