Corne Akkers

Buitengoed Leeuwenbergh – 25-03-21, Drawing, Pencil/Colored Pencil on Paper

2021

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...

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...

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...

A graphite on paper, untitled mural study, Cubist scene of a rail yard by important Chicago Modernist artist Rudolph Weisenborn, ca. 1940. Artwork size: 11 3/4" x 9 3/4". 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...