Gray / Grey in Art
To explain, gray is the preferred in the American English language, grey is other English-speaking countries. I will use them interchangeably and discuss works by famous artists.
Gray / grey is the color between black and white. Shadows are an excellent example.
Slate is a rock composed of clay or volcanic ash. In art, it can be used in paintings, sculpture, and mosaics.
Charcoal is one of the oldest (and most popular) minerals on earth. Beginning with the use of its pigment in the Cave of Altamira in Spain and the Lascaux caves in France, then popularized during the Renaissance.
Sketches by some of the most renowned artists using charcoal are Pablo Picasso, Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, and Vincent van Gogh.
Leonardo da Vinci is considered as the first graphite artist, illustrated in his "Vitruvian Man" (1490).
Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti worked with clay before casting in bronze. He also pressed clay or poured plaster into molds to form sculptures.
Baroque artist hailing from Italy is Caravaggio and his use of gray light filtering through the room in his religious painting “The Calling of Saint Matthew” (1600).
Georgia O'Keeffe charcoal drawing “Untitled (New York)” 1932, vertical lines for the New York skyline with buildings.
Grey toned unclothed bodies can be seen in the Greek artist El Greco's "Vision of Saint John the Divine" (1608-164) painted for a church in Toledo and in his mythological painting "Laocoon" (1610-1614).
Dutch artist Aelbert Cuyp painted clouds, or cloudscapes in "The Maas at Dordrecht in a Storm" (1648-1650).
English American artist Thomas Cole painted "Clouds" in the 1830s. It can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.
A lovely drawing with grey tones by J.M.W. Turner is "Lucerne by Moonlight" (1843) that can be seen at the British museum.
French Impressionist artist Gustave Caillebotte painted "Paris Street, Rainy Day" (1877) with pedestrians holding grey umbrellas on gray cobblestone streets.
American expatriate artist John Singer Sargent painted "Fumee d'ambre gris" or "Smoke of Ambergris" (1880). The title explains the perfumed smoke of smoldering ambergris as seen/imagined in the painting.
Shadows seen in late afternoon or nighttime (with lighting) can be seen in French Impressionist Edgar Degas' "The Absinthe Drinkers" (1876) and American artist Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks" (1942).
Lead is a toxic mineral found in the Earth’s crust. It is a favored substance used by German artist Anselm Kiefer in "Black Flakes" (2006). "A lump of metal set into crumbling greys and earths."
As for the title of the 2015 movie "Fifty Shades of Grey" there are actually five hundred (500) shades.
Gray / grey is the color between black and white. Shadows are an excellent example.
Slate is a rock composed of clay or volcanic ash. In art, it can be used in paintings, sculpture, and mosaics.
Charcoal is one of the oldest (and most popular) minerals on earth. Beginning with the use of its pigment in the Cave of Altamira in Spain and the Lascaux caves in France, then popularized during the Renaissance.
Sketches by some of the most renowned artists using charcoal are Pablo Picasso, Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, and Vincent van Gogh.
Leonardo da Vinci is considered as the first graphite artist, illustrated in his "Vitruvian Man" (1490).
Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti worked with clay before casting in bronze. He also pressed clay or poured plaster into molds to form sculptures.
Baroque artist hailing from Italy is Caravaggio and his use of gray light filtering through the room in his religious painting “The Calling of Saint Matthew” (1600).
Georgia O'Keeffe charcoal drawing “Untitled (New York)” 1932, vertical lines for the New York skyline with buildings.
Grey toned unclothed bodies can be seen in the Greek artist El Greco's "Vision of Saint John the Divine" (1608-164) painted for a church in Toledo and in his mythological painting "Laocoon" (1610-1614).
Dutch artist Aelbert Cuyp painted clouds, or cloudscapes in "The Maas at Dordrecht in a Storm" (1648-1650).
English American artist Thomas Cole painted "Clouds" in the 1830s. It can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.
A lovely drawing with grey tones by J.M.W. Turner is "Lucerne by Moonlight" (1843) that can be seen at the British museum.
French Impressionist artist Gustave Caillebotte painted "Paris Street, Rainy Day" (1877) with pedestrians holding grey umbrellas on gray cobblestone streets.
American expatriate artist John Singer Sargent painted "Fumee d'ambre gris" or "Smoke of Ambergris" (1880). The title explains the perfumed smoke of smoldering ambergris as seen/imagined in the painting.
Shadows seen in late afternoon or nighttime (with lighting) can be seen in French Impressionist Edgar Degas' "The Absinthe Drinkers" (1876) and American artist Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks" (1942).
Lead is a toxic mineral found in the Earth’s crust. It is a favored substance used by German artist Anselm Kiefer in "Black Flakes" (2006). "A lump of metal set into crumbling greys and earths."
As for the title of the 2015 movie "Fifty Shades of Grey" there are actually five hundred (500) shades.
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