Note on Art

Note on Art

A note from LeRoy Neiman on artistic reference, specifically Northern Renaissance painter Lucas Cranach the Elder.

This note from LeRoy Neiman provides a brief biography on the Northern Renaissance artist Lucas Cranach the Elder (b. 1472-1553). Cranach, German painter and printmaker, is primarily known for his portraiture of German nobility and persons from the Protestant Reformation; many of these works feature stylized figures, cropped from the waist up, set against flat colored backgrounds. The artist was also a close friend of Martin Luther. Although there is not much similarity with regards to style between Neiman and Cranach’s works, Neiman had a deep admiration for Cranach, specifically with regards to his interest in printmaking and attention to class, things Neiman saw as integral to his Neiman own practice. The artist then, with this note, is drawing a conceptual through line between their respective worldviews. The record was most likely written in preparation for Neiman's memoir, All Told.

LeRoy Neiman

LeRoy Neiman Foundation

LeRoy Neiman Foundation

c. 1990-2011

LeRoy Neiman

Property of the LeRoy Neiman Foundation; please consult the organization's archivist for further details.

Notes

Image/jpeg

English

Document

LN_Notes_2299

New York (N.Y.) New York

Lucas Cranach, the Elder (German) 1742-1553
one of the most important and influential artist of the 16th c. (painting and graphic)
Devotional paintings WOODCUTS
portraits, altar pieces, decorative works
innumerable paintings of elongated
female nudes and fashionably dressed lades and female saints
Patron Emperor Maximillian
Popular
Court Painters (millionaire - Mayor)
Wittenberg a University town lived 45 years art center
Uncommon industriousness – did not spend
an idle hour
Esteemed by nobility, wealthy bourgeoisie U. professors. People of all classes and faiths made up his popularity in art.
continued to received commissions from Catholics even after the onset of Protestant Reformation as Cranach was on friendly terms with Luther (a teacher at Wittenberg)

Permanent marker and color pencil on paper.