Art Analysis: Noah's Ark

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Noah’s Ark is an oil on Masonite painting done by Aaron Douglas in 1927. The 48 by 36 inch painting is currently on display at The Carl Van Techten Gallery of Fine Arts at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. The representational portrait painting shows an outdoors scene. There is a source of light coming from the top right corner. Following down the painting, there is a man at the front of a large boat, pointing to the left. Behind him, another man is holding some items. In the background, there are waves of blue. On the left side of the painting, there are lightning bolts. At the bottom left of the painting, there is a board connecting the ground to the boats, allowing some animals to enter. Behind that, there is a person on a ladder, …show more content…

Finally, a man’s portrait in the bottom right of the painting. This painting is supposed to represent the biblical story, Noah’s Ark.

There are four prominent art and design elements that were utilized in this painting: lines, shapes, light and value, and color. The first element is directional lines. Directional lines are used to guide the viewer’s eye to the main piece of the painting. In this case, the lines starting from the top right of the painting are directional. They lead your eyes to the large …show more content…

The ark itself is dark compared to the background and the source of light. The darker elements stand out against the lighter objects. The dark colored animals help explain what story is being told. The dark portrait of the man in the bottom right helps explain what Douglas’ meant for the painting. The colors used in the painting are analogous. Analogous colors are colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. The colors used are a variation of blue and purple. The background is a very light blue, where the objects in the foreground are variations of purple. There is more to this painting than meets the eye. There first thing that is apparent is the iconography. The painting is a depiction of Noah’s Ark. In the Bible, there is a story of when the earth began. The world was filled with sin, so God decided that it needed to be cleansed. God put one man in charge of restarting life on earth. God declared that there would be a massive storm. It would storm for forty days and forty nights. God directed for Noah to build a massive ark. It needed to be large enough to fit a pair of each animal, one male and one female. We can see this from the animals in the painting. There are two animals, which

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