Cézanne, Paul (1879-82). Apples and Biscuits [oil on canvas]. Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris, France/Lauros-Giraudon, Paris/Superstock.

Cézanne shows a truly masterful understanding and application of color. Rich development of form is created through calibration of color purity. He uses color temperature to great effect to create spatial order. His use of texture is amazing and intuitive. | 

The title bears the subject, which is static, almost cliché. Cézanne’s impressive use of formal elements is engaging and brings such an original vitality to this work that his formal choices supplant the physical objects as the subject (ie, content overpowers subject). 

Several elements blended seamlessly are activated in this work; the most important is color purity. While a roughly single basic color defines a given shape, his introduction of adjacent colors give the shapes spatial depth (not purity, as I guessed). For example, by warming the yellowish-greens used to build an apple to greenish-yellow, an organic highlight is created. He cools the base color by introducing blue to create its shadow-side. It seems not a single drop of black or white pigment was used to create the full, rich value scheme Cézanne has created, value becoming incidental. Texture is used to equally stunning effect as color. Aside from color temperature, sharply diminishing detail, overlap and a consistent light source create intuitive spatial order. 

While the table top supporting the subject seems to be floating in air, somehow there is little pictorial tension in this work. I believe this shows how the artist’s severe and expert reduction of detail around the subject serve organic unity to perfection. In terms of area, cool colors “outnumber” warm, however this work has a distinct sense of heat coming form it. Part of this is due to the strong chroma of the subject elements, while supporting have contrast reduced and details sacrificed. There is quite pleasing balance between straight and curved, roughly circular edges.  All areas are harmonized by a distinct and rough textural style.

Clearly the warm, central area of the canvas carries almost all visual weight in this composition. There is rich interplay of mid-toned red and high-key greens, and well-blended adjacent color, causing the eye to “dance” around this area. In this way, and in the repeated circular shapes, rhythm is installed. Beyond that, cool fields of texture with spartan detail create a needed shift in mood from energetic to calming. The viewer is near at-hand to the subject, looking down from an oblique elevated angle. The picture frame is used in such a way to create three roughly lateral thirds to further organize the composition, with almost all movement in the middle third.

This work is simply amazing, I can’t say that enough. In my opinion, it belongs in the same stratosphere as Caravaggio’s The Calling of Saint Matthew and Monet’s Waterloo Bridge series. The ground-breaking lesson for every art student in this work is that color can be more effective than value in defining shadows and highlights, even if it takes more practice to master. 

Gauguin, Paul (1888). Vision after the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel) [oil on canvas]. National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland/Superstock.

Unexpected composition: Placement of viewer in a crowd, much of the canvas is occupied with “dead” subject matter, some objects seem somewhat disjointed from the overall rendering. |

A crowd of fundamentalists is joined in prayer. The title and treatment of various elements seem to suggest the conflict between two figures in the upper-right quadrant is not occurring in reality but a mutual vision shared by the believers. 

Shape, color and extreme value contrasts carry this work. Roughly circular shapes (heads) build a pattern from left to right. Some are edge-defined, others use line to do this. The color scheme is unbalanced complementary, and overwhelmingly warm. Colors tend to reside in the mid-tone range, while colorless shapes are either black or white. 

The most interesting aspect of elemental interaction in this work may be how depth is defined. Due to our recognition of objects found in nature, diminution, value contrast and overlap create an orderly sense of depth, but it is strongly contradicted by the robust warm color temperature.

Generally speaking, this is a stable composition. The original presentation of the subject matter infuses it with some tension, upsetting the balance in a very subtle and elusive way. This is a composition of extremes. Shapes are either saturated in color or void of it, and all are organic. Color warmth is used generously. The full value range is employed but within a strategy specific to this work: Achromatic shapes are at the extreme terminals, while colored occupy the mid-tones. Depth is in a constant state of tension.

The steady, curved arrangement of figures praying create a pleasing pattern for the eye to follow, and frames the match between the two title characters. The placement of the stalk further isolates them. The observer is placed with the crowd of figures in prayer, sharing in their vision. The picture frame is carefully placed to crop numerous subjects at specific locations, underscoring the tension to work possesses.

Gauguin’s most impressive accomplishment with this work is to take a composition of plastic depth and flatten it. There are a handful of logical extremes in this work, supported by just as many harmonious strategies, resulting in a interesting and unified work. 

Kelly, Ellsworth (1972). Spectrum [collage on paper]. © Ellsworth Kelly private collection.

I can see where this might be a simple painting to some, but to me this work is amazing. It’s an experiment in color in the same vein as Butler’s In the Forest and the kind of mastery of color purity that I will strive for until I achieve it. | 

A full cycle of color purity is the subject, presented in evenly-spaced vertical strokes. Yellow is placed on the terminals and purity-adjusted with either subtractive primary until gray is achieved in the center, cool from the left-in and warm from the right-in. Each stroke is adjusted in rigidly proportional steps in purity, a nearly impossible accomplishment.

The yellow strokes on either end are the same chroma and temperature. Moving from left in, blue is added in equal proportion to the amount of yellow removed until step five, where pure blue is achieved. The same happens on the right side-in, except red replaces blue. At that point, yellow is removed as an adjustment, replaced by equal additions and removals of red and blue depending on the stroke until neutral gray is achieved at the exact center stroke. Tonal differences are secondary and due to the respective color’s native value. All strokes have the same width and height.

Spatial order is the result of the impressions provided by the color and value of those strokes. The result is an almost subconscious waveform with nadir to the left and crest to the right. Spatially and in terms of visual weight, I would regard this as a work of pure symmetry, but the differences in value and saturation result in more slightly approximate symmetry.

This work is a study in precise equivalencies and elemental range possibilities. It employs perfect balance and the full range of subtractive primaries. Value range is constricted and pivots on the exact center of the scale. I believe eye movement is not so much centered in one area in favor of another. Rather, it travels over the canvas in search of the order Ellsworth has created that can only be discovered in careful study of his elemental and strategic choices.

The picture frame is used only to present the subject matter and nothing more. Special attention should be brought to Ellsworth’s choices regarding negative space. The deliberate and intuitive width of space between positive elements is exactly what is called for to relate each element to its neighbor. This work is a simply ingenious way to render a full complementary color cycle and masterful in its pleasing, harmonious character. 

Rouault, Georges (1932). Christ Mocked by Soldiers [oil on canvas]. © 2008 Artists Rights Society, NY/ADGP, Paris. The Museum of Modern Art, NY.

Christ carries a pose showing he has accepted his fate. The facial features of the soldiers say something about their sniveling character. Shapes and colors are treated with increased independence; the dense strokes separating them increases their relateability. |

If not for the title, pinpointing the subject as framed by two roman soldiers would be difficult for me. Formatting and content are the most important aspects of this work. The soldiers are given mincing expressions and large areas of slimy, gross greens, whereas the figure of Christ is not. His torso is elongated, his limbs thin, emphasizing his remoteness and suffering.

Texture and color each slightly outweigh line and shape as the foremost elements used to build this composition. Texture is rough, globally consistent and expertly employed to support this works emotional weight. Shapes define themselves more than the thick, dense stokes that lock them into place. Beyond that, a subtle pattern is evident based on small, circular and narrow, elongated shapes.

A flat composition results from the arrangement, relative size and emphasis on shape. This work has an asymmetrically static feel because of how the dark tones frame the edges and the character of the dense strokes. Dense tones dominate. The whites strongly contrast against this overall quality and harmonize it as well. Sickly greens are roughly equivalent to warm, fleshy oranges in terms of area.

The resigned, eye-closed expression on the face of Christ is framed by the faces of the soldiers. His position gathers further weight because of the direction of their gazes. The stroke and shape direction of the elements creating Christ’s body pull the eye downward. The field of view is noticeably compressed, but not overly intimate. I believe the viewer is positioned as one of the guards, and the composition places the character qualities of them on the viewer.

Masterful use of complementary elements deserve specific attention: blues against oranges, greens against reds, dense versus light, muddy versus pure. Shapes are well-defined; their relationships to each other, seamlessly combined with Rouault’s masterful sense of balancing differences, forge an amazingly unified composition. 

Hill, Thomas (1876). Yosemite Valley (from below Sentinel Dome as seen from Artist’s Point) [oil on canvas]. The Oakland Museaum Kahn Collection 68.244.2.

A hyper-realistic landscape painting of the title location. Simply stunning; this work comes as close as possible to photorealism. Hill’s use of atmospheric perspective gives the impression of water vapor hanging in the air from the river below. The scene is serene, unspoiled and slightly cold. |

There is no code to crack when subject is compared to title, things are very straightforward there. The subject is treated with pure respect, leaving no hint that any of the details were changed or purged from what was seen in reality. One of the subtle messages could be a lamentation for the harm done by mankind on nature. 

Color purity, value and shape are subordinate to space, hue and texture in this work. Value contrast is used to great effect to define minute details in the foreground shapes. That contrast becomes increasingly muddied in the mid- and backgrounds.

Diminishing detail, atmospheric perspective, careful calibration of edge definition and an increasing restriction of value range build depth. Actually, these four qualities heavily overlap, nearly describing the same attribute. Colors actually tend to increase in chroma as the illusion of depth sinks into the canvas. As is typical with works of optical realism, pictorial balance is stable, arguably approximately symmetrical in its role to support subject and content. The picture frame is treated similarly.

Natural shapes dominate, of course, but the only figurative forms are tiny and contrast sharply in their field of browns and greens. If edges are treated as lines, there is strong variety in their directionality: perpendicular, arching and meandering. They also run a blended gamut from well-defined to amorphous.

Vertically-oriented shapes on either side of the composition (trees to the left, cliff faces to the right) are paced and arranged on a slope in such a way to cause the eye to flow toward the valley. Some of the better-defined edges in the midground support this, although others tend to direct upward into the sky. The viewer actually does not seem to be standing on solid ground as much as elevated somewhat.

In conclusion, the viewer knows immediately that this a masterfully executed work. After it’s amazing photo-realistic quality, the remarkable use of texture sets this one apart. 

Wojtkiewicz, Dennis (2005). Kiwi Series #1 (oil on canvas). Cacciola Gallery, NY.

Form is transparent. The subject, which is rendered hyper-realistically, and content are primary. I believe the colossal scale of the subject and compressed field of view are a play off of the artist’s name. The delicate treatment of the fibers on the rind and the reflected light on the surface the subject rests on remind me of the scattering of sunbeams through Jupiter’s ring system when the planet to eclipses the Sun. | 

The subject of this work is a kiwi wedge rendered to a level of realism that is slightly beyond what is possible in reality. The dominance of the subject is so great that it takes on a level of abstraction, and integral components of the fruit are fully fleshed out and nearly separate themselves as subjects.

Color, texture and shape, more than other elements, are fully unified in this work. The color scheme is cool analogous. Texture is probably the prominent element, which is a great portion of the reason why the scale and field of view are treated the way they are. Elliptical, oblong shapes are encapsulated inside similar shapes, and then again, to amazing effect. They also create a sense of rhythm. Shapes within the subject are clearly defined and rendered with great respect. Because of this sense of near-segmentation, their overlapped, touched or blended edges create a flat sense of space. Pictorially, this work rests directly in the center of the definition of approximate symmetry.

This work has one of the more interesting and rare elemental contrasts found in fine art in how shapes are defined: sharply-defined and overly blended edges not used to define depth. This provides the characteristic texture of this work. Curved biomorphic shapes are the only type found, yet they are nearly geometric. Squat, small, oblong, numerous ones contrast against two large, circular ones. Warm, pure greens overpower the dense blue background. While the radiating combination of shapes are strongly harmonized through repeated shape and size, exquisite variation is installed through minor differences in their elemental length, number, position, color and transparency.

One of the reasons why the components within the overall subject take on a life of their own is because of the directional vitality they have. The seeds seem to be simultaneously pressing the contents surrounding them outward similar to hydrogen/helium fusion in the core of the sun, forming a bubble at the same time they are pointed towards the center, compressing and warming it.  The elliptical seeds not only carry a distinct directional sense of force; the starkest value contrast in this work is present where their arched sides are juxtaposed against greenish-white cell shapes. This abrupt value contrast is repeated at center-bottom of the canvas, where a light gradient is silhouetted against shadow.

Perspective is perpendicular and even with the incision of the kiwi wedge. The transparent use of the picture frame provides another example of how professionally well-crafted this work is. It is cropped so close to the subject that further emphasis is thrust upon it. The amazing photographic realism of this work effects not only sight but other senses as well; touch, taste and maybe even scent. Overall, this work masterfully isolates how the visual element of texture, and its elevation to communicative strategy, differs from other more obvious elements in that it most readily bleeds into the other senses. 

Courbet, Gustave (1849). Burial at Ornans [oil on canvas]. The Louvre, Paris.

Near photo-realistic depiction of a funeral. Use of dense tones and impure colors reinforce the somber mood. A sense of rhythm is created above the vertical mid-axis through the repeating head shapes. Due to the somewhat extreme width of the work, the tone seems to favor a still, horizontal orientation. This is contrasted by the vertical arrangement of the figures, who seem to be specific people. | 

A photo-realistic oil painting (form) of a burial (subject). Critiques of the time period have a range of observations, from the work “raising the posture of common people to that of nobility” to the work marking the final decline or the romantic style.

One example of the success of this work is how the individuals in the crowd, which is basically a single “object” established through proximity/overlap, are identifiable through either subtle tonal variations (blacks) or more extreme tonal contrasts (blacks and ivories). The color and value palette includes charcoal, pale oranges which are nearly void of hue, ivory whites, greens as muddy as the oranges, diluted cardinal red (the purest color available), grey and pale, cold blue. Textures (background earth and overcast sky, blacks and ivories), repeated head shapes effectively bind. Splashes of red and pale blue contrast against the overall impure treatment of color.

Space is plastic through proximity/overlap and atmospheric. The ivories and charcoal-blacks nearly divide the picture plane in half horizontally with some weight favoring the right due to the moments of cardinal; vertically the scene seems to repeat this central division. There are no overly-large shapes; they range from small to slightly smaller than middle. Organic shapes are heavily favored, as are impure colors. Near-balance in high/mid/low tones, however nearly all mid tones favor the scenery while high/low tones favor the figures nearly exclusively. Pattern is very subtle. 

There is a single area of primary focus, where the priest and altar boys are located in the lower left quadrant of the picture plane, to include the cardinals. Eye motion flows directly upward with the strokes of the crucifix and more calmly laterally with the crowd…Next to the combination of the reading figure with the ivory dog, directing the viewer toward the exposed grave and back to the beginning. The viewer is a part of the ceremony, or at least nearby. She or he is the average adult height parallel to the ground. The picture plane is simply a pane to view the scene through. The frame supicture planeorts and complements the lateral orientation of this professionally and beautifully bound work. The placement of the cross, contradicting this motion, is particularly effective. 

The treatment of the crowd, the sense of timing created by the figures faces, horizontal orientation of the foreground and background and very conservative use of color create a work that certainly achieves organic unity. 

Monet, Claude (1903). Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight Effect [oil on canvas]. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson, 1993.1163.

This painting contrasts superbly to the 1900 work of the same subject. The subject and elemental strokes used to render it are the same. The direction of the light source, tone and color palette are all quite different, if not wholly inverted. | 

The subject is lit up more than the previous work, vice back-lit. This painting is as strong as the 1900 version at creating an impression in the observer’s mind, but in this case that impression is warmer and lighter. Brush strokes are somewhat laterally abbreviated when compared to the previous version, and the overall construction of the background is a little more roughly textured. Full value is again used, and the color scheme widens and shifts to an analogous lilac/blue, with excellent use of complementary high-key yellows, oranges and browns.

The detail of the architectural elements marking the beginning and end of each of the bridge’s arches are foundational to the sense of space in this work, in contrast to their near-absence in the previous. They create rhythmic convergence, causing the eye to follow them into the canvas. Like the previous work, diminishing detail, atmospheric perspective and value calibration also serve to create a believable sense of depth. The reversal of the placement of shadow with ambient light on the water and highlight on the architecture do not change this work’s sense of stable balance when compared to the previous version of this subject. 

The majority of value rests at the mid-range, providing a rich backdrop for the dense and light areas. A very subtle and expertly integrated value pattern is created. This painting seems quite colorful, when in actuality the colors are quite diluted. The strongest pictorial contrast is again on the bridge, but value highlights and shadows are inverted in their placement relative to the structure of the bridge. Warm and light colors are sparse, but the majority of them are spent on the bridge, which causes it to stand out on the canvas even more. The almost indistinguishable moments of these same hues in the sky and water serve to harmonize the entire canvas. 

The vitality this work has is all the more amazing when general color purity is considered. Like the previous rendering of this subject, specific detail is set aside to make more room for the intended impression. Monet makes this choice and executes this painting quite masterfully. 

Riley, Bridget (1999-2000). Evoë One [oil on canvas]. © 2000 Bridget Riley. All rights reserved.

A visually pleasant work depicting either a tangled mess of looping, thick and colorful strokes or a series of shapes passing through a “filter” that switches their colors from warm to cool. The lateral organization of undulating shapes seems to imitate the slow-paced, passage of time. | 

As a work of nonobjective abstraction, the subject has been reduced to the graceful interaction of curved and angled shapes that seem to gracefully drift across the picture plane. The form this work takes is a lesson in distillation. The expert use of pattern, color, value and purity combine to create a specific series of emotions in the viewer: calm and a sense of pleasure for the most part.

Lines are implied through shape edges; graceful curvilinear shapes are the basic vehicle of this work. The same shapes are contrasted by sharp straight edges which aid in the undulating binding of the work through their shared angle. Colors are somewhat pale, mostly pure and mostly cold in tone.

Spaces is largely shallow, imitating wave crests and dips of a calm ocean (assuming a perpendicular, aerial view of the waves parallel with the ground). Elemental treatment is not a literal reflection by either dimension, but elemental interaction and weight are homogeneous. Organic, intuitive harmony is created through shape edges, color, value and purity. Color temperature and rigid versus curved edges introduce interest. 

Eye movement follows the lateral “motion” of the wave-forms, back and forth, heavily complemented by the wide shape the picture frame creates. As stated before, picture frame merges with the lateral motion of the work. picture plane angle is not strictly defined, but could be thought of as either being perpendicular or parallel to the “ground”. In either case, the viewer is perpendicular to the image; the shapes, while in motion, to not diminish either laterally or vertically. Organic unity is achieved; the minimal amount of elements are employed for maximum artistic effect. 

Monet, Claude (1900). Waterloo Bridge, Grey Weather [oil on canvas]. The Art Institute of Chicago. All rights reserved.

It is my understanding that London at the turn of the century was dangerously congested with people and pollution. Monet has titled this work “Grey Weather”, so I take that to mean that the combination of artificial and natural fog is the result of this hyper-impressionist work in the afternoon. In spite of the dreary and dirty subject matter, this work is simply beautiful. | 

The carefully framed arcade of Waterloo Bridge and the dense, bustling traffic it supports is the subject of this amazing painting. Monet’s formal and stylistic choices effectively communicate the dreary, tainted impression of work and life in this thriving, yet impersonal, setting. Overlapping freehand strokes are blended by the eye to create the impression of water, artificial structures, the solid mass of a crowd and a polluted background. Dramatic value, restricted color purity, spatial pattern and global texture are beautifully fleshed out across the canvas based on this foundation of tiny gestural strokes.

The illusion of spatial depth is simply remarkable in this work. There is a distinct angled/flat foreground to background configuration. Diminishing detail, color purity calibration and atmospheric perspective unite in an indistinguishable manner. Most beautiful of all, in my opinion, is the subtle yet effective use of intuitive convergence Monet employs with the angle of the individual arches that create the bridge. This scene is based on optical reality, and even so the heavy abstraction of the scene still results in approximate symmetry of a visually believable depiction.

Tension is created through the interplay of curved and perpendicular edges, moments of extreme value contrast, calibration of detail and the proximity of delicate dense greens and light golds. Value variety is equal to purity restriction. Global texture, and a severely stunted and analogous color scheme harmonize. If I were forced to choose a single strength from the harmonizing and contrasting strategies in this painting, it would be how the polluted golds raising from the skyline are reflected in the edge-identifiable water waves in the foreground to unify the entire canvas.

The single most pleasing pattern created by Monet in this painting is the arcade that bisects the horizontal midsection of the canvas. This is simply exquisite: Positive and negative space are expertly created through stark contrasts in value. The viewer seems to be a distance away from the subject, and at an elevated angle to it. The dimensions and placement of the picture frame is done in such a way as to cause it to melt away from awareness, maximizing the impact of the subject matter it frames. 

In the tradition of O’Keeffe and Nix (or in the tradition he created with respect to these two artists), Monet rendered the same subject dozens of times under different lighting and weather conditions. Aside from the amazing and varied strengths already mentioned, Monet has communicated as well as anyone I can think of the impression of bustling activity deadening on the ears due to thick, tainted air. I would venture to say Monet, evidenced by works such as this one, is the next advancement from Seurat. 

Mitchell, Joan (1992). Untitled (oil on canvas). Robert Miller Gallery.

This is a pretty good example of a painting that comes across as inaccessible. I believe harmony is established through stroke width and extremes of color purity. Stark contrasts are made with the different colors and varying stroke directions (meandering, perpendicular). Most of the pigment looks as if it were applied unmixed directly from the source, a glaring weakness in this work. | 

The elements used to create this painting are the subject; nothing is recognizable beyond smears of pigment that gravitate into a somewhat solid mass of themselves. They seem to imply a sense of gravity, volume and swirling motion. Color and line are inseparable components of a single visual whole. A single mass is created through horizontal (to the upper portion of the mass), vertical (toward the bottom) and swirling stroke directions. A combination of pure and dense colors carry more of the workload in creating the sense of mass toward the center of the picture plane. The dense and muddy hues shape the body while the lighter colors create what could be described as highlights. If this work has a color scheme, it is built on a blue/orange complementary one. 

It is clear that key does not establish pigment application chronology. Even so, the denser colors, huddled more toward the mass’ center, seem to sink in further than the lighter ones. I would argue this work exhibits approximate symmetry and a sense of pictorial energy. This tension is caused by the implied swirling movement of the strokes that create the mass, which seems suspended in space.

Generous application of pigment dominates, but there are notable areas of negative space where trace amounts of pigment were used. Further contrasts are built through color temperature, color purity, stroke direction and the global light-dark-light vertical value structure of the entire picture plane. Consistent application of pigment throughout builds a pleasing, organic sense of texture. Stroke width, "directionality", and overall style serve to harmonize this work. 

Minimal attention is paid to the upper and lower thirds of the canvas; all energy and movement is centered in the middle third. There, thick values provide the backdrop for the strongly contrasting slight, high-key values to shine against. The picture edge is used in a contradictory manner. A few strokes are cropped by it, bringing attention to the only mathematically rigid edges in the entire work. However, it is clear that the mass is a fixed width and height, resulting in an impression that the picture frame’s dimensions are in error. 

A combination of balance and contrast characteristic of elementally unified works is present. A major strength of this work is to show how related and starkly contrasting colors can be related with intermediate muddy or neutral colors or values. 

Phelan, Ellen (2004). Peonies, Roses and Books [watercolor and gouache on paper]. © Ellen Phelan/ARS, NY.

A still life of flowers rendered in such dense tones that whites become mid-tone grays and even negative space carries the sense of weight occupied areas possess. There is hardly any edge definition to speak of, resulting in alternative elemental treatment controlling eye movement. | 

The subject of this still life is fully developed flowers in a glass vase set against a background of a bookshelf. The dense treatment of the subject matter is what one might expect to see if he or she were attempting to paint this still life in the evening without any local light. Instead of ambient light, there’s a sense of “ambient shadow”.

Shadow (value) is the first identifiable element. There is hardly any light, resulting in a similar scene as would be seen by human senses under the same lighting conditions. Shapes are recognizable, both in the subject and in the background. Color is hardly better than minimally recognizable; a dense and muddied complementary scheme is used.

Very subtle adjustments in value are used to establish space. Some overlap and a hint at diminishing edge definition from foreground to back is secondarily used. The heavy use of dense values and the stability of the subject matter result in a very stable, even “heavy” composition. Beyond value and vaguely-defined shapes, the organic forms that populate the foreground overwhelm more rigid and highly blended ones of the background. There is hardly any balance to be found, and contrasts are quite muted for such a work of fine art.

The dark nature of this work cause the (relative) highlights of the peonies to be quite effective at attracting attention. This is followed up by the somewhat purer reds and greens used to create the rose forms. The picture frame is so close to the subject that it comes close to cropping slivers of the subject. This indicates the intimate proximity of the viewer to the depiction. 

The integrated and highly stylized use of thick, dark values, nearly amorphous shapes and blended edges create a composition that is globally noticeable as a continuous object even more than the individual objects within the picture plane. The mind next instinctively unwraps the overlapping shades to reveal the objects in both grounds. Phelan elegantly reveals an unexpected way of harmonizing shapes and colors but muddying colors and reducing value ranges to a much more restricted area. 

Kahlo, Frida (1951). Still Life with Parrot [oil on masonite]. Art Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin. © 2008 Banco de México Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust.

Kahlo has created a warm, voluptuous painting bursting with life and energy. The work is strongly harmonized with curved forms that are equivalent by both dimensions and piques interest through variations in their size and orientation. I believe this composition is charged with feminine vitality. |

A still life of mostly spherical forms is the subject with special attention paid to value graduations, mass and creating an impression of vitality. Each object is rendered with an identifiable bursting, almost youthful style, as though each fruit is as animated as the parrot settled in the upper-left corner.

The teeming energy of this work is expressed through lush color and spherical shapes. Kahlo’s sensitive integration of value keeps the overwhelming pure palette from taking on the character of a young child’s first attempts at painting. A subtle strength of this work is the unevenly-paced pattern she creates with the tiny organic shapes of seeds, pods and near-perfect circles. A second pattern is at work as well, based on value.

A soft directional and consistent light source creates a rich value structure. This and subject overlap build a solid illusion of depth. A stable, solid sense of pictorial balance is created in this work similar to Courbet’s arrangement of figures in his work A Burial at Ornans. This work is based on natural, curved forms. Colors are overwhelmingly pure and warm. Balance is based on a full use of the value scale. Contrast is found in how all forms are natural, but nearly mechanically geometric. 

The orientation of individual objects, with the exception of the parrot, actually direct the eye toward the canvas’ boundaries. This is contrasted with edge definition, which is sharper toward the center of this work and blurs upon approaching the edges. Subtle tension is well-placed in how the individual subject pieces brush up against or rest on each other. The picture frame is, in the end respected, but additional tension is found in how a few objects nearly touch it. In addition to this, the picture frame is the single rectilinear form found in this work.

To conclude, it is quite a challenge to summarize a work with so many formal and intellectual strengths. First, Kahlo’s intuitive and amazing use of objective color, integrated with value, requires acknowledgement. Next, the impression of energy and life is more than effective in this beautiful still life. 

Update and goals

It's been over three months since I took a step back and asked myself what I'm really doing here, but I thought now would be a good time to do exactly that. I've given over fifty master works individualized time, attention and space in my mind after pausing my historic studies at the collapse of the western Roman empire. I have to admit to myself that I do take formal design and fine art pretty seriously. Many of my summaries of various works sound similar, which would lead most to think of this as a waste of time. I don't feel that it is; there are a handful of things I'm attempting to accomplish with this daily effort. 

First, I want to make basic formal analysis something of a reflex in my mind. With each work, there's a laundry list of elements, strategies and concepts I check off to see where I am. Second, I'm attempting to integrate more complicated and sometimes specialized knowledge into the model of formal analysis I've developed so far. Next, I do enjoy knowing some detail of the master works and their creators that have carried visual communication and artistic expression to where it is now. It helps me to put into context, both historically and stylistically, my own efforts, in addition to paying basic respect to those who have come before me and deserve it. Last, even though this can feel like work, and sometimes it's hard for me to explain what I think is going on, I do have fun, or at least draw satisfaction from this project. 

The greatest challenge for me is identifying content. Even now I don't think I'm reliable at formal analysis, which is simpler than deciphering an artist's message. I'm comfortable never getting to a point where I can respectably untangle a compositions elements and energy, but I'll never stop trying. Even beyond that, I do sort of dream that some day I'll be able to view a work I've never seen before and be able to make a reasonably solid guess at what the artist intended to say, or the emotion she or he is attempting to inspire. Because content can be a "code to crack", an impression, an emotion, a simple reflection of optical reality, something literal, something with no identifiable connection to the initial inspiration, or even nothing at all, this requires daily, life-long effort, with no guarantee of any measure of success. 

In any event, I have probably a week's worth of pieces still to integrate, and then I'll consider myself half way done. At the half way point, my initial analysis will be more risky and I'm sure the follow-up paragraphs in each essay will push me to improve my formal and content analysis skills. Of course, my analysis is just that. I know I'm often way off-base, and I welcome any discussion or criticism. 

One final note: It's very important that I point out that all of the master works images and many of the formal details in my analysis share their basis in one of my textbooks from an introductory art class I took a few years ago. While the germ of one or two important details about each work come from this text, all of the essays I've posted in this blog are carefully considered and in my own words. 

Ocvirk, Stinson, Wigg, Bone & Cayton, D. L. (2008). Art Fundamentals | Theory and Practice (11th ed.). McGraw-Hill Higher Education. 

Kollwitz, Käthy (1934). Young Girl in the Lap of Death [crayon lithograph]. Art © Artists Rights Society, New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.

A rendering dark in mood of Death embracing a young, emaciated girl. He actually seems to be cradling her with some tenderness, instead of taking her in a more forceful way usually associated with the end of life. The image is reminiscent of something one would see at Auschwitz upon liberation. |

The subject of this work is two figures: A young girl embraced by the metaphorical death figure. Formal choices are rapid and stark, presenting the subject matter in a non-divisive, unambiguous manner; clearly Kollwitz is trying to express her concern for life. Line and value build this achromatic ink wash rendering. Value variation fleshes out some spatial depth as well as detail in this work. A combination of dense values, thick wash strokes and a relatively stationary pair of subjects create a stable composition. 

Line variety is simultaneously restricted and open. All lines are gestural and overwhelmingly quick. They vary greatly in measure and width. Strokes slow considerably and give way to detail where centers of attention reside. Values are narrowly placed in three major increments: light, medium and dense. Not much value can be found between those three markers. The girl’s face contains the most detail, which is the primary area of focus. Stroke momentum carries the eye down and to the right, where secondary areas of less detail are found.

Seemingly built rapidly with deliberate emotion, this work is a case study in the emotional treatment of a work’s content and sparse, but appropriate, elemental economy. Overall the image causes a lengthy pause because of how well it impresses a mood of sorrow and tragedy in the observer. 

Gogh, Vincent van (1889). Starry Night [oil on canvas]. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

A beautiful incremental example of the artistic movement from optical reality to pure abstraction. This work is in the middle of the abstraction scale, leaning slightly towards realism. The sky dominates the work, and van Gogh’s formal choices in it’s rough rendering communicate the idea of night sky more effectively than a painting that was more realistic could. | 

The scene is a panoramic view of a village beneath a clear night sky. An impression of a chilly night of stargazing is masterfully communicated. This work leaves its unique mark on the progressive marginalization of subject in favor of increasing emphasis on content. The entire composition is based on rough and generous brush strokes that vary in length but not width, and are mostly abrupt. This creates a consistent, pleasing global texture. Individual strokes in close proximity create shapes that are defined by changes in color or value. The color scheme is a cool split complementary. An overall pattern is created by the bright values and colors and the intervals between them. 

Spatial depth is ambiguous but quite orderly. A flame-like silhouetted structure establishes a foreground that actually invades the space of the observer. In the vast distance, the town is arranged, followed closely behind by low hills. Finally, the night sky and atmospherically-ambiguous mountains (or maybe low clouds) create the “final” background. Normally this would create a vast sense of depth, but the individual strokes this work is based on, the relatively pure color scale and lack of formal choice changes from ground to ground effectively flatten this work.

When pictorial balance is analyzed, each of this work’s quadrants is roughly equivalent in terms of both elemental weight and directional forces. The result is a work of stable asymmetry. All strokes are fluid and free-flowing, resulting in a composition that seems to be in shifting motion. These individual elements overpower the shapes they create. All shapes are organic in character, but the roughly geometric circular shapes in the sky are balanced against the blocky shapes of the buildings below quite well. The color scheme is portioned out masterfully, with the split side of the spectrum standing out well against the cool dominate side. Value is favored over purity as a method to provide variety. Mid-tones are nearly absent, and like the color scheme high-key values are overshadowed by low, yet stand out more.

The sky is particularly captivating; The swift swirling of the sky is repeated by the circular glow of the stars and moon. The observer is standing somewhat outside of town, taking in the beautiful scenery of the village and the night sky. The dimensions of the tiny buildings are reflected by the largest shape of all, the picture frame.

The many strengths of this work are difficult to quantify. The beautiful and somewhat severe abstraction of a picturesque scene creates both a unique, pleasing pattern and retains it’s recognizability. The emotional impact of this work is organic and undeniable. 

La Tour, Georges de (1618-20). The Payment of Taxes [oil on canvas]. Lviv State Picture Gallery, Ukraine/The Bridgeman Art Library.

This is one of the more extreme examples of tenebrism I’m aware of. The shadows are so dramatic and divisive that they seem to create floating shapes where the light falls on objects behind them. The color scheme seems monochromatic, with the twist that some variations of red aren’t based on value but on purity. | 

This oil on canvas painting depicts a man, probably a merchant, counting out an appropriate amount of currency for officials dictating what is owed from a ledger. A mood of quiet concentration, almost somberness, is effectively inspired. As a work of tenebrism, value is the primary active visual component, and it defines shapes and details. Texture and detail are used to create those gestural and artificial surfaces that are illuminated. There is something of a value pattern invented, with mid-tones and shades alternating overall, and highlights blended into the construct where visual focus belongs.

The central source of light is the primary component establishing space in this work. This is followed by overlapping elements and a monochromatic color scheme that supports the closed-quarters nature of the scene. Pictorially, the depiction favors the right side, but is effectively counter-balanced by the addition of an extra figure with sight line direct away from the area of primary focus. The placement of the figures, and the solid shape they combine to create, result in a roughly static composition.

Drama, muddied colors and reds where hue can be defined dominate this work. The artificial surfaces of cloth overwhelm the organic flesh textures. The serious mood of this work is contradicted by the warm elemental choices. Nearly all of the sight lines in this work direct the eye toward the items below the light source. The local arrangement of the highlights effectively spotlight the primary focus area. There is some attention attracted to the lower left and opposite corner due to color purity.

Built on a skeleton of value, interlocking artificial and gestural shapes are arranged on the canvas in a manner that nearly reflects optical reality. While there are portions that seem to be compressed and elements that could be rotated-off from the manner most elements are angled in relation to the picture plane, this is still a optically realistic and master work of art. 

Kandinsky, Wassily (1913). Improvisation 30 [oil on canvas]. Art Institute of Chicago.

Kandinsky has taken cannon fire, explosions and deep-sea splashes, experiences with a specific impact on each sense, and made them strictly visual. He accomplishes this with what appears to be a chaotic arrangement of elements. The result is to create a strong, successful impression of these things in the viewer’s mind. |

While some elements on the picture plane can be identified, in actuality the subject of this work are ideas, such as explosion, burst, fire and the like. While the canvas is full of action and bursting with color, the impact the composition has in the viewer’s mind is the primary point. This oil on canvas painting is only feebly tethered to anything recognizable in reality. Shapes interlock, collide and create gaps to build the basic global format of the composition. Color strategy seems to morph from a primary triad, bleeding into secondaries, tints and muddied hues. Lines are used to represent the expanding gas of cannon explosions, fence barriers (or unspent bullets) and buildings.

The manner in which elements are arranged, how they collide, and the haphazard way they seem to be thrown against a flat surface results in an overall decorative sense of space. In actuality, space is used to masterful effect, and subordinate to the message, because its moments of contradiction underscore the chaotic overall character of this work. This work does not respect negative space; the result is the canvas seems to be moments from bursting like a bubble with the positive elements of shape and color spilling out. I believe this work is pictorially unbalanced.

All lines are haphazard and quite gestural, but vary between meanderingly-lengthy and abrupt. Edge definition runs the gamut from clearly incised to amorphous. There are a handful of elements that are in a state of balance. For example, the value range is evenly employed from beginning to end, color purity is nearly as fleshed out, and, while positive space crushes negative, the chaotic arrangement of elements is actually quite homogenous.

Contrasts are the norm in this work. Areas that harmonize are difficult to identify. The result, in my opinion, is primary areas of eye rest are equivalent and therefore negate each other; each observer will have her or his own path of attention to follow. The frame that defines this work is the only stable, clearly defined and geometric element available. The viewer is probably not positioned “anywhere” viewing the scene, but rather the scene could be what is taking place inside the warm miasma of the viewers mind.

This is a particularly important work in my vocabulary. It is one of the few works I am aware of that does not rely on pattern or texture as a vital component to its expression. In addition, I would argue it’s one of only a few I know of that is purely pictorially unbalanced. There are a handful of formal arguments that make this work completely original. 

Nix, Patricia (1992-94). La Primavera [mixed media on canvas]. The collection of Ivan Blinoff, London.

The subject of rose depicted a handful of different ways, some obvious, others completely original. For example, one of the roses is washed out, and others have the planes they reside in confused with arbitrary elements. The textural manner they are rendered with binds all together. |

This is an example of the theme strategy of creating a composition, in this case rose. This work is important because it visually describes how each individual object of the same kind is unique, and deserves the special treatment of belonging to its own plane with its own rendering. A pleasing, rhythmic pattern is created with the bulb forms the roses create, coupled with the similarly-shaped rectangular panes. A wide range of colors is used, with no particular strategy I can identify, but once a general color is used, it is treated with a similar temperature and value when used elsewhere. The full range of values is used.

Globally, spatial order is decorative; each pane seems to reside against the picture plane through gestalt/close edge and touch. The cells themselves tend to carry decorative space as well, with a single subject in most of them. I would make the argument that approximate symmetry applies to this work. Individual, cell-like panes are the first component part, followed by the individual roses or subjects that occupy those cells. Elements of varying densities but roughly similar sizes are distributed in a way that promotes stability more than disorder.

Rounded organic shapes contrast against the rectilinear mechanical character of the cells they occupy. The canvas itself creates a higher-tier cell. Generally, dense colors and values occupy the upper portion of the canvas, while lighter ones occupy the opposite. Values reside on the terminals of the scale, for the most part, although some mid-tones are used. A unique, somewhat rough texture binds the entire work together. 

There are some areas in this work that are characterized by tension and contrasts. Abrupt dark versus light tones are the most noticeable, followed by areas with elemental chaos and areas with a striking complementary color strategy. These contrasts are presented against a harmonious background of static shapes and analogous color cells. This work is an excellent example of the theme-strategy of creating a visual composition. Nix is able to keep the subject engaging by calibrating a handful of formal elements, including field compression, color and value strategies. 

El Greco (1608-14). The Baptism of Christ [oil on panel]. Hospital de Tavera, Toledo, Spain/The Bridgeman At Library.

The unified whole of this composition undulates like the ocean viewed from above. Limbs, clothing folds and a rippling arrangement of circular figures repeat the same organic ovoid shape throughout, resulting in an organic binding effect. |

Christ's elongated figure is preparing for baptism, surrounded by an increasingly spiritual realm as the eye moves up the canvas. Formal choices place this event in a warm, peaceful tone. Color and value changes create edges. A rich blend of these two attributes create an undulating, almost weightless feeling. A rough double-complement color strategy is used, with plenty of desaturated values employed.

Value contrast is used to dramatic effect, creating figure-by-figure depth. Shapes do not overlap as much as they twist into and wrap around each other. On a more subtle level, bright colors gravitate lower on the canvas, appearing closer than those that are more muted toward the top of the canvas. Diminution is infused with this color strategy to further reinforce the spatial order El Greco has created.

While the canvas is dense with lines of motion and weight-bearing elements, pictorially this work is quite stable. In fact, gravity seems to have little influence on this work’s static sense of balance. Figurative shapes are used throughout, contrasted by nothing in this regard. Shapes vary between well-defined and amorphous. Positive space is activated much more than negative, but the way the gaps are rendered strongly reinforces the fluid character of this work. A general shape size contrast is created with large, elongated forms and smaller elliptical ones.

Christ's dramatic pose is bracketed by stark, pure colors, while his form is largely colorless. The orientation and dimensions of this work overlap the upward motion of the figures directional thrust and the lines of their attention. This brings the viewer up to the top-center figure of God, who is himself bracketed by figures that create a shimmering golden realm for him to rest in.

The strongest visual strategy of this master work is the pattern El Greco creates with elongated, graceful forms directing attention upward. His choice in framing dimensions and orientation deserve special mention as well.