Ivan Aivazovsk, Aaron Copland - Appalachian Spring, Carl Sandburg - Fog

A new artist this week Ivan Aivazovsky.  This artist is new to me, but his work looks lovely, lots of ships and seascapes.  I hope you enjoy our study of his works.  Following are links to biographical sketches a photograph and quotes followed by our first painting.
.
Ivan Aivazovsky - Wikipedia

The following is a quote from WikiArt.Org, "Throughout his lifetime, Aivazovsky contributed over 6,000 paintings to the art world, ranging from his early landscapes of the Crimean countryside to the seascapes and coastal scenes for which he is most famous. Aivazovsky was especially effective at developing the play of light in his paintings, sometimes applying layers of color to create a transparent quality, a technique for which they are highly admired.  

Although he produced many portraits and landscapes, over half of all of Aivazovsky’s paintings are realistic depictions of coastal scenes and seascapes. He is most remembered for his beautifully melodramatic renditions of the seascapes of which he painted the most. Many of his later works depict the painful heartbreak of soldiers at battle or lost at sea, with a soft celestial body taunting of hope from behind the clouds. His artistic technique centers on his ability to render the realistic shimmer of the water against the light of the subject in the painting, be it the full moon, the sunrise, or battleships in flames. Many of his paintings also illustrate his adeptness at filling the sky with light, be it the diffuse light of a full moon through fog, or the orange glow of the sun gleaming through the clouds. "  for more from this site WikiArt.Com - Ivan Aivazovsky

 I love the wonderful pastel colors and the light shining out behind the clouds.  I haven't gotten a web album of paintings put together yet - is that something some of you would use?  If I get a few affirmative comments I'll put one together, but if no one is using it I'll just post them week by week....  

Our new composer - Aaron Copland was an American composer who wrote a variety of music as well as teaching and conducting.
The following is from Wikipedia:  Aaron Copland (/ˌærən ˈkoʊplənd/; November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. Instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, in his later years he was often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers" and is best known to the public for the works he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s in a deliberately accessible style often referred to as Populist and which the composer labeled his "vernacular" style.  The open, slowly changing harmonies of many of his works are archetypical of what many people consider to be the sound of American music, evoking the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. In addition to his ballets and orchestral works, he produced music in many other genres including chamber music, vocal works, opera and film scores.  Following is the link for the rest of the article:  Wikipedia - Aaron Copland.

PBS Aaron Copland 

Today's piece,"Appalachian Spring" is one of his well-known pieces - Aaron Copland - Appalachian Spring.

Our new poet for the Fall season is Carl Sandburg.  Following is a link to two biographical sketches:
 The Poetry Foundation: Carl Sandburg.  
Wikipedia - Carl Sandburg 

Our first poem-
 

   Fog

Carl Sandburg

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.