Composition - examples of note

Enzie Shahmiri · 11-18-2006, 10:06 PM

Someone please explain why the lady in red in the back row. Why do you think he chose such a saturated red, rather then toning it down?
You think it has a purpose, if so what?

I love to see the sketches that precede the painting. It is always great to see how arrangements get changed to better a composition. Too bad there are not many color studies left behind.

Mike McCarty · 11-18-2006, 10:28 PM

Trying to get as good a look as possible I've split the painting into left and right side. This painting, by the way, is located at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Ma.

Enzie,

I can only hazard a guess ... The bright red color seems like a reasonable choice in this theme, but I too puzzle as to why he chose to split the red image on the edge of the canvas. Maybe he thought the shot of color was necessary and felt that if he'd brought it into the body of the composition it may have drawn attention away from the dancer. I suppose that whatever he decided to do, by definition, becomes the right thing to do.

I thought the guy with his head tilted back was passed out drunk, but then I read that he was just shouting an "olay!" of sorts. Either one works for me.

John Reidy · 11-18-2006, 10:43 PM

When I view this painting my eye travels in the fashion I've indicated below. There is a strong slanting cross tha dominates the canvas and then more subtle clues to draw and coax your eye around the painting. I, too, can not express the reason why he chose such a strong color for the dress although I believe I understand why the figure is split off, to show the whole danceer would give it too much importance and stagnate that part of the painting. I like to think the strong color helps draw the eye but the cut off dancer lets the eye pass.

I enjoy exploring the compositional themes here and I thank you, Mike, for all you have contributed.

Mike McCarty · 11-18-2006, 11:24 PM

Thank you John, I have a large debt to repay.

Here's the Sitwell family by Sargent, also giving that burst of red.

And, a painting entitled "Spanish Dancer" by Sargent, and dated 1880-81, a couple of years prior to "El Jaleo." It seems that Sargent had been working up to this "El Jaleo" for some time.

And a couple more random paintings by Sargent:

1- Head of Ana, 9x10
2- Reconnoitering, 1911, 22x28.

There is a particularly good image of this painting at the ARC website here:

http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/databa...e.asp?id=27578

This is like a landscape double fudge sunday.

Cynthia Daniel · 11-19-2006, 08:08 AM

Speaking of the color red in painting, I just ran across this last night. Be sure to scroll down and read the editorial reviews.

A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire

Mike McCarty · 11-19-2006, 11:09 AM

Cynthia,

I've always heard that it was the color purple, or aubergine, that was terribly rare and reserved for kings. Although, this may have been even further back in time.

Here are two more of Sargent's paintings that throw that splash of red into the periphery.

Rehearsal of the Pas de Loup Orchestra
Venetian Wine Shop 1898, 21x27

Mike McCarty · 11-19-2006, 11:32 AM

And this, painted just a few years after El Jaleo, by Wm. Bouguereau. These kids just slay me.

Une Vocation, 1890, 22x18

Enzie Shahmiri · 11-19-2006, 01:24 PM

I don't know, the red in the Spanish Dancer painting just seems out of place to me, especially since the color is only somewhat repeated in the apple on the chair. Maybe it is meant to symbolize something or it's just there because he felt like it?!

On the other hand the painting of the Sitwel family, the red even though dominant, does get repeated several times throughout the painting, making it feel less out of sorts. The same holds true for the interior scene, where hints of the color can be found on the opposite wall.

Thank you everyone for your opinion!