Composition - examples of note

Ant Carlos · 09-23-2006, 10:27 AM

It's a very good work, although it gives me the imprerssion of being from a photo-reference, a B&W, of course, making it difficult for the artist to deal with some color temperatures.

Ant

Mike McCarty · 09-23-2006, 11:25 AM

Ant,

You have a much keener eye than I. I would say that the color, apart from the composition, is well within the window of believability.

There is a window, is there not? After all, reality changed for him every second, just as it does for us. Can anyone hope to achieve a perfect moment when that moment will not stand still? Even when It stands still in a photo, as artists we must be given some latitude of believability.

Steven Sweeney · 09-23-2006, 10:05 PM

Through the grace of a serendipitous recommendation while I was on another mission, I had the opportunity to visit the Museum of Russian Art today, in Minneapolis, during an exhibition of realistic works. In turn, I very highly recommend a visit by anyone within three hours' drive of the Cities, or by anyone who will be in the vicinity in the next two months.

The image attached is a sad reproduction of a postcard, but I still think it's worth seeing here. I found the composition exquisite. This is "In the Palace of Culture Ballet Class," by Nadezhda K. Kornienko. 1956, 61-1/4 by 71-3/8 in.

In another composition, I might have thought that the young ballerina's gaze was focused into too small a part of the frame. But it is very easy to imagine an unseen "audience" here, much in the way that a perfect short story suggests events that occurred prior to its opening line and extending beyond its conclusion.

By exquisite I mean that I understand that everything in the painting is important, but I only care for and react to the subject ballerina. For the artist to shepherd that focus is, in my estimation, masterful.

Mike McCarty · 09-24-2006, 09:30 AM

That's a dandy, Steven.

More than a few years ago I had the opportunity to visit the Hermitage museum in what was then called Leningrad, USSR. Hard to imagine that I could forget something like this, but it was long ago and I've lost billions of much needed brain cells since then.

Catherine II
by Virgilius Eriksen after 1762

Ant Carlos · 09-24-2006, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike McCarty

Ant,

You have a much keener eye than I. I would say that the color, apart from the composition, is well within the window of believability.

There is a window, is there not? After all, reality changed for him every second, just as it does for us. Can anyone hope to achieve a perfect moment when that moment will not stand still? Even when It stands still in a photo, as artists we must be given some latitude of believability.

Mike,
in my opinion the work is still a nice painting, but some parts resemble to a work from photo and since it was B&W at that time it seems to me he had to make up some colors. Maybe he had the real objects close, but the photo-reference dependence is clearly showing in the light-blue fabric of the little girl's dress. I also find the shadow of the face a bit too warm. Perhaps this digital reproduction is not making justice (?).

Ant

Mike McCarty · 09-24-2006, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike McCarty
Ant,

You have a much keener eye than I. I would say that the color, apart from the composition, is well within the window of believability.

There is a window, is there not? After all, reality changed for him every second, just as it does for us. Can anyone hope to achieve a perfect moment when that moment will not stand still? Even when It stands still in a photo, as artists we must be given some latitude of believability.

Mike,
in my opinion the work is still a nice painting, but some parts resemble to a work from photo and since it was B&W at that time it seems to me he had to make up some colors. Maybe he had the real objects close, but the photo-reference dependence is clearly showing in the light-blue fabric of the little girl's dress. I also find the shadow of the face a bit too warm. Perhaps this digital reproduction is not making justice (?).

Ant

Ant, et al,

First of all I don't have much faith in this reproduction. Sometimes you can get good ones and sometimes not. This one seems dark and I don't have my good edit program available to make it better. I could lighten it up some, but as far as making color adjustments that would seem to be totally arbitrary.

But apart from that -- Let's say that you are right on the money with your analysis. It seems like a very long way to stretch your rubber band, but let's say that your assertions could be proved 100% right. My questions are these:

First of all, who should care? Apart from a couple of portrait forum jockeys like you and I who deal in this sort of minutia, who should care?

Which leads me to this question: Given your proven facts, do you think less of this painting, or more? Or, given that what is seen is within an acceptable range of plausibility, would these facts have no bearing on the quality at all?

Ant Carlos · 09-25-2006, 12:18 PM

Quote:

First of all, who should care? Apart from a couple of portrait forum jockeys like you and I who deal in this sort of minutia, who should care?
Which leads me to this question: Given your proven facts, do you think less of this painting, or more? Or, given that what is seen is within an acceptable range of plausibility, would these facts have no bearing on the quality at all?

Mike,
I hardly find a flawless painting, and never am quite satisfied with any of my own. Roubadi's work is a very good one. The small problem with the light-blue fabric that lies above her knees looks like a photo-reference issue the painter had. And it would only get worse if you lighten this reproduction, so I really believe it's there.
But yes, it is within a very acceptable range of plausibility, and what I think (even if shared with others) would in no way have any bearing on the quality, given that the observers can always have their own interpretation and in most cases they just go Wow! when they see a craftsmen work well done.
And by the way, I think I would never mention this to Roubadi if I lived at his time and could have had any contact with him. Simply because I think I could not have done any better.

Ant

Mike McCarty · 09-25-2006, 06:56 PM

Here are some interesting compositions of past U. S. Presidents.

The first composition I'll admit is less than remarkable, but the story is worth telling. This portrait of Lyndon Johnson by Peter Hurd was meant to be Johnson's official White House likeness. But that plan was quickly scrapped after Johnson declared it "the ugliest thing I ever saw." Soon the pun was making the rounds in Washington that "artists should be seen around the White House--but not Hurd." How would you like to have that pun hanging around your neck?

When Hungarian-born English artist Philip de L

Mike McCarty · 10-02-2006, 07:10 PM

I've seen this man's paintings somewhere, but I can't remember where. What I can remember is that they were mesmerizing. What I remember most of all was the surface texture and how it glowed from within. In a past life my master bedroom was designed in all things oriental. If I were to win the lottery I would populate my bedroom walls with Mr. Pushman's paintings, particularly his still lifes. I might even take them down the hall to other rooms.

Hovsep Pushman, later a naturalized American citizen, was born in Armenia in 1877. At age 11, he held a scholarship at the Constantinople Academy of Art. By 17, he had gone to the United States and started teaching art in Chicago. He studied the culture of China, immersing himself in oriental art and perhaps philosophy. He then studied in Paris under Lefebvre, Robert-Fleury and Dechenaud. He exhibited his work at the Salon des Artistes Francais in Paris, winning a bronze medal in 1914 and a silver medal in 1921. He also was awarded the California Art Club