Musings on a winter day…

“Even the strongest blizzard begins with a single snowflake.”

- Sara Raasch

And so it is with painting; the first stroke on a blank canvas is like that single snowflake. The tabula rasa... the promise it holds, is built on the premise that all knowledge comes from experience or perception.

Art is the external expression of the intuition. As artists we are constructing an imagined thing. Each stroke building upon the last until form and content are in correct relation to each other and the idea is clearly expressed. 

"Mere copying of nature is not an expression of emotion. 

Raw emotion, without rules of academic correctness to govern its output, 

just produces nonsense. Great art, can only come when creativity

is tempered by taste, when the design is conscious, and when the form 

is uniquely suited to the ideas presented.” 

Shakespeare said that art is a mirror held up to nature. Yet if the making of art was limited to just copying, then nature would surely eclipse any effort of the artist. The artist's interpretive vision would be lost in the cold reflection and recording of external facts. Reality is obtained not by copying but by interpreting. Even in painting the portrait, the artist must fix in his mind the quality, the character, the very soul of the person before him.

The transcending of art above nature is an age old discussion. Aristotle with his idealistic view, was likely the first to claim that true art is an improvement upon nature and that man must be depicted not as he is but as he ought to be. Realists believed that only common depictions of life offered an enlightened view of reality. But even this belief doesn't destroy the presence of artistic quality in their work. An internal vision along with the external, skill of execution is required for all true Art.

"Seek first for absolute truth of value and color, 

and paint this truth in the simplest and most direct way.”

The mechanics of picture-making, require a mastery of the basic principles. There are no great secrets, simply a commitment to careful observation and mindful, sincere rendering. Painting is a fusion of the external; skill of execution and the internal; vision or intuition. It requires an understanding of who we are and who we are becoming. An unfolding of the mind with each new experience.

Mysticism teaches that everything in the physical world has a parallel in the spiritual. Baltus said; "A spiritual stroke, correctly placed is beyond calculation.” This belief resonates with me; it suggests that something outside of our unique experience and knowledge is at work. That the hand of the artist is guided by the mind as well as the spirit. 

As with snowflakes; we all have our unique experiences. But maybe the accumulation of human experience is like a blizzard, resulting in what Jung called the collective unconscious. When a painting transcends or inspires, perhaps it has struck that universal chord.

Quotes: Carolus Duran

References: Orestes A. Brownson

Stalking My Art Heroes

"I do not judge, I only chronicle. Every time I paint a portrait I lose a friend." J.S.S 

I recently visited the Metropolitan Museum to view the exhibit Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends. The exhibition brings together paintings that have seldom been shown together. This collection of diverse and often unfinished portraits allows for an in-depth exploration of Sargent’s extraordinary talent. Every painting was a revelation, each displaying the effortless, virtuosity for which Sargent is most notably recognized.

“La Duse" While in London in 1893 Sargent managed to persuade Eleonora Duse to pose for him, but for barely an hour. In that brief sitting he was able to capture the essence of her enigmatic personality.

“In art, all that is not indispensable is unnecessary” 

From Velasquez he had learnt to simplify. Sargent worked with an economy of effort in every way, the sharpest self-control, the fewest strokes possible to express the truth. 

“George Henschel" This portrait was painted in approximately five sittings during which Henschel was required to stand on a platform and sing for Sargent. When Henschel’s wife saw the portrait for the first time, she remarked, "How beautiful! It’s George having arrived in heaven."

I suspect from reading notes on Sargent’s technique that he began by laying in a middle flesh tone, light on one side and dark on the shadow side, carefully sweeping the flesh into the background while maintaining the accuracy of the drawing. Every head is painted as a sculptor models, alway with an eye for the great masses.

“Painting is an interpretation of tone through the medium of color drawn with the brush."

Sargent strove to achieve a balance of shape and color as he developed the image, ever mindful of the relationship of figure to background. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the way in which he painted a forehead, expertly expressing the receding planes of the head. I was in awe of the subtle drawing of the mouth and eyes, fusing tone into tone, until carefully applying highlights and accents. Above all maintaining the principle of oneness.

“The thicker you paint, the more color flows.”

Sargent’s interior scenes were rich with ambient light, beautiful form and incredibly well designed. From Duran he learned that “objects in nature relieve one against each other by the relative values of light and shade which accompany and are a part of each local color, an outline or contour is a pure convention.”

Sargent believed that a sketch must not be merely a pattern of pleasant shapes, pleasing to the eyes, or a mere fancy but that It must be a very possible thing, a definite arrangement. He drew with his brush as readily and as unconsciously as with a pencil. Carolus Duran (Sargent’s mentor) stressed how important it was “to capture the envelope of the figure” and the dynamic relationships between the model’s contours and it’s surroundings.