Jack Rushton‘What If? Metropolis’

Online Greenlight Review

Robert Delaunay

• Robert Delaunay was a French artist who was known for his role in cofounding orphism, a type of art which is based around cubism but eventually moved towards a "pure lyrical abstraction". Orphism is known for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes in an absract fashion. Delaunay's work was first noticed in early 1907 and was noted for its use of mosaic-like 'cubes' to construct small but highly symbolic compositions. He continued to paint in the same style of large mosaic strikes until 1908. In this time Delaunay worked closely with his fellow french painter and good friend Jean Metzinger, with whom he developed a new sub-style of Neo-Impressionism that had great significance within the context of their Cubist works. From 1908-1913 Delaunay worked on 'the Saint-Sévrin series‘

• From 1912 onwards Delaunay started painting "nonfigurative paintings based on the optical characteristics of brilliant colors that were so dynamic they would function as the form.""His writings on color, which were influenced by scientists and theoreticians, are intuitive and can be sometimes random statements based on the belief that color is a thing in itself with its own powers of expression and form" Delaunay believed "painting is a purely visual art that depends on intellectual elements, and perception is in the impact of colored light from the eye. The contrasts and harmonies of color produce in the eye simultaneous movements and correspond to movement in nature. Vision becomes the subject of painting." This is quite an alternative view on the use of colours in art and explains the thought behind his style of painting.

• Delaunay uses strong colours and geometric shapes to create a picture rather than line drawing. For my own city I imagine that all the buildings are vibrantly coloured and consist of different geometric shapes, but when looked at from a specific angle the buildings form to make a larger picture. This is just one idea but I hope I come up with more as he is a great artist with a lot of work to take inspiration from, especially when it comes to designing a city.

•Upon further looks I discovered some art of Delaunay which is his own concepts of cities, some of which are less abstract than some of his other paintings including his series based on the eiffel tower, however some still incorporate his abstract cubism style.

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