Artists and their work

Leonardo da Vinci was born April 15, 1452 and died May 2, 1519. he was an Italian Renaissance architect, musician, anatomist, inventor, engineer, sculptor, geometer, and painter. He was described as the archetype of the "Renaissance man" and as a universal genius. Leonardo is famous for his masterly paintings, such as The Last Supper and Mona Lisa. He is also known for designing many inventions that anticipated modern technology, although few of these designs were constructed in his lifetime. In addition, he helped advance the study of anatomy, astronomy, and civil engineering. Renaissance humanism saw no mutually exclusive polarities between sciences and arts.
Leonardo often planned grandiose paintings with many drawings and sketches, only to leave the projects unfinished. For example, in 1481 he was commissioned to paint the altarpiece The Adoration of the Magi. After extensive, ambitious plans and many drawings, the painting was left unfinished and Leonardo left for Milan. Of his paintings, only seventeen survived. None of his sculptures have survived.


Leonardo was and is renowned primarily as a painter. Among his works, the Mona Lisa is most famous and most parodied portrait and The Last Supper the most reproduced religious painting of all time, with their fame approached only by Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam. Leonardo's drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon, being reproduced on everything from the euro to text books to t-shirts. Perhaps fifteen of his paintings survive, the small number due to his constant, and frequently disastrous, experimentation with new techniques, and his chronic procrastination.Nevertheless, these few works, together with his notebooks, which contain drawings, scientific diagrams, and his thoughts on the nature of painting, compose a contribution to later generations of artists only rivalled by that of his contemporary, Michelangelo.

Leonardo was a painter so all of his art work was done using paints, which were mainlly watercolors as his paintings were very detailed.

Picasso
Picasso was born 25 October 1881 and died 8 April 1973. He was a Spanish painter, draughtsman and sculptor who lived most of his life in France. He is best known for co-founding the Cubist movement, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and worked in. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) and Guernica (1937), a portrayal of the German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.
Picasso demonstrated uncanny artistic talent in his early years, painting in a realistic manner through his childhood and adolescence; during the first decade of the 20th century his style changed as he experimented with different theories, techniques, and ideas. His revolutionary artistic accomplishments brought him universal renowned and immense fortune, making him one of the best-known figures in 20th century art.

Picasso went through a prodigious number of styles - realism, caricature, the Blue Period, and the Rose Period. The Blue Period dates from 1901 to 1904 and is characterized by a predominantly blue palette and subjects focusing on outcasts, beggars, and prostitutes. This was when he also produced his first sculptures. The most poignant work of the style is in Cleveland's Museum of Art, La Vie (1903), which was created in memory of a great childhood friend, the Spanish poet Casagemas, who had committed suicide. The painting started as a self-portrait, but Picasso's features became those of his lost friend. The composition is stilted, the space compressed, the gestures stiff, and the tones predominantly blue. Another outstanding Blue Period work, of 1903, is in the Metropolitan, The Blind Man's Meal. Yet another example, perhaps the most lyrical and mysterious ever, is in the Toledo Museum of Art, the haunting Woman with a Crow (1903).

By the late 30,s Picasso was the most famous artists in the world. He was called upon to depict the brutality of fascist aggression in the Spanish Civil War with his monumental “Guernica”
Many other paintings from this period reflect the horror of war, but there is a consistent depiction of personal interest as well. The women in Picasso's life had a major impact on his artistic production, and some of the best examples are from this period.



A J Callan

A J Callan was born in Glasgow in 1958. His childhood was surrounded by the new confidence and optimism of 60's Britain. Carnaby Street, the Beatles and jobs for everyone! He was constantly exposed to new ideas, sounds and fashions. Everyone was encouraged to let their imagination run free. From a young age he immersed himself in art. He was just as happy sitting with a drawing pad for hours on end as he was playing football with my brothers. His mother was responsible for my interest in art; being an avid crossword fan she used to doodle whilst solving the cryptic clues and he picked up on this from an early age. At school he was as excited about the art lessons as he was about dinner time.

In every day situations, A J tended to take mental snapshots of inanimate and animate subjects. It might be a knowing glance between two people or a reaction to a surprise. He had frequent brainstorming sessions, often with a glass of red wine in his hand - it is amazing how many of these snapshots then resurface for use in my sketches! His work combines the real and the imaginary and this is reflected in the finished pieces. His early inspirations are wide and varied, from seeing the Yellow Submarine animation as a child, to reading about Leonardo Da Vinci at school.


He produced masses of rough sketches in short energetic bursts. he had a good idea in his mind of colour schemes but he tried not to be too specific before the event. This prevented him from stifling the creative process during execution of the finished item. he went through a range of emotions when working. Excitement is always first when an idea pops into my head. Anxiety and fear follows closely as the illustration starts to build.

This is where his experience and confidence is required to see it through. He learned to trust his instincts. Finally there is exhilaration when the finished picture matches my expectations. He frequently walked away from his work during production to stay fresh and objective. Once each piece is finished, he leaves it for a couple of days before re-visiting it. This is when he will make tweaks where necessary.