sandr037

Portrait painters have long known that a standing human figure needs a little inventiveness to be interesting. El Bohemio, Poet of Montmartre by Ramon Casas i Carbo shows a character from Fin de siècle Paris, all in black – practically a silhouette. By adding a background of misty trees and wind mill, the artist gives the eye at bit of entertainment and tells a story. Note the geometric play between the top hat and the arms of the windmill, adding to the normal focus on the face. In Vicomtesse de Montmorand Tissot uses a black fur boa to lead the eye around the figure, and emphasize the head. The effect is sensuous without being gauche. James Whistler’s Symphony in White no 1 (The White Girl) is a white on white experiment. But the artist doesn’t leave it at that; he anchors the figure with the highly colored face at the top, and the head of the bearskin rug at the bottom. I’m not sure that Whistler meant anything by the juxtaposition, but he was not one to do anything without rea...