Painting is Communication

Ms. Tanguay

Painting

FCHS

What message does this painting communicate?

What can you tell about the women in this painting?

Quitting Time by Jonathan Green

What is Communication?

• Communication is a way of telling others about our thoughts, opinions, reactions, and feelings.– In art it is a way of using visual images to send

messages.• How is communicating with words different from

communicating with pictures? Reading requires you to focus on one word at a time where

as in painting you can see many things/messages at once. Visual communication is universal making it easy to understand anywhere in the world, where people speak and write in many different languages

Art History

• The ancient Egyptians painted the walls of their tombs and temples as well as papyrus scrolls with a complex system of pictographic symbols called “hieroglyphs”

• These abstract symbols of everyday objects represented phrases and word groups that could be read

About Paints and Painting

• What is painting?

The art of applying wet media to a surface.

• Why do people paint?

To express a personal point of view or a unique way of seeing the world.

• What is a medium/media?

The materials an artist uses to create a work of art

• What is the subject or subject matter?

What is represented in the artwork (still life, portrait, landscape, etc.)

What is the subject of this painting?

What is the medium used?

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, oil on canvas

• What are paints made of?

Pigment, a binder, and a solvent

• What is pigment? What is it made of?

Made of minerals and natural ingredients or manufactured synthetic materials.

• What is a binder?

• What is a solvent?

• What is a vehicle?

Art History

• Tempera paint was the preferred medium by painters from ancient times until the 15th century (Renaissance period)

• It was during the Renaissance period that oil paint became the preferred medium by painters because of the luminous surfaces that could be achieved by laying down many thin layers of paint.

Forsythia by Karl Cole

Many oil paints are very thick and are not easy to apply fluidly with a brush.

Some artists like thick textured brushstrokes while others add more linseed oil to achieve a smoother look.

The Search for Ideas

Ideas do not always come easily. Following these steps can help.

1.Have a plan, subject, or theme in mind.

2.Look at your environment in new and fresh ways, really experience colors, shapes, textures, and patterns.

3.Relax and take time to observe and look carefully and closely.

4.Think how you will communicate what you see.

Portrait of a Young Woman by Marie-Genevieve Navarre

Portraits often communicate subtle information about the sitter.

From poses and gestures to the expressions and clothing the artist can convey the subject’s personality, attitude, or nature.

What would you say the subject’s personality, attitude, or nature is? Why?

Art History• Twentieth century painters (Constructionists,

Dadaists, Surrealists, Abstract Expressionists) redefined what made subject matter.

• As abstract styles emerged, some artists felt that subjects should not be associated with a specific object, idea or emotion.

• They believed that the highest form of painting was art for its own sake, without subjectivity by the artist.

Virtual Incarceration by Denyse Thomasos

This work’s title offers a clue to the artist’s intended message.

Do you agree that the complex web of modern communication is a kind of prison?

Why or why not?

Learning to See

• Verbal descriptions can bring forward a common, stereotyped image.

• Visual impressions can communicate much more about the unique aspects of the subject.

• Look closely at shadows, reflections, and highlights.

• Time spent just looking is an important part of painting.

Constructive Compostion by Joaquin Torres-Garcia

What symbols can you identify in this painting?

What do you think the symbols in this work are meant to communicate?

Art History• In the early 19th century in the U.S., painters of the

Hudson River School created landscapes of the Hudson River Valley in New York and New England.

• Their patrons wanted paintings of places they knew so they had to observe very closely

• They sketched outdoors taking very detailed notes and would produce their paintings in the studio.

Diner by Richard Estes

Did you think at first that this was a photograph?

Estes uses acrylic to sketch his scenes on canvas and oil paint to capture the highly detailed surfaces.

Although this diner actually exists in New York, the artist added the phone booths.

Art HistoryPhoto Realism: an art movement based on creating paintings that are so minutely detailed and realistic that they look like photographs.

•Started in the 1960’s and is related to Pop Art•Subject matter: people and ordinary scenes•No visible brush strokes•Show very little emotion•Intense interest in surfaces and textures•Highly organized composition.

What is Style?

• What comes to mind when you hear the word style?

• Style: the distinctive and consistent similarities in a group of artworks, either those of an individual artist, group of artists, those from a particular place or time period.

• It is the voice of the artist, how they communicate with the viewer.

• Style is influenced by past and present, other artists, culture, and time.

• How do you determine style?

Examine the way the artist has used the medium as well as the elements and principles of design.

This wall painting is an

example of both cultural

and historical styles.

Wall Painting from the Tomb of Nebamun, Thebes, Egypt

Art History

• Art in ancient Egypt followed strict rules. These rules governed issues like size, scale of important figures, objects represented, skin color (men= dark red, women= yellow), and backdrops.

• The ¾ view (frontal/profile view) was used in painting and relief sculpture. This shows people with their heads and feet in profile and their torso in frontal view.

How are these two paintings similar? How are they different?

Developing a Style

• Takes many years of working and can sometimes be hard to describe.

• Your style continues to evolve and develop over time.

• How would you describe the style of this painting?

Untitled by Brandon Griffin

Galtviehweide by Ernst Kirchner

• Kirchner’s style of using pure colors, sharp angles, and bold, rough brushwork often carries strong psychological undertones.

• What, do you think, was the artist trying to communicate in this landscape?