The great heroes and monsters of myth were fertile subjects for artists throughout history. Greek and Roman legends are perhaps depicted more than any other scenes outside Bible tales. Here we present some of the most striking images of dreadful beasts and brave warriors. Continue reading
Earlier in the week we told you about our fantastic Twombly/Poussin iPad apps (available to download now!) We also revealed that an iPhone app for the same exhibition is on the way. Today, we want to give you a sneak preview of the iPhone app’s incredible functionality: fine art image recognition.
You may have read about the possibilities of our image recognition technology when we were featured in Wired earlier in the year:
Suddenly, art is searchable: hold your phone’s camera up to, say, one of Monet’s oils of Rouen cathedral, and Artfinder’s free image-recognition app can pull together information about that picture.
Hopefully we’ll get to Monet further down the line (watch this space!) For now, check out the video below that we shot at Dulwich Picture Gallery, showing the app being tested in the wild for the first time.
Sometimes painters and film-makers alight on the same scene. Particular Greek myths, epic battles, and figures from history are always ripe subjects for the artist – and, in the case of directors from Scorsese to Mel Gibson, the Greatest Story Ever Told is as tempting to portray on screen as it was for countless painters and sculptors throughout art history.
So when the subject’s the same, who comes out on top? We conducted this highly scientific bit of research.
Film: Clash of the Titans (1981)
Painting: The Doom Fulfilled (Burne Jones)
Nostalgia for the great Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion creature notwithstanding, the winner here is obvious. Burne Jones’s depiction of Perseus grappling with Poseidon’s monster is a thing of operatic beauty. Continue reading
Bands looking to bring a little visual flair to their album covers have long pillaged art history for iconic imagery. Who is the artist whose work is most often used on record sleeves? Bosch is a favourite, as is Escher – but it’s Magritte who’s top of the pops. We counted over 25 instances of his paintings being used on LPs from Jeff Beck’s Beck-Ola to Jackson Browne’s Late For The Sky.
Here’s ten more famous paintings used on record covers:
Coldplay, Viva La Vida
Coldplay were so into Delacroix’s vision of revolution they even tried to recreate its textures for their “band inside a painting” Viva La Vida video. Continue reading
At the Venice Biennale earlier this month, perhaps the most anticipated work on show was Anish Kapoor’s Ascension, a column of smoke rising from the floor to the ceiling of the Basilica di San Giorgio. Continue reading
For some artists, depictions of Christ on the cross or nubile women in various states of undress just isn’t enough. They have other things on their mind. Darker, more sinister things… Continue reading
