CPS Week 4 – Visual Analysis

John Millais, Ophelia, 1951.

Millais painted Ophelia along the banks of Hogs mill river in Surrey. The artist Millais is known for painting his serious and significant subjects. e was part of the Pre – Raphaelite era, when they painted directly from nature with great attention to detail. Millais found that, when painting the background first, painting nature in such detail is very tricky and requires a lot of patience. The painting is oil paints on canvas, the size 76cm by 1.12 m, which is quite a large sized painting and holds the eyes focus straight onto Ophelia.

Shakespeare was a popular source for Victorian painters; Ophelia is about a character from Shakespeare’s Hamlet who was driven mad when her father was tragically murdered by her lover, Hamlet, and drowns suffering from grief and madness. The character Ophelia represents femininity, and is portrayed as quite naïve and childlike, but also very obedient towards her father and brother. At the time, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman Hunt founded the Pre – Raphaelite Brotherhood, that was a combination of Victorian British art and 15th century Italian art. Their aim was to include the impacts on both current society, and the history of art.

My eyes were first drawn to Ophelia in the river, as her detailed expression is full of pain and strong emotion. As I looked round the entire picture, I noticed how detailed the background is, and how the natural scene is so rich with colour; contrasting to the pale complexion of Ophelia lying in the river. The detail is what I think is so captivating about this painting. The subject (Ophelia) is lying in the river in the foreground of the painting, meaning she is meant to be the main focus of the picture. The background is all nature, including a large tree trunk and bushes with blossoms and grass in the water. Ophelia is clearly the most important thing in this painting, as it is her who tells the story behind the painting. Millais painted the background first, in Surrey, and then painted Ophelia, with Rossetti’s wife as his model, in London afterwards. The painting is obviously staged; although Ophelia was an iconic figure of the time, she wasn’t real and this painting shows a model posing as her, drowning in the river.

Line:

As this is a very realistic painting, there aren’t many lines as such, however, with his brush strokes you can see the way he’s used line to create texture in the grass, for example.

Tone:

The main tonal contrast is between the dark river and where the light is hitting the grass and Ophelia’s dress on top of the water. The use of tone is subtle as it’s slightly lighter or darker areas for most of the picture.

Shape:

The shapes and direction of line show movement within the piece.

Colour:

As this painting is very realistic, the colours the artist has used are subtle, but a variety of greens, browns, white, grey. His use of colour to create texture is what makes the detail so realistic.

Texture:

The texture in this painting gives it more meaning because of the way the artist has used the paints to layer colours and different marks to create different textures for the bark and grass, for example.

Space:

The subject Ophelia is in the foreground of the picture, laying horizontally across the canvas. The painting is theoretically very busy, but it doesn’t appear so because of how the position of the subject draws you in.

Millais painted the background exactly as he saw in Surrey, creating a realistic outcome on the canvas. The model was posed in a river somewhere in London, using lamps to keep her warm. So therefore, the image is realistically painted, however, from two different scenes merged together. The mood of this painting is clearly sorrow, as you can see so clearly on Ophelia’s face and by the way she is positioned in the cold, dark river. The colour of her face is very pale, making her look lost and lifeless. Her eyes also seem to be looking into nowhere, and her facial expressions are very detailed. The flowers surrounding her body have been uprooted and lay there limp next to her body.

References:

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/millais-ophelia-n01506

https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/ophelia/-wGU6cT4JixtPA?hl=en

Anthropometries – Yves Klein, 1960

Yves Klein employs female models as “living paintbrushes” to create his paintings. The medium is oil on paper wood. His work is categorised as painting and sculpture and the movements he is associated with are: Modern Art, Conceptual Art, and Nouveau Réalisme (New Realism – of which he was the leading member of, founded in 1960). The dimensions of this piece are 6′ 6″ x 50 1/2″ (198 x 128.2 cm). This series of work was made in his studio space in Paris, 27 February 1960. During these performances, Klein instructed his group of nude female models to cover their bodies in paint and press them against sheets of paper laid on the floor. Klein’s idea for the Anthropometries series came from the imprints he left on his judo mat as a judo fighter. He was always intrigued by the idea of “living brushes” and using human bodies to paint with. Under his direction and guidance, the models cover certain parts of their body with paint and press themselves against a fixed sheet of paper. The torso and thighs were seen as an essential part of the body to cover with paint to Klein because they showed “pure” human proportions and he believed that the marks left by the model’s body represented the health of the body and their body imprints go beyond personal presence in his paintings. Some critics looked at his work in a more spiritual context while others criticised him for using naked females as his subjects and not giving them any control over what was happening. The French Feminist Movement didn’t start in France until the 1970’s, meaning that this work was being performed before anyone had started speaking up on a large scale about women’s rights. This makes me wander if this kind of art would’ve been criticised more had it been 10 or more years later. This most likely influences the work because there weren’t many active voices for female rights in France during this time.

In the background of this image, you can see an orchestra to the left, and a seated audience to the right because this work is performance art as well as a painting. The most important part of this photo however, is clearly the models painting on the sheets of paper, because everyone’s gaze is on them. The models are also in the foreground of this photo. I have an image of one of his final pieces, however, it doesn’t show the performance art aspect, or how the painting has been made; which is the key part of Klein’s work. This is obviously staged, as the artist instructs the models as they’re performing.

The models are positioned in this photograph in a sort of arrow shape, drawing your eyes towards them particularly because of the camera focus. There is no vanishing point in this image, however, the composition highlights the models because of their position in the foreground.

Line:

There is no use of line in Klein’s work, as human bodies are used to paint onto his canvas and bodies aren’t made up of lines. However, you can see the structure of the paper is made up of lines.

Tone:

As this is a black and white image, it’s easy to see the tonal areas of the room, and obviously the models are using a dark coloured paint to cover themselves with. It’s also easy to see where the light is hitting, on the right side on the model’s back. Klein’s finished pieces, don’t contain much tonal range as they’re imprints of one colour on white paper.

Colour:

This image is in black and white, however, the actual artwork made from this was made using blue paint, using minimal colour range to contribute to the idea of the work being made not by the artist’s hands.

Shape/ form:

I would describe this image more as form than shapes because it’s a photograph of three – dimensional people rather than a two – dimensional painting. The form is organic, as it’s an action shot of people.

Texture:

The texture in this photo is generally smooth because the main focus of the image is the model’s naked bodies covered in paint, which also looks to have a smooth consistency.

Space:

The use of space in this photo is that the models are performing in the bottom foreground of the image, enabling you to see the orchestra and audience in the background, although you can see they aren’t the main focus, particularly since they’re all watching the models.

This image is realistic, but only to the extend of the context of Klein’s work. The size of the performance part of the art covers an entire studio room floor, enabling the work to be viewed from many different angles. The mood of this particular image is concentration, since everyone in the photo were focusing on something, whether it be watching, playing an instrument or dragging themselves around the floor covered in paint. There aren’t many emotions to pick out from this photo, which has been achieved by the image being in black and white, no one smiling, and the atmosphere looking quite serious.