Mino Argento is an Italian painter and collage artist renown for his Abstract style. Mino Argento was born in Rome, Italy in the year 1927.
Argento had a background as an architect before becoming an artist. He left Italy in order to further his art career. At that time in Italy figurative art was the preferred style of painting. The artist relocated to New York City.
Argento uses basic geometric shapes to form new dimensions on the canvas. He paints using mixed mediums on most surfaces including oils and acrylics.
Argento’s art reminds me of the kinetic and Op Artist from Venezuela, Carlos Cruz Diez. Both use simple shapes to create amazing layers of depth and light.
In this clip we view a variety of well known abstract painters including Mino Argento, whose work is shown at the 4:13 mark in the clip:
Gerrit Rietveld was a Dutch furniture designer and architect. Rietveld is associated with the De Stijl movement. The movement emphasized straight lines and primary colors.
Gerrit Rietveld was born in Utrect, the Netherlands in the year 1888. As a teenager he was attended night school and also was an apprentice for maker of jewelry. During this period he learned how to model, draw, and to paint. He opened his own furniture production company in 1917.
Below a brief documentary on Gerrit Rietveld:
Some of his most famous designs were the famous Red and Blue Chair, the Zig Zag Chair, and the Schroder House. The Schröder House being the best and only example of De Stijl architecture.
The house was built in Utrecht for a client who lived in the house and passed away in the mid 80s. The house is now a museum and can be visited by the public and below we do just that!:
In this clip we explore his famous Red and Blue Chair:
Gerrit Rietveld passed away in 1964. He was 76 years of age.
Price range information: Drawings and posters can be found starting at $3,000 up to original woodcut pieces which can bring $50,000 at auction.
As a person who looks for artistic design in everything I think his chairs are incredible functional works of art. Its great to see a movement such as the De Stijl, that can be represented by a piece of furniture or even more fascinating, a house.
Charles Mackintosh was a Scottish born architect and artist who painted in a modernist style. Charles Mackintosh was born in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom in the year 1868. He was the fourth of eleven children. His father worked in the city police department. Mackintosh also worked as a sculptor.
He won a scholarship to study architecture after his high school age education was complete. He worked in this field from 1896 to 1906. Below we view a fantastic house that was designed by Charles Mackintosh but not completed until recently. The house is filled with examples of modernist art including the fireplace, many sets of tables and chairs, and light fixtures:
Mackintosh was inspired by Japanese art.
As a painter the artist worked mainly with the medium of watercolor. His favorite subjects were landscapes and floral works.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
Below a wonderful selection of modernist art from Charles Mackintosh:
He lived briefly in France and painted marine scenes of Port- Verdes, France often.
Charles Mackintosh passed away from cancer in 1928 at the age of 60 years old.
I enjoy the shapes the artist used in his depiction of flowers.
Jean Carlu was a French born artist who became famous for his poster work in the World War 2 era. Jean Carlu was born in Bonnieres-Sur-Seine, France in the year 1900.
Carlu attended Les Ecoles des Beaux-Arts located in Paris where he studied architecture. Due to an accident Carlu had his right arm amputated and he switched from studying architecture to graphic design and illustration. His family tree included many architects. One brother of Carlu’s named Jacques designed one of Paris’ most famous castles, the Palais de Challoit.
Below a short biographical film on Carlu. Images, including his first poster of Charlie Chaplin, are shown starting 52 seconds into the clip:
Jean Carlu passed away in 1997.
One of his most famous works was for the wine label for a 1924 Mouton- Rothschild wine. He was also associated with a brand of soap called Mon Savon, which can be seen in the gallery.
price range information: This artist produced many posters and prints over his lengthy career especially around World War 2. Works range from $5,000 to $40,000.
George Nelson was a contemporary American furniture and industrial designer born in Hartford, Connecticut in the year 1908. One of his famous designs was the pretzel chair. He was also known for the marshmallow chair and platform bench.
Below a wonderful clock designed by Nelson:
Nelson attended college at Yale University. He graduated with a degree in architecture and easily found employment before he graduated from college with a firm.
The beginning of his professional career he was mainly a writer appearing in many industry magazines. Nelson made great use of his position by getting to meet and exchange ideas with the leading industrial modernists in the world.
He also helped to write a book titled Tomorrow’s House. This book had some very new ideas about house design. Impressed by this book a representative from the design company Herman Miller offered a full time furniture design job to Nelson despite his having no experience at the position.
His contract was very generous because it allowed him to work outside the company if he desired. He was also able to collaborate with artists of his own liking. He would take the money earned and actually start his own design firm in New York City using the industries leading designers.
Nelson retired in the early 1980s.
Below another clock designed by Nelson:
George Nelson passed away in 1986 at 77 years old.
One thing that is important to remember about Nelson is that he was similar to a CEO in charge of a company, not always directly responsible. It was found out much later that designs that were given credit for being made by Nelson, were often times designed by someone else who was not given any credit.
This man was a very modern thinker when it came to design. He first developed the outdoor shopping mall so popular in American right now back in 1971.
Below a wonderful exhibit that took place at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art:
price range information: Sorry none available.
To close we take a look at another popular George Nelson design, the coconut chair:
Zaha Hadid is a wonderful contemporary architect and sculpture artist that has created many well known buildings around the world. Zaha Hadid was born in Baghdad, Iraq in the yar 1950.
Hadid attended colleges in Lebanon and the United Kingdom where she studied architecture and math.
Zaha Hadid has won many awards for architectural work including the Pritzker Award. This prize is given to the best architect living or dead since 1979. Hadid has been the only female to win this prestigious award.
Price range information: Works in acrylics and lithographs start at $3,000 up to larger works made of glass which can reach $100,000.
In this clip we view buildings and projects created by Zaha Hadid:
The artist has also taught at the collegiate level at Harvard Graduate School.
Here Hadid gives her thoughts and ideas on the creative process involved in architecture:
Hadid now teaches in Austria at the collegiate level and runs her own design firm which employs between 300 and 400 people.
What a great story! We can only hope that the violence ends soon so that Hadid’s designs can be seen all over the Iraqi skyline.
Per Arnoldi was born in Denmark in the year 1941. Arnoldi is known for his paintings using vivid color and geometric shapes. Per Arnoldi is also an architect and has done public commissioned works including the London’s National Police Memorial. Arnoldi also designed the logo for the Copenhagen Opera House.
The artist also worked Japan Railways.
Per Arnoldi is part of many prestigious collections including the Museum of Modern Art of New York City and the Victoria and Albert Museum of London, England. Arnoldi is also part of the collection of the Museum of Modern Art located in Tokyo, Japan.
Price range information: Arnoldi works as a painter and printmaker working with oils and acrylics. Prints can be found for $500. Originals can reach $5,000.
Ron Arad is a wonderful artist who is renown for his creative way of furntiture design. Ron Arad was born in Tel- Aviv, Israel in the year 1951. For his artistic edcuation Arad attended the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. He went on to study architecture in London, England for five years.
Brother is named Atar Arad who is a professional musician.
price range information:
1989 founded his own design firm with Carline Thorman.
First breakthrough into the world of creative furniture design was a chair named the Rover Chair. Much of his chair work is made from steel or chrome.
Another creative idea is a bookworm designed bookcase. The case is actually a peace of art that is installed into the wall and can be conformed to a specific shape.
As with the Dulce and Gabbana clip, the aritst has made many collaborative efforts including designing a chandelier with Swarovski crystal company.
Was the main architect for the Bauhaus Museum in Tel Aviv, Israel.
In this clip Ron Arad is joined by the duo Dolce and Gabbana. A wide selection of works is shown:
In this clip we visit a show from 2009 at the Museum of Modern Art New York City:
I enjoy Arad’s work for me its a cross of modern furniture design with the whimsical feel of Jeff Koons large works.
Jean Prouve was a famous architect and furniture designer born in Nancy, France in the year 1901. The artist was one of seven children and the participation in the arts was highly encouraged as his father was a well known painter Victor Prouve. His mother was a pianist. Below is an example of his father style of painting, Victor Prouve was active in France was a painter and sculptor.
In this clip we see some contemporary chair designs that use Prouve’s designs in conjunction with a Swiss furniture maker and apparel designer G-Star.
After his high school years he was an apprentice for a blacksmith and after that to a metal worker. In 1923 he took all of experiences and decided to open up his own studio. Prouve designed lamps, chairs, and handrails. The artist often credited a movement to which his father belonged, L’ecole de Nancy, the School of Nancy is a lose translation. The agenda of the group was to marry art and industrial design alongside art and architecture.
In the midst of World War II he founded a company that was involved in designing bicycles.
The late 1940s the artist begins to design his fabricated houses, they were first made of aluminum. One inspiration for a design was to make temporary shelter available for people. A small two bedroom house could be built in seven hours.
The City of Nancy took over his house and it is sort of a museum. The city rents it out to architects and their family, but in order to stay on the property they must admit the public at certain times of the year.
Price range information: Record high prices for Jean Prouve are 5 million dollars for a prefabricated house built for Africa that was sold at auction via Christies in 2007. Other than this price its difficult to form a pricing schedule.
In this clip view a clip of the $5 million dollar Tropicale House.
The artist passed away in 1984 at age of 82 years old.
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