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Heidi_234
June 5th, 2010, 01:01 AM
What do you guys know/read/heard about John William Waterhouse?

I always see his works illustrating women with beautiful long hair (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Waterhouse#Gallery), not something you see a lot in the works of other artists. I wonder if he lived today he would've shared the fondness of long locks with us? :)

C_Bookworm
June 5th, 2010, 01:13 AM
Ooooh I love Waterhouse. All his women were so romantic and feminine looking. I loved that he could even make updos (like in "The soul of a rose") look beautiful.

I imagine even if he lived now he would still be painting the exact same way:D

jera
June 5th, 2010, 01:21 AM
He was a Pre Raphaelite, No? He painted the Lady of Shallot among others. Gotta love those Pre Raphaelites. They had such a thing for women with long, hair, chivalry and nature. :)

If he were alive now, I'd guess he'd be here and posting and sending us links to his work. :D

GuinevereMay
June 5th, 2010, 01:27 AM
He was a Pre Raphaelite, No? He painted the Lady of Shallot among others. Gotta love those Pre Raphaelites. They had such a thing for women with long, hair, chivalry and nature. :)

If he were alive now, I'd guess he'd be here and posting and sending us links to his work. :D
Yep, he did the Lady of Shalott. I personally love his mermaid.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f196/tay4258/waterhouse-mermaid.jpg

rapunzhell13
June 5th, 2010, 01:31 AM
The longhaired women in his paintings are one of my main inspirations for growing my own hair out. Every time I browse them I feel like hennaing my hair, because there are so many beautiful redheads.

lilravendark
June 5th, 2010, 01:36 AM
rosetti depicted a lot of beautiful long red haired women too, a lot of the art from the renaissance also shows beautiful long locks, I do love waterhouse too I love his romantic imagery

Loreley
June 5th, 2010, 02:16 AM
I love his paintings! :)

naereid
June 5th, 2010, 02:29 AM
The Pre-Raphaelites were founded before Waterhouse was even born, but he was definitely inspired by them and is often called a "modern Pre-Raphaelite".

I love him more than words can say (actually, more about that later in the post :grnbiggri). My hair is red beause of him. The Mermaid is a picture that effortlessly reaches out and touches my soul. She's my idol. When I'm feeling insecure about my little belly I just remember her, lol. :grnbiggri I love her so, so much. My second favourite picture is Hylas and the Nymphs. My dearest nymph is in my avatar.

Last year there was a very big exhibition in the Netherlands, UK and Canada. I don't live in either of these places, but I knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see his works. I didn't know anyone who would go with me, so I packed a little bag and boarded the plane to London all by myself. It's worth noting here that I'm a very insecure, paranoid, frightened and shy individual, and that was a REMARKABLE feat for me. I'm not sure if I was more afraid of being lost in the airport, lost in London, or missing the plane, or abducted, or mugged, or something even worse... Thankfully, none of that happened. :grnbiggri Anyway, I flew to London, slept in a little hotel, woke up in the morning and went to see the exhibition. As we waited for the doors to open, a man told me I could have been one of his models. :cloud9: The exhibition itself was glorious. I spent hours inside, sucking in all the beauty. When I stood in front of The Mermaid, I cried. I cried without caring who'd see me, I cried for joy, I cried for us finally meeting, for being able to gather all my courage and fly here on my own just to see her. Eventually it became so crowded I decided to exit. I strolled around London a little and caught a plane back home in the evening. I hope to go back one day to see it properly; that visit was really just for Waterhouse. In any case, those two days are among the most important days in my life. I'll forever cherish the memory of seeing his paintings in real life.

Also last year for Nanowrimo (http://www.nanowrimo.org) I wrote a collection of short stories inspired by his works (The Magic Circle, Hylas and the Nymphs, Diogenes, After the Dance, A Hamadryad, Circe Invidiosa, A Mermaid, Dolce Far Niente, Gathering Almond Blossoms, Apollo and Daphne, La Belle Dame Sans Merci, Ariadne, A Naiad, Echo and Narcissus). It's the first Nanowrimo that I managed to win. :)

This post is very large, but so is my love for Waterhouse. :o

rapunzhell13
June 5th, 2010, 03:16 AM
The Pre-Raphaelites were founded before Waterhouse was even born, but he was definitely inspired by them and is often called a "modern Pre-Raphaelite".

I love him more than words can say (actually, more about that later in the post :grnbiggri). My hair is red beause of him. The Mermaid is a picture that effortlessly reaches out and touches my soul. She's my idol. When I'm feeling insecure about my little belly I just remember her, lol. :grnbiggri I love her so, so much. My second favourite picture is Hylas and the Nymphs. My dearest nymph is in my avatar.

Last year there was a very big exhibition in the Netherlands, UK and Canada. I don't live in either of these places, but I knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see his works. I didn't know anyone who would go with me, so I packed a little bag and boarded the plane to London all by myself. It's worth noting here that I'm a very insecure, paranoid, frightened and shy individual, and that was a REMARKABLE feat for me. I'm not sure if I was more afraid of being lost in the airport, lost in London, or missing the plane, or abducted, or mugged, or something even worse... Thankfully, none of that happened. :grnbiggri Anyway, I flew to London, slept in a little hotel, woke up in the morning and went to see the exhibition. As we waited for the doors to open, a man told me I could have been one of his models. :cloud9: The exhibition itself was glorious. I spent hours inside, sucking in all the beauty. When I stood in front of The Mermaid, I cried. I cried without caring who'd see me, I cried for joy, I cried for us finally meeting, for being able to gather all my courage and fly here on my own just to see her. Eventually it became so crowded I decided to exit. I strolled around London a little and caught a plane back home in the evening. I hope to go back one day to see it properly; that visit was really just for Waterhouse. In any case, those two days are among the most important days in my life. I'll forever cherish the memory of seeing his paintings in real life.

Also last year for Nanowrimo (http://www.nanowrimo.org) I wrote a collection of short stories inspired by his works (The Magic Circle, Hylas and the Nymphs, Diogenes, After the Dance, A Hamadryad, Circe Invidiosa, A Mermaid, Dolce Far Niente, Gathering Almond Blossoms, Apollo and Daphne, La Belle Dame Sans Merci, Ariadne, A Naiad, Echo and Narcissus). It's the first Nanowrimo that I managed to win. :)

This post is very large, but so is my love for Waterhouse. :o

If I had to pick a favourite, Hylas and the Nymphs would be mine. :)

meph
June 5th, 2010, 05:16 AM
I love Waterhouse. His art means a lot to me, because it has - as silly as it sounds - helped me with accepting my red hair more. I also really like the feel of his paintings, the beautiful nature, the colours he used and so on.
It's kind of hard to explain why I like Waterhouse so much, I don't even know the reasons I have for loving it. I only know that I can watch it for hours.:o

misstwist
June 5th, 2010, 06:41 AM
Last year there was a very big exhibition in the Netherlands, UK and Canada. I don't live in either of these places, but I knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see his works. I didn't know anyone who would go with me, so I packed a little bag and boarded the plane to London all by myself. It's worth noting here that I'm a very insecure, paranoid, frightened and shy individual, and that was a REMARKABLE feat for me. I'm not sure if I was more afraid of being lost in the airport, lost in London, or missing the plane, or abducted, or mugged, or something even worse... Thankfully, none of that happened. :grnbiggri Anyway, I flew to London, slept in a little hotel, woke up in the morning and went to see the exhibition. As we waited for the doors to open, a man told me I could have been one of his models. :cloud9: The exhibition itself was glorious. I spent hours inside, sucking in all the beauty. When I stood in front of The Mermaid, I cried. I cried without caring who'd see me, I cried for joy, I cried for us finally meeting, for being able to gather all my courage and fly here on my own just to see her. Eventually it became so crowded I decided to exit. I strolled around London a little and caught a plane back home in the evening. I hope to go back one day to see it properly; that visit was really just for Waterhouse. In any case, those two days are among the most important days in my life. I'll forever cherish the memory of seeing his paintings in real life.

Naereid, that is a touching story. I hope some of the confidence you worked up to make this trip has stayed with you. :flowers:

Nae
June 5th, 2010, 06:51 AM
Naereid, I am so glad you were able to see his works. I have always loved them and I was definately tearing up reading your story.

Carolyn
June 5th, 2010, 06:53 AM
Naereid, that's a wonderful story. Art is truly inspirational! I've always loved Waterhouse paintings too. I discovered him when I was in college and taking some art history courses. I was enthralled with his paintings. I wasn't quite as in to long hair back then as I am now, although I had long hair then, but I know it was the way he depicted long haired women that drew me to his work.

Beatrice
June 5th, 2010, 08:26 AM
The longhaired women in his paintings are one of my main inspirations for growing my own hair out. Every time I browse them I feel like hennaing my hair, because there are so many beautiful redheads.

I'm the exact same way! :D I could never choose my favorite Waterhouse painting, though I'm partial to La Belle Dame Sans Merci, among others.

naereid
June 5th, 2010, 08:54 AM
Oh! I'm glad you girls liked my story. :grnbiggri :o

Heidi_234
June 5th, 2010, 08:59 AM
Oh! I'm glad you girls liked my story. :grnbiggri :o
And I'm glad you shared it. I can't imagine what it would like seeing those amazing arts of art in real life. Painting are thousand times better IRL than on a computer screen. :)

Boudicca
June 5th, 2010, 09:18 AM
rosetti depicted a lot of beautiful long red haired women too, a lot of the art from the renaissance also shows beautiful long locks, I do love waterhouse too I love his romantic imagery

Rosetti's women are by and large all Lizzie Siddal. She was an inspiration for all of the pre-Raphaelites, but Rosetti was particularly obsessed with her - and they eventually married. Their engagement and marriage were not very stable, and Lizzie developed depression, which led to a laudanum addiction. She became pregnant, and was very happy, but the baby was stillborn. She became severely depressed after this, and eventually overdosed on laudanum. She died at age 32.

Elizabeth Siddal produced her own art, too. Someone has made a very comprehensive website about here, which can be found here:

http://www.lizziesiddal.com/

Her poetry is particularly nice, but occasionally rather telling:

A silence falls upon my heart
And hushes all its pain.
I stretch my hands in the long grass
And fall to sleep again,
There to lie empty of all love
Like beaten corn of grain.

Beatrice
June 5th, 2010, 10:51 AM
Rosetti's women are by and large all Lizzie Siddal. She was an inspiration for all of the pre-Raphaelites, but Rosetti was particularly obsessed with her - and they eventually married. Their engagement and marriage were not very stable, and Lizzie developed depression, which led to a laudanum addiction. She became pregnant, and was very happy, but the baby was stillborn. She became severely depressed after this, and eventually overdosed on laudanum. She died at age 32.

Elizabeth Siddal produced her own art, too. Someone has made a very comprehensive website about here, which can be found here:

http://www.lizziesiddal.com/

Her poetry is particularly nice, but occasionally rather telling:

A silence falls upon my heart
And hushes all its pain.
I stretch my hands in the long grass
And fall to sleep again,
There to lie empty of all love
Like beaten corn of grain.

Thank you so much for sharing that link. I've enjoyed learning more about the woman whose portrait is my avatar! Like the majority, I knew about the obsessive painting and the exhumation, but not much else. I had no idea Lizzie was an artist in her own right.

WyrdWay
June 5th, 2010, 11:29 AM
thanks for sharing all of these links and stories, I love this style of art and these are the types of paintings that inspire me to continue my hair journey and to get back in shape. I love the classic beauty that was accepted and strived for back then. Oh and the clothes :D Now I want to go draw and sew up some new clothes *sigh*

jera
June 5th, 2010, 02:55 PM
rosetti depicted a lot of beautiful long red haired women too, a lot of the art from the renaissance also shows beautiful long locks, I do love waterhouse too I love his romantic imagery

I love Rossetti too. :)

jackiesjottings
June 5th, 2010, 03:00 PM
He is my favourite artist, and I had his Hylas and the Nymphs on the wall of my college room 30 years ago (sadly only as a poster not the original!!). I really love his work and the long hair is a bonus. The Royal Academy of Arts had an exhibition of his work last year and I went with my friend Joozl and it was just so amazing seeing so many of his works in one place. My favourite is Mariana in the South.

GeoJ
June 5th, 2010, 03:10 PM
I really enjoy his paintings, and fortunately I got to see an exhibit of his works in Montreal, Canada.