General Information: Hard Sweetness, from the Stroke series by Joan Snyder was made in 1971. Its medium is oil, acrylic, and enamel on canvas

Hard Sweetness is one of Joan Snyder’s Stroke paintings in which personal and political struggles and decisions are registered. Snyder began making art in the late 1960s, a time when men dominated the art world. Her soft stains, light strokes, and light colors give this painting a feminine touch. However, when looked at as a whole, it gives more of a masculine look because of the way it’s put together with thicker strokes as your eye progresses from the center outwards. The idea behind this painting is that it does not matter whether the artist is male or female; art is art and is beautiful either way. The medium used in this painting is oil, acrylic, and enamel on a white canvas. The bold, white canvas is supposed to show the masculine side of the painting and the oil, acrylic, and enamel used adds the feminine touch. The oil and enamel almost make the painting flow and help your eyes move around, enabling you to take out the deeper meaning behind this painting.

The description said, “Snyder blurs the distinction between the senses of sight, taste and perhaps even sound and smell.” The random strokes and patterns on this painting do not appeal to one sense. They blur the distinction between them because this painting is not about what appeals to you or what it makes you feel; it is a strong statement made by the artist. She uses art as an intermediary to convey her opinion on feminism and expressionism. The art world was dominated by men, but why? Females also had the same capability and talent of making eye-catching and heart-touching art. They should also have a right to expressionism through their art. She wanted to show the world that females are talented artists through a work of art, and that is what I love most about this painting.

The medium plays a key role in portraying the message to the viewer. As I stated before, the canvas creates a masculine side to this painting while the materials used on the canvas such as the oil and enamel add the feminine side. When these two come together, they create the beautiful artwork that we see. This artwork distinctly catches the attention of the viewer, but as the viewer’s eye moves around, they realize that this painting is not merely for attraction; it holds a deeper meaning. Without the feminine and masculine side of this painting, the painting wouldn’t be as beautiful as it is at the moment, just like without male and female artists, art won’t be as beautiful.