Shards Of Time Translucency C+C Ross Dawson 3014
This is my exam presentation for my chosen theme of translucency, this project is based on theme of glass in art and I will be experimenting with. First I will start analysing paintings that relate to my theme of glass, and then I will start experimenting with the paintings and eventually create a poster from them. Then I will create a leaflet to showcase what my exhibition is about, and following from that I will create a ticket and design my exhibition.
Narcissus Oil On Canvas 110.00 x 92.00 cm
Caravaggio 1599
The story of Narcissus comes from Greco-Roman mythology. The most widely held version is from Ovid's Metamorphosis 3.5, in which Caravaggio has created his response. According to legend Narcissus was the preternaturally beautiful son of the nymph Leiriope and the river god Cephissus. During Narcissus’ life, his mother took him to the blind prophet, Tiresias, who would reveal his fortune. The blind prophet prophesied that "If he but fails to recognize himself, a long life he may have, beneath the sun." Regrettably for Narcissus, he was to identify himself before long. A vain and snobbish youth, he refused the eager amorous advances of a crowd of young ladies. He finally met a worthy match when he came across his own reflection in a pool or puddle of water. The boy fell deeply in love with himself.
http://www.artble.com/artists/caravaggio/paintings/narcissus
The painting shows Narcissus surrounded by a dark, annulled background, hooked on the reflection in the pool of water presented before him. Previous works of the artist Caravaggio, featured a dark and dull background. The stance of Narcissus is locked in place, creating an almost circle shape perhaps showing us a circle of love. In this case, perhaps an endless and dark form of love. The Chiaroscuro effect Caravaggio has used allows the painting to appear as if it has three dimensional forms. A dark mood is given off, but an eerie beauty is created, which is characterised from Caravaggio’s work.
"And how he kisses the deceitful fount; and how he thrusts his arms to catch the neck that's pictured in the middle of the stream!"
Not being able to depart from his reflection appearing before him, not even to eat or drink. Upon his death, he was malformed into a radiant yellow flower, that is still known to many this day. http://totallyhistory.com/narcissus/
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) In 1584 he was apprenticed for four years to the Lombard painter Simone Peterzano, labelled in the contract of apprenticeship as a pupil of Titian. Caravaggio seems to have remained in the Milan-Caravaggio area after he completed his apprenticeship, but it is likely that he went to Venice and saw the works of Giorgione, whom Federico Zuccaro later blamed him for copying the works.
Bacchus 1595
94 x 85 cm Oil on canvas Caravaggio
Theme Meaning the Roman name for the god Dionysus, Bacchus was the god of wine, in this painting he appears before the viewer as a teenager in seventeenth- century Italy; it seems as if he is offering someone a glass of wine in his pose. The basket of fruit reminds us of the Vanitas theme of still life; originally created by the Dutch, but was the more low and less explored genre of still life.
The God is depicted posing whilst holding the wine glass in his left hand, appearing as if he is staring at his reflection from a mirror. In actual fact, Caravaggio used a system of mirrors to paint his subject.
Said to be an outstanding and skilful element of the painting is the technique using oils to create this still life bowl of fruit. The realism displayed by the fruit and other elements can be seen as a photo like quality.
After the painting’s restoration, conservators noticed Caravaggio had painted himself in a tiny reflection on this carafe of wine.
Still Life With Lobster 1665
Oil On Canvas 86.4 x 102.2 cm Willem Kalf
Still Life The still life genre emerged during the Dutch golden age and many of the painting compositions convey some multifaceted messages. Mainly the still life painting is composed of table tops that were often painted in a life size and had symbolic meanings. The still life category known as the Vanitas
Willem chose the objects presented on the table because of their vibrant and beautiful colours and textures. The luscious red colour of the lobster, the gleam of the lemon, with the subtlety of the carpet all establish the display of light over surfaces. These objects are of an expensive taste, meaning the owner of such items is very wealthy.
This drinking-horn, made from a singular Buffalo horn of a set. The silver mount features Saint Sebastian, who was patron saint of archers.
The glowing orange and red lobster fixates its eyes upon you as the centre piece of this composition. The lemon lays adjacent to the it, skilfully unravelled so you many see the Pith and the fruit.
The four glass’ are caught by the light. Looking closely at the glass on the left, it look as to hold the reflection of a window; this appears to be the cup’s source of light.
Willem Kalf Willem’s still life practices began during his later life in Paris, early works of his depicted kitchen interiors and pots and pans. He was one of the most renowned still life painters during the 17th century, choosing objects of muted colours that belonged to everyday life.
Feast In The House Of Levi 1573 Oil On Canvas 555 x 1280 cm Paolo Veronese
Scene The work was painted for the Dominican order of SS. This is the second version of this painting following the first that was destroyed by a fire in 1571. This piece was created to display the grandeur of life in Venice.
We see a triple arch in the background, displaying the beautiful buildings of Venice. Their picturesque qualities motivated Veronese to include them in painting.
Painting figures:
Dog looking at cat which appears under last supper table
The jester with his parrot
German Guards with halberds
Other diners at the feast
Paolo Veronese Paolo was born in Verona, because of this he was given the nickname Veronese. He was trained in Verona by Antonio Badille, and married his daughter in 1566. For most of Paolo’s career he worked for Patrons, religious and secular, in Venice and Veneto.
Still Life With A Skull And Writing Quill 1628 Oil On Wood
24.1 x 35.9 cm Pieter Claesz
Pieter Claesz Claesz was a still life painter by trade and in his early work he incorporated vivid colours. In his later life he used more passive colours with a much more monotone range. His paintings had an acquired nonchalance and elegance His main goal is to capture light and reflections as accurately as he could.
Theme One of the earliest dated still life pieces created by Claesz, the clearness of light, the shadow casts and the idea of textures bear witness to Claesz’s observational influences. The work is now held in a collection at the Metropolitan Museum Of Art in New York.
This piece is made of distinct fully chosen objects that are placed on a table in a dark room. The dominant figure of the piece is the skull, which rests on a book and papers.
A white writing quill is placed in the foreground on top of the book and pages and what looks to be a wine bottle cap.
In the right foreground we have a goblet made of glass, which rests against the skull. It appears to look as if it is combined with the skull.
We then have in the background a red/brown piece of pottery.
Self- Portrait with Saskia
161 x131 cm Oil On Canvas Rembrandt van Rijn
The Dutch Golden Age A period in Dutch 17th century that extend over the latest part of the Eighty years war (1568-1648). Dutch painting of the golden age existed around the time of the Baroque period and shows many of its features, but lacks the element of love shown in typical Baroque style painting.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn At the age of 14, Rembrandt began studying at the university of Leiden. The academic life did not suit the young boy, he instead decided to do an apprenticeship in painting. Eventually Rembrandt set up his own workshop in his town of Leiden, which at that point in time was not an easy place to work in because of the recent protestant reformation, meaning the local churches would no longer provide artists with commission. Because of this artists had to rely on commissions from private individuals.
Theme
This painting depicts Rembrandt and his wife Saskia, painted shortly after their marriage in 1634, portraying himself as the happy bon viveur. This piece is a reminder of Rembrandts best work, because it contains physical actions and dramatic expressions that he admired during this period.
Saskia Van Uylenburch Saskia was brought up by a well-to-do family, who raised Rembrandts social status as a result. The marriage gained him new contacts and grew his reputation.
Rembrandt often used himself in paintings so he didn’t have to commission other artists to paint him or arrange modelling times.
First Poster Experiment
Skull And Writing Quill, broken glass
This is the subject image for this first experiment, it features the Skull with the glass in ‘still life with skull and writing quill. The glass in this painting is what is significant to my project.
Firstly I made a gradient moving from the bottom left to the top right, intending for the crack and hole in the glass to appear more realistic. The gradient helps to make other parts of the painting recognisable, if you want to make some parts stand out more than others.
Now was the time to add the crack in the glass, I had the idea of enlarging the crack so I can focus in on my subject that is the glass. I wanted the crack to extend to the edges of the image, but I had to make the crack bigger so I had it looks like it extends beyond the image.
Using the clipping mask tool, I combined a glass effect with the crack in the glass, to make it appear as if the image is behind the crack. I used the dodge tool to lighten the painting behind, in the areas that the light shines on the most. I then used the burn tool to darken the closest areas around the crack. To get every element to blend, I use the blending options icon on the layers panel; I used a combination of lighten, multiply and screen.
This is the finished result, I clicked on the layer adjustments icon and selected the curves feature; this allowed me to select certain areas of the crack to make a shadow or 3d effect. It would allow the crack to appear more convincing and it offers extra light and dark tones.
Broken glass shards and photo combination
Deciding on a background was tricky because of the I initially knew what I wanted to do with this experiment but finding the right background behind wasn’t going to be an easy task. I decided to go for a black to white gradient, starting with the dark areas in the corners, then the light areas in the centre.
This is my primary source image of glass shards that will become the basis of my effect. I have applied a black and white filter to the glass and lightened the areas in the middle with the dodge tool, to appear more realistic.
I then started to add the paintings that I have looked at in the shards of glass. I used the blending options above the layers icon to combine the two images so it would appear is if the painting has become one with the glass. The light factors were also important so I adjusted the elements of the painting with the dodge tool.
This is the finished result for the experiment, I have added the rest of the paintings into the larger glass shards, and I have cut out more shards from the original image to fill some gaps, overall I am happy with the effect that the blending options has given me and as a whole, everything combined works really well together.
Skull and Writing Quill, shards of glass experiment
Again the first step was to select the background colour. This was difficult because of knowing what colour would tie in well with the experiment. I decided black was the best option to start off with. The colour may change to one that fits in better.
The next step was to add my cut out of the broken glass. I wanted to show some light areas in the centre of the cut out because that particular area has great textures of shattered glass. To achieve the light areas, I used the dodge tool in photoshop
The cut out of the glass acted as an outline for the painting. I used the quick selection tool to select the glass of the cut out layer but then I clicked the painting layer to cut out the painting in the shape of the glass
I was particularly fond of this section of the painting because the glass cup in this piece is what I am focusing on in my project, as with every painting I have looked at. The cut out has given a cracked effect that shows as if the glass is cracked.
This is the combination of the two and the finished result, I realise the extra light in the centre was the right choice because it makes focus on that part more closely. The glass in the bottom right hand corner combined with the cut out looks even more sophisticated than before with just the painting cut out.
These are my poster designs for the exhibition, I am going to choose the first poster on the left because the colours blend really well and I love the overall effect that the painting and the glass presents when they overlay over each other
I’ve decided to use this as my ticket design, it will need some alterations like adding the price and opening times of the exhibition.
This is my leaflet, showcasing the inside and outside of my exhibition, with general information and paintings from the exhibition. It also lists where to find the exhibition and opening times, with upcoming exhibitions.
Virtual Exhibition showcase
I created this exhibition to showcase the paintings of my chosen theme of glass. In all there are 6 paintings I have put into this exhibition; they have all been photoshopped individually into the gallery. The two paintings you can see in this image are; Still Life With Skull And Writing Quill and Narcissus, with their descriptions of what they depict.
This wall features the work of Caravaggio in the Bacchus Painting, with the description of the painting on the right. Just noticeably there is a second painting to the right and that is The Waterseller Of Seville, again with its description on the right hand side.
Here we have the Waterseller painting again but with a wider view of it. Above the painting we have the work of Rembrandt in Selfportrait with Saskia and Still Life With Lobster by Willem Kalf, again they both have their descriptions on the right hand side of them.
Again we have Saskia and the Still Life With Lobster painting, this was specifically difficult to create in photoshop because of the railing being in the way. To overcome this I had to isolate the railing and cut it out from the existing layer with quick selection tool. To get the smaller detail of the railings I had to use the magic wand. After separating the railing, I then put the railing layer above the paintings and the descriptions.
This wall displays the work of Pieter Claesz in Still Life With Skull And Writing Quill and the description to go with it on the right hand side. Among the painting is various types of furniture for people to sit down on if they were to visit my exhibition in a real life setting.
The final painting that I am showcasing in my exhibition is Narcissus, created by Caravaggio. There are various elements surrounding the painting like for instance the stair case leading up to the second floor and various types of furniture.
These are the outside views of the exhibition from the corners that show the inside through the windows
I believe that these have turned out very successful combined with the photoshop work.