Part 5: Widening your options Project 3: Towards Abstraction Research notes – Modern Movements

Part 5 Widening your Options, Project 3: Towards Abstraction

 

Towards Abstraction: Modern Movements

 

The Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of ‘abstract’ relating to art is to ‘denote art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but rather seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, colours, and textures’. What this definition does not explain is the emotional impact of an abstract painting on a viewer, the dictionary’s definition doesn’t go far enough to establish or mention the abstract movement that revolutionised the art world during the early part of the Twentieth Century.

 

Railing (2013) discusses that certain 20^th Century painters such as Malevich believed that materials should determine the artistic form, she gives the example of Malevich’s comments about Michelangelo ‘ruining ‘ a good piece of marble when he carved David.  The reasons behind Malevich’s comments were that his belief was to allow the materials to speak for themselves and evoke an emotional response to both the artist and the viewer.  Railing goes on to discuss that the group of artists namely Kandinsky, Kupka, Malevich and Mondrian, investigated the experience of the sensations of the artists materials on their emotions and feelings.  When this group of artists is talking of ‘sensation’ in this respect they are referring to the sensations experienced by the physical body through the senses such as touch, smell and sight when experiencing their chosen materials, they believed this gave rise to perception and ideas and gave a fuller artistic experience. 

 

At this period during history a German Physicist called Herman Helmholtz was undertaking experiments that involved looking at the emotional response of the optical nerve when introduced to different colours, for example he discovered that Spectral Red had a higher vibrational resonance than that of Spectral Blue. Helmholtz’s experiments discovered that nerves, namely the optical nerves in this case gave an emotional response and energy to different colours; he hypothesized that this is why humans emotionally responded differently to both red and blue.  Kandinsky used Helmholtz’s theory when using red and blue within his work as he offered that he was expressing different emotions when producing the work and wanted to viewers to experience the same emotions when viewing his work. All these abstract painters in fact used emotional response when working believing their work would be viewed with the same responses, whether that was a response triggered by colour or texture they wanted their viewers to display different emotional responses such as playfulness, sadness, anger, frustration, happiness when viewing their work.  In 1912 Kandinsky wrote “Light warm red…gives a feeling of strength, vigour and determination” (Dover publications, p40)

Mondrian used the position of colours and their dimensions to evoke an emotional response from his work. In 1920 in a booklet Mondrian had published called Neo-Plasticism he wrote that a coloured rectangle in a composition of rectangular panes expressed the most profound reality and that the positioning of these coloured blocks were not only to him a natural response but one that achieved the realization he had sought when examining the relationships between colour and emotional response.

 

In 1915 Malevich painted ‘Red Square’ which was one in a series of work; it coincided with Malevich’s published manifesto called Cubism to Suprematism.  In 1915 to 1916 Malevich worked with other Suprematist artists in a cooperative in rural Russia. Suprematism was a geometric abstractionist movement organised and originated by Malevich this form of art was ‘the supremacy of pure artistic feeling’, Malevich wanted the viewer to have an emotional response to the work rather than viewing the geometric shapes just as circles, rectangles and square, the shapes were meant to evoke a pure emotional response. 

 

Under Suprematism I understand the primacy of pure feeling in creative art. To the Suprematist, the visual phenomena of the objective world are, in themselves, meaningless; the significant thing is feeling, as such, quite apart from the environment in which it is called forth. Malevich (1927)

 

 In his later writings Malevich discussed the quality of a new visual environment bringing about a change in perception meaning that a person’s environment can render the familiar landscape into an abstraction piece.  Suprematism has a profoundly anti-materialistic and anti-utilitarian philosophy and was opposed to the post-revolutionary constructivism and materialism principles.  Constructivism was about the object and adapted principles to functional organisation of objects, making the artist almost engineer like creating an organisation to life. Suprematism viewed man as the artist and his environment as his true reality and is what Malevich described as his ‘absolute non-objectivity’. Malevich’s principle of ‘absolute non-objectivity’ included a future where objects, convenience and appearances didn’t exist, a place where new beginnings are born. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References:

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/abstract

www.moma.org

 

Kandinsky (1912), Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Dover Publications

Malevich (1927), The Non-Objective World, Munich

Railing .P (2013) Philosophy now: Art as Sensation Four Painters as Philosophers of Art, Acuman Publishing

 

Research notes: Mixed Media Artists

Research Point: Examples of Mixed Media Pictures

 

I’ve found this an exciting and inspiring exercise, the artists that I have chosen to give examples of are artists that are new to me and coming across their work for this exercise has been inspiring and has encouraged me as an artist to experiment more and take more risks with my work.

The first piece of work I came across is called ‘Blue Light’ by Chidi Okoye.  Okoye is a Nigerian born artist who although graduated in sculpture also ventures along many different creative avenues, he is as well-known internationally for his poetry as for his paintings and sculpture.  Okoye uses his environment and mankind as his inspirations.  Okoye moved to Vancouver, Canada in the early 90’s and hasn’t looked back in gaining wide acclaim and recognition for his work.

Blue Light by Chidi Okoye

The abstract painting ‘Blue Light’ is a mixed media painting on Masonite. I really like the colours and the textures used in this piece of work, although it isn’t of the sea, I felt I could take inspiration from this piece when I am working towards future paintings of water.

The next piece of work I chose is an abstract by artist Carol Nelson and is called ‘February Morning’.  I thought the piece was relevant to the work we have been doing on landscapes, it reminds me of some of my sketches of groups of trees.  I love the way the bark has been given texture by using rough wall paper and then painted over.  The colours really emphasise the scene being early morning.  I think it’s a simple composition but very effective.  Nelson is a mixed media contemporary artist living in Colorado, USA. I really like this artist’s mixed media work, where she incorporates rice paper, metals, and natural textures into her work with acrylic paints.

February Morning by Carol Nelson

Derek Russell is an artist that I had seen in a magazine before however he isn’t an artist that I have studied in any great depth, however on moving onto this last section of this course I have been looking at artists that work in a completely different way to me and have found several that have really inspired me and Derek Russell is one of them.  I love his portrait called Kara and Sophie; it is a collage of ripped paper stuck onto board, Russell’s usual media for his work is oils and acrylics and his ‘Famous Faces’ portfolio is full of bright even fauvist like portraits which I enjoy but I have to say his collage piece really inspired me more.

Kara and Sophie by Derek Russell

The final mixed media artist that I researched into is Ruby Spam, her work ‘Key Lime Pie’ is an abstract mixed media piece made from tissue, string, acrylic paint, wine and varnish. The artist uses everyday items from her life to mix in with her acrylic paints, such as wine, balsamic vinegar, coffee and fruits. Spam is a Canadian born artist and immigrated to the USA and now lives and works from her studio in San Francisco.

Key Lime Pie by Ruby Spam

Part 4: Landscape elements Project 3 – Painting sky Exercise: research point – Turner and Constable

Research Point: Turner and Constable

 

 

JMW Turner (1775 – 1851) & John Constable (1776 -1837) are two of the world’s most famous artists, renowned for watercolours and oil paintings and loved the world over. However their approach and their transitions into becoming accepted as artists were totally different, this will be discussed but briefly as it is the similarities between the artists in their love of landscapes, nature and the British countryside that this research will focus on mainly.

 

Turner was admitted to the Royal Academy in 1789, his first exhibition at the RA was in 1790.

 

‘The Royal Academy recognised his genius and supported him against many of his arbiters of taste’ (Murray, p.533)

 

In contrast Constable had limited recognition and wasn’t welcomed into the Royal Academy until 1829.

 

In 1792 Turner took his first sketching tour, these tours were to dominate his life and work over the next half century.  By the mid 1790’s Turner was working with Girtin who produced drawings or ‘outlines’ and Turner added the wash effects.  Their work at this time was so similar that it was difficult to distinguish which watercolourist had painted which painting.  Up to 1796 Turner mainly produced watercolour work in a traditional period style of topographical style painting.  Laneyrie-Dagen (2005) discusses how Turner was taught by Topographical draughtsman Thomas Malton and that Constable was taught by a lesser known painter Joseph Farrington. So even from the initial stages of their training which involved copying Old Masters works from National Collections, Turner and Constable were maybe set out to head along different paths.  Turner owed a great deal to the Royal Academy who supported him from 1789, he was however a great self promoter and in 1807 published a ‘prospectus’ announcing his latest work, which was a volume of engravings for which he charged a submission.

 

In contrast Constable was happiest in his home county of Suffolk and took great inspiration from his surrounds of fields, brooks and pastures; in 1806 he ventured to the Lake District, but found the landscapes of Suffolk far more appealing.  Murray (1997) states Constable made cloud studies which were influenced by Luke Howards ‘The Climate of London’ (1818-20).  Laneyrie-Dagen (2005) explores Constables need to stay in Suffolk and not travel and gives an example of Constable refusing to travel to Paris in 1824 and Lille in 1825 to collect medals for his work, instead believing that his work was not a social activity but one of existence, meaning that he thought his everyday life was truly important to his work even the essence of his work and it should be documented as much as possible, him leaving his life in Suffolk would somehow strip him of who he really was as an individual and as an artist.  

 

Gombrich ( 2006) states that Turner and Constable were old rivals and their approach to work and the ‘gulf’ between their approach to their work and the difference in recognition each of them received  was similar to that of Reynolds and Gainsborough, Turner like Gainsborough was a very successful artist, whereas Gombrich discusses that Constable’s ideas were very different, he didn’t want to paint in the traditional manner and style of which he saw Turner adopting, Constable wanted to paint what he saw with his eyes, which is a similar trait to Gainsborough, although Constables paintings were nothing but the truth, he painted what he saw and didn’t deviate, more than anything he wanted to be truthful to his own vision.  Gombrich goes on to discuss that Constable had a formula for painting and devised recipes for painting clouds and tricks for painting the bark of trees, his use of colour was carefully worked out, he used warm tones in the foreground usually browns and golden tones and in the background pale blue tints that faded the further they went into the background.  This ‘prescription’ method of painting discussed by Gombrich seems to be similar to the skies and clouds that Turner and Constable painted as it’s quite easy to observe and identify a painting by either artist just by looking at their style of clouds.

 

Although the work of both artists is very popular it doesn’t inspire me, although I can appreciate their work, skill and use of tone and also the ground breaking work for their time.  Their studies of clouds and skies are incredible especially as photography hadn’t been invented At that point, their mastery in remembering what they saw is amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography:

 

Gombrich E.H (2006) The Story of Art,Phaidon

 

Laneyrie – Dagan (2005) How to read Paintings 2, Chambers Arts Library

 

Murry P & L (1997) Dictionary of Art and Artists,Pengiun Publishers

 

Thames & Hudson (2002) British Art since 1900,Frances Spalding

Part 4 ; Landscape Elements Project 2: Aerial Perspective Exercise: Research Point

Research Point – Watercolour Landscape artists

 

I recently visited the exhibition in Edinburgh displaying the work of the artist Giovanni Battista Lusieri; I enjoyed the exhibition and admired his architectural drawings and paintings.  At the time when this work was being produced landscape paintings were mainly representational of what the artist could see, as at this time in the late 18^th Century, travel was becoming more accessible to the rich, who were making ‘Grand Tours’ of Italy, Greece and other countries within Europe, artists were being asked to document panoramic landscapes for the rich travellers so their travels were documented for all their friends to see, I suppose in a way it was like a modern-day postcard, however due to cameras not having been invented at that time it was only the rich who would have been able to travel abroad and also commission artists to document their travels.  The techniques of these artists such as Lusieri were ones of detailed drawings, both of flora and fauna and architecture and accurate representations of colours.

The Bay of Naples – unfinished

Panoramic view of Palermo – unfinished

Compared to contemporary artists who I admire such as John Mendoza and Roger Griffiths, their techniques were very different.

John Mendoza is an American watercolour artist; he also paints in oils however rarely as his technique for producing landscapes which are almost abstract, reacts better to using watercolours.  Mendoza uses a technique where there is a central avalanche of colour, the colours he chooses are incredibly vibrant and Mendoza applies the paint onto a wet background along the centre of the paper (what we would normally consider to be the horizon line) and then he tips the paper upside down to allow the paint to run off the paper.  He has created really spectacular skies by using this technique.  The ‘central’ concentration of colour and detail is very typical of Mendoza’s work and makes it instantly recognisable.

If Mendoza wants to put specific trees or buildings into his composition then he uses masking fluid with a drawing pen and places the objects centrally before he starts to apply his washes.  His work has a real ethereal quality and has an energy that focuses on the beauty within the landscape.  I really like Mendoza’s work as I find it inspiring and I would love to try to emulate his technique, which is free from the structure and constraints of traditional architectural landscapes and offers the viewer a journey through a landscape that they can make their own, whether they choose to romanticise his work or see it in a dramatic way, the viewer is left the freedom to enter the space and to make their own decisions which I think is admirable in an artist as it shows a great freedom of mind and character and confidence in their work.

Two of the pieces that I really like of Mendoza’s are, ‘Hidden Lake of memories blue ’and‘ Deciphered in the skies’.  Hidden Lake is a painting that for me reminds me of Winter in a Forest maybe in Sweden where I visited early this year in February, the blue washes in this painting are vibrant yet ‘icy’ and the contrast of the foreground where Mendoza has placed some warm Burnt Sienna to show the bracken and the other flora is wonderful, it also reminds me of being in Norway skiing and visiting a lake that was just starting to melt, there were colours in the foreground like in the painting there as well.   Deciphered in the skies is another wonderful watercolour which has Mendoza’s signature central column of colour which explodes from the page, I can see not only autumnal colours but also the forest fires that sweep certain parts of America each year, both these pieces are a small selection of his work that is all wonderful, this is an artist whom I hope will exhibit in the UK or in Europe so that I can go and see some of his work in person.

Hidden Lake of Memories Blue – Mendoza

Deciphered in the skies – Mendoza

Another contemporary watercolour artist that I have recently discovered is Roger Griffiths, he is a British artist and is an architectural designer by trade, however his love of landscape and architecture has spilled over into his private life and he has produced amazing watercolours over the last twelve years.  One of Griffiths most recent works is called ‘Carbis Bay’ and shows a landscape that is so intricate in design that your eyes are buzzing all over the paper it’s so stimulating.  I love his use of colour and design; his colours are not always ‘traditional’ but give warmth and depth to his paintings which allow the viewer to travel easily through his paintings, in his painting Radnor Fields I love that the trees are blue and purple, why should we as artists conform to the traditional, again the design in this painting is shining through and really tells a story.  Another aspect of Griffith’s  work that I admire is even though on a daily basis his eyes and hands are constrained being an architectural designer his watercolours just don’t reflect that at all, there is a sense of freedom in his designs, I love that some of his trees are painted on their sides and quite often Griffiths will paint the branches and the structure of the tree but then add an almost ‘lollipop’ wash of colour around the branches to represent the foliage, I really like this idea, it indicates that he is not caught up on the tiny details of the tree but looking at the design as whole.  He uses paint in a fluid way and always paints in the direction of the structure he is representing.  I also like that he leaves any ‘cauliflower’ marks as part of the design as I find this happens to me quite a lot and I know that traditionally they shouldn’t be there and are sometimes frowned upon, but I actually like some of the ‘uncontrolled’ marks that have appeared in my work.

Radnor Fields – Griffiths

Cornish Farm – Griffiths

Carbis Bay – Griffiths

It’s been really interesting looking at these two contemporary artists work compared to the ‘traditional’ view of landscapes, although I can appreciate work of artists from other century’s such as Lusieri, I don’t find their work inspiring at all and over the years of completing other OCA courses I have developed the opinion that far too much emphasis is placed upon artists such as Turner and Constable, who in my opinion are over rated and uninspiring in today’s 21^st Century, we should of course address the past but not focus on these artists too much as there are so many wonderful contemporary artists that go under the radar when we are studying as we are encouraged to ‘stick to what’s known’.  I have contacted both these artists directly and I am hoping they will give me some more insight into their working techniques as the only downside to studying contemporary artists is that there are very few books or papers written about them as many haven’t really been discovered by the general population, the upside is of course that they are alive and still contactable.  I hope they return my contact and answer the questions that I posed for them so that I can report on my blog what they replied.

www.rogergriffiths.co.uk

www.johnmendoza.com

 

Resarch notes – Andrew Wyeth 1917 – 2009 (American Watercolourist)

Andrew Wyeth (1917 – 2009)

Andrew Wyeth was born in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, USA in 1917. Wyeth was the youngest of five children; his Father, Newell Covers Wyeth, was incredibly influential from an early age as he himself was a muralist and illustrator, illustrating scores of children’s classics over the years, so Andrew was incredibly privileged to have such a mentor so close at hand.  Wyeth was taught to…

‘Avoid sentimentality…starkness never tolerates the sentimental way’.                                                         McCord (1970) p.13

Wyeth lived in Chadds Ford the whole of his life and his extended family still live in Chadds Ford in three eighteenth century fieldstone farm buildings which sit alongside the river.  The complex of houses contains a gristmill, a house and apartment cum studio. Chadds Ford and especially the Brandywine River area was of strategic importance during the Revolutionary War, the British were billeted at Brandywine River, the river that flows alongside the Wyeth properties and the Americans were billeted only twenty miles away at Valley Forge.  The Battle of Brandywine is a famous time within the war.

Wyeth’s work encapsulates his ‘world’, that of Chadds Ford and Maine.  He wasn’t a great traveller and preferred to paint his surroundings, neighbours and his friends and family, his landscape paintings both in watercolour and tempera show country everyday life in every season, unromantic, hard and thought-provoking reality.  His studies of trees, insects, animal’s and even rope and chains seen in the pencil drawing of 1956 of the same name, show how incredibly observant Wyeth was and in tune with his surroundings and neighbourhood.  Wyeth hasn’t tried to romanticise country living, it is shown in the cold hard truth of hardship, hard work and  at times especially during the late 1940’s onwards an impoverished society working to make ends meet. His honesty brings a real beauty to his work and although times were hard, in his portraits people’s ‘essence’ shines through displaying every emotion possible.

Wyeth’s first solo exhibition was in 1937 at the William Macbeth Gallery in New York, when Wyeth was just twenty years of age. The following year he exhibited again in Boston at the Doll and Richards Gallery, a lot of the works on show where watercolours of Maine. McCord (1970) describes Wyeth’s watercolour landscapes and portraits as showing, ‘a certain freedom and contagious quality of solitude and self-sufficiency’.  Personally I find his works sensitive, dramatic, and some of his portraits hold a haunting torturous quality, all his work is honest, communicative and without sentimentality and to me breathtakingly beautiful.

Wyeth had a great love of costume and featured many garments such as coats and boots in his paintings, such as in The Patriot he uses a World War One uniform, in French Twist he uses a number of his wife’s coats and in Garret Room he paints a vibrant multi-coloured patchwork quilt.  Wyeth had a tendency to use the same sitters/models on frequent occasions, this was due to him not enjoying travelling and also Wyeth felt inspired by certain places and people.  The Helga pictures for example is a collection of drawings and paintings in both watercolour and tempera that stretch over a time frame of fifteen years, all the studies and paintings are of one subject: Helga Testorf, who was a German worker on Wyeth’s neighbours farm. Wyeth said of his relationship with Helga that it was strictly professional as with all his other models; however his marriage to his wife Betsy was put under strain after her discovery of the collection of work.  Wilmerding (1987), states that the collection brings together a significant body of work over fifteen years by Wyeth showing a ‘fresh phase’ in the artist’s career. (p.7)

“The collection itself is, to my mind, a major extension – indeed another dimension of Andrew Wyeth’s achievement” Wilmerding (1987.p8)

Some of the most outstanding pictures within the collection in my opinion are maybe ones that are a little less obvious and wouldn’t necessarily be the choice of the critics. ‘In the Orchard’ is a beautiful watercolour with amazing detail, Helga is leaning against a tree wearing a fur hat, her green coat is pulled tightly around her and held tightly at her waist by a belt of the same colour, her hands are in her pockets as she stares out over the vista. The background in the painting just seems insignificant in detail but necessary to pull the viewer’s eye back into the foreground and to the main subject, Helga.  In the same series of watercolours ‘In the Orchard’, in one painting Helga is leaning in the elbow of a tree this time the weather is less wintry and more spring like. The watercolour is split into three sections and the background in particular really interests me as the middle section has been left white and this is where Wyeth has painted the portrait of Helga, so she leaps forward from the page.  The left of the  background has  been scratched and sponged to give texture and has had green and burnt umber washes added to the original pale burnt umber wash. The right hand side of the background is just a very pale burnt umber wash.  Again within this series of work, Wyeth’s dry brush studies are amazing, in this particular painting where Helga is leaning in the elbow of the tree Wyeth has used dry brush to simulate the bark of the tree to amazing effect.

“I want to keep the quality of a watercolour done in twenty minutes but have all the solidity and texture of a painting” Quote by Wyeth in Wilmerding (p55)

Other paintings I love within the Helga Paintings are ‘Seated by a tree’, this is a haunting painting with an incredibly complex background of entwined trees and branches overlapping one another and blocking out a lot of the natural daylight in the orchard where it was painted.  The directional light comes from the right hand side and highlights can be seen on the end of Helga’s nose, thighs and strands of hair.  Helga is sitting leaning against a tree which she almost becomes a part of as it envelopes her into the background. The detail of the bark is exquisite and Wyeth has scratched out on top of the watercolour again to give texture and highlights.

‘The crown of flowers’, is a portrait of Helga wearing a crown of flowers, a close inspection of the way in which the flowers have been painted show how Wyeth has used the white paper ground as highlights and you can still see the under drawing on the crown, Wyeth’s belief was that using pencil didn’t detract from the painting it has its own quality so doesn’t compete.  This portrait is a head and shoulders portrait of Helga and the highlights in the hair are what I like the most about the painting, they bring life to the whole face and they are incredibly delicate and I am guessing that masking fluid must have been used to add them.  The background has no detail and is painted a matt black but this brings the focus completely to they face, hair and headdress. I have never tried this technique before of painting either directly onto a black ground or adding a black ground to a portrait; it’s something I will definitely explore in the future.

Wyeth’s use of light within his watercolour paintings and his use of texture within the medium is staggering.  In his portrait Chester County, 1962; his subject is a man by the name of Tom Clark, Wyeth has painted his subject in profile and positioned him sitting slightly forward on his chair which means that the down pipe from the boiler almost sits on the man’s head like a crown. The room looks like an attic room, it is stark and the subject’s bed is seen in the background of the painting although it is neatly made it shows the coverlet to be patched and worn again providing the viewer with a taste of Tom Clark’s world. The sitter is painted showing no sentimentality and his face shows worry and even despair. The texture that has been achieved within the clothing is astonishing; you can visibly see the ingrained decay of the fabric.  I can only imagine that the artist may have used a dry brush technique or stippling with masking fluid, I need to research his techniques further to try to find out how this was achieved.  This is a wonderful portrait of an elderly man who has worry on his face but stories within his heart.  Wyeth had previously painted several portraits and studies of Tom Clark, a head and shoulders portrait, named Tom Clark in 1956; Wyeth had visited the man at his lodgings in Chadds Ford and painted the man while he slept, again in a dry brush study Morning Sun in 1959 and again this time using Tempera in the painting That Gentleman in 1960.  The later painting is named ‘That Gentleman’ as it is reported that Tom Clark would refer to all objects within his life, whether it was a pair of slippers, a car passing by or a fly buzzing round his head as ‘That Gentleman’.  My favourite painting Wyeth did of Tom Clark is called Garret Room, 1962; it shows Tom lying on his bed on top of a multi-coloured patchwork quilt. Clark was over six-foot two inches tall and McCord (1970) reports that on seeing the portrait after Tom had died that same year, his daughter remarked that it had reminded her to call the funeral parlour to ensure that the undertaker made Tom’s coffin two inches longer so that he could be buried with his boots on. 

The Garrett Room

Frosted apples, 1967; a watercolour which depicts an autumnal scene, the scene is one of decay and the shutting down of life within the season.  Wyeth’s use of texture within the painting especially on the tree bark makes the painting more like a photograph.  As a viewer you are unsure as to which is the most important subject within the painting, is it the tree or is it the sack?  The sack which is positioned leaning against the tree is half full of apples, or maybe some viewers will say half empty again Wyeth is allowing the viewer’s own story to travel into his painting, you will view it either optimistically or not.

Up in the woods, 1960 is a water-colour painted one snowy February day ‘up in the woods’ behind the Wyeth’s family home.  Wyeth is reported to have loved white and painted many snowy days and scenes. The detail within this painting reminds me of being a child running through the forest close to my parent’s house, being chased by my younger brother; it also conjures up memories of pine cones that had been gnawed away by squirrels before they hibernate for the winter, that we used to find scattered on the forest floor. Another of my favourite snow scenes by Wyeth is The Dam, 1960.  The snowflakes are falling over the water and you can actually imagine the cold wet sensation of the snowflakes falling onto the back of your neck as you stand looking at the water, watching the falling flakes being dissolved and disappearing into the inky black water of the dam.

Wash Bucket, 1963, is a painting that I don’t really like, although it is exquisitely executed and the bucket gleams out from the wall of the mill, the washes Wyeth has used on the walls I find to be slightly disturbing and it makes me wonder if this is a mill or if it is a slaughter-house.  With the connotation of the painting being called ‘wash bucket’ I get an unease when viewing the painting, maybe it’s the juxtaposition of the shiny hard metal against the stone wall, the image brings sound memories back to me of nails being scratched down chalkboard which used to set my teeth on edge at school, viewing this painting gives me the same feeling.

Wash Bucket

Another repeated sitter for Wyeth was Willard Snowden.  Snowden was of no fixed abode and Wyeth painted him several times. Snowden had walked into Chadds Ford looking for work in the winter of 1964 and had asked for work at Wyeth’s studio, Wyeth was immediately drawn to the man and the first painting of Snowden was called The Drifter in 1964, Snowden is looking down in the head and shoulders portrait as he was interested in watching Wyeth as he worked, I love the detail of the corduroy jacket Snowden is wearing it’s a wonderful contrast against his smooth skin. Monologue 1965 is another portrait of Snowden, this time sitting in a chair; the light from the window is shining on the right hand side of his face. The painting is apparently called ‘monologue’ because Snowden kept up a conversation whilst being painted, telling the story of his life, drifting from place to place. His hand is posed in such a way that you can tell a story is being told, it is not rigid and looks like it is being used to express the story unfolding. In 1966 Wyeth painted Grape wine, a portrait showing Snowden, but this time looking very different to his previous portraits, his features are a lot softer, you can see that his expression is happier and that he looks ‘fed and watered’. 

I prefer Wyeth’s work which was undertaken in Chadds Ford, although his work in Maine was of the same outstanding quality and showed clarity and vision of people and places depicting everyday life, for me Wyeth excelled in capturing the landscape and the people he loved which comes through in his work from Chadds Ford, his childhood and Marital homeland.  His skill in using watercolour washes to show depth, movement and texture in just one swish of his brush is incredible. I love the way Wyeth flicks his loaded brush at his paper and left splash marks which add to the ambience of the piece, I think this not only shows foresight and playfulness it also creates a sense of life being unfinished, not perfect, jagged around the edges and I would like to think that Wyeth embraced the ‘grey’ areas of life and didn’t have to have order or believe that life was black and white.

Bibliography:

Komanecky.M (2011) Christina’s World & The Olson House, Rizzolli International Publishers

McCord D. (1970), Andrew Wyeth, Museum of fine Arts Boston, New York Graphic Society

Wilmerding. (1987) Andrew Wyeth:The Helga Pictures, Harry N Abrahms inc.

Wyeth.B.(2001) Andrew Wyeth:Close Friends, University of Washington Press

Exhibition visit – Ghent 30/06/12 to 01/07/12

Visit to Ghent: Art Galleries SMAK & MSK 30/06/12 to 01/07/12

 

I went to the city of Ghent this weekend staying overnight to take in the sites of the city but also to visit the two main art galleries.  I’d never been to the city before so was unsure what to expect, the city which was once considered a major port is now split into two main areas, the historical quarter and the arts quarter, every street has beautiful medieval buildings.  At present there is a major art outdoor exhibition on throughout the city where forty artists from all over the world have been asked to exhibit  work that blend in with the surrounding city and it’s landscapes, this event is called TRACK, we unfortunately didn’t have time to see all the exhibits as they were spread over a wide geographical area, so I decided to make the most of our visit and concentrate on the two main galleries, to view the paintings but also to take note of artists I would like to research into more thoroughly.

What I did love throughout the city was the amount of ‘urban’ art that could be found in and around the streets, there is even a street dedicated to graffiti so the art is changing all the time, I loved this idea and I spent some time taking many photographs of the graffiti as this is art that will be covered over maybe even the following hour, day, week etc, I like the idea of art being disposable in this way and that urban artists seem to be less precious about their work, their freedom from canvas and brush I feel is reflected in their work, I also loved the juxtaposition of the ‘newly’ placed art against the old medieval buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first gallery I visited was S.M.A.K (Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst), this is the contemporary gallery of modern art and sits directly opposite the Fine art museum.  I really didn’t know what to expect as I hadn’t looked at what exhibitions were on before visiting, there were several installation pieces which I didn’t enjoy, however the two main artists that were showing retrospectives of their work were Stijn Ank and Vincent Geyskens.  Ank’s exhibition is called ‘INTERVAL’ and is set over two floors, there were several pieces that stood out for me which I have images of below. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ank uses sculpture to look at the relationship between void and solid, Ank always uses the same method when producing a piece of sculpture, he marks of the boundaries in his chosen space with various materials, such as rubber, aluminium, lead or wood and then makes a mould in plaster layer by layer, so he makes the space within the void visible.  It gives a really interesting and for me very beautiful visual, I loved the way there were layers upon layers. Ank had added colour to each layer which gave almost pulse like shapes on each layer.  I thought this was a very clever way of looking at space and the pieces produced were all individual to each space defining it and almost giving the space its own personality.  

 The second exhibition was by an artist called Vincent Geyskens, which I have to say didn’t capture my attention in the same way that the other exhibition did.  The exhibition was titled ‘UnDEAD’, which apparently is a common name for zombies, which I just didn’t understand from the work on show at all.  In the literature I collected about the artist the exhibition was meant to depict, ‘art acting like a zombie’, therefore what I think he was trying to say was that, art is dead but isn’t acting that way, I thought it was all a little confused and didn’t have any flow as a whole.  The paintings of nude’s without faces and without defined genitals were pleasing to look as individual pieces but how these related to Geyskens ‘frames’ which were apparently a metaphor for the human body? I didn’t enjoy this exhibition as I thought it was too disjointed as individual pieces I felt the work could be appreciated and his abstract work was good as a standalone piece however mixed in with his figurative work, the whole thing was just lost on me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second gallery I visited was the National Gallery of Fine Art, there was a really excellent flow around the gallery with laminated information cards at the entrance to each room, so that you could read in your own language about each artist and their work.  There were so many wonderful paintings that I have chosen a few to put onto my blog, however I came away with six full pages of names of artists and their work in my notebook to turn into further study and reading.  The first painting that really struck me as a ‘modern’ take on a biblical theme was Jheronimus Bosch’s , ‘Christ carrying the Cross’, although this painting was completed in 1516, the colours and the way that the composition is so full and crowded with figures, is still a very modern way of painting even today.  I love his use of ‘black’ as a ground as I have recently painted an oil portrait using black as my ground and I found this a very interesting way to paint as it changes the tones you use. The face of Christ on this painting looks so calm compared to the grotesque portraits around him of his tormentors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next painting I really loved was one by James Guthrie a Scottish painter, known to be one of the ‘Glasgow Boys’. I have seen several pieces of his work before in the National Art Museum in Edinburgh, his work is influenced by Jules Bastien-Leplage which is probably why I like it so much as he’s one of my favourite artists.  Guthrie uses a very similar palate to Leplage and his ability to ‘capture the moment’ is wonderful.  Guthrie was highly recognised for his work in Scotland and became President of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1902 and was knighted in 1903.

 

The next painting is by another Scottish artist called Edward Atkinson Hornel, again one of the Glasgow Boys, the painting is called ‘Spring Idyll’ and was painted in 1905, the detail in this painting is just breathtaking, the way that Hornel paints the children’s aprons is really clever, he has painted little square strokes in varying sizes alternating the strokes to depict texture, you can only see this from being very close up to the painting as from far away it just looks like folds of fabric, it’s a very clever technique.  Again I have seen other works in Scottish museums by Atkinson Hornel, his work is very ‘ethereal’ and the detail of the landscapes that he places his subject in either children or animals is highly detailed although never detracts from the main subjects.  This is one of the artists that I will look further into as I haven’t really read a lot about ‘The Glasgow boys’ so this is an area that I think needs research.

 

Emile Claus is an artist that is new to me, there were two works on display at the museum, one called ‘The Skaters’ painted in 1891 and also a portrait of Anna de Weert.  The way this artist paints is very different from the style I use hence it stood out to me, The whole canvas is covered in small brush strokes of colour, very impressionistic, although I liked the technique that had been used I didn’t like the portrait painting at all, I felt the reflection of the sail in the water was wrong and detracted from the portrait, also with the figure being centrally placed in the painting, the balance just didn’t seem to be right?  ‘The Skaters’ painting I liked better, the colours used in the snowy landscape were incredible and gave texture and depth to the painting, I also liked the placement of the boys centrally however I felt that the painting would have worked without the figures and the more I looked at the painting I wished Claus hadn’t put them into the composition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were just so many other artists and paintings that I loved and will research into further and read about my list and notes were endless.  Some of which are as follows: Jozef Horenbaut, Adolf Von Meckel, Torajiro Kojima, Leon Spilliaert and Oskar Kokoschka. This was a very worthwhile visit and I will now subscribe to both newsletters from each museum so that I am kept in touch with new exhibitions that are due to come up.

Research notes: Picasso – La Rue-des-Bois 1908

Research notes: Picasso’s painting: La Rue- des- Bois 1908

I was reading an old copy of ‘Time’ magazine and came across an article on the ‘Stein Art Collection’, which gave a few examples of the famous works brought into the collection before the start of the Second World War, one of which was a painting by Picasso called ‘La Rue- des- Bois’ painted in 1908. 

I thought it was a very appropriate painting for Section 3 of the course as it has been painted in all different tones of green.  Albeit it has been painted in oils, it gives a really good insight into what can be achieved just using one colour but with different tones.  I love the abstraction of the piece and Picasso’s use of geometric shapes and rhythm within the painting.   The leaves have very little detail, stripped bare almost of any detail that might detract from the overall composition.  I wondered if this was a statement of how Picasso was feeling at the time, as Cezanne had died in 1906 and Picasso is reported to have stated ‘Cezanne was my one and only Master’(O’Mahoney 2006). 

Picasso’s work following the death of Cezanne was viewed as Picasso striving to pay homage to Cezanne.  In this series of paintings completed in the summer of 1908 in La Rue-des-Bois, which is a small village outside of Paris, Picasso’s decisions to use mainly one colour and variants of that tone can be taken as his attempt to honour his Master. Although upon reading about this area outside of Paris, which was wooded and had forestry all around the village, I wondered when looking at this particular painting if the two groups of trees which seem to be linked to each other by branches symbolised the two painters and their friendship?  I also wondered if the central branch which is almost a bush was symbolising new growth, the future or the cycle of life itself.  I really like this painting and feel drawn to the simple yet symbolic composition.  I’m not sure if this can be achieved in watercolour paints, but I may simplify a landscape or tree and try to emulate Picasso’s method of geometric shapes and tonal quality.

Bibliography: O’Mahoney (2006) Picasso, Starfire, London

Research Point/Notes: Still Life by different artists and their use of colour

Research point /Notes– Section Two

 

Artist’s approach to still life

www.1st-art-gallery.com

 

 

This is a painting by Cezanne one of his many still life paintings where he placed apples and other household objects within the composition.  I chose this one to discuss as it is painted in watercolour and pencil, which is how I usually work.  Within the foreground/central middle plane he has placed a bowl of apples, the apples spill out towards the back of the bowl as well.  To the left of the bowl on the same alignment is a fluted glass and behind it is a black bottle, one can presume wine or champagne.  Maybe the artist is trying to convey prosperity and wealth? In the background of this domestic scene is a dining chair which is placed up against the table that the objects have been placed upon, again the style of the chair would suggest wealth, whose ever home this is didn’t just have plain wooden furniture, they had mahogany turned chairs and a rich mahogany table, also in the background Cezanne has painted shadows which give the viewer the idea of depth and that there is a wall of some kind in the background an also a darker space at the side of the wall which suggests a walkway into another space or room.  The colours he has used I love as they are complementary to each other, he has used blue for the shadows which sets off the redness of the mahogany table top and also the oranges and reds within the apples. What I find interesting about Cezanne’s style in a lot of his watercolours in still life he leaves a lot of the paper showing through so there is a lot of white within his pictures, I have tried that in my final assignment for this section and it’s worked well.  I much prefer his watercolour still life paintings than the ones he did in oils, for example, his oil painting of bread and eggs, there is a real heaviness to the subjects and with the background being so dark, it seems very dull, I associate Cezanne with vibrant colours, translucency and using vivid juxtapositions of colours to make his work have a sense of lightness, this is what you see with his watercolour work but not with his oil still life.

 

www.paintingall.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matisse used colour as a form of expression, the painting I have chosen to show still life is Still Life with ‘La Danse’, 1909.

 

www.tamsquare.net

 

Within the painting Matisse has placed one of his pieces of work in the background, which I suppose is like modern day product placement in films, he knew he had to make a living as well as paint and so Matisse used this painting as a bit of self promotion, I think this is genius.  I love the simple arrangement of objects on the table, a mixture of citrus fruits and pears in a square platter, a small blue jug with yellow daisy like flowers in and a larger pale blue patterned two handled vase with long stemmed purple blue flowers in.  The contrast between cool and warm colours work perfectly, I like Matisse’s simple forms; he doesn’t put in too much detail and keeps everything simple. On the left hand side of the painting he has painted a black chair; the viewer can only see one of its legs, it’s an interesting shape as its leading edge is literally pointing at the painting of ‘La Danse’ in the background, so initially the viewer would see this first rather than looking at the still life, it’s very clever.

 

A different more flat approach to still life using domestic objects is used by the artist Amedee Ozenfant:

 

www.mattesonart.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ozenfant was a purist and his style of art was a variant on cubism developed in France in 1918 with his friend and fellow painter Jeanneret.  Ozenfant wanted to rationalise the interpretation of cubism by restoring a more lucid, primitive return to painting.  In 1918 he published the manifesto ‘Après le Cubisme’, which stated,

 

 ‘The greatest joy of the human spirit was the perception of order and the greatest human satisfaction was to be found in helping to bring about or being part of this order’

 www.mattesonart.com

 

Ozenfant’s paintings were mainly still life using household objects, in this painting called ‘The white pitcher’, of which there is a series, the viewer can see glasses, jugs and bottles on a simple perspective, the colours are kept cool and painted flat to give a harmonious feel to the painting.  I love the simplicity of the shapes and unfussy lines used by the artist, maybe due to the era this was also a reaction against the war, maybe the artist was trying to gain order in his work as the world destroyed itself?

 

I like all the three artists interpretations of still life and I am inspired by different aspects of each of the paintings, with Ozenfant,  love the pattern and the flatness of the painting, it’s neatness and pure line, with Cezanne his watercolour still life inspired me to challenge myself and try to add more to the backgrounds of my work to give more depth, in Matisse’s painting the idea of self promotion is just so witty that it’s something that I would be willing to try.

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography:

 

Nonhoff.N. (2005) Cezanne, Life & Work, Konemann

www.paintingall.com

www.tamsquare.net

www.1st-art-gallery.com

www.mattesonart.com

 

Research – Painting from observation – Two Painters and their use of colour (Freud and Kandinsky)

Lucian Freud & Vasily Kandinsky – Looking at colour

The two painters that I have chosen to write about are Lucian Freud and Vasily Kandinsky.  I find both these artists work inspirational and on viewing an exhibition of Freud’s work as a young child in the early 1970’s I knew I had to paint and paint people.  Both painters but especially Freud have been influential to my work over the years, although I love Kandinsky’s work and can sit for hours viewing it, his style is very alien to the way I work naturally however this doesn’t mean I don’t wish I had his inspiration and talent and sometimes would dearly love to be as ‘free’ with colour, composition and style as he was.  

The two artists had very different informative years and upbringing, Lucian Freud was born in December 1922 in Berlin and was the second son of Ernst Freud. Ernst was the son of the revered Sigmund Freud the renowned psychoanalysis.  He grew up within a close family unit in an affluent area of Berlin and he is quoted as saying when asked about his famous lineage;

‘You know how laughter often seals your memory of someone? Well he made me laugh a lot’ (Smee, 2007.p9)

Freud had a very bohemian upbringing and schooling which suited his personality as from a young age he had ambition to become an artist and spent most of his childhood drawing unlike his brothers who were more conventional in their studies.  His grandfather Sigmund used to visit the family from time to time and bring Lucian prints by Durer, Brueghel and other prominent artists. 

Kandinsky in contrast didn’t decide to become an artist until aged thirty in 1896, although similar to Freud he also had a privileged upbringing his Father was a successful tea merchant and was able to pay for private schooling for his son. Kandinsky was highly intelligent and studied to become a lawyer and took a position of Professor at Moscow University where he taught until he suddenly decided his vocation should be that of an artist after seeing an exhibition by Monet in 1895, he particularly was influenced by Monet’s haystack pictures, Kandinsky felt the paintings weren’t just representations of Haystacks they spoke of light and colour,

‘I had the feeling that the subject of the picture was in sense the painting itself…and I wondered if one couldn’t go much further along the same route’ www.encyclopedia.com

His dramatic change in vocation was going to be a complete contrast to the lifestyle that he already knew,

‘He never acted the part of the Bohemian, always cutting a dash with his dapper appearance and smart suits’ Keevill (2005, p.10)

One of the most influential people in Freud’s career was Cedric Morris who along with fellow artist Arthur Lett-Haines ran the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing.  Freud enrolled at the school aged sixteen after failing to find inspiration at the Central Arts and Crafts School in Holborn.  He painted Morris on several occasions one of the more famous portraits is in Tate Britain.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freud has used a very green tone on the skin of Morris which makes Morris’s complexion look almost sallow; when you look at Freud’s later work he still uses the green tone in the skin tones of his models, although not in such a bold way, it is more subtle in later work, the use of this green tone I feel makes his work instantly recognisable. The cool colours used in the Cedric Morris portrait in the background help the sitter who is positioned very centrally in the picture to stand out in his pink/red shirt. Although it doesn’t show well in this reproduction of the painting, Freud has used the same green tone directly behind the sitter on the floor as he has in areas of the face.  The blue roll neck jumper worn underneath the shirt links all the areas of cool blues together, if the jumper wasn’t there I don’t think the painting would work as well; it gives cohesion to the overall colour composition.  Freud acknowledged Morris as his mentor and stated,

‘When I was sixteen I went to Cedric Morris’s art school…Cedric taught me to paint and more important to keep at it…He did not say much, but let me watch him work, I have always admired his paintings and everything about him’ (www.tate.org.uk)

Freud’s work over the years has developed but his main focus throughout has been people and animals.  His concentration and desire to paint the people he loved, from his wives, his children, Grandchildren to his beloved whippet Pluto, show a desire to produce paintings that demonstrate his impulse, he is quoted as describing his work as,

‘Autobiographical …it’s all to do with hope and memory and sensuality and involvement really’. (Smee, 2007.p23)

In my eyes all his portraits are a triumph.  Smee (2007) states, ‘Freud preferred the literal to the abstract’ (p.14). Maybe this is why I have always been drawn to Freud’s work as I too prefer to paint ‘literally’ rather than abstractly or from my imagination.  However I do feel inspired when viewing abstract work of other artists, I think this may be my love of pattern, this could be why I like Kandinsky’s work so much as he uses geometric pattern a lot in his work. 

One of my favourite Kandinsky paintings is Women in Crinolines, painted in 1909.

The women have been painted without much detail other than their outline, the use of colour is fantastic and you can see the influence that Kandinsky’s recent exposure to Fauvism has had on his work.  He uses a limited palette, a mixture of cool and warm colours but takes the tonal values of the colours to their maximum, his brush strokes, although it can’t be seen on this flat image are not consistent throughout the painting, which gives it a certain energy, your eye just darts in and out of the painting all the time.  I feel that some of the women in the painting actually look like pieces of topiary in the garden where the painting is set. Although this replication of the painting makes it seem like there is black in certain areas there isn’t its actually very dark blue.  The painting is set in a garden in the Bavarian Alps, at the time Kandinsky was part of the formation of a new group of artists called the ‘New Society of Munich Artists’, Kandinsky not only surrounded himself with not only fellow artists but with dancers, musicians and art historians, it is suggested that he felt it would give him a more rounded view of art and culture.  Kandinsky was living in Munich at this time which at the time was one of the major artistic centres of Europe.

Both artists had a determination and drive to create and perfect their art, Gowing (1982) describes Freud’s determination with his painting as ‘Painting has for him the character of his appetite…sharp eyed appreciation which is also a kind of possessiveness’. What Gowing is saying is true, it has been documented that Freud never had a day off; he painted every day including Christmas Day, his determination and drive to achieve and his love for painting stayed with him throughout his career.  Paul Klee one of Kandinsky’s fellow students at Munich Academy stated of his friend that,

‘He used to mix his colours on his palette with the greatest diligence and scholarliness’ www.encyclopedia.com

Klee joked that he was so fastidious that Kandinsky could have painted in evening dress, not your typical Bohemian artist.

One of my favourite paintings by Freud as I have many, which shows his sensitivity and use of colour, is in a private collection but can be seen in reprints of Freud’s work within books.  The portrait is called, Sleeping Nude and was painted in 1950, it depicts a young woman reclining on a bed half covered by a blanket, and within the background you can see a fireplace and a wall which has a painted dado rail.  The background has been painted in tones of white to black; these tones have also been incorporated into the bed, mattress and blanket.  The woman has been painted so finely, her skins tone is almost like porcelain, which is accentuated by her flame red hair.  The grey tones are reflected on her left breast where there would be reflection from the mattress and also on parts of her torso.  The subtlety of Freud’s use of the grey cool tones is incredible and is balanced so well against the warmer skin tones and redness of the woman’s hair.  This painting was in the original exhibition that I was taken to see as a child and the image has stuck with me as even when I look at it today I still think it looks quite macabre but beautiful at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both the artists I have chosen represent to me how differently colour can be used to express your emotions onto a flat surface.  Freud’s literal interpretations of the people he loved still move me and inspires me to paint portraits and Kandinsky’s use of colour and shape also inspires the rest of my work.

 Bibliography:

Web pages:

www.encyclopedia.com

www.tate.org.uk

www.wasillykandinsky.net

Books:

Gowing.L. (1982) Lucian Freud, Thames & Hudson

Smee.S. (2007) Lucian Freud, Taschen

Keevill.E. (2005) Kandinsky, Star Fire

Research point: Raoul Dufy (1877 -1953)

I chose to research into a watercolour artist that I came across a few years ago for my research as his use of rich vibrant colours and his loose style of working is something that I like to look at but would find difficult to execute myself, I feel very inspired when looking at Dufy’s work and hope to try to emulate his style in some way during this course.

 Raoul Dufy (1877 – 1953)

 

Cogniat (1962) describes Dufy’s life as ‘the life of an ordinary man, although it was in fact the life of a great artist’. (p.6)  Cogniat also goes on to say that as an artist Dufy is described as being misunderstood and remembered for his character rather than his art.  As a recent admirer of Dufy’s work over the past few years his style to me is both refined and simplistic, especially his drawings and watercolour paintings which show an artist with incredible vision and an understanding of form and line.

His drawings in Indian ink are detailed, evocative and romantic and take the viewer on a journey into each compositional scene and out again with ease.  Dufy’s portrait of an Italian woman is a particular favourite it’s drawn in Indian ink and has very few lines, however the patterned details he has incorporated on the woman’s head-dress is enough to speak to the viewer and allow them to visualise all sorts of colours and details in their own mind. On looking at this drawing I can see the woman’s olive Mediterranean skin glowing in the height of the bright Sicilian day, her head dress a vibrant twist of Bougainvillea purple and yellow, complementing the plants clinging to the stone walls of the village, I love it.

Raoul Dufy was born in 1877 in Le Havre and was one of nine children.  All nine children were reported to be musical and artistic, some becoming musicians and Jean became an artist alongside his brother Raoul.  Dufy’s parental home was poor and by the age of fourteen Dufy was working for a Swiss coffee importer to bring money into the family home.  Dufy took art courses at the local municipal college of arts where he met another young artist called Othon Friesz, they became good friends and rented a room together and used it as a studio.   In 1900 after Dufy had completed his Military service he gained a scholarship to study at Le Havre Municipality which enabled him to study in Paris at the studio of Bonnat.  Dufy found his time at the studio unconstructive and oppressive due to the sombre atmosphere and work that was being produced.  His love of light, colours and form was criticised within the studio and Dufy soon felt he would learn no more from being present.

Dufy spent many hours in Paris at Rue Laffitte where he viewed many works of art by artists such as Monet, Cezanne, Gauguin and Van Gogh.  He was excited by the works that he saw and found them a lot more accessible than the works he had viewed in La Louvre.   In 1905 whilst still in Paris, Berthe Weil an artist who encouraged and accepted works by young artists who were breaking away from tradition, invited Dufy to her studio in Rue Victor Masse and asked him to participate in a collective exhibition.  Dufy’s first solo exhibition was shown the year after in 1906 at the same studio. 

By 1909 Dufy’s dealer Blot abandoned him due to Dufy’s refusal to use less colour and to pay less attention to form within his work, the consequence of losing his dealer was materially very damaging however the following year 1910 in Orgeville, whilst staying at a large mansion used by other artists, Dufy produced the woodcuts for the illustrations of the Bestiaire by Guillaume Apollinaire, this work is now considered to be a collectors piece.  Paul Poiret a fashion designer who was interested in woodcuts being used in the printing of fabrics approached Dufy at this time and asked him to revive this style of printing and gave him 2500 Francs to do so.  With this amount of money Dufy was able to open a studio in Avenue de Clichy in 1911.

Dufy’s interest in the woodcut technique allowed his ‘passionate research on the technique emphasising colour through light’. (Cogniat; p.19)  During the next twenty years Dufy travelled extensively to venues throughout Europe; Venice, Rome, Florence and Morocco.  By 1936 he had travelled to the United States and was asked to be a member of the Jury for the Carnegie Prize for that year.  In 1937 he created the largest painted mural in the world for the Electricity Pavilion in the Paris International Exhibition. 

Towards the later part of his life, Dufy suffered ill-health and found it difficult to paint due to Rheumatic pains.  He sort cures from many institutions throughout Europe and the United States, however returning to his Native France in 1952 to Forcalquier as he felt the climate allowed him to paint as it was a drier atmosphere, unfortunately only a year later he died from a heart attack.

His work in his early years was very important; it was full of vitality, freshness and inspiration gathered from nature and his surroundings.

“He also loved the sea, which formed his daily horizon, but not as a boundless desert and rough surface for him, the sea was just as crowded as the country with shells and mermaids, small boats and big ships, flags and great sources of light”.        Cogniat (1962), p.36

His discovery later in his career of the works of Cezanne and in the lessons of Fauvism were to inspire freedom, invention and vitality into his work which gave his paintings a real personality and shaped Dufy’s work as being instantly recognisable, full of colour, passion, pattern and style his work brings today pleasure to many and hopefully a little less severely criticised and doubted.

Some of my favourite watercolours by Dufy are as follows:

The Coronation of King George VI, 1937.  This painting shows the Golden Coach in a procession down the Mall in London, the streets are lined with crowds and guards, uniformly drawn by Dufy to give the impression of their dress uniforms.  The pen and ink drawings in the background have been painted over using watercolours to show the flying standard and the Flag of St. George which incorporates the Union Jack.  His technique of using mixed media is something I really want to try as I love architecture and would like to incorporate colour into my work by using watercolours.  This scene is so evocative of what we see today transmitted into our own living rooms of the pageantry involved with our state occasions.  www.tigtail.org

 

 

 

The Celebration of Electricity, 1937. This is the large painted mural that Dufy painted for the Paris International Exhibition. Its ground is blue and shows how Dufy has used masking fluid or some other form of resistance medium to draw turbines etc. as though the centre of the painting is a ‘blue print’ to the creation of electricity.  Within the painting at either side there are portraits of the Electricity pioneers, including Faraday and Ampiere. I hope to see this painting in Paris this winter as it is held there at the Museum of Modern Art.

http://cache.boston.com

 

 

 

 

 

The Quintet with the Red Cello, 1948.  This painting depicts a performance being given in a theatre by a string quintet, Dufy’s use of a colour wash over the audience shows that the auditorium was darker than the stage where lights were shone on the players. Also the grey pallor of the audience’s faces also describes to the viewer that the audience is in darkness.  Dufy’s use of Indian ink drawing to describe the stage and his use of a limited palette, allows the vibrancy of the red cello to shine.  I like the clever use of washes which are placed onto the paper in various angles to give movement and depth to the stage and theatre.  He has used gouache to place highlights onto the collars of some audience members and also to highlight the sheet music on the stage.

 www.photo.auction.fr

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography:

Cogniat .R (1962) Raoul Dufy, Crown Publishers, New York

Werner .A (1953) Dufy, Abrams, New York