The Duet

[David Draime]

Alex,

Big congratulations. I've always loved this painting.

David

[Anna Wakitsch]

Beautiful, Alexandra!

I love how your treatment of the violinist's hands suggests movement.

I'm also very impressed by the musical composition... all the elements seem to flow and relate in sweeping arcs.

The scene/subject matter reminds me very much of a Vermeer.

Thank you for sharing this, it is so inspiring!

[Allan Rahbek]

Wonderful painting, Alex,
Is this at home? I like the crowded, controlled feel of it.

[Alexandra Tyng]

Thanks, Ngaire, Lacey, Tom, Anna, Linda and Allan! I can't tell you how much your affirmation means to me. For some reason--I guess because I like joyful rather than brooding or moody subject matter, and because I'm new to this-- I feel it's tricky to paint what I'm drawn to paint in this genre without being corny or too sentimental, and thus I'm really nervous about how people will react to any figurative piece I do.

Actually, I didn't quite mean that I'm adverse to symbolism. It's just that, in my figurative work (and this is just emerging for me since I haven't done many yet) my use of symbolism seems more intuitive, or maybe a natural product of the idea that forms around the composition. In this painting I was thinking about the way two musicians play together, taking cues from each other. My kids were 16 and 13 when I took a bunch of reference photos for this. It was the one and only time their music teachers could get them together to perform a duet at their music school and it was my only opportunity to watch them practice together. As many of you might guess from some of my portraits, I love music and musicians playing.

I got the idea of the angle when I walked though the door to the music room at night and saw the foreshortened curve of the harp silhouetted against the dark hallway wall. It was so dramatic! (So, Allan, in answer to your question, this is in my house.) My daughter was practicing,so I asked my son to play with her for a while. I started working on this several years ago, but I was not completely happy with the color, so I reworked most of it using real observation of the room at night and digital photos taken recently.

[Allan Rahbek]

Originally Posted by Alexandra Tyng

(So, Allan, in answer to your question, this is in my house.)

Alex, I guessed from the intimate arrangement of the composition. One feels like a fly on the wall. That kind of compositions have to be seen on the run.
Degas comes to mind.

[David Draime]

Alex,

This is a truly beautiful painting. I find my eye gliding around the painting, taking in all the lovely passages, the "scenes within the Scene"...starting with the figure in the foreground (your daughter) with her back facing us, the sweep of the harp upward, the molding of the archway, gently conveying our attention over and down, the angles of the violinist's bow and the music stand repeated again by the stairway in the background.... the painting is a delicately balanced concerto, certain themes repeating themselves, variations that result in a delightful set of rhythms.... and because of the mastery and confidence with which it is painted, the strength of these details in no way detracts from the overall unity of the piece. And I love the ambiguity of your daughter's possible attention: is she looking at the music on the stand or glancing up at her brother?

The interior, belonging to an obviously older home, gives the sense that this painting could have been painted anytime during the last hundred years or so - as Linda mentioned, it has a both a contemporary and traditional feel at the same time. And I love the inclusion of an earlier Tyng painting in the background...

I do wonder: were you consciously aware of Vermeer's The Art of Painting (Artist in his Studio) while you were painting this? The compositional similarities are striking: the arrangement of the figures, instead of a painting on an easel, it's sheet music on a stand... the modest chandelier, the self-referential painting-within-the-painting, not to mention the musical theme!....very, very interesting!

Simply put: it is an arresting painting. Breathtaking!

David

[Alexandra Tyng]

David, thank you! That's very amazing and wonderful that you saw all these things in the painting.

Originally Posted by David Draime

I do wonder: were you consciously aware of Vermeer's The Art of Painting (Artist in his Studio) while you were painting this?

No, I wasn't at all--but when I was a college student majoring in art history, I fell in love with Vermeer's work, and that painting was one of my favorites! It still is. I have no doubt that my favorite works are imprinted on my brain, and show themselves in various ways in my art. I never would have noticed the similarity, though, until you pointed it out, but now I can definitely see what you mean. I like the way Vermeer used the curtain as a formal element, establishing the foreground and also as a device to let the viewer know he/she is a voyeur watching the scene unobserved.

[Alexandra Tyng]

Originally Posted by Allan Rahbek

That kind of compositions have to be seen on the run.

You are very good at seeing compositions on the run, Allan. Whatever happened to the one in the elevator?

Speaking of Degas, I'm going to take another look at his work with this in mind.

[Carlos Ygoa]

What a very convincing sense of space this painting has! The protagonism of the boy is heightened and helped by the figure of the girl-- I think if she were not where she is, the composition would not be as effective. It is also very impressive how, given the size of the painting and therefore consequently the size of the boy

[Terri Ficenec]

Alex -- I was looking through old posts, and I know I've admired this one before, but just realized I'd never commented on it! You've got to know this is absolutely stunning work! I love the angle and the light -- especially as it's cast from the music stand on your daughter and the harp. Gorgeous!