LET’S THROW PAINT! POLLOCK AND ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Rachel Bowden

ENG328 Fall 2013

LET’S THROW SOME PAINT! POLLOCK AND ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Pollock, Number 8, 1949, enamel/oil

Jackson Pollock’s Number 8 embodies artistic techniques that encapsulate a “make it new” revolution in art.

This piece is interesting because there isn’t necessarily one image or shape in particular that catches our attention. There seems to be an avoidance of any discernible parts within a whole. Instead, there is a series of splatters, globs, curvy lines, and colors that look as though they’ve been flung onto the canvas. Pollock only uses a few colors, and the red obviously is the one that is most unlike the others in terms of pop. The lines look lively, and have an aggressive quality to them, as though Pollock was moving about the canvas with varying rhythm when he painted this.

Although there is not an image that is clear in this painting, there is a clear sense of motion involved, and some lines are definitely more predominant than the others in terms of thickness (the thicker lines draw our attention more). The thickest lines are black, and there are really only two that are significantly larger than the others. The strokes and way that some of the globs of paint are thicker in some parts show where the lines were started and where they ended, and we get the perception that the painter literally attacked the canvas from all four sides, constantly changing his direction and color choice, perhaps. Some lines seem to be straight, while others have a distinct curve to them.

During the late 1940’s, Pollock redefined not only the techniques that artists used, but also the experience that viewers took on. Pollock’s works were mostly numbered, perhaps because he didn’t want the viewer to have a premature misconception of what the art should be taken as through analyzing a title.  He wanted the viewers to create their own meaning—and clearly, he gave them a head start by not having a clear image displayed in his works similar to Number 8. He abandoned the traditional idea of composition in terms of relations among smaller parts—of course, perhaps his way of “making it new!”. He understood that the journey toward making an art piece was just as important as the piece itself, and his approaches and methods truly reformed the pre existing norms.

Instead of relying on a typical “form”, he decided to make it new through his revolutionary techniques. One of the first known artists not to use an easel, Pollock instead simply put the canvas on the floor, and was able to constantly move in order to create the motions, flows, and drips that he wanted. Put simply, Pollock broke boundaries that existed before he came along—completely making it new and creating new abstract forms for artists who followed. Pollock used new techniques and abstract images that ultimately revolutionized the art of his times, creating abstract expressionism. This idea of “breaking tradition” is clearly expressed in this piece, and is key to the modernist movement which Pollock called home.

Pollock, Jackson. Number 8. 1949. Neuberger Museum, State University of New York. Web 22 September 2013. <http://a-painting-per-day.blogspot.com/2010/01/number-8-by-jackson-pollock.html&gt;

“Jackson Pollock.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Sept. 2013. Web. 22 Sept.

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City of the Living Dead

The Resurrection, Cookham. 1924-7. Oil on canvas. 2743×5486 mm. Tate Britain, London.

Stanley Spencer’s The Resurrection, Cookham 1924-27 uses color and religious motifs to depict a scene of joyful resurrection from death caused by the Great War.

The painting depicts a church graveyard in which a community is rising out of the tombs and coffins. There are mothers taking care of children and husbands, children playing together, men waking up alone. The white church is in the upper right corner of the painting, and along the wall are saints and angels who appear to waking up as well. The upper center of the painting is dominated by a triangular arch of flowers, under which a family of three sits. In the upper left corner of the painting, a river flows in the distance, and a boat full of people is preparing to dock. Some figures are either standing up or lying down with their elbows level with their neck, some with their forearms stretch out and some with their forearms hanging. The overall color scheme is full of white, black, reds, and greens.

Before further analysis, it is important to note that Spencer served in the Royal Army Medical Corp during the Great War, which makes the choice of a graveyard setting more logical However, in contrast to many veterans of the war, the main point of his work appears to be community, happiness, and life. He uses a specific color scheme and religious motifs in the painting—along with, of course, the subtle hint in the title—to indicate that the message of the painting is resurrection.

The dominating colors of the painting are white, black, red, and green. In most Western paintings, white is associated with life, innocence, and purity while black is associated death, corruption, and mourning. The contrasting presence of black and white mirrors the contrast between life and death. Likewise, a similar tension is present in the color red. The color is often associated with blood, which, depending on the context, could be a symbol of life (in the body) or death (out of the body). Green is the color of nature and rebirth, as much of nature dies in the fall before being reborn in the spring.

The religious motifs range from obvious to subtle, alluding to the life, death, and rebirth of Jesus. The eye is immediately drawn to the upper center of the painting, depicting a scene that looks very much like a nativity scene, alluding to the birth and life of Jesus. On a more subtle note, some of the figures are hanging or lying down in a manner indicative of Jesus on the cross, alluding to his death. The graveyard is next to a church—most likely Anglican—which follows the teaching of Jesus, the man who rose from the dead. Additionally, and on a more pagan note, the river scene in the upper left corner could be alluding to the river Styx, which brought souls to the underworld—another symbol of death. Unlike those souls, however, these souls appear to be jovial—a symbol of life. Water is another symbol for rebirth.

Although it is unclear what precisely inspired this community’s rebirth after death, presumably, from the Great War, Spencer’s portrayal of life amidst death is unique among Great War artists.

Sources

Spencer, Sir Stanley. “The Resurrection, Cookham 1924-7.” Tate Britain. Tate Britain, July 2007. Web. 18 Sept. 2013.

“Stanley Spencer.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Aug. 2013. Web. 18 Sept. 2013.

 

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The Kiss: Gustav Klimt on gender at the turn of the century

Klimt, Gustav. The Kiss – Der Kuss, 1908. Oil on canvas.  180 x 180 cm.  Belvedere, Wien.

Gustav Klimt’s depiction of a man and woman in an embrace.

Gustav Klimt was born in Baumgarten, Austria in 1862, the eldest son of an immigrant gold engraver from Bohemia.  He studied art at the School of Applied Arts in Vienna alongside his brother, Ernst. Klimt worked initially as a decorative muralist, yet the sudden deaths of his father and brother in 1892 triggered a withdrawal from society during which Klimt’s art became increasingly eccentric.  He became obsessive about privacy, never married, and had several illicit affairs; he was rumored to have fathered fourteen illegitimate children.  These factors manifested in his efforts to oppose the status quo throughout his oeuvre by using new painting techniques, and allegorical symbolism of life and death.  Klimt’s personal life also engendered his preoccupation with portraying women as sexual beings, thereby illustrating the paradoxical gender roles at the turn of the century.  These elements are all relevant in Klimt’s most famous work: The Kiss.

In The Kiss, a couple is shown embracing in a field of flowers.  The man is bent over the woman, who clings to him tightly as she waits for his kiss.  The male figure is distinguished by square and rectangular shapes on his gold clothing, while the female is ornamented with soft lines and a floral pattern. A delicate, golden halo envelops the couple, which creates a sacred atmosphere in the painting.  Yet, the female’s toes are sharply bent and rooted into the ground; she appears to be constrained by the golden flowers in the meadow.  It is also interesting to note that while the gold flowers wrap around the female’s ankles and legs, the flowers beneath the male are much shorter, less invasive, and multi-colored.

The depiction of the male as dominant to the female, by being bent over her, is in alignment with the Romantic, 19^th century social constructs for how a man and wife should interact.  Moreover, it was a common perspective that men were the dominant gender and heads of the home, as well as leaders in the political sphere.  Women were seen merely as angels of the home, and the ideal woman was soft, gentle, and subservient.  One should also note that the dark, sharp, structured shapes on the male’s clothing contrasted by the delicate flowers on the female’s clothes seem to follow the Romantic gender mold exactly.  The woman’s constraints in the meadow further emphasize her servitude to the male; in a way she is his slave.  The golden halo around the couple is also centered on the female, which seems to suggest that she is the angelic human, who is simply bringing the male into her blissful atmosphere.

Yet, upon closer examination you notice that not everything fits the Romantic gender mold.  The woman is not only clinging to the man, but pulling him to her.  She also appears to be intensely enjoying the moment.  Thus, it can be argued that she, in fact, is the seductress in this situation.  There is also no evidence that the couple is married. Though Klimt did not use nudity in this particular painting, he still uses many of his trademarks; the woman is sexualized, and the halo juxtaposed with the woman’s constraints in the meadow can be interpreted as an allegorical representation of life and death.  Klimt’s painting techniques also differentiate this work from that of the previous century.

Ultimately, what initially appears to be a representation of Romantic ideals is in fact a rejection of those principles and art forms.  Klimt’s The Kiss is thus an iconic Modernist piece, challenging every gender ideal and social construct from the preceding time period.

The Kiss: Gustav Klimt on gender at the turn of the century is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

A Parisian Circus: Romance Meets Modernity

Paris Through the Window, 1913. Oil on canvas, 53 9/16 × 55 7/8 in. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

Marc Chagall’s Paris Through the Window depicts the duplicity of romance and modernity in Paris during the early 1900s.

This painting of 1913 Paris is described by Jennifer Blessing, a senior curator at the Guggenheim museum, as an ode to Orphic Cubism. It has several layers of images, colors, and objects of interest, lending to the complicated nature of the painting and the possible meanings behind it. In the foreground sits a chair with flowers, a windowpane and windowsill, a cat on the windowsill, and a two-faced man. The next layer holds (among other items) a man and woman floating towards each other, a parachuting man, the Eiffel Tower, and the cityscape. In the final layer lies a color-blocked sky, a technique that in fact exists in every aspect of the painting and increases its complexity and chaos.

The forms that immediately capture the eye include the two-faced man, the cat, the window, the Eiffel Tower, and the color-block scheme. Perhaps it is these items that Chagall wanted the viewer to notice first, as they all fit into an expected depiction of Paris yet surely hold a weight with the overall message of the piece. As soon you look past these items, however, the odd intricacies of the painting come to life—the parachuting man, the floating couple, the flowers, the trolley, and the cityscape. Although they are not as central to the picture as the bigger, more noticeable items, they nevertheless contribute to the overall sense of romance and modernity.

To initially understand this painting, one must recognize the point of view from which it was painted. The window suggests a subjective point of view, that Chagall himself is the source. From that one can deduce that the rest of the items serve as representations of his life and his view of Paris at this time. Blessing suggests that the two-faced man could be a manifestation of Chagall himself looking back at his native Russia as well as forward to his new home in Paris. With the blue face turned west, one could believe that he is looking at Paris with apprehension—possibly because of what he is seeing outside his window. This man could also represent the tension between and conjoining of romance and modernity in 1913 Paris.

The painting further suggests this duplicity with other items. The cat, for instance, has a human-like face, which could recall romantic loneliness and wonder as well as human encroachment on nature. The parachuting man can be contrasted with the couple floating over a cloud-like haze, as the first depicts the modern invention of flight while the other conveys a soft sense of romance often connected with Paris. The Eiffel Tower is a sincere tribute to modernity, and can be contrasted with the simple yet beautiful setting inside the window (which includes the flowers in the chair that occupy the same upright position as the Tower). Finally, the cityscape can be set against the color blocking of the entire piece, as both are geometrically defined. However, the first depicts a modern uprising while the latter suggests an easy, fun, romantic view of Paris.

Chagall uses color blocking and objects to draw the viewer’s attention to the duality of romance and modernity in 1900s Paris.

Sources
Chagall, Marc. Paris Through the Window. 1913. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Guggenheim. Web. 18 Sept. 2013.
Blessing, Jennifer. “Marc Chagall.” Guggenheim. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2013.

A Parisian Circus: Romance Meets Modernity by Claire Fyvolent is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.