Andrey Grebenetsky-POV Paper
Art is the ultimate form of self-expression. It exists in several forms such as sculpture, theatre, music, and painting. For many, it provides a means to achieve what Maslow believed to be the highest human need, self-actualization. A skilled artist can depict and immortalize his or her feelings, what they stand for, major events, or even market something to the public. They may pass on, but their art, their calling remains, whether embedded in stone, on canvas or paper, or on film.
Water is the basic building block of life. In its liquid form, it is at the same time majestic as an ocean, conforming to a container, life-giving biologically, and life-taking ironically. Its flow serves as the thesis of microphysics and is extraordinarily difficult to recreate in the virtual reality of a video game. Needless to say, with water’s status as a vital force, artists have had no choice but to undertake the tall task of depicting water on canvas. Their methods are purely individual and bear results that are dramatically unique. We will be comparing two select works of art that are dominated by water, one by Joseph M.W Turner, and one by Claude Monet.
J.M.W Turner’s 1805 masterpiece, Shipwreck, is a stunning display of the otherworldliness of water. It depicts how something most view as calm and tranquil can claim countless lives during storms at sea. As the title implies, the painting depicts several ships being overtaken by the tempest. The first aspect of this marvel that comes to mind is extraordinary realism. It is a nearly photographical account of an event. Immediately, the viewer cannot help but to believe in the painting and feel empathy for the people doomed to perish. It could serve as a prime example of dire straits. Fascinated by the sublime force of the sea, Turner placed humans to dramatize their susceptibility of humanity to the natural world.
The water is the essence of The Shipwreck, and its grandeur is beautifully rendered. Commonly known as “The Painter Of Light,” (National Gallery) Turner decided to challenge himself with a morning storm. That concept forced him to use a greater variety of colors for the water, yielding extremely fine detail. The darker depths of water, the lighter waves, and the white foam on top of the waves is beautifully rendered. Somewhat resembling flash photography, the morning sun creeps through the storm clouds, illuminating the water and ships. At the same time, the light allows for a stronger, more personal visual account of the damage done. It appears to be the instant before the end, as the largest ship has toppled over, causing a wave that will momentarily engulf the remaining ships.
This and many other Turner paintings served as a source of study and inspiration for Claude Monet when he visited England in 1870, nineteen years after Turner’s death.(Pioch) In 1872/1873, Monet released his magnum opus, Impression, Sunrise. It was in reviewing this epochal painting that art critic Louis Leroy coined the term “Impressionism.”(Art Picture)
Monet depicted a calm sunrise at sea, definitely not sharing Turner’s zeal for the extremes of nature, but sharing his zeal for landscaping or in this case, “seascaping.” The visibility of a body of land in the background serves to illustrate tranquility and safety. The first major characteristic of impressionist painting is the presence of visual brush strokes, and Monet masterfully executed this technique. Unlike The Shipwreck, which lacks visible brushstrokes, Impression, Sunrise is built with them like a bridge made out of popsicle sticks and toothpicks. The sun reflecting off of the water is done with a linear series of parallel orange brush strokes, almost comical in simplicity, yet stunning in appearance. Small waves in the foreground are illustrated with dark blue brush stokes contrasting from the lighter sea, heavily dissenting from Turner in that the contrasting colors were the opposite for his waves.
Another aspect of Impressionist painting was the use of ordinary subject matter and the inclusion of movement. In stunning simplicity, a single boat is left for the mid-background of the painting and requires only a smudge of ink. However, a person is seen standing in the boat and rowing. Larger, more complex ships are anchored nearer to the landmass and Monet beautifully uses the illusion of a slight fog overlapping the ships to make them opaquely visible. Movement is included with the smoke blowing from the exhausts of the ship’s engines.
The last aspect of Impressionism is the use of unusual visual angles. Monet takes a high altitude viewpoint even though the point of view of the painting is at sea. That implies that Monet or the viewer is either a higher figure looking down or on top of a tall mast of a ship. I lean towards the higher power because the viewpoint is on the same level of the sun. A modern viewer could imagine that he was parasailing off of the small boat.
Overall, Turner and Monet both produced dazzling yet fundamentally different works of art and depictions of water. Which is better is highly subjective and it is safe to say that depicting water is extremely difficult to do and completely up to the artist. There are many ways to portray it, as frightening, as calm, as blue, as orange, as realistic, or as impressionistic. In the end, Monet was influenced by Turner and created his own distinct style, and that is the beauty of art.
Works Cited:
The National Gallery. “TURNER, Joseph Mallord William” (no author credited) http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/artistBiography?artistID=702
Pioch Nicolas. “Monet, Claude.” WebMuseum, Paris 19 September 2002 http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/monet/
Art In The Picture , Impressionism – Overview 2008 (no author credited) http://www.artinthepicture.com/styles/Impressionism/
Turner, J.M.W “Shipwreck of the Minotaur,” 1805 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Shipwreck_turner.jpg
Monet, Claude “Impression, Sunrise” 1872/1873 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Claude_Monet,_Impression,_soleil_levant,_1872.jpg
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