Month: December 2015 (Page 1 of 2)

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes is a Spanish artist who was most prominent during the time of the Spanish Enlightenment, between the years 1759 to 1788, when Spain underwent extreme economic, industrial, and agricultural reform. This occurred during rule of Bourbon king Charles III, who began his reign by appointing radical-minded ministers with an aim of inducing change. Goya’s work can hardly be generalized due to the drastic differences within his own creation; however, there are stylistic tendencies of his art that makes it distinct. Most of Goya’s pieces include at least one person, and the style by which he depicts their face, specifically its micro-expressions and structure, is extremely detailed and effectively portrays symbolism throughout each piece.

“Porque esconderlos?”, translated into English as “Why hide them?”, clearly illustrates Goya’s revolutionary style of adding symbolism through detail in the faces of his artwork. “Porque esconderlos?”, currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is an etching, burning aquatint and drypoint that depicts an elderly man sorrowfully bent on his knees, surrounded by what seems to be a crowd of youthful aristocrats mocking him. The bent figure is desperately holding two bags filled with some sort of material, and one of the members of the crowd appears to be carrying an identical bag; beneath the scene is text that reads “Porque esconderlos?” Nonetheless, the most distinctive and attention-drawing aspect of the piece is the facials expressions of each character.

Concerning the face of the elderly man, its structure is quite hollowed, which is expressed through the shading and shadow play that Goya uses. The man’s cheeks and eyes are severely sunken in, and the wrinkles on his forehead and lips are dramatically darkened, while the top of his head is covered by some sort of garment, which covers his hair and adds to the man’s overall resemblance to a bare human skull. The faces of the crowd that surrounds him, however, reveal a completely opposite aesthetic to that of the elderly man. They do not possess as much detail nor as many markings around their eyes and on their cheeks, which depicts supple skin, indicating lack of aging or youth. Compared to the man, whose eyes are wide open, their eyes are squinted enough so that their irises and pupils cannot be seen, and they are curved into an arc similar to that of a rainbow, supplementing their smiles to convey feelings of joy and humor.

The piece can be interpreted as an impoverished man who discovers money that was purposefully hidden from him by a crowd of wealthy aristocrats who were meaning to ridicule his desperation. These circumstances are supported by the text of the piece, for out of disbelief and anguish the man may have been provoked to say “Porque esconderlos?” He may have been asking “why hide the money that I needed?”, “why hide something that could save my life?”. The symbolism behind the detail of the faces corresponds with this plausible interpretation as well. The skull-like design of the elderly man’s face alludes to both his past and previous suffering, as though his circumstances have brought him to the brink of death. The contrast between the appearance of the crowd and the man further illustrates the dissimilarities between them. The crowd appears youthful, with full faces, and shading by Goya portrays folds in their skin from excess fat, a sign of wealth and good health. The distinctions in appearance between the two focus points of the piece provide symbolism of their polarization in wealth, success, desperation and opportunity.

Goya’s symbolic detail in the facials expressions of his subjects extends beyond just “Porque esconderlos?”. “Las Viejas”, one of Goya’s paintings, depicts two women huddled together, with an angel prepared to strike them from behind. The woman to the left of the viewer is dressed in black, holding a piece of paper with text that reads “Que tal?” which translates into English as “What’s happening?”. The woman to the right of the viewer is dressed in pale colors, and is looking upon the same paper. Similarly to the elderly man, the woman dressed in black also shows facial detail that resembles a human skull, including sunken cheeks and protruding teeth. It appears as though she is a symbol of death, and possibly hell, and so the detail in her face supports this symbolism. As for the angel, his features are softened through a blurred appearance and subtle color scheme, demonstrating drastic contrast to the woman dressed in black. His appearance pertains closely to a general standard of beauty, as can be seen in the perfection of his facial proportions, and as a result, the angel evokes feelings of innocence and faultlessness. This develops symbolism behind the angel as a figure of justice and righteousness. The polarization of the characteristics within the faces of the woman dressed in black and the angel, like the elderly man and the crowd, augments their distance in purpose and ambition. “Las Viejas” and “Porque esconderlos?” are not the only examples of Goya’s art that serve as demonstrations of his symbolic detail, though they are model cases of this distinct design.

In most other examples of art during this period there is a clear effort to portray the subject as realistically as possible. However, Goya chooses to clarify the symbolism behind his pieces by dramatizing the faces within them. This technique adds a subtle abstract influence to his artwork, allowing the viewer to explore their own interpretation of his fluid expression, as well as adding emotional rhetoric behind his paintings. Goya’s later pieces are often considered pessimistic, as they are usually depicting gruesome scenes of violence, and so his style of adding meaningful detail in the faces of the people he depicts evolves his pieces into something multi-faceted. Goya’s novelty technique can be viewed as advancement from the rigid limitations of realism, and so his influence during the Spanish Enlightenment is considered rather revolutionary. Through his innovative stylistic tendencies and unique polish, such as the use of symbolic detail in the depiction of the facial expressions of his subjects, Goya adds dimension to his pieces that complement the aesthetic of his artwork with emotion and sensation.

Salvador Dali was one of the world’s quintessential surrealist painters. A fan of Sigmund Freud’s work in psychology, Dali sought to tap into the creativity of the unconscious. By doing so, Dali created fantastic and somewhat irrational works that still perplex audiences today. Illumined Pleasures, painted in 1929, is a forerunner for one of his more well known works, The Persistence of Memory. The earlier work is currently on display in the MoMA. It features a distortion of reality with very abstract subjects. In this work, Illumined Pleasures, Dali explores the complexity of the human psyche through his representation of faces, use of sinister content, and employment of mixed media and reveals the core of his humanist philosophy.

The acts depicted in Dali’s 1929 work are caricatures of humanity. Dali displays the malignant side of humanity through scenes of fighting, murder, and sex, as well as the benign side of humanity through scenes of conformity, resting, and questioning. The contrast between the content of each image explores the human capability to perform both atrocious evils and magnificent deeds. Dali places the benign scenes of humanity behind screens as if to suggest that in order to act in a peaceful manner, humans must cage their primal urges. The scenes of lust, violence, and murder on the other hand are uncontained, suggesting that acts of sin are natural. The middle and largest screen portrays Dali’s own decapitated head, alluding to the death of one’s person caused by rejecting the malignant parts of humanity.  This characterization of mankind reveals that Dali views man as a complex being capable of both evil and good; however, to limit himself to either extreme is to kill his own humanity. Considering that Dali himself was an atheist when he created this work, Dali could also be criticizing the Christian rejection of sin.

Three faces tower over all the scenes in the work: one of a man, one of a beast, and one of a beast-man. Being that Dali was largely influenced by Freud’s writings, the faces in the sky can represent the trifold nature of the human psyche—the ego, the super ego, and the id. The faces’ location above every scene, gives them a godly presence as if they control everything happening below them. Thus, Dali suggests that the balance between the three aspects of the human psyche govern the consequent scenes. The superego urges the conformity in the bottom right screen, the ego advocates the pursuit of knowledge in the bottom left screen, and the id creates the chaos in the unscreened scenes. These faces reveal that Dali was a humanist, rejecting God’s power over man and instead suggesting that man governed himself.

Dali relies on a heavily contrasting color scheme as well as strong shadows to highlight each individual scene within the chaotic whole of the work. The ground and sky of the painting are both painted in solid colors, free of any unnecessary scenery. In creating a simple portrayal of the earth, Dali draws focus to the screens that litter the landscape. Dali views the human condition as being contaminated by mental chaos. While man is surrounded by order in the world around him, his internal processes distort that reality into disorder. Overall, the colors are uniform across the canvas; however, dark shadows behind the screens further draw attention to the depictions within their frames. Additionally, an unidentified person’s shadow lays present in the foreground of the work, presumably that of the viewer. By painting the viewer into the scene, Dali wanted the audience to experience the chaos of the scene on a more personal level. Rather than looking at an arbitrary collection of images, the viewer relates the content of the work to his own inner thoughts and psyche.

Dali’s use of a small canvas and mixed media mirrors the complex nature of the human psyche. The painting itself is a small work roughly one square foot in dimension. The miniature size of the canvas makes it difficult to understand what is going on in the hectic work. As a result of this compression, the canvas forces the viewer to come close in order to examine the painting and, as such, quite literally draws him into the scene. The work relies on oil paints as well as collage in order to create its scene. The contrast between these two mediums is immediately evident. The collage stands out against the paint surrounding it, distinguishing the screens from the natural background. This contrast gives the screens a more movie-like feel, distinguishing what humanity strives to be like from what it really is. Dali has a depressed outlook on mankind—no matter who a man thinks he is, he will always be a lustful and sinful murderer.

Overall, Dali’s Illumined Pleasures, explores the Freudian ideas on the workings of human consciousness. For Dali, being human is not about stifling the primitivity of the id as social norms and institutions dictate, but rather finding a humanist balance to live a more genuine version of oneself. A person living a fulfilled life is not just ruled by a superego. He has found the balance between the id and superego and, as such, becomes an autonomous individual ruled not by the world, nor by God, but by his own mental processes. Ultimately, the work leaves the viewer wondering: Can man contain his primal instincts or will doing so be suicide? In Dali’s case, the artist’s head is still rolling.

On display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is a portrait painting by the name “James-Jacques-Joseph Tissot”, a work by the renowned French artist, Edgar Degas. The large, approximately 59 by 44 inch painting, was completed circa 1867-1868 in Paris, France. The painting is a portrait of Degas’s friend and mentor, James Tissot, who himself was a French painter and illustrator. He sits in a room among a few different canvas paintings. Though the portrait- through the subject’s casual pose and through the seemingly haphazardly scattered objects- may, at first glance, give the impression of comfort and ease, I believe that, on the contrary, Degas uses a very exacting and calculated creative drawing structure to hint at portray a very precise message. Through this precision, Edgar delivers a message to the portrait’s audience, urging them to continue advancing the methods of art, thus passing on the responsibility of contributing to the art world.

What immediately attracts the eye is the subject of the painting, James Tissot. Upon first perusal, Tissot seems to be relaxed, casual, and even a bit unconcerned! His every-day outfit, reclined, comfortable position, and the jacket and hat propped hastily on the table, suggest true informality. However, this is not the case. In fact, with closer attention to detail, it is evident how Degas strategically orientated the placement of everything in the portrait. Rather than viewing the subject matter (Tissot) as an “informal” component, Tissot should be seen as exuding strength and authority, details that Degas cleverly and subtly incorporated. The staff in his hand indicates charge and control. It should be noted that this symbol of supremacy is perfectly centered (from width to width). Furthermore, Tissot’s eyes carry an almost “heavy” weight; speculators can almost “feel” the power of his intentional stare. All this precision and purposefulness was done so that speculators understand the implications and importance of the art and what art can accomplish. It is through this technique, that Degas bestows upon the viewer the responsibility of advancing art.

            Aside from the precise and calculated drawing of the subject of the portrait, Degas also calculated the multiple art pieces in the background. Though it may seem as though they were haphazardly chosen and placed, there is actually true purpose and significance in each of the canvas paintings. Two things should be noted: (1) the subject matter within each of the drawings and their historical significances and (2) their placement in the portrait. Right above Tissot is an exotic, Japanese-style picture; to the left and right are scenes of contemporary leisure; behind the easel is a sixteenth-or-seventeenth-century Venetian subject; and at center is a copy after a portrait of Frederick the Wise in the Louvre, formerly attributed to Lucas Cranach the Elder. Degas specifically chose these types of paintings for two reasons. One reason was to reflect the wide-ranging tastes in art that he shared with Tissot, but another reason was to offer speculators an array of different art pieces of different historical times. The portrait of Frederick the Wise represents the “oldest” painting and has religious implications as he was known to be one of the most powerful early defenders of Martin Luther, Lutheranism, and Protestant Reformation. Next in the historical “timeline” is the Venetian subject on the easel, which represents a new age of art and form. Afterwards are the two contemporary pieces, that represent a progression of art into a more modern form. Finally, there is the Japanse painting, which is considered to be the more modern painting. By incorporating different art styles from different times in history, Degas extrapolates on how art has a deep history, thus expanding upon this sort of “burden” (responsibility) that he is handing on to its speculators.

In terms of the placement of the paintings, it should be noted that, here too, there was much precision and planning involved. Firstly, there are two scenes of contemporary leisure, one on the left and one on the right. This evokes true symmetry and balance. It should also be noted that there are a lot of completed art pieces behind him, one piece that seems to be in-the-process (due to it being propped on the easel), and then at the front-most placed object is Tissot himself. In doing so, speculators appreciate the depth of past, present, and future. The past is represented by the paintings that have been completed (placed behind him), the present is represented by the art that is being created at the present time, and the future is represented by the Tissot himself as he is capable of the art of the future. It’s almost as though he “carries” all this artistic past with him and puts it on the audience as a responsibility. This only further demonstrates Degas’s message that this portrait is a “call for action” for speculators to consider their potential impact on the advancement of the arts.

In delivering this idea, I think it is very appropriate to mention why Degas chose to deliver such a message with a subject other than himself. If it is he who believes that speculators have a responsibility to the advancement of the arts, then why not draw a self portrait? By drawing Tissot, Degas demonstrates a communal agreement in his message. Thus, he creates somewhat of a support system or “team”, proving that he is not the only one that thinks the way he does.

            Through this portrait, Degas emphasizes his ideals and priorities. Although the portrait seems “informal” and “random” in terms of the subject and the complementing background, it is clear how Degas, in fact, used a very calculated technique and structure. Through this subtle and discreet technique, Degas hoped to expand upon the depth and power that art holds, and furthermore make its speculators responsible for continuing the progression and advancement of the arts.