William Michael Harnett - Trophy of the Hunt - Paris, France, 1885 - oil on canvas - H 108 x W 55 cm
Gate of Adobe Church at Carnegie Museum by Georgia O’Keeffe: whenever O’Keeffe visited New Mexico in 1929, she found the Ranchos de Taos church and was immediately inspired by its beauty. “I had to paint it—the back of it several times, the front once. I often painted fragments of things because it seemed to make my statement as well or better than the whole could” she expressed, “I had to create an equivalent for what I felt I was looking at—not copy it."3 Essentially she conveys the popular message that one has to be somewhere to fully and truly experience it, and not just view videos and photographs, or in this case, paintings of it. What is fascinating about the church is its simplistic desert color scheme of browns and yellows. Psychologically, brown is meant to be soothing, reliable, earthly, and sophisticated, so it seems a fitting palette for a home or place of worship.1 In fact, the exterior of my home in McDonald has this palette, and in some respects this was the inspiration for the color scheme, which warmly welcomes visitors to our home.
Although the subject matter of Harbor Mole is difficult to identify at first, slowly the scene unscrambles itself with just the mention of the title: a harbor on the coast of Germany.4 The lighthouse, which normally stands tall to assist the lost sailors, suffers from the intense power of a storm, represented by rapid tides and vigorous gusts. Anyone who has found his or herself caught in such a storm knows how helpless he or she feels against it, the rain blinding his or her vision and the wind manipulating his or her sense of direction. Feininger replicates these forces through the sharp geometry of the clouds, sea, and even the dock the lighthouse rests upon, almost as if an earthquake is occurring. While modern art receives criticism due to its basic geometric layouts, the use of triangles, trapezoids, and other such shapes in this painting actually invokes the distorted emotion of the viewer. This shaped Modernism imagery enhanced by the growth of cities, primarily by the introduction of skyscrapers, influences my photography of buildings and nature’s monuments in a geometric Cubism manner.
The house, presumably the home of the Girl Under Apple Tree, is set into the background of the painting obscured by shrubbery. Upon further research, it seems that Munch never felt the emotions of being home, thus lacking the sensations of security and solace in his life.2 As a result, he reflects this tragedy with the incomplete vision of the house, which even the girl is facing away from. Though subtle, this painting conveys the message that one must always keep his or her home close to the heart. The painting has a notably vibrant color scheme and an excellent use of contrast, using shadows and imagery placement. I try to use image placement and shadowing when looking for special effects produced by my photography. Digital photography is essential in the aforementioned effort by allowing numerous reproductions to satisfy this criteria.
The only truly vertical lines within Steamboat on the Ohio are the ones that compose the smokestacks of both the steamboat and the background factory, fittingly enough, both man-made structures.5 As a result, they stand out the most and display the precise development of the Industrial Revolution. They also serve as a great contrast to the man with the rowboat and even the nude people that swim to their location. The factory bears resemblance to the one seen on the cover of the Pink Floyd album Animals, so it certainly evokes the same emotions that the album does, perhaps even replaying it mentally in one’s head while viewing the painting. I use the combination of subtle colors with bright imagery while staging my photography of nature and/or events in which there is a subdued background with action occurring in the foreground. An example of this being at a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game, with the city as the backdrop while the players are in motion.
Even the structure of the Carnegie Museum itself inspires a photographer. Steel rails, the pride of Pittsburgh, enforce its powerful frame, while using glass panes as walls and ceilings allows the beauty of the outside area to serve as an exhibit itself. The central difference is that this serves as a contemporary exhibit, as opposed to an interpretation of an artist from centuries past. There is a different result with every visit, and the panels can give the photographs taken of them a wonderful “framed” look.
1 “Color Psychology - Brown.” About.com. Web. 18 May 2013. <http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/color_brown.htm>.
2 “Edvard Munch: Girl Under Apple Tree.” Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2007. Web. 18 May 2013. <http://www.cmoa.org/searchcollections/details.aspx?item=1011868>.
3 “Georgia O'Keeffe: Gate of Adobe Church.” Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2007. Web. 18 May 2013. <http://www.cmoa.org/searchcollections/details.aspx?item=1016935>.
4 “Lyonel Feininger: Harbor Mole.” Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2007. Web. 18 May 2013. <http://www.cmoa.org/searchcollections/details.aspx?item=1024480>.
5 “Thomas Pollock Anshutz: Steamboat on the Ohio.” Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2007. Web. 18 May 2013. <http://www.cmoa.org/searchcollections/details.aspx?item=1010547>.
6 “William Michael Harnett: Trophy of the Hunt.” Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2007. Web. 18 May 2013. <http://www.cmoa.org/searchcollections/details.aspx?item=1007259>.
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