28 December 2011

Project 3 Exercise: David and neo-classicism

Notes on David’s portrayal of the event “The Tennis Court Oath 20th June 1789”
-          Use of light shines very brightly on the most important persons in the painting
-          The gesture of people
-          Use of colour as the people who are supposed to stick out wear red, blue or other colourful clothes and people in background wear brown, grey or black
-          Use of perspective – background: you can see a crowd cheering, discussing, etc.
-          Foreground: Man on podium, men pointing at him, reaching for something
-          People are even looking over the windows from outside

Now I am going to read Chapter 15 “Romanticism to Realism”. Looks like a lot to read and I hope it is easy to read and an interesting topic because then no matter how much it is to read I still enjoy it.
Caspar David Friedrich’s “The Wanderer above the Mist” is one of my favourite paintings of all time – I love its simplicity and it speaks to me through its sensitive and gentle use of colour - I wonder what the wanderer would see if the mist would be gone and he could overlook the valley. I love the way the wanderer stands on the rock, with an elegant outfit and a cane. The colour of his hair perfectly integrates in the colour of the painting and I never get tired of looking at it.

                        Image from http://hoocher.com/Caspar_David_Friedrich/The_Wanderer_above_the_Mists_1817_18.jpg (Accessed 28 Dec 2011)

Notes about whether mythological themed paintings have become irrelevant as not many people did have a classical education:
-          I don’t think that it necessarily became irrelevant but I rather feel like it became more important to artists to express themselves individually, their feelings for current events and the longing for being more involved in society some even politically.
-          It is also interesting to see how specific persons were portrayed in painting of contemporary events as far as size, clothes, rank are concerned.

Project 3 Exercise: Decorate a town house
I am not sure how to do this exercise – as for this I am going to skip this exercise for now and come back to it later.  

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