Looking at the power dynamics in the power triad/ transactions 3. Approach to analyse how a portrait can produce multiple meaning as apposed to looking for one fixed meaning. The Artist-Sitter-Viewer Triad: Artist: ? Always the primary viewer of an artwork, hence the one who creates the portrait. The artist’s own Identity is embodied within the artwork. Sitter: ? Has expectations of their own personal representation. ? Thus becomes personally attached to the portrait. ? Also has his/her own agenda and investment in the final product of the portrait. Viewer: ? ? ? ? Judges the artwork based on sociological and psychological position and context. Relates the work to other art, as well as the specific artist’s other work. Compares the work to convention and own tastes. Has an imaginative identification with the sitter.
The Shifting Relations of Power within The Triad: Artist O Sitter Viewer Lucian Freud. – Harry Diamond Portrait Francis Bacon – Strong, distinct style. In this way the artist’s identity is more prominent and overpowering than any other aspect of the work. His style gives birth to his intention. Artist O Sitter Queen Elizabeth I, Coronation Portrait – A rtist Unknown All of Queen Elizabeth’s portraits fall under this same category She had complete and all control and say in the representation of her portraits during this time, due to the nature of her reign.
Viewer Artist Peter Lely – “Nell Gwynne” Lover of King Charles II Primary sitter commissioned the work for own personal viewing pleasure. Sitter O Viewer Note: When viewing and analysing an artwork, always look out for the Conventions used and also read and make sense of the Sign Systems in the images 2 Portrait Painters Examined: In analysing Lucien Freud & A ndy W arhol we will look at 1. 2. 3. 4. Choice of subject Their approach to making the work Their approach to the subject Their respective contravention of convention Lucien Freud 1.
The Essay on Art Scams Artist Had Downsized The Artwork
Art Scams: Online Auctions Sean Hendrix In this modern time we live in, everything is done over the computer, whether it is your banking, car shopping, or doing your taxes, it is all accessible from your home computer. Many artists out there including myself are selling artwork online. Many online auction sites like EBAY are making the selling part much easier. Online auctions are a great way for ...
His subjects are usually connected to his 1. immediate personal life. He paints his wives, daughters, friends but also rarely high profile people among artists which are commissioned. His style is raw, truthful, slow and tedious. Subjects: -Leigh Bowery Performance artist and friend -Francis Bacon Artist For Freud it is a matter of intimacy and relationships VS the consumerism and comodities which Warhol’s work is centred around. Andy Warhol His subjects are people who present themselves as ‘ideal constructed images’ already to themselves and to the world.
It is a prerequisite that they are associated with fame, glamour and wealth. Warhol works with publicity images and images which are easily mass produced or mass producible. Subjects: – Marilyn Monroe Actress and Singer – V ladimir Lenin Marxist Revolutionary – Mao Zedong Chinese Communist – Liza Minnelli Actress and Singer 2. Freud makes use of a gestural style with very thickly applied paint, obvious brush marks, he builds the paint up over a prolonged period of time (comparable to clay modelling).
With the use of this technique the viewer can sense a trace of the artist.
Freud uses a scrutinizing method of looking and intensely studying his subject over a long period of time in order to achieve the mood and feel of his works. The scale of his works are rather small considering the amount of months and hours a day which he invests in creating the actual works. The size and time both substantiate the level of intimacy involved in the final portrait. – Acute observation – Painter’s attitude embedded in work – Change and time is captured – Expressionistic/emotional splurge 2.
When Warhol creates a work or more specifically a portrait, the model arrives at his studio (called the Factory- significant due to the nature of the work he produces) and has a 15min photo shoot, executed with a polaroid camera with standard lighting and composition. Warhol will then retreat to work on the image himself, normally applying drastic changes in terms of eliminating flaws and giving the subject a ‘generic’ and ‘flawless’ idealistic look to them- he gives the surface a ‘skin deep’ treatment which appears cosmetic.
The Essay on Edgar Degas Work Subjects Movement
Degas Edgar was a French painter. His compositions, skillful drawings, and perceptive analysis of movement made him one of the greatest artists of modern art in the late 19 th century. Degas is usually classed with the impressionists and exhibited his work in seven of the eight impressionist exhibitions. However, even though he was classed as an impressionist, his training in classical drafting ...
His mechanical style is an accurate representation of his superficial relationship with the subjects of his work. – He makes use of speedy reproduction styles, making use of screen printing and lithographs. – Large scale works, even billboard sized – Poster-like quality Reiterating facade, uniformity, standardization and advertising. By the very nature of the process of Warhol’s work his intention is born. Again, although drastically opposite in style and intension, with Warhol as with Freud, they sit in the main seat of power and control over the outcome of their own work.
Warhol approaches the sitter with a very precise and mechanical process. Through this process he reflects the superficiality of his relationship with the sitter and the world’s relationship with the sitter. Through every step of the process from the 15 minute walk in “glamour” photo shoot with a polaroid camera, to the end product which is usually overwhelmed with incorrect registration of the screen prints and ridiculous bright colours masking the subject’s faces, Warhol intentionally makes comment on the American pop, 3.
Although Freud’s process of creating a portrait was a slow and tedious method which was executed over many months and therefore a certain level of intimacy was 3. obtained between him and the subject, as well as him allowing for the subject to choose their own positions in which they felt comfortable to pose in for that extended period of time, Freud always had a tight sense of control in his studio. Even when viewing his paintings one can sense objectification of the subject. It is difficult to get away from the feeling that the sitter has to some extent been reduced to a ‘piece of flesh’.
One can sense uneasiness and defensiveness in the body language of the sitters. Freud said, “A painter must think of everything he sees as being there for his own use and pleasure. ‘ Freud removes the subject from any possible context except that which is his studio, he strips them bare, literally. In the case of Freud’s position of power in the Triad, he almost definitely always has 4. the most power and control, extending beyond the subect’s and the viewer’s. His style, method and intension is so overwhelming that it becomes the centre of observation and mood. 4.
The Essay on Sigmund Freud Freuds Work
Theories of a Mad Man Sigmund Freud rocked the world of psychology with his new and unorthodox theories. He went against the establishment teaching what he considered to be the great truth or the way he thought the mind actually behaved. Freud opposed the traditional and early trends of the twentieth century, this was a time when society placed importance on morality, loyalty, intellect, and ...
On the contrary to conventional portraiture, which is named in order to create status and recognition, Freud rarely names his works after the sitter. He tends to give his works mundane titles, “The lady”, “The Fat Man”. Also these are titles broadly associated with everyone. Freud makes use of his studio setting alone, not relying on the facade of objects and material substance to give meaning to his portraits. Freud confirms convention with his very technical style and method of looking and painting, his method is labouring and requires a high level of skill and understanding of the medium.
The medium which he works with is oil paint, a convention within itself. Although his method of layering and building up the paint is not so conventional. consumerist culture. In terms of Warhol’s work, it is not breaking convention working with rich and famous people as the subjects for portraiture but what breaks convention is the way in which he uses these ‘glamourous’ people to fulfill his intention. His medium is quick and easily reproducible and at the time was a very unconventional medium and method for portraiture in particular.
Warhol also intentionally allowed for ‘mistakes’ in his final prints. The colours were wrong, oversized and the register was often not lined up correctly at all. This aspect of his work reiterates his stance about consumerist, material values. In many senses Warhol denatured the subjects. Ironically, as so often happens, Warhol eventually became the convention and system which he was so boldly commenting on. *By challenging conventions, eventually we redefine conventions and the relationship to genre.
Vocabulary: Paradoxical: Ambivalent: Ambiguity: Semiotics: Functionalism: Structuralism: Contradicts itself/ Seemingly has 2 opposite meanings which makes it strange Showing both positive and negative or both good and bad feelings about something The state of having more than one meaning The study of signs and symbols and of their use The theory of design that the form of a thing should be determined by its use Compare functionalism an approach to anthropology and other social sciences and to literature that interprets and analyses its material in terms of oppositions, contrasts, and hierarchical structures, esp as they might reflect universal mental characteristics or organizing principles An approach to literature that, proceeding from the tenets of structuralism, maintains that, as words have no absolute meaning, any text is open to an unlimited range of interpretations Post Structuralism:
The Essay on Original Work Art Meaning Berger
In his first essay of Ways of Seeing, John Berger claims that all power, authority, and meaning that was once held by an original work of art has been lost through the mass reproduction of these works that has occurred in recent years. He writes of an entirely bogus religiosity (116-117) that surrounds these art objects and that the meaning of the original work no longer lies in what it uniquely ...
