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See art in a
fresh way.
Art Tutorial
Details Don't Mean A Thing
If They Ain't Got That Swing
Artists often agonize over the
completion of a painting. The bugaboo for many realists is the
detailing. Details are the crowning touches and yet, more often
then not, they can rob the painting of its vitality.There are many great artists
that manage to solve the "detail" problem. Da Vinci's Mona
Lisa is brimming with life and her famous smile is one of the most
detailed details of any painting. I have viewed her close up and
have seen how da Vinci has
broken down the form of her lips into hundreds of tiny planes.So why is it that when
other artists pay special attention to details, they do not come
up the same results? I believe the answer lies
in the swing of the big forms. In other words, details only work when they
maintain the integrity of the big forms and their place in
space.
 Da Vinci, Mona Lisa
Stepping back and looking at
the Mona Lisa as a whole, you can see that her head "sits" in the middle foreground, while her
chest and hands rotate towards us, "locking into" the foreground.
Here you can get a sense of
"leap-frogging" from her hand in the immediate foreground, to
the corner of her breast, and then further back to her lips.If da Vinci had painted too
strong of contrasts, or gave too much, or too little, volume to
her lips, he would have killed the lively dynamic of the swing
of the forms through space.
There is no simple technique
for placing objects in space. Contrast of light, dark, and color
play a role, as well as high definition, perspective, and expanding the
forms. All of these contribute to bringing objects forward. Transparency,
less contrast, and blurring help make forms recede.
Rembrandt, Young Woman at the Window
Very similar in
set up to the Mona Lisa is this Rembrandt. Her head "sits" in the
middle foreground and the corner of the breast comes forward.
If you look for it, you will
see how Rembrandt is wrapping the figure in light; he is
swinging the light current around, behind, and up front on her
form.
Notice the meticulous
detail of the leather cord and metal key
around her neck.
The earring also has extremely
fine detailing, yet it occupies space way behind that of the
cord and key.
Picasso, Mother and Child
An interesting contrast to the
above paintings is this Picasso. It is all form with very
little detail. It is extremely deceptive in its simplicity. All
the forms work in space as they do in the Rembrandt and da Vinci.
It only takes a little
painting experience to discover that details are time
exhaustive. Picasso opted to save time and sacrifice details.
If you are detail
orientated, try to establish the big forms, like Picasso has
done here, and then embellish the forms with as much detail you
like. Be careful not to flatten the form!
Beert, @1600, Still Life of
Flowers
Here is a 16th/17th Century
Flemish still-life. It is loaded with detail, but it is a flat
painting. It is as if the flowers have been compressed and share
a two-inch space of depth; as if the flowers have been painted
from side to side, but not front to back. I would call this an
example of indiscriminate detailing. The artist is not
considering the interrelationship of the flowers' positions nor
their forms, hence, sacrificing the vitality of depth for
superficial decoration.
The swing of forms through
space excite eye movement and, for many observers, this creates
an emotional response. Details that embellish and complete the
forms bring with them an irresistible reality. Adding details to
big forms is a tour de force of artistic skill.I hope you enjoyed seeing art
in a fresh way.
Michael
Newberry
New York, November 18th, 2006
Other
related art presentations you might enjoy.
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February '10 |
copyright 2012 by Michael Newberry |
