The Harry Carmean Blog

More Harry Carmean painting sales at the Poetic Eye Gallery

2012-01-22T11:51:00.000-08:00

With the coming of the new year the pace of painting sales have been brisk at The Poetic Eye Gallery online. Here are some recent January sales, these three pieces going to a collector in Europe.

Harry Carmean Hard-edge painting and Lorser Feitelson

2012-01-22T11:02:00.000-08:00

Harry Carmean and Lorser Feitelson had similar aesthetic sensibilities as can be seen in these two unexpected classic Hard-Edge paintings by Carmean. They are a surprise because Carmean is known only for being a figurative artist. The paintings were done in the 1950's at the time the Hard-Edge movement was taking off. Feitelson and Carmean's work often followed parallel paths and these abstract paintings are just another example of how "great minds think alike".

Jake Drake, one of Harry Carmean's favorite models

2012-01-08T14:39:00.000-08:00

Harry Carmean still hangs out with one of his models from the sixties - Jake Drake, who now is the owner of the highly successful Zen Bakery. As can be seen here, Harry did some of his finest drawings of Jack.

Photographer Greg Preston's portrait of Harry Carmean

2012-01-08T14:33:00.000-08:00

Photographer Greg Preston just did this great portrait of Harry Carmean in his Acton studio. Look for one of Preston's shots of Carmean in the sequel to his first book of artists in their studios titled "The Artist Within".

Harry Carmean new paintings

2011-11-20T23:32:00.000-08:00

Harry Carmean is 89 years old and just keeps going strong ( some liken him to the energizer bunny). Here is a recently completed painting of one of his favorite themes - the artist and model. It is nice to know that as one gets older there is no reason to stop doing what you love - he is an inspiration for all of us.

Harry Carmean and Lorser Feitelson in LA Rising show

2011-11-20T23:16:00.000-08:00

Harry Carmean and Lorser Feitelson exhibited side by side at the LA Rising show at the Sullivan Goss Gallery in Santa Barbara (Sept. - Oct 2011), and what a sight it was! The two artists tackled similar themes with equally successful results. Feitelson is much more known to the public than Harry Carmean, but as can be seen here, Carmean holds his own when showing with Feitelson who was his close friend and contemporary for thirty years. In time, Harry Carmean will be more recognized, and like Feitelson, will be seen as one of California's best interpreters of the figure, but for the moment his work remains largely unrecognized in the fine art world. For those that would like to collect Carmean's work, it is recommended that they buy it now while it is so undervalued and because of the current buyer's market, and also because in time the prices will inevitably rise.

Harry Carmean's handmade toy gun

2011-11-20T22:57:00.000-08:00

Harry Carmean's father was an engineer and a builder and so taught Harry from an early age how to design and build things. The family didn't have much money (being post Depression) so Harry made most of his own toys including this beautiful, gun that he carved out of wood which even has a spinning cylinder. Carmean's attention to detail and keen observation is evident in this early hand carved object. Looking back, Harry has stated that he was always glad he didn't have a lot of toys because it forced him to make his own fun, and in that way fostered more creativity.

Harry Carmean & interior designer Jarrett Hedborg

2011-07-05T19:42:00.000-07:00

Noted interior designer Jarrett Hedborg of Jarrett Hedborg Interior Design and Harry Carmean have collaborated for years on various projects including murals, paintings and portraits. Hedborg has a large celebrity cliental including Jack Nicholson, Angelica Huston, Bette Midler, Jeff Bridges, Michelle Phillips, Quincy Jones, Jim Carrey and Joni Mitchell. Over the years Carmean's paintings have ended up in the homes of many of Jarrett's clients.

Harry Carmean paints artist Lorser Feitelson

2011-06-18T21:26:00.001-07:00

Harry Carmean included his teacher and friend, Lorser Feitelson in a number of his paintings. The bottom painting done in the 1960's features Feitelson, Steven Longstreet (an author), Helen Lundeburg (Feitelson's wife and a painter), Nick Brigante (an artist) and Carmean's third wife Marne. The top image features writer and friend Steven Longstreet behind Feitelson. These paintings were all done in the 1960's. The middle painting is currently on sale on ebay at the Poetic Eye gallery.

Carmean drawing sales at the Poetic Eye Gallery...

2011-06-16T20:21:00.000-07:00

Sales have been consistently strong at the Poetic Eye ebay store with collectors from all over the world purchasing Carmean's work. Life drawings of this quality will not be offered at the current low prices too much longer because interest is starting to "heat up" which, (as a number of collectors are figuring out), is inevitable given the quality of his work. The drawings shown here are all recent sales in our gallery.

Harry Carmean's studio in Acton, California

2011-06-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

Harry has two wonderful art studios, one large one that he designed and built himself in the high desert in Acton, California, and a smaller sized studio in the beach community of Santa Barbara. He divides his time between the two studios and does all his larger sized paintings in Acton which, as can be seen from the photos, is a quite a large space.

Harry Carmean rare "classical" drawings

2011-06-16T20:01:00.001-07:00

These are some of Carmean's most beautiful drawings which were always done from his imagination. They are done in a more formal style with carefully thought out compositions reminiscent of the Baroque and Mannerist periods of art. A number of them ended up as paintings, such as the top drawing, titled "The Poem" which was a study for a painting and a lithograph print done in 1972 (which is currently available at the Poetic Eye on ebay.). Most of these drawings were done in the 1970's and have been sold, so they are extremely hard to locate these days.

Harry Carmean is in a new art book

2011-04-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

This is a comprehensive book covering the most important artists working in Los Angeles before 1980. Those of you who collect Harry's work will be glad to know that he has been included which means that slowly but surely he is becoming more accepted in the mainstream art world.

Lorser Feitelson drawn by Harry Carmean

2010-11-25T21:17:00.000-08:00

Harry Carmean liked to sketch his friend and mentor, Lorser Feitelson whenever he could. Here are a few sketches which really captures Feitelson's likeness with just a few strokes. Carmean ended up doing about five paintings of Feitelson over the course of his career until Feitelson's death in 1978.

Recent Carmean paintings sales Poetic Eye

2010-11-05T23:15:00.000-07:00

Sales of Harry Carmean paintings have been brisk, despite the recession and its impact on the art world. The paintings here are a few of a number of paintings, both large and small, that have recently sold through the Poetic Eye Gallery on ebay and online at thepoeticeye.com. Carmean has generated a lot of interest from collectors around the world (particularly England) and many of whom are repeat buyers, after having initially encountered Carmean's work on ebay. As many of you know, Carmean's work can be quite addicting, and this is a good thing! (I have been collecting his work for many years, now, and can attest, it only gets better with time....)

Harry Carmean and German Expressionism

2010-11-05T22:39:00.001-07:00

Harry Carmean has an expressionistic side to his art that rivals the German Expressionists of the 1920’s and 1930’s. As can be seen in these drawings, he is as at home with a jagged, lively and distorted line as he is with more classic proportions and refined rhythmic lines. Although he is mostly known for his figure drawings inspired by French and Italian masters, when Carmean explores the world of Expressionism, he rivals the Germans in dynamic lines that are just as dynamic and full of life.

Harry Carmean recent work

2010-10-03T14:58:00.001-07:00

At age 88 Harry Carmean continues to paint his sumptuous landscapes with intertwining figures as can be seen in these recent works which exude spontaneity while maintaining their formal compositions. The top painting is 36 x 36", the lower one is 32 x 36". He also likes to paint smaller paintings as a way of "down shifting" between the more demanding large paintings such as these. As the paintings nicely demonstrate, Carmean is still very much"on top of his game".

Harry Carmean landscapes

2010-10-03T14:41:00.000-07:00

Few people knew that Harry Carmean also was good at landscapes. Here are a few of them, the bottom two are watercolors and were done early in his career in the late 1940's or early 1950's and the top painting (oil on canvas) was done in the 1990's in the Sequoia's while he was on vacation (this piece was recently sold through the Poetic Eye Gallery).

Harry Carmean exhibition at the Biltmore Hotel in Montecito

2010-08-26T14:02:00.001-07:00

Come join Harry Carmean and Miriam Slater at the Biltmore Hotel in Santa Barbara for an evening of spectactular art and fine wine. Its from 5:30 to 7:30 on Aug. 26, 2010.

Harry Carmean's palette

2010-08-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of one of Harry Carmean’s palettes which was used to create a number of spectacular paintings over the course of his career. It recently sold on ebay for a goodly sum to a collector. It was originally hand made by Carmean out of wood in the early 1980’s and its shape is Carmean’s own design. It has been structurally balanced so that the weight is distributed evenly throughout the palette making it easier to hold it for long amounts of time. Also shown are some paintings with Carmean’s palette in them.

Harry Carmean's corporate art

2010-06-05T12:38:00.000-07:00

Few people know that Harry Carmean has done some commercial work over the span of his career. His portrait of the rock group Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell album done in the mid 1970's is featured in a previous blog. Here is a job he did for Anaprox, a well known pain reliever, completed sometime in the late 1980’s. Its one of the classier medical ads I have seen in a long time. The drawings were done specifically for the advertisement and depict various areas of pain which Anaprox treats. One of Carmean's regular models, Joe Miller, can be seen in the large drawing.

Lorser Feitelson's influence on Harry Carmean's drawings

2010-05-08T18:54:00.000-07:00

The drawings above are by Lorser Feitelson, a well known abstract and figurative Los Angeles artist. It was no wonder that after walking in on Feitelson life drawing class at Art Center, that Harry Carmean's life was forever changed. The above examples show Feitelson's incredible skills in drawing the figure and in them we can see the root of Carmean's development as an artist. For my mind, these drawings show a complete understanding of the techniques of the European old masters but they are unique because they were done by an American artist in modern times. Feitelson had a large collection of old master drawings which was published in a catalogue and is available online.

Jack Albee and the art of Harry Carmean

2010-05-08T17:19:00.000-07:00

One of Harry Carmean's favorite people to draw was the mime Jack Albee, who also modelled at Art Center where Carmean taught. Jack was a member of the famous Albee theater family and definitely had a face that artist's love to draw - full of character, wit and personality. The second photo was taken by Harry Carmean in the later 1960's at a party at his home in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles. The pastel (second from the top) has to be one of my all time favorites....he rivals Picasso or Scheile in intensity and power and in the drawing he personifies the archetypal clown which has been depicted throughout the history of art. Jack Albee was an inspiring, upbeat person to be around and as can be seen here, he inspired some fantastic drawings and paintings from Harry Carmean.

Self portraits by Harry Carmean

2010-04-07T00:25:00.000-07:00

Harry Carmean has drawn and painted himself throughout his long career as can be seen in these self portraits. The drawings were done in the 1950's and 60's and the painting of the artist in the studio was done in 2009. Carmean follows a tradition of self portraiture which can be seen in artists like Rembrandt who painted themselves throughout the span of their careers.

Simplification of form

2010-04-06T23:54:00.000-07:00

When it comes to painting the figure Carmean is definitely from the school of “less is more”. In his work, Carmean prefers to suggest rather than spell out because he always felt that if you put in too much detail it had the effect of killing off an artwork’s “spirit”. Other artists whom he admired who worked with similar ideas are Degas, Cezanne, Corot, Bonnard, Goya (his later murals), Courbet and Sorolla. When a work isn’t completely rendered in every detail the viewer is then allowed bring his own imagination to the piece and there is more of a dialogue between the artist and viewer. The ballet dancer (second from the top) is by Degas and is an excellent example of an artist who uses simplified forms to great effect. In the detail from one of Carmean's acrobat paintings (third image down), the head is reduced to its most basic form with none of the details included. So for those of you who are practicing artists, the message here is that if you find yourself having a problem with a work, the solution might be in discovering what needs to be left out, not what needs to be added.

Paintings from the live model

2010-03-15T23:51:00.001-07:00

Harry Carmean’s figure paintings are just about always done from his imagination and never from a live model with only a few exceptions. The paintings above are from a model and in them Carmean focuses primarily on capturing the spirit of pose. He has always preferred to work from his imagination (or preparatory drawings) as a starting point, because he felt he could bring more of his own ideas to the artwork that way. He felt that when it came to painting, numerous changes in figures were often required in order to make every part of the painting to fit the overall them. This could not be accomplished while focusing on capturing a likeness in the moment. It was especially important in paintings with complex figure compositions because all the anatomical features of the models needed to subtly tie into each other visually.

Carmean used elements from his life drawing and applied them to his paintings, so his drawings from live models often were indirectly tied into the outcome of a painting. Models whose features ended up in Carmean’s paintings included the well known artist's model Lala Lezlie (there is an earlier blog on her), Jack Albee (a mime who can be seen in the book Carmean) and Lila Livingston, a dark haired ballerina whose features are in some of Carmean’s acrobat paintings of the 1980's.

Erin Carmean's visual blog.....

2010-02-05T23:53:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are interested in art, style and fashion visit Erin Carmean's visual blog, where the focus is on unusual and beautiful images . She has assembled pictures that promise to evoke, please and inspire. It is updated every week and it is great place for artists to go to get new ideas, I certainly do! Photo above is of Erin and the pen drawing sketch of her is by Harry Carmean. Her blog is at at http:erincarmean.tumblr.com.

Pastels by Harry Carmean

2010-01-27T00:46:00.000-08:00

Few people knew that Harry Carmean completed a spectacular series of pastels in the 1960’s which were worthy of Degas in concept and technique. Many of the pastels were stolen, so they are, for the moment, lost to the public eye. Carmean's pastels were nothing less than stunning - just look at the technique in the bottom pastel titled “The Poem”. (The theme of The Poem was also explored in a 1972 lithograph which is currently available at the Poetic Eye online). The model for the two top pastels was Carmean's third wife Marne Carmean whose features can also be seen some of his family paintings from the 1960's. Carmean studied the work of Degas thoroughly and his work paid off....these pastels would hold their own in any museum hanging next to a Degas.

Lorser Feitelson - Harry Carmean's teacher

2010-01-23T21:05:00.000-08:00

Lorser Feitelson was the artist that taught Harry Carmean most of which he knows and changed his life completely in terms of art. Carmean met him in the late 1940’s at Art Center where Feitelson was teaching at the time and the meeting forever changed Carmean’s life. He and Feitelson became good friends and Carmean continued to study with him for the next thirty years until Feitelson's death in 1978.

Feitelson lived in France in the early 1900’s and was part of the Paris art scene which was quite vibrant at that time and included artists such as Picasso. Feitelson came out of a time where people still had good training and aesthetics were valued. He was surrounded by the world’s top artists who had excellence and high standards and so Feitelson absorbed what he could out of this environment before moving to America. Feitelson’s European training in art was something he passed onto Harry Carmean over the course of thirty years until his death in 1978.

Feitelson had a number of distinctive periods throughout his career and explored both abstract and figurative art. His first period done in the early 1900’s was inspired by the Futurists and is known as Feitelson’s kinetic period. (bottom painting) In the 1920’s he began exploring the world of traditional figurative art and looked at the Renaissance and Nazarene artists. (middle painting) This early series was an influence on Harry Carmean’s stunning family paintings from the 1960’s. Next, he began working on a series of spectacular surrealist works (a whole blog will be devoted to this period) and in the 1940’s Feitelson completed a series of painterly, moody and very romantic paintings which featured strong lights and darks (also called tenebrism.) The top middle painting of a couple is an example of this period. It is called "La Boheme" and is a self portrait of Feitelson and his lover at the time, Marjorie Morse. Feitelson went on to create some more abstract works and founded the Hard-edge art movement of the 1950's and 1960's. The second from the top photo is of one of his grand "Magical Space Form" paintings done in the mid 1940's and which are transitional works leading to his hard-edge paintings.

As can be seen from these works, Feitelson was an accomplished artist, loaded with ideas and had a thorough knowledge of aesthetics and composition. He was an inspiration to Harry Carmean who, along with Feitelson's wife Helen Lundeburg, are considered the two best interpreters of Feitelson's teachings.

Black Sabbath and Harry Carmean - an unlikely match

2010-01-19T20:31:00.000-08:00

Few people knew that Harry Carmean did the back of Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell album which came out in the early 1970's. Carmean's design for the back of the album ended up getting a lot of air time, that is, it was (instead of the cover) used for their extensive ad campaign and for on a billboard on the Sunset Strip. Carmean lived for many years in Laurel Canyon which was the heart of the rock and roll industry, and ended up being friends with some of rock and roll's finest.

Foreshortening and life drawing

2010-01-19T16:46:00.000-08:00

Foreshortening is one of the most difficult views for artists do achieve when drawing from the model and Carmean is a master of foreshortening as can be seen from these drawings. His approach was to first view the figure from a completely abstract view point (otherwise you get caught up in what you know and not what you are actually seeing) and then, starting from the furthest point in back of the figure, you start defining the abstract shapes observed, and then systematically work your way to the front of the figure. The forms of the model, such as the head, arms, torso, etc. can be seen as much like hills, each one with its own unique silhouette, one in front of the other. The artist starts with the furthest "hill" and methodically works his way forward.

Another thing Carmean did when dealing with foreshortening was to define the foreground and background space around the model, basically to set the stage for the the strong three-D aspect of the foreshortened figure. If you look at these three drawings you will notice how the environment surrounding the figure is suggested and the signature always place in the foreground (to help further define the three dimensionality of the pose). These are some of the methods Carmean used when teaching foreshortening in his classes at Art Center and it was an approach he himself used with great success.

New erotic art website is up! Zowie!

2010-01-17T21:13:00.000-08:00

For all of the fans of Harry Carmean's erotic art, please visit our new website, coffeedrawings.com which is devoted exclusively to the erotic artwork done beginning in the mid 1980's continuing to the present. Its bare bones right now, but new pieces will be added each week, most of which have never been seen before. It is called "coffee drawings.com" because this series originated out of the provocative drawings we made for each other each morning over our morning coffee. We continued to make them over the course of many years and so there is a large body of work, most of which has never been seen. Also, Harry has some new erotic prints lined up to print for your viewing pleasure. These will be pulled with the help of Sean Faris, a printmaker and friend of Harry's. The new erotic etchings should appear on the site in about a month or so.

Lissa Liggett perfume just out - titled "Carmean"

2010-01-17T21:09:00.000-08:00

Lissa Liggett, a master perfumer who is also a long time fan and collector of Harry Carmean’s art has designed a perfume that captures the sensuality and spirit of Harry Carmean’s paintings. It is titled Carmean and is currently available online at the Poetic Eye Gallery on Ebay. To learn more about Liggett, go to the following link: http://montecitoperfume.com/. She designs scents for celebrities, designers and corporations and uses only the highest quality pure fragrances. Her perfumes are legendary and much like a Carmean painting, it is necessary to experience them in reality as words simply don’t capture the magic of her scents.

The Loft Gallery in Puerto Vallarta Mexico

2009-12-19T13:56:00.000-08:00

If you are down Mexico way, by all means visit The Loft Gallery in Puerto Vallarta which represents Harry Carmean. The owner, John Strawn (seen here having a laugh with Carmean in his gallery), divides his time between Los Angeles and Puerto Vallarta and is a strong supporter of artists in both countries and the arts in general. Aside from Carmean's work, Strawn represents a number of artists from both Mexico and America. The gallery is definitely worth taking a look at if you are in the area (plus you can see some gorgeous Carmean paintings in person which is always a treat).

For more information on the gallery: www/theloftgaleria.com.

Harry Carmean, portrait artist

2009-12-19T13:39:00.000-08:00

Few people realize that Harry Carmean excelled at portraiture, creating some of very compelling and insightful portraits of his family and friends. In the 1990's he was commissioned by the royal family to paint a large portrait of the current King of Arabia and he is seen working on it in the third photo. (The painting is currently hanging in the royal palace in Arabia). The group portrait above was done in the 1960's and features the well known artists Helen Lundeburg, Nick Brigante (far right) and Lorser Feitelson, (far left) as well as writer Steven Longstreet (upper left with cigar). Unfortunately this painting was destroyed at a later date.

Carmean's approach to portraiture was always to define the largest forms first and then work one's way down to the smaller shapes. He often stated that the first thing you see in an artwork is often what is put in last. In portraiture this concept applies to the eyes, which beginning artists often put in first and make too much of in their work. The person's character is in the surrounding structures of the face, not necessarily in the eyes themselves according to Carmean, which is why in his work the eyes are often only suggested.

The Erotic Drawings of Harry Carmean

2009-11-19T21:46:00.000-08:00

Harry Carmean first began making overtly erotic drawings around 1986. He called them his"coffee drawings", because they were made every morning while having his coffee. We were just married at the time and so I would also draw along with him, with the result that we would get very involved in our drawings and turn out some "doozies". In these drawing sessions various themes were explored such as the world of acrobats and harlequins, surreal forms, sexy lettering, amazing poses, orgies, etc. The drawings were the source of inspiration for a spectacular series of paintings and etchings Carmean did in the 1990's (see separate blog on his erotic paintings). Carmean's erotic drawings show a side of Carmean that had not completely showed itself in his work. For example, it is in these drawings that Carmean's sense of humor becomes evident and he also began experimented with some quite unusual figure compositions. Some of Carmean's erotic drawings and watercolors are currently for sale at the Poetic Eye Gallery online. None of the explicit images are reproduced here but they can be viewed on ebay and at coffeedrawings.com.

Harry Carmean and Baroque Art

2009-11-04T22:54:00.001-08:00

Harry Carmean probably has the best understanding of the Baroque period of art of any artist living today. One key idea he uses that is also seen in Baroque art is the manner in which he gets the eye to move across a painting through the use of rhythms and counter rhythms. The rhythms flow from within a figure to another figure and through the landscape. Also, Carmean does something few people know about called "arabesquing", also seen in Baroque art. Arabesquing involves the having one form go both in front of and in back of another form (so as to interlock) which serves to visually unify forms within a painting. This is a subtle way of creating a more unified composition, of creating unity within a work without being obvious about it. While it sounds simple enough, these ideas take years of study to master. Some of Carmean’s favorite Baroque artists to study from were Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, Tiepolo, Velasquez, Rembrandt and Rubens. In the examples shown one can feel the excitement and power that can only come from the application of sophisticated concepts used by European masters of the 1600's and 1700's. Carmean's understanding of the Baroque period of art is the most thorough of any artist living today.

Lala Lezli one of Camean's favorite models

2009-11-04T22:36:00.000-08:00

Lala Lezli was a well-known artist’s model in the Los Angeles area who modeled for many artists over the course of her career spanning the 1940’s through the late 1990’s. She modeled until the day she died at age 92 in the late 1990’s. Her distinctive features can be seen in many of Harry Carmean’s drawings and some of his paintings.

She originally danced in New York for Martha Graham’s dance company, coming out to California in the 1940’s and it was in Los Angeles that she began modeling for artists. She was known for her punctuality, reliability and poses that were always perfectly still. If a class got too noisy she would get their attention, calm them down and get them refocused on the drawing at hand. While not a natural beauty she was visually quite striking and had the kind of body artists love to draw. It had a lot of curves, straight lines and interesting anatomical features, so artists could really get a lot of variety in their drawings. An artist could make her young or old, draw her in a classical or expressionistic, manner, whatever one’s perspective was, it always worked when drawing Lala. There is usually a drawing of Lala listed at any given time at the Poetic Eye Gallery on ebay for those interested in seeing more of her. The top photo is of her with Harry Carmean taken at Art Center in 1992.

Early photos of a very handsome Harry Carmean

2009-08-15T23:01:00.000-07:00

Harry Carmean, (who grew up in the Los Angeles area), was a professional singer before he got involved with art. He had what people wanted in Hollywood at that time - not only did he look good, he also sang beautifully. In fact, he was so successful that he started getting some serious offers from the movie studios even though he had just turned twenty. However, at the same time WWII broke out and Carmean, enlisted and served in WWII which cut his singing career short. After the war ended he went on to study at L'ecole des Beaux Artes in Marseilles and then at Art Center College of Design and the rest is history. The photo below shows him teaching at Art Center and the bottom photo is of him and his teacher Lorser Feitelson - (see later blog on Feitelson who was also a brilliant artist.) As it turns out Hollywood's loss was the art world's gain as I can't imagine the world without Carmean's dynamic and inspiring paintings and, as can be seen from these photos, he was one of California's most handsome painters!

The erotic work of Harry Carmean

2009-08-15T21:43:00.001-07:00

Up until recently, few people knew that Harry Carmean had created a large body of erotic art in the later part of his career. Although his work has always had a romantic and sensual quality, it was not until the mid 1980’s that he actually took the plunge and created overtly erotic pieces. He started out making drawings (see separate blog specifically on the drawings).

In the 1990's Carmean began a series of etchings depicting various sexual scenes. The proofs were first printed on his own etching press and then the complete edition was printed later by John Greco, the owner of Josephine Press in Los Angeles. Some of these stunning and highly amusing erotic prints are currently available at the Poetic Eye art gallery on ebay. In the late 1990's on through the 2000's Carmean continued making erotic drawings, as well as paintings and small watercolor sketches (also available on ebay). Most of the work has never been exhibited so there is a treasure trove of amazing pieces waiting to be discovered in the years to come.

Harry Carmean contemporary Mannerist

2009-08-14T22:27:00.000-07:00

Harry Carmean is one of the few authentic interpreters of Mannerism today which can especially be seen in his monumental figurative paintings with complex compositions. Mannerism, which evolved out of the Renaissance, started as a reaction against the harmonious ideas of classicism (that were the hallmark of the Renaissance) and sought to introduce new visual approaches to painting. The Mannerists of that time explored more discordant and distorted compositions and introduced the idea of making "art for its own sake", a concept relevant to our times. As a way of pushing away from the traditional harmonious way of working, the Mannerists would exaggerate the perspective in their paintings. They put the horizon at the bottom of the painting, used two different perspectives, or employed extreme foreshortening. The figures were more distorted, that is, they were often unnaturally elongated, the heads were too small in comparison to the rest of the figure, and there was an unnatural fluidity to the figures. The forms were distorted and "played with" by the artists, to create interesting new effects. The Mannerist colors were more garish and unnatural, which helped provide visual excitement. Size change within a painting was used with dramatic effect - the very large would be placed next to the very small to create a feeling of monumentality. The ideas mentioned above are what help to make the Mannerists inspirational to the centuries of artists that followed them. In a sense, they were "modern" in the way that they played with form, focused on the aesthetic over the reality, and pushed their audiences' perceptions to the limit.

Harry Carmean remains one of the best interpreters of the Mannerist school of thought because he fully understands the concepts used and has the technique necessary to execute the ideas properly. The unworldly color schemes, elongated and distorted figures, unusual perspectives and/or extreme foreshortening make many of Carmean's paintings excellent examples of concepts seen within Italian Mannerism of the 16 century.

French Impressionism and the paintings of Harry Carmean

2009-08-14T22:04:00.000-07:00

The influence of French Impressionism can be seen in a number of Harry Carmean’s works throughout the span of his career. One of his favorite artists from this period was the French artist Vuillard who was the inspiration for many of Carmean’s early paintings which are darker. These are rarely exhibited but they can be seen in the book Carmean available online. He also was inspired by the work of Bonnard, another French Impressionist who combined a formal Renaissance composition with fanciful undulating colors which vibrate across the surface of the painting.

Throughout Carmean’s career one can also see the ideas of the Impressionist Degas. Degas' work was characterized by impeccably arranged compositions, strongly defined shapes, the use of color to get the eye to travel and the play of straight against curved forms. Other influences include Daumier, Renoir, Lautrec and Cezanne. Cezanne was of particular interest to Carmean because of his emphasis on formal composition and the manner in which he used warm colors with cool colors to define depth. Carmean has the unusual gift to understand and practice a multitude of artistic approaches, such as those seen in the works of the Impressionistic artists just mentioned. The paintings above are excellent examples of Carmean's interpretation of French Impressionism.

Harry Carmean Blog

2009-08-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

This blog is specifically on the artwork of Harry Carmean who is known for his impeccably composed figure paintings which utilize concepts from past masters and which celebrate the human figure. I am his wife and have studied with him since the late 1970's, which has given me an excellent understanding of how he works. Also, there are many people don't know much about Harry Carmean as a person, so this blog will provide you with a better look at the man behind the paintings. For over fifty years, Carmean has indulged himself in his love of the human figure and provide us, his audience, with some of the more spectacular figurative paintings done in this century. No other contemporary artist, to my eye at least, has been able use the art principles with such mastery, variation and depth. While Carmean had a lot of natural talent, he has always maintained that his success was more a matter of him focusing on art ideas longer and harder than most other people were willing to do. He was also lucky to have been able to work with the well known teacher and artist, Lorser Feitelson, whose influence will be discussed at length in a future blog. Carmean's work is currently available at the Poetic Eye Gallery on ebay, his bio is on wikipedia, some video clips of him drawing are up on You Tube, all of which are good references for those seeking more information about him.