The Painted Surface

While in Boston, I was able to visit the Museum of Fine Arts on three occasions. Jan Avgikos, my faculty advisor, had suggested that I look at Monet's later paintings, which I was happy to do! Keeping in mind my interest in the materiality of the painted surface, I studied several of Monet's paintings with an eye to observing the many layers of paint which seem to be embedded in the image.

The Cathedral at Rouen, detail, Claude Monet 1894
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Monet's colors are so captivating and shimmering that one tends to forget the texture of the brushstrokes. The impasto brushwork adds to the visual blending of hues, and points to the many times the artist added paint before being satisfied that the work was finished. The paintings retain their freshness, in spite of being worked over many times.

Poppy Field in a Hollow Near Giverny, detail, Claude Monet 1885
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

During this visit, I contemplated the entire canvas, then examined sections of the paintings individually.
The MFA Boston website has photos of these works on their website which are much more accurate than my snapshots. View their collection of French paintings and select the paintings you want to see (#328 Rouen, #272 Poppies, #493 Haystack):

http://www.mfa.org/node/4181

Grainstack, (Snow Effect) detail,  Claude Monet 1891
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Looking at Lake Nemi by George Innes 1872, I noted the limited palette used to evoke space and distance between layers of landscape.  (See http://www.mfa.org/node/4626   #25) Here is a very poor snapshot of this work:

I also studied several paintings by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, including Bachanal at the Spring: Souvenir of Marly-le-Roi  1872 for the limited palette and use of transparent darks and impasto whites.

Both artists appear to have used the limited palette demonstrated by Tony Apesos during the AIB residency: white, yellow ochre, indian red and lamp black. I would assume that ultramarine blue played a part in creating soft greens. (See http://www.mfa.org/node/4181 #142)

The Fall of the Rhine at Schaffhausen also captured my attention. Turner created so many effects using a limited palette along with transparency and impasto.Another feature of Turner's work is also the use of a brilliant accent color, in this case vermillion red.  I have been interested in Turner's work since my BFA years, but this time I studied the application of the paint on the canvas.  

(Go to http://www.mfa.org/node/4296 # 19)

Fall of the Rhine at Schaffhausen Joseph Mallord William Turner 1805-06
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Fall of the Rhine at Schauffhausen,  detail

I plan to explore the limited palette more fully this semester, and to use oil paint over acrylic to add subtlety and transparency to my work.

In addition to wandering through the galleries of eighteenth and nineteenth century paintings. I returned to the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art. Continue reading my next post!!