“The Cradle,” a painting from 1873, created by artist Berthe Morisot, portrays motherhood, the relationship between a mother and her child. Berthe Morisot was born on January 14, 1841, in Bourges, France, and died on March 2, 1895, at the age of 54, after contracting pneumonia. She was raised in an upper-class family. Her father, Edme Tiburce Morisot, was a high-ranking civil servant in the French government and had studied painting and architecture as a young man. Berthe Morisot’s grandfather was Jean-Honore Fragonard, also an artist, who had painted many aristocratic gardens. Art played a major role in Morisot’s life as she grew up. Morisot was best known as a French Impressionist painter. Berthe Morisot created “The Cradle,” an …show more content…
This stands out because of the lighter color, and the size given to the object. With the primary color being white, the artist mixed it in with golden-yellow to create an appearance of texture. Morisot used pastel colors for the cradle, cradle veil, window curtain, and the infant’s gown. She employed bolder colors for the woman’s dress, and the wall behind the cradle. The infant’s gown is a pure white color, representing its innocence. The woman’s blue dress, and the black band around her neck, are darker shades to contrast in color to the lighter colors used in the focal point of the artwork. Her dark-colored dress may symbolize her aging as a woman. She is not as young, pure, and innocent as she was in her youth. Her hair appears to be a little gray near her hairline, which is also another sign of aging. The cradle veil is a barrier from any outside harm, as the woman lovingly and adoringly gazes at the infant. This veil also puts a barrier between the viewer and the infant, and gives the feeling of protection and privacy in their shared …show more content…
The viewer can see and feel the bond between the mother and the child. I also think the artwork is beautiful and makes a deep impression on the viewer, because of the innocence and peaceful appearance of the infant. The woman has such an intense gaze with the way she is looking at the infant; it gives each viewer an opportunity to interpret it in their own way, concern or admiration, all part of motherhood. The woman’s body language is intriguing because she is replicating the infant’s arm position, maybe to find her own peace. In my search, I discovered that Berthe Morisot was a famous female artist in the 19th century, and in making a choice, this piece of art quickly caught my
One of the aspects I believe unifies this painting is, as I talked about above, the continuation of the blue of the woman’s clothing continuing up into her hair, which gives the piece a sense of wholeness and relativity. There is also balance in this piece, for while the woman’s head is offset, this is balanced out by the elongation of her shoulder and arm in the right side of the image. Variety is also achieved in this piece through the use of a variation of hues and a lot of tonal difference. Emphasis is placed upon the hair with the use of an unnatural hair colour, as well as the face where light colours are used to highlight and pull the attention. Space is not so much of an active principle in this piece, but is still present nonetheless. Beryl is placed in the middle of the painting, with her taking up roughly 50% of the space, and the rest taken up by background.
One of the most effective principles Paolo de Matteis uses in this painting is his use of lines and invisible lines to direct the viewer’s attention to the child in his mother’s arms. The shepherds and their animals, the Virgin Mary, and Saint Joseph are all instances of invisible lines in this painting, as their outstretched hands and lines of vision are all pointing to the baby Jesus. For example, the three women and the child kneeling to the bottom right side of the manger are all staring or pointing to the upper left, toward Jesus. Moving to the upper right corner of the painting, the ox and the donkey are directing their gaze to the bottom left, once again at Jesus. The two men to the right of the animals also point in that direction. In the top and center, Mary and Joseph watch their child, creating yet another invisible line pointing toward the point of emphasis, while the angels
Thomas Hovenden uses a mix of warm and cool colors to paint this picture. The mother and the babies clothing are the only colors that have high value, which helps them stand out in the painting. The baby is wearing a bright blue jacket while the mother is wearing a red bandanna and yellowish dress. His use of bright colors to illustrate this little family along with John Brown giving his blessing to the baby communicates to us that there is a bright future ahead for them.
His frustration is visible in the expression on his face. He appears tired of her bothering him about it, hence the hand. The child is showing a lot of white which can represent faith, I think the artist did this to say that the baby is giving the family faith because they are trying to provide for their child and in order to do that they need to be able to put food on the table which won’t just only help the baby but them as a whole. The woman may also symbolize strength that’s why the artist made her dress and lipstick red; she’s fiery. She may help the husband maintain his sanity no matter how many problems they are going through as a family.
The bright blue of Mary’s robes ensnare our gaze. This vibrant color contrasts with the neutral tones of browns, whites, greens, and reds. Combined these soft colors emanate a calm ambiance about the painting. The robes of the figures, the Madonna’s in particular are light, airy in a sense. Tri-tone gives a sense of real fabric, and of movement underneath that fabric. Tri-tone and shadowing go beyond the characters however. The architecture in the background expresses a realistic filtered light. We detect an opening in the building by the presence of the tops of trees in the background, and by the light that faintly falls on the face of Madonna. This gentle illumination, once again brings our attention to the faces of Madonna and Child. In comparison, the saints in company are not placed in such a light, figuratively and
Concerning color, there is a stark contrast between the figure on the painting and the background. More specifically, the figure of the woman is predominantly delineated in white color, especially pale, ashen white, as far her apparel and facial complexion are concerned, while there are also various hues of grey, with respect to her hair and accessory feather. These white and grey shades are vividly contrasted with the prevailing red and crimson hues of the background (viz. the drape, armchair, and table). Moreover, one can detect colors of dark green (jewelry), some beige on the left (pillar), and darker or lighter shades of blue on the right side of the canvas (sky), which all in concert and in addition to the subtle purple hue forming the sun or moon exude a certain dramatic sentiment. Also, there is brown, which often easily segues into gold (viz. books and attire details respectively). The main contrast of colors between white and red would be interpreted as serving the purpose of rendering the figure of the woman, and especially her face, the focal point of the work, despite, paradoxically enough, the lush red shades at the background. Bearing that in mind, the significance of the woman’s face will be enlarged upon later, when discussing aspects of her identity.
The portrait is displayed horizontally with a gold trimmed frame. The subject is a female that looks to be in her early 20’s sitting upright on a large brown chair. If the viewer travels up the painting the first indication of the woman’s class is her satin, blue dress. The saturated blue shines and falls in the light like water. Paired with the dress are her exceptionally detailed endings to her sleeves. The lace is even painted as though it is translucent, allowing a little of the blue dress to show through the sleeve. Flowers throughout history have symbolized innocence of a woman and her virginity. The repeating theme of flowers, in the sleeve cuffs and ribbon) in the woman’s attired suggests her purity or innocent nature. Another very details section of the painting includes the corset/torso details. The sewing suggests texture in the torso with small beading in between. Towards the top of the chest in the center, the female seems to bear an extravagant, ribbon piece with a tear drop bead in the center. The light pink
Many artists use facial expressions in their figures to enhance the techniques used. The combination of the woman’s worrisome expression with the slightly distressed one of the baby helps reinforce the mood the use of color has already established. Because of this combination, the title Susan Comforting the Baby is clearly reflected in the work.
The effect that forms are that of biometric feel beside the people they have more of geometric feel. The colors do impact this artwork greatly because each color is harsh and sot of clash with one another. The colors are black, gold, red, brown, white and light blue. The colors are mixed. The color on the mother's dress is a harsh black versus that of her children which are every light and airy. The hue of the piece of art is very light in some spaces but in other places it can be very dark. The saturation is very different in many places if you look at the woman's dress and in the dog, you can see that it is very saturated but if you look at the two girl's dresses you can tell that its less saturated. When
The little girl’s dress gives the texture of lightness and seems like airy fabric that would be thin and translucent. The time in this piece is very accurate of the late 1700’s and when viewing it, the time seems classic. The emphasis of this piece is mainly the mother and the daughter, however when looking at them you are drawn into looking at their realistic eyes. The eyes seem like the focal point which draws the viewer in to the picture.
The art and beauty in this painting is exemplified through the eyes of Boucher. It starts with a beautiful couple taking a rest after picking up some followers. Their clothing looks very elegant and colorful which shows that they are aristocrats. The man’s eyes are gazing at a shepherdess who gathered her own flowers. Their eyes are locked despite the man having his own woman right in front of him. The light brushstrokes of the dresses, flowers, and trees
Another attracting feature of this painting is that it appeals to your emotional side. Personally, I have an elder sister and we share a connection that is really rare. I have a picture of her, holding me as a baby with a huge smile on her face and this painting ultimately reminds me of that; giving me nothing but pleasant memories. That is what William is trying to do here. He uses the soothing and caring facial expression of the young lady together with the tenderness of the sleeping baby to capture his viewers and appeal to their caring and emotional side.
Women with Dead Child by Kathe Kollwitz is an excellent choice for showcasing Expressionism. The emotion that the viewer feels is intense sadness as a mother mourns the loss of her child. As you point out the use of the grey scale really drives home the point of pain that this woman is feeling as she holds her child. I also completely agree with your statement that mothers are usually regarded as things of beauty in most previous forms of art, but Expressionism explores the reality of death and the roll of the mother and loss of love.
Both the painting featured above have a common theme of Motherhood. They both picture a smiling mother holding their child to their chest. The painting on the left is called The Happy Mother; it was created by Max Bohm in 1913, and is currently located at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The Painting on the right is Mother and Child, and was made by Werner Drewes at an unknown date and is also located in the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In terms of line and shape, color, texture and pattern, and unity and variety, Bohm’s paint is much more pleasing to the eye than Drewes piece.
This sculpture is of a women breast feeding her child. The face of the two people is elongated, as well as the breasts of the mother. This is common to all African Art because they wanted representation of what is being expressed. In this particular sculpture, a supernatural power is being called upon. The power has been asked to protect the mother and child, and to