Edouard Vuillard’s painting titled The Dressmakers Under the Lamp was executed between 1891 and 1892. He used oil on cardboard for the small finished piece sized approximately 9 x 10 inches. Vuillard was known for painting subjects in intimate settings therefore earning the style title of “intimist”. The scene depicted in this painting was of Madame Vuillard and Edouard’s sister doing their jobs as seamstresses under the glowing light in the Vuillard’s tiny apartment that doubled as a dressmaker’s salon. The dark brown and blackened background is subordinated by the warm golden glow of the kerosene lamp that is shared by the two weary women.
She is in front of a dark blue background, and the picture plane is level with the observer. Picasso has used large rough brush stokes to create the background using various shades of blue and green. He has used smaller, more accurate brush strokes for the girl. The painting is relatively dark with sharp contrasts created by the light source, which appears to be shining up from the bottom left hand corner of the painting. The effect is as though the girl radiates light; the highlights are picked up on the side of her face, her shoulder, her breast and the folds and creases of her dress.
Man Ray created this image in his studio in Paris. For this image, the girl is laying on a wooden box with her head bent backwards. The scene was entirely constructed, to make a sense of tension and ghostliness, even including livelihood and sombreness. The focus of the image is mainly of her torso, hair and shoulders. The lighting which was used included: a full studio light from the right side and a soft studio light on the left that also spills on the backdrop.
Having all of these elements come together to make this wonderful master piece of two misunderstood characters battling it out with each other, physically and mentally. I will first discuss the setting of the scene with you. This whole scene takes place in Gotham’s eery jail integration room. The setting sets the mood right off the bat because it is a dingy, grimy, and isolated room. The room almost seems like a wider hall way, while the white brick walls surround the room, leaving a two way mirror along one wall.
These scenes are guided by stage directions which is the principle technique Arthur Miller has used. “A small upper bedroom…”, “A candle still burns near the bed, which is at the right. A chest, a chair, and a small table are the other furnishings…”, “His daughter, Betty Parris, aged ten, is lying on the bed, inert.” As we can see, the stage directions given in the first page of Act one has provided the ‘space’ which refers to the small bedroom, following by the dark scene which refers to the candle. The small space and the darkness being glowed by only one candle, creates a very tense scene where tension is created by the situation of the presenting character. The description of furnish inside the bedroom thrusts the idea of small space which creates a claustrophobic set that charges the audience with tension, not to mention the energy of the feelings and emotion created by observing a young little girl laying inert on her bed.
Fascinating art of Gauguin (1891) One of the most fascinating pieces from the Metropolitan Art Museum’s European collection is Paul Gauguin’s Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary), (1891). Inspired by Polynesian religious beliefs, this oil on canvas painting depicts the virgin mother and blessed child standing in the gardens of a tropical setting, with two women nudes draped in pareus tied around their waist, this was a common Polynesian dress of its time. There is a yellow winged angel in the background pictured from a rear view. What are interesting about this piece is the subjects, the principal subjects are Mary and the God Child, and however they stand to the left of the painting rather than being the center of the painting with all lines coming to a point on them. In the background are two women hands placed together in a prayer type posture nude from the waist up and centered in the canvas.
Marriage of Giovanni Arnofini was a Renaissance oil-painting masterfully painted by Jan van Eyck to depict the marriage between Italian businessman Arnofini and Jeanne de Chenany. The artist’s material practices have flawlessly captured the moment of this incidence with mirror-like realism. However, it’s the symbols that are used in its conceptual practices that gives meaning and delivers messages subtlety in pure visual form. Many ordinary objects found indoor that appears on the painting are not just for ornamental purposes, rather, they give layers of meaning to the marriage scene depicted and also provide cultural and historical background to when the painting was painted. A mirror has been prominently positioned in the upper middle part of the picture plane.
Compare and contrast Cézanne’s Bathers (Plate 1.3.4) with Correggio’s Leda with the Swan (Plate 1.3.8) When I look at Cézanne’s Bathers and Correggio’s Leda with the Swan one of the first things that hits me is the delineation, which is ‘the representation of shapes and means by drawing’ (Harrison, 2008. P64) Correggio’s painting shows much more detail then Cézanne’s and can be seen by looking at how the figures are painted. Correggio shows the facial expression on each character along with life like bodies as shown in their nudity, which is something Cézanne’s painting shows, as apart from the outline of the person being visible the only real detail given to the Bathers is on their breasts. Looking at Correggio’s painting you can get the feeling of actually being there at the same time as Leda, such is the delineation of the picture. By looking at its picture plane you can imagine the woodland setting carrying on outside the frame with the swan flying off into the distance.
All of her paintings were from personal experiences such as her marriage, miscarriages and her numerous operations. Out of Kahlo’s 143 paintings 55 are self portraits. Over her bed was a mirror so she could see herself and this was how she produced the self portraits. I admire the way which she paints her portraits as she never tries to beautify herself as many would, in fact she seems to make herself appear uglier. ‘They thought I was a surrealist, but I wasn’t, I never painted my dreams, I painted my reality’.
Beauty in the “ Chrysanthemum” and “Allal” In the Chrysanthemum by John Steinbeck the main character Elisa is a women that is being held down in her house and uses the flower to show her true passion. In the story Allal by Paul Bowles, Allal is the main character that is being out casted, therefore uses the snake to show is inner strength. In both the stories both of the character are being treated like non-humans with no right. The snake in Allal and the flower in the Chrysanthemum both symbolize beauty that reflects in the characters. Allal is a man that was being discriminated against, his mother was the main reason for this.