Reading Wednesday
Apr. 5th, 2017 07:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yuuagoFinished reading: Claude Monet, 1840-1926: A Feast for the Eyes by Karin Sagner-Duchting. This one's a biography of Monet, with lots of gorgeous plates of his paintings and so on, and though it took me a little while to get into it, it was certainly an interesting read... I can't say of how it compares to other studies of Monet and his career, but one thing it did make me realize is that I know hardly anything about most of the artists that I admire. Luckily, this is something that can be easily fixed, and I expect I'll have fun with that. As for Monet, funnily enough, reading about him made me feel better about my own work. I'm thinking of the Haystacks series in particular, how he wanted to do so many views of haystacks at different times of day, and different seasons, to catch the differences in lighting and atmosphere and so on. Sometimes I feel like I'm writing the exact same thing over and over - except that it isn't the exact same thing, because every scene is a little bit different. Not that I'm at all like Monet, of course, but it was nice to see a little of myself reflected in his work. (Even if it's a part of his work that I'm not actually a fan of - the Haystacks paintings fall flat for me. Though perhaps I'd feel differently if I saw one in person.)
Currently reading: Welcome Home: Travels in Smalltown Canada by Stuart McLean. It's basically what it says on the tin - a travel narrative about small communities in various Canadian provinces. (Much to my disappointment, he skipped Alberta and the Territories.) In some ways, it's made me very glad that I don't live in places like this - but it has also reminded me of everything I miss about living in Wolfville. There's a certain sort of atmosphere that I really do miss, and something that's impossible to get in this industrial city. Ah, well. Oh, another thing - this book was written when the issue of Quebec separation/sovereignty was very current, and the section set in Quebec deals with that quite a bit. It's sort of like a time capsule of the issue, I guess, or at least a small sliver of it, and I found that pretty interesting.
Reading next: Race to the South Pole: The Expedition Diaries of Scott and Amundsen, compiled/edited/translated by Roland Huntford. This one is pretty much what it says on the tin. In addition to Amundsen himself, it also contains logs from another member of the Norwegian expedition party, Ove Bjaaland. I've read Amundsen's published account of his South Pole travels, but this is entirely new to me, and I think I'll really enjoy it when I get around to it. I'm... less excited about Scott's journal, because he came to such a depressing end, and to be honest everything I've read about the British side of the South Pole race makes it sound like it was a poorly-planned clusterfuck. But I won't skip over his entries, of course.
Waiting for: Building Fires in the Snow: A Collection of Alaska LGBTQ Short Fiction and Poetry. Can't start this one yet because I'm still waiting to receive it in the mail.... When I saw this anthology on the Lambda awards list, I just knew I had to read it. At first I was hoping to get it through the library, but then I changed my mind. It intersects so well with some of my interests, so I figure, it's one that I want to have in my personal library - and I'll probably like most of it, anyway. (Well, okay, you never know, I suppose....)
Currently reading: Welcome Home: Travels in Smalltown Canada by Stuart McLean. It's basically what it says on the tin - a travel narrative about small communities in various Canadian provinces. (Much to my disappointment, he skipped Alberta and the Territories.) In some ways, it's made me very glad that I don't live in places like this - but it has also reminded me of everything I miss about living in Wolfville. There's a certain sort of atmosphere that I really do miss, and something that's impossible to get in this industrial city. Ah, well. Oh, another thing - this book was written when the issue of Quebec separation/sovereignty was very current, and the section set in Quebec deals with that quite a bit. It's sort of like a time capsule of the issue, I guess, or at least a small sliver of it, and I found that pretty interesting.
Reading next: Race to the South Pole: The Expedition Diaries of Scott and Amundsen, compiled/edited/translated by Roland Huntford. This one is pretty much what it says on the tin. In addition to Amundsen himself, it also contains logs from another member of the Norwegian expedition party, Ove Bjaaland. I've read Amundsen's published account of his South Pole travels, but this is entirely new to me, and I think I'll really enjoy it when I get around to it. I'm... less excited about Scott's journal, because he came to such a depressing end, and to be honest everything I've read about the British side of the South Pole race makes it sound like it was a poorly-planned clusterfuck. But I won't skip over his entries, of course.
Waiting for: Building Fires in the Snow: A Collection of Alaska LGBTQ Short Fiction and Poetry. Can't start this one yet because I'm still waiting to receive it in the mail.... When I saw this anthology on the Lambda awards list, I just knew I had to read it. At first I was hoping to get it through the library, but then I changed my mind. It intersects so well with some of my interests, so I figure, it's one that I want to have in my personal library - and I'll probably like most of it, anyway. (Well, okay, you never know, I suppose....)
Yuu. Fic writer & book lover. M/Canada.
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Date: 2017-04-06 11:49 am (UTC)I think the haystacks and impressionism overall is hard to get for those of us who grew up with color photography. We just don't naturally get what the big deal is. Immersive, realistic 2D images are commonplace for us, but they didn't use to be so. The art that came before impressionism had good mastery of shapes, and even lighting as it applied to specific objects or the human body, but it's generally not immersive. There's hardly any landscape that you look at and can instantly place yourself in the middle of it, while knowing exactly what the time of day, atmospheric conditions and part of the season it depicts. The haystacks do exactly that, and I think it blew people's minds back then a bit. They're basically a collection of the subtle visual cues our mind uses to read the time of day and atmospheric conditions: how long and defined the shadows are, how clear the outlines, whether there are reflections or bounced light, color distortions and so on. You can take what Monet put there and apply it in other art and it will still work to give a sense of realism and precise time of the year and day. They're basically recipes for atmospheres. I didn't use to get the haystacks when I was younger either. They only grew on me when I started to look for ways to make art that feels familiar and relatable to the viewer, rather than just "cool looking" and imaginative. Not that I'm there yet, but I *get* them now :)
Sorry for geeking out there. I hope it didn't sound like I was lecturing you. It's okay if you still don't like them, I just get like this a bit when my favorites are mentioned, and impressionism is pretty big for me :D
LK
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Date: 2017-04-06 06:42 pm (UTC)Re: Monet, no worries, I like hearing people talk about stuff they like.
There was this bit where it talked about how he had to keep sending someone to fetch him more canvasses, because the light changed, and so he decided to start an entirely new one, because it looked different... There's something really cool about that dedication to capture a moment.
With that particular series, I think part of my "meh" reaction to them comes from the specific paintings that were included in this particular book... they were mostly foggy/wintery ones, whereas the ones with summer lighting (which I'm seeing as I look the series up on the intertubes right now) are much more to my taste. I guess I like his work best when it's bright.
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Date: 2017-04-06 03:55 pm (UTC)And yet I have next to no knowledge about it .__.
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Date: 2017-04-06 06:17 pm (UTC)Wow, you've seen some of his work in person? Lucky. *_* Hopefully some day I'll have that chance.
It might be worthwhile to read something about him when you have some free time~
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Date: 2017-04-14 09:56 pm (UTC)It was indeed a magical expierence to see them. I wish I would have more time to go into art museums. There is something about them that is hard to put into words
https://de.foursquare.com/v/mus%C3%A9e-de-lorangerie/4adcda10f964a520983521e3
But yeah I have to confess that the oh so famous Mona Lisa didn't made such an impression on me when I saw her in person.But the famous painting of Delacrox from the July Revolution. Oddly enough the Four Season of Archimboldo where nice too look in person (really facinating series)
Well all in all Paris is worth a journey. I hope that one day I migth be able to go there on vacation on my own (and with just a few words of French that I speak xD). There is so much I want to see (some of it again).