Assignment - Responses to Art - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Among the forerunning artists who established a society of impressionists known as “Cooperative and Anonymous Association of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers” (in English) were Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, and Alfred Sisley all of whom further defied traditions by setting up independent art exhibitions of their own. The term ‘Impressionism’ given for such style or method of artwork actually originated from the thought of Monet’s painting in 1872 entitled “Impression, Soleil Levant.” In its progress as a revolution in the field of art, Impressionism was technologically aided through the invention of malleable-lead paint tubes in the 1840s. Similarly, a broader range of colors had been introduced upon the scientific discovery of new dyes which enabled the impressionist painters to become more flexible and consider a number of perspectives on depicting light or the spectral aspect of the image being produced. Moreover, the development of photography as well as new printing techniques enhanced the quality of creating and reproducing impressionist pieces (Denvir). Eventually, these technologies appeared in numerous works, marking an innovation which can be widely perceived in the designs of other prominent impressionist painters such as Paul Cezanne and Vance Kirkland. Though a portion of Cezanne’s endeavor in “The Card Players” reflects transient impact of light and color, the balanced weight allocated between its concrete and abstract visuals and the overall vividness, necessarily reducing the work’s ephemeral effect, altogether contribute to a ‘Post Impressionist’ identity. Instead of using a conventional illusion, Cezanne characterizes his structure to the optimum within the space of ambiguity where he can flexibly seek or locate potential natural order. As such, the symmetry exhibited by the bottle situated between the card players depicts fair distribution of order among significant objects in space. The two men who face each other over the table in equivalent positions and some degree of shade contrasts appear to provide a general countenance under equilibrium. Their solid forms which defy the painting’s abstract content to the point of direct recognition have been applied following a post impressionistic concept on color gradations in creative association to human element. On the other hand, in the abstract impressionist composition of “Explosions on a Sun 70 Billion Light Years from Earth”, Kirkland exhibits his craftsmanship on utilizing “dot style” by combining the similar principles of Australian aboriginal dot art and Pointillism. His work vivifies the general theme ‘explosion’ through brush strokes that are worked to generate circle splashes and dots in relative sizes whose significantly bright contrast against the rest of the deeper or less lighter shades is spread at the painting’s center to project the emergence of a bursting action. Kirkland’s art piece depicts dynamism as well in the manner by which irregular lines and curves are rendered to flow in several directions attributing how ‘explosion’ at the face of the sun may be imagined with intensity and violent motion. A mix of red, orange, blue, yellow, and green in varying degree throughout the piece understandably indicates the ...Download file to see next pagesRead More