Joshua Agbaosi
5/5/14
Williams
ARTH1010-81
Final Project
George Inness. Old Aqueduct (1971)
Frederic Edwin Church. Andes of Ecuador (1855)
Space
Both of the works depicted above use “Space” as their primary formal visual element. Inness’s work uses relative size and linear perspective to portray the appearance of a distant horizon by utilizing relative size. The cliffs in the background are painted on a relatively smaller scale than the man in the foreground of the painting, given a human body would be much smaller in size in comparison to a landmass. This simple principle of relative size gives Old Aqueduct spatial complexity. The landscape that takes up the majority of the piece is broad and minimally designed. The landscape actually appears to not be in focus much like it would be if this painting were a photograph. As the viewer’s eye lingers from the background to the foreground, the images in the painting become more detailed and meticulous. The vegetation in the ground is more clearly defined in the foreground then becomes less nuanced in the middle ground. These visual cues give this work the perception of depth. This work, also, appears to be painted in two-point perspective, giving this work sense of vastness. Andes of Ecuador also uses “Space” as its primary visual element. The relative size and linear perspective is much similar to Old Aqueduct’s. The mountainous terrain gradually goes from relatively large in the foreground and middle ground to relatively small in the background. The sun in the background also drowns out the mountains to a greater degree in the background than in the foreground. The sun’s ambiance gradually becomes less brilliant, providing less illumination as the viewer’s eye drifts from the background to the foreground. The gradients in the texture and hue saturation are especially evident in the mountains. The brightness gradient also contributes to the atmospheric perspective. Unlike Inness’s painting, Andes of Ecuador seems to be painted from a different vantage point. It appears that this work was painted in two-point perspective, but from a different eye-level. The viewer will see this from a higher ground than in Old Aqueduct which is painted from a lower ground.
George Inness. Early Autumn Montclair (1888)
Vincent Van Gogh. Sunflowers (1887)
Texture
Both of these works utilize “Texture” as their primary formal visual element. Early Autumn uses visual texture to depict a paucity of clarity. The artist uses a coarse brush which natural limits how the detailed the painting can be. This element makes the trees and blades of grass appear to be blowing in the wind. The distorted textures of the clouds, trees, and grass all contribute to the cool vibe of this work. Perhaps, the artist used this texture variety to evoke thoughts of dreariness in the viewer. There is no gradient in brightness or detail between the foreground and background. The texture remains constant throughout the painting. In contrast, Sunflowers utilizes actual texture to depict its coarseness. Van Gogh used impasto define his forms in this piece. The brush strokes applied paint liberally and this caused the paint to rise off of the canvas. The raised paint is able to be felt to the touch and gives this work a tactile surface texture. The texture remains constant throughout the painting, spanning from the foreground to the background.
Light and Value
George Inness. George Inness Sketching Outside his Montclair Studio (1889)

Pablo Picasso. Self-Portrait (1900)

Both of these works utilize “Texture” as their primary formal visual elements. The monotone hue of George Inness Sketching Outside his Montclair Studio gives this a cold and dreary vibe. The painting is speckled with a medley of different values of dark against light. The various shades of gray constitute the details in this work as there is no color. There is a large disparity in terms of the value contrast. There are segments of this painting where the shades are almost black, segments with various shades of gray and segments that are nearly white. The high value contrast makes the images and figures in the painting easy to see for the viewer. Inness also used chiaroscuro to give the figures in the painting a three-dimensional appearance.
Picasso’s Self-Portrait, like Inness’s painting, contains a vast amount of different values of dark on light. Picasso’s painting also has a paucity of color like Inness’s work. However, this work contains far more shades of black. The hair in the foreground and the vast majority of the background are close to black. The chiaroscuro is concentrated in the face and neck area to delineate his facial features. The subtle gradation is ahieved by the soft shading, particularly, around his cheek bones, jaw and nose. The shading becomes more aggressive around the outline of his face and neck to demarcate the blackish background. There are also chiaroscuro-esque elements in the eyes. The eyes contain lighter concentric circles of a lighter value and gradate to a darker value to depict reflections of light against his eyes. The heavy use of black, grays and white express somberness and gloominess.