Don Eddy (American, 1944-)
acrylic on canvas
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Don Eddy is often referred to as photorealistic painter, inspired by photography for interpretation of images from real life. Naturally, the works of such painter often does not render the photo-reality of the world, but the distinction is not noticeable from the first sight. As in Don Eddy’s famous work New Shoes for H, which shows the window of the shoe store pretty realistically, but a human eye as well as photo camera cannot focus on the shoes, the reflection in the window and on the background at the same time, however, it is possible to picture it realistically, combining the images from several different photographs (The Cleveland Museum of Art)
Elements:
Line
There are a lot of vertical lines in the painting showing the forms of the city, they also surround a multitude of diagonal lines inside the shop, that also create an illusion of movement and draw attention of the viewer’s eye.
Shape
In the painting, flat window as well as flat surface of the buildings and sings on the street overweight the shapes visible in the shop and on the street. Nevertheless, in case the viewer pays more attention to the look of the shiny bags and heels behind the window, there are all kinds of shapes presented.
Value
This element of the painting also helps to create extra realistic effect of the shapes, like light and dark red of the bags. The light reflection of the sky and buildings with the red shoes foregrounding it create a focal point of the painting.
Color
There are a great variety of colors in the painting, almost overwhelming amount of bright colors. There are several more important color patterns that quickly catch viewer’s attention, like blur reappearing on the street, man’s jeans, different bags in the shop, the sign and, finally, the sky and it’s reflection. There is also interaction between contrasting red and green colors in the shop and outside.
Texture
All textures of the painting feel alike, it is clear that the surfaces of glass and signs are very smooth, they are complemented by the smoothness of shoes and bags in the store, because all of the shoes behind the window seems to be varnished. The cars are also shining with their clean surfaces, only the figure of the man in the flannel shirt and blue jeans presuppose soft textures.
Principals:
Balance
All of the major elements of the painting are placed in a balanced way, however, they create informal balance, as most of the elements are placed in the right part of the painting thus the painting is slightly asymmetrical. Different colors and shapes are balancing one another and flatten the overall composition.
Repetition
Repetition is the major principle of the painting due to the fact that it plays with many reflections repeating the same images in the painting different times, it is difficult to detect with of the images are visible in the reflection and which are real. The colors are also used repetitively in the painting, especially, several specific tints of red and green that are central to the composition, they are carefully placed reappearing with intervals, causing effortless movement of the eye through all the composition. It also adds to the glossy effect of all the surfaces in the picture.
Emphasis
The color emphasis belongs to the red shoes placed almost in the center of the painting, because of the color and also the light background of the sky. There are a lot of secondary focal points, which are discovered the longer one looks into the painting.
Works cited
"New Shoes For H". Cleveland Museum of Art. 2016. Web. 1 Aug. 2016.
