The more things change 8th September art lecture

The more things change 8th September art lecture 

The song remains the same, or the more things change the more they stay the same. This can be said about many things and art is no exception. In order to find new ideas and be inspired, we often must first look to the past, and learn from that. We then take what we have learnt, shape it and combine it with our own ideas, to give it new meaning and relevance.

All artists who went to art school have taken this step, looking back in order to move forward. They then create their own works of art, learning from the past and adapting ideas to represent what's around them now. This is an important part of being an artist.

Edouard Manet took inspiration from 'Venus of Urbino' by the Italian master Titian to create his painting Olympia. In turn Titian took inspiration from Giorgione's 'Sleeping Venus' (c.1510). Each artist putting his own interpretation and meaning into a painting of Venus. They each created something unique, but based on the same theme or subject. The old masters often took inspiration from religious scenes, mythology, as well as Greek and Roman gods and goddesses. Artists looked and studied great works, used them as inspiration, and created their own art.

Manet's Olympia, although influenced and inspired by Titian's Venus, was more than a depiction of a reclining nude. Titian's Venus was painted for a Duke as a private gift for his young wife. It was a representation of marriage, fidelity and her marital obligations. Manet's Venus is a prostitute, a subject intended to shock and confront the 19th century French viewer. This is a good example how an artist has taken a study of a past work, used the subject matter, pose and composition, and altered it to create a new work.