Color as a Part of Art - Essay Example

? Color as Emotion Color as Emotion Color has all along been part of art expressed in different ways. This ranges from home decorations, clothes’ favorite colors, color of the car, shoes among others. It is, thus, more than just an accent as it can define who you are. An understanding of the theory of color helps individuals in expressing their feelings in an artwork. The language of color has entered the vocabulary of many people assisting in describing emotions. For instance, an individual may be “red” with rage or, in some instances, “green” with envy. Quite often, people talk of bright cheerful colors as well as dull or sad ones. A “gray” day, for example, may imply depression and result in “blues feelings.” Certain artists have explored the use of colors to express emotions through their artistic works. These include Childe Hassam in his Broadway and 42nd Street and John Singer Sergent through his work in The Hermit. This paper will discuss two works done by the two artists in light of color as emotion by comparing how the artists evoke the emotions by analyzing how they are showing it. Childe Hassam (Broadways And 42nd Street, Of 1902) Fredrick Childe Hassam, simply known as Childe Hassam, was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1859 and exhibited a lot of changes both in terms of style and subject of his artwork that expresse themselves at different stages of his life1. He began his career as a newspaper and magazine illustrator from which he developed interest in artwork. In 1882, he began his career as an artist, painting mainly watercolors. Most notable one being Blossoming Trees. It is here that his potential was recognized and gained a lot of popularity with regard to painting of popular nature and mostly the American nature. When he was at mission in France, he was exposed to the French impressionists. It is then that he began to imitate the French style of impression in his artwork. In fact, he is the first American to depict urban features and scenes of America. One such was evident in his 1902 artistic work titled Broadways and the 42nd Street2. In Broadways and 42nd Street, of 1902, he uses multiple colors with different expressions. For instance, he uses dark colors, nice clothing, and people wearing top hats and waltzing in the snow to imply the wealthy city dwellers.3 Hassam’s choice to show wealthy class of people in the urban streets is basically meant to reveal a strategy to bring out patrons whom according to him would be more interested in buying his artistic work. In this regard, his main intention of depicting wealthy city goers was to market his work. The fact that those on the street are dressed in weather clocks, jackets and hats is an impression in itself4. The most obvious impression is that the weather in this area is very cold. This also implies that Hassam did this painting during winter when the weather in this area was very cold5. Furthermore, the background is painted whitish for snow, implying that the weather at that particular time was foggy. Hassam also paints the street’s ground in black color, to reveal that the street is actually tarmacked6. This implies that the town is developed in terms of basic infrastructural facilities like the roads. He does this probably to sell his work to the wealthy that live in this town. He is much aware that in case he depicts the street with poor infrastructural facilities, then nobody will be willing to buy his work. This strategy he uses to market the town to those who have never been on the street. At the background, he paints the landscape in greenish color. This is a show of vegetation cover on the mountains7. This is to reveal that the town is not surrounded by a desert but is instead surrounded by green thick vegetation. John Singer Sargent (The Hermit) John Singer Sargent is an American impressionist, born on January 12, 1856 in Florence. He is said to have had a lot of interest in artwork since his childhood. This passion was first revealed in 1860 when he was barely four years old through his drawing, depicting his father jotting a letter. He, however, began his serious career in art in 1868 while in Rome where he used to help Carl Welsh’s studio, a landscape artist of German-American8. Here Sargent had an opportunity to copy certain watercolors in studio. He gained more knowledge as he could now drawing Alpine colors. He grew first as an artist and impressionist winning him many awards and titles as this made him be appointed as the Association of American Artist juryman in 1877. In fact, he is the man behind the renaming of the association to Society of American Artists. One among his many works of arts where he uses color to evoke emotion is the Hermit, 1908. Hermit is in fact a piece of extraordinary and brilliant execution. The picture has a lot of impressions, the first being that of the actual blinding sunlight. The other quite evident is the shadow emerging from the eucalyptus stems of the southern part of the forest. Another impression is evident is the photosphere and the coming fever, admirably suggested by the painting. Moreover, it is after some time that you realize the tangles of light and some forms of deer and a nude hermit reclining on the rocky ground9. What this implies is that the paintings are done in a hot mid-afternoon sun. This presupposes a cradle civilization, however much he did not intend to depict his religious connections to this painting. This work is no doubt an impressionist as we find Sargent quick flicks of yellow and ochre depict the presence of the sun as one can hear the crackle of brittle foliage as the two fawns disappear out of vicinity10. The Hermit man is in fact seated on a rock and plants, he looks up and outwards into the space and a keen look at it suggests that it emerges from the terrain with his sandy flesh being echoed by the earth11. He is also seen to be talking to the spirits from the manner he celestially gazes out. Moreover, the fact that he depicts the man as nude inculpates some sense of poverty. He looks malnourished and tired. The fact that he lives in the forest with animals like a deer is a clear indication that he is disconnected from the society. Through this picture, Sargent wanted to portray poverty and society disconnections. Through his paintings, Hermit is creating awareness on how serious the impressionist brings in its best examples. The main subject in this case remains cloaked, and the sitters mystery and his disconnectedness from the people reverberate the impacts of the paint. In case we are not at a position to obtain answers or narratives in the feat then we are forced to accept what is provided. This include a hermit man disconnected from the family and living in the forest, a brilliantly strewed sun sparkling through a grove of mid-afternoon foliage and a pair of fawns that seen unaffected by the strange creatures on the terrain12. Comparison In both cases, color has been used to evoke emotions by depicting two different classes of people in the society. In Hassam’s painting, black color is used to depict the wealthy in the street, which was mainly meant to influence the wealthy in the street to buy his work. On the other hand, Sargent’s paintings in Hermit depict a hermit man, who looks poor and disconnected from the society. In this case, he is shown living in the forest with wild animals. Similarly, Hassam’s painting is done on winter weather as portrayed by his painting, whereas in Hermit, paintings are done in summer with yellow color being used to show presence of the hot mid-afternoon sun. In conclusion, color is an important tool used in artwork to evoke emotions. The color that one puts on can, therefore, tell who one Just as Hassam used black color to depict the wealthy in the street. On the other hand, Sargent has also used yellow color to show that the weather at that particular time was very hot by using yellow color. In is also noted that Both Hassam’s Broadway and 42nd Street and Sargent’s Hermit have in most cases differed in the way they have used color to evoke emotion. In this case, Hassam has used color to reveal happiness while Sargent used color mostly depicting problems. Bibliography Hassam, Frederick, C. Museum Quality Handmade Oil Painting Reproductions. (American, 1859-1935) Number 16942933, 2012. Nye, David E. Electrifying America: Social meanings of a new technology, 1880-1940. Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1992. Vaughn, Maggie. Childe Hassam at Old Lyme, Connecticut: Converse College, 2011. Wallace, Natasha. John Singer Sargent’s The Hermit (I/ Solitario). Virtual Gallery, 2010. Retrieved on 10 March 2012 from http://www.jssgallery.org/Paintings/The_Hermit.htm Weinberg, Helene B., Larkin, Susan G., & Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y). American Impressionist abroad and at home: paintings from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: American Federation of Arts, 2000. P. 66-78. Read More