Vaimasima Molioo

Art 301
10/29/13

LACMA
(Los Angeles County Museum Of Art)

After, viewing tons of art I felt that three artist were the most interesting. The first artist is
Camille Pissaro, who created , "Place du Theatre Francais". The second is Jay Defeo, who created, "The
Jewel," and the third is Wassily Kandinsky, who created , " Melodious". These three artists defer greatly
in their styles; however, each caught my eye for different reasons, such as; The Jewel, which was coming
off the canvas because the work was built up, and was literally coming off the canvas. Kandinsky was
interesting because it had an abstract idea, but seemed very symmetrical, giving it a math influenced
feel, and lastly Pissaro's piece was warm and inviting, invigorating the desire to travel to Paris. My focus
will be to explore each artist, and their work.
Place du Theatre Francais by Camille Pissaro
Firstly, Camille Pissaro was born in France, on July 10, 1830. The artist style is French Danish
impressionism, and neo impressionism, and he was also know as, " The Dean of Impressionist," because
he was the leading force in Impressionism at the time in France. He was also the only artist to have
shown his work at all eight of the Impressionist exhibitions, from 1874-1886.
Camille Pissaro, was an Impressionist which started around the early 19th century, by a group of
Paris artist. The style focused on small, thin , yet visible brush strokes, open composition, accurate
depiction of light, and ordinary subject matter. Contrasting to Neo Impressionism which believed in,
disciplined networks of dots to install a sense of organization and permanence.
The work , "Place du Theatre Francais," is a depiction of an ordinary space in Paris. The work was
completed in 1898, done in oil, done on canvas, and done in the Impressionist style. The captured scene
is a normal city space, and the perspective is out of a hotel window, in which the artist painted from.
Due to the declining health of the artist this work, and several others were painted in a hotel room while
looking through the window.
The Jewel by Jay Defeo
Jay Defeo was born in 1929, in New Hampshire. Jay Defeo believed in Abstract Expressionism,
and she resisted any idea of a hierarchy of materials, she believed in mixing media to experiment with
effects. She explored many media including; drawings, paintings on paper, photographs, photocopies,
collages, photo collages and paintings. One of her most famous pieces was titled, "The Rose".
Jay Defeo believed in Abstract Expressionism, which was first applied in American painting
around the early 1940's. The emphasis of this style was on spontaneous, automatic subconscious
creation. The style has striking similarties with artist such as Jackson Pollick, and Wassily Kandinsky. In
Pollicks work he believed in using dripping paint, and Kandinsky used many abstract ideas such as, using
shapes, and real objects together creating his own abstract idea.
The Jewel is an interesting piece because it seems alive. Viewing this a piece at a distance, it's
easy to feel its presence because the work is coming off the canvas, literally! This work contains many
warm colors such as, hues of browns and reds. There is also an explosion of paint, and richness. The
Jewel has a thickness to it because Defeo used paint as if it were plaster, building it up into a mass on
the canvas.
Melodious by Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky was born on December 16, 1866 in Russia. Kandinsky was a painter, and also
a art theorist. Kandinsky was from the expressionist and abstract school of thought, that closely related
to Jay Defeo. Kandinsky loved shapes, most of his painting contained a wide variety of shapes, and arcs,
but his most favorite shape was the circle.
Melodious was completed on 1924, and was done on paper in watercolor and ink. This painting
fell in line with his beliefs in abstract art. The painting has a variety of shapes including, triangles, circles,
half circles, rectangles, and squares. The positioning of all the shapes have no traceable reasoning, and
they are also layered on top of each other, primarily in the middle of the piece and then on the sides the
shapes are placed here and there. The shapes also contain color, in some cases the color is outlining the
shape or the shape is colored in. The painting also includes random lines, that are placed in a
geometrical way, like if he was bisecting the shapes.
Overall, the experience at LACMA was interesting, and the three works that I choose were great
pieces, even though each of the pieces were very different. Each of these pieces caught my eye for
different reasons, such as: the abstract expressionism of TheJewel, the use of different shapes and
colors, and lastly the warm inviting colors and scenary of Place du Theatre Francais. This shows that
LACMA contains many different types of pieces, and that it's a fantastic place to go because of its variety.
From the point of view of learning, these pieces have taught me a ton about different styles, and what
they mean, and how each artist prescribes to different schools of thought, which greatly affects their
work. Lastly, this experience has taught me that art pieces are dynamic, and they have lives and legacies
of their own.