The Wonderer above the Sea of Fog 1818 Caspar David Friedrich 1774-1840 Oil on Canvas
Caspar David Friedrich
was born in 1774. He painted the “The Wonderer above the Sea of Fog” in 1818. In the painting there is only one main figure, standing on top of a rock and looking down at the fog below him. Friedrich uses a technique called “Ruckenfigur”, which means that the figure has it’s back to the viewer, blocking it’s identity. The deep fog beneath the man could symbolise the hardships and difficult life he’s been through, and the light blue horizon in the distance could become his hope to be free. Friedrich has said, “The artist paint not only what he sees before him, but also what he sees within him”. In the painting, Nature is beautiful in it’s own way. The tones that Friedrich used vary; for the rock it has a dark burgundy colour to it, making the figure stand out more instead of using black to blend in. The rocks in the distance are painted The and sky above him that has different a lighter brown the way the fog shades of blue and hues envelopes them bring a sense of un-easinessof to orange. By combining these the man. colours, he is able to create a sky that is filled with hope and positive thoughts. The clouds are dark grey with a tint of white, to create a realistic feeling.
The figure is dominating the landscape and the man is centred in the middle, making hi man important part to the painting. His coat is pitch black and his hair is bright red making him stand out to the viewer. As for his waist, it is matching the horizontal line I have created. The painting is the perfect measurement for the figure.
The back of his head has a lot of tone; the red orange hair has a hint of dark honey orange making the shadows.
Furthermore, the lines show that the figure and the rock are creating a pyramid, and if you look closely the tip of the pyramid leads all the background to that one spot (on top of his head). Friedrich created this painting to create a symmetrical and a neat painting. The figure is making the viewer see what he sees and what he sees. This is another part of being a Romanticism painter; instead of looking at the painting and the man, we as the viewers are with the man and staring at the same view that he sees, involving us in his paintings. Not Friedrich wanted thedoviewers to Friedrich be involved in many artists would this, but made the painting, making us view what the man it happen. sees. The figure isn’t a anecdotal representation of the figure, it sends out real emotions to the viewers, just like any Romanticism artist would do; giving and creating emotions to the viewers, getting them involved. Looking at the painting, the way Friedrich has painted the rocks create a sense of realism to
Landscape The background is simple yet effective; the sky has different hues of blues and tints of oranges. Further into the background, you can see a tall rock, a pale silver grey almost like a shadow. Next to it looks like a huge mountain in the horizon, which could mean hope for the man. Below that, it’s just endless fog, making it look like a sea where the water is splashing against the rocks. The man is staring down below the pyramid shaped rock, as if he is looking for something. In the foreground there are a few rocks emerging from the fog, or perhaps being sublime; thinking about the beauty and excellency of the view before him. The landscape gives a mood of thought, loneliness and perhaps struggles from the man. The atmosphere is not bright or cheerful, its solemn and plain. There are tones, but it’s very subtle.
Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket 1875 James Mcneill Whistler 1834-1903
Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket 1875 James McNiell Whistler 1834-1903 Oil on Canvas 60 x 46 cm James McNiell Whistler was a controversial artist that painted scenery such as this. He creates nocturnal paintings, always painting in the night. In this painting he has created a rocket exploding into pieces with ashes and smoke lighting up the night sky. He paints this extremely well, and this depicts that he is trying to get the viewer to focus on the ashes. He manages to create dark and impulsive shades, ascending to the top of the painting. At the bottom of the painting, you can clearly see that he has tried mixing the dark and light tones together to create a river. The brush strokes are bold and thick, allowing Whistler to create darker lines and expressive dark tones towards the left hand side of the painting. The contrast between the light and dark harmonise with another. At the bottom a person is seen watching the whole thing traverse and he is painted in yellow/gold hues. The reflection of the water really creates a Chiaroscuro feeling with the tones all mixing with another and bringing the painting alive. Whistler painted the River Thames in England whilst it was night time to prove his painting skills to John Ruskin who was a critique to paintings in the 18th century. This painting was known as one of the most famous showing narrative with the rocket.
James McNeill Whistler
is a controversial artist who creates works based are on shading and black thick lines. He was born in 1834 and died 1903. In his younger days, he has been in a battle with one of the most famous artist critique in the 18th century, John Ruskin. In 1877, Ruskin viewed Whistler’s “The Falling Rocket” as a ‘flinging a pot of paint in the publics face’. Whistler was angered by this statement and stated in court that the painting was not an unfinished descriptive view of subjective matter at hand. In the 1860s. Whistler made plenty of paintings of London’s River Thames (as shown above the previous slide) naming each painting “Nocturnes” meaning night or dark. The painting I am depicting was a view from his home in Cermorne pleasure gardens with fireworks blasting into the sky. The main reason why he named them “Nocturne” is relating to the homage of musical form. Whistlers idiosyncratic Nocturne series, in which judiciously arranged blocks of harmonious tone and points of colour triumph the critique Ruskin and now the narrative perspective is set in motion, as the court praises Whistler and has gained his achievements proving Ruskin wrong to his opinion of his painting.
This screenshot shows the sparks and how each spot of spark contrasts with the dark and gloomy background. Whistler was not one for slow paintings but his delicate spots and sparks prove his painting skills.
In this screenshot you can see two figures that are leaning near the water area. The tone of the figures are a copper yellow/golden yellow shade and it looks like the fading figure is a shadow of the darker figure. The navy blue tone makes the figures
In this screenshot is the centre of the composition. It catches the viewers eyes as it has the most dark and light tones out of all the painting. It is obscured by a swirl of thick smoke rising into the sky, blending in with the navy blue background. Even though the background is pitch black, the darkness of the night intensifies the sparks of light visible to create excitement and mystery. These Chiaroscuro symbolism are all in his painting including one of his paintings “The River Thames�. During the 1870s Whistler handling of paint became noticeably bolder and thicker. In this area it shows careful grading of the paint and with one brush stroke creating a darker shade of golden yellow. The harmonious tones of the gradients which Whistler excelled. This style was central to his personal definition of Aestheticism.
Intention for Exhibition For my exhibition poster, I will be focusing Posters
on the Chiaroscuro aspect and including elements that relate to this theme. I will be using variety of websites to create my exhibition and to generate names for my title. First, I got a hold of some posters (below) and took some initial ideas from them. I will discuss in the next slide why I chose them and how they link to my chosen theme of Chiaroscuro. Having different variety of posters allows me to choose which one is better for my chosen theme.
The title is connected with the background towards the top and the “Scuro” is blended in with the background, creating an overlay that can only be done on photoshop. The way they executed it is eyecatching. The lettering for the information is simplistic, but from afar the viewer can easily see the words and time and when it opens. The font colours are simple with only blue and black.
Exhibition
They also showed the prices and how much it is per person and family.
This is an exhibition poster that I found really interesting. The way they laid out the poster is very simple but it’s also very sophisticated and interesting, different from other posters. The techniques they use really catches the viewers eyes and the information is basic, easy to read. The background is also very simplistic and not overly decorated. It’s basic black and white and the top half of the background includes the “Chiaroscuro” feeling, allowing the viewer to be mesmerized by the colours.
They also included the logo, advertising the place and who will be taking charge. The colours are all connecting with each other; basic blue, black and white. The logo consists of only dark blue and baby
Following on from my analysis of posters; they also had logos. For my logo, I have started with a round circle that has a slight pattern to it, creating but a sketchy outcome. It was originally orange, however, I decided to change it to black. Afterwards, I then included By selectin the hue/saturation option, I was able my own font that I created to manipulate the colouring to black and white. and created a logo that is suitable for a poster. I named my logo “Bristol Museum” advertising that it is in Bristol and a small caption at the bottom “Home of Historical” to
After creating the logo, I then decided to check it out on my background that I did for my poster. The bottom half of the poster is black and therefore I changed the colour to yellow, by using the same hue/saturation tool to make it white. I chose to do this type of logo as the posters I looked at all had round logos. It had inspired me to create myself but differently.
To start my poster, I have shown evidence that I am gaining some inspiration from the above slide and in-cooperating it into my own style of exhibition poster. I have created my own font by drawing out the shape and outline, I then scanned the font into my computer and I traced the outline on illustrator to give me a head start. I then can transfer the finalised outline and base onto Photoshop and work my way creating a clipping mask tool to resemble the poster that I have analysed.
Furthermore, I have decided to create a clipping mask tool like the previous poster I analysed. I used the same layout and colour scheme but I have made the background for the clipping mask “Nocturne in Black and Gold� to link back to my analysis of paintings. I have also changed around the contrast and lighting of the background to make
Creating a clipping mask: I firstly drew my font by hand and then transferred it into illustrator and outlined the shape to create an outline. After creating the outline, I then changed to Photoshop and coloured in the areas that were bare in black to create the basis of my clipping mask. After doing this, I then got my background (linking back to my previous paragraph) and placed the
This is my poster that I have made, to link back to my poster that I have analysed. I have changed the words and title so it is suited for my exhibition (changed the dates, location and sub-title). I didn’t include a flashy background as I wanted to keep the linking close as possible. By doing this, I am able to show that I can analyse and link to my research that I have done with real exhibition posters.
Analysis of Posters: Comparison The colours are simple and there is only black, white and a tint of grey. The black overpowers the rest and creates a dark shadow below the other characters creating depth. The dark grey compliments the white and creates a harmonious tone. The shadows show the theme of the movie as dark, violent and full of mysteries.
The way the illustrator has created the shape is unique as it catches the viewers eyes from afar. The small details on the peoples faces and the perfect shadings for each individual is sophisticated.
Down at the bottom, you can’t read it due to the small font but with research, it’s the actors names and the director and who was in it to create the
Movie The poster itself catches the viewers eyes as the first thing you see is the outline of the head (possibly the main characters head) and within it, there are several people that could be related to him or enemies. The background is very small and subtle but it gives that mysterious and thriller feeling to the poster. The dark grey shadows looming acting like curtains really bring out the shape. I will use this in one of my exhibition posters to experiment. The title of this poster is lines joined to form letters. The gap between the letters could symbolise the distress and complicated storyline of
To further my research, I have re-created my own version of the poster I previously analysed and decided to manipulate it to create a link between the actual poster and my poster. I have used Van Eyck’s portrait to be my main foreground and I have used a variety of other paintings and included them inside his portrait; The Wonderer above the Sea of Fog, Rembrandt, Arnolfini, Still life with Fruits and De Pereda paintings are all within Van Eyck. After, I then adjusted the opacity and fill for each figure to blend in with the portrait.
These are the layers that I have created in order for it to work. You must include them as individual layers.
This is the beginning of my dispersion technique. On the exhibition poster, there are cubes scattering around the head figure and I wanted to in-cooperate this dispersion technique into my own.
I will use this as my finalised poster as it clearly links to my development (starting point).
Above this screenshot is the brush pre-set and how the dispersion brush works. By adjusting the count, count jitter and scatter I was able to create a scatter effect onto my poster to create a
Title ideas for Bymy looking at the titles, I’ve decided to choose my top 8 Illusions: Chiaroscuro choices and pick a finalised title for my poster; Extravagant Chiaroscuro Exhibition Poster Hall of Chiaroscuro Remixing Chiaroscuro
Collective History of Chiaroscuro Dark & Light Illusions The Grand Chiaroscuro The Grand of Chiaroscuro Glowing feeling of Chiaroscuro Vault of Chiaroscuro Creation: DARK & LIGHT Creation: DARK & LIGHT Collective history of Chiaroscuro Grand Exhibition of Chiaroscuro For love of Chiaroscuro For love of Chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro Exhibition National Treasury for Chiaroscuro Hall of Chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro Exhibition Vault of Chiaroscuro Vault of Chiaroscuro I have chosen this name for Centre of Chiaroscuro my title because it gives a mysterious feeling of what’s Chiaroscuro Institution inside the exhibition. It’s in a vault, and you won’t know Royal Hall of Chiaroscuro what kind of paintings or artists is in until you step in Grand Exhibition of Chiaroscuro and see for yourself what’s in store for the exhibition.
These are some exhibition names that I have come up with. Majority of the titles have “Chiaroscuro” in them as I want the viewer to know that the exhibition is all about dark and light, tones and shadows.
Linking to my font designs, I have used a famous font that was created by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. He was an architect, designer, water colourist and artist. I have used his most famous font to gain inspiration from. I found the font really interesting and unique and decided to use it for my finalized poster for my exhibition. Below is the font that I have used and on the bottom left corner is the font that Mackintosh created. They aren’t the same but it has resemblance to my font, linking back to my research with the other fonts. The tiniest details with the circles I really wanted to include as it gave a hint of fun.
Philip Astley The Father of Modern Circus. He founded the circus in 1768. He invented the circus ring for fun and it became a world wide event, and this is how the Circus got created. Before inventing the circus, he was an equestrian. I decided to choose him as an inspiration for one of my fonts because the shapes and curves suits the word “Vault� from my title. I chose this as one of my ideas because the font itself has character and personality.
Experimentation with Font styles
Some of these fonts have been inspired by previous posters with it’s big bold characters but at the same time it has it’s own characteristic element.
I chose to do this font because the poster on the right has a similar font; they’re both stylized in a very techno and broken way. The “Lullaby” font stands out to me more than the others because it’s design is simple yet effective and catches the viewers eyes. The thickness of the font is basic and simple, just like the “Chiaroscuro Art & Style” poster on the right. The curves on the letters are similar to each other. The other poster that I took inspiration from is the “Perfume: The story of a Murderer” movie poster. The font between Art & Style and Perfume look like they’re the same font; “Roman” font, the basic type of font you often use on word. The tones are also a grey, dark grey and white, linking back to the Chiaroscuro theme. Further down, I have also included another font that I found rather interesting; the way the letters curve upwards creates a magical feeling, just like the “Perfume” poster.
I have created this poster and made it my finalized outcome. I decided to use this poster because it has elements of different paintings, which allows the viewers to see what is instore for them when they enter the exhibition. The techniques that I have included in this poster are effective and sophisticated; by using the clipping mask tool I am able to create an effect that will attract the viewers eyes. The title is inspired from an original font from the previous slides, linking back to my research and including them in the poster. The main figure in this poster is Van Eyck with his self-portrait. I have decided to use a self-portrait as I wanted it to link back to a poster that I looked at from previous slides, connecting the two techniques. I have also kept the black and white tone theme (Chiaroscuro) to finish the overall outcome.
Ticket Inspiration
In this screenshot, I have used the same painting “Ruyschs’ Anatomy” of kids and used it on my ticket stub. I’ve used the same background as I want the two to link so I’m keeping the same “Vanitas” theme throughout. I’ve also changed the lighting and tone of the background. By selecting the “tonal” option, I was able to bring the saturation down and make it look a beige yellow, making it look like an ancient paper. I have also included a vertical line down the ticket to create a smaller section where the viewer can rip of the small version and show it to the curators.
Before I started changing the colours and tones, I made my own custom size ticket stub. By clicking on a new layer, I was able to create my own measurements; Width: 1360 Height: 760 and Resolution: 72 inches. This is the average size ticket stub that I found out and it has really helped me to get started on designing.
As a finalised ticket, I have created this. I have used the background from Ruyschs’ work, again linking back to the theme. I have changed the saturation and the colour of the painting so it all harmonizes. I have included a bar code for the viewers to scan at the entrance to gain entry to the exhibition. Including the seating and row of the viewer. I also included the ticket price for the adults (the children tickets under 15 are free) as long as they have a ticket that says “Child” instead of Adult. I have made the price £7.70 so it makes it affordable and it isn’t too expensive. At the corner of the ticket stub, I have copied and pasted a skeleton skull on top of another skeleton head to create extra layers and to
Leaflet Inspirations and guides These are some pictures I have taken from Gustav Klimt exhibition booklet. I have chosen this leaflet because the layout is simple but at the same time it really caught my eye; the dotted lines at the top are simple and I have taken this idea and in-cooperated it in my own leaflet. The font
My Exhibition Leaflet
This is the background for my leaflet. In order to create a faint background I have changed the painting and made the colours “Auto Tune� to create a fainter effect. The painting is Ruysch child skeletons to link back to my analysis of the painting. I have also changed the exposure and levels to create an even fainter effect; almost invisible so the writing can appear above it.
Intention for Exhibition For my exhibition designs, I will be focusing Interior Designs
on the black and white tones for the inner buildings. The wallpapers and flooring will be relating to Chiaroscuro with the dark tones and light tones. For the ceiling, I will include a pattern that has a pattern linking to one of the posters. I’ve decided to in-cooperate all the elements that relates to Chiaroscuro.
Madrid attack
Arnolfini portrait Fruit on table
Nocturne Wonderer
This is the shape of my exhibition. I decided to create it like this because it makes it easier for the viewers to look around and have enough space to admire the paintings that are in the rooms. The larger rooms are where I’ll put the more famous and larger paintings whilst the smaller rooms are the paintings that are not extremely known, and making their debut. The doors are glass so it makes it easier for the viewers to see inside the exhibition from outside and they can then make decision if they would like to come in and see the painting.
By using a 3D system builder, I am able to create my chosen design of my exhibition space. I have included the entrance to the museum and I have placed dark tiles (ProCasa-3503) to represent my theme of Chiaroscuro. I have left the walls plain white to continue my theme. Next to the layout, I have also included the tile name. By creating this in 3D, I am able to see what the exhibition would look like in birds-eye view.