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The Handsome Portrait
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Message
Posted
From Millais to Wang Neng Jun (whose work I've not seen before) I just have a bit of trouble.... Millais could be very sentimental; which was what his market required - Wang (from these two images) seems to offer a stylized image of sorrowfully distracted young women; maybe I'm making my usual mistake of seeking meaning in paintings, and maybe a meaning is implied here with which I'm not in instinctive sympathy. As a painter, I admire the skill, use of colour, to some extent the composition - as a viewer, I'm left with a feeling of emptiness, and of flatness - you might get a hint of what I mean (should you be in any way interested, of course!) by comparing Frederic Leighton's Flaming June to these last four images: Leighton's use of colour, composition, technical ability, draughtsmanship, seem in every way superior.
I know it's not a competition: but once you've seen a classic painting in which glazing, form, depth of colour, combine to create an arresting image - well; could be wrong of course, often am, but it's hard to be enthused by work which to me looks a bit deliberately commercial in intent.
I couldn't really argue with you Robert!
Posted
Yes, you are probably right because it’s your view, Robert, of which you are entitled. Most art is deliberate and intentional, same thing. Fashion mutates. Each piece is subjective. Bob Dylan or Dylan Thomas probably do not sit right with you either. The painters of the art anbove are not young girls or boys looking for nods from their friends. They wanted success., of which most of us will not attain.. we all seem to know a lot about life but sidestep the inevitable. IDeath is more complete, so why not be sorrowful. The long goodnight is coming. to us all. Sometimes I think, thank God for that, Then, of course, opinions matter, as opinions can lead the way if everyone agrees. ,.
Edited
by Martin Shaw
Posted
The Victorian era was crammed with really skilful artists and their subject matter often sentimental. Not so the Millais pics I posted above, just people of his time. Whereas Leighton was more firmly entrenched in the old school way of history, biblical and subjects from the classics. Sentimental or historic art matters little if you like the painting.
For what it’s worth, I think the modern paintings by Wang Nen Jun above are just as admirable as the older artists…as are the many other artists featured in this thread.
None of which changes what people think. It’s always ‘in the eye of the beholder’. It always is.
Posted
Very good. The hours that are spent is an art in itself. I know that time it takes to buy the canvas, amass the structure in the mind and put it into something that almost lives and breaths is astonishing. Robert was right to bring it up, though he knows perhaps that my work gravitates towards the dark. Most of my published writing is about death, if not all. Recently, I have had someone interested in marketing my stuff. Their advice is to be myself, but I do know that death has a market, so it is kinda fashionable. Been there and got the T-shirt anyway. Our lives structure how we think and to put that into work, as I am able is a blessing. I set about the rest of my creative life tongue in cheek with a sentimental twist.
Edited
by Martin Shaw
