Thanks for all listened and those who responded to my quest to
understand art and light. It has been illuminating for me. I started by
saying how a particular painting in Provincetown, MA affected me. I
found out the painter, Gerrit Beneker, was the grandfather of a friend
of mine, who put together an exhibit of his work in Ptown:
http://www.provincetownbanner.com/arts/7/10/2003/1
http://www.gbeneker.com/
I talked with Trina the other day, and found out her father had very
clear ideas on what he wanted to communicate, echoing what John and
other artists I have been reading about have said. Trina said her
grandfather was a magazine illustrator before taking up painting. He
also rejected some of the current art movements people said he should
study and instead studied impressionism in 1905 with Charles Hawthorne,
who established The Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown,
Massachusetts in 1899. The painting that caught my eye was probably
painted around 1912.
Not being an art historian, nor studied in art, I have been looking into
impressionism, which itself was influenced by photography.
Impressionism and photography are very related, even Monet and Degas
experimented with cameras. To quote some online stuff "The
Impressionists considered nature to be a worthy subject in its own
right...they painted real life landscapes as they saw them and without
idealization." "Unhampered by traditional rules, the Impressionists
experimented with composition, often framing or cropping their subjects
in ways that were shocking to the prevailing art world." "Fascinated
with capturing the fleeting moment, Impressionists applied their paint
with quick, spontaneous brushstrokes." "The hallmark of the style is
the attempt to capture the subjective impression of light in a scene."
Well, that would explain my photographer's bias toward this style of
painting. Certainly I think this shot could be consider impressionist:
<http://www.zuik.net/om/P2201470rd.jpg>
And now I understand for myself something that previously would have
been more unconscious, I think summed up by Julian's statement [I make
"artists statements" every time I get a "what did you take this one
for" from my better half.] Which on a more serious note is saying that
we are always making a choice when we push the button. Something in us
says to take the shot.
Wayne
|
