Albrecht Durer by Justin Abell |
The artist that influenced me the most this year in AP Art History was Albrecht Durer. I chose Durer because he was the founder of using printmaking as an art form and for his love of nature. I have always had an interest in graphic arts and a great respect for the beauty of nature. I also enjoy the dark themes of some of Durer’s works. Durer's prints were extremely accurate. He believed that art should be scientifically accurate. He would actually get down in a field so he could see the individual blades of grass up close. Durer did sketches and prints of all kinds from the texture of a blade of grass to intense shadows of a horse’s leg muscle. I feel that an artist should truly get into what he/she is doing and Durer did just that. He published books on ideal proportion and perspective, which shows his passion for art and his determination for accuracy.
Durer accomplished a lot in his lifetime. He led the German Renaissance along with Grunwald and Holbein, he was the first to establish printmaking as an art form, and he had such a passion for his studies that it would lead him to his death. He died from a fatal fever that he caught while trudging through a swamp to examine a dead whale up close. I admire and respect Durer for his creativity, for founding graphic arts, and for his dedication to the art world. |
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