Renoir as Cotton Candy: Plump and Sweet, but Not Much to Chew On

Soft edges, pastel colors, plump and comfortable figures, gestural painting, and an abundance of light – these are what come to mind when I think of Renoir. As I stood in front of one of his paintings, “Girl with a Hoop,” today in the National Gallery of Art, I nearly suffocated in the large crowd surrounding it. In a gallery filled with Manets, Gauguins, Redons, and Picassos (I must admit that I had urges to write Keatsian Odes to each throughout my time there), I am a bit puzzled as to why Renoir received so much attention. I find his work painfully sweet, and as the title suggests, like cotton candy. His portraits and café scenes lack narrative substance; the figures are plump and pink, and they live in a world of soft edges and comfort. There simply isn’t much to chew on. On the other hand, if you are hungry for something sweet, you will find Renoir to be a visual bonbon. Be warned, however, his work dissolves in your mouth all too quickly, leaving you hungry for something with a bit more substance. Nonetheless, he is a master of painting. His treatment of surfaces and the brushy quality of his painting, as seen in “Girl with a Hoop,” are testaments to his virtuosity in figural representation and composition. It is his skillful technique that saves the work from becoming tasteless.

In and of itself, beauty is a satisfying feast. However, I find it even more fulfilling when beautiful execution is used to enhance meaning. Hopefully next time the line to view the Renoir will not block the magnificent Manet painting right beside it….


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A picture of "At the time being"

This is the best image I could find...

http://www.phillipscollection.org/images/content/exhibitions/intersections_LinnMeyers2.jpg

"At the time being"

“At the time being,” a temporary installation by Linn Meyers at the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., is, as the artist describes it, “a record.” To put it simply, her work is a record of the systematic interactions between color and line that define its purpose as an exploration of form. Art in the absence of narrative is a visual experience, an exercise in form and principle, and “At the time being” is just this. Linn Meyers created this piece by painting the walls of the Goh Annex in the museum a deep blue and drawing upon this layer – directly on the wall – a multitude of swirling yellow lines. Her approach is intuitive and instantaneous, and thus a record of her experience “at the time being” of creating it; however, it also controlled in that her work remains bound to the systematic principles of cause and effect, or in this case, of optical illusion.

Meyers masterfully applies line and color to create a maximum effect. For instance, the twisting and exuberant composition of rippling lines is not solely the product of the lines themselves – their curves and transitions from thick to thin – but also of the ambiguity between the ends and beginnings of lines. Thus, the straight lines that intersect the swirling, circular forms are actually not lines at all; rather, they are the product of lines ending and beginning in a different direction. In the same vein, Meyers allows for an illusion of depth in the 2-dimensional piece through the interactions between yellow and blue. The work appears exceptionally vibrant from a distance, as the blue pushes the multitude of thin, yellow lines forward, creating an intriguing space of optical ambiguity. The blue thus acts as a negative space within the composition – one whose role is as equally important as the positive space, or the yellow. It is the interactions between these spaces, or the amount of space between each line, in addition to the relationship between the colors, that creates a synergy of optical and psychological exuberance, which characterize this work as a one of achievement.

On a final note, I should also mention that the piece was created in response to Vincent van Gogh’s painting, “Road Menders” (1889), another piece in the collection with many compositional similarities, including color scheme, line, an illusion of depth, and psychological vibrancy.

L'Ecriture Automatique

"Beauty will be convulsive or will not be at all."
-Andre Breton

While wandering through La Place du Pantheon during a recent vacation in Paris, I encountered a plaque outside L'Hotel de Grands Hommes, which stated that the hotel was "the true birthplace of Surrealism." The plaque suggested that "it was here, in the course of the spring of 1919" (Bayley), that Andre Breton and Philippe Soupault developed "l'ecriture automatique," or automatic writing, as a a means of delving into the subconscious, or as Walter Jackson Bate - perhaps my favorite literary critic - may have suggested, allowing "the mind to act as a thoroughfare for all thoughts" (Bate, 18). It is with this mentality that I have created this blog - in an attempt to develop my "critical eye" as I perceive and react to the visual world.

I seek truth in the satisfaction of the eye's appetite. In the course of this insatiable pursuit, I will turn to this blog with critical reviews of the artists and exhibitions that I encounter. I hope to address truth in its cultural and aesthetic context, proving that the source of truth in art is principle and examining its effect on how we perceive and react to beauty.

Sources Cited

1. Bate, Walter Jackson. "Negative Capability." Modern Critical Views: John Keats. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea, 1985. 13-28. Print.

2. Bayley, Stephen. "Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design." The Observer. 25 Mar. 2007. Web. 19 May 2010.