Trivia Tuesday is a weekly feature where I try and stump our readers with interesting art facts. Test your knowledge of the art world and let’s see if you have what it takes to be an art master.

Question: What famous museum hung Matisse’s ‘Le Bateau’ upside-down for 47 days before an art student noticed the error?

[poll id="21"]

**polls close next Tuesday, 7/7/09 and the correct answer will be shared then.

Last week’s poll answer: #3; Medium

Today is Jackson Pollock’s birthday. Google has a special logo for the day that features his iconic style, reminiscent of his Convergence painting.

Shop Jackson Pollock framed prints on Imagekind

Jackson Pollock Biography

Nicknamed “Jack the Dripper,” Pollock would literally drip paint (of the most toxic variety) on his canvases in order to create his paintings. He was the first action painter, meaning that he would drip, pour, throw and splash his paint onto very large canvases which were often laid flat on the floor of his New York studio. Many say he would dance, as though in a trance, as he created his masterpieces.

Number 18 by Jackson Pollock

Born in 1912, Pollock was one of the most influential American Abstract Expressionist painters. By the time of his death on August 11, 1956, his work and example were exerting an enormous influence on his contemporaries both in the United States and western Europe. He was one of the few American painters to be recognized during his lifetime and afterward as the peer of 20th-century European masters of modern art.

Shop Jackson Pollock framed prints on Imagekind

Create your own Jackson Pollock painting

Visit jacksonpollock.org

Here are some Emily and I made!

Pollock by Nate

Emily Loves Jackson by Emily

“Wyeth gave America a prim and flinty view of Puritan rectitude, starchily sentimental, through parched gray and brown pictures of spooky frame houses, desiccated fields, deserted beaches, circling buzzards and craggy-faced New Englanders.” – The New York Times

Cristina’s World by Andrew Wyeth

Andrew Wyeth’s artwork is a sharp contrast to the then widely popular movement of abstract art. Painting at a time with contemporaries such as Jackson Pollock and the infamous Andy Warhol, his style was aptly out of place. But, that is often the exact sentiment that makes his work so enduring.

Rural scenes inspired by his hometown of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania set Wyeth apart from other Modernist artist of the time. Often refered to as “a painter of the people” his work has also “sparked endless debates about the nature of modern art (NYT).”

Master Bedroom by Andrew Wyeth

The muted and somewhat bleak representations of familiar scenes stirs a sense of wonder and mystery as you view Wyeth’s paintings. The juxtaposition between common, usually inviting familial scenes and the emptiness and isolation creates the sense of a displacement that Wyeth often experienced in his own artistic life.

See more Andrew Wyeth artwork on Imagekind.

Visit andrewwyeth.com for additional information about the artist.

Imagekind Corporate Art Sales

We are extremely excited to introduce the new Corporate and Hospitality Art Sales program at Imagekind.

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Contact sales@imagekind.com to setup an art consultation and for more information.

We continue to see the demand interior decorators and designers have in finding high quality framed artwork, at an affordable price. That is why Imagekind launched this service. By creating a one stop shop for framed and canvas artwork, decorators and designers can easily find artwork for businesses, hotels, offices, hospitals, hospitality organizations and other corporate settings.

Shop artwork for your business, office and organization and discover these outstanding advantages:

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Visit Imagekind.com for more information on the Corporate and Hospitality Art Sales program.

The portrait is one of the most striking forms of art. The ability to successfully represent such a complex subject has always astounded me. The portrait predominantly emphasizes a subject’s face and their expressions but is not limited to simply that. The portrait allows the artist to depict visually, what a person is experiencing in any given situation or moment in time.

Image: Tina
Shop Rene Blom’s Imagekind Gallery

Similarly in literature, the term includes not only the physical representation, but also provides insight into a person’s emotional state; including hopes, fears, dreams, etc. The Irish author James Joyce uses this technique excellently and most noticeably in his novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which seeks to delve into the main characters psyche revealing those hidden emotions the outside world cannot see.

Image: Ivyelm – A Dryad
Shop R Michael Rehnborg’s Imagekind Gallery

However, saying this is in no way meant to discount the power that can be displayed visually. Though I don’t necessarily agree that a picture is truly worth a thousand words, I certainly can’t argue with how an artist is able to represent a person’s emotional state so successfully.

Image: The Street as Graphic Novel 43
Shop Steve Gubin’s Imagekind Gallery

If the eyes are the window into a soul, what then is the face? In an effort to bypass sappy wittiness, I will dismiss answering that one. However, it seems that the face provides a much better depiction of one’s emotional state, than eyes alone can provide.

Image: The Show Stopper
Shop Rodolfo Wiesner’s Imagekind Gallery

Though the face often provides the most striking representation, one must not bypass appreciating the surroundings the subject is in. Not only is it the face, body and expression alone that must be contemplated, but also the surroundings. It is often the peripherals (clothes, background, lighting, style, color, etc.) that enhance the appreciation of an excellently composed portrait.

Image: Clown
Shop Chris Norman’s Imagekind Gallery

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is unarguably one of the most famous portraits in all of Western artistry. Another one of the most well known portraits is Vincent Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait. Contrasting those with the iconic depictions of such pop stars as Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe provides a much fuller idea of the variances in portraiture. The portrait spans hundreds of years and though technique and style vary throughout time, the basic tenants of the portrait remain.

Image: F80 – 76, 2008
Shop Mike Orduña’s Imagekind Gallery

Whether the effort is subconscious or not, the portrait depicts a person visually in such a way as to express the emotional, cultural, societal essence of the subject. It is the artists that can capture these best that provide some of the most brilliant artistic portraits.

Image: … Melihah…
Shop Juliana Maz’s Imagekind Gallery

Though there are obvious similarities in portraitures, there can also be differences. For example, what is the difference between a portrait, and a candid photograph? Are there similarities? This makes me wonder what other types of portrait styles there are.

Have other inspiring or striking portraits? Share them.

Nate