Richard Estes is an American photorealist artist born in 1932 in Kewanee, Illinois. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago which he graduated from in 1956, then was given his own solo exhibition at the Allan Stone Gallery.
“Bus Stop at Lincoln Centre” (2013) Oil on panel 10 x 8 in.
This painting shows a city scene at night. The bus stop is the main object of the painting and is in the foreground of the painting. This gives the bus stop an elevated and more attractive status and shows it is more than just an ordinary, everyday object.
Bright blues and greens are used against dark colours for contrast between the night and the city lights, and the neon colour of the lights is exciting and catches the eye
…show more content…
He received a Master of Fine Arts from University of Hull and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Liverpool School of Art. He had his first solo exhibition at the Memorial Gallery in North Wales.
‘NYC6AM’ 2014 Oil on Linen 170 x 254.2 cm.
This painting shows an everyday scene in New York City. This painting features buildings in background, people and a car in the middle ground, with more people in the foreground. The composition is very busy, mirroring the nature of city life. The level of detail in this painting is extremely high, higher than the paintings by Estes and Bechtle.
There is a mixture of straight & curved black lines outlining all the shapes in the painting to make them bolder, and to express the man-made element of life in the city.
The colours are much bolder and slightly exaggerated compared to the paintings in the first wave of photorealism. There is a wider variety of colours and an expanded colour palette. Mainly primary and secondary colours are used, and there is a mixture of cold and warm colours for contrast. This is also to contrast the rainy, miserable day with the liveliness of the city. The repeated bright colours make the eye wander around the painting, there is no obvious focal
The colors used in this painting are a combination of bright and dark, giving a sense of professionalism and unconventional feel to the ambassadors and their backdrop. Their clothing is brittle and complete. The composition of this painting is mainly “stuffed” into the center column of the image with the ambassadors substituting walls marking the end of the items in the composition as well as forming an area that our eyes are tensed
Additionally, Lie placed tall trees in the foreground of the painting to give a sense of the scale between the observer’s perspective and surrounding objects. Furthermore, Lie used dark, cold colors, such as purple, blue and black, to depict the feeling of a winter’s afternoon. Lie also used snow on the ground as an obvious indicator of the time frame in which the painting is occurring. However, in contrast to the dark cold colors used, Lie also used subtle hints of orange, yellow and red to show that there is some presence of light in the piece. The background of the painting is a sheen of yellow, suggesting the presence of light and the forming sunset.
The work depicts a family in plain clothing enclosed in a simple solitary room with a fading fire amidst the dark shadows of the background and another light source that extends from beyond the scope of the canvas. At first glance the influences of Caravaggio and Rembrandt are apparent. Their faces are neither, sad, sullen, angry, or joyful, but rather their emotional expression is plain and uncomplicated, adding a sense of timelessness to the painting. As in the description (20-34) of the piece which states; “It reflects 17th Century social theory, which celebrated the natural virtue of those that worked the soil”, (p. 609). The idea of portraying a classic simple lifestyle is a refreshing one and a concept which will reoccur in other works of the Baroque period.
When looking at the painting it gives us a glimpse of the past. It looks almost like a photograph. The fine detail from the building on the right with the statue on top. The citizens walking around.
West 31st Street, NY: Chelsea House, 2009. Print. Fitzpatrick, Virginia. Art history: a contextual inquiry course.
... study for the overall concept they appear rather as abstract patterns. The shadows of the figures were very carefully modeled. The light- dark contrasts of the shadows make them seem actually real. The spatial quality is only established through the relations between the sizes of the objects. The painting is not based on a geometrical, box like space. The perspective centre is on the right, despite the fact that the composition is laid in rows parallel to the picture frame. At the same time a paradoxical foreshortening from right to left is evident. The girl fishing with the orange dress and her mother are on the same level, that is, actually at equal distance. In its spatial contruction, the painting is also a successful construction, the groups of people sitting in the shade, and who should really be seen from above, are all shown directly from the side. The ideal eye level would actually be on different horizontal lines; first at head height of the standing figures, then of those seated. Seurats methods of combing observations which he collected over two years, corresponds, in its self invented techniques, to a modern lifelike painting rather than an academic history painting.
The painting Dusk on Lower Broadway created by Jonas Lie in 1910 shows the famous Broadway in New York as a despair and dark place. Dusk on Lower Broadway shows substantial scenery that draws attention, demonstrates a dramatic contrast between light and shadow, and reflects the artist's life.
The painting was so popular, that he made its numerous versions with sightliest differences. The version presented in Metropolitan Museum, descended through the famil...
The painting is organized simply. The background of the painting is painted in an Impressionist style. The blurring of edges, however, starkly contrasts with the sharp and hard contours of the figure in the foreground. The female figure is very sharp and clear compared to the background. The background paint is thick compared to the thin lines used to paint the figures in the foreground. The thick paint adds to the reduction of detail for the background. The colors used to paint the foreground figures are vibrant, as opposed to the whitened colors of the Impressionist background. The painting is mostly comprised of cool colors but there is a range of dark and light colors. The light colors are predominantly in the background and the darker colors are in the foreground. The vivid color of the robe contrasts with the muted colors of the background, resulting in an emphasis of the robe color. This emphasis leads the viewer's gaze to the focal part of the painting: the figures in the foreground. The female and baby in the foreground take up most of the canvas. The background was not painted as the artist saw it, but rather the impression t...
This painting by Vincent Van Gogh is on display at the Art Institute of Chicago Museum, in the Impressionism exhibit. There are many things going on in this painting that catch the viewer’s eye. The first is the piece’s vibrant colors, light blues and browns, bright greens, and more. The brush strokes that are very visible and can easily be identified as very thick some might even say bold. The furniture, the objects, and the setting are easy to identify and are proportioned to each other. There is so much to see in this piece to attempt to explain in only a few simple sentences.
It seems that the artist wants to deceive audience and create an impression that the objects on the canvas are real. Furthermore, while speaking of texture, it is important to make emphasis on how smooth the objects are drawn. In addition, the grinding technique used in photorealism shows the objects similar to what a person can observe in real life setting. As to the value, the artists uses contrasting colors and shadow-light correlation not only to highlight different focal points but also to emphasize the smallest details and curves of the
From the start of the film it is apparent what time frame it is taking place in and the differences in the social stratification through the lack of colors. One of the most obvious portrayals of the bleakness and desperation of the era is the overall faded and washed-out look of the whole film, due to manipulation of the film saturation; the heaviness of it almost cries out to the audience. Though the film was shot during the summer, cinematographer Roger Deakins and Cinesite colorist Julias Friede were able to use digital technology to change the appearance of the colors. “Together, they worked on manipulating the [digital] saturation of the images, and in particular selecting the greens of the trees and grass and turning them into dry browns and yellows” (Escaping, 2). These dry brown and yellows enhance the audience’s impression of the desperation of the characters and the time period.
The colors used in this painting are blue, white, yellow, brown, black, green, light blue. The colors Birch used seem dark in order to relate to the storm. By making it seem dark it really captures the mood of the composition. In general the quality of light in this painting is low.
The gestural and heavy working of the paint and the contrasting colors make the painting appear active yet are arduous to follow. The defining element of Woman and Bicycle is the presence of the black lines that do most of the work in terms of identifying the figure. Through the wild nature of the brushwork, color, and composition of the painting, it can be implied that the artist is making an implication towards the wild nature of even the most proper of women.
The use of distinct contours around the village helps the viewer’s eye pull the shapes of the buildings from the array of color within the painting. Each contour brush stroke is precisely placed to bring the viewers attention to the village without taking their focus away from the expressionistic color and atmosphere. The vibrancy of color is perhaps what stands out most in Vetheuil in summer. It is as if the color is there to show the deeper emotion within the piece. Thanks to the colors this work of art is not just a painting of a village and a river.