Response to 'Wheatfield with Crows'

John Berger suggests to look at 'Wheatfield with crows' by Vincent Van Gogh. At first the book instructs the reader to look at the painting and the turn the page. Where you are met with the statement, 'This is the last picture that Van Gogh painted before he killed himself'. Berger states...

'It is hard to define exactly how the words have changed the image but undoubtedly they have. The image now illustrates the sentence.'

I found this to be very true. The image at first appears to be a simple windswept landscape, predominantly bright colours, after reading the text, the image pulls your attention to the dark layer at the top image and then the image seemed dark and ominous. More attention was paid to the crows and the brush strokes now seem very turbulent. This exercise showed me how text around a painting can alter how we interpret the image.

My Own Photograph No.1

My Own Photograph No.1

I took this photo during winter, late one evening. When taking this photo i tried to create a dark industrial and broken-down landscape. The dark evening made the sky look very heavy and solid. In terms of framing the image, i tried only to get the roofs and chimney stacks. The majority, roughly two-thirds of the image, is sky which means that your eye gets drawn towards the bottom of the image. For the viewer, there is the sensation of being trapped. Firstly, with the bars at the bottom the image, secondly, the lack of open space between the houses and between the roofs and the ominous sky. The image of terraced houses and crowded views denotes industrial areas. Which brings connotations of crime, dirt and poverty. 

Dorothea Lange's 1936, Migrant Mother, Florence Owens Thompson

Migrant Mother: Florence Owens Thompson, Dorothea Lange, 1936

This image is taken from slightly above the subject, this means that we are likely to react to this image in a certain way. When we look at images that are looking down from a higher viewpoint than the subject, we tend we feel sorry for the subject. The way in which the subjects in this image are facing adds to the message that they are facing troubles. It is as if the two children are facing away from something that is troubling the mother, or completely oblivious.

Mediterranean Landscape, Pablo Picasso

Mediterranean Landscape, Pablo Picasso 1952

This image is completely different to all the images i have done before in my blogs. It takes a completely different approach, which is to break the parts of the image down to create the essence of what the artist has seen, rather than an accurate record of the place and time recording. The perspective of this image is not accurate, it does not have a vanishing point that creates the illusion of depth which mimics how your eyes see.

Cafe Terrace at Night, Van Gogh

Cafe Terrace at Night, Van Gogh 1888, Oil on Canvas, 80.7cm x 65.3cm


The use of perspective in this image creates a real sense of depth, the gradual decline is size of the buildings and people towards a vanishing point is a trick that artists use to achieve depth. The use of vivid yellow and orange under the sun shade is very warming in contrast to the dark sky and dark buildings on the opposite side of the street. This focuses the eyes bottom left-hand side of the painting. The viewpoint of the image is from a normal standing position on the street.

Signifiers and Signified: The Apple

The apple has for many years been associated with sin and the fall of man and original sin. Therefore the apple is a signifier as it is the image that carries the signified denotes that apples were an evil temptation. This is an arbitrary link between apples and evil. There is no relation between an apple and evil, the signifier is a just image or object that has been related to evil by convention. That is a first order semiological chain, because it relate to a set of values or ideas, it then becomes a second order semiological chain. The apple as denoted as an evil temptation then becomes a connotation of the evil temptation leading to the fall of man, as it links with the myth or social construct of the Adam and Eve story.

Originals and Reproductions: The difference in Communication

'Original paintings are silent and still in a sense that information never is. Even a reproduction hung on a wall is not comparable in this respect for in the original the silence and stillness permeate the actual material, the paint, in which one follows the traces of the painter's immediate gestures. This has the effect of closing the distance in time between the painting of the picture and one's own act of looking at it.'

This quote from John Berger's 'Ways of Seeing' suggests that the physical properties of a painting are a direct communication between the artist and yourself, the viewer. The brushstrokes are a direct link between the painting's creation and the time when you look at the painting today. Meaning that every time you create a reproduction you capture a moment in time that resembles a said image but does not carry the original method and materials. The nearest metaphor i could think of, would be to have an original recording of a song, and have a reproduction recording made from a mic in front a speaker. You would be recording the sound of the speaker vibrating rather than the instruments themselves, as you would be taking a picture of brushstrokes, instead of having the original brushstrokes.

The Importance of Location to a Painting

John Berger in his 'Ways of Seeing', states that the location and surroundings of a painting were once an integral part of the viewing of a painting.

'The uniqueness of every painting was once part of the uniqueness of the place where it resided. Sometimes the painting was transportable. But it could never be seen in two places at the same time. When the camera reproduces a painting, it destroys the uniqueness of its image.'

  

As well as continuing to say that the location and surroundings of a painting are said to be of vital importance to the viewers reception and understanding of an image. The reception of a painting that is shown on television is said to be subject to the environment that is the living room to which it is broadcast.

'The painting enters each viewer's house. There it is surrounded by his wallpaper, his furniture, his mementoes. It enters the atmosphere of his family.'

The Empyrean, Sarah Sitkin

The Empyrean Album cover, Sarah Sitkin 

'The Empyrean’ is the name of this album, it is a term for ‘the highest point in heaven’ and this album cover's art is a depiction of this, the layout of this image is used to show a contrast between physical and spiritual. The collage of images and paint make an interesting image which plays with the depth of the image. The image is divided horizontally roughly into three parts. The top third represents the empyrean, and the bottom third represents the earth and mortality, this is inferred by the resting body in the dirt. The middle third depicts a space of transition, firstly with the stairs reaching up into the clouds. Also the paint seeping down from the upper third. The image shows many polar extremes; dark and light, height and depth, as well as a mixture of two-dimensional and three-dimensional layers.

Mussolini in Venice, Alfred Eisenstaedt

Mussolini in Venice, Alfred Eisenstaedt, 13/6/1934 Gelatin silver print 19.1 x 24.4cm

This image shows a very powerful message of a very powerful subject. The dramatic pose of Mussolini in this image is of a gesture held by the photograph. The pose makes him seem impassioned and suggests an emphasis to match his speech. His is literally reaching out in front of him to his audience.  The gap between him and the group of men to the left is very significant. It suggests that he stands out from them, and is different.  The camera is looking up at him, which, as I have learnt from other images, suggests power and authority. However, the perspective of the camera means that he appears higher in the image than they do, which normally the viewer infers as unstable. The background of this image, is of a very ornate and sturdy building. Built from stone, the strength of the pillars among other properties are symbols that can attributed to Mussolini. The uniform worn by Mussolini suggest a well trained and disciplined personality.