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Oh, If I Were a Symbolist
Symbolism: What is it when it’s at home? What was the point that the artists were trying to achieve? And how should it be interpreted? Let’s start with the what. This was a technique brought into vogue by the young painters of the late 19th Century, stemming from French literature (and later, Russian and Belgian); this is where many of the Symbolists gathered inspiration from. The aim was to portray the idea of a subject, to give the suggestion of the true meaning only; poetry in art. They accomplished this by using line, colour, and composition (other elements include tone, texture, space, and shape) in their work, and adapted the…
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A Life Most Solitary?
The place: Mexico. The year: Post-1910. Mexico was on the verge of change. Political instability, the blight of dictatorship, a peasants’ revolt: with events such as the Mexican Revolution fresh in everyone’s minds, passions must have run high. Actions were no longer as restrained. The freedoms of speech and desire were rife. We need only look to those well-known Mexican painters Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera for reference. Despite the volatile relationship shared by the painters (both of whom had several extra-marital affairs during their time together), Kahlo lived in an isolated world. A pain-filled existence was all she ever knew from the age of 6, when she contracted polio,…






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