Chapter 6—Painting

Introduction: When asked for a definition of art, many people think first of painting. Most people can name painters as artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci or Claude Monet, before they think of the names of sculptors or architects such as Auguste Rodin Santiago Calatravas or Antonio Gaudi. In this chapter, brief explanations for varying painting methods and media are presented, ranging from the time-tested, traditional ones, to more experimental and combined media. Several painters are quoted throughout the chapter, including Robert Motherwell, Vincent van Gogh, Maurice Denis, Leonardo da Vinci, and Jackson Pollock. Compare and Contrast – The George Washingtons of Stuart and Lichtenstein and A Closer Look – Superheroes: East Meets West examine various ways artists have approached subject matter and media in painting.

Chapter 6 – Why Read It? For centuries, in all cultures, artists have striven to combine their concepts with a medium or material that best serves to bring their ideas into visual reality. Photographers use different camera formats or lenses and filters to achieve certain effects. Architects constantly strive to design creatively, considering the support and safety limits of the building materials at hand, such as stone, wood, concrete, or steel. Similarly, painters have explored many different supports to paint on and vehicles with which to combine pulverized pigments in order to achieve various effects in their work, such as color, texture, the illusion of realistic painting or sublime abstractions, and even non-objective works.

As a viewer of art, you will find it useful and enhancing to your appreciation of a painting to know if you are looking at an egg-tempera work or an oil painting. If you are standing in front of a wall fresco by Giotto in the Arena Chapel in Padua, or a gouache backdrop for an opera by David Hockney at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Honolulu, you will be more in tune with the kind of skill, stamina, and visionary playfulness or spiritual drama that each artist poured into their works.

Most folks admire realistic paintings—works that most closely or even exactly resemble the real object, as described in Chapter 4—because they can readily compare the life-likeness to the real object, down to the reflections of light off the surface of things, as in a flower still-life by Rachel Ruysch (image 2-54). Few beginning art viewers understand abstract painting or non-objective works because they have no standard object to compare with. Yet time and time again, it’s known that artists such as Wassily Kandinsky (image 20-4) or Jackson Pollock (image 21-4) knew how to draw and paint realistically very well, but abandoned that for abstract expressionist works! It wasn’t that they lacked talent and so reverted to abstraction; rather, they chose to present their works in a form they felt was akin to a natural and universal language—that of the plastic elements, as described in Chapters 2 and 3—over the slavish mimicry of visual reality that can become formulaic in a realistic variety of painting styles and art movements in painting. To see how painters sought out and found a medium that best facilitated their ideas of art, look at the many examples of painting in the text: from an oil portrait of George Washington (image 6-7) or a very realistic water color called Rock Ola (image 6-13), to an aggressively contemporary work by Jean-Michel Basquiat (image 21-22).

Understanding Concepts: This chapter explains several approaches to placing pigment on a surface. Depending on your experience, you may feel familiar with some of these painting media, or they may be completely new to you. Although it is difficult to recognize different painting media or surface treatments from a textbook reproduction, it is satisfying to learn how to recognize them by viewing a painting in person. The next few exercises should assist you in learning to distinguish various painting techniques, media, and even the types of support they are painted on.

1. Using your text and/or a painting media website, as you did for the drawing chapter, investigate and note some of the distinguishing features and characteristics of each of the following painting methods and media. (What are the basic ingredients in these mixtures? How are they applied to a surface? What is pigment, and where does it come from? What are properties, advantages, and drawbacks of each painting medium to the painter? How long does this medium take to dry?)

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Painting Medium Ingredients Surface applications Advantages Drawbacks

• Fresco

• Encaustic

• Tempera

• Oil

• Acrylic

• Spray

• Collage

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2. What is involved in preparing a surface for a painting? List steps used for one painting method:

• Method:

• Surface Preparation:

3. How do preparations for painting a fresco, such as Giotto’s Lamentation (image 6-1), differ from creating an acrylic painting on a shaped canvas, such as Helen Oji's Mount St. Helen's(image 6-10)?

4. What do some of the titles of paintings have to do with the subject painted? Kay Walkingstick’s Solstice (image 6-3) is abstract, yet it relates to Native American, directional and seasonal iconography. Record your thoughts and notes here:

Making Connections: Many people think of painting when they think of art, but it is only one of hundreds of art-making media. Painting itself is extremely varied in its applications and definitions. Artists quoted and mentioned in this chapter readily exemplify the diversity of the painting world.

1. You can find out much about art movements, individual artists, and their chosen subjects by doing a small amount of investigative or preliminary research. Robert Motherwell, for example, is renowned not only as a great 20^th-century Abstract Expressionist painter, but also as a writer and editor of books about art, such as The Dada Poets and Painters. Through brief library research or Internet sources, such as Art Online find out more about the life and works of these artists. Record your research findings here:

• Robert Motherwell

• Jackson Pollock

• Maurice Denis

• David Hockney

• Howardena Pindell

• Miriam Schapiro

2. Compare and Contrast – The George Washingtons of Stuart and Lichtenstein

gives you a nice look at two artists’ versions of the same subject, George Washington. His portrait is so well known, since it appears on the dollar bill, that it has become a sort of icon. But what do you really know about the person and his times? (When did he have time to pose for a portrait?)

• Discover the social, political, and cultural influences present in the life and times of these two very different painters. Gilbert Stuart lived during the lifetime of George Washington, and Roy Lichtenstein lived during the 20th century. Record your notes here:

• Do you think Lichtenstein’s version would have been considered an acceptable portrait of George Washington in the 1700s? Why or why not?

• How does Lichtenstein’s version compare with another of his works, Forget It! Forget Me! (Image 4-2)?

3. A Closer Look – Superheroes: East Meets West focuses on Japanese American artist Roger Shimomura and his use of both Japanese and American icons in his work. Use Internet research to find out more about this artist and his work.

• How does this work of art reflect the life and times of the artist?

• How has this artist transformed a personal experience into an expressive form of painting?

• What was your first response to this work?

• What images from his Untitled work are immediately recognizable? What others remained in the background of your awareness? Write your response below:

Taking Notes: There are many different ways to apply paint to a surface and many different kinds of paint. The variety of paintings in this chapter speaks for itself. In addition, of course, there are many other examples of paintings throughout the text. Additionally, many instructors will wish to enhance your understanding of certain painters and their techniques, so don't be surprised if quite a few other examples besides those in the text are shown. In fact, it might be that you will be presented with a deeper look into the painting methods and shown multiple works of just one or two artists. Prepare your note pages so you can adapt to multiple examples of one artist or one method being shown.

The approximately 19 vocabulary terms in this chapter refer to many aspects of painting—how it is done, preparations for surfaces, types of vehicles and mediums for paint pigments, and methods for creating the illusion of shadows and depth in what is essentially a two-dimensional art form. Do you know how gilding might be used in a painting? What is gesso? What is the difference between watercolor, aquarelle, and gouache? How can collage be defined as a form of painting? How do glazing and impasto differ?

Read through the chapter and use the glossary to reveal the applications of each term to painting. As you prepare your notetaking template for the 17 images in the chapter, jot down any words you would like to know more about. Answering the questions you have will help when it comes time to study your notes for a test.

Preparing for Tests: Since there are only a few images of paintings in this chapter, it would be fair to assume your instructor will feel free to use examples of paintings from other chapters in the text, and some from outside sources. For example, more images of painting by Rembrandt van Rijn could be shown in order to enhance understanding of the artist's palette choices, impasto surface, and subject matter (probably mythological, religious, or portraiture). Examples for Rembrandt could come from Chapter 17 of the text, or from other works not included in the text. Your notes and diagrammatic sketches will prove valuable in helping you recall these additional examples.

Essay questions could revolve around particular techniques available in certain time periods, such as oil painting in the Renaissance, or could focus on one artist in particular. Example:

• Using one well described and discussed example, explain why painting is such a versatile and time-honored art form. [Extended Essay Assignment: 2 pages minimum, double-spaced,12-point font. Cite your research sources.]

Refer to sample multiple choice or matching questions in the Understanding Art website (www.cengage.com/art/fichner-rathus9e), the Student Test Packet, ArtExperience Online, for Understanding Art.

Enhancing Your Observational Powers:

1. Visit a local art gallery or museum and select two paintings, learning what type of painting medium (or multiple media) is used to create each. Answer the questions on the following page for each painting:

• What do you notice about the surface of the painting itself? Do you wish you could touch it with your fingers or does it repel you? Is it glossy or matte?

• How does the way in which it is painted lend itself to the imagery or composition being represented?

• How long do you think it took for the artist to complete the work, and for the painting to dry?

• What kind of support (canvas, wood panel, etc.) is the painting on? Is it framed?

• Compositionally speaking, what visual elements do you notice first? Do these compositional and visual elements work together structurally? (Use your skills from Chapters 2 and 3!)

• Try sketching a diagrammatic outline of the painting’s subject and its compositional design. List its most prominent features and elements.

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2. Borrow or buy a set of paints and a brush or two; acrylics, oils, or watercolor will be fine. (If borrowing, you might be surprised how many people own some sort of paint set—whether or not they are currently using it.) Find some sort of support to paint on, and try applying some pigment as an experiment. Use a wall, cardboard, paper, or canvas. Record your experience here:

• Experiment with making different kinds of marks and combining colors. What happens when you combine two of the primary colors? (See images 2-43 and 2-44, 45 color wheel and color mixtures).

• What if you combine all three of the primary colors?

• Create a tint of a color by adding white. What effect is produced?

• What effect does the brush you are using have on the surface? Is it a natural bristle brush made from some sort of animal hair, or is it synthetic bristle? Do you wish you could alter the effect the brush creates in some way?

• What subject matter would you like to paint if you could? Make a few notes about your painting experiment:

For More Understanding: As mentioned in Preparing for Tests, you have resources available to guide you in your studies. Your text contains many examples of art that relate to each other in various ways throughout other chapters, as well as a website, (www.cengage.com/art/fichner-rathus9e), which features a glossary and audio pronunciation guide, sample test questions, and more.

To learn more about painting, perhaps even try it, or pursue it further, use website links to discover artists and materials available with instruction and possible projects.

ArtExperience Online for Understanding Art: Check out the video demonstration on painting under In The Studio and answer any follow-up questions.

Also, learn more about the information and artwork presented in the A Closer Look and Compare and Contrast sections. Use flashcards to create a study set of the artwork found in Chapter 6.

Notes and Links to Remember: