Tag: art history

The Work of Anita Malfatti

Posted on by Nancy

There have been many leading ladies in the history of Modernism; one of whom is Anita Malfatti. Malfatti is widely regarded as the pioneer of the Modernist movement in Brazil — sharing with her home country the style that had already taken American and European culture by storm — and leaving behind a life that would inspire generations to come. 

Life in Brazil

Anita Malfatti was born Ana Catarina Malfatti in Sao Paulo in 1889 to a family of immigrants; her father was a civil engineer and her mother was a painter, and a highly-cultured woman. Malfatti’s mother was her primary teacher, and a huge source of inspiration as Malfatti began to explore creatively while growing up. Due to a congenital defect that made her left arm nearly immobile, Malfatti was forced to paint right-handed even though she was left-handed. Nevertheless, Malfatti wasn’t deterred from her passion for the visual arts.

Pursuing art in Brazil was limiting at that time. The country lacked cultural institutions and had a limited scope of art theory compared to its global counterparts. Much Brazilian art at the time was in the classical, romantic style and was concerned with nationalistic interpretations of Brazilian pride and culture. So while Malfatti began her studies at Mackenzie College in Sao Paulo, the local arts scene was not enough to satiate her curiosity, and in 1912, she left for Berlin.

Anita Malfatti, Festejo na Roca. CMMECPC. (2023-10-05). MMEC 029/2015: Retrieved from museum-digital Brazil

The Work of Anita Malfatti

In Berlin, Malfatti spent four years studying at the Royal Academy of the Arts under famous expressionist artists. There she began to hone her artistic style of expressionist portraiture and metal engraving. After, Malfatti returned temporarily home to host her first solo show in Brazil in 1917-1918. The show received negative reception and was seen as too modern, bizarre and self-indulgent. 

Despite the uproar at the time, that solo showcase was the first introduction of Cubism, Expressionism, Surrealism and Futurism in Brazil. Recognition of Malfatti’s innovation was soon to come in Brazil. In 1922, Malfatti returned to Sao Paulo festival, The Week of Modern Art, in 1922, alongside other Brazilian Modernist artists (Tarsila do Amaral, Mario de Andrade, Menotti del Picchia, Oswald de Andrade), earning themselves the name  “The Group of Five.” The group’s presence that year made revolutionary strides in how Modern art was perceived and utilized in Brazil.

Malfatti continued to explore her artist expression, leaning towards the naive and folkloric later in her life, until she eventually died in 1984. By then, her influence on the artistic DNA of Brazil was undeniable, and her impact on Modernism remains profound today.

The Work of Mark Rothko

Posted on by Nancy

It’s no secret that at Optima we love bold colors and clean, Modernist lines. That’s why we’re so drawn to the work of artist Mark Rothko, an American painter known for his rigorous use of colors, shape and form. Today, we’re taking a deep dive into the preeminent artist’s life and work.

Mark Rothko in Yorktown Heights circa 1949. Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum, photo by Consuelo Kanaga.
Mark Rothko in Yorktown Heights circa 1949. Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum, photo by Consuelo Kanaga. No copyright restrictions.

The Life of Mark Rothko

Mark Rothko was born September 25, 1903 in Latvia (then in the Russian empire) to a pharmacist father. His father was an intellectual of modest means, raising a Jewish family in a time and place where it was highly taboo to hold such an identity. Rothko attended cheder, a traditional Judaic elementary school, until his father made the decision to emigrate from Russia, for fear that his sons would be drafted into the army. 

In 1913, Rothko landed in Portland, Oregon in the states, where he went on to attend U.S. school and became an active member of the local Jewish community. Taking after his father, Rothko had a strong voice and point of view on many issues. When he landed a scholarship to Yale University in 1922, Rothko started a satirical magazine that lampooned a school he believed to be flawed — and it was unsurprising when Rothko dropped out just a year later.

Out on his own, Rothko found his way to the art world.

The Work of Mark Rothko

In 1923, Rothko began working in New York City’s garment district and enrolled at Parsons School of Design and started taking classes at the Art Students League. He was taught by Cubist artist Max Weber, and influenced by other artists such as the surrealist Paul Klee. As Rothko continued to surround himself with artists and began exhibiting at galleries, his work was becoming recognized as a force of its own, set apart by his unique understanding of color.

While Rothko continued to rise to critical acclaim, it wasn’t until 1949 when he painted his first “multiform” and discovered his most signature style. Marked by bold geometric forms and striking primary and secondary colors, he became more and more particular about his works. Almost always painted in vertical frames, Rothko even went so far as to suggest viewers should stand exactly 18 inches from his work for optimal consumption. He believed color was “merely an instrument” and that his paintings expressed human emotions such as “tragedy, ecstasy and doom” and should henceforth move the viewer to tears. 

Rothko continued expressing his strong point of view until his untimely death at age 66 in 1970, when he committed suicide. While his story had a tragic end, his legacy lives on, marking him as a true master of new American art.

The Work of Paul Klee

Posted on by Nancy

Art plays a large role in our lives — from influencing our approach to Modernist design to transforming the spaces that we create. The repertoire of artists whose work hangs in Optima buildings is expansive, from Pablo Picasso to Joan Miro, and today, we’re spotlighting another one of our great featured artists: Paul Klee.

The Life of Paul Klee

Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland in 1879 to a German father, inheriting his father’s German citizenship at birth. Klee’s father was a talented music teacher who passed on his knowledge to Klee. By age eleven, Klee’s proficiency at violin was so impressive that he was invited to join the Bern Music Association.

Klee’s creative proficiency extended to the visual arts. And while he pursued music per his parents’ wishes, by his teenage years, a desire to rebel and to seek his true passion led him to studying art.

The Work of Paul Klee

Though Klee kept diaries in his early years that included many caricature drawings, he began art school struggling with color theory and painting. As he continued evolving his style, Klee’s humor heavily influenced his work, which began leaning towards the absurd and sarcastic. 

Over the years, Klee’s work has been categorized as Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Surrealism and Absurdism. But his unique point of view, which incorporates geometric forms and a raw, childlike quality, set him apart from his peers. Klee taught at the Bauhaus school from 1921-1931, and the termination of his teaching role segued him into his most vivacious period of creation, where he created upwards of 500 works in one year.

Paul Klee’s Garden View at Optima Signature
Paul Klee’s Garden View at Optima Signature

From his extensive exploration of color theory to his pioneering and childlike style, Paul Klee is an influential artist whose influence spans far beyond his lifestyle.

The Work of Piet Mondrian

Posted on by Nancy

Piet Mondrian is widely regarded as one of the greatest artists and theoreticians of the 20th century. His boldly abstract works exemplified the pinnacle of Modernism’s bare bones, so much so that design historian Stephen Bayley once said, “Mondrian has come to mean Modernism.” Just what shaped Mondrian’s mindset, and what led him to the farthest reaches of abstract art?

The Life (and Work) of Piet Mondrian

Piet Mondrian (Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan) was born in the Netherlands in 1872 into a strict Protestant upbringing. His life was tinged with spirituality even after he left his religious childhood in favor of art school at the Academy for Fine Art in Amsterdam in 1892. His art began as heavily inspired by the surrounding Dutch landscape and impressionist style, including subjects like windmills, rivers and fields. These representational works had Mondrian dabbling in pointillism and the vivid colors of Fauvism.

Throughout the early 20th century, his style evolved to depict abstract trees in broad, sweeping fields. In these paintings, he began experimenting with primary color palettes and emphasizing form over content. In 1908, Mondrian encountered theosophicalism, and this continued search for spiritualism in many philosophies greatly influenced his artistic thinking moving forward.

 

Composition en rouge, jaune, bleu et noir, Piet Mondrian, 1921
Composition en rouge, jaune, bleu et noir, Piet Mondrian, 1921. Photo in Public Domain.

Once Mondrian moved to Paris in 1911, he became fascinated with the avant-garde. Influenced by Picasso and George Braque, his paintings began to lean towards geometric shapes and interlocking planes, naturally absorbing Cubist influence. From there, the iconic Mondrian pieces emerged that we’re all so familiar with. His renowned style appeared in 1920, with bold lines and geometric shapes filled with vibrantly hued primary colors (hues which he always mixed himself).

Even after Mondrian left Paris in 1938 to escape rising facism, he continued to refine his geometric, abstract compositions in London and New York, where he lived out the rest of his life. His celebration of simplicity and form was more than just an art form — it was a philosophy. In his own words, Mondrian described it:

I believe it is possible that, through horizontal and vertical lines constructed with awareness, but not with calculation, led by high intuition, and brought to harmony and rhythm, these basic forms of beauty, supplemented if necessary by other direct lines or curves, can become a work of art, as strong as it is true.

The Work of Georgia O’Keeffe

Posted on by Nancy

We would be remiss to talk about Modernism without showcasing the women who helped pioneer the movement. One woman in particular, the luminary artist Georgia O’Keeffe, earned herself the nickname the “Mother of American Modernism.” Today, we honor her contributions to Modernism by diving deep into her life and work.

The Life of Georgia O’Keeffe

Born in 1887 in a farmhouse in Wisconsin, Georgia O’Keeffe decided at an early age (10) to become an artist. In 1905, she began her serious formal art training at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). She later denounced formal education, feeling too constricted by the strict guidelines that art should imitate what was found in nature. 

It wasn’t until 1912 that O’Keeffe discovered the work of Arthur Wesley Dow, and was inspired by the way he uniquely interpreted subject matters, rather than following traditional modes of artistic creation. From there, O’Keeffe gave permission to herself to experiment in forms that furthered her self-expression and development of style. 

Georgia O’Keeffe, Series 1, No 8, 1917. Public Domain.

The Work of Georgia O’Keeffe

Georgia O’Keeffe is best known for her abstract oil paintings, including many close-ups of flowers. Though many muse the flowers were a symbol for female anatomy, O’Keeffe rejected that interpretation often. Her work was concerned with emphasizing shape and color to illuminate small details.

In 1929, O’Keeffe moved to New Mexico, attempting to escape the socially and artistically oppression of her fame. Partly inspired by a desire to shake Freudian affixations of meaning to her work, and greatly inspired by the native landscape, there O’Keeffe painted New Mexico landscapes and images of animal skulls. 

O’Keeffe’s desert escape and reinvention of inspiration mirrors that of Optima’s own journey, when we expanded to Arizona. We know just how transformative the arid landscape, surprisingly lush desert greenery and culture of the southwest can influence one’s creative scope.

Even in her southwestern escape, O’Keeffe remained heavily in the public eye. Featured in one-woman retrospectives at both the Art Institute of Chicago and the The Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan in the 40’s, O’Keeffe became the first woman to ever have a retrospective at the latter. The next three decades saw her style and subject focus evolve, but it was a quiet period until in 1970, when the Whitney Museum of American Art held a retrospective of her work and brought back buzz. 

While O’Keeffe died in 1986, critical acclaim and love for her work remains. In 2014, her 1932 painting Jimson Weed sold for $44,405,000 — more than three times the previous world auction record for any female artist — demonstrating the art world’s acknowledgment of O’Keefe’s unapologetic vision and pioneering a style.

The Life and Work of Henri Matisse

Posted on by Nancy

Henri Matisse is often regarded as the most important French painter of the 20th century. Leader of the Fauvist movement, his work was expressive, colorful and rigorous, often depicting flattened forms and decorative pattern. He operated with a unique way of seeing, stating, “I don’t paint things, I only paint the difference between things.” To understand the influential work of one of art history’s greatest minds, we first examine his life.

Matisse’s Early Life

Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (1869 to 1954) was a draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor, most renowned for his work as a painter. Born to a wealthy grain merchant in Northern France, he first studied law before finding his calling as an artist. His mother gifted him art supplies during his recovery from appendicitis. Through the gift, Matisse discovered “a kind of paradise” in creation, and made the decision to abandon law for a lifelong pursuit in art. 

In the last decade of the 19th century, Matisse studied art in Paris, and was influenced by the work of early masters and modern artists such as Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin and Éduoard Manet. However, an 1896 trip to the island of Belle Île introduced Matisse to Australian painter John Russell, who then introduced Mattisse to Impressionism and the work of Vincent van Gogh, Russell’s dear friend. Seeing the vibrancy of Impressionism and van Gogh’s work, Mattisse’s style transformed with brilliant hues. Of his experience with Russell, Matisse said he, “explained colour theory to me.” 

The Red Room (1908), Henri Matisse.
The Red Room (1908), Henri Matisse.

The Art of Matisse

After time spent learning from Russell, Matisse was plunged into the world of Fauvism at the turn of the century. The style began around 1900, continuing beyond the first decade. Part of an innovative group later dubbed “Fauves,” Matisse explored his new understanding of color through paintings with tones bright, clashing and dissonant from those natural to their subject. Even though he helped to pioneer Fauvism, Matisse never really fit in with the crowd due to his conservative appearance and strict bourgeois work habits. And although the radical movement eventually declined, Matisse nevertheless forged on. 

The work that Matisse created during this period set the stage for the work he would create for the rest of his career. His focus on color continued, explored through what he called “construction by colored surfaces.” Even as his style and subject matter changed from abstract, to decorative interiors, to cut-out paper collages at the end of his life, this approach remained the same.

We are lucky to hang the work of Henri Matisse in our own communities. His consideration of form and color is reflective of our own thought process, and serves as a reminder that while style may change over time, a well-formed approach will always shine through.

 

100 Years of Bauhaus

Posted on by Nancy

This fall, we honor the historical significance of 2019, which marks 100 years since the Bauhaus movement was founded. 100 Years of Bauhaus, a centenary exhibition, gives us the opportunity to look back on a school of thought that has not only influenced our own design, but the design and thinking of the world for over a century. 

The Bauhaus School of Design was borne out of necessity 100 years ago during the harsh political climate of post-World War I Germany. Founded by architect Walter Gropius, the school sought to combat the rise of industrialist manufacturing that was swiftly outpacing human craft and comfort. The ease and speed at which product was created at that time had greatly diminished aesthetic value and the way that design affect those that interacted with it. Things were, quite literally, looking bleak.

The Bauhaus solution was to bring back craftsmanship, combined with fine arts to make it stronger. The school aimed to combine all art forms in order to create one unified piece of art that could bring a sense of beauty and wonder back to the viewer. The Bauhaus did this through a sharp focus on form, function and aesthetic, ultimately creating art products that were abstractly beautiful and evocative. 

Stacking Tables designed by Josef Albers.
Stacking Tables designed by Josef Albers. Credit: Florent Darrault on Flickr Creative Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 Deed.

Most notable products of the Bauhaus school were furniture and wallpaper — including Marcel Breuer’s tubular steel “Wassily Chair,” inspired by his bicycle, and Josef Albers’ stacking tables.

In 1933, the school was closed due to the increasing pressues of Nazi Germany, causing its students and members to disperse across the world. As the disciples of Bauhaus spread, so too did its unique theory and ways of thinking and creating. The last director of the Bauhaus before its closing, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, came to Chicago, where he rethought and revitalized the architecture program and campus at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). Mies’ vision for IIT earned the school the title of “the second school of design,” with the Bauhaus being the first. His involvement at the Bauhaus heavily influenced the new architecture program at IIT, and therefore influenced David Hovey Sr., co-founder of Optima, as he studied there years later.

One can see the influence of the Bauhaus, Mies and the Modernist masters that came before us in the designs of Optima. Like the Bauhaus, we place a heavy emphasis on form and function in all that we design; and like Mies, our work places emphasis on open space and revealing materials. When Gropius first decided that the Bauhaus School of Design must involve all processes into the creation of one, higher art form, it set in motion the ideologies and design principles that have shaped who we are today.

Today, Bauhaus thoughts and designs continue to influence all fields of design — and if something isn’t made in the Bauhaus school of thought, it was probably made in counter-response to it. At Optima, we continue to be influenced by, and inspired by, the fascinating, careful and unique emphasis that the Bauhaus has brought to the way we create. 

The Playful Work of Alexander Calder

Posted on by Nancy

It’s no secret that we love color at Optima, and we carefully curate our interior furniture, textures and designs to reflect the vibrancy of our spaces. Our curated artwork is no exception, and throughout the halls of projects such as Optima Signature, Alexander Calder’s bright works greet residents with bold tones and distinct shape. A multimedia artist whose influence spans across decades, Calder’s work creates a meaningful connection to a rich piece of art history.

Calder’s Past

Born in Pennsylvania in 1898, Calder came from a family of artists; his grandfather and father both had rich careers as sculptors and his mother was a professional portrait artist. Though his family had artistic roots, they supposedly did not want him to follow in their footsteps. Calder began studying mechanical engineering in New Jersey, bouncing between jobs all while still being inspired by create. By the 1920s, Calder had moved back to New York to pursue a career as an artist. 

Calder’s Artistic Career

After studying in New York, Calder moved to Paris where he studied, established a studio and met his future wife. While living in Paris, Calder joined the ever-growing network of avant-garde artists, including Fernand Léger, Jean Arp and Marcel Duchamp. Throughout his life, Calder maintained a strong connection to France, naming many of his works in French regardless of their location. After a lifetime of impactful creativity and exploration, Calder died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1976, leaving behind an expansive and far-reaching legacy. 

Calder’s Legacy

Over his career, Calder produced a wide range of work, spanning from sculpture, to stage sets, paintings, prints and jewelry. Like previous generations of Calders, he was also a recognized large-scale sculptor. Flamingo, one of his more notable works in Chicago, adorns the Federal Plaza with beautiful form and the famous “Calder Red” color. We’re thrilled and honored to have the works of Alexander Calder throughout our buildings, and hope they bring a bright source of inspiration to those who view and enjoy them. 

 

The Legacy of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Posted on by Nancy

Our story is influenced and molded by those that came before us. The vision for Optima was seeded during David Hovey Sr.’s time at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), where he studied under the program built by modern architectural legend, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. To understand where modern design is today, it’s insightful to look back on the legacy of Mies van der Rohe.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House, designed and constructed between 1945 and 1951. Credit: Victor Grigas on Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Mies van der Rohe

Mies was a German-born architect and educator, born in 1886 in Aachen, Germany, with Chicago becoming his adoptive hometown later in life. One of the 20th century’s greatest architects, he designed with an emphasis on open space and revealing materials. His steel-and-glass aesthetic defined modern architecture; he himself referred to it as “skin-and-bones architecture.” Mies didn’t design with style in mind, but rather, considered the philosophy of design within the frame of functionalist and industrial concerns at the time. “Less is more,” the legendary aphorism, was first said by Mies in reference to his architectural work. 

The Barcelona Pavilion, designed by Ludwig Mies van Der Rohe
The Barcelona Pavilion, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lily Reich – the German Pavilion for the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona, Spain. Credit: Christian Gänshirt on Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Early Years in Europe

Destined for greatness, Mies’ first commissioned project (Riehl House) came to him at the age of 21 while he was working for Bruno Paul. What really set his design aesthetic apart, however, was the Barcelona Pavilion. Designed for the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona, Spain, the temporary structure was the most powerfully pared-down building imaginable. Consisting of horizontal and vertical slab elements, it fulfilled the minimum requirements to define space — nothing has ever personified “less is more” in quite the same way. As Mies garnered attention, he became the director of the Bauhaus school of design in Germany in 1930. He remained there until the school closed in 1933 under the mounting pressure of the Nazi regime, and it was at this point in time that Mies took his leave from Europe.

An Educator and Architect in America

Mies arrived in the US in 1938, heralding in a new era for his life and the life of architecture in Chicago. He was head of the architecture department of IIT from 1938-1958, and when Mies’ position was announced, he was introduced by the one and only Frank Lloyd Wright himself. It was virtually unheard of for Wright to admire the work of another architect — and vocalize his admiration no less — but in his introductory speech, Wright said of Mies: “I admire him as an architect, respect and love him as a man. Armour Institute, I give you my Mies van der Rohe. You treat him well and love him as I do. He will reward you.” 

Wright knew what an influence Mies would have on IIT and on architecture. The period of transition allowed Mies to entirely redesign the school’s program and campus both — he “rationalized” the curriculum by returning to the basics. At IIT, students focused first on learning to envision and draw their creations, then master the features, functions and materials involved in building, in order to finally evolve as architects whose discipline was enmeshed with the fundamental principles of design and construction. 

A Lasting Legacy

Mies has left his mark in many places — along the Chicago skyline, across the IIT campus and on our work here at Optima.The fundamental principles behind Modernist design influence how we create and think here, and the innovative and groundbreaking thinking of Mies is something that we seek to embody in our everyday operations. To this legend, we say thank you for paving the way and inspiring us all. 

 

A Brief History of The Courtyard

Posted on by Nancy

An iconic architectural design feature of many Optima projects, the courtyard is a long-beloved piece of home and history. A space designed for peace, socializing and beauty, the courtyard has a rich history that has led to its modern interpretations. 

It’s estimated that the first courtyard houses made an appearance around 6000BC in the Jordan Valley, used for purposes ranging from cooking, sleeping, working, gardening or even housing animals. Before courtyards, open fires were used within a central place in a home, with a small hole in the ceiling for the smoke to escape. Gradually, the holes became larger and evolved into open courtyards more similar to what exists today. 

Courtyards are an iconic staple in many cultures throughout the world, though they vary in style and function. The central uncovered area in Roman architecture was referred to as an atrium, and would often contain a central pool used to collect rainwater and a garden. In China, the courtyard was a central space for multiple homes and families, and used as a place for privacy and tranquility. The medieval European courtyard was used for working, gathering and protection. With such a rich and diverse history, it’s no surprise that the courtyard continues to withstand the test of time. 

A courtyard at one of the Optima homes in Arizona.

Traditionally, courtyard homes are prevalent in temperate climates, since the open space helps maintain a cool temperature. To take advantage of the functional and aesthetic benefits of the courtyard, many of our Arizona projects feature courtyard greenspaces. Our Arizona Courtyard House is even named after the feature that makes it unique; outside and inside flow together to create a seamless layout and beautiful views of the landscape.  The home is arranged with the main house to the south and east, and a fitness center and lap pool to the north creating a private courtyard in the center.

The essence of a courtyard is the physical expression of the concept of connection, and ours are built with the hope that they will provide a peaceful oasis in which residents can reconnect to their friends, family and the surrounding environment.

person name goes here

Apply

Maintenance Supervisor

Glencoe, IL





    Acceptable file types: *.pdf | *.txt | *.doc, max-size: 2Mb