Masters Who Inspire Artists (Me)

What makes a painter a great role model? ~ 

I am often asked who my reference artists are, great masters of the past and contemporary authors. Not an easy answer, artists in history are endless! And just as many today, when visual access to art is global and often overflowing. I look with admiration at Turner, Monet, Hopper, Fattori, Segantini. But also living artists the like of Dean Mitchell or Sean Cheetham. Each of them has something specific that inspires me and pushes me to learn.

Under the Awning, on the Beach of Zarautz

See more of Sorolla's works

However there is one who somehow represents them all: Joaquin Sorolla (b. 1863, Valencia, Spain). I was blown out at his exhibition at Palazzo Reale in Milan in 2022. It completely overwhelmed me! Not even the visit to the Sorolla Museum in Valencia had such an impact on me. 

Why Sorolla?

Because his work expresses a complete range of fundamental aspects of pictorial art, in his case in oil but not only.

• The composition of his scenes, often complex, with unusual angles and a combination of figures and landscape, never intimidated by very large size. 
• The absolute mastery of drawing, which emerges from proportions and anatomy.
• His tonal strategy and his sense of light. For me his dynamic power surpass Caravaggio, the monument to tonalism.
• Sorolla's palette is an infinite vocabulary of colours, warm and cool, often high key -- which make his phrasing very rich, like the timbres of an orchestra.
• Finally his alla prima brushwork, energetic, fat and sensual. It ties everything together in a rhythm and a fantastic dance!

As if that weren't enough, many of Sorolla's masterpieces were painted en plein air. He's not the only artist to do this for sure -- Monet and Cezanne even a little before him. But he worked outdoors on larger formats and in challenging conditions, on the seashore, under blinding light and with water, boats and figures in motion. For days.

He was able to transfer this vibrancy to his studio works as well. 

Studying Joaquin Sorolla therefore means for me studying almost everything about the artistic practice of painting. He   became a model later in my career. This means to me that reference models change over time and are perhaps an achievement of maturity. Just at the stage where you no longer need to imitate them.

Happy Art Life! - Francesco

PS. Sorolla is a genius of  alla prima painting, which was re-actualized by a great personality of recent times, Richard Schmid. The American master who passed away a few years ago, influenced a couple of generations of oil painters around the world with his iconic book Alla Prima.

PPS. There are so many historical and contemporary artists that I admire. I think I will need more posts to talk about it. So be ready by signing up now and receive my (News) Artist Letters!

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Art Against Cruelty

What artists can do in war times? ~

Writing frequent letters involves opening eyes and hears to find inspiration and ideas in the environment. And of course trying to cherry pick interesting topics for a conversation with art enthusiasts.

Pretending it's business as usual

Hold my Hand - Watercolor by Francesco Fontana

Today I feel a certain discomfort because what is going on in the world shake my soul to the core. It is impossible to ignore the atrocity of war, and pretend this is business as usual. I can't get used to human cruelty, I guess I am too naive to not be surprised to hear someone feels rewarded or have good reasons to inflict pain to others.

Universality of art

Artists are very sensitive to the human condition, but at the same time we are warned not to openly take a political standing. In same cases we don't want to upset segments of the public or customers. In the best cases it's because being partial seems to betray a sense of universality and connection with the condition of all humanity.

To me establishing who is wrong and who is right seems to be  mere speculation. My ethical position is simple: 

Anyone who attacks defenseless people is wrong. It doesn't matter it's an action or a reaction. Killing innocents is never justified.

I don't think I'm politically biased if I say that those who attack young people at a music festival and kill in cold blood more than 1,000 in their household, are dead wrong. And I don't think I'm being politically partial if I say that murdering thousands of civilians, including 3000 children as an unavoidable price to target terrorists, is not less wrong. More than wrong. These actions are mass crimes!

Life to resists death

People here seem trapped in their own daily business, and although they are hunched over their cell phones, they look like no one has told them thousands of people are dying. I don't want to think that it's just selfishness. Perhaps silence is a form of resistance, of emotional defense. Ultimately, not losing sight of the path of a constructive life can be our most powerful weapon, the life that does not recede in the face of death.

Grow the beauty that unites

As artists, between our ego trip and our sense of guilt, there is a third way. Feel responsible and honored to exalt, defend and propagate the expression of vitality in the world through our creativity. Insist with our artworks on the universal value of a deeper truth and beauty, cultivate a form of love that unites all people. We did it during the pandemic. Looks like our job is not over. 

Happy Art Life! -- Francesco

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Liberation From Fear

People's judgment hold you back? Five insights to help ~

Silvia wrote to me: 'The fear of people's judgment paralyzes me or at least slows me down in my artistic expression. What to do?'

A recurring dilemma that afflicts even some accomplished artists. And I know the problem firsthand. As a teenager I was writing music but when it came to show on stage and sing I would go zero salivation! Finishing a song was a pain. I stopped making music despite some career opportunities.

You are not able to do it

At the contrary, since I was a child, showing my drawings was not a problem. Good or bad that my art was, people's judgment was none of my problem. And that despite one of my works was rejected in a competition at primary school. It could have been a trauma, but as I made a career in painting, I guess that  disappointment didn't paralyze me. A the contrary I had students telling me they were left stranded for decades after a school teacher's cynical ruling on an art assignment: too good to be your work. 

Feeling authorized

It's not easy to understand why we are so self confident in some field and feel terribly inadequate in others, although we're equally capable. My mother supported my talent and sent me to art school. But my father didn't approve and it took me years to free myself from his disapproval. And that recovery costed me some professional help. My sense of identity and my psychic balance were at stake. Whether I was good or not at painting was not the point, not my concerne. 

Digging into emotions

My struggle was to give myself permission to become an artist in life. The minute I felt authorized, a huge relief happened and I ultimately took the road for the dream to come true! What I'd suggest to Silvia is digging a little into her emotions, especially if the fear of judgment is effecting other aspects of her life.

To begin with, I would do a little self interview, asking myself:

• What exactly am I afraid of?
• What concrete consequences would a negative judgment have?
• Would someone really look at my works and say out loud 'that sucks'?
• Has it actually ever happened that someone mortified me?
• What do I not feel adequate in: the subject? The technique? The style?

I'm sure that by honestly answering these five questions, Silvia can find insights to start removing the obstacles that block her. And take a path not to be too hard on herself and offer her art to the world without fear.

Happy Art Life! -- Francesco

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