Comparison of two works in Museum of Modern Art - Term Paper Example

Comparison of two works in Museum of Modern Art Introduction Art is a fundamental cultural aspect that provides both a realistic and analytic representation of the society. Artists use their talents in different media to capture and represent the cultural developments in a society. Painting is a major constituent that has existed through time thereby capturing the cultural and technical development of the society. Painters portray such through the techniques they employ in their paintings and the features of the society they portray in the same. The discussion below therefore analyses features of two paintings developed in different times with the painters employing particular techniques in ensuring the efficacy of the artifacts. Woman With a Book painted by Fernand Leger in 1923 and Red Head, Blue Body painted by Meret Oppenheim in 1936 have fundamental differences and similarities that help portray the social, cultural and technological development in the art within the decade that separates them as the discussion below portrays. Just as the name suggests, Woman With a Book, is an artistic oil on canvas painting of a woman holding a book. The painting depicts the painter’s artistic intuition and urge to create a new style in painting thereby debuting the mechanical age. In the painting, Fernand Leger portrays his artistic skills as he employs particular elements in developing the painting. He employs such elements as appropriate shapes and colors thereby developing effective foreground, middle ground and background in his artifacts. These enhance his communication as he envisioned the final artifact. The choice to use oil on canvas is appropriate, as it has contributed to the longevity of the painting in the museum. Oil on canvas was a major discovery in the early years of art. Painters have therefore used oil on canvas since time immemorial owing to the durability of such paintings. This earns the painting the longevity required of such artifacts thereby enhancing the communication role performed by such artifacts. Red Head, Blue Body is yet another artistic masterpiece developed more than a decade after the Woman With a Book. Similarly, the painter employs a similar technique of naming the artifact satirically after the observable features of the painting (Wim 66). The painting is that of a red formed head hanging above a blued shaped body form. The name of the artifact that is therefore an actual representation of the artifact a feature that makes it similar to the Woman With a Book, which is an actual painting of a woman holding a book. Additionally, the two paintings are oil on canvas. As explained earlier, oil on canvas is the oldest medium of painting globally. Ever since the invention of the technique, painters have, shown preference of the technique of painting owing to the fact that it gives painters a conducive medium for displaying besides preserving their talents. Among the fundamental similarities in the two paintings is the use of mechanical shapes. The technique begins with Woman With a Book. As portrayed in the above discussion, artists often pioneer and foster the development of knowledge. Fernand Leger believed that the introduction of the mechanical age would present realistic solution to the chaos experienced after the First World War. As an artists, he pioneered the change by moving from the previously existing conventional ways of painting when he began using mechanical shapes in developing his artifacts (Sylvan 34). In developing Woman With a Book, Fernand Leger simply joins simple forms and shapes together thereby resulting in the woman holding a book as a unified whole. An analytical look at the artifact can easily breakdown the painting into the simple shapes and forms. This way, Leger portrays an effective understanding of the art as he strives to cure the chaos that had riddled the industry prior to the introduction of the mechanical age. His artistic skill manifests itself in his ability to join the mechanical forms together thereby developing a unique artifact besides pioneering the introduction of the new era. In his Red Head, Blue Body, Meret Oppenheim fosters the mechanical age as he further uses the mechanical shapes and form in creating the artifact. The head for example, is a mechanical shape nearing an oval. The balance between the different mechanical shapes and forms such as circles and oval makes it easy for the different forms to fuse easily thereby developing a unified whole. However, Oppenheim infuses his own artistic contribution to the mechanical knowledge as he returns the previous artistic liberty in joining some of the shapes. The body for example is a portrayal of artistic liberty as he draws the body into a conventional human trunk. While mechanical shapes provide a realistic and artistic portrayal of some of the shapes, they restrict artists to the nature of the shapes a feature that limits the artistic impressions of natural shapes. The human body for example may appear similar to particular shapes, however, limiting an artists to the particular shapes deny them the freedom to cover particular developments of the shapes. With this knowledge therefore, Oppenheim uses a near mechanical shape when developing the body, which is close to a square. However, he distorts the square thereby managing to develop a realistic human trunk, which often has numerous intrusions and protrusions. Additionally, the artists join a shape that resembles the human arm on the body. The inclusion of the shape is strategic in helping validate the body as such. The human body conjoins with the arm at the shoulder. The artists therefore includes the arm as a way of the proving the body as that of a human body. Oppenheim’s painting differs from that of Leger in that unlike in Leger’s it t not easy to make out the figure in the painting. The conclusion that the painting is a human body is arbitrary and not as clear as in the Woman With a Book, in which the painter strives to capture the different features thereby strategically portraying both the woman and the book. An equally important feature of the paintings is coloring. Color is a fundamental aspect of painting since color complements the artifacts. Both artists strive to color their paintings thereby enhancing both their emotional appeal and effectiveness in communication. Leger for example develops an orange background a brown and blue middle ground and an orange in foreground. The above grounds exist strategically thereby complementing the painting’s communication. The identification of the different grounds helps identify particular features of the paintings (Langdon 34). The background in Woman With a Book for example is a color that helps distinguish the woman lying on the background. The basic role of the background is to help make the woman conspicuous. Additionally, as a painting, Leger manipulates different paint colors and brushes in ensuring that he develops the artifacts. In in both the woman and the book, the artistic employment of both different paints and brushes is evident as the painter manipulates the two factors in developing the artifact. Oppenheim also portrays his artistic prowess in balancing both the colors and brushes as he develops his unique painting. Red Head, Blue Body, just as the name suggests is a painting in which the artist uses the two colors in developing the complete form. He paints the head red while he paints the body blue a strategic feature that makes the two conspicuous and readily identifiable (Sylvan 56). Additionally, the painter includes a blue background but ensures that the shade of the blue in the background differs from that he uses in the body thereby making the two equally fundamental features of the painting distinct. Oppenheim portrays advanced skills in balancing the colors in his artifact as he uses closely relating colors with the slight difference in the intensity of the colors serving as the major factor that distinguishes the colors. The technique works well as the different shapes in the artifact blend each other thereby complementing the communicative function of the artifacts. Historical context of art is an equally fundamental factor in the analysis of paintings that helps validate some of the techniques that the two artists employed in their paintings. As explained earlier, the two paintings were debuted in different times. The two enjoy a time lapse of more than a decade. With such time, different technological inventions occur most of which influence the development of arts in the society. The two artists portray this as they consider different historical features of their different times. As an artists of the mechanical age, Leger believed that the era should introduce some order thereby cure some of the social chaos that manifested in the society especially given the fact that the world was beginning to recover from the adverse effects of the first world war. His belief in such ideologies thus influenced his art as he uses mechanical forms and shapes in developing the painting. He places definite shapes strategically and in succession thereby developing a unique painting that portrays his unique skills and the ideologies of the mechanical era (Hubala 22). In retrospect, the one decade time lapse between the two paintings influence their features as the two painters employ different techniques prevalent in their different societies. Leger seeks to add orderliness in arts thereby solving the chaos that had preceded the society after the world war while Meret Oppenheim on the other hand fosters the use of the mechanical shapes and forms but infuses the artistic liberty in the arts. additionally, the two artists portray their unique coloring skills as they employ different shades of colors and brushes thereby developing unique masterpieces that do not only represent the social and cultural developments at the time but also fosters the growth of arts thereby influencing the art to date. Fernand Leger’s Woman With a Book Meret Oppenheim’s Red Head, Blue Body Work cited Hubala, Erich. Baroque and Rococo. New York: Universe, 1989. Print. Langdon, Helen. Caravaggio: A Life. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999. Print. Sylvan, Barnet. A Short Guide to Writing About Art, N.Y.: Longman, 2009. Print. Wim, Silvester. Art and Architecture of the Late Middle Ages. New York: Omega Books, 1989. Print. Read More