The purpose of the paper is to write Feldman art critic on the three art works, describing them in detail, analyzing the visual elements and the principles of design. An interpretation of each artwork would be made in order to understand what the artist is trying to say.
Jacob Lawrence’s The Card Game Description
“The Card Game” shows two men and two women playing cards and are seated around a bright red table. They are deeply engrossed in their game and the indigo blue of the background contrast with the white ivory curtains. One can recognize the women with their colorful clothing and embellishments in the hair. The men wear brown clothing while one of the women is in the blue garment and the other is in green. The garments of the women are fashionable and off shoulders. The women in blue wear red flowers in her hair. The cars are scattered on the red table carrying patterns of diamonds in pale red. The white curtains frame the setting of the four people playing cards. The walls behind are done in shades of blues. The white curtains line the canvas on the three sides and are parted to show the group of people. It is difficult to see the faces clearly as they are done in deep brown and the faces are either slanted or covered by their own shadows. Each figure in the artwork holds some cards in their hands carrying long slender fingers.Analysis Jacob Lawrence was inspired by Mexican muralists, and this is evident by the colors and expressive figures in “The Card Game”. The vibrant colors used lend a colorful look to a social gathering (The Card Game 2016). The figures in the artwork reusable humans but not perfectly. The artist makes use of short lines and rough brush strokes to give a different texture to the curtains, the skin, and the fabrics. The brush strokes in blue on the wall behind are rough and patchy. There are darker tints of blue behind the figures to show their shadows. The green dress of the women carries a pale orange border and an abstract pattern in small dots and star-like patterns. Likewise, the blue dress of the woman carries a white border. The faces of the figures are not well defined, and Lawrence makes use of darker shadows, lines, and triangles to depict the eyes, nose, and mouth. He makes use of lighter and darker shades of brown to show the shadows on the faces. The folds of the curtain drawn in fine lines and grays depict the shadows and folds of the curtains. The focal point of the artist is the red table with the white cards and the group of people that surround it. The warm red color of the table is offset by the blues of the wall and the white of the curtains. There is a balance created in the artwork as it seems that the white curtains are framing the men and women playing cards. There are sharp contrasts made the bright reds, deep blues, and whites. The repetition seen in “The Card Game” can be seen on the diamond pattern on the red table and the cards carrying the motif of heart. The artwork carries odd proportions. For example, the red table is placed at an odd angle. The bodies of the men and women are large as compared to their faces. The heads and the hands of the figures look smaller as compared to their bodies. The pieces of jewelry women by the women are extraordinarily large for their faces and ears.
Interpretation
In order to understand “The Card Game” by Jacob Lawrence, it is essential to look at the underlying structure of his compositions. The artist is known to paint mostly about Black history and the people in his artwork are big and strong. The four people in the painting are engrossed in their own world. The white curtains around frame them as if they were performing on stage. At first look, the viewer is drawn to the red table, the four people playing cards and the white curtains. Lawrence attempts to make a two-dimensional picture plane look like three-dimensional. The selection of colors creates an overall unity and consistency. “The Card Game” by Lawrence shows the black community trapped in their own world. The fashionable clothes and game of cards show that the blacks love to live their lives and have some entertainment. However, they have to remain confined to their own world. The parted curtains represent a kind of stage that offers peep inside the world of the blacks.
Sargent Claude Johnson’s hammered copper masks
Description
Sargent Claude Johnson’s copper mask shows is a significantly abstracted mask. It is deep brown in color and oval in shape, tapering slightly at one end (#2 MASK 2016). The mask maintains a highly flat surface on the front. The linear patterns pressed on the copper surface vertically down. There are two holes punctured to represent the eyes. However, they are not in the same line, and one is round while the other is just a small flattened oval. The mouth carries no lips and is angled in position and up on one side. There is an ornamental piece on the left side of the mask in place of the ear. There is no ear on the other side. There are three vertical furrows that stretch from the forehead while a fourth one stretches from the left eye till the mouth. The mask preserves the rich brown color and golden brown patina. The almond shape can be found in earlier representations of the artist. On the top of the head are a series of motifs in circular shapes arranged across the forehead.
Analysis
The Mask is a highly stylized version of Blacks in the arts. The slightly convex oval shaped mask carries understated and simplified features. The position of the eyes and mouth gives a dynamic expression to the face. Even with the odd position of the eyes, ear, and mouth, the mask looks balanced. A repetition can be seen in the three vertical furrows that stretch from the forehead. Perhaps they have been made to show the nose. The fourth groove seems to tilt the mouth in its tilted position. The focal point in the mask lies in its abstraction and the odd position of its eyes and mouth. The hammered copper makes a unique texture on the mask. The engravings at the top of the head can be taken for hair or some kind of ornamentation. There are no contrasts in the mask and one just sees a variation in the texture. The mask smooth and rough at different places. If the round eye and twisted mouth on one side draw your attention, the next moment the viewer gets interested in the ear and the embellishment at the top on the other side.
Interpretation
Sargent Claude often used African art for inspiration, and one can see an appreciation of African American culture in his creativity. He created a number of hammered copper masks that varied in their abstraction. The use of copper by the artist for his masks is done intentionally to show its rich brown color. The mask retains the basic simplicity of his earlier works and shows his interest in African art. There is an elegant simplicity in the hammered mask that takes one away from the realism and m towards abstraction. By displaying the Blacks, he was lending a new perspective and attitude toward Africa. The mask is a far cry from the moods of modern and American things. Still, it makes a contact in a strange way and shows the contrast between the two cultures. It can be seen as a tradition of cultural resistance as the artist shows the colorful race of the Blacks as a distorted one. The professional artist has used African art as an aesthetic model that carries a degree of abstraction with those wide-set eyes at different angles and a tilted mouth. He strives to show the dignity of the pure American Negro through the mask with its rich brown color and texture.
Wangechi Mutu Homeward Bound
Description
“Homeward Bound” by artist Wangechi Mutu shows an intricate work of imagery and exaggerations (Wangechi Mutu 2016). What we see here is a contemporary portrait of a woman who turns her face upward. One can make out her neck and bosom. It is the elements that the artist has used to create the woman that makes it interesting. The only realistic look lies in those full and thick lips in deep crimson. The face of the tiger is used to show her eyes and nose. However, the eyes are not of a tiger and Mutu makes use of a small eye and there is a circular ornament on the nose. There are two ears on one side, one looks normal and natural while the other is like a huge flap showing the intricate network of veins. On the top of the head sits a bird with her beak spluttering out a spray of red. Mechanical instruments are used to show her shoulders and bosom. There is a starry glow print for the body of the woman, and different prints fill her neck and the other areas. A purplish creature hangs from her ear as jewelry. The background carries a fine spray work of deep maroon that is denser on the borders and dissolves into a glow in the center.
Analysis
The use of different images creates a kind of layering effect in the artwork. The pale white glow behind the print imagery makes the arrow stand out in sharp contrast. Each different print creates a different texture. Still as a whole, the image looks a balanced one even with so many different print\s. The face of the woman and her lips remain the focal point of the artwork. The artists have used a mixture of varied prints that have no connection to each other. There doesn’t seem to be any repetition of images in the work. The way the artist has arranged the patterns and designs make it clear that the silhouette in the artwork is that of a woman. Still, her shoulder, face, neck and lips seem to be out of proportions. The images look freakish, and the prints make no connections with each other. They are just used as markers of body parts and face. The interplay in the work focuses one to think about those objects that one often ignores and avoids. The proportions and prints used by the artist in the collage are not realistic and have been exaggerated. One is forced to look at each part of the collage and look closely at the different image’s that carry no connection with each other, but make a compelling composition together.
Interpretation
Mutu is known worldwide for her unique representations of exaggerated and morphed figures. The artist works are primarily sourced from the photo-based materials from popular magazines. The artwork is a recontextualization and reconfiguration that creates a dynamic and stylized being. The woman her is a complex hybrid that forces t you to look at her and empower you with her exaggerations. The artist tries to identity politics via the female form. The artist makes use of natural and constructed elements as well as mechanical parts to depict a woman. It seems as if the woman is composed of the whole world and not contained by it. The artwork shows that the artist is a visual thinker and uses Collage as a means that visual process. The drawing makes one connected to the subconscious and the commercial prints from different magazines from the aesthetic sense here. The artwork is not a simple representation but more of an abstraction in the modernist avant-garde. The stratified imagery keeps you interested for a long time and gives each viewer the complete freedom to evaluate the collage from his own perspective when he makes mental associations between the printed imagery. This is an amazing piece of two-dimensional art based on print and imagery. The tactility of the collage and the prints change the dimension of the work.
Works Cited
#2 MASK." scadmoa.org. 2016. Web.26 April. 2016
"The Card Game." scadmoa.org. 2016. Web.26 April. 2016
"Wangechi Mutu." scadmoa.org. 2016. Web.26 April. 2016
