Manet Week wraps up with my final recreation(s) of "A Bar the the Folies-Bergere" by Edouard Manet, 1881-82.
This is my favorite, simplest one. I made the customer into a friend reading aloud.
BELOW is the one I posted on Instagram (with a crop of the original painting, right) at #toysrecreatepaintings:
I like the simplicity of my first one, top, but I love the way I changed the story in the second one. The bartender's glazed look reminds me of how I feel when I cashier:
TOO MANY HUMANS ON ME!
I wanted to rescue her.
As I wrote on IG:
The harassed and overheated bartender is now the (self-portrait?) painter. (Her paintbrush reads “Primary Artist”.)
And her customer is a friend reading to her. What is Rat reading, do you think?
The oranges became a persimmon because I happened to see them at the co-op yesterday. They're ideally sized and colored, and they're somewhat exotic in Minnesota (where I am), as oranges were in Manet’s Paris.
I didn’t even attempt the mirror— I set this up at dawn in my bedroom window.
I'll post an IG round-up at the end of the day. Jump in and make one too, if you like.
Here we go! Five Manets, including the complete Bar Linda Sue posted on her blog.
BELOW (top row): Sur L'herbe, literally! by Sarah W.--it rewards a closer look on her IG.
Amy S's. Cabbie version.
TOO MANY HUMANS ON ME!
I wanted to rescue her.
As I wrote on IG:
The harassed and overheated bartender is now the (self-portrait?) painter. (Her paintbrush reads “Primary Artist”.)
And her customer is a friend reading to her. What is Rat reading, do you think?
The oranges became a persimmon because I happened to see them at the co-op yesterday. They're ideally sized and colored, and they're somewhat exotic in Minnesota (where I am), as oranges were in Manet’s Paris.
I didn’t even attempt the mirror— I set this up at dawn in my bedroom window.
I'll post an IG round-up at the end of the day. Jump in and make one too, if you like.
Here we go! Five Manets, including the complete Bar Linda Sue posted on her blog.
BELOW (top row): Sur L'herbe, literally! by Sarah W.--it rewards a closer look on her IG.
Amy S's. Cabbie version.
ABOVE: My "Bar", left, and bink's, right. (She got the bottle in Santiago, Spain, and the customer in the mirror is Daryl from The Walking Dead.)
I'm so glad bink's been able to play every week, despite her ongoing concussion. She has to do her recreations fast, before her brain punishes her, but that works!
What painting shall we recreate next?
Suggestions welcome.
A couple people have told me that once a week is too much. That’s okay—jump in on any of the paintings, anytime…
No deadlines! NO RULES.
________________
It surprises me how interesting it's been, making these recreations--it's really made me think...
What makes something interesting? Attractive?
How do stories come across in images, with no words?
I thought I'd be most interested in taking good photos and setting up re-creations. I shouldn't be surprised, really, but I'm more interested in the stories.
I made my first recreation--"Christina's World"--just because the neighbor's drought-dry hill across the street looked like the landscape of the painting. I tried to get my version close to the original.
Now if I were to recreate Wyeth's painting, I'd add some story element. I don't know what--a croquet ball gone missing? (That just popped into my head.)
[I never cared for that painting, beyond admiring its technical aspects. Without knowing the backstory (the woman lost the use of her legs, and she locomotes by pulling herself with her arms), it's just... what?
I suppose that's why people like it--they can imagine their own story.
But I don't like any story I can think of to go with it...]
It was great to spend the week with Manet--I recreated four of his paintings, and the Bundle and Sprig of Asparagus pleases me as much as anything I've done.
The woman who suggested Manet, Amy S., is sick and doesn't think she'll be able to recreate her painting of choice, "Déjeuner sur L'Herbe", which is complicated.
She was thinking of doing the easier Olympia.
For her to set up a Black Cabbage Patch doll serving a naked white Cabbie... That struck me as odd, and I commented that that's a little problematic re race... (Not that Déjeuner isn't problematic re gender.)
She wrote back explaining Manet in art historical terms.
BUT THAT'S THE THING:
the viewer doesn't know the art history--and shouldn't HAVE to know--or the character's backstory, or anything.
Similar to movie-making, the visual story shouldn't need outside explanations.
That's what I think.
I'm so glad bink's been able to play every week, despite her ongoing concussion. She has to do her recreations fast, before her brain punishes her, but that works!
What painting shall we recreate next?
Suggestions welcome.
A couple people have told me that once a week is too much. That’s okay—jump in on any of the paintings, anytime…
No deadlines! NO RULES.
________________
It surprises me how interesting it's been, making these recreations--it's really made me think...
What makes something interesting? Attractive?
How do stories come across in images, with no words?
I thought I'd be most interested in taking good photos and setting up re-creations. I shouldn't be surprised, really, but I'm more interested in the stories.
I made my first recreation--"Christina's World"--just because the neighbor's drought-dry hill across the street looked like the landscape of the painting. I tried to get my version close to the original.
Now if I were to recreate Wyeth's painting, I'd add some story element. I don't know what--a croquet ball gone missing? (That just popped into my head.)
[I never cared for that painting, beyond admiring its technical aspects. Without knowing the backstory (the woman lost the use of her legs, and she locomotes by pulling herself with her arms), it's just... what?
I suppose that's why people like it--they can imagine their own story.
But I don't like any story I can think of to go with it...]
It was great to spend the week with Manet--I recreated four of his paintings, and the Bundle and Sprig of Asparagus pleases me as much as anything I've done.
The woman who suggested Manet, Amy S., is sick and doesn't think she'll be able to recreate her painting of choice, "Déjeuner sur L'Herbe", which is complicated.
She was thinking of doing the easier Olympia.
For her to set up a Black Cabbage Patch doll serving a naked white Cabbie... That struck me as odd, and I commented that that's a little problematic re race... (Not that Déjeuner isn't problematic re gender.)
She wrote back explaining Manet in art historical terms.
BUT THAT'S THE THING:
the viewer doesn't know the art history--and shouldn't HAVE to know--or the character's backstory, or anything.
Similar to movie-making, the visual story shouldn't need outside explanations.
That's what I think.
How do you make a free-standing visual story?
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