The Death of General Wolfe demonstrates the use of a plethora of techniques to highlight an important moment in history. West uses linear perspective by blurring background activity, using primary hues such as blue, yellow and red in the direct areas of General Wolfe to form directional forces which creates a vantage point, emphasizing General Wolfe’s death in the midst of a major military battle between the British and the French. Held above him is a flag which overlaps with the darkened sky, portraying storm clouds in the upper right half of the painting. West uses a tinted blue for a heavier, warm color in the upper left sides of the painting, therefore, unifying its background. Evocative feelings create the facial expressions of the
Like the painting, the sketch exhibits a number of West 's finest imaging and clearly and convincingly depicts all of the feeling of a frightful scene. The larger oil on canvas work isn 't one portrait, but rather, a
In Alexander Gardner’s Photographic Sketchbook of the Civil War, the haunting image “Harvest of Death” catches one’s eye with the seemingly endless field of corpses. The jarring facial expression on the figure in the foreground draws one into the narrative of the piece. However, our initial understanding of the image’s narrative is limited to what we can see and what we know of the circumstances surrounding it. While we know it was taken during the American Civil War, by simply looking at the photograph, we cannot know who is depicted. In black and white, it is difficult to even tell what side of the conflict these fallen soldiers fought for. We can interpret the image for our own readings, but we cannot tell what the artist intended us to see or what message he wanted to impart with it. These unknowns, however, are addressed in the related text associated with the image. These short passages can tell us a great deal about the photographer’s intentions and influence the way we read the image. Through the excerpt, we not only learn the intended meaning of the photography, but we also learn about Gardner’s political intentions and the key points he wanted his viewers to note within the image. Published as a pair, Gardner used his text to contextualize his images and inform the way we perceive them. This is clearly illustrated in “A Harvest of Death” and its accompanying passage.
The colors in this piece are instrumental in moving the eye across the piece and drawing attention to specific parts of the piece. For instance, for the most part, the colors that are used are dark. However, to emphasize General Wolfe, the focal point in the middle, his outfit is painted in a brighter red and yellow and the ground beneath him is light as well. Also, in order to allow the eye to glide across the painting almost all of the soldier’s uniforms are red, creating rhythm. One solider, who is apparently rushing into see Wolfe, is painted in green, which is the complimentary color to red. The use of complimentary colors brings the eyes attention to the panicked solider, emphasizing the overall sense of urgency in the piece. The piece is also well balanced and uses appropriate scales and proportions.
On the left, the picture has darker shades of green and some grey as well. These represent the sense of danger and chaos among a world untouched by man. On the right side, the picture is filled with lighter tints of green and the sky is blue rather than grey, and this represents how land that has been altered by man is simple, organized, and calm. This shows that the inevitable, the occupying of land in America, was not only expected to happen, but it was also encouraged because Americans believed it was their destiny to expand the country. Americans believed that organizing and inhabiting the land was what was best for them and for the land itself. Along with the various colors Cole used in the painting, he also used similar textures throughout the
Other than shading, the artist puts great detail as to how he positions his characters. The second pair of a white soldier and contraband in the front of the Union lines captures the
The lighting of the picture is very natural and comforting. The artist painted the setting to be a bright sunny day. The execution of a person should be a sad,
There are many values within this print, but only constitute a handful of colors: Blue, brown, black, white, and gray. Blue is the main color within this print, there are many values of the color blue used. The deepest part of the waves are the darkest blue, while the parts of the waves closest to the surface are lightest blue or white. The sky has a gradient, which is going from the lightest color to the darkest color or vice versa; the sky is creating a gradient, from the bottom up, of black to a very light gray, then to a white-yellow. The colors chosen by Hokusai can also interpret feelings and emotions. The habitual feeling when seeing the color blue is sadness. Sadness and despair would be fitting emotions for this work, due to the giant wave about to crash upon the men in their boats. Blue can also emit a feeling of elegance. The composition of the print and how the lines of the wave flow can be considered a form of elegance.
In this essay, I am going to explain a painting of Dunkirk, which was painted by a British painter in 1940. The artist, who painted the picture, was called Charles Cundall. He was sent by the British government to paint a picture about The Evacuation at Dunkirk. His main aim for painting this picture was to make Germany look bad and Britain look good. Therefore he had a reason to paint the picture as he was British himself. By looking at the picture I predict that he would not have been sitting in the battle field whilst the war is going of as we would have been exploded to pieces. He could have painted the picture from what he would have remembered whilst this battle was going on.
Red is also the dominant color, drawing the viewer’s eyes across the painting and to the center. And the scalpel, covered in blood, brings everything together with his most intense color and his sharpest focus (235). Not only does Eakins show his ability with colors, he also shows off his expressive brushwork from Dr. Gross’s hair done in dry-brush wisps to the short brushings scrubbed over the podium and the amphitheater wall (236). He also plays with the positions he gives each person. Dr. Gross, in the center, is the dominate figure—almost hero like—while Dr. Briggs, for example, holds the patient with a father like
Light uses dark black lines outline to show the mountains, his overalls, his hat, his stick, his bag tied at the end of his stick, the river or stream, and the grass. The lines show the shape of everything in the picture. The value of the picture is between medium and dark, though the orange in the mountains and the pink in the river or stream is bright. The space of the art piece is negative, open, and shallow. The texture of this two-dimensional painting is smooth (well, he did use
1. Two things that I learned about gas warfare that I see represented in the painting are the effects of the gas and the devestation of it being released. The effects of gas are shown in the painting by all of the men wearing blindfolds and walking in a line with their hands on the person in front of them. This shows the effects of gas because the blindfols make it seem that they are blind from the gas and and their eyes must are sensitive to the light. Also, the soldiers walking in a line with their hand on the person in front of them shows that they need to be guided by someone who wasn't hit by the gas because they can't see and can't find their own way back to the hospital where they will be treated. On the other hand, this painting
The colors in this painting are mostly dark because the perilous trek to the northern states was done at night. The darkest element in the painting is Harriet Tubman. The depiction of Harriet Tubman is that of a dark and mysterious superhero. Jacob Lawrence doesn't sugarcoat the blackness in his artwork so he made sure to make Harriet Tubman unmistakably black. The lines in the art seem to be shading for all the dark spots in the painting. The dark horizontal lines on Harriet Tubman's white shirt is a great sign of her blending into the darkness.
Muted colors are toned down by reducing the saturation of color. The use of muted colors is an archetypal characteristic of the Cubism art movement, as a way to focus on the subject matter (The deer), creates shallow space, and not distract the viewer. The color pallet consists of the muted primary colors of blue, red, and yellow. Franz Marc always associated color to certain meanings, and his approach to color theory is stated in a letter written to fellow artist August Macke which says “Blue is the male principle, astringent and spiritual. Yellow is the female principle, gentle, gay and spiritual. Red is matter, brutal and heavy and always the color to be opposed and overcome by the other two” (Marc). However, in the composition of the painting, the colors in the background go from blue, then red is directly located behind the group of deer, then a tinge of yellow. The color blue ensconces and surrounds the red, except for the upper portion of the left hand side, which is offset by a dash of yellow. Mixed from the color blue on the right side, and the yellow on the left, the secondary color of green swallows up the rest of the upper half of the background. Secondary colors like orange and green, are used on the lower portion of the composition, in which the deer are colored orange, and the foliage is green. The use of light shatters from the bottom right
The faces of the people are giving the light in the picture and are giving the focal point of the image. This draws the viewers’ attention to the face of the two men and the woman as their faces show how tired they are. The man on the left of the painting has is eyes closed and appears to be sleeping. The woman has her eyes gently shut and appears to be falling asleep. The man in the middle eyes are open, but his eyes have bags underneath and his face shows that he is very tired. The background of the image is shaded out. Nothing can be seen outside the window, because whatever is outside is not important for the message of the painting. However, the darkness of the window makes it seem like it is night or late evening which fits into the story the artist is showing. This will make the travelers seem as if they have either been traveling for a long time, or that the two men are returning from work. The light and darkness of the artwork shows what is important and how the long day has made the people in the painting
Without the historical background related to the painting, I just glanced at this weird one thinking about what visual qualities make me select it as an obvious one. Some characters have only parts of bodies highlighted. Highlighted parts of bodies are distorted in agony; screaming faces of woman, dead head of a baby, crying horse's and bull's heads, hands have knife and lamp, broken leg, mouths are open, eyes are in another place. There are some things in the background; burning building and house, empty building. At first sight, I could see only light, white part of bodies instead hidden, black parts of character's bodies. Several