Dying for a drink? 10 refreshments on canvas by famous artists

Summer is hot, work tiresome – it’s time for a break and a drink! (more…)

10 sky paintings by famous artists

Can you identify 10 artists  just by looking at these sky cutouts? I am giving you a hint by putting them in chronological order. Good luck! (more…)

If Käthe Kollwitz had tweeted 100 years ago

The artist Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) kept a diary from September 1908 to 1943. What if Twitter had already existed? In this blog post I want to show what her Twitter feed could have looked like in 1917. The suggestions are based on her diary. I must say – I would certainly have followed her tweets!

Käthe Kollwitz, Weberaufstand, 1898

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 01.01.1917

The bells. (…) We wish for peace. (…) We wish to stay together and keep our strength to work. #1917 #HappyNewYear

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 21.01.1917

Started work very hesitantly. #Memorial

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 01.02.1917

Visited @MillySteger in her studio. She is very pleasant and her work is intense. #FF

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 02.02.1917

Now working on the Father. I am making quite good progress although I am tired and sometimes not at all well. #sculpture #Memorial

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 04.02.1917

War with America! And it’s bitterly cold all over Europe and no coal anywhere. #Winter #GodHelpUs

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 09.02.1917

Interrupted my work on the Father today due to external circumstances and started the plaster cast of the Mother. #Memorial

 

KKollwitz Retweeted

Luther @Luther 26.02.1917

Life is not health but getting healthy, not being but becoming, not relaxation but exercise. #wisdom

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz February 1917

@Tolstoi Striving for perfection (…) often appears strange to me. And as something that upsets the colourfulness of the individual.

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz February 1917

Strength! That means to take life as it is and to do your work undefeated with all your energy – without complaint and without too much crying. #Nietzsche

 

KKollwitz Retweeted

Angelus Silesius @Angelus Feb 1917

O Man, become essential! #BeingHuman

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 13.03.1917

Reply @Goethe “… that only by coming together can mankind be truly human, and that the individual can only be joyful and happy when he has the courage to become aware of himself in his entirety.”

A fitting comment for the present time, as if someone were to speak of a beautiful view in the thickest mist or in the darkest night.

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 18.05.197

After Easter intense work for the exhibition. It opened Monday 16th. The exhibition was a great success. @PaulCassirer #BerlinerSezession

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz Juni 1917

The journal @Simplizissimus published a picture: Death sitting down exhausted with his hands before his face: “People stop! I can’t go on.” #StopWar

Simplizissimus

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz Juni 1917

Again weeks since I last wrote. Not a good time. I am distracted. Can’t work.

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 18.07.1917

Work is going well. (…) Thought of #Parents – and that it could stand at Peter’s grave. (…) It should actually be at the entrance: Here lies German Youth.  #StopWar

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 26.07.1917

Work still going well. I am working without effort and without fatigue. As if the mists have cleared. #Memorial

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 09.07.1917

My 50th birthday. Quite different from what I had imagined. Where are my boys? But I had a good day anyway, life is not so bad at the moment. #50Years

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 15.07.1917

Plaster Work on the #Mother. I am finally getting into this plaster work and I am beginning to understand the material and the tools (…). #Memorial

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz August 1917

I feel I am getting close to something. #Memorial 

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 30.08.1917

Just read Gorki’s Childhood. How bitter and how sad. The grandmother is wonderful though! #Gorki #Literatur

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 09.09.1917

I can see more clearly that I am on the right path. But also that it will still take me years to finish Peter’s work. #Parents #grief

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 10.10.1917

A whole month without writing anything. (…) Then a week in Lubochin. Memories of Peter everywhere. #grief

 

KKollwitz Retweeted

Stefan George @StGeorge 17.10.1917

Der alte Gott der schlachten ist nicht mehr.

Erkrankte welten fiebern sich zu ende

In dem getob. Heilig sind nur die säfte

Noch makelfrei versprizt – ein ganzer strom. #StopWar

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 06.11.1917

Visited the #Barlach exhibition which is very fine. @PaulCassirer #BerlinerSezession

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 16.11.1917

Is my sculpture also only transposed drawing? Its own feeling for form? #ContemporaryArt

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 17.11.1917

What I now vaguely feel is the symbolism of art. What sort of things used to satisfy me! #ContemporaryArt

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 23.11.1917

Römer: “Your Impressionists are also ex by now.” Cassirer: “Then we call them Expressionists and they are new again.” #Humour #BerlinerSezession

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 24.11.1917

Was @ProfWenck ‘ s studio earlier on. (…) I lost a little bit of courage. I shall never be able to work like that. I shall have to find myself in sculpture first. #ContemporaryArt

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz Nov 1917

(…) Started with the small sculpture #Parents.  Spent today planning what will probably be a new etching.

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 17.12.1917

I am full of hope that something new is coming into my drawing and etching. This can only be more simplicity. #ContemporaryArt

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 17.12.1917

Today I made a drawing of Father and Mother sitting at the Christmas tree. #Christmas

Käthe Kollwitz, Eltern am Weihnachtsbaum (Foto: Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum Köln)

Käthe Kollwitz, Eltern am Weihnachtsbaum

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 31.12.1917

On my own at New Year’s Eve for the first time in 26 years. Karl in hospital. Hans in Focsani, Peter gone forever. #NewYearsEve

 

Käthe Kollwitz @KKollwitz 31.12.1917

What has this year brought us? (…) It has not brought peace. It has always taken and taken. Taken people and taken faith, taken hope. #1917

English by Andrea & Graham Buckland


Photos:

Cover: K. Kollwitz, Trauernde Eltern (Grieving Parents), a memorial for Peter, 1914-1931. Now in Vladslo, Belgium – copyright: public domain

K. Kollwitz: Ein Weberaufstand: Weberzug,
Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) 1897.
Etching, 21,6 x 29,5 cm;
Cologne, Käthe Kollwitz Museum.

Portrait K. Kollwitz (Detail), Photografy Robert Sennecke – copyright: public domain

R. Blix, Der Tod von Flandern, in:  Simplicissimus June 19, 1917

K. Kollwitz, Parents at the Christmas Tree, 1917  K. Kollwitz-Museum Köln

Bibliography:

Ich sah die Welt mit liebevollen Blicken. K. Kollwitz: Ein Leben in Selbstzeugnissen, edited by Hans Kollwitz, Wiesbaden 1988

Why collect art? 10 answers from art collectors

Today I am going to quote 10 art collectors about the reasons why they collect art as part of the series 10 on the 10th. Please enjoy and comment: what are your reasons? (more…)

Does Twitter Work for the Arts?

I often get asked by my students how Twitter can be of use for artists or galleries. Twitter is usually not the chosen platform for visual content. Instagram or Facebook seem to be much more suitable to show works of art. I mean – what can you say about art in 140 characters?

As a big fan of Twitter I was curious to see how other art-related professional sites were doing on Twitter compared with other platforms. I was pleased to see that sites like artnet, Artsy, MoMA or Guggenheim were tweeting with great success. Their number of followers on Twitter even exceeded their numbers on Facebook or Instagram.

 

How can Twitter be valuable for artists and galleries?

 

Research

No platform is better for researching keywords, competitors or your target audience.When you are just starting out with Twitter, check out a few art related accounts and keywords and you see what I mean.

Start with museums like the Museum of Modern Art or Tate Gallery, continue with art magazines like Art in America, ArtNews or Art Asia Pacific. You can also follow blogs and vlogs like ArtDaily, The Art Newspaper or vernissagetv.

Also look for art seller sites like galleries, auction houses and art fairs.

Who is following these sites? Their followers seem to be interested in art that is sure…

You can not only research sites but also relevant keywords. Try #contemporaryart or #artmarket. Maybe you can think of hashtags which are more precise regarding the artwork you want to promote. Who is tweeting similar content? Who are these guys following and who is following them? What are they saying? Can you contribute to the discussion?

 

Links

140 characters – what can you do with THAT? Link it to a 140,000 character article for example. If you want to lead people to your website or blog Twitter is definetly the platform to chose. I don’t only link my tweets to my blog or gallery but also to my pins on Pinterest. It all helps to develop the right audience.

 

Visuals

Is Twitter as well designed for visuals as Facebook or Instagram? I don’t know. But they definitely work well on Twitter. You can easily upload photos, photo albums and videos. And the live broadcasting feature worked first on Twitter (with Periscope) before Facebook got on board. AND Twitter is still not so overcrowded with great visuals like the other platforms which makes it easier for you to stand out.

 

Lists

It was when I discovered Twitter lists that I got really excited about this platform. Lists help you to keep the accounts you want to follow in order. I have quite a few lists like “Art Magazines”, “Museums” or “Journalists”. You don’t even have to follow the accounts in order to put them on your list. Why not list all the interesting people together that keep posting about your relevant hashtags? It makes it easy to stay up to date, to find interesting content quickly and to contribute to the discussion.

And if you don’t want to create you own lists you can just follow lists from other people.

I hope I was able to introduce you to a few possibilities for the arts on Twitter.

What is your experience with the platform?

Twitter for artists

Paul Klee, The Twittering Machine

 

Google Art Project: 10 Virtual Art Exhibitions to Visit Online

The Art Project by Google provides a beautiful platform to show and to explore art. Museums like the Tate Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Uffizi in Florence have been part of the project since the beginning in 2011. Today the platform features 596 collections, 193,942 objects, 43,933 user galleries and 808 exhibitions.

Here are some of my favourite virtual art exhibitions. (more…)