Emmerson Woelffer- (American 1914-2003)
Artwork Legacy: Winterscape, 1955
Winterscape is a piece of art that is based on abstract expression. This is a painting that was done by Emmerson Woelffer in the year 1955. According to most of the artist review, this piece of work depicts his newly found motive of using automatic writing in relation to his trade mark of abstract communication. Winterscape is one of the paintings that have been considered to be part of the use of numerous bold colors that Emmerson expresses himself (Tinterow, Messinger, & Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007).
In this abstract painting, Emmerson has used the color white to bring out the feel of winter since the painting is meant to bring out the Colorado winter picture into the mind. The white crayon is part of this white depiction of the snow and has been mixed with a touch of red-orange. The minimal use of the bright red-orange color which has been done through the use graphic painting has been used to bring out the notion that, during the winter season, warmth is limited and can only be accessed in minimal quantities.
For most individuals and artist, this artistic painting is seen to be artistic, and its interpretation requires an artist understand of artwork (Tinterow, Messinger, & Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007). The dark color should be part of his trademark of using a white crayon on black paper. Thus, through the writings, Emmerson’s nature of use calligraphy has been brought out. The use of spontaneous use of colors is also evident in this piece of work according to the artist. Winterscape portrays the expressionist abstract form of art, and this is the reason for its classification.
The painting is seen by the artist to be expressing the notion of Colorado winter time and the colors used for this painting are also deemed to be the best colors that can be used for such a scenario. The colors to bring out the winter feel could have been made more elaborate by incorporating the use of another form of artworks like, the use of mounting of collages of most common features like trees covered with snow other than leaving the painted artwork the way it has presented.
This can bring out the picture of what is intended to be communicated as much as most artists prefer that their works are not easily interpreted. The features done in calligraphy have been used in the right context hence bringing out the spontaneous feel of Emmerson’s piece of works. The calligraphic writing that has been used gives a hint of the situation before analyzing and putting together the whole on a piece of work. There are traces of mix of colors which appear to be a mixture of black and white (Museum of Modern Art & Temkin, 2010).
This has been used to bring out the idea that coal is one of the main items used for warming the environment in winter situations in Colorado. Some writings have been done that are not clearly seen and can only be noticed by individuals who have questions in mind about the situations that can be taking place during the winter. This is one of the points that Emmerson has used to draw attention to his audience and viewers of the painting. It is thus evident that the expression in abstract form has been implemented in this piece. Moreover, Emmerson’s presence of winter after the World War II is evident.
The main form of style that this paint takes is borrowed from the abstract expressionists whereby, spontaneous or automatic creation was the main technique used by artists during this period. The automatic creation is meant to be a subconscious factor especially for this winterscape painting; however, it may fit more of spontaneous than the subconscious creation (Hess, Grosenick, & Scuffil, 2009). This is based on the fact that, this painting can be interpreted, and it seems like Emmerson while doing it has it already in mind. He had the colors and the items to be present in the painting to make it more effective as compared to the colors that are presented during the abstract expressionists' era.
Emmerson has observed the use of black canvas that is a style that is used by abstract expressionists (Hess, Grosenick, & Scuffil, 2009). White writing that is key to the abstract expressionist can be seen to be one of the areas that Emmerson’s painting has put into use although, he has modified the art style by mixing the white and black color to bring some of the key aspects that are evident during the winter season in Colorado, or that may have been seen after the World War II (Hess, Grosenick, & Scuffil, 2009). Just like most paintings found in this period, the painting brings out the feel of dripping nature from the calligraphic writing that has also been incorporated into the painting (Hess, Grosenick, & Scuffil, 2009).
The painting also similar to the expressionist's abstract has incorporated the use of proper planning into it. This brings out the balance. For example, the mixing of color must have been given priority and the colors to be used for this specific scenario. Planning is a vital component for any artistic work as unplanned work may bring imbalance and thus, a painting may be interpreted in a different form (Museum of Modern Art & Temkin, 2010).
For example, if the color black in this situation was given more priority for the presence of coal during the winter period, there could have been a misconception that this is an ideal situation of a winter season. More so, the colors had to be balanced such that, the depiction of warmth is limited as opposed to the dull black color. The black color selected has been used also to bring out the impact of cloudy days experienced during the winter season. The large size experienced during the abstract expressionist’s artists is, however, missing in this form of painting as the painting is not a large sized item (Museum of Modern Art & Temkin, 2010).
This piece can be said to be influenced by the aftermaths of the political climate that was experienced during the World War II (Compton, 2000). This is because, the region looks deserted presenting an ideal situation of most individuals locked up in their houses after the fighting during the season of winter.
Most of the features have been hidden in a manner that, it is the artist’s perception that can help in communicating the main idea. This period of abstract expressionism was mainly meant for artists to bring out feelings that are not political in nature and censorship was done in most of the paintings by artists found in the United States of America (Compton, 2000).
Therefore, most of the paintings could hide the main intention unless interpreted by an individual that is mainly interested in deep meanings of paintings and artworks. Although, during this period, there were few galleries present, the government had agents to follow up on any form of a piece of artwork that was in conflict with the political climate (Compton, 2000). However, Winterscape as a piece of painting that when carefully scrutinized can be used to interpret the mood of winter and loneliness in the streets after fear of most individuals being involved with the political affiliated notions.
Reference
Tinterow, G., Messinger, L. M., Rosenthal, N., & Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.). (2007). Abstract expressionism and other modern works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Hess, B., Grosenick, U., & Scuffil, M. (2009). Abstract expressionism. Hong Kong: Taschen.
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.), & Temkin, A. (2010). Abstract expressionism at the Museum of Modern Art: Selections from the collection. New York: Museum of Modern Art.
Compton, M. (2000). Abtract Expressionism. United Kingdom: Tate Gallery Pub.
