I chose Paul Gauguin and Edgar Degas. Paul Gauguin is an artist that I am unfamiliar with but wanted to learn more about after watching the Van Gogh film in which he was mentioned a lot in. I chose Degas because I was familiar with a few of his paintings but never learned much about him in previous art classes.
In my eyes, Gauguin’s most interesting painting is “Les Alyscamps” which was painted in 1888 using oil on canvas. This painting is extremely colorful and because of this fact, it controls your eye. There are also a lot of things to look at, like the water, the trees, the people, and the building in the background.
These two paintings differ because they are of vastly different scenes. Gauguin’s work is more colorful and scenic while Degas’ painting is a captured moment that is painted in more neutral tones. The people in the Degas painting are more realistic while in the Gauguin painting, things seem almost like a fantasy because of the lack of the extreme detail and the use of many vibrant colors.
Marlow simply tells the story and displays the paintings of each artist. He is very straightforward like Hughes is. Unlike Schama, Greenaway, and Hockney, there were no reenactments or dramatic lighting. These short biographies were just as effective as the other films, but I would have enjoyed getting more in depth because I knew very little about each artist. I still think that Hughes is the best storyteller but I like Marlow a lot as well. They are both straightforward and informative. They sometimes do not even need the reenactments to help tell their stories.
Although Degas’ eyesight deteriorated as time went on, do you think his paintings truly suffered or were they just as interesting?
Although I am definitely biased in Degas' favor, I would like to answer this question. I do not think that an artists eyes are the only thing that dictate the level of skill one possesses. His artwork was always whimsical looking and beautiful in its fuzzy perfection. To defend this point of view...I would like to turn attention to Beethoven. He went deaf, yet was still able to compose his 9th Symphony which is one of his masterpieces. For people who are truly talented in their field, such a loss only motivates. GREAT question!!
ReplyDeleteDegas paintings appear dull. Most of the ballerinas are pale in color. The dancers are very realistic. The paintings are very detailed. You can see the facial expressions of the dancers.
ReplyDeleteI do think Degas paintings deteriorated as his eye sight worsened. I think people still wanted his work to still be relevant so they made it more important than it was. His paintings were not tha great.