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Describing, analyzing, interpreting, deciding Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Describing, analyzing, interpreting, deciding Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Describing, analyzing, interpreting, deciding Pierre-Auguste Renoir
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For this assignment, I chose to look at “Luncheon of the Boating Party” by Auguste Renoir. I had never seen this painting before, so I thought it would be good to do my formal analysis on it. I think the subject of this painting is friendship as well as relationships. It looks like it is meant to be a realistic painting, and I think it does a good job of showing that. Luncheon of the Boating Party is a two dimensional oil painting. The first time I looked at it, I immediately saw the vertical lines in the back of the tent. Upon further inspection , I was able to the strong horizontal lines in the picture. A few examples of these are the lines on the tent material, the lines of the table, and the line of the railing that the lady in the back
Carol Armstrong begins her essay by pointing out the two main points that come about when discussing A Bar at the Folies-Bergere. These two points are the social context of the painting and its representation of 19th century Paris, and the internal structure of the painting itself with the use of space. She then goes on and addresses what she will be analyzing throughout her essay. She focuses on three main points, the still life of the counter and its commodities, the mirror and its “paintedness”, and the barmaid and her “infra-thin hinge” between the countertop and the mirror.
The texture of the paint is smooth and flows very nicely the paintings composition is primarily bundled into the bottom right half of the image. The wings and legs of the animals as well as and table help form an invisible sloping line across the painting.
The view of the painting brings to mind the all the senses. Smell is the first to come to mind as the smoke from the candle billows up, the burning smell reaches the noise as well as the burning cigar. The fruity smell overshadows that of the smell of chicken and peas. The noise of a dropped tray and the breaking of glass as it hits the floor makes everyone turn to the right. People talking over each other to be heard. All of the senses are realized as the painting is viewed.
My initial thought about this painting is that it seems to be incorrect. The reflection in the mirror shows that the lady is looking in the direction of the man standing in front of her. If the lady is looking at the man their reflections should not be off to the side. The second observation is the lady is sad or disappointed and is looking past the man standing in front of her. My last observation is there are three sections from left to right; bottles and the audience, the lady, and the reflections of the lady and man. The most interesting concept about this artwork is how the reflections seem to be inaccurate. If the bottles and the reflections of the lady and the man standing in front of her are at an angle, then why are the vertical lines perpendicular to each other?
The centre of the piece is the handshake, this handshake represents a lot. The handshake not only being the centre piece of the painting but also is the subject, The Conciliation, this handshake symbolizes
The visual elements in this painting are shape, color and light. The shapes and contours of the mother and child are life like.
... study for the overall concept they appear rather as abstract patterns. The shadows of the figures were very carefully modeled. The light- dark contrasts of the shadows make them seem actually real. The spatial quality is only established through the relations between the sizes of the objects. The painting is not based on a geometrical, box like space. The perspective centre is on the right, despite the fact that the composition is laid in rows parallel to the picture frame. At the same time a paradoxical foreshortening from right to left is evident. The girl fishing with the orange dress and her mother are on the same level, that is, actually at equal distance. In its spatial contruction, the painting is also a successful construction, the groups of people sitting in the shade, and who should really be seen from above, are all shown directly from the side. The ideal eye level would actually be on different horizontal lines; first at head height of the standing figures, then of those seated. Seurats methods of combing observations which he collected over two years, corresponds, in its self invented techniques, to a modern lifelike painting rather than an academic history painting.
When you put all these aspects put together with my interpretation of what is happening in the painting, a sense of calmness and security was constructed for me. No matter what this couple may be going through at the end of the day they still lean on each other for support. The complementary colors symbolized a sensation of strength between them, the balance of the composition created a stability characteristic, and the smooth and fluid brush strokes created a tranquil energy between the
The benefits of this communication are varied perspectives influenced by one’s social class, gender, age and moral values. Within the painting all in attendance are from the same social class as shown by their clothes and hair styles. Both men and women are present ranging in age from the older gentleman on the right to the young girl. Most importantly, their facial expressions depict their varying reaction to an ethical issue. The young girl and her crying mother are the most illuminated in the entire painting representing their level of
The painting was deemed scandalous and inappropriate by the people of the mid-1800’s. In more ways than one the painting disregarded society’s standards of the time. The painting depicts two women and two men having a picnic together in a nature setting. Upon hearing this description one might envision a peaceful, harmless illustration and thus wonder why it may be hard to imagine this painting as upsetting. The two men in the painting were fully clothed in modern clothing of the time period, while one woman was completely nude and the other was in her undergarments. By juxtaposing the fully clothed men with the naked women, Manet challenged “Academy Standards” of French painters of the time. According to the “Academy Standard” nudity was supposed to be reserved for religious, mythological or classical characters, and the women in Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass were none of the above. In fact, the two women are suspected to be prostitutes, and the men, their customers. In illustrating the men with modern clothing, Manet’s image alluded to the subject of prostitution which was a very real issue at that time. Manet questioned the morality of society and the people by illustrating prostitution in such a real, modern way. This was a tremendous scandal because prostitution was not discussed and especially not illustrated on a large scale canvas, it was pushed under the rug and overlooked by society. The painting was highly criticized and rejected at first, but later became widely renowned. It paved the way for a new, modern artistic development. It shaped and reformed the idea of what was conventional for artists to paint and what was accepted, widening the freedom of creators, allowing them to illustrate real problems they saw in their
I will discuss Post Impressionism by using three works, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, Still Life with Basket of A...
Cassatt uses implied to create organic shapes such as the wide boat, and the oar the man is using. The dress the woman is wearing and the child’s attire are both covered in patterns of implied lines. Lines are implied where areas of color meet, such as the white border of the boat touching the blue water and the figures sitting on the yellow benches of the boat. Cassatt and Fragonard both used implied lines to draw the people, which create an implied mass of the figures; this in my eyes brings the people to life. The boat in Cassatt’s painting has an implied mass and this makes the viewer feel as if they can jump right into the boat; it gives the painting a sense of reality. Fragonard uses implied lines to draw all the bushes, trees and statues. We can also see implies lines in Fragonard painting where areas of color meet, for example as the man on the bottom left corner is laying on the green bush and also as the man in the back is blending in with the dark shadows of the
This painting consists of regular lines as well as implied lines. Some of the regular lines that have been included are flowing, curved lines, such as the Earth that the woman is sitting on top of. Additionally, the background is made of small scenes that have been outlined by a dotted line, which places emphasis on the scenes. Besides regular and visible lines, there are a few implied lines in this painting. For instance, the woman's eyes are looking forward, so there is an implied line to the audience. Additionally, another implied line would be the woman's right arm, which is pointed towards her headpiece, while her left arm is pointed towards the earth. Nonetheless, this painting is not intense; although it does have splashes of color, this painting does not have a bright saturation. Instead, this painting is slightly dull, which makes this painting appear vintage. Additionally, since this background is a dark color, it makes the rest of painting, especially the headpiece, stand out. Besides colors and lines, even though this is a painting and there is no physical texture, there is invented texture. Upon viewing this painting, underneath the earth where the woman is sitting on, there are roots as well as grass, which give texture and feeling to the painting. In the end, this painting consists of several elements of composition, which Heffernan has done a wonderful job
...hese repeated vertical lines contrast firmly with a horizontal line that divides the canvas almost exactly in half. The background, upper portion of the canvas, seems unchanging and flat, whereas the foreground and middle ground of the painting have a lot of depth to them.
The first painting analyzed was North Country Idyll by Arthur Bowen Davis. The focal point was the white naked woman. The white was used to bring her out and focus on the four actual colored males surrounding her. The woman appears to be blowing a kiss. There is use of stumato along with atmospheric perspective. There is excellent use of color for the setting. It is almost a life like painting. This painting has smooth brush strokes. The sailing ship is the focal point because of the bright blue with extravagant large sails. The painting is a dry textured flat paint. The painting is evenly balanced. When I look at this painting, it reminds me of settlers coming to a new world that is be founded by its beauty. It seems as if they swam from the ship.