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Sugonyako
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Transition to space-composition may be made if we consider relation of figures and masses to background. In work of the greatest esthetic power many-features of composition depend upon representation of the third dimen- sion. Even in painting which tends to be flat, such as Matisse’s or Manet’s, not everything depicted is shown as on the same plane, and though spatial depth is not emphasized, it is by no means eliminated. The relation of a single head, as in a portrait, to what is back of it, should be considered a part of the composi- tion of the picture. This relation is partly determined by color, partly by com- positional means in the narrower sense. The pattern of lines in a portrait may be carried into the background, or there may be superficially no relation, as in the Pisanello “Princess of the Este Family”. Here the background of foliage and flowers may seem plastically unrelated to the girl’s head; really, however, the relation is an organic one established by duplication of rhythmic patterns. In Fra Filippo Lippi’s “Virgin Adoring the Child”, the relation between the central figures and the background is exceedingly important, though the ob- jects in the background are felt like the pattern on a screen. On the other hand the background may be extremely simple, as in Rembrandt’s “Hendrickje Stoffels”, or Titian’s “Man with Glove”, in both of which, by means that are very subtle, the figure is distinguished, set out from what is back of it. The ef- fect of infinite depth achieved in both these pictures is an extraordinary tri- umph of space-composition. In Rubens’ “Baron Henri de Vicq”, though the placing of the head against the background is effective, the means employed, that is, sharply contrasting colors, are obvious and more facile, and the lesser economy of means reduces the esthetic value in comparison with the Titian and Rembrandt. 134 In composition in three dimensions, all the effects of two-dimensional composition are amplified. Thrust and counter-thrust, balance, rhythm, the ef- fects of light and shadow, are heightened in variety and power. The sense of real space, harmoniously subdivided, appears in Claude, in Poussin, in Pe- rugino, in Raphael, in all the great Venetians. In regard to space alone Raphael is a really important artist. He and Perugino were doubtless influenced to achieve it by the clear air and mountainous country of Central Italy, in which striking relations of masses in obvious deep space are almost forced upon the attention. In practically all of Poussin’s pictures we find not only a clear indication of distance everywhere, but great appeal in the intervals themselves. The masses are related backward and forward as well as on the surface of the can- vas, and these relationships form an integral part of the general plastic design. This design in space is reenforced by color, both in its appealing sensuous quality and in the relations of the colors to each other, and by line and light and shadow; all these elements combine to give a distinctively clear, light, airy, and charming design. In Giorgione’s “Concert in the Open Air”, the rela- tion of all parts of the landscape to the blue and golden distance contributes greatly to the impression of mystery, romance, and glamour. Claude’s effects are more romantic, more majestic, and they would be impossible but for the unlimited spaciousness of his pictures, which gives reality to the vast patterns of light. In addition, the ways in which the intervals are proportioned and re- lated to one another are also immediately pleasing in themselves. A final ex- ample of space-composition is Giotto’s: his perspective, from the academic standpoint, is very faulty, but he had the utmost genius for placing objects, in deep space, in relations which are varied, powerful, absolutely unstereo-typed, but always appropriate and in harmony with the general design. Space-composition, like the other plastic functions, reaches its greatest height when color takes the most active part in it. Cezanne’s dynamic organi- zation of volumes in deep space is a partial illustration of this compositional role of color, since color is the material and organizing force in all his paint- ing; but an even better example is to be found in Renoir’s work, especially that done after 1900. Color extends over contours so freely that spatial intervals are felt primarily as color-relations, and in many of his paintings a suffusion of color floods every part of the picture, uniting each compositional element with all the others in an indissoluble entity. Barnes A. C. Composition // The Art in Painting. 3 rd ed. New York; Harcourt: Brace and Company, 1937. P. 102–103. |