Double Self Exhibition by Christine Gendre-Bergere

Printmaker and artist Christine Gendre-Bergere is currently exhibiting Double self (in French Double je) in honor of the 340th anniversary of Rembrandt's death. Her exhibition at Galerie La Hune Brenner in Paris includes nine intaglio prints based on a series of Rembrandt's self portraits from 1630 to 1658.

Her Rembrandt portfolio includes some citations (below) from the 17th century philosopher Baruch de Spinoza from his Short Treatise on God, Man and His Well-Being. Spinoza alludes to the body and soul as the "double self." Christine said she included both men because Rembrandt had supposedly painted a portrait of Spinoza (David Playing Harp in Front of Saul) during their lifetime. although no one knows if they actually met, they both confronted the ongoing financial, religious, social, and political powers, reflecting similar beliefs. They chose to live their lives in their own way.

Why philosophers have confused mind with corporeal things
Here the only requirement is that everyone should attend to his perceptions as accurately as possible, so that he may distinguish what is clear from what is obscure.

Whence it clearly follows that the natural love which prompts everything to preserve its body cannot have any other origin than in the Idea or the « objective » essance of such body which is in the thinking attribute.

Now we shall presuppose here, as something already demonstrated, that extension contains no other modes than the motion and rest, and that every particular material thing is nothing else than a certain proportion of motion and rest, so much so indeed that, even if extension contained nothing else except motion only and rest only, then no particular thing could be shown or exist in the whole of extension ; the human body therefore, is nothing else than a certain proportion of motion and rest.

The followikng prints are 38 cm x 56 cm, with plate size 30 cm x 20 cm. They were printed in an edition of ten on 300 g. Magnani Pescia paper.

Christine Gendre-Bergere. R. 1630(a), 2009.
Etching and mezzotint.

Christine Gendre-Bergere. R. 1630(b), 2009.
Etching, mezzotint and soft ground, 2 plates, 2 colors.

Christine Gendre-Bergere. R. 1639(a), 2009.
Etching and mezzotint, 2 plates, 2 colors.

Christine Gendre-Bergere. R. 1639(b), 2009.
Etching, soft ground and direct bite, 3 plates, 2 colors.

Christine Gendre-Bergere. R. 1651(a), 2009.
Etching, 2 plates, 2 colors.

Christine Gendre-Bergere. R. 1651(b), 2009.
Etching, soft ground and direct bite, 2 plates, 2 colors.

Christine Gendre-Bergere. R. 1658(a), 2009.
Etching, 2 plates, 2 colors.

Christine Gendre-Bergere. R. 1658(b), 2009.
Etching, soft ground and direct bite, 2 plates, 2 colors.

Christine Gendre-Bergere. R. 1658(fin), 2009.
Etching, soft ground and direct bite, 2 plates, 2 colors.

Art Institute of Chicago, Modern Wing, Part 2

View of the Modern Wing from across
the street at Millenium Park

This blog is a continuation of my visit to the Art Institute of Chicago's new Modern Wing. On the second floor of the Modern Wing, you will find Contemporary Art from 1945 to 1960 (although there are some items created after 1960), Contemporary Art After 1960, and Design and Architecture.

Contemporary Art 1945-1960, A Sampling

Jasper Johns. Corpse and Mirror II, 1974-75.
Oil on linen (four panels), with painted frame.

Willem de Kooning. Head #3, 1973. Bronze.

Cy Twombly. The First Part of the Return from
Parnassus, 1961. Oil paint, lead pencil,
wax crayon, and colored pencil on canvas.

Robert Rauschenberg. Lincoln, 1958. Printed paper
and stamped metal, with oil paint, fiber-tipped pen,
and silkscreen ink on fabric.

Franz Kline. Painting, 1952. Oil on canvas.

Mark Rothko. Untitled (Painting), 1953-54.
Oil on canvas.

Alexander Calder. Streetcar, 1951. Painted steel,
brass, and wire.

Willem de Kooning. Excavation, 1950. Oil on canvas.

Jackson Pollock. Greyed Rainbow, 1953.
Oil on linen.

David Smith. Beach Scene, 1949. Steel.

Contemporary Art From 1960, A Sampling

Ed Paschke. Mid American, 1969.
Oil on canvas.

Roy Lichtenstein. Mirror in Six Panels, 1971.
Oil and magna on canvas.

Andy Warhol. Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait, 1966.
Acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen.

David Hockney. American Collectors Fred and
Marcia Weisman), 1968. Acrylic on canvas.

Frank Stella. De la nada vida a la nada muerte,
1965. Emulsion with metallic paint on canvas.

Gerhard Richter. Ice (Eis) I, 2, 3, 4, 1989.
Oil on canvas.

Jim Nutt. Da Creepy Lady, 1970.
Acrylic on Plexiglas, enamel on wood frame.

Ellsworth Kelly. Black and White, 1960-61.
Oil on canvas.

Pier Paolo Calzolari. Untitled, 1969.
Tobacco leaves, neon, and lead.

Richard Serra. Weights and Measures, 1987.
Hot-rolled steel.

Eva Hesse. Untitled, 1969. Fiberglass
and polyester resin over cloth-covered
metal wire with metal grommets.

Sherrie Levine. After Egon Schiele, 1982.
Seven gelatin silver and eleven chromogenic prints.

Lucian Freud. Sunny Morning—Eight Legs, 1997.
Oil on canvas.

Lari Pittman. The Senseless Cycle, Tender and
Benign, Bring Great Comfort, 1988.
Acrylic and wood on panel.

Art Institute of Chicago, Modern Wing

I finally had a chance to visit the Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago. Here's a sampling of art on the third floor where they have European Modern Art from 1900 to 1950.

Henry Moore. Maquette for UNESCO
Reclining Figure, 1957. Bronze.

Pablo Picasso. Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler,
1910. Oil on canvas.

Constantin Brancusi. Suffering, 1907. Bronze.

Henry Matisse. Bathers by a River, 1909-10,
1913, 1916-17. Oil on canvas.

Constantin Brancusi. Sleeping Muse, 1910. Bronze.

Raymond Duchamp-Villon. Horse, 1914. Bronze.

Henri Rousseau. The Waterfall,1910. Oil on canvas.

Henri Matisse. The Serf, 1900-04. Bronze.

Vasily Kandinsky. Painting with Green Center,
1913. Oil on canvas.

Henri Gaudier-Brzeska. Stags,1914. Veined alabaster.

Wilhelm Lehmbruck. Bust of Kneeling Girl, 1911.
Cast stone.

Paul Klee. In the Magic Mirror, 1934.
Oil on canvas, on board.

Oskar Schlemmer. Abstract Figure,1921.
Bronze and nickel.

Henri Matisse. Lemons on a Pewter Plate,1926.
Oil on canvas.

Henri Matisse. Seated Nude,1925-29. Bronze.

Henry Moore. Figure,1937. Marble.

Man Ray. Chess Set, 1927. Brass, silver, and gold.

Rene Magritte. On the Threshold of Liberty, 1937.
Oil on canvas.

Victor Brauner. Acolo, 1949. Encaustic and collage
on paper on board.

Rene Magritte. The Tune and Also the Words, 1964.
Gouache and graphite on paper.

Alberto Giacometti. Walking Man II, 1960. Bronze.
Tall Figure, 1947. Bronze.

View from the second floor of the new wing.

View on the ground floor of the new wing
facing north towards Millennium Park.

View after exiting the new wing towards Millenium
Park. A bridge connects the park with the museum.

Another view of the bridge looking west

The new wing (left) was added to the existing
museum. Trains travel below the museum.

More photos of the Modern Wing and Millennium Park to come.


Photo Credit: All photos by Amy A. Rudberg, unless otherwise indicated.

The Artistic Process: Amy A. Rudberg's Illustration Technique

I'm working on illustrations for a new book about animals and their special powers. For this series, I usually come up with an idea and then do some research on images and decide on composite drawings. I use a pencil to draw the illustration on watercolor paper and then ink the drawing. After the drawing is complete, I staple the watercolor paper to a board for support, stapling at 1" intervals all around the perimeter. I apply watercolors and gouache (a highly pigmented watercolor) with small brushes. When I'm done with the painting, I re-ink the illustration, remove the staples, and store the painting in an acid-free box.

The following is a step-by-step painting from drawing to final re-inking, which took 11 hours to complete.

Materials for this project:
- Derwent 2B pencil
- Faber-Castelli PITT artist brush pen
- Pigma Micron 05 pen
- Gel pens, black and silver
- Maskque pen
- Pencil eraser and mask eraser
- No. 6, 1/4" flat shader brush
- 3 mm / 1/8" flat brush
- 00 round brush
- Winsor-Newton watercolors and gouache
- Arches 12" x 16", 140-lb cold press watercolor paper

Follow the Leader

Draw and ink the figures and horizon line.


Put a mask over the figures to work on the background.
The mask will cover what you don't want to paint.


Add specks on the beach with black and silver
gel pens. Paint the ocean with Pthalo Blue
gouache and dry with hair dryer.


Paint the ocean with Cerulean Blue gouache
and dry.


With a spray bottle filled with water,
spray away the paint in the ocean, and dry.


Paint dark waves with Primary Blue gouache
and dry. The white is the paper showing through.


Paint the beach with Light Gray, dry, and
then paint with Titanium White watercolor.


Dry the beach with textured paper towel
and then paint sparingly with Perylene
Maroon and Primary Blue gouache, and dry.


Spray out paint on the beach and then
add specks with black gel pen, and dry.


Paint waves on the shore with
Titanium White watercolor, and dry.


Completed beach and ocean.


Paint shadows using Tint watercolor.


Remove the mask on the figures with an eraser.


Paint the crab using Winsor Yellow, Cadmium
Yellow, Golden Yellow, Cadmium Orange, and
Cadmium Red watercolors; Cadmium Orange
gouache; and Tint watercolor for shadows.
Dry between each color.


Paint the robots with Perylene Maroon, Cadmium
Orange, and Yellow Ochre gouache; Tint
watercolor; and highlight with silver gel pen.
Dry between each color.


Re-inked crab


Re-inked Robot 1


Re-inked Robot 2


Re-inked Robot 3


Finished painting

Photo Credit: All photos by Amy A. Rudberg, unless otherwise indicated.

The Printmaking Process: Ceramic Printmaking with Eric Jensen

I visited Eric Jensen in his studio in Irving Park recently. As one of the original founders of Lillstreet Art Center, Eric taught at Lillstreet for 15 years and also at Evanston Art Center for nearly 10 years. Sharing studio space with Ed Hinkley (with whom I have studied for the past 2 years), Eric currently sells his ceramic art wholesale to retailers and small business owners. With an MFA in ceramics and more than 20 years of professional experience, Eric continues to experiment and learn how to "perfect" his creative techniques. He demonstrated his version of printing on ceramics.

Creating a Printed Vessel

Mix stoneware and porcelain together until the clay
is smooth and has an even consistency.


Final mixed stoneware and porcelain slab


Transfer a photographic image onto a silkscreen with
a removable frame. (The color of the dried emulsion
is red in this photo. The white areas are where the
"ink" will go through.)

Prepare a silkscreen: In a darkroom, put photo
emulsion on 140 mesh screen on a removable frame
and then dry the screen. Using a bright light
source and glass, expose the screen to a high
contrast b&w photocopied image on acetate. The
light will harden only the exposed white image
areas on the screen and will not affect the dark
areas. When you wash the screen after exposure,
just the dark image areas will wash away, and this
is where the "ink" will go through the screen.
Dry the screen and remove the frame.)


Roll out a porcelain slab about 1/16" thick and the
size of the screened image.


Prepare colored porcelain slip with black mason
stain added by pushing the mixture through a 100-
mesh screen to get out large particles. Put the
screen on the porcelain slab, wet it a little, and
then paint the mixture on the screen with a brush.


Lift the screen off the porcelain slab.


Screenprinted porcelain


After drying the screenprinted porcelain, put it on top
of the previously mixed porcelain / stoneware slab.


Put newspaper on top and press down on the surface
with a small squeegee.


Screenprinted porcelain attached to porcelain /
stoneware slab.


Stretch the clay lifting and throwing it down until the
entire slab is about 1/4" thick (do this about 4 times).


Cut the slab in half to create the main sides of the
vessel.


Use the porcelain / stoneware slab to create two
smaller sides and a bottom for the vessel. Start
to attach the sides of the vessel, which is now
lying horizontally on its side.


Insert mailing bubbles inside of the vessel to
provide support and attach the second screen
printed side.


Move the vessel to a horizontal position.


The vessel was dried, fired in a kiln to harden it,
glazed and then fired again at a high temperature.
The feet were attached after the final firing.


Second screenprinted vessel drying on a shelf


Second screenprinted vessel in its finished state

For more information about Eric and his art, visit http://www.ericjensenceramic.com.


Photo Credit: All photos by Amy A. Rudberg, unless otherwise indicated.

Printmaking: Edvard Munch and Peers

Today, I visited the Prints and Drawings Room at the Art Institute of Chicago, where you can submit a request to view up to 20 prints/drawings of your choice. I tagged along with my husband, who is taking a class on Edvard Munch through the OLLI program at Northwestern University. His instructor, Lois Gordon, put together a thoughtful selection of art (along with a handout) to complement the ongoing show Becoming Edvard Munch, which closes on Sunday. Lois' selection includes Munch's prints not included in the show as well as some art work of Munch's peers, who may have influenced his work.

Solitude, Loneliness, Melancholy

Edvard Munch. The Girl at the Window. 1894. Drypoint, roulette and burnishing on paper, 219 x 158 mm (plate, 444 x 341 mm (sheet). Clarence Buckingham Collection.


Edvard Munch. Two Human Beings. The Lonely Ones. 1894. Drypoint, roulette, and burnisher on copper plate printed on cream wove paper, 168 x 225 mm (plate), 343 x 480 mm (sheet). Clarence Buckingham Collection.


Edvard Munch. The Girls on the Bridge. 1918. Woodcut in blue and lithography (from multiple stones) in yellow, green, orange and blue on white wove paper, 500 x 430 mm (image), 630 x 528 mm (sheet). Clarence Buckingham Collection.


Edvard Munch. Printed by Lassally (German), late 19th-early 20th century). Melancholy III. 1902. Color woodcut from two blocks, with gouges, chisel and fretsaw, on paper, 377 x 471 mm (image), 440 x 590 mm (sheet). Art Institute of Chicago Prints and Drawings Purchase Fund.


Paul Gauguin. Aha Oe Feli? (What! Are You Jealous?). 1894. Watercolor monotype, with pen and red and black ink on tan Japanese vellum, 195 x 232 mm. Gift of Edward McCormick Blair.

Persona of Women

Edvard Munch. Printed by Petersen and Waitz. Woman (The Sphinx). 1899. Lithograph on paper, 461 x 593 mm (image), 494 x 645 mm (sheet). Clarence Buckingham Collection.


Paul Gauguin. Eve. 1889/90. Gouache on millboard, 170 x 130 mm. Gift of Edward McCormick Blair.

Bathers

Edvard Munch. Printed by Sabo or Angerer. Women Bathing. 1895. Drypoint with open bite and burnishing on buff wove paper, 125 x 180 mm (image), 220 x 321 mm (plate), 335 x 419 mm (sheet). Clarence Buckingham Collection.


Edvard Munch. Printed by Halvorsen and Larsen. Neutralia. 1915. Color lithograph on paper, 543 x 495 mm (image), 734 x 585 mm (sheet). Robert A. Waller Fund.


Paul Cézanne. Bathers. 1890-1900. Color lithograph on off-white China paper, 230 x 280 mm (image), 294 x 355 mm (sheet). Bequest of Walter S. Brewster.


James Ensor. The Baths at Ostend. 1899. Etching, with hand coloring, on cream wove paper, 212 x 268 mm (image), 225 x 277 mm (plate), 284 x 398 mm (sheet). Gift from the Estate of Curt Valentin.


Paul Gauguin. Printed by Louis Roy. Auti Te Pape (Women at the River), from Noa Noa. 1893-94. Woodcut on boxwood printed in black, yellow and brick red applied with stencils on tan Japanese paper, 207 x 358 mm (image), 246 x 393 mm (sheet). Albert Roullier Memorial Collection.


Edvard Munch. The Forest. 1908/09. Lithograph on paper, 325 x 416 mm (image), 481 x 651 mm (sheet). Clarence Buckingham Collection.

Édouard Manet. Written by Charles Cros, printed by Auguste Delâtre and Cochet, and published by Librarie de l'au-forte. The Mountain, plate 2 from Le Fleuve. 1874. Etching, drypoint and aquatint on ivory laid paper, 74 x 96 mm (image), 78 x 98 mm (plate), 279 x 243 mm (sheet). Gift of Robert M. Light in memory of Harold Joachim.


Paul Gauguin. Mahana Atua (The Day of God). 1894-95. Woodcut printed in black and touched with watercolor in blue, crimson and orange on Japanese paper, 181 x 202 (image), 184 x 205 mm (sheet). Clarence Buckingham Collection.


Vincent van Gogh. Weeping Tree. 1889. Reed pen and black-brown ink, with black chalk on off-white wove paper, 498 x 613 mm. Gift of Tiffany and Margaret Day Blake.


Odilon Redon. Flower Clouds. c. 1903. Pastel, with touches of stumping, incising, and brushwork, on blue-gray wove paper with multi-colored fibers altered to tan, perimeter mounted to cardboard, 445 x 542 mm. Through prior bequest of Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection.


Edvard Munch. A Boat Tied to a Pier. 1892. Brush and black and gray wash, over touches of graphite, on tan wove paper, 224 x 159 mm. Restricted gift of Frank B. Hubachek.


James McNeill Whistler. Nocturne. 1878, published 1887. Lithotint, on a prepared half-tint ground, in black with scraping, on blue laid chine, laid down on ivory plate paper, 171 x 259 mm (image), 170 x 258 mm (primary support), 341 x 498 mm (secondary support). Gift of the Crown Family in honor of James N. Wood.

Munch Himself

Edvard Munch. Self-Portrait. n.d. Blue crayon on paper, 265 x 235 mm. Kate S. Buckingham Fund.


Photo Credit: All photos by Amy A. Rudberg, unless otherwise indicated.

The Printmaking Process: The Ceramic Print

I am attending the Southern Graphics Council Conference: Global Implications in Chicago from March 25th to 29th. Columbia College of Chicago is hosting the conference this year.

Today, I attended the Ceramic Print demonstration at the Art and Design Center at Columbia College. Tom Lucas, director of Hummingbird Press at Lillstreet Art Center, and Matt Harris, ceramicist and instructor at Lillstreet, demonstrated the techniques for printing on ceramics. Tom showed us the photocopy transfer process, and Matt demonstrated screen printing directly on clay and a slip-newsprint transfer process.

Tom mixes special ceramic ink with a modifier.

Tom applies and then wipes off gum arabic from
a photocopy print, and then inks and sponges it
carefully several times without tearing the paper.

Tom applies the print to damp slip with a terra
cotta base, and carefully burnishes the print.
Here he begins to peel off the print.

Several prints can be laid on the same ceramic piece.
Tom applies heavy blue ink to a wood block he
created with silk screening and sand blasting.

Tom creates a new image on top of an old
one (center) by using the wood block (below).

Matt demonstrates screen printing directly
on the damp slip and terra cotta base.

Matt also demonstrates transferring a screen
printed image on newsprint to clay. Here
(clockwise from center right) we have the results
of the two methods: (1) direct screen print on
clay, (2) screen print on newsprint with wet slip
applied, dried, and then used to transfer to the
clay, and (3) the transferred image to the clay base.

Ceramic Print Demo Samples

Ceramic Print Demo Samples

Ceramic Print Demo Samples

Ceramic Print Demo Samples

For more information on classes and workshops on printing on ceramics and the ongoing Ceramic Print Group Exhibition, contact Lillstreet Art Center, 4401 N. Ravenswood Avenue, Chicago, at 773.769.4226, email: lillstreet@lillstreet.com.


Photo Credit: All photos by Amy A. Rudberg, unless otherwise indicated.