Talking Art: A Visual Communication
Henry Ossawa Tanner, one of the most well known African-American painters before the twentieth century, painted his most illustrious pieces of artwork; The Banjo Lesson. Tanner painted the rectangular (49” x 35 1/2”) canvas using oil paint, while on a visit to Philadelphia in 1893. The painting is now on display in the Hampton University Museum, Hampton, Virginia (Frank).
There are notably two main subjects within this painting. The first is an elderly gentleman and the second is a young boy. Other visual objects include; a banjo, a counter with a pitcher and bowl sitting on top of towels, a skillet, pottery bowl, and kettle laying on the floor in front of a fire, logs of wood, a chair with a shirt draped over it and two small pictures on the back wall. The painting has both organic as well as geometric shapes throughout.
Straight lines are used to form floorboards while directional lines are used to lead the viewer to the focal point. Earth-tone colors such as tans, browns, and grays are used to define the chair, coat laying upon the chair, cabinet, back wall, floorboards, elderly man and his clothing, the young boy as well as his clothing, wood, ceramic pot, and skillet. Blue is used to define darkness on the left side of the painting as a
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warm, white glow shines from the right side, implying light from a fire. There are many organic shapes to be seen within the painting giving the representational art.
The elderly man, the young boy, the chair, the cabinet with towels, a pitcher with bowl, and the pictures hanging on the wall all show realism. Geometrical shapes include circles, (the banjo, the skillet, the top of the ceramic pot) and rectangles (the towels, and pictures). Thick brush strokes on the elderly mans pants show the gathering of the material, wide brush strokes are used to show wood grain on the floorboards and feathery brush strokes on the back wall are illuminating the glow from the light of the fire. A pattern of images is seen between the skillet and the
banjo. The space of the room has the illusion of being quite small. The pale background lightens the rooms details, giving a much sharper contrasting value to the rich, dark skin tones of the man and boy in order to emphasize them as they are the focal point of the painting. Also, size and positioning of the elderly man and boy in the foreground, gives visual weight combining to form a single mass, the largest form of the painting. In conclusion, I feel as though this may have been a moment that Henry Tanner may have been reliving from his youth and painted it for others to enjoy as much as he did. I believe there is many things being shared in this painting. Not only is the elderly man teaching the boy how to play the banjo, but he also is sharing his heritage roots, giving him friendship, guidance and love. I love the story that Henry Tanner shared through this beautiful painting, it is quite simple yet, very powerful.
Wayne, transforms this painting into a three dimensional abstract piece of art. The focal point of the painting are the figures that look like letters and numbers that are in the front of the piece of art. This is where your eyes expend more time, also sometimes forgiving the background. The way the artist is trying to present this piece is showing happiness, excitement, and dreams. Happiness because he transmits with the bright colours. After probably 15 minutes on front of the painting I can feel that the artist tries to show his happiness, but in serene calm. The excitement that he presents with the letters, numbers and figures is a signal that he feels anxious about what the future is going to bring. Also in the way that the colors in the background are present he is showing that no matter how dark our day can be always will be light to
The black background contrast with the predominate colors of blue and red gives these colors intensity. The red and green are complementary colors that give the painting visual appeal. The green juxtapose above the blue and red gives the artwork color balance as well as implies a triangular shape. The triangular shape and pattern is repeated throughout the painting by; the bend of the flute player's elbow, the head and shoulders of the guitar player, the head and shoulders of the lady whose back is to the viewer, the body of the guitars and the location of the three right-most musicians
The middle is the couple pushing their child and they are surrounded my much activity as they walk in the neighborhood. One of the girls that are jumping rope has her back towards the viewer with the thin but extra-long lines of rope they jump through. Lawrence use sharp and round lines throughout the painting to indicate the shapes that are seen in everyday life a Harlem resident. The lines also represent the movement of each of the people shown. Shadows created depth that is splattered across the painting and also how each of the people in the painting is positioned gave a realistic type of feeling to the painting. The showdowns provided in the painting also give off the time of the day those activities such like these could have been happening. Lawrence used repetition and patterns to create the rhythm of this city scene (“Jacob Lawrence: Exploring Stories”). The repetition and patterning in the painting tells how the activity is daily not only that particular day. The use of complementary colors which was both primary (yellow, blue, and red) and secondary (green and orange) brought the life to the painting. The colors or hues made negative spaces
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.
Contextual Theory: This painting depicts a portrait of life during the late 1800’s. The women’s clothing and hair style represent that era. Gorgeous landscape and a leisurely moment are captured by the artist in this work of
This painting consists of regular lines as well as implied lines. Some of the regular lines that have been included are flowing, curved lines, such as the Earth that the woman is sitting on top of. Additionally, the background is made of small scenes that have been outlined by a dotted line, which places emphasis on the scenes. Besides regular and visible lines, there are a few implied lines in this painting. For instance, the woman's eyes are looking forward, so there is an implied line to the audience. Additionally, another implied line would be the woman's right arm, which is pointed towards her headpiece, while her left arm is pointed towards the earth. Nonetheless, this painting is not intense; although it does have splashes of color, this painting does not have a bright saturation. Instead, this painting is slightly dull, which makes this painting appear vintage. Additionally, since this background is a dark color, it makes the rest of painting, especially the headpiece, stand out. Besides colors and lines, even though this is a painting and there is no physical texture, there is invented texture. Upon viewing this painting, underneath the earth where the woman is sitting on, there are roots as well as grass, which give texture and feeling to the painting. In the end, this painting consists of several elements of composition, which Heffernan has done a wonderful job
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...
The painting caught my attention due to the message I received when I first laid eyes upon it. It illustrates a wise old man teaching an eager to learn young boy. I have been fortunate enough to have my very own replica of this painting in my bedroom and I have spent countless hours
The painting shows more attention on the old man and the little boy having lessons on the banjo. I believe Tanner wanted more attention on the figures to show there meaning of their lifestyle. Also, Tanner gives so much emphasis on their emotion in the painting that you can see the love that they have for each other. The colors of the light that Tanner used to emphasize the boy in the painting and how banjo is brought out. Both are used to connect a story of how it came to be with the old man. He may have also wanted the viewers to understand that is was him and his grandson trying to reconnect after long hours of working in the fields. As for subordination, he uses the contrast of light and dark in the background to give different lighting of specific items that are surrounding the figures. You see items scattered all over the wooden floor like pots, pans, cups, and even a working bag. Behind the two humans, you see there is a table that is decorated with a table cloth and more dishes. Through all the details of the surrounding image, you can see they are living in poverty or homes during the times of
Color is used to draw attention to important characters and objects in the painting. The red of Mary’s shirt emphasizes her place as the main figure. A bright, yellow cloud floating above the room symbolizes the joy of the angelic figures. De Zurbaran uses warm colors in the foreground. The room, used as the background for the scene, is painted in dark colors utilizing different hues of gray and brown.
The two focal figures are illustrated with complementary colors, the woman 's dress being orange, and the man’s pants being blue. Benton uses these colors to bring life into the painting. The background is made up mostly of earthy colors like, greens, browns, and greys and a light blue for the sky. Benton seems to add white to every color he uses, which gives the painting an opaque look. The deepest hues found in this painting are the blue one the man’s pants and the orange on the woman’s dress, everything else around them looks washed out and Benton does this to emphasize his focal points
One of the most prominent features of the painting is the use of repetition. In the forefront of the picture plane we see a three-pronged pitchfork. That sam...
The Piano Lesson by August Wilson is taking place in Pittsburg because many Blacks travelled North to escape poverty and racial judgment in the South. This rapid mass movement in history is known as The Great migration. The migration meant African Americans are leaving behind what had always been their economic and social base in America, and having to find a new one. The main characters in this play are Berniece and Boy Willie who are siblings fighting over a piano that they value in different ways. Berniece wants to have it for sentimental reasons, while Boy Willie wants it so he can sell it and buy land. The piano teaches many lessons about the effects of separation, migration, and the reunion of
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.
The painting depicts two figures, the one of a woman and of a man. The dominating central figure is the one of the woman. We see her profile as she looks to the left. Her hands are crossed in a graceful manner. She has blonde hair and her figure is lit by what seems to be natur...