The Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries display Victor Joseph Gatto’s painting Train through Tunnel as a part of The Art of Trains exhibit. Created in the 1950’s, Gatto uses oil paint on a medium-sized, rectangular canvas board set in a landscape position. Positioned amongst other monochromatic artwork of trains in the gallery, the vibrancy of Train through Tunnel prompts it to stand out. The titular painting presents a flame-colored passenger train passing through a rough tunnel and traveling towards a grassy and rocky terrain. According to the placard, Gatto is a self-taught artist who is fascinated with capturing the allure of different landscapes.
Rather than portray the mere appearance of a scenery, Gatto also seeks to evoke a feeling in this particular landscape. He projects a whimsical scenery by using a passenger train as the main subject of the art piece. By depicting a train containing open seating and teeming with people, the whole painting becomes reminiscent of an amusement park ride. Whereas placing a straight railroad would have
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focused on portraying a long journey, Gatto further conveys the playful nature of rides by curving the tracks; the twisted railroad reminds the audience of the thrill they feel when a ride shifts in motion, especially since the tracks rest at a high elevation. Despite the train serving as the focal point, the artist positions the foreground by the bottom left corner. The subject appears proportionate to the environment, yet it seems to be engulfed by its surroundings. As a result, Gatto magnifies the scope of the background. Not only does this capture the extensive beauty of the terrain but it also energizes the audience to feel as if the journey of the vehicle has just begun and adventure still awaits. Although the foreground and background are asymmetrical, Gatto strategically uses color to bring balance to the whole image. The foreground (the train on the mountain) is confined to the left side, so he minimizes this disparity by drawing attention to how the ground and sky are evenly split. He creates a distinctive balance between the upper half and lower half by applying saturated hues to the land below while assigning cool, soft colors to the sky. Using vibrant hues of orange and yellow in a layered manner similar to fireworks represent the festive emotions and the adrenaline rush that people experience during carnival rides. Meanwhile, the saturated shades of green on land remind the audience of summer grass and a hot, carefree day. Gatto spreads out varying shades of green to give the field depth. In contrast, the light tints of blue and violet in the sky prevent the palette and the mood from becoming too intense; the pastel colors appear child-like and build a whimsical, light-hearted atmosphere. While the colors bring balance to the artwork, Gatto uses lines to guide the movement of our eyes and unify the piece’s different components.
By providing directional cues of where to look and when, the artist allows outsiders to grasp the context and connect with his purpose. At the foreground, Gatto forms a diagonal line from the tunnel to the bottom left corner. This dynamic line emphasizes the train’s movement towards front, making viewers feel as if they are watching it pass by in real life. From this point onward, he prompts our eyes to move from left to right with horizontal lines. He forms horizontal lines with the linear stretch of mountain and the parallel clouds; in addition to this, four boulders are also positioned across the horizon. Consequently, the viewers stop focusing on the main subject’s action and expand their field of view, leading them to admire the beautiful nature that surrounds the
passengers. With this in mind, the materials and techniques used in Train through Tunnel contribute to its playful mood and scenic beauty. He depicts his vision on a canvas board, for it absorbs and displays oil paint well. The lack of transparency in oil paint enables Gatto to create pronounced and bold structures. The opaque quality is remarkable on the rocky terrain because it exemplifies how dense the structure is and in turn highlights the beauty of its massive magnitude. In regards to technique, painting with lighter shades in short and abrupt strokes on top of the boulders adds dimension to its structure. Consequently, the mountain appears elevated and immense. Furthermore, overlaying analogous colors (red, orange, yellow) on a brown base in a ragged manner creates a rough and rocky texture. This ensures that the structure will register as a mountain in the viewer’s mind. Meanwhile, Gatto paints in thin and linear strokes to capture the fine blades of grass and represent the bristly texture of overgrown, wild grass. To balance the harsh texture of the land, he uses rounded brush strokes to form a cotton-like surface for clouds; this fluffy quality renders the atmosphere ethereal, therefore complementing the whimsical vibe that the train ride gives. At first glance, the painting gives the impression of a painter solely focusing on a landscape’s appearance and aesthetic. However, close inspection reveals that the artist has thoughtfully arranged multiple components, for he intends to create a visual of a delightful train ride that evokes a joyful amusement park ride. Taking advantage of different elements such as content, focal point, color, visual cues, and technique allows Gatto to succeed in conveying his perspective to the observer.
Images that have the ability to induce physical sensations are often the most sought after. A painter that has the ability to induce these sensations is Jonas Lie, with his painting Dusk on Lower Broadway. The painting Dusk on Lower Broadway is a timely piece that exhibits a diverse mixture of artistic concepts and techniques, using quick short brushstrokes with dark, cold colors to create an atmosphere of Dusk on Lower Broadway. In Dusk on Lower Broadway, Lie depicts the average life of a New Yorker bustling down Lower Broadway on a winter’s afternoon. The painting was created so that the observer is looking at the tall buildings in the background of the painting which, from the viewer’s perspective, are towering above all of the other figures in the painting.
They might not be very prominent, but they exist the painting and serve as the base for creation. For starters, the window pane contains lines that highlight its simple design. Simplicity remains as the core of this work. Moreover, sill is roughly represented by a thick brown line underneath the window as a boundary in a quietly brilliant fashion. The work has a wonderful color allocation to express the mood. The color is limited within the muted palette color range. Grey—the intermediate color of black and white, is the dominate color for both exterior view and the interior part, as a matter of fact, the observer notices that nearly all colors are mixed instead of natural this work. The cloudy sky corresponds to the grey color of the wall, yet the brightness is not influenced. However, this consistency has successfully created a cold, grave and silent environment for a crowded place such as New York. The whole environment of this painting seems to be surrounded by the negative and depressive
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
At the left-bottom corner of the painting, the viewer is presented with a rugged-orangish cliff and on top of it, two parallel dark green trees extending towards the sky. This section of the painting is mostly shadowed in darkness since the cliff is high, and the light is emanating from the background. A waterfall, seen originating from the far distant mountains, makes its way down into a patch of lime-green pasture, then fuses into a white lake, and finally becomes anew, a chaotic waterfall(rocks interfere its smooth passage), separating the latter cliff with a more distant cliff in the center. At the immediate bottom-center of the foreground appears a flat land which runs from the center and slowly ascends into a cliff as it travels to the right. Green bushes, rough orange rocks, and pine trees are scattered throughout this piece of land. Since this section of the painting is at a lower level as opposed to the left cliff, the light is more evidently being exposed around the edges of the land, rocks, and trees. Although the atmosphere of the landscape is a chilly one, highlights of a warm light make this scene seem to take place around the time of spring.
It appears in the center of the image and is definitely the main focus of the image. The children in the image are definitely important to the painting to show how much the they enjoy the stagecoach. There is also a good use of variety in the colors used for what each child is wearing, which also brings interest to the painting. In my research I found that a lot of “His sentimental genre scenes of rustic youth and rural life were extremely popular in the wake of the Civil War, evoking a nostalgia for simpler times.
He also illustrates principles of design. If you were to place a vertical line on the picture plane the two sides would balance each other out. The painting can also be divided half horizontally by the implied divisional line above the horses head and the sword of the man who St. Dominic has brought back to life. Contour horizontal lines that give the expression that the dead man on the ground is sliding out of the picture plane, and dominate the bottom of the painting. On the top of the picture plane, behind the spectators is the brightest intermediate color, which is red orange that gives the impression of a sunrise.
...hese repeated vertical lines contrast firmly with a horizontal line that divides the canvas almost exactly in half. The background, upper portion of the canvas, seems unchanging and flat, whereas the foreground and middle ground of the painting have a lot of depth to them.
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.
...y textbook and was immediately excited because I went somewhere well-known and it is a highlight spot of Chicago. I honestly didn’t even know that Cloud Gate was the sculptures formal name until I started this paper. Anish Kapoor is an artist who makes sculptures that viewers have to observe from a number of angles to get a full aspect of his intentions. Several of Kapoor’s art pieces are extreme sizes with a wow factor. Kapoor really wanted to have the viewer think both the relation of space and time when walking under the navel of the art. The use of the stainless steel plates creates the reflection of whatever the viewer’s eyes perceive to intake. Instead of using colors, patterns or different forms, Kapoor used the smooth surface of the Cloud gate to distort the perception of the viewer in a way were each time you look at “The Bean”, it is truly never the same.
Examining the formal qualities of Homer Watson’s painting Horse and Rider In A Landscape was quite interesting. I chose to analyze this piece as apposed to the others because it was the piece I liked the least, therefore making me analyze it more closely and discover other aspects of the work, besides aesthetics.
... 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.
Cimaglio’s use of two-dimension form by painting an organic or naturalistic scene allows the viewer to have a more familiar approach to the art piece. Her use of chiaroscuro makes the mother goat and her kids come dramatically alive. The light focuses our attention directly to the family of goats; first I see the two kid goats then my eye looks directly to the thoughtfulness of the mother goats face looking directly at me. The clear deep shadow surrounding the family is the essential emphasis of the almost equal parts of light and dark focal point. Adding to the beauty and mood of deep space, the atmospheric perspective envelops the family with warm light and showing background gives me a perception of
The Fragment of a Fresco is a piece that is perfectly balanced with equal proportions divided directly in the center. It is an illusionary view shown through two panels that appear as green tinted glass. Within these panels are scenes of the world outside as if looking through a window. Looking into the left panel, one can see a square temple with ornamental sculpture surrounding the roof. An intricately designed columned porch runs deep alongside the temple. In front of the temple at the base of the panel, is a group of men or boys displaying gestures of joy and happiness. The right panel is filled with a cluster of various buildings including a round temple. The depicted buildings display a view of the elevation and complexity of the design of the city. The buildings are painted using an elaborately layered style that utilizes shadows to show the depth of the city. The upper portions of both panels have faded to the point that the scenes are completely obscured. Directly surrounding both panels is a red border that is plain and non-decorative. Dividing the fresco into the two individ...
...ne created by the horizon line, they are free in the space created by the perspective of the image. The illusion of movement is created by the illustration of chocolate sauce dripping from the strawberries. Another suggestion of movement is created by the hand which and placing as well as position and contrast to the objects, it begins to imply that the hand controlling the and moving the objects around in the depth of space. Further contributions are made the wings on two of the objects in the air, it leads to viewers believing that they are flying.
To me the painting is a way of showing you what everyone else is seeing. That the painter had the men looking right at each other so they can see themselves running away. In turn I got to see myself doing the same thing and was able to change because of it. When other people look at the painting they probably see something else. That is why I choose to do the painting, it gives you the choice too interpret it any way you see fit. Or it can just be a beautiful painting to look at, but the painting was so much more to me. It painted a thousand words for me.