Last night our class involved more abstraction from an existing painting. Again we got to choose a painting we liked, in my case more Matisse - his colours are sublime. Jan then gave us a small 1.5" by 1.5" window that we could place anywhere on the painting that we found pleasing. The exercise was to paint what was in the window, blowing it up, matching colours and attempting to re-create the effects of oil paint with the gouache.
It is not easy to re-create the apparent slap-dashery with which Henri applied paint. When you start to look at these deceptively simple paintings, at the messy brush strokes, the white left unpainted, the filling-in of areas rather than the layering of colours, you begin to wonder what makes a great painitng. Are they "great" because they are by Matisse? Have we just been educated to appreciation? Are they simplistic and sophisticated? Is it the colour that makes us resonate?
We know the man could paint a classically representational painting so this loose technique was by choice. It makes us wonder about the feelings we have for art, and I have to believe that the enduring Matisse was well aware of what he did. The old sniff of disparagement - "looks like a kid painted it" - may actually have pleased Matisse who wanted to create art that delighted and decorated.
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Dear Author bistrolover.blogspot.com !
Yes, really. So happens. Let's discuss this question.
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