Welcome to the second edition of the Filbert Splosh Newsletter. Your comments, suggestions or contributions are welcome.
Ways in which you might improve your composition
Composition
Like a piece of music, a painting has to be composed. Amateur painters often give little or no thought to composition, being instead obsessed with recording exactly what they see, irrespective of how the scene, or objects might appear on paper or canvas. Artists work differently, they tend to interpret what they see and consciously or intuitively, compose their paintings even if it means manipulating the scene or objects they are working from so that the final painting looks balanced. A good example of this is the painting, Flatford Mill 1817, by John Constable.
The painting has been composed using a compositional method called the Golden Section, which was invented by the Ancient Greeks. It can be clearly seen that the whole painting, including the flow of the river and even the angle of the branches on the trees, are subjected to the constructs of the Golden Section.
If you look carefully, you will see the Golden Section influencing the composition of many paintings both old and new. It also influences many other walks of life out side of art, including architecture and even the shape of TV screens. Other things to look for when considering composition are angles. For example, imagine a painting where most of the elements (houses, trees, poles, standing figures, roads, streets etc.) follow imaginary horizontal or vertical lines. You will notice this gives the painting a stable, static feeling. This method of composition is found in paintings where the artist wants to create a sense of stability, calm or solitude.
The triangle is another compositional tool used to create stability, it is often used in portraits where the head is at the apex and maybe a folded arm forms the base of the triangle. Figures are often grouped together as a triangle usually with the most important being at the apex of the triangle. A good example of this is Manet’s painting, The Balcony 1868. In religious paintings the triangle is a common compositional element, almost without exception Christ will be at the apex of the triangle.
In contrast, if the elements of the painting follow angled lines, particularly ones that cross each other, this will have the effect of creating instability and therefore can be used by the artist to create a sense of drama, action or conflict.
In artist speak composition is the process of arranging and organising the elements of Form in order to produce a conceptual unity.
This month’s featured artist: Wassily Kandinsky 1866 – 1944
Wassily Kandinsky was born in Russia and became one of the most important pioneers of abstract painting, as well as a renowned writer on art. He originally wanted to become a lawyer, but gave up his university career after seeing an exhibition of French Impressionist paintings, of which Monet’s ‘Haystacks’ made a lasting impression. He went off to Munich in 1896 to study art and was one of the founders of an avante-garde exhibiting society in 1901. Based around Jugendstil (art nouveau) he soon moved on to experimenting with Russian folk art and intense colour before beginning in 1908 to eliminate representational elements from his work. Between 1909 and 1913 he completed a number of paintings under the titles; Compositions, Improvisations and Impressions before arriving at pure abstraction. His inspiration was music and his analysis of the meaning of colour. This culminated in his great written treatise, ‘Concerning the Spiritual in Art’ – a great read if you are into theories of abstract composition and the emotional power of colour. He was probably most famous for his contribution to the Bauhaus, where he was an outstanding teacher. He is probably the most influential ‘inventor’ of abstract painting, along with Mondrian and Malevich. If you are interested in abstract painting why not check out the ‘Inspired by Kandinsky’ painting weekend?: Click here
Filbert Splosh’s News
January sees the launch of Filbert’s new website. You should notice that is much easier to navigate around the site and the text now adjusts, so if you are using a small screen you should not have to do any horizontal scrolling.
Filbert’s party events are proving to be a great hit with lots of people. Filbert in the guise of Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso, ‘gate-crashed’ two parties last month and has another three lined up in the near future. Great fun. For more details click here.
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