Art

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/55012196

Iraq. 2017.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/55011606

Before 1790 Watercolor and gouache over graphite on medium, smooth white vellum.

My favourite bird and one of my favourite animals.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54974619

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54974618

This bronze sculpture depicts a horse from the Ferghana Valley, known for its hardiness and reputed to “sweat blood.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54962441

A Egyptian bone panel of a ‘Pudica’ (modest) type Venus from the 4th-6th century.

She has similar features to more ancient counterparts, and adopts a symbolic pose with longstanding relevance. But in her squat body and stylised face, we can see the shifts that many art historians herald as the beginnings of “Early Medieval” art, as opposed to the high naturalism of “Classical” art.

Images like this one therefore remind us that the transition from the “pagan” to the “Christian” world was neither seamless, cohesive, nor immediate.

Late Antiquity marked a point where people experimented with form and function in art, in order to create new meanings and uses. But it also saw continuity and repetition; the preservation of ancient ways of life & being encoded in the preservation of artistic forms.

This is why studying the Late Antique world is so fascinating. It shows how change and tradition could exist alongside one another, and indeed influence one another.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54962199

A 4th century coin pendant from Pakistan, which features a portrait that is supposedly derived from images of Constantine I !!!

This pendant hails from the central Asian region known in the ancient world as Bactria, encompassing modern-day Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

The relationship between the Mediterranean and Bactria is best known to the modern world through the campaigns of Alexander ‘The Great’ of Macedon. It was here he famously married Roxana, daughter of the Satrap of Bactria, Oxyartes. This story was popular for later Byzantines, often forming a central element of the “Alexander Romances” tradition.

Clearly, as both this pendant and the continued interest in the region into the late Byzantine period show, Bactria — which later included the famous Sogdian Empire within its territory — retained strong links with the Greco-Roman world. And, of course, Bactria was in close contact with its successive Persian and Arabic neighbours & conquerors, too.

How amazing to see tangible evidence of the power of the Silk Roads & the importance of historical cross-cultural communication and exchange.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54961782

https://open.substack.com/pub/travelsofsamwise/p/the-emperor-and-the-dodo?r=1wlet9

I honestly want everyone to read this and subscribe to the incredible historian that is Sam Dalrymple. Son of the legendary historian William Dalrymple.

I have previously told stories of and posted pictures of other animal paintings from Jahangirs court. (Mughal emperor)

In 1958, a group of Soviet ornithologists stumbled across something extraordinary in the vaults of the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg: a Mughal painting of a dodo.

The painting, dated to around 1610 was swiftly attributed to the master painter Ustad Mansur, and when it was unveiled.

The stories are amazing. Do give it a read, I cannot recommend it enough.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54831308

MANSUR WHAT A MAN.

The artist Mansur was able to capture not only the physical texture of living, breathing birds and animals, but also a sense of their inherent nature. However, concepts of naturalism and realism, so revered in Western art of the period, were by no means the primary concern of Mughal painting.

The Mughal Emperors Akbar and Jahangir (r. 1605–27) commissioned their artists to paint likenesses of birds and animals, particularly those which they found striking or unusual, primarily for documentary purposes. Jahangir noted in his memoirs that the chameleon ‘constantly changes colour’, a peculiarity which is perhaps hinted at in this painting of the small, slow-moving reptile with the turquoise-green tones of its skin used again in the leaves of the branch where they merge with yellowing hues.

The specific species recorded in the painting is the Chamaeleo zeylanicus, native to southern India and Sri Lanka, and this is likely to be the earliest instance of its being documented pictorially. Mansur accurately depicts the precise details of its anatomy: the crested head, abdominal ribs and scaled contours, even capturing the white stripe that runs along its throat and belly. Its face is in profile but its protruding eye is swivelled back, gaze firmly fixed on the insect hovering nearby. It clings to the branch with its clenched feet and the tip of its coiled tail, perfectly poised to project its sticky tongue towards its prey.

Mansur’s painting positions the chameleon in an appropriately arboreal context, yet this setting may not derive purely from scientific observation. The earliest Mughal natural history paintings closely relate to Chinese bird and flower paintings on silk, the standard configurations of which may have influenced Mansur’s choice of composition.

Mansur was Jahangir’s leading natural history painter. The Emperor bestowed on him the honorific Nadir al-Asr, ‘Wonder of the Age’, recording in his memoirs that ‘in the art of painting [Mansur] is unique in his time’. In addition to his acute powers of observation, Mansur is still celebrated for his extraordinary handling of paint, here demonstrated in particular by the tiny impasto dots simulating the surface of the chameleon’s skin. On very close inspection a gold crescent is visible, creating a glint in the reptile’s eye. Jahangir often inscribed Mansur’s name onto the master’s paintings himself and a note, now largely erased, written close to the right edge of the painting, may be in the Emperor’s hand.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54830045

Another of the mughal court painters. During Akbar's era. Around 1600.

Beautiful colours.

Alluding to his wisdom, this white-clad Jain monk carries a manuscript under his left arm, bound with a red cover. Otherwise he carries a Jain monk’s basic accouterments: whisk broom, staff, and pot.

This sensitively painted portrait was made for the collection of the Mughal emperor Akbar who was curious about the tenets of Jainism. He admired the explanations of the Jain monks who regularly attended the emperor’s weekly discussion sessions among members of different religious groups.

Inscriptions: This inscription has been partially erased. It may have been written by the Mughal emperor Jahangir, since it appears to be in his distinctively large hand. Four Jain monks whose name end in -chandra were prominent participants in the Mughal court: Shantichandra, his disciple Bhanuchandra, Jinachandra, and Siddhichandra. This portrait probably depicts one of them. Bhanuchandra was close to Akbar's sons, Salim (who became the emperor Jahangir) and Daniyal. Siddhichandra received the Persian appellation "Jahangir Pasand" (Jahangir's Favorite).

Btw calligraphy in eastern and particularly Muslim art is just as important an artform as the painting itself.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54829459

I mentioned fauvism to a fellow lemming and hence had to post smth by Matisse.

https://www.henrimatisse.org/bathers-by-a-river.jsp

Here's some words about the painting itself. Good read.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54773197

Lithograph. 1991.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54771505

And how could I forget my own Lemmy profile picture.

Selim and Zuleika.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bride_of_Abydos Best read this.

Very worthy of a deep dive.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54771311

The greatest painter of loneliness ever.

Oil on canvas. 1808.

Much has been written about this. I can add nothing of value here. A single google search will get you a lot more

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54768094

You can see the Danish and European style very clearly in contrast to my recent posts I'm sure. But we do end up with a beautiful image.

Personally I LOVE the Danish style of this era and Pederson in particular.

I'll stop now. I feel like I'm spamming this community now lol.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54767785

~1590 Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

The Kathasaritsagara (Ocean of the Streams of Stories) is a vast anthology of hundreds of folk stories and fairy tales compiled in Sanskrit by the Kashmiri poet Somadeva in 1063–1081. Derived from earlier literary sources, the embellished tales were told by Somadeva for the diversion of Suryamati (or Suryavati), the queen of King Ananta of Kashmir (r. 1028–1063). The text was translated into Persian by Mustafa Khaliqdad ‘Abbasi for the Mughal Emperor Akbar (r. 1556–1605), but only about a dozen illustrated leaves are extant. The known leaves are cropped and have the Persian text on the reverse.

This folio illustrates the story of the celestial nymph Somaprabha from Chapter 17 of the text. Born on earth because of a curse, Somaprabha is married to the merchant Guhachandra of Pataliputra (modern Patna in Bihar) on the condition that they refrain from sleeping together. Each night, however, Somaprabha mysteriously leaves the house to return at dawn. With the help of a charm given to him by a Brahman, Guhachandra gains the help of Agni, the God of Fire. That night, Agni and Guhachandra take the form of bees and follow Somaprabha. In the forest they discover her listening to heavenly music with another beautiful nymph. Agni advises Guhachandra to dally with a courtesan, which makes Somaprabha jealous and arouses her passion.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54766803

1920s

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54766801

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54765720

~1870 Five men dressed in traditional garments, performing the Indian mango trick with a mango plant, a wicker basket, and musical instruments.

I love playing with lines in composition and this piece does it well.

Ask me not what this trick is.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54765027

Kenneth Victor Young, Untitled, 1973, acrylic on canvas.

I've always been interested in . . . outer space, inner space, and the development of what occurs--force, magnetism, and that kind of thing.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54764812

Ink and color on paper. 1981

https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/two-swallows/AwFg1zlk4qWocg?hl=en_GB

I'm sorry for a google link but the info there about the painting and artist are great.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54763963

Contemporary art in Pakistan was a renaissance and there were many paintings depicting villages filled with devotion.

For A Song is a gorgeous piece that celebrates music, which was another key theme in Chughtai’s work.

The browns, maroons and whites are soft on the eyes.

The blurry hue gives this painting a dream-like feel.

The curve of the bodies and straight-edged lines of the building help create a dramatic masterpiece

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54763963

Contemporary art in Pakistan was a renaissance and there were many paintings depicting villages filled with devotion.

For A Song is a gorgeous piece that celebrates music, which was another key theme in Chughtai’s work.

The browns, maroons and whites are soft on the eyes.

The blurry hue gives this painting a dream-like feel.

The curve of the bodies and straight-edged lines of the building help create a dramatic masterpiece

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54763856

Omar Khayyam was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet.

Born in Iran, Khayyam made substantial advancements in algebra, geometry, and astronomy.

Chughtai was mesmerised by certain figures that had a notable impact on society and their respective fields.

He used his artwork to pay tribute to these idols, celebrating the nature of life and appreciating an evolving world.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54763816

The motif of a young woman contemplating the glow of a lamp is a recurring theme in Chughtai’s work, particularly in the initial three decades of his career.

The image can be interpreted literally: a solitary maiden sits, perhaps anticipating the arrival of her beloved or gazing into the flame while reminiscing about him.

This sentiment is echoed in a Ghalib couplet that Chughtai paired with a similar piece:

“She was waiting alone all night.

“Only the lamp kept her company and now the lamp has gone out.”

However, in the realm of poetry, the flame also serves as a metaphor for the beloved, symbolising the irresistibility of the object of their desire.

Ghalib is one of the most important literary figures in South Asia btw.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/54763664

meticulous attention devoted to illustrating the architecture of the columns and their arches in the background.

Some of the most beautiful color work in the lahori oriental style. Hes a master of his craft