
Paintings & Inspiring Art
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- pleb in zion
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- pleb in zion
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- pleb in zion
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- pleb in zion
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- pleb in zion
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- pleb in zion
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Re: Paintings & Inspiring Art
Sweet.
JP suggested everyone have art honoring mothers in their home.
Here’s cinematic art I like that reminds me of a good mother…
“Have courage & be kind”
https://youtu.be/3DzMyyUPfNY
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- pleb in zion
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- pleb in zion
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- pleb in zion
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- pleb in zion
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- Niemand
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Re: Paintings & Inspiring Art
Noticeably different in style from the Bolshevik material. It harks back a lot to Orthodox icons and folk art, not to mention the kind of thing that one might see in a book of legends.
However, I've got to say that the Bolsheviks (pre-Stalin) were much more innovative in things like typography and graphic design.
As an image it appeals to me. As propaganda not so much.
In this painting, the strengths are the same as the weaknesses. It is pretty good technically, but it is also cluttered. It appeals to heroism and fighting against evil, and yet at the same time, it doesn't appeal to people's material needs in a time of scarcity. (Which Bolsheviks very much did... And failed to deliver on those promises.)
Stalinist era art is a compromise between this kind of art and Bolshevik typography, which is telling in itself.
If a Bolshevik type propagandist was producing a poster to these specifications they would probably declutter the image. The typeface at the top would be much clearer. The slogan refers to a united Russia which doesn't scream immediacy. The middle section could be simplified. The colour scheme might be simplified into two or three colours. Also the spiel at the bottom would be simplified, because the Bolsheviks, rightly, realised much of the population had limited reading skills. "BOLSHEVISM" is in capital letters/upper case and the name of"Russia" is repeated, but it really isn't punchy enough.
- Niemand
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Re: Paintings & Inspiring Art
Saint Bride (1913) by John Duncan
https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/17484According to the legend of the Irish Saint Bride she was transported miraculously to Bethlehem to attend the nativity of Christ. Here two angels carry the white robed saint across the sea. The seascape reflects Duncan's fascination with the Outer Hebrides and the Isle of Iona. The birds and seal provide an effective naturalistic foil for the supernatural angels overlapping the patterned border. Scenes from the life of Christ decorate the angel's robes, and may include the artist's self-portrait as the tiny clown (a holy fool) accompanying the procession of the magi on the leading angel's gown.
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- pleb in zion
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- pleb in zion
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Re: Paintings & Inspiring Art
I love thisNiemand wrote: ↑January 24th, 2025, 5:24 pm Saint Bride (1913) by John DuncanAccording to the legend of the Irish Saint Bride she was transported miraculously to Bethlehem to attend the nativity of Christ. Here two angels carry the white robed saint across the sea. The seascape reflects Duncan's fascination with the Outer Hebrides and the Isle of Iona. The birds and seal provide an effective naturalistic foil for the supernatural angels overlapping the patterned border. Scenes from the life of Christ decorate the angel's robes, and may include the artist's self-portrait as the tiny clown (a holy fool) accompanying the procession of the magi on the leading angel's gown.
https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/17484
Great critique, I always enjoy your wealth of knowledge! I reckon the piece captures the high lofty ideals of heroism and triumph of good over evil, but your points regarding the Bolsheviks' superior propaganda strategies is totally valid. It's very much like an ideological pathogen, a thanatonic memeplex that for sure has it's origins and operations in the "principalities and powers" and "spiritual forces in the heavenly places..." that Paul talks about in Ephesians 6 — "12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." For sure all this stuff has been orchestrated by powerful demons, the not-so-departed spirits of the dead nephilim, and who knows perhaps even fallen angels/forsworn "sons of El". Doubtless the spiritual side of things is much more active and the true animating force behind the revolutionary fervor. I simultaneously would love to have a 'peek behind the curtain' to see how it all works, but I'd also worry that it'd be spiritually imprudent/inappropriate, or potentially metaphysically overwhelming, and that perhaps some things are simply best left unseen. At least given my state of spiritual infancy and anagogic immaturity.Niemand wrote: ↑January 24th, 2025, 7:10 am Noticeably different in style from the Bolshevik material. It harks back a lot to Orthodox icons and folk art, not to mention the kind of thing that one might see in a book of legends.
However, I've got to say that the Bolsheviks (pre-Stalin) were much more innovative in things like typography and graphic design.
As an image it appeals to me. As propaganda not so much.
In this painting, the strengths are the same as the weaknesses. It is pretty good technically, but it is also cluttered. It appeals to heroism and fighting against evil, and yet at the same time, it doesn't appeal to people's material needs in a time of scarcity. (Which Bolsheviks very much did... And failed to deliver on those promises.)
Stalinist era art is a compromise between this kind of art and Bolshevik typography, which is telling in itself.
If a Bolshevik type propagandist was producing a poster to these specifications they would probably declutter the image. The typeface at the top would be much clearer. The slogan refers to a united Russia which doesn't scream immediacy. The middle section could be simplified. The colour scheme might be simplified into two or three colours. Also the spiel at the bottom would be simplified, because the Bolsheviks, rightly, realised much of the population had limited reading skills. "BOLSHEVISM" is in capital letters/upper case and the name of"Russia" is repeated, but it really isn't punchy enough.
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- pleb in zion
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- Niemand
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Re: Paintings & Inspiring Art
John William Waterhouse
The Lady of Shalott (1888)

The Siren (1900)
The Lady of Shalott (1888)

The Siren (1900)
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