ARTIST APPRECIATION

I am giving my first Art History presentation tomorrow on the Piazza d'Azeglio. My Modern Italian class will go on a several hour tour tomorrow and visit this Piazza in Florence and I will give my presentation on the architecture once we have arrived at the site. I am LOVING my art classes. Above are some examples of Tranquillo Cremona's work. He is one of the artists that I am studying right now. My roommates keep asking Caroline and I to explain his style to them. We try to say that it is a pseudo-Bohemian equivalent post-Impressionism movement, coming nowhere near to explaining the movement or helping to clarify the paintings to my rommates.

"MELODY"
by Tranquillo Cremona
Private Collection; 1874

In Modern Italian Art we are studying Scapigliatura. An artistic movement which developed in Italy after the period known as Risorgimento, (1815-1871, which led to the unification of Italy and the modern Italian state). The name Scapigliatura is the Italian equivalent of the French Bohemian and Scapigliati (literally "dishevelled", "unkempt") the name given to this group of artists which included poets and writers, musicians, painters and sculptors. Often these artists would experiment with drugs to inspire creativity in their works.

"THE LISTENERS"
Tranquillo Cremona
Private Collection; 1874

I also started my painting class today! We did a color wheel producing a warm black scale, a cool black scale, and a neuteral. I felt like I was back in middle school, mixing paint with my mom. But I am a fool because we soon moved onto setting up our easels and preparing our sketchs for our first painting assignment-an entirely white still life. We shall see how this goes! Wish me luck!