Carlo Crivelli: Color Vocabulary

In the painting "Saint George Slaying the Dragon" by Carlo Crivelli, the castle in the background is monochromatic, painted in different values of browns. Saint George and his horse have accents of warm colors, reds and yellows, that cause them to stand out. The intense reds and blues of the saddle and armor are striking. The white horse has a lot of variation of value which give texture and depth. The rich colors compliment each other and work together to give the intense feeling evident in the subject of the painting.

Carlo Crivelli: Expressive qualities of color

*royal
*deep
*rich
*expressive
*elegant
*luminous
*warm
*dark
*vibrant
*striking
*intense
*shimmering
*regal
*classic
*fancy
*refined
*purposeful
*suggestive
*unearthly
*imaginative

Museum Visit: part B

Viewing "Saint George Slaying the Dragon" at the Gardener Museum was a much different experience than seeing it on-line. The gold of the background isn't even close to being as vivid as it is in person. The raised details don't give the illusion of depth or texture as they did in the museum. All the colors are just a little lighter on the computer screen. I think that viewing the painting in the museum is a much better experience than on-line. The colors are richer, and the golds are brighter and reflect the light. By viewing it on-line the viewer doesn't get a sense of the mood the artist intended. I also feel that seeing this painting in full scale is important.

Saint George Slaying the Dragon

1470Carlo Crivelli, Italian (Venice), 1430-1495

Gold and tempera on wood, 94 x 47.8 cm

Gardener Museum: part A

Saint George Slaying the Dragon,1470 by Carlo Crivelli is the painting I chose for this assignment. The first thing I noticed about this painting was how the details in the armor of the soldier and the saddle of the horse have a 3D feel to them. They were painted in such a way that they are raised and cast little shadows that give depth. Saint George and his horse are in the center with the slain dragon to his right(the viewer's left). The saint is wearing beautiful armor of gold, blue and red with raised details. He has a sword in his hand that is raised and ready to strike as he struggles to stay atop the frightened horse. The horse is standing on his hind legs and has a red and gold saddle with details like the armor. In the background there is a castle with a woman on her knees praying.

The composition of this painting makes Saint George the center of attention. The colors of his armor and his horse are much brighter than anything else in the scene. The background is also bright, but without many contrasting colors around it, it blends in. The dim lighting adds to the dark, treacherous mood of the painting. The line of the sword mimics the line of the path behind it as well as the angle of the horses stance. These lines seem to lead the viewer's eyes to left, where the story begins.

The artists tells a story which to me, is obvious. Saint George is riding a horse which implies that he traveled to this remote castle. The woman kneeling in the back seems helpless, praying to be saved. Here comes Saint George to slay the dragon and bring her to safety!

"Portrait of Time" collage

In this assignment we asked: "If you made a portrait of this time what would it look like?". We were to construct 5 collages, with that question in mind. Five created using Photoshop and one done traditionally. The first idea I had was to make a collage showing what my life is about at this time, school, family, art, etc... After doing some sketching and some brainstorming, my idea shifted drastically. I realized that what I wanted to portray through my collages is that time is continuous and the only thing that ever stays the same, is that everything is constantly changing and growing. In one of my collages I try to show a life cycle, from birth to death. In another, I was inspired by our reading about lines, and used lines to represent continuity. Although I am still in the process of refining the collages I feel that what I've done so far will be effective in giving the viewer a sense of time.

I feel that this assignment has helped me to think about composition, color, and meaning. I also found that being required to use Photoshop rather challenging. I haven't had much experience with Photoshop and in the last assignment I felt pretty lost with it. I'm proud to say that I think I'm getting the hang of it. It might take me a little longer than it should, and I'm sure that I'm not utilizing all the tools I could, but I'm happy with my project so far. :)

Hannah Hoch

(November 1, 1889 - May 31, 1978)
Hannah Hoch studied art in Berlin and worked as a pattern designer and writer on women's handicrafts. Through her affair and artistic partnership with Raoul Hausmann, a Viennese artist, she became part of the Berlin Club Dada. Club Dada was a German group of Dadaists, an artistic movement dating from about 1916. The group was also involved with political radicalism after the WWI. She didn't express herself politically as much as other members of the group. From 1926-1929 she lived and worked in Holland. She spent the years of the Third Reich in Germany, trying to remain quiet. She married Kurt Matthies, a businessman and pianist, in 1938 and got divorced in 1944.
She created and exhibited her photo collages until her death. She used photos, paper objects, machines parts and various other objects in her work which was usually pretty large.

I was drawn to Hannah Hoch's collages. They have a dark, somber feel to them. It's apparent right away that the images she creates are meant to tell a story. For example, "Abduction" was made in response to changes for women taking place in Weimer society. Before reading the description, my impression was that it was about women or a woman fighting against the current, fighting for her rights. She clearly gets her point across using very few images arranged just right.

Hanna Hoch- collage artist

"Victorian" by, Hanna Hoch

Line and Shape

Creating line in my environment

This is a picture I took of suds lined up in my hall way.