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Dada and Surrealism Abstract Expressionism (1960s) and Pop Art Postmodernism and Deconstructivism
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The first picture that I chose to look at is called Princess Takiyasha Summons a Skeleton Spectre to Frighten Mitsukuni by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. This picture has always fascinated me because of the bold block colours and evil looking skeleton. The princess, Takivasha is summoning the demon using a scroll in order to scare the other man in the picture who she was set up to marry against her will. This particular picture details part of a Japanese legend and the artist of the piece, Kunyoshi, produced it as part of a series of western prints using wood and canvas to print on. Looking at the picture, I really love how sinister the skeleton appears when he is crawling out of a black void. The artist has used certain darker inks to layer the picture to make the skeleton even more creepy and unnatural as it’s eyes seem more three dimensional and grating. The teeth of the skeleton are misshapen and crooked making it seem older and more dangerous. The skeleton takes up most of the space in the picture instead of the lady who summoned him or the ‘warrior’ who is being attacked to make the creature seem even more unnatural and dangerous to the tiny people. I have always loved the Japanese art style because their lines are very bold yet not overpowering and looking at very old Japanese art, the stories depicted in them, like in this picture, are often extremely interesting and unique.
First Picture:
The Next picture is called the Temptation of Sir Anthony by Pieter Bruegel This picture portrays monsters rampaging around a town wreaking havoc among the locals. I love the attention to detail in this piece. Each individual monster it extremely well thought out and beautifully created. The whole picture was created with Indian Ink on paper in 1556 which allowed the artist to go into incredible detail when creating the monsters and each individual one has a unique shape which reflects the artists creativity and attention to detail. The strokes of ink which detail the picture are incredibly-well-thought-out and as the whole piece was created using the same colour of ink, the artist has had to create shadows and highlights by shading and leaving certain areas of the picture blank.
My Sketch In my own drawing I wanted to reflect the shading which I saw in the Temptation of Sir Anthony when I created my own piece. I had initially planned to create lots of tiny monsters in the mans hair but unfortunately I ran out of time when I was sketching but I tried using pencils to create the same effect as the face in the picture. I used a HB pencil and tried shading in certain areas of the face where I thought the sun would shine and highlight the cheeks and nose. I applied more pressure to the pencil when I had to create darker points in the face and rubbed out section that I accidentally smudge under my hand like in the eyeballs. I was trying to create the effect of having a creepy face with monsters dangling down over the characters face like in the Temptation of Sir Anthony and in terms of making the face I think I made it look a bit sinister by shading certain areas under the eyes and mouth and the nose.
Liberation of Andromeda Piero di Cosimo was a renaissance painter who was born in 1462, 10 years after Leonardo da Vinci and was highly inspired by his work which you can see in his realistic paintings. Cosimo was also a very eccentric man and in 1480, was reportedly called a ‘madman’ due to his unusual behaviour and overwhelming love for plants and animals, as you can see from the monster which looks like it has been constructed from spare parts.
Light The light is brightest at the centre of the painting where Perseus is situated. This enhances his vision by drawing the viewers attention to Perseus who is fighting the dragon. The pose in which Persius holds is threatening and powerful to accentuate how he is going to kill the monster and rescue Andromeda.
In the bottom right corner, musicians and a rescued Andromeda celebrate the rescue and Andromeda’s new potential marriage, the figures are seen dancing with their expensive garments reflecting the light and if you look closley, you will see a cameo from Piero di Cosimo who is the old man looking directly at the artist’s viewpoint.
The character of Perseus is seen in the centre of the picture. He is violently attacking a sea monster in the centre of the painting yet in terms of perspective, Perseus isn’t actually at the front of the painting. That place belongs to Andromeda’s father, who is wearing a luxurious turbann and who Cosimo has painted looking away from a potentially violent scene of his daughter being eaten by the monster. Andromeda’s mother also weakly cowers in the bottom left corner. Both of her parents are portrayed to have lavish, rich clothes to express their wealthy status and the rich shades of blue and red also show how they can afford to dress glamorously. The branches of coral at the bottom of the water are related directly to Ovid’s Metamorphosis and links to how Perseus lay the head of a slain Medusa – which had the power to petrify anything it came into contact with, including the surrounding red coral. This showed Cosimo’s education and knowledge of the book Ovid’s Metamorphoses in which the origional story is written.
In the corner of the scene you can also see Perseus witnessing Andromeda for the first time and immediately falling in love with her, so much so that in Ovid’s, it is said that he forgot to fly. Perseus is dressed in opulent armour and in the background of the piece you can see how Cosimo has used pastel, lighter colours to create a faraway landscape which directly contrasts the violent slaying of the beast in the foreground of the image.-
The Death of Marat
By Jacques-Louis David
Neoclassicism 1750-1800s
Neoclassicism, or New Classicism, is an art form which was the dominant art movement from the late 18th to the middle of the 19th century which was heavily inspired by the ancient Greeks and Romans from 400-100bc, where the art style was called classicism. Figures and poses were copied in neoclassicism from the original classical sources. The art style was championed by the German scholar named Johann Winklemann, an archaeologist and philosopher, who wrote a book in 1764 called The History of Art and Antiquities. In said book, he referred to the neoclassical style as classicism with increased 'noble simplicity and 'calm grandeur'. Winkelman also wrote a text called Reflections on the Painting and Sculpture of the Greeks which extolled the beauty of the Apollo Belveder in particular and, with Rome at the center of the movement. New discoveries of art in Pompeii in the 1700s also influenced this style of art. The compositions of this style revolved around order, clarity and reason where the narratives within the painting have a strong sense of grandeur, heroism and martyrdom, such as in 'The Death of Marat', David has painted in a neoclassical style in order to use the painting as propaganda to promote the Jacobins and to show the malicious intent of Charlotte Corday.
In the self-portrait to the right, David is using the neoclassical style to evoke feelings of innocence in the painting. David was in prison at this point in his life due to his involvement with the violent Jacobins and so he wanted the message of the painting to be that he was completely innocent and that he was working for the greater good. David's face looks nonchalant and youthful in the painting, with smooth skin and the background of the painting is light which has connotations of innocence and purity. He is wearing a white shirt to accentuate this within the painting.
Jacques-Louis David
Who was Marat? Marat was a martyr to the revolution. He was murdered by a royalist named Charlotte Corday who believed in the monarchy and who lied to Morat in order to gain entrance into his home. Marat holds the letter in his hand which David has painted to show how terrible Corday is to have murdered an innocent man in his bathtub who had no way to fight back, no way to defend himself from the attack and therefore Corday's malicious intent contrasts with Marat's innocence and goodness creating propaganda against the monarchy. Marat worked for the Revolution as the editor of a magazine called 'The Friend of The People' which spread revolutionist ideas across France. Marat also supported the execution of Louis XVI in 1973.
Callander On the wooden box towards the right of the dead Marat, this was created to symbolize the new calendar system . The Jacobeans were trying to instate a new start for France after the revolution and so on the box by Marat's right hand, the calendar reads year two instead of 1793. This replacing of the old world with a new republic was all part of the revolution. Today, we use the metric system which was created as part of the revolution, being more logical and less about the Church which was seen to be illogical and superstitious.
Murder Weapon In The Death of Marat, David has included the knife which Charlotte Corday used to stab Marat with, leaving a bloody wound on the ideally perfect Marat. In reality, the murder would've been far more violent and quite frankly messy but the simple knife is seen on the bottom left with a streak of red blood at the tip. This imagery was used to show how it was mallicious murder that led Marat to his demise and not an accidental drowning which the painting could be interpreted as. David has drawn the weapon on the floor instead of embedded in Marat's side to not draw attention away from Marat himself so that the viewer should only focus on the martyr.
Marat is seen to be ideally beautiful in the painting. He is free of any blemishes or skin condition and his eyes are shut in a way which could simply be sleep; the only way which we know of his grizzly demise is because of the knife in the corner of the painting. This innocence is only enhanced by a chiaroscuro enlightening his slacked features and the background is dark to draw attention to the foreground where the deceased Marat lies. You cannot see Charlotte Corday, even though we know that she was present during the time of Marat's last breath, because David wanted to only focus on the martyr to the Revolutionary cause and not to draw attention away from the reason why the painting was created
The Execution of Lady Grey By Paul Delaroche
Paul Delaroche
Paul Delaroche was one of the leading pupils of an artist named Gros. He was known for using academic drawing like Ingres which meant that he planned out every aspect of The Execution of Lady Jane Grey. Delaroche had experience with the theatre and through this influence we can see that in The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, the characters are portrayed on a stage of sorts with straw on the bottom of the executioners block. The scene resembles a stage production where a dramatic execution is being acted out. Delaroche uses oil paint in this image to create a hyper-realistic image. The almost larger-than-life figures would make the viewer slightly intimidated by the executioner and empathetic of the queen because she would look like a real person and wouldn't just be 'trapped' within the canvas.
Context: The execution of Lady Jane Grey was a 19th century painting created by Paul Delaroche and is an interpretation of what happened during the execution of Lady Jane Grey, the nine-day queen. Delaroche wanted the viewer of the painting to be able to sympathise with the sixteen-year-old queen who was executed as a 'scapegoat' by supporters of 'bloody-Mary'. The painting was created to be used as a 'salon' painting and was displayed being 246 x 296cm, making the figures within it life size so that the Lady Jane is seen almost popping out of the painting where it is displayed in the National Gallery. During the 16th century, there was two main Religions; The Protestants who were led by a man named Martin Luther, which questioned the traditional values of the Church, and the Church of England, which was created when Henry VII wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon so that he would be able to wed Anne Boleyn (because he needed an heir) which had the monarch, Henry as the leader. The Nine Day Queen, or Lady Jane Grey was the youthful great granddaughter of Henry VI during the 16th century. After the death of Henry VI, the English throne was left to Henry's only son Edward who had an advisor The Duke of Northumberland, a fiercely Protestant man who didn't want the throne to be passed to the Catholic Mary Tudor. He needed a way to keep the country Protestant. After Edward died in 1553 from a bout of tuberculosis, the Duke of Northumberland chose the scapegoat of making his son's 16-year-old wife the protestant queen of England. Unfortunately this ruling only lasted for nine days because Mary Tudor's supporters despised Lady Jane being ruler so in 1554, Lady Jane was dragged to a courtyard and brutally decapitated along with her husband and six days later, his father. In this particular painting, Paul Delaroche is implying that in murdering the queen was a terrible sin. The Lady is painted in white to show her innocence, a chiaroscuro enlightens her as if she were an angel and the life-size figures of the painting make it seem like the viewers of the painting are really in the room witnessing the beheading alongside the mourning ladies in waiting.
Classicism Classicism is an art movement which focuses more on traditional forms of art similar to Greek styles of symmetry and idealized perfectionism where the art forms follow an elegant, precise flow. A lot of the paintings created were of male torsos with bold, curvaceous forms like Michelangelo's David. The art style was developed in Rome in the late 15th century and was particularly widespread to renaissance painters at the time such as Michelangelo, Correggio and Raphael. In the 18th and 19th century the art style was revived in neoclassicism.
The Salon The French Salon was an exhibition of art that was open for all people to go and look at various art pieces much like we might go and see a film in the cinema today. Art was chosen by a board of judges and so in order to gain an entrance into the salon, art had to be incredible. Lots of the paintings displayed in salons were huge, spanning six or seven meters across because in order to entertain the public, it had to be interesting. Some of the favorite styles of art included neo-classical and romantic art and often historic events were painted to educate people and remain relevant. In the case of this picture, aspects of both neo-classical and classical art forms are shown and the painting itself is of a historical event. Paul Delaroche is one of the celebrated French artists of his time. His work shows aspects of both Romanticism and Classicism, culminating in a larger-thanlife salon painting which is 246 by 297cm large. The executioner within the painting is in a contrapposto pose for example on the left, which the artist has used to show his powerful masculinity when he murders the 16-year-old queen. This is the artist showing his opinion that a defenceless, innocent woman was murdered in cold blood by a strong, muscular man. Also, the stance is often seen in ancient classical art and is demonstrating Delaroche's academic training under Gros
Components The painting is split up into three main sections, with the ladies in waiting in the first section, the Lady in the second and the executioner in the third. The ladies set the theme of the painting giving it a look of despair. The lady is in the center of the painting because she is the focal point and the executioner is at the other side. We see the painting before the action and not during and yet it is obvious what is about to happen due to the fact that the executioner swings his axe behind him
The man behind the Lady Jane is John Brydges, 1st Baron Chanos who was a lieutenant of the Tower at the time of Jane's execution. He shows an almost fartherly tenderness towards Jane. The intensely dark areas of the painting are important in creating the drama. The darker colours are common in the upper section of the painting, the dress of one of the ladies, the cloak of the baron and the cloth that covers the executioner's arms and against this darkness, the Lady's pallid flesh and white dress are the first thing that the viewer sees upon looking at the painting. The most intense patches of whites are on Jane's blindfold and the area of her skirt just between the block and her hand.
Looking at the Painting... The young queen's ladies in waiting are in uncomfortable, twisted and wretched poses. The look on one of the maid's faces is a look of pure anguish and the other lady throws herself against a wall in despair. They are in agony over the young queen's death, preparing to mourn together wearing matching orange and green, velvet dresses matching the late queen's. The reason why Delaroche has included these ladies is to emphasize the solemn mood of the painting. Delaroche wanted the onlooker to feel sadness at the young queen's death and to empathize with the ladies in waiting.
The background of the painting was created to enhance the young queen. It's darker than the foreground meaning that the viewers of the painting within a salons' attention would be immediately focused on the ethereal figure at the center of the piece who is dressed in white. The whole composition of the painting makes the background look like the backdrop to a theatrical stage. This is perhaps because the artist wanted to show how the execution was created purely as a power play, that it was set up for viewing as an example to the people and other members of the monarchy to not try and retain power from bloody Mary.
The executioner's trousers are red, the colour of blood which has violent connotations and is perhaps foreshadowing relating to the Lady Jane's execution. He holds an extremely powerful and almost threatening pose towards the young queen as she stumbles blindly forward There is a clear contrast with the executioner's red-themed clothes and the white dress that the Lady wears and this is perhaps the artist representing that the queen was innocent, she was good and her life was cut too short.
The characters within the painting are dressed very differently. The main figures that the viewer's attention is drawn too are dressed in starkly different attire. Whilst the Lady Jane wears a long, silk white dress, the executioner wears violently coloured red trousers. The lady's dress is sheer white which has connotations of innocence and virginity. This is the artist's view that the 16-year-old queen was both pure, young and wrongly-executed. The glowing features created by the chiaroscuro make the young queen look like an angel but the outstretched hands are an indication of her upcoming demise as she blindly searches for the wooden block where her face will be held upon.
The Raft of the Medusa. By Géricault
Romanticism: During the 18th century, artists, musicians and writers developed a new movement allowing emotions to be expressed through certain art forms for example despair and happiness. The central belief was in the value of one's individual experience, moving away from the rationalization of science and looking more into the unexplainable. In neoclassicism, a lot of the artworks are physically possible whereas in romanticism, anything can happen even the ridiculous and the supernatural. The romantic movement allowed desperation to be reflected through Gericault's 'The Raft of The Medusa'. In this piece, characters seem to be reaching out towards the salvation of a raft upon the horizon. The spark of hope at the top of the painting is only enhanced by a chiaroscuro enlightening the ragged figures towards the top of the painting. And yet the twisted mass of bodies shows a real-life nightmare that the people onboard the raft faced with despair shown on the faces of the deceased
Message
Context: Théodore Géricault was a French painter who exerted a substantial influence on the movement of Romantic art in France. Géricault exerted a passion for art which is reflected in his paintings, such as 'The Charging Chasseur' which reflects Géricault's passion for horses and expressing movement within his artistic interpretations. One of Géricault's greatest masterpieces which he created during his life is 'The Raft of The Medusa' which depicts the aftermath of a French shipwreck whereby the survivors were reduced to cannibalism and murder in order to survive the 13-day passage.
This particular painting was created to reflect a political message, showing that the captain, who gained his position due to connections from the Bourbon Louis XVIII Restoration, and his senior officers were incompetent and inhumane when they abandoned their crew on the threadbare raft without a care as to whether they would survive or not – severing the rope because the raft was weighing their lifeboat down. The painting was greeted with distaste from the French government of the time because of the direct hatred shown towards the captain, therefore, Géricault took the painting to be viewed in England where it was received with great success in 1820. Géricault moved to England after this and produced a number of paintings of Horses and Jockeys, as this was his passion. The Raft of the Medusa is seen as macabre, showing decomposing, lifeless bodies and severed limbs and yet the composition of the painting embraces a dramatic and passionate stance, making the dying men seem heroic and powerful as they reach towards a passing ship on the horizon.
Imagery
Géricault also studied drowned limbs to find out what the exact consistency of colour that he needed for human flesh due to the fact that he wanted the piece to be as authentic as possible. He studied in great detail even producing coloured studies of humans decapitated limbs which he received from the morgue. He wanted to create the exact same details of the limbs to show the corpses of the drowned men who were on the raft at the beginning of the 13-day period. This imagery was created to shock the onlooker of the painting. The painting itself was created almost larger than life to place the onlooker onto the raft itself, into the horror that the men onboard were experiencing. To the left of the painting there is a huge wave. There is a contrast between the left and top-right sides of the painting because we can see the huge wave about to potentially engulf the raft and then we can see the race towards hope towards the top-right of the painting. The painting itself is composed of two pyramids. The perimeter of the large mast on the left of the canvas forms the first and the dying figures in the foreground of the painting form the base and the glimpse at hope at the top of the painting forms the peak. This draws the viewer’s attention to the center of the canvas and then, their gaze is drawn to the bodies. Two other diagonal lines are used to heighten the dramatic tension of the painting, one following the mast and the other following the huge wave, leading the viewer’s gaze to the tension of the wave which is about to engulf the raft. Another line leads to the reaching figures and the Argus on the horizon.
The colours in the image are dark and harsh to show an oncoming storm. This represents the onboard sailors hopelessness, drawing attention to the oncoming wave from the left and to the sailors waving at the top of the painting to the Medusa's sister ship which is a tiny dot on the horizon, again showing how hopeless they feel, translating this desperation at being rescued onto the viewer.
In the far corner of the painting you can see the sister ship of The Medusa, The Argus. We as onlookers can feel the people aboard the raft's despair and the ship is so small that it is barely noticable. They are so close to rescue that they can see it, thus the frantic waving. Evoking emotion like this was common in many Romantic paintings as the viewer can really empathize with the characters onboard. The piece is an epic representation of human desperation and mystery due to the real-life pain that the survivors told Géricault about.
In the right hand corner of the painting you can see a bloodied axe which Géricault used to represent the fact that the men reverted to cannibalism in order to survive the raft journey and the axe was used to murder their fellow passengers. After asking members of the 10 surviving men of The Raft, Géricault discovered that in order to survive for thirteen days, the members of the raft killed each other and ate the dead
The ship, Medusa, was a ship which was part of a small fleet which were trying to reclaim Senegal from the British. There was about 400 people aboard the ship and when the Medusa itself ran aground, there was not enough lifeboats for all of the people onboard. The ship's carpenter created a makeshift raft that the soldiers and settlers could sail in and the slightly wealthier members of the crew, including the captain, were set to tow the raft. Unfortunately, very soon into the journey, it became apparent that the added weight of the raft was weighing the main boat down excessively so the life-rafts cut the ties joining the two vessels together. The painting itself is huge, 16x23 feet which is relevant because at the time that the painting was created, huge paintings such as this were reserved for importance showing heroism and gracious intent, and yet this painting does not show any acts of heroism and instead portrays a violent struggle for life which the men and woman onboard faced. The men are all one fluid body which shows links to the Elevation of the Cross in terms of the composition.
Géricault planned out the piece in the same way which painters of classical artwork might create it by creating sketches of the survivors. The painting is exaggerated to make the scene seem more dramatic. Géricault interviewed the survivors of the raft to discover about the actual experience to try and make the scene realistic. Géricault even remade a scale model of the raft to try and gain an understanding of the scale that the raft was and to see how cramped the people onboard were and he made miniature clay models of the crew in order to see the positioning.
There is an extreme sense of the theme despair in the bottom left corner of the canvas with water-bloated bodies and dying men. In particular there is a father mourning the death of his fallen son, the body showing clear links to the Roman style of creating the human form
The corner of the raft is foreshortened and tilted towards the viewer. Géricault has carefully thought about this composition and has placed the raft like this to draw the viewer into the raft and to encourage the viewer to feel empathetic towards the men aboard the raft
The characters in the painting have been based on ancient Greek and Roman sculptures especially the studies of the nude form that many artists had to study at academies. The figures themselves are layered out in a twisted pyramid formation. On the original raft, the figures would have been completely unorganized whereas in Géricault's painting, the figures are entirely composed and their positioning has been thought out very extensively. This is because the artist wanted to convey a message with the painting and in order to achieve this, he made the painting itself anti-heroic. There is no hero in the painting to save the men, the French Captain would be the villain, abandoning his men
Liberty Leading the People By EugĂŠne Delacroix
Context
The rebel fighters in the painting depicted in the foreground are from a range of different classes for example there is one man with a pistol in his waist, with a shirt and no jacket who is representative of the lower class. The pin in his hat is to show that he has revolutionary sympathies. To the man's right we see a student from the prestigious École Polytechnique wearing the traditional bicorne and we also see a man wearing a top hat who is representative of the bourgeoisie, clutching a hunting rifle instead of a pistol. This gathering of the classes is used by Delacroix to represent the fact that the Revolutionary fight was not just for the poor, but also for the middle classes. The people are being united under a common distaste for the Royalist rulers, with a common fierceness in their eyes.
Liberty is depicted as both an allegorical goddess-figure and a robust woman. She strides forward with intent over a pile of the deceases towards the viewer. The painting itself was created to be a marker to the end of the Age of Enlightenment, as many see the end of the Revolution to be the start of the Romantic era
The Revolution was fought by the French people. It was a period of far-reaching social and political upheaval that lasted from 1789 until 1799 and was partially carried forward by Napoleon during the last expansion of the French empire. The battles within France were effectivley between the Royalists and the Rebelling anti-Royalists. In the case of this painting, the revolution was one that ousted the reactionary King Charles x and installed on the throne the more moderate king Louis-Philippe
The painting itself was bought by the French Government in 1831 for 3,000 francs so that Louis-philippe of the revolution but due to its political message, it had to be removed and was returned to the artist in 1832. By the time that Delacroix painted Liberty Leading the People, he was an established teacher at the Romantic School in French Painting. Born during the age of enlightenment, Delacroix gave way to the ideas and style of Romanticism. He rejected what he was taught at the academy and used brighter colour and free-motion brushstrokes for example in 'Liberty...', you can see the artist's hand.
Large canvases such as this one were usually reserved for paintings of Historical events so it was relevant that this one was created so large because this event was one that the people of France encountered in the 1800s. The picture itself depicts a figure of 'liberty' rising towards the viewer and encouraging revolutionaries to charge forward on the streets of Paris, across the barricade which had been created using the very cobblestones that had previously lined the streets of Paris. Originally the barricades were used as defensive positions which impended the movements of the Royalist troops but in this case, they are used to represent the desperate push forward which was intended by the Revolutionaries, who are depicted overthrowing the conservative government and crawling over the barriers which they placed. Liberty is encouraging the man to fight even more aggressively for these values The idea of liberty is personified as a woman wearing a Phrygian cap and with her breasts exposed as both imagery of the idea that the wish for both liberty and freedom inspired the men to push forward, and a reference to the Roman and Greek art forms, often detailing the female form with the breasts visible. This is also a reference to the birth of Democracy in ancient Greece and the Roman Republican tradition. Liberty's face is also shown in a classical profile pose which the artist would've learned about at the academy and which was used in Roman and Ancient Greek art. She turns to call the rebels forward into the fight and to encourage them over the barricade.
You can see in the top right corner the cathedral of Notre Dame. In the 1830s, Notre Dame was a recognizable symbol of the conservative rule but in Liberty Leading the People, the tricolour flag is detailed flying from the top of the building as well as in 'Liberty's' hands. This detail is to symbolize that the Revolutionaries were slowly taking over the conservatively-run elements of Paris A younger school boy holds two pistols on the right side of the canvas and joins in with the seeming ruckus of the piece, mouth open and eyes seemingly wild. He wears a cap and satchel and perhaps was included to show the youth of the revolution. Below him, two dead soldiers who have evidentially given their lives for the revolution. This imagery is used by Delacroix to show the casualties who were unfortunately killed or injured during the fight. This takes away from the sense of victory that the painting gives you.
In the lower left, a man lies, dead only wearing a silk nightshirt, his lower half completely uncovered and one single sock on one of his feet, it appears that he has been dragged from his bed by Royalists and murdered. His arm is foreshortened and his body seems to move into the viewer's space. All of the dead and wounded are placed into the viewer's space by Delacroix in order to place the viewer into the men's world, placing forward the violence in an unidealized way to the viewer, showing how gruesome the whole revolution was.
The scene is organised into a classicizing pyramid to organize some of the chaos of the scene, creating a sense of order. The artist has used loose brushwork and bright colours which makes the piece look busy; the blues of the sky contrasts with the darker browns of the piece. We can see the distinct hand of the artist as he paints on the face, the brushwork is loose which is representative of the action which the artist is painting
The Execution of The Defenders of Madrid
Context: The Peninsular War In 1808, Napoleon Bonaparte was the First Consul of France. During the 18th century, the French revolution swept across France, separating the French Nation and in 1802, the Treaty of Amiens made France into a Sovereign Republic, almost neutralising the continents but in 1803 the War of the Third Coalition which meant that France and England fought in the Battle of Trafalgar, whereby Britain destroyed France. During the battle, France and Spain were allies but Spain felt trapped by the French ruler Napoleon but as they had been allies for over a decade, they couldn't really abandon France to fight in the many battles which Napoleon had entered into. In 1807, Napoleon became the Emperor of France and invaded lots of different countries, gaining a menagerie of satellite states across the world. Despite attempting to many times, Napoleon was unfortunately unable to invade Britain because of the English Channel and the fact that British Naval forces were extremely competent. It became impossible to get across to the land. Instead, Napoleon blocked the trades across from Britain to French ports and in retaliation the British only traded across to Portugal which remained neutral. In 1807, France invaded Portugal and little retaliation occurred. Spain had to take part in the wars and battles that Napoleon was wreaking but they were not at all happy about it, at this point King Charles the 6th instated Manuel De Godoy as the Prime Minister but the Spanish leader Ferdinand the 7th didn't like him because he was believed to be pro-French and Napoleon didn't like him because he thought that he was pro-British and so in March 1808 there was a mutiny in Spain. Napoleon took advantage of this weakness in Spain and tricked the Prime Minister and Ferdidnand 7th into going to France for negotiations but then promptly arrested them and left the Spanish leadership to his brother Joseph Bonaparte 1st.
This leadership change caused the people of Madrid to have a huge uprising over having a French man leading the country which involved a huge amount of bloody, violent, guerrilla fighting which is what is depicted in Goya's paintings. Eventually, after many vicious and blood-filled battles, Arthur Wesley (who was superseded by a French general Dalyrimple) took 30,000 Spanish soldiers into Portugal to try and quell the fighting, and during the battle of Miral, they managed to sign the Convention of Cintra meaning that the French were safely able to evacuate. After this, Sir John Moore took over command of Spain, driving Joseph, Napoleon's brother, out but eventually even he was forced to evacuate and this led to even more fighting across France. Many of these battles were witnessed by Goya and the demons he witnessed during the back-and-forth fighting influenced much of his art but unfortunatley stuck with him for the remainder of his life, relating to his early death and his insanity...
The Second of May 1808
The Second of May depicts the beginning of the uprising when the Mamelukes of the French Imperial Guard were ordered to charge and subdue the rioting citizens and is a companion to the Third of May, another painting by Goya. The painting itself depicts a twisted mass of fighting which shows how close the actual battle was.
Goya Francisco Goya was a Spanish painter who was employed by Charles IV and the Spanish Royal Family to paint a picture of them, after this picture was painted, Spain fell into political social corruption which unfortunately ended with the invasion of Spain. When Spain was invaded by the French Armies of Napoleon, a 62year-old Goya was employed by the new French rulers and due to this fact, he had to remain quiet about the horrors of war which he saw for example, during the tragic events of the 2nd and the 3rd of May when the Spanish population rose against the French. When Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, Goya was finally able to paint some of the horrific images which he witnessed during France's occupation of Spain and so, in 1814, Goya set about showing the horrific violence of war.
The painting is big; 8ft and 9inches high and 11.4ft across. This is oil on canvas because it is a substantial piece of work. The picture is almost split in half with the contrast between light and dark, the figure illuminated by the torch. The tones of the painting are earth-tones and the brushwork is visible due to the oil paint used and due to this, the artist has been able to blur the work to create motion for example in the man's sleeves and eyebrows we can see the visible strokes which gives us the idea that the man has just raised his arm. The men seen in the painting who are fighting for the Spanish side have their faces visible to show their humanity and their unwillingness to die, whereas the men who turn their guns on the Spanish have now expressions visible to take away from that humanity and make them seem soulless to the viewer and in murdering Spanish men without an ounce of sympathy, we see how Goya is portraying them as unempathetic. This character is kneeling down, and yet he is the same height as the other characters in the painting. This largerthan-life character is representative of the Spanish power Christ is depicted on the cross in spread-armed pose with stigmata on his hands which is visually similar to the pose which the yellow-trouserwearing man is in. This is representative of the fact that the man is supposed to live on for eternity, he will be resurrected after the execution and yet this time he will come back stronger than the French armies. This is Goya supporting the Spanish and depicting his distaste for the French.
On May 2nd, hundreds of Spanish rebels attacked the French who were in Madrid and on the 3rd they were lined up and executed. Goya, who had shown sympathies of the French in the past could not forgive the French for the violent massacre of his people and this death mad a profound impact on the artist. He commemorated both of the days in paintings and you can see the man in the yellow trousers and white shirt in each of the paintings. In the painting, French The figure is dressed in yellow soldiers line up and white which has offending Spanish connotations of the innocent and pure and is reflective of the anarchists in order to shoot them, men face light which shines from his away to hide from what lantern. This is to show how is about to happen and France wrongly attacked the the firing squad are Spanish guerilla fighters and detailed incredibly executed them without reason. close to the men who they have been order to kill to make the viewer picture them as even more intimidating to the men.
This depiction of warfare was a drastic departure from convention, in the 18th century, art depicted death and battle as a bloodless affair with little impact on the common man, war paintings were often pictured with a hero as either propaganda or to show power. In the case of Goya's painting, we are presented with an anti-hero and the main figure within the painting is not heroic in battle but is merely being murdered and tossed aside as the Spanish were during the war. This work is emotionally charged which many before it were not.
The background of the painting is in a chiaroscuro which means that the viewer's attention is drawn to the foreground of the painting where the violence occurs. One single lantern lights up the execution to produce a dramatic spotlight on the Spanish.
A pie of dead bodies lies at the feet of the executioner, streaming blood and to the other side, a line of the Spanish rebels stretches endlessly into the landscape, there is even a monk bowed in prayer who will join the dead. One man's arm is foreshortened towards the viewer as he lies, dead. This is to further place the viewer into the painting so that they can feel what Goya himself was feeling during the fight. The soldiers are lined up in a diagonal line to create the illusion of depth within the painting
Looking at posters... This poster is from the Studio Ghibli museum in Tokyo. I really like the graphics of it because the artist is depicted in the same style as the films he creates and the top of his head is open, showing some of the characters from them. I love the simple, primary colour scheme which makes the whole poster really aesthetically pleasing.
This poster for an art gallery uses a simple line drawing with block, primary colours bursting from the character's head as the exhibition is themed around colour. Another idea I might use for the poster could be inspired by the posters above; a character with a head exploding and all of the other photos for the exhibition inside the head.
These poster's format is similar to the ones created by Drew Struzan in that the characters are all stacked on top of each other. I really like the format and the fact that the tones of the poster places the beast in the dark and beauty in the light. I thought that for my own poster I may be able to place Marat or the executioner in a slightly darker background than the Lady Jane to show that they are 'evil' characters.
I really like the font of this poster because it looks like a road which relates to the theme of the film and I want to incorporate the pink colour into my own poster. This poster for a live action film is a cartoon. I quite like the idea of creating the poster myself using acrylic paints or perhaps watercolour. I love the purple colour scheme and the pose that the witch is in.
The La La land poster has a glow around the two characters. I thought that for my own poster I could draw inspiration from this poster and create a glow around the separate characters from my poster. I also like the fact that these characters are drawn in the common style of art from the 1950s.
Drew Struzan is an American artist who created Film posters including Back to the Future, Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Struzan was born in Oregon and at the age of 18 he went to the Art Center College of Design. He went on to become an illustrator instead of an artist because illustrators get paid a lot more, Struzan stated that he would rather work as an illustrator than not eat at all and due to the fact that he married and had a baby in his first year, Struzan was forced to save the tiniest amount of paint by diluting it with water because he had to pay for his wife and child. When he himself was a child, Struzan painted on toilet paper because his family could not afford to buy proper paper so he developed a passion for art as it became a luxury for him. After gaining a first at College, Struzan got a job working for Lucas Films and began creating the posters for films and album covers on the side. I like these poster designs because they show really lovely use of light and dark tones around the characters. The use of slight glowing lines around the characters draws the viewers eye to the main characters and especially in the Star Wars painting where the evil Darth Maul is set in a dark shadow and the hero is bathed in light. To create the nearly all of his paintings, Struzan uses a mixture of media including acrylic paints and airbrush techniques. Struzan became a master of the airbrush which was quite an uncommon tool to use
I really like the fact that these posters are hand painted rather than digitally made. I found that one common theme for a lot of film posters was that they tended to be made up of a selection of the characters, all of different sizes. I decided that for my own poster I wanted to layer the characters from all of the posters which we looked at on top of each other and perhaps add a glow around them like in the Indiana Jones poster to the left.
A self-portrait by the artist
Drew Struzan
Through researching various different fonts, I discovered that my favorite font to see on posters was the one used by typewriters. I like the vintage look which this font gives on posters such as The Perks of being a Wallflower.
I found that the film posters were more aesthetically interesting than the art posters so I looked at some posters produced for films for inspiration for example I really like the layout of the Kubo and the Two Strings poster and the font is really nice
Creating a Title: Tales of Dramatic Artistry
The Art Show poster has the paintings in the actual font of the piece. I experimented with making the paintings into a font.
These are the colours that I used for my own poster’s background.
Making the Poster
Museums for the Exhibition:
The Musee D'orsay
The Tate Britain
The Musee D'orsay is a museum in Paris, France which displays some of the countries best artworks including Lady Liberty in Orsay, Hail Mary by Amaury-Duval and The Exiles of Tiberius by FĂŠlix Joseph Barrias. The museum itself was constructed on the former Orsay railway station in 1900. The museum itself is a work of art wits a beautiful arch constructed using the best architects of the time.
The Tate Britain is a museum in London which is the home of British art from 1500 to the present day. The museum contains various different galleries which contain certain artists work for example; the Clore gallery contains J.M.W turner's collection, including Norham Castle Sunrise and the Duveen galleries contain more modern works including that of Phyllida Barlow and Martin Creed.
I had the opportunity to visit the museum and the structure was absolutely incredible. The roof of the museum is partially made of glass allowing natural light to shine in from the outside. The museum was open-plan which inspired me to create my own museum in partially the same way. I wanted to also capture the natural lighting of the musee d'orsay.
The museum's layout is very different compared to that of the Musee D'orsay because it is more closed plan. When visiting the museum I especially enjoyed the look of the spiral staircase which leads down to the restaurant and lower galleries. I thought that I may be able to incorporate a spiral staircase into my own museum.