Professor Brew
ART101
May 8, 2007
Museum Paper
In the first drawing, "The Harvest," Van Gogh seems to have used his unique artistic style with a quill pen made from tail or wing feathers from a goose, swan, or crow in which the tip was cut to an angle for a fine or broad point to employ his artistic style or, technique of applying thick applications of black ink with dynamic brushstrokes. Also, in "Harvest," he appears to have employed another style, or technique [similar to pointillism] of using a variety of straight lines, dashes, and dots to depict the rough texture of the wheat crop and the stacks of wheat within the wheat field, the smooth surface of the ground and the road that is positioned up the center within the entire outdoor landscape. This piece seems to be in scale in two-point linear perspective to the distant foreground in which the town, railroads, and houses along the horizon look smaller and further away than the figures in the front sketched in thick brown ink. It seems that he also used a variety of straight lines and dashes in different sizes to build value, or a degree of lightness and intense energy within the massive asymmetrically balanced landscape composition. In "Harvest," the theme of art is representational as it depicts a somber mood of art in the here and now. It also seems to be realistic as it portrays art in daily life of farmers and peasants who worked long hours in the wheat fields in the French countryside.
In contrast, the second work by Van Gogh entitled, The Emperor Moth (1889), seems to have been created from a special pallette of primary colors in oil on canvas medium (Fig. 2 - Right). It is also representational of the theme of art in nature. Van Gogh may have painted "Emperor" from a quick sketch or memory because the subject matter, titled figure 's elusive nocturnal nature. While Van Gogh employs the same visual elements in both works (color, line, space, mass, texture, shape, and light), this second work seems more lively, realistic, and colorful as it appears he used a variety of complementary color harmonies for a cool appearance in the background of green, green-blue; and in contrast to the warm colors in "Harvest," he directs our attention to the three yellow-green colored hues positioned centrally, between the moth and the cluster of red berries that direct out attention to the top of the frame surrounded by a variety of the foliage in geometrical shapes that are attractive in combinations that add intensity within the entire asymmetrically balanced work. Thus, he seems to have produced a more naturalistic and intense mood of the subject matter figure [moth]. Van Gogh's "Emperor" is representational of the subject matter, the moth, in the here and now theme of art in Nature.
The "Emperor" is in contrast with "Harvest," where Van Gogh employed less color combinations to represent the wheat field. It appears that he used the value of light, texture, and intensity by applying thick and thin brown and black dynamic straight lines in combination with yellow-orange hues in straight and diagonal lines to represent a ripened wheat crop. By using the yellow-orange hues throughout the piece it adds implied light for sunlight and gives the overall piece a warm appearance. However, his use of a black ink created a somber mood. He was experimented with new forms of expression in his large asymmetrically balanced composition seen here in two-point linear perspective. Van Gogh pioneered a change in the wake of the pictorial revolution brought about by Impressionism. According to our textbook (Getlein) the similarities and differences between the artistic style seen in these two works, Van Gogh use of basic elements and design principles of design, including, vivid colors and geometrical shapes in his technique representative of the Impressionism movement that originated in France during the 1870's and associated with the Industrial Revolution which changed how artists used color, how color was applied, and a particular use of subject matter. Both works support the design principle of an asymmetrically balanced composition suggesting the use of "direct expression" -- creative process from brain to hand by the artist, in contrast to a seated or posed piece that required the subject figure to sit for hours or days in these large compositions.
In conclusion, in both "The Harvest" and "The Emperor Moth," Vincent van Gogh, a Dutch Postimpressionism period artist expresses his personal artistic style of dynamic brushstrokes, tiny broken brushstrokes in dashes and dots, and the use of a special pallette of primary colors. His style also defines the movement and style during the late nineteenth century that is associated with the Industrial Revolution that was a time for change out of the dark ages into industrialized methods and ways of thinking. Postimpressionism in the arts evoked expressing freedom of the moment or creating from a sketch or memory as in these two theme of art in the here and now art in daily life and in Nature outdoor scenes. I am emotionally touched by the "Emperor" because it is more colorful and more clearly defined with contour lines outlined by black ink line and thick dynamic brushstrokes to capture the cool mood of the moment. I feel good as I view them because they both are aesthetically beautiful as artistic works of art that are reflective as asymmetrically balanced compositions.
WORK CITED
"Artcyclopedia." Postimpressionism. 18 May 2007.http://www.artcyclopedia.com/
Getlein, Mark. Living With Art. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008.
Hacker, Diana. Handbook for Writers. 6th ed. New York: MLA, 2003.
