TIME & VANITY
Allegory of Vanity Antonio de Pereda 1632/1636 This painting depicts a winged figure standing over a series of items positioned on a table, perhaps they are symbolic of ‘time’. The winged figure’s head is at an angle but their eyes stare out to the viewer in a rather unsettling manner. They point to a globe of the Earth with one hand and holds a portrait of someone in the other as if to show the viewer, give explanation for her stare. The globe among other items: an extravagant clock, coins, portraits, cards, jewels, deformed skulls, brittle follios, a weapon, hourglass, and a burnt out candle are all allegories, symbolic of other meaning than what they are. The background is black, keeping the entire image in the foreground. This keeps the viewers attention to the figure and objects, as they are important to what the entire painting symbolises: an allegory of vanity.
In this painting, the winged figure could represent Time, they have been described as a ‘genius’ suggesting they are all-knowing of the past, present, and future. They stand surrounded by the objects, holding and pointing at certain items, presenting them to the viewer as if in a cruel reminder of time passing and the ultimate ending: death. The precious clock, jewels and coins are all symbols of wealth and collectors items, this idea of being attached to materialistic things and spending lots of money on them. The right of the canvas with all the golden, precious materials appears illuminated whilst the left of the canvas (the skulls, candle armour and book) seems darkened. Possibly this is to shine light upon the wealth, suggesting indulging in luxury seems glorious and golden but once we are dead everything becomes cold and dark and decayed.
This is a Vanitas painting. The Vanitas pictures emerged beginning with the late years of the 15th century. The purpose of Vanitas paintings are to urge the viewer into reflecting on the inevitability of death alongside the futility of worldly ambition, especially accumulating riches, knowledge and power. Not only does the skulls, burnt out candle, weapon and armour suggest death and perhaps violence, but the hourglass sitting right at the front of the table, in the foreground of the painting, gives the notion of time and makes awareness of how inescapable time is. On the table to the right, there are a compilation of small portraits, a symbol of vanity. This painting overall has a dark mood, there’s a sense of nostalgia – the globe and worldly treasures transports the viewer into a melancholy state of mind, thoughts of all the things you did or should have done before death caught up.
It is unknown what type of paint was used for this painting, however we can see that the paint has been applied smoothly and perfectly – the skin is smooth and devoid of any flaws suggesting an idealised imagining of the figure which makes sense if they are a symbol of time, an omniscient being. The hair is soft and appears light and thin almost realistic in it’s depiction. The clothes you can see are painted with extreme realism, notice the insane amount of folds and pulling of the fabric across the figures body. The lighting here is extremely well done, especially with so many objects present on the table. The artist has incorporated chiaroscuro into this painting. The intense gold light bounces of the objects and along with the pitch black background, casts a dramatic tone over the painting. This use of light and tone creates reality, the image appears real to the viewer, adding to the effect of the symbolism.
An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life known as The “Vanitas� Harmen Steenwyck, 1640 oil on wood 39 x 51 cm
This painting also shows the passing of time but avoids using figures. In this painting we see a series of objects placed atop a table, the table makes up the mid-ground of the painting, the objects atop it jutting forward into the foreground and disappearing behind one another into the background. The background of this painting is bare, cut by the raked lighting but otherwise grey fading to darkness. The lighting is effective on the objects, focalising certain objects as a shining selection. The use of the intense lighting coming from the top left of the painting and the darkness coming in around the painting from the right creates dramatic tonal values, chiaroscuro. The objects of the table may be assumed as a simple study in still life but each object holds symbolic meaning, allegories of time and death.
This is another painting called a 'vanitas', after the biblical quotation from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes (1:2): 'Vanitas vanitatum... et omnia vanitas', translated 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity'. The idea behind these ‘vanitas’ paintings is that pleasure and human ambition is transient, fading, and that death is the great leveller, that puts an end to all worldly achievements or possessions. Here the books symbolise human knowledge, or a warning. Notice how the book is unsealed thus making it useless and invaluable now, this could represent how useless human knowledge and texts are if they are not texts of god, the bible. The musical instruments, a recorder, part of a shawm, and a lute can be seen among the mid-ground, symbolise the pleasures of the senses. The Japanese sword and the shell are both collectors' rarities and a symbolise wealth, the sword also connects to ideas of war, a message that war is pointless. The shell also appears empty, symbolic of the emptiness of human life, and the shell of our bodies left behind when we die. The chronometer and expiring lamp allude the viewer to the transience and frailty of human life, the expression of time passing. The skull dominates the painting, we can see this because of the direction of light, how it shines directly onto the skull and how it’s in the foreground of the painting. It stares out at the viewer, a morbid momento mori of death.
This painting is small scale. Paintings of such small scale and of still life (ordinary objects without a human presence) was a low genre throughout the History of Art. This was because it was seen to only demonstrated the artists technical skill and not the imagination. Still life during the 17th century was often associated with themes of death, transience, decay and themes of vanity of earthly possessions. More than five million paintings were created during this time known as the 17th Century Dutch Golden Age. These paintings were so small because they were created to be displayed in people’s houses and for personal use as they were commissioned by an emerging wealthy middle class. Previously the Church would act as patrons for paintings but during this time they preferred white washed walls inside the church rather than decorative paintings.
This painting is entirely smooth, there seems to be a dream-like allusion over it due to the surrealism of the smooth, life-like application of paint. This piece was completed in oil paint on wood, which is interesting because of this ethereal, hazy shining smoothness it seems to have, oil is definitely capable of this but the artist would have to have had extreme patience to apply the amount of layers needed to achieve this effect. However, as it is a small scale painting, there would be time to practice this effect. The chiaroscuro used with the soft lighting across the canvas also enhances this ghostlike smooth atmosphere the painting appears to possess. There is an array of different objects here, the materials are effected differently by the light, Steenwyck uses the paint to create the different textures.
Self-Portrait with Vanitas Symbols, c. 1651 David Bailly Oil on wood, 65 x 97,5 cm This painting is similar to Antonio de Pereda’s ‘Allegory of Vanitiy’. Here there is an abundance of still life atop a table but also a figure to the left of the canvas, a man holding a stick in his hand, possibly a mahl stick a, and a portrait in the other. The portrait appears to be of himself, notice the exact same position he is in now, only he appears older. His expression in both is slightly frowned, as they both peer out at the viewer. Like ‘Allegory of Vanity’ the figure seems to hold the objects out to the viewer, as if to explain or warn the audience.
On the table there are various objects including, several other portraits, a skull, an extinguished candle, coins, a wine glass on its side, a pocket watch, roses, a pearl necklace, a pipe, books, and a sculpture, among other things. Soap bubbles hover above them, frozen in time only by the painting, a symbol of transience. All these objects symbolise the obvious motifs of vanity, time and death. Like the previous paintings, we experience the gloomy atmosphere of a vanitas painting – the idea of life and death hangs in the painting, the warning of time and it’s effects. The clutter of objects puts emphasis on collecting or hoarding, the idea that all these things (the sculpture, the portraits, books) are all useless material things.
This painting is a self portrait, combined with the traditional still life of vanatis paintings, the lines between portraiture and still life are blurred here. A noticeable fact is that this painting was painted in 1651, when Bailly would have been 67 years old, so it is perhaps interesting that this self portrait appears so young. However, there tends to be a deeper meaning at hand when we think about the entire painting as a statement about this young man, supposedly Bailly’s younger self, we notice that his current features are shown in the small oval portrait that is held out towards the viewer as if the young artist is predicting the future. This relates to the themes of transience and time, a reminder that time is passing and old age is inevitable for us all. This is unlike the repetitive, perhaps dull still life paintings of the Dutch vanitas paintings, because of this misleading depiction of Bailly’s portrait and twist of time scale, there is an added dimension to the entire subject of time and vanity.
This painting was created in oil paint on wood and is extremely realistic, it has almost photo-realistic qualities because the paint has been applied so smoothly and precisely. The oil paint allows for this kind of layering and modulated colouring. Notice how on the wall in the painting there appears to be a translucent face, perhaps there was once another portrait on the wall now layered by paint. Whether planned or not, it adds an eerie sentiment over the painting, contributing to the morbid tones of ageing and death. The perspective and proportions are immensely accurate, the insane amount of objects and figure all placed perfectly on the canvas. The lighting is subtle in this piece, there is not a lot of drama or intensity with the use of chiaroscuro in this painting like the previous pieces but a natural light coming from the left. The colouring is quite blue/cool toned, the impression of natural lighting from a window in the room. The lighting puts a brightness on the scene, all the objects are illuminated and clear to see, a white shine reflecting from them, emphasising their worth or importance symbolically.
Self Portrait with vanitas symbols (after David Bailly) Kevin Best is a contemporary photographer who has created his own versions of the classic Dutch still life paintings. He takes his recreations of the work to an extreme, serious level, constructing complex sets incorporating authentic antique props, and taking a whimsical approach by incorporating his own imagery not found in the traditional still life‘s, but of his own imagination and relationship. Best combines his elaborate setups of scenes with photoshop editing to create these captivating recreations.
This piece is Best’s recreation of David Bailly’s “Self-Portrait with Vanitas Symbols”. We notice right away the same position of the figure among the still life on the table, the portraits on the walls and bubbles floating transiently around the image. Best has even attempted to recreate Bailly’s clothing in the painting and the effect of his hair cascading around his face. Although right away we know that this a recreation because of these similarities, there are also noticeable differences in Best’s photograph to the original painting. Of course, Best doesn’t look anything like Bailly and we can see that the photographic recreations seems personal, Best showing himself in this self portrait as he is, with his natural blonde hair and face peering out at the viewer. However, notice how the frame Best holds out the viewer is empty, the background visible through it. This is unlike Bailly’s painting, where he holds a portrait of his older self out to the viewer. Perhaps the lack of portrait in the frame in Best’s piece is reflecting of the fact that Best does not know his older self, does not know the future – revealing the uncertainty of the future, which adds even more uneasiness to the already gloomy Vanitas portrait that Bailly painted.
The objects across the table are also evidently similar to those in Bailly’s painting, there’s the skull as a symbolism of death and the hourglass suggesting the inevitability of time. There’s also the globe, books and a roll of paper, fallen glass and silver and gold objects, sculptures to direct to worldly possessions and knowledge – all motifs often repeated in Vanitas paintings of still life. However, Best hasn’t replicated Bailly’s still life perfectly, although everything appears the same and positioned in similar places, there are subtle differences. The portraits on the wall are definitely different. There appears to be an image of Bailly on Best’s wall and also a drawing of Charles Darwin and in front of that, the portrait of a woman – perhaps personal to Best. The objects, especially the portraits are relevant to Best as the portraits in Bailly’s painting are relevant to him and his time era. Best has described that he created this piece around global warming whilst the original panting was concerned with the plague. Best has brought back the same imagery of the 17th century Dutch paintings and modernised and personalised it. This is an idea that I would ike to pursue in my own practical work.
Best’s pieces are captivating due to the amount of detail is displayed in each photo. His extensive collection of items which are featured in the original Vantitas paintings such as giant glass Roemer’s, delicate “Kraak” porcelain, German Westerwald jugs, agate and silver knives, silver cups and 300 year old bronze candlesticks are collected and put together in beautiful, presentations. Lighting and colouring is so important to Best’s work, the editing on the photos and the set up makes the pieces so realistic and connected to the old paintings from the Dutch Golden Age, there’s a sense of timelessness and transportation back to that era when viewing Best’s work. They seem almost like paintings, they possess the same texture and quality of oil paintings. Whatever he can’t find for his pieces, he makes, acquiring skills as a wood tuner, carpenter, set painter and jeweller.
Here are some more examples of Kevin Best’s work – These photos are more traditional to the Vanitas paintings, they also appear old, the old books, brown backdrops and dark wood, stone and fabric. There is great emphasis on the skulls in Best’s photos, the theme of death is apparent. I like the simplistic look of these pieces, the books are given to the viewer, atop the skull sits staring eerily. Best’s taken the symbolism of life and death, knowledge and time and told a story using this minimal imagery. These photos are aesthetically intriguing because of the colouring and skull imagery.
Best also deals with a lot of food imagery. He exhibits lots of photographs of tables laden with different food and extravagant glasses shining with brightly saturated liquids. The food generally always looks rich in colour and luxurious, notice the seafood and shells, the cutlery and glasses along with the food looks expensive. The positioning of the food, the curling peel of the lemon here and the lighting used to illuminate the scene, casting a warm tone over the image suggests the content and luxury of the home this table is in. The photo suggests wealth and glory, an indulgence of the senses, the rich enjoying life to its fullest with glorious banquets such as this.
Best’s attempt to capture the luxury of the rich during the 17th century in contrast with the undeniable Plague sweeping over the people is done extremely well – notice how even though there is evidence of wealth and perfection in these still life pieces, there are also objects fallen over, a small change to the pristine picture, an element of uncertainty. This idea or warning portrayed in Best’s photography is similar of that in Giovanni Martinelli’s painting ‘Death Comes to the Banquet Table.’
I conducted a photoshoot inspired by Kevin Best’s work. I really liked how he recreated David Bailly’s painting through his own photography and portrayed objects and symbolism that were personal to him. I have tried to achieve the same idea through my photoshoot – here I have selected an array of objects to place on the table among the typical skulls and burnt out candle. I photographed myself and also my two sisters. Each person is presented with objects relevant to them, some of these consist of a ukulele, the ‘Harry Potter’ novels, a phone, posters of Van Gogh’s painting of sunflowers, and a poster of singer Hayley Williams. I feel that these things were necessary in the photoshoot because they represent the era and the personality of each figure being presented. Having such modern things shown in the images also casts a sort of contrasting perspective because it’s as if the image doesn’t belong, they put the old vanitas paintings out of time, which I think also makes them all that much eerier, a sense of no matter the era, or who you are, death rules over all.
The figure’s expressions in my photoshoot suggest pride and vanity, they seem uncaring. Unlike the figure in ‘Allegory of Vanity’ by Antonio de Pereda, who appears to be pointing out human dilemma and acts as a reminder of death, the people presented in my photoshoot are aware, yet arrogant and apathetic about the idea of death. Notice their almost bored expressions and comfortable poses among the shrine of Vanitas objects. I feel that this is relevant to today, especially of kids of today. Among young people, there’s this sense of knowing everything is terrible, but accepting our fate and just going with it. I am reminded of lyrics from Twenty One Pilot’s song ‘Ride’, “ I think about the end just way too much” and “I'm falling so I'm taking my time on my ride”. The lyrics suggest that the singer is aware of the impending doom, and is ‘falling’ into it, but he’s ‘taking his time’ on his ‘ride’, he’s relaxed and unmoved by it, there is a understanding and acceptance. They also narrate this illusion of life and privilege of modern times. The figures appear vain and apathetic towards death also partly because it isn’t as apparent, unlike when the Dutch Vanitas paintings were originally painted in the 17th century, when death hung over everyone due to the black plague. Today, we believe to live a much longer life.
For this photoshoot, I decided to experiment different lighting and see how it changed the mood. For this photo, you can see I darkened the room and used a lamp to cast light from the right. It creates a bright, yellow glow across the figure and objects, causing looming shadows on the walls. I really like how the light falls cross the figures face, illuminating her right side, leaving her left in shade. I also like the soft glow on the skulls, candle, and books, changing their colour to a golden tint. This photo with this lighting is ideal for painting, the chiaroscuro here separates the light from the shadows well, creating a more defined three dimensional appearance; painting would really define the tones and structure of the piece. The light also gives a sense of ‘candlelight’, it looks like an old candlelit scene, it condenses the colouring and blends the objects among the table together, creating a more subtle, natural appearance. The mood here seems tranquil and calm, the ’candlelit’ appearance gives the impression of evening, something that evokes this idea of serenity and quietness.
The lighting is coming from behind in these photos, you can see the window to the right. This creates a different mood and atmosphere to the prior images. I think this lighting creates a dramatic mood, the table being mostly in shadow due to the figures body casts a dark atmosphere and the wisp of light coming around the table from the window on the right, encloses the objects inside an inviable veil. The lighting is less golden, and more stagnant, the atmosphere is cold, the white light from the window indicates the cold, cloudy outside. It’s got the feeling of a grey morning, the colours are desaturated. I really like the first photo, the figures pose is interesting, the black of her clothes behind the pale skulls and her face turned to the right, in parallel to the poster hung above her, where the figure tilts to the left. The harsh white light over the objects on the table among the deep black shadows on the table creates ghostlike imagery, everything seems very pale and very eerie.
The smoke of the extinguished candle, as the figure leans on the table, staring off somewhere else, uninterested and unmoving. The second shows the same figure holding the skull to her eye level, staring at the face of death, a laugh seems to play on her lips, there is no expression of worry, a staring competition, a notion of “bring it on.�
I decided to start with some pencil studies, cropping my photos, to take a closer look at the imagery and warm up before drawing the whole set up. Here I have chosen to study the figures face, experimenting with style and shading in pencil. This study is size a5 on cartridge paper. The lighting is specifically intriguing in this image, the way it falls from the top right of the figure, creating a gradient over the face. I’ve exaggerated the figure in my drawing, the features aren’t realistic but rather in a stylised approach. I think this suits the mood, this piece is rather gloomy and has a ‘gothic’ approach, I’ve specifically exaggerated the shading under the eyes, the use of hatching on the face and around the figure appears like webs and hints a dark, sinister narrative. I think the greyscale, with the use of darkened pencil lines in the deeper shadows, adds to this noir mood and atmosphere.
Here’s another small pencil sketch I have done, I decided I wanted to crop and draw the skull from the same image. This abstraction is interesting, because of the fact that the skull is enclosed behind other objects, the drawing is abruptly cut off. I like this effect and also the scribbled darker pencil behind the skull, it really puts the skull into focus. Although, I like the scribbled appearance of the darkening background, I would have liked to have matched the intense darkness of the figures clothes in the photo behind the skull. I don’t think this would have been possible with pencil, however it would be engaging to experiment using different mediums such as ink and paint to create drawings from my photoshoot. This piece is also quite stylised, like the previous, I really like the “unfinished” look and the effect of the pencil, the use of hatching, especially in the eye socket holes, and ‘sketchy’ appearance is aesthetically pleasing to me.
This piece is size A3 and was created in pencil. I decided to sketch the entire photo, after my previous mini studies. The composition shows a girl holding a skull in her hands, more skulls, including a sheep’s skull, and other objects are on the table in front of her. These include, a burnt out candle, burnt down matchsticks and watch at the very foreground. The piece exhibits a very unfinished appearance, I like this. There are details mostly on the figure and skull in her hands, the objects decrease in detail as they travel to the foreground, I have done this to indicate the focus of the composition, the rest of the objects gather around the figure, the lack of detail creates this ‘blurred’ appearance, much like a photograph. I like the skulls in this medium, the thin lines give the imagery of bone, and suggest fragility. I’ve used multiple lines to indicate detail and shadow, the shading represented by hatching. Due to this scratchy, loose technique, the image seems to almost fade in and out, the figures hair disappears into the background, the objects swimming on the cloth on the table as it circles them in loose, curved pencil lines. I think the grayscale suits this image, it sets a melancholy mood, it appears creepier, more desolate and ghostlike along with the wispy application of the pencil. I think this piece dwindles between realism and surrealism, the Vanitas still-life on the table seems a shrine, especially with the candle at the foreground it gives rather “witch” imagery, it seems like an illustration found in a children's book, the girl is the protagonist finding the skull, gazing upon it in uncertainty and wonder.
I decided to do 3 A4 pieces abstracted from elements of different photos in my photoshoot to experiment media and how it effects the subject matter and appearance of the overall piece. This piece was done in black Indian ink on mixed media paper and takes a more illustrative style. This piece started as line-art, I then added depth and tonal value with the ink. I like the effect of washing the ink over the image, and letting it bleed and soak into the paper. The composition is capturing, the skull in the centre of the page, is the focal point, and the hands wrapping around it, the arms twisting from view quite snake-like. This piece has very sinister imagery, especially with the black background behind the skull of the figure’s shirt and the monotone colouring creates a dispiriting mood.
This piece was created in watercolour and takes on the same style as the previous piece, with the line-art and colouring. The composition shows a figure holding a skull above her head, her expression is uneasy as she peers to the right, the skull above her head grins out at the audience. Her arms are decorated with bracelets and chains, suggesting her ties to human ambition and vanity, whilst the skull acts as a memento mori. I chose to use a warm palette for this piece, because the photo is quite warm, with the sunlight and the blonde colouring of the figures hair. I think this also contrasts with the whole idea of Vanitas paintings being gloomy and dark. The yellow background implies a brighter, happier mood, but the composition of the skull and draping jewels suggest a darker allegory. I like this medium, much like the ink I like the way it flows and bleeds into the image, but also the control, I like the way the paint doesn’t smoothly blend but rather dries in stains. This is an unrealistic approach, but I think it has significance and is visually aesthetic.
I created this piece using acrylic paint on mixed media paper. I found this piece more challenging because of the abundance of objects to draw and paint. However, I like how it has turned out. I really enjoyed using this medium. I chose to paint this piece in an expressive way, I think this gave it a rustic, ‘old-fashioned’ look, like looking at an old image through noise in a black and white photograph. I liked being able to apply the paint in thick layers and would like to experiment using a similar painting techniques further.
French’s work tends to focus on the reflection of the conscious and unconscious mind. His pieces are often oil paintings and are a skilful combination of academic realism and surrealism. His use of expressive technique creates a carefree, loose and apparent unfinished appearance presented in abstract forms. This unique combination of figurative realism and vigorous abstraction blurs the fine line between the beautiful and the unsettling, allowing layers of narrative to filter through whilst bringing life and movement to his compositions.
Tom French
Vanitas Oil on canvas 130 x 180cm
Metonymy 1 + 3 Oil on canvas 60x80cm French’s compositions consist of combined imagery, these two pieces intertwine the shapes of figures, their faces and hands in most detail, whilst the rest of their bodies blend and fade into a second image, which appears to make up the shape of a skull. French uses light and tone to apply these contrasting images allowing them to mingle together aesthetically. He also uses this technique of leaving areas blank, the background white of the canvas shining through and making up the lighter areas of the painting, which ultimately makes up the idea of piece being ‘unfinished’. It also brings this sense of evaporating or disappearing to the image, as if the skulls are fading, being shown imprinted softly on the canvas to the viewer as a bad omen, a figure of ones imagination, the people present in the eyes and making up the nose and mouth a morbid flashback. The colouring also gives this effect, an ominous mood. French’s use of drips and wisps of paint soaking gently into the canvas casts a ghostlike atmosphere, combined with the staring skulls, this created an overall haunting mood.
Skull drawing Charcoal on paper, 56 x 76cm
This piece was finished in charcoal, and is one of French’s only other mediums for his compositions. I really like this piece, I like the scratchiness of it, the way the marks are made up of thin lines across the paper, it kind of gives an illusion of trees and forest landscape whilst at the same time exhibits his signature combination of the disembodied human figure inside a skulls eye. I think charcoal is an interesting medium compared to oil paint – I’d like the try out both to see what my compositions would look like. They are both mediums of permanent application, his technique depends a lot on the existence of the white paper behind the medium, as you can see here the lighter areas are created by the paper behind the drawing, however, I think that charcoal would be more approachable than oil paint because it can be erased and seems more malleable. Although, I really like the ‘melting’, wet appearance of oil paint, whilst charcoal gives the appearance of mist and fogginess; both equally as haunting.
Figurative study Nr6 Oil on wood 30 x 30cm Previously, I really enjoyed and liked the result of my acrylic painting of one of my Vanitas photos. I want to create more pieces that have the same effect as that painting, the thick application of paint, and the monochromatic colouring. I also am greatly inspired by Tom French’s work and want to apply his method and medium to my work. To begin, I will attempt to replicate his technique and style myself, similar to these small studies. I like this painting, it appears like an art piece all by itself, despite being of smaller size to some of French’s other works. I like the simplicity of it. This piece also doesn’t showcase French’s signature combining of imagery, but simply exhibits a picture of brushstrokes with a human face smeared across the middle of the canvas. French’s use of mark making and textual approach with the paintbrush makes up most the composition. I really like the layering here, the subtle ghosting of paint atop the bright white of the wood, and then the deepening shades of grey bleeding and dissolving in brushstrokes. French shows a strong understanding of tone and value in his pieces, I especially like his use of the background in his painting, the lighter areas are left pale whilst the shadows are determined by a thick black application of paint, slowly fading in a gradient of greys. I like how the oil paint appears more static and thicker than acrylic, and it has a certain corrosive, bleeding appearance, it looks as if it soaks into the wood.
Before I begin my personal studies experimenting my own compositions in the style of Tom French, I decided to try and take on a composition similar to his using my photographs. Here I have combined three of my photos to create a structure similar to French’s “Metonymy 1 + 3 ” paintings. I created this piece in pencil, focusing on the positioning of each element. The entire piece is the illusion of a skull. The heads of the two figures reside in the eyes of the skull, the arms blending into the nose and the arm of the second figure make up what would be the finger in the original image of the skull.
I especially like it as a pencil sketch, the looseness of the lines and soft shading of the skull eyes and faces, and the way the image fades out into the paper looks appealing. Although I think this piece is quite successful, I didn’t enjoy the rendering of the figures and the skull, I found it difficult to envision the whole piece with this composition, to fully understand how the three images could coincide in one piece.
Here is my first piece attempting to achieve the technique of Tom French’s paintings. This piece was influenced by French’s smaller studies, which consist of mostly mark making and brushstrokes. I painted this piece using oil paint in attempt to attain French’s technique. I found it more challenging than I thought it would be. This piece is done on an A4 canvas board, which I also found difficult using with the oil paint. The composition shows the zoomed in abstraction from my photos of the skull, surrounded by brushstrokes and smeared paint, my effort to create a similar composition to that of French’s smaller study that I looked at previously. I found that the oil paint was applied much thicker than seen in French’s work and I found it difficult to thin it out. There’s also much more of a grey tone in my painting, the dark black lines of French’s work is missing.
This is my second piece experimenting French’s technique. I decided to try and combine different images among the brushstrokes similar to French’s small studies. I like this piece more than the previous one, but I think it became a little crowded. I realise that oil paint is extremely permanent. I found it difficult to Identify the areas that should have been the white background, instead I painted the white with paint but it came out greyer, making it difficult to get the lighter tones, and also the darkest black tone. I find that my use of oil paint is entirely premature and is in need of further study. French has a way of treating oil paint like watercolour, the sense of soaking and bleeding into the surface. To move forward I want to experiment oil paint further, fully grasp its abilities before attempting to paint in French’s style again.
To understand oil paint better, I decided to create these swatches on A3 cartridge paper. To create these I used different brushes and different amounts of paint and paint stripper. Here I could see what each variable did to the appearance of the paint on the paper. I found that oil paint is actually quite controllable despite its permanent effects, it stains but can be ‘watered’ down and blended together, creating deeper or lighter tones. It has a watercolour-like tendency, when used with paint stripper. I’ve learned that paint must be applied specifically, and can be built up in layers due to the fact that the paint doesn’t dry instantly like acrylic or watercolour, this means I can thicker strokes of paint to lighter splashes of paint, much to the rules of wet on wet painting.
Here is my third attempt at French’s technique. I found this piece much more freeing after my oil paint tests. This piece is size A4 on cartridge paper. I started with a large brushstroke across the page and atop this I painted the figures face. I found that this worked but also didn’t match French’s technique. Although the portrait is shaped and made up of the paint in an expressive nature, much like French’s figures, the build up of grey colouring still exists due to my own error. I still found it difficult deciding what areas of the painting needed to stay untouched by paint to create that bright white lighting effect of the paper behind the image. This was much due to not allowing time for the paint to dry before applying the white paint on top to give a brighter application against the midtones.
This is my fourth piece influenced by Tom French’s work. This piece is A4 paper and, again, completed in oil paint. I think I’ve finally grasped French’s technique with this painting. For this piece I really thought about mark making and how the composition would be effected by it, before actually painting it. I identified areas of the photo that could be painted through impressions and brushstrokes to give a sense of something, an atmospheric approach to the painting rather than an attempt to copy the photo in all realism. Notice here how the figures hair has been replaced by simple thick brushstrokes, you get the shape and essence of her hair but it is made up of components, layering of paint and staining. I quite like this piece, it has a very ‘ocean’ feel to it, possibly due to the lighthouse. The figure appears to be staring off out to sea at the lighthouse, the brushstrokes around the lighthouse also give impressions of curved waves. This, and the lighter areas of paint soaking into the paper suggest this watery, fleeting effect, as if the painting will soon my washed and dissolved away. I think I really achieved French’s tonal qualities, especially on the figures portrait, I found that only subtle touches of grey and black were needed to define the shadows and the light was realised by the white paper.
This painting is an almost square piece on mixed media paper. It’s size 30 x 29.7 cm and is another investigation of oil paint. I wanted to experiment with composition more, this piece was inspired by French’s other smaller studies, the ones in which he has repeated faces amongst brushwork. For this composition I used one of my photos where the figure is sat with a poster of another portrait above her head. I imagined this as two separate floating profiles, adjacent to each other, transfixed in space on the paper. I think this piece is successful, I specifically like the hair of the figure in the foreground, the way the paint seemed to pool and dry at the bottom of the brushstroke, the way it has this dripping motion down the face. I also really like the mismatched brushstrokes around the second portrait, the appear feathery, creates soft, birdlike imagery. I like the figures opposite profiles, I think this is significant in the piece, it ties the whole composition together. The expressions of both portraits create a dramatic atmosphere, along with the intense vigour of brushwork and monochromatic palette, there’s this solemn mood, a sense of thoughtfulness and concentration in both the portraits that suggest narrative to the viewer.
I really liked Tom French’s charcoal piece, so I decided to experiment with the medium myself. This piece is sized 31 x 29.7 cm on paper. Prior to this piece I did some charcoal tests on paper, copying and applying French’s technique to better understand the medium before creating my own piece. I found using charcoal very freeing because it allows layering and smudging but it’s also just as permanent as oil paint. I don’t think I achieved French’s style, something I noticed and liked about his use of charcoal was the way it seemed ghost-like and faded, my piece doesn’t have the same qualities, it seems harsher and ‘overdone’. I realise that I needed to take a softer approach to even out the tones of grey versus the black areas. However, I do like the larger areas of shading, I like the effect it has, it seems dusty and faded. For this piece I tried to combine two of my photos again, as French does, you can see the composition is made up of the girls profile and the skull joining across the page. I think this composition would have been more successful if I had put less emphasis on the skull, alloweing it to fade into the background more as a ghostly figure behind the girl.
This piece is A3 on mixed media paper. For this piece I tried to find a way to combine two images together, significant to French’s work, and also imply my first visual intention at the beginning of my studies: ‘time and vanity’. This piece is a smaller imagining of what my final piece could be, this way of bringing back the objects on the table in my photos, of the Vanitas still life paintings, and also incorporate the enticing portraiture and human structure in French’s work. This piece is, yet again, oil paint and I think I achieved a ‘Tom French inspired’ technique, I really like how the surreal aspects of the painting turned out. I like the vertical brushstrokes which make up the hair and the black mass of paint that makes up the figures outfit, the drips that cascade down the page. I think these are specific qualities I need to keep when creating my final piece. However, I found it difficult to paint in the Vanitas objects over this dark paint, the skull at the bottom of the page appears murky grey and doesn’t show the brilliant white of the paper behind it like the figures face and the skull atop her head. This creates a lack of continuity in the painting, it doesn’t translate very well to the viewer. I must keep this in mind when creating my final piece, to allow space for the still life, as it is an important aspect of the painting.
This is my final piece. It was created in oil paint on size A2 cartridge paper. Here I have explored my previous smaller study larger and in more detail and precision. This composition shows a girl holding a skull above her head, her clothing painted expressively, fading into a black background for a group of objects including skulls, a burnt out candle, books, ukulele, seashells, and an ornamental lighthouse atop stacked books. This composition is made up of two my photos from the Vanitas inspired photoshoot, I chose to combine two photos together in my painting because I was greatly influenced by the works of Tom French and the way he creates these illusive paintings that mix imagery to blur the lines between realism and surrealism. Here I have also used my practiced knowledge of his technique alongside my own style to create a response to the Vanitas paintings of the Dutch Golden Age. I felt it was important to bring back the element of still life in my final piece, because that is essentially what the Vanitas paintings were all about. Prior to this piece, my oil painting studies consisted largely of portraiture, I found for my final piece I wanted to create a painting that existed of both portraiture and still life. I thought about copying one of my photos in this medium, as they do exhibit both these qualities and stand with quite a lot of integrity as responses to the Vanitas paintings, as Kevin Best so artistically showcased in his recreation of Davis Bailly’s “Self-Portrait with Vanitas Symbols�. However, I found that the combination of imagery fading into one another here in this piece really emphasises this illusion of transience and things being momentary. You can see how the figures clothing drips down the page, behind and over the objects, they appear solid yet are in this illusive state of being washed away, melting down the image along with the dripping black attire of the figure.
I think this piece really ties together my project, the monochrome tone creates the gloomy mood produced by the Vanitas paintings, and the expressive style used with the dark brushstrokes of oil paint create a dark, haunting atmosphere. The use of staining and mark making adds to the ‘ghost-like’ appearance of the piece, which is what I personally liked a lot in French’s work. I also think I kept the arrogant, playful mood of the figure in my photoshoot, the boastful character, unafraid and taunting at the idea of death whilst balancing the skull atop her head in absolute mockery. And yet, there is this cruel reality formed, due to the painting technique and crowd of objects at her chest, a flashback, an ominous reminder. I think I achieved the idea of memento mori in this painting, it acts as a reflection to the viewer, to identify with the figure in the painting, who is unaware of the reality in front of her.
Bibliography: https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/u/0/asset/allegory-of-vanity/2AEBd_YfJdcAvg https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/harmen-steenwyck-still-life-an-allegory-of-the-vanities-ofhuman-life https://valentinagurarie.wordpress.com/tag/david-bailly/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/kevsyd/ http://www.thearttribune.com/Death-Comes-to-the-Table-by.html http://tomfrenchart.com/#home
https://tomfrench.blog/about/