Montage Reflections of the Great Masters

By James William Allen and Gabriella Gafni

From Botticelli to Bouguereau, from Rembrandt to Van Gogh, Montage Reflections of the Great Masters is a comprehensive synopsis of art history from the Early Renaissance to the Post-Impressionist period. The book touches upon some of the greatest artists of all time, their techniques and styles, and the impetus behind their works. As you delve into various cultures, feast your eyes on a selection of the worlds most momentous creations on canvas, embedded in the luminance of the authors carefully crafted montages. Behold details from Michaelangelos Sistine Chapel ceiling, a quintessential artistic tour de force; be a spectator at Renoirs Luncheon of the Boating Party; and visit Monets garden all in the space of one afternoon. This work is bound to inspire the reader to journey beyond what the eye perceives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499015515

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by James William Allen, Jacquelyn M. Alle. 552276

ISBN:   Softcover   978-1-4990-1552-2

             EBook       978-1-4990-1551-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 05/01/2014

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Contents

Sandro Botticelli (c. 1445-1510)

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)

Raphael Santi (1483-1520)

El Greco (1541-1614)

Diego Velázquez (1599-1660)

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)

Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675)

Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788)

Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863)

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905)

Edgar Degas (1834-1917)

Oscar-Claude Monet (1840-1926)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

Valentin Serov (1865-1911)

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Preface

As I formulated these pages, I asked myself the question, How do you encapsulate genius without leaving anything out? In the blink of an eye, I found the answer: It’s absolutely impossible! In many ways, therefore, this book is a tease - for the art connoisseur, passing a Sunday morning over coffee and aesthetics; or for the student, who has never even heard of Botticelli, hoping to discover a new and fascinating world.

Indeed, the visual arts are portals to other worlds, and the Great Masters have given us the key - the ability to use our observational powers to feast on their perspectives though their brilliant use of color, technique and brush stroke - not to mention their intricate understanding of the human condition. With one glance, we are transported.

This book focuses on just some of the Great Masters, from the Early Renaissance to Post-Impressionism. Each painting is resized to fit into an 8.5 x 11 digital montage (i.e., a collection of images, juxtaposed to create an artistic impression), rendered in Adobe Photoshop.® The creative elements employed in this text are designed to evoke a sense of balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, and flow, providing an overall unified visual effect that allows the spectator to focus on many paintings at once, instead of a single work at a time. This technique is an exciting method by which the reader receives a general impression of variegated artistic styles, while singling in on the genius of each master. The reader

Reviews for Montage Reflections of the Great Masters

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Surrealistische kroniek van de slavenopstand op Haiti, eind 18de, begin 19de eeuw. Baadt in magisch-realtisch-voedoesfeertje. Soms nogal springerig, maar bevat mooie scenes.

[kirmuriel-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was a short read.

[quondame · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An almost mellow, distanced telling of the life and times of Ti Noël in the late 18th early 19th century Haiti, during slavery, revolts, exile and always oppression. A few others individuals are briefly in focus, but while sad the book is remarkably unbitter on the failures of revolution.

[technodiabla · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Historical fiction meets magical realism in this short novel about the 1803 Slave uprising in Haiti and the rulers that followed. Sad story but since it's told from the point of view of a slave of that time period it's sprinkled with magical voodoo and naive hope. The writing style reminded me of reading Greek and Roman mythology.

[k_fox_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing how he managed to squeeze such a story into so short a book. Beautiful, yet brutal & tragic also.