Do You Need to Go Outdoors to Paint? Maybe Yes, Maybe No.

Wooded Upland Landscape by Thomas Gainsborough. Is this a real place?

When visiting the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach several years ago, there was an intriguing label telling how Thomas Gainsborough created models of landscapes using such items as broccoli and mirrors to serve as references for his paintings. It seemed that no one else had heard of this, and this made me think that it was something I imagined. But while doing some research on the internet, I came across a reference to this. It was on ibiblio, and while I couldn't ascertain exactly what collection it was from, it seems as it is from a booklet produced by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. From the booklet:
 

• Thomas Gainsborough, though he was London's most fashionable society portraitist, preferred his beloved English countryside. "I'm sick of Portraits," he lamented, "and wish very much to. . . walk off to some sweet Village, where I can paint Landskips." In spite of his romantic longing for nature, he seldom if ever painted actual views. In accordance with much eighteenth-century art theory, Gainsborough was convinced that nature in the raw was an unsuitable subject. Only after an artist had refined a scene through his sensibilities could he begin to paint.

• Gainsborough's late works, such as this vista of butter-yellow clouds wafting through a mauve sky over a verdant valley, are fantastic reveries. Such idyllic scenery and extraordinary colors do not, of course, exist in the real world; so, Gainsborough invented them in his studio. He experimented with theatri­cal lighting effects, illumin­at­ing his subjects with candles shimmering through colored fabrics.

• Another painter recorded that Gainsborough "framed a kind of model of landskips, on his table; composed of broken stones, dried herbs, and pieces of looking glass, which he magnified and improved into rocks, trees, and water." Here, shiny hard coal may have served for the wet banks of the brook, a crushed mirror for the glistening ripples, and broccoli and brussels sprouts for the foliage. Thus, from a scale model, Gains­borough did indeed "magnify and improve" nature, creating a quiet escape from life's travails. (Quotes from The Letters of Thomas Gainsborough, ed. Mary Woodall [Green­wich, Connecticut, 1963], 115, and Sir Joshua Reynolds, Discourses on Art [1797 edition], ed. Robert R. Wark [New York and London, 1966], 220.)

Wooded Upland Landscape by Thomas Gainsborough (British, Sudbury 1727–1788 London) Date: probably 1783. Gift of George A. Hearn, 1906. 
More information at the Metropolitan Museum of Art website.

 

 

 

At the other end of the spectrum is landscape work by a contemporary artist, Rackstraw Downes. We saw an exhibit of his works a few years ago at the Portland (Maine) Museum of Art. He paints from life, in a photorealistic style. His subject matter is often not picturesque, but is of  places in our environment such as landfills, trash-strewn railroad sidings, etc., with a technique that reminds us of the Dutch painters such as Vermeer.

Lincolnville Beach - Rackstraw Downes 1977

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: H. 12-1/4, W. 44-1/2 inches

 

Bequest of Douglas Dillon, 2003
More information at the Metropolitan Museum of Art website.

Tim's Vermeer

Tim's Vermeer is a a new documentary focusing on how the 17th century Dutch painter, Johannes Vermeer may have painted his works has will be showing this year (although not likely out here in the suburbs, so we may have to wait for on-line distribution).

 The film is a joint effort between artist David Hockney (who has long had an interest in the collaboration between photography and painting, and Teller and Penn, the famous magicians/illusionists. It is believed by the film-makers that Vermeer may have used a "camera obscura", a device with lenses/mirrors to project a scene from life, to use as a guide when painting. This raises some interesting questions about the use of technology when creating art. It seems to be quite accepted now, and in fact, many contemporary works could not be created without the use of computers, lasers, etc. Is it just the fact that Vermeer painted so many years ago what makes this controversial? Apparently, in the film, a non-artist will use the method to create a painting.

 

Young Woman with a Water Pitcher.

Johannes Vermeer (Dutch, Delft 1632–1675 Delft)

Vermeer has always been something of a mystery; he did not leave a large body of work, and there have been controversies over the authorship of works over the years.

Some questions, that will perhaps be answered when I can finally see this film are: Was it "cheating"? Does it matter? If in fact this was his method, it was not entirely unknown, yet we don't seem to have other artists painting at the same level as Vermeer. Why not? Was it the additional talent that Vermeer provided, or an artistic vision different from what others had?

 For more information about the work shown above, visit the entry in the Metropolitan Museum site.

Happy New Year!

This year my blog will include more general art topics, as they may be of interest the students in the other art history/appreciation courses offered.

Looking forward to another interesting year,

R A Parente