Modern and Postmodern Ideas - Essay Example

Modern and Postmodern Ideas Despite the claims of one to be working in opposition to the ideals of the other, both modern and postmodern artists have worked to depict the range of human emotions within the colors and lines of their work. The modernists, such as Picasso, focused on the emotions themselves with little or no reference to the symbols or issues of the times. The postmodernists, such as Marshall, make these symbols and issues key elements of their work, illustrating the emotions these cause. Picasso’s works, characteristic of the modern abstractionists, focused on presenting graphic images of emotions without relying on true representations of objects. In his paintings “Figures on Beach”1, “Weeping Woman”2 and “Girl Before a Mirror”3, Picasso presents each figure as an abstract collection of geometrical shapes arranged in such a way as to denote the specific emotions and feelings his figures are experiencing. His use of color goes a long way toward conveying the emotions he wished to express just as the relative hardness or softness of his lines worked to establish the relative sharp or dull nature of the feelings. Another aspect of his art that infuses all three of these paintings is the concept of portraying motion or action through the representation of more than one viewpoint at a time. In “Figures on Beach”4, this concept of movement is shown in the various placements of the eyes and nostrils of the figures and the seemingly random placement of the woman’s breasts. The confusion of straight body parts that allows arms and legs to almost become interchangeable also reflects the idea that these people are not remaining in stationary positions but are instead allowing their arms and legs to become tangled as part of their embrace. The most stationary aspect of the couple thus appears to be the more shaded upper thigh and buttock of the woman as the one of the only truly recognized forms. The warm colors of the figures and the gentle shading of the beach suggest an intimate embrace full of love rather than the more livid and pulsing tones typically associated with sudden passion, indicating a more mature love underlying the act of copulation. This idea is reinforced by the smooth curves and general avoidance of sharp angles. The warm tones here are further cooled by the presence of the gently sloping blue ocean and sky of the background while the excitement of the pose is reinforced by the depiction of the triangular-topped white tower. Picasso’s colors in “Woman Weeping”5 are predictably dark and muted, consisting primarily of dark earth tones suggesting the woman’s connection with the earth and universal suffering. Her eyes are the only white spaces not constrained in the center and spill out tears that paint a white and gray-blue handkerchief-shaped area out of the front of her face. However, because Picasso was interested in showing emotions, he made the handkerchief transparent for all but color, depicting the woman’s gnashing and gritted teeth as they open for weeping, move against each other in fear and gnash the edge of something in anger. Her tears are also diamond-shaped daggers digging into her fingers and her own fingernails as she attempts to hide her face behind her hands. The sharp angles and jagged edges of this central section reveal the stabbing sharpness of her sorrow while the more muted lines of the periphery denote the long-term suffering this present pain will become. “Girl Before a Mirror”6 depicts a somewhat happier emotion, yet remains overall just as complicated as the “Woman Weeping”. The bright reds and yellows and intricate patterns of the wallpaper of the room establish an energetic, optimistic outlook for the girl looking in the mirror that is not reflected in the mirror’s image. The colors in the mirror are darkened, deep reds, purples and blues that reflect a darker self-image than reality. Her body, somewhat pear-shaped and well-proportioned as suggested by the relative sizes of the circles drawn to denote stomach and breasts, is also distorted in the mirror’s image. The mirror image emphasizes the roundness of the stomach region, bloating it larger than the original and sagging further down while the breasts are reflected as much smaller, unevenly spaced and completely unstable. What is painted with black horizontal stable lines on one side of the painting is reflected in the mirror as downward curving green stripes, indicating an emphasis on the lower extremities and a serious instability of the upper reaches. In true postmodern fashion, Marshall works to capture complex emotions in his works through a combination of contemporary images and symbols, careful use of color and a generalizing abstraction. The meanings of Marshall’s paintings, “Better Homes/Better Gardens”7, “Nickerson Gardens”8 and “Our Town”9 are easier to decipher than the images presented by Picasso, as they are obviously drawn from a broadly experienced background as the civil rights movements of the 1950s and the Watts riots and other cultural issues that hit the streets of Los Angeles in the 1960s, yet also strangely blended with the idealized impressions of youth. The backgrounds typically consist of a vividly blue sky, a rising sun, bluebirds, flowers, some trees and a housing area, all created in such a way as to indicate the ideals of the suburban lifestyle within the inner city projects. The inhabitants typically appear happy and carefree, at least at first glance. The bright atmosphere of the shining background image – the sunny perfect sky, the bluebirds of happiness and the full promise of spring – is, in each painting belied by the remaining images. These usually consist of institutional appearing buildings, splotches of spray paint and unsettling suggestions regarding the condition of the inhabitants. In “Better Homes/Better Gardens”10, the pattern of the primary images remains almost exactly the same as what appears in “Nickerson Gardens.”11 They each contain a perfect sky, bluebirds and happily shining sun as well as institutional buildings and project signs obscured by flowers. While “Our Town”12 also contains these elements, they are not as obvious. The label on the painting is printed across the top like a postcard picture rather than naming a particular construction project and the buildings, because of their separation by a black roadway, take on the initial impression of a suburban neighborhood. This more attractive first-glance impression is intentional, as is the roadway’s opening unto the viewer’s plane, as a means of inviting the viewer into the picture as well as presenting the children traveling on the road the opportunity to cross out. The optimistic colors combine with a sense of people playing in each image heightens the approachability of the paintings and encourages people to take a second look. This second look provides the paintings’ darker, deeper meanings. “Better Homes/Better Gardens”13 takes on an ominous tone as the fenced in nature of the project becomes more obvious, a warning emerges for parents to “Watch Your Children” and the black couple that at first seemed to be enjoying a pleasant afternoon walk in the glow of young love appear to be fleeing in fear. Each of the doors of the institutional orange housing complex are painted with a series of horizontal bars, emphasizing the idea of a governmental institution in which all the dangers to society are confined. “Nickerson Gardens”14 makes the governmental nature of the project more obvious with the “Housing Authority” text on the sign but removes the more blatant presence of the fence. The bluebirds in the sky are carrying a banner that promises “Here we rest”, arching over the space of the children like a tombstone. The children, who at first seemed to be playing a game just inside the picture plane now take on a serious note of concern as it is realized that the boy in the forefront is bent into a fetal position, clutching his stomach and obviously in pain. The shadow beneath him takes on the blackness of the grave as the shadows of the other children, and two black shadows to the right, remain disturbingly unexplained. Investigation of “Our Town”15 reveals a similar dark truth in the details, allowing meaning to lay just this side of obvious and every bit as dangerous as the civic atmosphere out of which these paintings grew as the houses take on projects characteristics and the children’s expressions betray deep anger and mistrust. In the work of each artist, it can be seen that colors and shapes take on extreme importance in conveying the emotional content of the work. In each case as well, the subjects are only abstractly presented, allowing them to become symbols of the general rather than true depictions of real people. Solid areas of color and intricate attention to detail further refine and define the impressions each artist was struggling to convey. The main difference between these two artists is that while Picasso focused on merely conveying the emotions felt regarding various issues or events, Marshall includes these events as integral elements of his scenes, clearly expressing the attitudes, beliefs, impressions and ideas of his work in every inch. Works Cited Marshall, Kerry James. “Better Homes/Better Gardens.” Acrylic and collage on unstretched canvas. (1994). PBS. May 8, 2007 Marshall, Kerry James. “Nickerson Gardens.” Acrylic and collage on unstretched canvas. (1995a). PBS. May 8, 2007 Marshall, Kerry James. “Our Town.” Acrylic and collage on unstretched canvas. (1995b). PBS. May 8, 2007 Picasso, Pablo. “Figures on Beach.” Oil on canvas. (1931). Online Picasso Project. May 8, 2007 Picasso, Pablo. “Girl Before a Mirror.” Oil on canvas. (1932). Online Picasso Project. May 8, 2007 Picasso, Pablo. “Weeping Woman.” Oil on canvas. (1937). Online Picasso Project. May 8, 2007 Read More