02 February 2013

February ARTastic ....

The February inspiration on ARTastic comes to you from famous Australian artist ...

 
Charles Meere (1890-1961) with his painting Australian Beach Pattern (1940)

Criteria - Free choice, make of this as you will


A little about Charles Meere


Meere was one of a group of Sydney artists who took a modern take on classical artistic traditions as a way of portraying national life in the period between the First and Second World Wars.

Born in London, Meere trained as a mural artist at the Royal College of Art, where he was influenced by the ideas of William Morris on craftmanship and the role of the designer. Moving to Australia, he worked as a commercial artist and as a cartographer and illustrator for newspapers.

His most famous work is Australian Beach Pattern which depicts a tableau of beach goers whose athletic perfection takes on monumental, heroic proportions. Meere created a crowded and complex composition through the pattern of figures, which appears as a still-life of suspended strength. This iconic painting encapsulates the myth of the healthy young nation symbolised by the tanned, god-like bodies of the sunbathers.



I love what the Creative Team have come up with this month.  Here is a small sample - you'' need to pop onto the blog to see more and to submit your own entry - we'd love to have you play along.



 


 

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