On a mission to find my voice
If you read my last post you’ll know that I’m currently on a mission of self discovery to find my true artist’s soul. I know she’s in there somewhere hidden amongst the people pleasing, the academic influences and the current artistic trends and she really wants to be heard (primarily by me, and anyone else who is listening). Some call this finding their style. I call it finding my voice. What do I want, wait, need to say through my painting etc and how do I want to say it?
In search of inspiration
No creative idea is truly original (even if you think you’ve come up with something “new”, chances are someone somewhere has already done it) and artists have often looked to each other for inspiration. Pablo Picasso is quoted as saying: “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” The great artists select elements from other’s work and put their own unique spin on it.
Stealing from the 20th century greats
After some soul searching in my journal I have reconfirmed my love of animal muses. But it has become apparent to me that making a pretty picture of a cute animal is no longer scratching my creative itch. So after finding my what and needing to delve into my why, I looked to the early 20th century (my go to era for inspiration) to explore how other artists portrayed animals in their work.
While many had animal muses popping up from time to time two artists stood out to me as being worthy of further investigation. One I knew about and will write a post on him in a few weeks time. The other was new to my senses, an artist called Franz Marc.
Franz Marc
I’d never heard of Munich born Franz Marc (1880-1916) despite him being recognised as a leading figure in the German Expressionist movement.
Born to a landscape painter father Marc’s artistic mission was to see the land and environment through an animal’s soul (as opposed to a human viewing the animal in their environment). He is reported to have spent many hours walking through nature with his sketchbook and dog, learning through observation and drawing.
Marc had an interest in philosophy but chose to study art at the Munich Academy after which he taught anatomical drawing in a women’s art school. His particular interest was depicting the anatomy of animals in movement.
Like minded friends
During a visit to Paris in 1907 Marc became influenced by the works of Cezanne, Van Gogh and Picasso and later by Matisse in 1910. Also around this time he met Klee and Kandinsky, often attributed as being his co founders of German expressionism.
“Animalising” art
Franz Marc wrote in a letter about “animalising art” to “feel the inner shivering animal life”. While his work started out in realism using natural colours and landscape settings it moved towards vibrant non realistic colours in 1910. He started to use form and colour to represent the character of the animal in landscapes that merged, mirrored and reflected the moving subjects within it.
Expressionism
I thought I understood the term “expressionism” as an artistic intention but after studying the work of this thoughtful artist I can now say that I have truly felt his paintings (and that’s just digital versions, oh how I would love to be in front of the actual works).
Before I did my research and read around the subject I was moved by pictures of his work and started to tell my artist friends, family and anyone else who would listen to me about this amazing artist I had come across. When asked why he painted animals I readily told people that while I had yet to delve deeper I thought it was about the symbiotic relationship of the animals with each other and their environment.
Interconnectedness
When I did have time to delve deeper, read up on him and watch a lecture my impression of his intentions was confirmed as correct. This just goes to show how masterful and impactful the paintings are visually that they get their message across so clearly.
His portrayal of the interconnectedness of animal and environment is a powerful form of expressionism that rather than being about himself, is concerned with the deeper qualities of the world.
I cried!
I admire many artists and their work. I thought I had favourites and would readily produce a list of worthy suitors when asked. But until I saw the painting Animal Destinies I hadn’t been moved to tears before (although I admit to eye leakage fairly regularly to music). This was painted in 1913 and is an unusually chaotic and brutal scene of suffering in an almost post apocalyptic setting. The brown hues on the right hand side are where Paul Klee restored the painting from photo reference after it was damaged in a warehouse fire in 1916.
Franz Marc died in France in 1916 where he was serving as a horse messenger during World War 1. In the previous year he had referenced his Animal Destinies painting in a letter to his wife speaking of it as being prophetic of war.
My steal
Franz Marc’s belief that we as humans are not separate from the rest of creation is one that I also share.
In the past couple of weeks I’ve taken the fox as muse and painted three portraits where she is part of the environment, both abstract and more realistic (more about foxes in a future post).
I have only just started to explore this concept and I feel I shall be here for a while.
tbc….. x
I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know Franz Marc a little better. You can find out more here https://www.franzmarc.org/
and this beautiful video on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjCTB4xjSD8
Nicky Barfoot 