Monday, March 16, 2020

Blanche Lazell essays

Blanche Lazell essays Upon first inspection of Blanche Lazzells exhibition of work in the Messaros Gallery I was instantly struck by the wide variances in her color palate. After hearing about her two trips to Paris and her involvement with many famous artists like, Albert Gleizes and Hans Hoffman, I was intrigued to begin research on people or art movements that have influenced Lazzell in her choice of color. In Lazzells first trip to Europe she was engulfed into a world totally different that than her quaint life in West Virginia. She was exposed to rich new cultures and budding new art movements. Cubism, fauvism, expressionism, and, futurism were all exploding the Paris exhibits, and Blanche Lazzell was there to observe many of them. In Cape Cod in Autumn (1918-19) she shows strong affinities with both fauvism and expressionism. This quote from the book Blanche Lazzell The Life and Work of an American Modernist, best shows that Lazzell had fauvist and expressionist influences. Further research shows that while in Paris on her first trip she took a class with Charles Guerin as her professor at the Academie Moderne. Guerin was part of the Parisian fauve group, along with Henri Matisse. This proves that Blanche was influenced in the techniques of the fauves from the beginning of her European teachings. Some might argue that Albert Gleiz was her most important teacher because he taught her the basics of abstraction, with overlapping planes, and showing her the importance of color and movement. With the rest of this paper I would like to dive into Blanches early art, and examine a few works from her first trip to Europe, and to uncover possible artists that touched Lazzell. The influences of the fauvist and expressionist movement, Albert Gleiz, and her experiences all had a significant impression on the color choices Lazzelle made for the rest of her career as an artist. ...