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02-01-2006, 10:01 PM
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#1
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Juried Member PT 5+ years
Joined: Nov 2001
Location: Stillwater, MN
Posts: 1,801
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What makes me stand still and then walks me across the room is an extended, but not necessarily even, value range, because therein lies the illusion of depth, both physically and psychologically.
With time and the tools, you can learn to draw and you can learn to paint, loosely, tightly, this palette or that, and that's all very interesting for a limited time, but there's too often not any lingering story there for you to step into, no "Magic Eye" images-within-the-image promise that keeps pulling you back in, placing you in the scene. Color has a shot at it, but values get it done, for me.
Having an appreciation for the interplay of values -- particularly in strong contrast near the focal point of the work -- is what distinguishes the gallery wallpaper from the piece I want to take home, what makes me think, "I want to be there," or "I want to know her." I am at this instant visualizing two paintings at two different galleries nearby, each of which has this quality. I want them both. My accountant won't let me have them. I may have to get a different numbers guy. Or more numbers.
Just from seeing what "wins" at some events, you can't discount the flash of intense color, the startling composition, this year's Pet Rock, or the outrageous motif.
Unfortunately, the best examples at hand of what I'm thinking of are landscapes and interiors, rather than portraits or figures. I'll leave the door ajar and see what wanders in. All these heavy art books I've been moving across oceans for ten years must have some useful images in them.
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02-02-2006, 11:00 AM
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#2
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UNVEILINGS MODERATOR Juried Member
Joined: May 2005
Location: Narberth, PA
Posts: 2,485
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Ha, Garth, a funny thing happened when I looked in my mailbox: I read your post, which of course had no images, and immediately I visualized the exact Vermeer you put up here. When I went on the Forum, there it was! That one has always been my favorite. The diagonal of the red hat is so daring, but I think it's the lighting and the shine on her open mouth that really grabs me. I feel like Vermeer did something daring when he painted that portrait: he saw a vision and had to paint it, even though it was a departure from his usual color and lighting.
Steven, I think your point about visual and psychological depth is brilliant. Of course we all have different taste and different reactions to the same painting, but I can definitely relate to what you are saying. The value contrast and maybe a crisply-painted edge near the focal point is something I've been paying more attention to lately.
There are so many Sargents with this "retina-burn" factor that it's hard to pick a couple. Here's a link to my husband's all-time favorite, Asher Wertheimer. Not only does Mr. Wertheimer look like his Uncle Alan, he says it makes him feel like his Uncle Alan is about to walk out of the canvas and say hello:
http://www.jssgallery.org/Essay/Arti...998-Left2.html
My favorite of Sargent's is the Boit Children, probably because I first walked into the room where it was hanging in the Boston museum when I was a college student. I knew very little about Sargent and this absolutely took my breath away. First of all, it's really big, 87" x 87", and it has an incredible sense of atmosphere and depth. I felt like I could walk into it, or that I was being pulled into it! It fueled my ambition to someday learn how to paint atmosphere.
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02-02-2006, 01:28 PM
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#3
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Juried Member
Joined: Jul 2001
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 1,734
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Interesting question and interesting responses. To me, it's partly a factor of pulling you closer to the painting. Not just a peevish, peering "gee, how did he do that transition" but "gee, I want to be next to that, I want to touch that." So in addition to values and color there's a paint quality factor - a wall presence - that distinguishes a painting from a photo. I guess for me personally this is why I don't like overly-rendered paintings where every surface has the same degree of polish.
And let's not discount the sheer joy of something that is knock your socks off beautiful. That's pretty subjective, though.
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02-02-2006, 09:23 PM
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#4
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Juried Member Guy who can draw a little
Joined: Dec 2002
Location: New Iberia, LA
Posts: 546
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alexandra Tyng
I knew very little about Sargent and this absolutely took my breath away.
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So funny you should say that. My wife still laughs about the first time I saw it. I was in the adjacent gallery and caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye. I gasped loudly and turned on my heels. I just had to sit in front of it and gawk for a while. I think I could gladly pay the admission fee just to sit in front of that one painting for a day.
Edit: For those who haven't been there. The huge vases in the painting were given to the museum by the Boit family. They stand on either side of the painting. A nice touch.
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02-02-2006, 09:42 PM
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#5
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Juried Member
Joined: Dec 2004
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Posts: 388
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Garth,
You hit my all time favorite sculpture. His sculptures of Louise Brougniart at the Met or Getty ( I forget which) and his Voltaire in Louvre are stunning favorites.
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02-02-2006, 11:12 PM
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#6
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Juried Member Finalist, Int'l Salon 2006
Joined: Feb 2004
Location: Singapore
Posts: 324
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Hi, this is an interesting thread that, pulled out something i kept at the back of my head for a long time.
For me, a couple of artworks came into my mind immediately when i read this thread:
(1)Frederick Hart's Ex Nihilo sculpture which now sits on the doorway of National Cathedral in Washington DC (i think)
(2)Nikolai Fechin's portraits
These works are amazing! Wow...even till today, i'm still thrilled by them!
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02-03-2006, 09:27 AM
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#7
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Juried Member PT 5+ years
Joined: Nov 2001
Location: Stillwater, MN
Posts: 1,801
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In Robert Genn's most recent newsletter, he includes the observation:
Quote:
The obvious is enchanted by the hidden.
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That taps into what I was getting at earlier, about depth, and different levels of a painting.
And it called to mind a self-portrait by Rose Freymuth-Frazier, which was just mentioned yesterday in another thread. I think this one has retina burn, and that it is enchanted by the hidden.
There might be an impulse to think, yeah, but the intense red background was a gimmick to
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02-03-2006, 11:17 AM
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#8
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Juried Member
Joined: Jul 2001
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 1,734
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Steven, it's the beautiful woman thing at work again. You're sucked in, you can't help it. Why do you think they're everywhere you look? They're magnetic; beauty is magnetic.
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