The Esthetic Theory and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Heffernan’s paintings express her untamed imagination with majestic fantasy, dream-like subjects, yet she paints with a very classic technique. When I first viewed The Self Portrait as Wunderkabinett, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel came to mind. Michelangelo illustrates the desire and describes the oneness that humans anticipate with God through salvation. The artists painting technique is traditional, with the sensible and realistic proportions of the human body, the distinguishing lines, the application of shadow, the intricate detail on every object within the painting, and the use of traditional complementary color pairs.

While the painters after the Impressionism period were collectively called the “Post-Impressionists,” the label is quite reductive. Each artist had their own unique style, from Seurat’s pointillism to Signac’s mosaic-like divisionism, Cezanne, Émile Bernard, and others. These artists were all connected in that they were reacting to the aesthetics of Impressionism. Two of the more influential painters from this movement were Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, who aimed to connect with viewers on a deeper level by access Nature’s mystery and meaning beyond its superficial, observable level. However, each artist’s approach to achieving this goal was different. In close examination of Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait (Dedicated to Paul Gauguin) and Paul Gauguin’s Self-Portrait with Portrait of Émile Bernard (Les misérables), one may clearly see the two artists’ contrasting styles on display.

Stephen’s adoption of how others view him in his

The artists Jean-Honore Fragonard and Jaques-Louis David both successfully embody their respective stylistic differences. Fragonard’s style of painting is Rococo, which is characterized by its softness, asymmetry and curviness. Contrasting these ideals is David’s style of painting, Neo-Classicism. Neo-Classicism is synonymous with strong gestures, symmetry, and solidness. Two works that best exemplify the ideals of each style of painting are Fragonard’s The Swing, 1767 and David’s The Death of Socrates, 1787. Although at first glance, it is easier to focus on how each work is different to the other, one can argue that they are similar in theme. Both

This formal art analysis will compare and contrast the line, color, light, and composition of "Gertrude Stein by Pablo Picasso and “The Toilet Of Venus" by Francois Boucher. The formal qualities of these paintings provide a classically orientated approach to the individual subject, which provide similar methods of composition and line. However, Picasso tends to chose earthy color tones in contrast to the brightly colored image provided by Boucher of Madame de Pompadour. More so, Boucher provides a much more lighted environment for his subject, which is dissimilar to the muted light of Gertrude stein in an interior setting. In essence, a comparison and contrast to the line, color, composition, and lighting will be formally analyzed in

This paper is going to be a close examination of Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of Matilda Stoughton de Jaudènes, an oil canvas dating from the year 1794. Initially, there is going to be provided a formal analysis of the work of art in question as far as the elements of Art are concerned. Thereafter, attention will be drawn to how the sitter is conveyed through the artist’s artistic choices on the painting. With reference to that, multiple aspects of the piece will be discussed as to the way in which they contribute to attributing an identity to the sitter. Lastly, the paper will elaborate upon how two formal artistic elements effectively convey one aspect of the sitter’s identity. In particular, the elements of color and light will be

A great artist once wrote, “If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced”. This artist was Vincent van Gogh, soon to be an appraised artist known all around the world for his works, such as Starry Night. He is one of the very first artists of the post-impressionist style than is now adored in every continent. However, there is much more to the man than one painting. Creating a full timeline that stretches beyond Gogh’s life, this paper will discuss the life of Vincent van Gogh and the impression he made on the world.

Augustus Edwin John was a well-known Welsh painter. He was born on the 4th of January in 1878 in Wales. Most of all I am amazed by his early work, the chalk drawing of Grace Westry. I am impressed by the dreamy mood of this drawing. The author of this work was able to show all the beauty of human nature. This drawing makes me think about the past times, when Augustus John was creating his works. This portrait looks like more attractive, than the person in real life, because the creator admires every trait of Grace, he shows her her breath, her thoughts, her life. Frankly speaking, a real talented painter should feel each muscle, each cell of skin, each movement of lashes, each heart's impulse. To be honest, I reckon, that Augustus John

Portrait painting thrived in the Netherlands with the increase in production driven by interest in the idea of personhood and the definition of the individual self. Portraits help document the development of a personal identity as it connects factors like marital status, class, and profession. A common portrait genre produced during the seventeenth century portrays their subjects with an impassive demeanor with little vigor. At first, these paintings may be evaluated as lacking “personality” or “characterization” due to the artist’s lack of talent. However, this is rarely the case. In trying to understand Dutch portraiture, it is important to identify what type of functions they serve. Abraham de Vries’ Double Portrait functions not only as recording of his sitters’ faces but also as a signifier of the cultural, social and philosophical ideas of the time.

In the following essay, one aims to address exactly why Hume is wrong in making the true appreciation of Art something for only those with properly developed taste and fit to a proper criteria. One shall ultimately argue that this segregation undermines the fact that art is more than just it’s ascribed aesthetic properties, there is something within the art, an essence so undoubtedly human, which is not only for those bred to recognise the essence; it exists in everyone equally.

James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man presents an account of the formative years of aspiring author Stephen Dedalus. "The very title of the novel suggests that Joyce's focus throughout will be those aspects of the young man's life that are key to his artistic development" (Drew 276). Each event in Stephen's life -- from the opening story of the moocow to his experiences with religion and the university -- contributes to his growth as an artist. Central to the experiences of Stephen's life are, of course, the people with whom he interacts, and of primary importance among these people are women, who, as his story progresses, prove to be a driving force behind Stephen's art.

'It quickly emerged that the proper and unique area of competence of each art coincided with all that was unique to the nature of its medium. The task of self-criticism became to eliminate from the effects of each art any and every effect that might conceivably be borrowed from or by the medium of any other art. Thereby each art would be rendered 'pure', and in its 'purify' find the guarantee of its standards of quality as well as of its independence. 'Purity' meant self-definition, and the enterprise of self-criticism in the arts became one of self-definition, with a vengeance.'

The most important trait in defining art is its beauty. As complex as the term “art” can be, the term “beauty” is nearly just as complicated. In order to understand art more clearly it is important to understand beauty. “We label an object beautiful because it promotes an internal harmony or ‘free play’ of our mental faculties; we call something ‘beautiful’ when it elicits this pleasure.” (Freeland 8). As defined above, beauty is not a direct message. It is something that subconsciously allows man to feel good and pleasurable. There is “an internal harmony” when we observe something beautiful that allows us to take away a deeper understanding of a work of art regardless of it being “nice looking” or “ugly”.

One of the key themes within the idea of Romanticism is ‘the artist’. Taking Lowy and Sayre’s definition of romanticism into account, this figure could be described as

Many artists, be they of the pen, brush or instrument, seek through innovation an artistic immortality that has the potential to act as a blueprint from which imitation is spawned. Joyce’s Portrait is at its core innovative pioneering prose, and it can be argued that this is rebellion in its purest form. For the reaction of the sensitive, of the artistic, to a society which, once just and familiar, was then in great turmoil, is to turn inwards, question the self, and subsequently sculpt something that is reflective of their artistic impulses and embodies the distrust and rebellion they feel within. Joyce has produced with portrait a stylistically ambitious piece of work that is undoubtedly modernist in its approach, that is to say it has an ambiguity to it that often renders the aforementioned components of the novel incoherent. The modernist’s central preoccupations in regards to the inner self, consciousness, experimentation with form, and the subsequent emancipation from the constraints of the Victorian aesthetics are evident throughout Portrait of an Artist. Incoherency and the desire to confuse through the manipulation of form, is particularly potent regarding the plot of the novel.