David

From what I learned about David is that he was a romantic era painter which had a lot to do with ancient roman revival the roles of men and women.  One of my favorite paintings of his is one of his most well known, Oath of the Horaitii.  What I like about this painting is how beautifully the legs are rendered on the men.  Their knees show the weight and strength they put on them according to the stance they are in.  I also really love how perfectly the women's bodies are portrayed.  Even under heavy cloth I am able to sense the weight in their legs and body.  Their skin looks plushy and warm.  All aspects of the human body in each of the figures is so impressively done.

El Greco

A few weeks ago, I learned about the art work from El Greco.  His style is called mannerism because of the elongated forms and irregular usage of color. The figures are also usually tightly enclosed in a space.  Although all of his subjects are Christian themed, I actually really enjoyed this style of depiction.  It is so different from his era and I think it takes a lot of courage to step outside the lines especially with the topics he chose to depict.  Another element of mannerism that I find interesting is the contradiction of positions for the amount of weight placed on limbs.  In his Resurrection, figures are being thrown every which way and in unnatural poses.  This is very different from the realistic depictions we have learned in class and it gives the painting an uneasiness.

Lucian Freud

I had learned about a painting by Lucian Freud in one of my art history classes.  We wee on the topic or famous portraits and our professor brought up the image he did of the Queen.  I found it most interesting because she commissioned his work, but he did not embellish the portrayal.  If anything, he made her look worse than she actual is.  I applaud her and him for this new age portrait and am glad someone had the...balls... to be innovative.  He also does not glamorize himself in ANY way while doing self portraits.  I know that in my own depictions, even of classmates, I show them in the best light possible.

Jenny Saville

Saville's paintings are shocking to first look at, but truly remarkable.  I love the subject of gore and horror she explores.  I have done a few macabre paintings of my own and so I can appreciate her works.  She also does bodies pressed up against glass which is SO cool mostly nude women.  I really love this effect and I think I may try it on my own sometime.  It really takes talent to morph a body correctly in that way.  She is an amazing artist and I may try and emulate her style because I feel it is somewhat of what I explore myself.

Jacob Collins

Collins' figure drawing are simplistic yet very real.  He often uses subjects in the nude and usually at most a bed sheet is also incorporated or a blank wall.  His works seem more like studies rather than anything too compelling but his style is very beautiful, and it gives the audience a sense of the complete knowledge he has on the human body.  His lighting on the body is diffused giving each of his subjects a light aura around them.. They all have a calmness to them that I enjoyed looking at.  One of my favorite skills that Collins possesses is the ability to make the flesh look tangible and soft.  He is an incredibly impressive figure artist.

Philip Pearlstein

Pearlstein's work is mostly of nudes, but he does an incredible job rendering them.  I find it interesting because they aren't really sexual in nature but more relaxed depictions of the human body.  Almost all of them are Caucasian and in a few paintings the heads are cut off by borders.  This leads me to believe he is very focused on illustration the bends and curves of the body rather than put effort into the face.  Overall his work is definitely interesting, and I'd like to see them in person sometime to get a better view of them.

Mark Tansey

Mark Tansey has a very cool style.  His pain tings are done in a monochromatic palette.  He uses shades of blue, red, black, purple, and green.  The paintings are realist but there is always something a little bit off in them.  They are almost comical.  The figures are perfectly rendered though looking like a photo.  I really like the subjects of the paintings with my favorite being one of a rooster looking in the mirror.  They are not paintings that you can take once glance at and move on.  The monochromatic aspect of them is really interesting.  It reminds me a lot of taking an image in photoshop and adjusting the hue to one color set.