Inspired by Turner

I presented the ideas of Johannes Itten in that class (see previous post) and also the paintings of Turner.

Art historians discuss Turner in connection with the aesthetic of the Sublime, a central idea in Romanticism.  The Sublime was opposed to beauty, restraint, balance, harmony.  Romantic poets felt tormented by infinite longing and passion that could not be contained.  In their debates about form and content , form lost its former respect.  The content of turbulent emotion and the newly discovered dark aspects of the psyche—not as sin but as depth and authenticity—were seen to correspond to the awe and terror of natural forces , such as mountains and oceans.

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775 –1851) is famous for his seascapes, which are most often turbulent and terrifying:  burning ships; ship wrecks; drowning, shackled slaves; blazing orange skies. Though he was a member of the Royal Academy, he had to endure much ridicule from his contemporaries who preferred polite, sedate , well-ordered pictures to be mollified by.

Turner also painted landscapes.  He hated the color green and painted landscapes while avoiding that color.  What is a landscape?  We keep coming back to that question in my landscape class.  Turner assures us that it’s not about the color green.

I didn’t present the Sublime in class.  Just looking at Turner gives you goose bumps and you GET it.  Elaine C. again faced a white canvas by putting down color and letting the form follow.  This is a small painting, about 12 x 16.  If it were 48 x 64, it would pull us into the Romantic Sublime.

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When Is It Finished?

The Momento Mori or Vanitas still life I talked about in post for 6.17.11 led to a meticulous drawing by Louise F.  I’ll show two stages of her drawing.  Above is the drawing as it was at the end of the three-hour class.  I liked it at this stage and considered it finished.  I loved the side view of the violin because it was unusual and unconventional.  It offers a hint of the violin and just enough information to allow the viewer to identify the object.  There’s a mystery about it because of its averted angle.  Also mysterious are the flowers—where do they come from?  Then the scrolls of paper, echoing the scroll at the violin’s neck, but again, what are these things doing here?  We can’t quite make sense of the meeting of these objects, but at the same time the forms are perfect, all playing on each other.

Louise didn’t think it was finished at this stage.  She didn’t like the vacant space at the bottom.  The violin was resting on some drapery, which she didn’t have time to draw during the class period.  She invented some drapery at home, filled in the “vacant” space at the bottom and framed the drawing.  The pencil marks now fill out a rectangle, which conforms to the shape of the mat and frame. There’s more to look at.  The drawing looks more finished and complete and this is satisfying to most viewers.

We’ve encountered the opposition of the classical and romantic sensibility before in this blog.  My preference for the “vacant” space, for the incomplete feeling, is part of the romantic approach.  Louise, like most students (in my experience), preferred the complete, balanced drawing without the open space.  That’s the classical sensibility expressing itself.

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Pile of Pots: Drawing by Louise F.

The overall impression of this drawing is one of delicacy but at the same time the pencil marks are bold and clear.  There’s nothing blended or indecisive; at the same time the drawing is incomplete.  While the shapes are boldly drawn with a classical respect for light (notice the reflected light where the large pot meets the drapery underneath), the dominant feeling is romantic because of the incompletion. These dichotomies create a tension and puzzlement that engage the viewer.

This is the second of seven drawings from that still life produced in one class.  In future posts (soon) I’ll talk about the physical set up and the suggestions I made to the students at the beginning of the class.

For “Romantic”  see posts February 21, 2011 and April 22, 2011.

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