Composition - examples of note

[SB Wang]

Would you please improve this composition?
http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/databa...ge.asp?id=7755

[Mike McCarty]

It's a real study, isn't it SB? Valazques' The Spinners, 46x75.

I might replace the cat with a dog, but this is the sort of complexity that extends beyond my reach. As I look at it I don't see anything that looks discordant. It has some of the same types of eye leading techniques that we saw in some of his other less complex themes displayed above. It's obvious that he put a lot of thought into his compositions. It would not surprise me to learn that the design of this painting took much more time than the actual painting. The better the design, the faster the painting, I think. It also has some of the same compositional qualities as the Degas above in terms of distance and focus.

My own tastes lean more toward the simpler themes. I can find just as much to be fascinated by in a well done head and shoulder pose, but that's just me.

If you have a particular grievance with this composition just jump in SB. Good to see one of his where someone's head hasn't been whacked off.

[Mike McCarty]

Here are some paintings by Anders Zorn, Swedish 1860-1920.

This guy was pretty darn good, especially in the watercolor department. The two girls with a fan (lets see, that would make three) is a w/c 54x36 and pretty darn tasty.

And speaking of tasty, this next w/c is so rich I feel like I'm gaining weight just looking at it. It's like eating a banana split right after a big meal. I'd like to see it in person with a great frame, it might loose some of it's calories.

And then there's Gustav V, 201x123, just for the pure pomp of it, as he strikes his 19th century pose - Ahem. Striking, with all it's verticality.

[Mike McCarty]

I also like the compositions of the Englishman John William Godward.

This first one is interesting because of the lighting. The face has taken a back seat to the shoulder in the order of things. Normally you would think that maybe he just got bored with painting the same old lighting and thought he'd try something different, but I don't think he was the type to get bored by painting the same thing over and over again. He did so many paintings that were basically the same thing with maybe a ten percent tweak. Even the same model shows up time and again. I couldn't do that, I would get bored. If you take each individually I think they are all very good, but as a collection of work there sure is a lot of sameness there.

These to me are particularly lush. It's possible that the third one has been cropped, It's hard to know for sure, but there are indications. It's not really all that instructive if it is.

[Allan Rahbek]

Originally Posted by Mike McCarty

It's possible that the third one has been cropped, It's hard to know for sure, but there are indications.

Mike,
I believe that all four paintings have been cropped. The reason that I am convinced of that is that this type of paintings are meant to idealize the antique living, note the dress and hairstyle.
Everything would be carefully arranged and proportions would be harmonious all over the composition and not like the snapshot cropping presented here.
My favorite is the third.

[Mike McCarty]

Allan,

In searching the web I can't find any other images that contradict the above. However, I do see some of the same images which are shown (cropped?) in the same way. I'm like you, I do suspect.

You can see a lot of similarity between Godward and Alma-Tadema (how does a man become a hyphenated person?). Unfortunately Godward committed suicide after being savaged by critics and reportedly left a note indicating something to the effect that the world was not big enough for him and a Picasso.

Here are a few more, again showing an awful lot of similarity in the compositions with only slight variations in pose and clothing. One actually looks to be reversed. It's said that little has been written about Godward, maybe these images have been manipulated by art dealers, postermakers and other web scoundrels because the poor man had no one to tend his work. I dunno.

[Ant Carlos]

Unfortunately the modernists were cruel enough to cause that kind of tragedy. Even today they still seem to have bad feelings about painters who know how to paint realistically. Not rarely I find myself arguing with the so-called contemporary artists who label my Art as "classical" in a pejorative meaning. But now, for me at least, they are the old-fashioned ones. If you try to define contemporary art, perhaps you'll be in trouble, giving so many matches in that field. I don't like, nor dislike what the modernists do. It just happens that because their style can accept anything, a lot of non-talented ones keep on going. A realist painter is easier to judge, even by the artist himself.

But back in 1920, poor Godward, lived in a tough time.

Ant