That Gentleman
1960 by Andrew Wyeth, American born 1917
Visual/Formal Analysis of Works of Art
By
Mitsi Pimentel
Introduction:
That Gentleman is a 23 ½ in. by 47 ¾ in. tempera on panel painting. The artist’s model is a man named Tom Clark. He was a simple man from Chester County. Wyeth thought of him as a gentleman with a keen wit and enormous wisdom. This painting is owned by the Dallas Art Association and can be seen at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Art Elements:
Line – Vertical lines run through all walls and are echoed in the door as well. The horizontal line of the table leads straight to the sitter’s chair and back which are emphasized with light in the middle foreground of the painting. An implied line is created from the left of the table to the sitter’s knee on the other side of the picture. The lines of the back of the chair are at such an angle that you might think the sitter is pushed back with the chair on only the two back legs in a very relaxed pose. Line also emphasizes the objects that hang on the wall in the background and bring them to your attention. The vanishing point is the sitter’s left hand where the diagonal and the horizontal implied lines intersect.
Shapes – Shapes are organic in nature. The angles of the sitters face as well as his body and clothes are very fluid in comparison to the sharper geometric patterns of the surrounding walls and tables. They add volume and the appearance of texture.
Space – Depth is created by placing the sitter and his table and chairs close to the viewer and the walls, doors and objects farther away. The artist also achieves the sense of depth with shading and shadowing, deeper colors giving the sense of farther away from where the viewer stands. The wall that the sitter faces is a negative space. But according to the sitter’s gaze full of possibilities. With his mouth slightly open and his left hand in a gesture of some sort, you might guess he is speaking to someone sitting out of the viewers sight.
Light – A stream of light beams down from the upper left corner of the painting into the portrait and is the first thing that grabs your attention when you first glance at the painting. This seems to be an implied natural light from a window. The shadow created by the right arm, cuts across the wrist of the left hand and is very naturalistic.
Color – The dominant colors in this painting are soft grays and browns. Rather than a dreary feeling, it gives you a feeling of calm and contemplation. The brown hues give a homogenous effect. The darker browns of the sitter’s face are echoed in the lighter browns and tans of the tattered and old vest. The brown walls compliment the clothing while the gray hues of the door and walls show us the shadows and shading. The atmospheric perspective is accomplished in the dark cool colors in the background and the warm browns in the foreground highlighted by the light streaming in.
Texture – There are no apparent brush stokes or texture to the painting. Tempera paint is applied in many thin layers and gives a matte finish to the painting. Tempera paint is accomplished by mixing pigments with egg yolk and is very fast drying and durable. Unlike oil, tempera retains it’s color and does not yellow or darken. Many works from the 15th century in tempera look the same today as when they were painted. The artist must be very precise due to the fast drying quality of this medium. In That Gentleman, visual texture is achieved through the artist’s use of shading and layering of colors. Note the worn paint on the chair. You know the feel of that chair when you look at it as if you had touched it.
Balance – The balance is asymmetrical in the fact that the majority of the objects and sitter are to the left of the painting. The right is filled mostly with an empty wall. However, the door seems to sit in the middle of the painting like an anchor that gives the feeling of balance none the less.
Emphasis – The focal point in the painting seems to be where the light hits. You first notice the old back of the chair and the back of the sitter. Then your eye is drawn to the left hand. From there you follow a line to the face then the scissors on the wall. Finally back to the face where you begin to wonder what the sitter is looking at in the negative space. This leads to contemplation on the viewer’s part. This painting makes you stop and think and wonder.
Rhythm – The repetition of the vertical lines in the panels of the wall and the door are very apparent. Looking closely, you can see the same pattern repeated in the lines of the table drawers.
1960 by Andrew Wyeth, American born 1917
Visual/Formal Analysis of Works of Art
By
Mitsi Pimentel
Introduction:
That Gentleman is a 23 ½ in. by 47 ¾ in. tempera on panel painting. The artist’s model is a man named Tom Clark. He was a simple man from Chester County. Wyeth thought of him as a gentleman with a keen wit and enormous wisdom. This painting is owned by the Dallas Art Association and can be seen at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Art Elements:
Line – Vertical lines run through all walls and are echoed in the door as well. The horizontal line of the table leads straight to the sitter’s chair and back which are emphasized with light in the middle foreground of the painting. An implied line is created from the left of the table to the sitter’s knee on the other side of the picture. The lines of the back of the chair are at such an angle that you might think the sitter is pushed back with the chair on only the two back legs in a very relaxed pose. Line also emphasizes the objects that hang on the wall in the background and bring them to your attention. The vanishing point is the sitter’s left hand where the diagonal and the horizontal implied lines intersect.
Shapes – Shapes are organic in nature. The angles of the sitters face as well as his body and clothes are very fluid in comparison to the sharper geometric patterns of the surrounding walls and tables. They add volume and the appearance of texture.
Space – Depth is created by placing the sitter and his table and chairs close to the viewer and the walls, doors and objects farther away. The artist also achieves the sense of depth with shading and shadowing, deeper colors giving the sense of farther away from where the viewer stands. The wall that the sitter faces is a negative space. But according to the sitter’s gaze full of possibilities. With his mouth slightly open and his left hand in a gesture of some sort, you might guess he is speaking to someone sitting out of the viewers sight.
Light – A stream of light beams down from the upper left corner of the painting into the portrait and is the first thing that grabs your attention when you first glance at the painting. This seems to be an implied natural light from a window. The shadow created by the right arm, cuts across the wrist of the left hand and is very naturalistic.
Color – The dominant colors in this painting are soft grays and browns. Rather than a dreary feeling, it gives you a feeling of calm and contemplation. The brown hues give a homogenous effect. The darker browns of the sitter’s face are echoed in the lighter browns and tans of the tattered and old vest. The brown walls compliment the clothing while the gray hues of the door and walls show us the shadows and shading. The atmospheric perspective is accomplished in the dark cool colors in the background and the warm browns in the foreground highlighted by the light streaming in.
Texture – There are no apparent brush stokes or texture to the painting. Tempera paint is applied in many thin layers and gives a matte finish to the painting. Tempera paint is accomplished by mixing pigments with egg yolk and is very fast drying and durable. Unlike oil, tempera retains it’s color and does not yellow or darken. Many works from the 15th century in tempera look the same today as when they were painted. The artist must be very precise due to the fast drying quality of this medium. In That Gentleman, visual texture is achieved through the artist’s use of shading and layering of colors. Note the worn paint on the chair. You know the feel of that chair when you look at it as if you had touched it.
Balance – The balance is asymmetrical in the fact that the majority of the objects and sitter are to the left of the painting. The right is filled mostly with an empty wall. However, the door seems to sit in the middle of the painting like an anchor that gives the feeling of balance none the less.
Emphasis – The focal point in the painting seems to be where the light hits. You first notice the old back of the chair and the back of the sitter. Then your eye is drawn to the left hand. From there you follow a line to the face then the scissors on the wall. Finally back to the face where you begin to wonder what the sitter is looking at in the negative space. This leads to contemplation on the viewer’s part. This painting makes you stop and think and wonder.
Rhythm – The repetition of the vertical lines in the panels of the wall and the door are very apparent. Looking closely, you can see the same pattern repeated in the lines of the table drawers.
No comments:
Post a Comment