Part 3 Project 3 Research Point

Tacita Dean’s chalkboard mountain ranges in her series Fatigues, 2013, are exquisite in their power of suggestion and her ability to execute the craggy forms of the mountains in contrast with the glacial snowy slopes. It is amazing how by focusing just on the tips of the mountains and indicating the wispy clouds forming from the melting snow, she has created an image with such implied depth. The foreground is implied as being the area in the deepest shadow. The crags of the overlapping mountain peaks then seem to form the mid-and background. The layering of cross-hatching and directional white chalk strokes alludes to depth. Her use of strong light on the mountain peaks, where the peaks facing towards the right-hand side of the drawing are in direct sunlight, contrasts with the leeward side of the slopes which are in deep shadow. The blackness of the area above the mountains also alludes to the idea of special-depth.

Fig.1. Dean, Tacita (2015) H540.

I perused several website in search of further images of Tacita Dean’s works. One artwork that appeals to me is H540, 2015, which depicts billowing cloud formations in chalk on four Masonite boards (see Fig.1.). (Frith Street Gallery, 2016) Having studied the depiction of clouds, I hold this artwork in high regard. She has indicated the three levels, foreground, middle ground and background, by having the clouds in the foreground a dark grey, the clouds in the middle ground as very light wispy tints, and the background is implied by sheer black.

When thinking of Seurat, I immediately associate him with the fastidious dots of pointillism. I was intrigued to see that he has some works which are similar to Tacita Dean in their approach to depth portrayal. I really did not expect this comparison. When studying The Mower, an oil painting Seurat executed in a manner that resounds with a Van Gogh artwork in its thick paint application, he uses a very rich dark zone to indicate the far distant space, in a manner similar to Dean (see Fig.2). (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016) He also uses varying tonal zones to divide his space. His foreground is lighter in general tone, and his middle ground starts with mid-range tonal values, but then the heads of the stalks are almost the same tonal value as the foreground. This does create an almost undulating ripple effect in the spacial arrangement. In contrast to Dean, however, his bands are horizontal like strata; whereas Dean’s spacial division is more diagonal and organic relating to the nature of her subject matter, in the case of the works I studied, clouds and mountains. Seurat also relies on color to against the dark brown and white contrasts brought in the figure of the mower and his scythe.

Fig.2. Seurat, Georges (1881-1882) The Mower.

Due to the nature of the mishmash of buildings that surround me in Cotonou, I decided to look for artists who use diagonal zigzagging compositions, as any view from my apartment includes numerous strong diagonal lines. In Expressive Drawing, I came across Elsie Bates Freund’s Dock at Hydra, Greece, 1960. (Aimone, 2009) As I could not find an image of this work online, I took a photograph from Expressive Drawing of the work found on page 132, for the purpose of my anaylsis (Fig.3). This work of hers is built up of a strong zigzagging diagonals which extend from the bottom right-hand corner to the left, back towards the right mid picture plane zone, and then back towards the top left corner. In this case, the diminishing scale of the boats and people helps to create a sense of aerial perspective. However, on closer inspection, it still has a definite foreground, middle ground, and background. The foreground comprises the cutoff views of the roofs which frame the bottom third of the artwork. The middle ground is dominated by the larger fishing boat at the dock. A tall building to the right of this middle ground zone, set back slightly from the foreground roofs, frames this whole area, drawing attention to it by providing directional forces. Then the people and the smaller boats form the background. Interesting enough, the blank corner area, this cups the top right corner, acts as infinite space in its missing details.

I appreciated the analysis of Fairfield Porter’s work Snow Landscape as found in Expressive Drawing (fig.4). In his analysis, Aimone points out that this drawing "combines horizontal movement of verticals” with “the zigzag movements in the Freund drawing.” (Aimone, 2009) I would agree with his observation that the “several interrelated horizontal rhythms of vertical bars are easy to discern. "The rocking rhythm is more subtly felt underneath…” (Aimone, 2009) Once again, Porter has implied a foreground of snow by leaving this zone white, apart from the few vertical strokes of resilient grass stalks poking defiantly through the snow, and a lone skeletal silhouette of a tree. The white mid-ground is left with only a pathway to indicate its existence. A horizontal band of loosely implied buildings with the emphasis being on the vertical placement of doors, porches and surrounding bush, forms the horizon line. I suppose, the surrounding bush is really the final background layer of this sketch.

Fig.4. Porter, Fairfield (1963) Snow Landscape.

This research on how foreground, middle ground, and background can be implied through the use of tonal differences, compositional placement, and attention to detail has been very interesting. It is not an area that I have paid much attention to previously, and I hope that it will assist me in creating artworks which are able to portray a greater sense of space.




Illustration

Figure 1. Dean, Tacita (2015) H540, 2015 [chalk on Masonite board] 244 x 488 cm (each) At: London: Frith Street Gallery. Available at: http://www.frithstreetgallery.com/shows/works/h540

Figure 2. Seurat, George (1881-1882) The Mower [oil on wood] 6 1/2 x 9 7/8 in. (16.5 x 25.1 cm) At: New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975. Available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/459116

Figure 3. Freund, Elsie Bates (1960) Dock at Hydra, Greece, 1960 [watercolor on paper] 22.9 x 29.8 cm Photographed from: Aimone, Steven, 2009. Expressive Drawing. New York: Lark Crafts: p. 132.

Figure 4. Porter, Fairfield (1963) Snow Landscape [lithograph] 8.50 x 13 inches At: Ashville: Ashville Art Museum: Permanent collection.Available at: http://www.ashevilleart.org/artists/fairfieldporter/

Works Cited

Aimone, S., 2009. Expressive Drawing. New York: Lark Crafts.

Frith Street Gallery, 2016. Tacita Dean. [Online]
Available at: http://www.frithstreetgallery.com/shows/works/h540
[Accessed 14 February 2016].

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016. The Collection Online. [Online]
Available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/459116
[Accessed 14 February 2016].