Corne Akkers

Hommage to the Entombment of Christ by Caravaggio, Drawing, Pencil/Colored Penci

2020

Once Again Once in a while I get that itchy feeling again that makes me want to turn to roundism. The last one by that title I made half a year ago. In between lie an odd couple...

On the Beach - 11-12-20 Old Vintage Photo Years ago I saved a vintage picture of a nude on the beach. Origin unknown and my best guess would be ...

Back from a Sore Back This graphite pencil drawing ˜Roundism “ 22-12-22 follows after ˜Neo Deco “ 10-12-22. Usually I make one drawing per week but my mind was occupied with an oil i...

Last One This Year This graphite pencil drawing ˜Roundism “ 30-12-22 is the last one of this year. After Neo Deco “ 25-12-22 I wanted to end this year in the style that brought me success the last decade. One could also argue that I just dont know where this particular style is heading for anyway. Surely I have this other thing, called ˜Neo Deco but I am not sure yet where this is going. Recently I wrote about my uncertainties with regard of serving something old as a new style. That is how it feels like, sort of. Maybe its just that I am trying to forge something out of dusty air of a bygone era. Its definitely a topic I want to delve much deeper into in 2023. For now I named all things round ˜roundism and cubistically straight things ˜neo deco. A pretty daft distinction perhaps. What do you think? Golden Ratio The motif for this actual work was derived from a reference picture taken by Walter Bird. The last one I used one of his photos for was Art Deco Nude “ 23-08-22. Even though the style of photographing is typically art deco I think his work stands out compared to many others. Not only did he use heavy doses of light and dark but also cropped nudes within the frame nicely. The result is a perfect bodyscape image. Due to the striking roundness of the breasts and tilted body position I thought drawing roundish shapes were almost unavoidable. I spotted some nice curves I extrapolated outside the female form. The ones besides her hip culminated into the golden ratio curves. A suitable ending for this year. The ending and the beginning of something entwined, as it should be. So is my search for the eternal and essential in the temporary. Graphite pencil (Faber Castell...

Roundism - 27-10-20 Just Abstract Last model session resulted in a nice pose through which I was inspired to continue my roundism series. The general idea was to build up the pos...

Hommage to the Entombment of Christ by Caravaggio - 05-12-20 Learning Material In my classes I often use 'The Entombment of Christ' by Caravaggio to demonstrate how artists normally distribute space. Next to this, in my eyes a great artist is one who lets the composition reflect the idea the main theme has to to convey. In this particular case I do not want to discuss the religious merits but on the formal compositional aspects of this art work. Throughout the oil painting some kind of staircase figure emerges, cascading from the lower left corner up to upper right one. Staircase Body Of course this composition attributes to the religious message but also in worldly themes this type of composition can do wonders. I had this idea to have my regular model pose in such a way. Hence, this drawing that reflects a great idea by the old master. Not his own, of course but all great paintings stand on the shoulders of others. With regard to this drawing I have to admit I also was inspired by the motif I used for my graphite pencil drawing 'Roundism 15-11-20'. The slanted body position with the erected arm must have triggered something in my brain that reminded itself to Caravaggio's painting. The model was posing in my chair that I needed to have her rest her leg on the armrest in order to get to the staircase figure. Other Inspirational Sources The flatscreen t.v. on her left side I decided to keep in because it reminded me to another great master Malevich with his black square paintings...

Gino Severini (Cortona 1883 - Paris 1966), Self-Portrait Pencil drawing on paper 25 x 21 cm signed Io G. Severini lower right. Bibliography: Gino Severini before and after the work...

Leopold Survage (French / Finnish 1879- 1968) Les danseuses Signed and dated ‘Survage / 31’ (lower right) Pencil on paper 10.1/2 x 8.5/8 in. (27 x 22.2 cm...

SERGE FERAT 1881-1958 (Le Comte Sergueï Yastrebzov) Moscow 1881-1958 Paris (Russian/French) Title: Study for Batavia (The Woodcutters), circa 1926 Technique: Original Pencil D...

Sketch for Frescoed Frieze is an interesting preparatory study realized by the artist Paul Bony, a famous French painter active in the last century. The artwork is in good state of p...

Earl Horter (American, 1883-1940) Three Still Life Studies Pencil on paper, 7 1/4 x 13 1/2 inches; Framed: 17 x 21 inches NOTE: while originally mounted with archival materials, the...

A graphite on paper, untitled mural study, Cubist scene of a rail yard by WPA-era artist Rudolph Weisenborn, ca. 1940. Archivally matted to 16" x 18". Provenance: Estate of the artist. Rudolph Weisenborn was born in Strassburg, Germany in 1881, but was orphaned at the age of nine. He was taken-in by Mid-Western farmer Thomas Westaby and spent his early years in Wisconsin, Iowa and North Dakota. Weisenborn first attended the University of North Dakota in 1898, then the Students School of Art in Denver. Various accounts have him working out west as a gold miner and cowboy. Around 1912, he settled in Chicago and worked as a window designer for Marshall Field’s. Weisenborn is best known as the founder of the Chicago No-Jury Society of Artists. The group was founded because many artists could not get their work accepted into the mainstream Art Institute shows. Weisenborn is quoted as saying that he harbored feelings of disdain for any jury and that his own paintings were frequently rejected by conservative jurors. He was also involved and helped found other radical artist’s groups such as the Salon des Refuses, Cor Ardens and Neo-Arlimusic. In 1936, he helped found the New York-based American Abstract Artist’s Group. He created the only abstract mural for the 1933 Century of Progress Exhibition in Chicago and also worked for the Federal Arts Project in the Easel Division. His WPA murals can be found in Crane Technical High School and Nettlehorst Elementary School in Chicago, IL. In 1945, Chicago businessman Herman Spertus...