Issues to
consider
While investigating this type of painting, which stresses emotional
response rather than fidelity to nature, you might want to trace the path
taken away from "traditional" painting. First compare Metzinger's
landscape to Pierre-Athanase Chauvin's
The Falls of Tivoli with the Temple of the Sibyl, ca.1815. The
artist has depicted a view that, though perhaps manipulated for greatest
effect, is one which any person's eyes might see. The next step might be
considered Impressionism, an example of which is Camille Pissarro's The Banks of the Oise, near
Pontoise, 1876. Here, the clarity and polish of the Chauvin
painting is gone, the color is applied more freely, with short jagged
strokes, but is still based on what your eye would see. The Impressionists
strove to depict the effects of light and atmosphere, a scientific
approach in which colors on the canvas are largely unmixed, allowing your
eye to absorb the painting as it would a real scene.
The revolutionary achievement of the Fauves was only
a few steps away from the Impressionists, the separation of color from
visual reality. In Metzinger's Landscape you can see the
"unrealistic" use of color which reflects his emotional response. What do
you think his response was? Can you ascertain the emotions that Metzinger
experienced through color? How? Though the artist can attempt to render
his own emotions or response in paint, he can't control the viewer's
response. How does his depiction of this landscape affect you? Do you
imagine that your response is similar to Metzinger's? Do you think that
the years which separate you from Metzinger might make a difference in
your
respective responses to nature? You may want to explore the evolution of
individual's views about nature and the environment between the turn of
the century and now and what has intervened to change these responses. Do
you think that you could more easily relate to an artist closer to you in
time? Hans Hoffman's Undulating Expanse, 1955 is a modern
emotional experience of a landscape. It merely hints at the geographical
features, but expresses the experience of the view in the vibrant colors
and motion of the line. Does this response to nature correspond more
closely to your own, or what you believe the "modern" conception of nature
is?
Bibliography
Fauvism and Jean Metzinger:
Theories of Modern Art by Herschel B. Chipp (University of
California Press, 1968) pp. 129-145. Art Reserve:N6450/.C62
History of Modern Art by H.H. Arnason (Prentice Hall, 1986) pp.
99-107. Art Reserve: N6490/.A713/1986b
Landscape Painting
There are numerous monographs of specific landscape schools, and landscape
painting in general, available on the On-Line catalogue
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