The Gross Clinic, or, The Clinic of Dr. Gross, is an 1875 painting by American artist Thomas Eakins. The medium is oil on canvas and the piece measures 8 feet by 6.5 feet. The picture captures Dr. Samuel D. Gross, a seventy-year-old professor dressed in a black frock coat, lecturing a group of Jefferson Medical College students. The atmosphere of the piece is dark and disturbing, yet in a very philosophical manner. A surgery is being performed by several practitioners all at one time. The body that lies upon the operating table is indistinguishable; it is impossible to tell both the gender of the patient and what part of the body the surgery is being performed on. But it is also this ambiguity that captures one’s attention. The body lies …show more content…
Even the faces of the men in the foreground appear to be wax like and flat. One of the least successful faces in the piece is that of the practitioner who is in the lower right corner of the piece, closest to the bottom edge. His face only contains three distinct values of skin tone, which makes his face appear one dimensional and lifeless. Furthermore, his left hand seems to be awkwardly placed and disproportionate in its length in comparison to the dimensions of his face. While his left hand flows somewhat with his body and reflects the style of the rest of the piece, his right hand, which is much lighter in color as if it somehow managed to catch all the light from an unknown light source, shows no consistency with the artist’s technique. It is bulky and out of place. The way it grasps the surgical instrument seems very unnatural. In fact, the only purpose the hand serves in this piece is to connect this man to the scene itself as an extension of this triangular composition. In this sense this figure is important, for his disproportionate body catches the viewers eye at the very edge of the painting, just as his or her attention is about to waive, and shoots it back into the main composition.
The professor himself may be the most brilliant and captivating aspect of the painting. His gaze is piercing and the details of his features are very pronounced and picturesque. Upon looking at his face, one can see that his intellect is unquestionable, for his brow bends in a very discerning manner. The curls of his hair have the perfect amount of detail and his suit the perfect mount of folds. He is arguably the centerpiece of the painting with his respectable stature which conveys control and wisdom (with perhaps a hint of well-deserved
The black background contrast with the predominate colors of blue and red gives these colors intensity. The red and green are complementary colors that give the painting visual appeal. The green juxtapose above the blue and red gives the artwork color balance as well as implies a triangular shape. The triangular shape and pattern is repeated throughout the painting by; the bend of the flute player's elbow, the head and shoulders of the guitar player, the head and shoulders of the lady whose back is to the viewer, the body of the guitars and the location of the three right-most musicians
This painting is set within what seems to be the nineteenth century. One can infer this information based on the clothing, furniture, and architectural styles prevalent in the picture. The main figure that is central in the piece, the older man, fits the role of what appears to be a teaching position, where the boys that surround him are his students. The scene displayed here is one of an examination day. Each boy must t...
Even though it has eyes, a nose, and teeth, the painting gives us the illusion and feeling that the face is incomplete, and the bones are the coming through the surface from underneath. The head is filled with Basquiat’s graffiti, giving the impression there are figures and forms within the face, but when you look closer the face is just a lot of abstract lines and shapes. In his work you can see the anger and intense emotion he had from past experiences, this is what drove his art and reason why he was accepted in to the artworld and why his work is being displayed galleries across the
Dix’s chose to use oil paints on canvas when approaching this piece, which allowed him to explore a variety of techniques particularly apparent in the expression, style, color pallet, contrast and textures manipulated throughout the painting of Dr. Heinrich Stadelman. In the portrait Dix depicts a rather miserable looking old man. Dix paints Dr. Heinrich Stadelman’s body language and facial expression in an interestingly distinct manner. He greatly manipulates the painting in many ways in order to get it to come across so captivatingly.
... 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.
As far as the human body is on the real and the anatomical features it fails to give an Idea of the human body in depth but an idea nonetheless. The painting in general is very proportional and in a way the people are proportional as a whole to the center; Jesus Christ. The main body part that seems to alwa...
The first thing to notice about this painting is how incredibly involved and realistic the brushwork is. The couple’s faces are so delicately rendered. Every wrinkle is visible and every hair strand is in it’s place. The soft folds and patterns of their clothing, and the grain of the vertical boards on the house, are highly developed and reveal Wood’s incredible attention to detail. The man, especially, appears to be nearly photorealistic.
White is especially arduous in this regard because, in the case of painting, it is usually the same color as the canvas. The primary media used in this piece is white paper, which on its own, when combined to form an image would make for a figure that is difficult to see. To offset this issue, Thigpen also utilizes the color black, and in doing so, the face is given features, such as facial lines, thick eyebrows, a goatee, as well as shadowing on the right cheek. In a portrait, it is essential that the viewer’s eyes are dragged to the subject of the piece, the individual portrayed, and therefore, it is crucial that the figure is viewable as well as clearly defined within the piece. At the same time, in the case of this piece, one is immediately drawn to the texture. When observing a regular portrait made from paints, it is easy to visualize the surface of the piece as smooth and flat. In Robert Simon, one can not help but assume that the surface is rugged and somewhat layered due to the many pieces of shredded
‘The representation of the human form likewise served to stress essential data about the subject. The shoulders are nearly in frontal view to show the width of the body and not obscure the far arm, while the chest was represented in profile to show its contour…....
images in this painting, all of which have the power to symbolize to us, the viewer, of the painter’s
Light is used to make the face of the subject appear as if it is coming out from the shadows. Space is used in the same manner but using darkness. The dark space allows us to focus only on the face. Nothing else will distract us from the face that emerges from the dark space. Color is used rather sparingly. The only interesting use of color is the red used in the head piece. Again this appears to draw attention to the fact that a big wrap is needed to protect and cover a big brain which houses immense intelligence. The face in the portrait is considered an organic shape as it appears natural in
This painting by Vincent Van Gogh is on display at the Art Institute of Chicago Museum, in the Impressionism exhibit. There are many things going on in this painting that catch the viewer’s eye. The first is the piece’s vibrant colors, light blues and browns, bright greens, and more. The brush strokes that are very visible and can easily be identified as very thick some might even say bold. The furniture, the objects, and the setting are easy to identify and are proportioned to each other. There is so much to see in this piece to attempt to explain in only a few simple sentences.
In the painting Albright took a literal approach, in the rendering of the shapes he used throughout the canvas. This gives the viewer a realistic perception of what the artist was studying. Because, Albright painted this in a realism fashion he must have an adequate knowledge of the antimony of the human form as well as how the muscles would react to the pose he has chosen for his model. Since this is in fact a piece done by Albright some abnormalities can be founds. The most noticeable irregularity is how the artist betrayed the light source. When you first examine the painting your eye is instantly drawn to the man’s face, than the eyes move down the canvas with the left arm acting as a guide. From there your eyes move down to the man’s legs and feet, after that your eye will move around the wheel back to the face.
...tal aspects to understand who the female subject is. Miller doesn’t used repetition; in fact, he doesn't use geometric or organic shapes at all. The lack of the use of shapes and repetition mimics the way a woman would put on makeup. Typically, makeup isn’t put on in perfect shapes, much less organically shaped patterns. The impressionist style reflects the message of this painting more accurately than a more classical style, like Cenni’s, could.
This sculpture seems to epitomize the ideal male human form. All of the body parts seem perfectly proportioned and the muscles are beautifully defined as if the image were of an athlete. The image is youthful with a calm demeanor. The right missing forearm looks as if it used to be resting at his side, while the left elbow was probably at a 90 degree angle, with the hand holding something. The slight bend in the left leg gives the impression of movement, as if the image was frozen while walking. The counterpoised stance adds an air of nobility to the "man".