I once knew a brilliant architecture student who was working 24/7 on his thesis project. His family took him to see a play, just to “take his mind off the project”. On returning to the studio he said he didn’t remember much about the play, but that the design of the air handling system of the theater was so nifty that he was going to work it into his thesis project. His family had failed - his mind had remained “on” the project. Phryne before the Areopagus , 1861 A similar mindset often affects me when viewing paintings; I am attracted by the buildings and objects that frame the subject of the painting. And, I am often disappointed by the crude misrepresentation of the context in an otherwise excellent painting. In other words I ignore the nude and ogle the floor tile. In that spirit, the following is the first of an ongoing series of posts highlighting the artists who have inspired me (with their tile work). Pollice Verso , 1872 Jean-Leon...
Serpentine means “serpent-like”; a winding, writhing snake shape. The map above was made during the Great Depression, and shows the various riverbeds of the Mississippi over the last several centuries. This shape suggests a freeform, organic object like a river, rolling hills, or the human body. William Hogarth (1697 to 1764) called it the “line of beauty”, and thought that any object had to embody the serpentine shape to capture true beauty. In his self-portrait he prominently displays a serpentine curve on his palette in the foreground. Dolorida by Antonio Parreiras is a composition swarming with serpentine lines overt and hidden, contrasted by the horizontal lines formed by the arms and orange stripe. Georges Clairin’s portrait of Sarah Burnhardt is also dramatically serpentine from top to bottom. My own figure sketch in charcoal is naturally full of serpentine lines. In drawing the female figure it is hard to avoid the serpentine theme. Tossot’s Emigrants depicts a s...
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