Art

Recently I visited the Burrell collection to have a look at the artwork kept there. I was there years ago when I was on holiday in Glasgow to see all the exhibits but couldn’t really appreciate it at that time because I was quite young, so I was glad to go back and loved it there. Sir William Burrell and his wife, Constance, Lady Burrell gifted his collection of over 9,000 works of art to Glasgow in 1944. The city acquired one of the greatest collections created by one person. William Burrell had been an art collector since his teens, and the collection is made up of a vast array of works of all periods and from all over the world. I chose the painting “The Empress Eugénie on the Beach at Trouville” by Eugène Boudin.

The painting was done in 1863 and for that time shows a new uncomplicated vision which was the basis of impressionist thinking. There are no grand gestures, complicated compositions, or hidden messages- it is a straight to the point recording of what was being seen which I like. From looking at it, you couldn’t tell that the empress is there as you can make out there are ladies on the beach, but it is quite vague and you wouldn’t be able to pick out which one she was.
It is set on a beautiful summer day with a bright blue sky and calm sea on the beach. The real subject isn’t the people, but the morning light and sea breeze which draw the eyes to it. There is a building that could be a summer house or hotel in the near background, and objects in the painting include two on-lookers sitting on a bench under a lamp-post, a boat in the distance, two dogs, and the group of regal people. It is a relatively small painting at 34.2X57.8cm but it looked like just the right size for it as in a bigger version, the people would maybe have become lost.

The colours in the painting are very well put together to create a happy, joyous, relaxed mood. The sea looks so tranquil because of the perfect turquoise used, and the main landscape of the sand and sky show the foundation stones of impressionism with a lightening of the palette. This makes the day look nice and bright and shows how sunny the weather is. There are nice contrasts too with the on-lookers painted with dark colours which make them look poorer than the group of people who are wearing bright summer colours, so straight you know who is the most well off.

There is quite interesting use of line as they are all very soft, and the only obvious straight ones are on the building and the lamp-post which have to be straight. The rest of the painting has quite soft brush strokes that almost look smudged and create a hazy look. It may not be on purpose, but the haze adds to the effect of it being a warm day.

The main shapes that stand out are the ladies’ skirts and umbrellas. Even though there is no great detail and you can’t make out their faces, or even their hair, the viewer’s eye is drawn to them when looking at the objects because they stand out.

"A painter paints the appearance of things, not their objective correctness, in fact he creates new appearances of things." -Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

The piece is still very easy to look at though and not hard on the eye as there aren’t a lot of intricate things to be taken into account, so it’s easy to enjoy it rather than pour over every detail.

To conclude, I really like the painting as I can connect with the artist and see why he was in such a good mood when working on it. Where the piece was amongst the other French paintings in a light, airy part of the gallery which suited its mood, it stood out to me because it reminded me of what it feels like to be at the beach on a beautiful summer day.

Arts within our lives

From doing the elective and going to experience music, drama, and art I feel like I have found out the importance of arts everybody’s life. Before the experiences I was aware that the arts were a large part of our culture, but I didn’t really realise how much they fill our lives;

“The arts enrich our lives, make them more worth living. A significant number of the people we learnt about in school or through the media, as significant contributors to our national and global cultures, are artists-writers, painters, sculptures, musicians, composers, and dancers throughout the ages…in testament to their continued impact and importance, the modern societies have built museums and developed technologies so generations of humanity will forever be able to enjoy, experience, and learn from their work."
http://docushare.hsd.k12.or.us

I have realised that from an early age people are using arts to learn all the time, not necessarily learning about the arts; although it is also important sometimes. People are learning about arts and artists on a daily basis, but they are sometimes not aware of it. For example, there are always people who say they hate anything to do with the theatre including acting and drama, but every day they watch actors and performers on TV in soaps and adverts. Music and art are present all the time as well to make programmes and adverts more appealing and if there were none of the arts our lives would be very boring! They are not just about showing our culture, they are for our enjoyment and pleasure also.

The Arts are a way for people expressing themselves and showing others how they feel. If it is a tune that has been written, a play, or painting you can look at it and understand what the creator or performer was thinking which helps you to think about the bigger picture around you. Different pieces can make you feel different feelings and emotions, for example a painting of an orphan may make the observer feel sad or puzzled, whereas a song written by a Scottish composer may make you feel patriotic and proud.

However people feel about the arts they cannot deny that they make an impact on the world. For example, music is everywhere. It is on the radio, TV, internet, adverts, iPods….so it’s always around you. It can also bring people together from all over the world with thousands if not millions of people each year coming together for concerts and festivals. An example was Celtic Connections this year when Glasgow was invaded by music fans from all over the world for three weeks. I went to the festival club one night where artists and music enthusiasts could play, mingle and share their love for their music and culture, and totally loved it! There was such an exciting atmosphere, and everyone was thoroughly enjoying sharing their passion.

The same goes for artwork and theatre. People come together and share experiences to learn about other people’s thoughts, and just to enjoy themselves. When a piece of artwork is put on show, hundreds and thousands of people could look at it and try to take in how the artist was feeling and what the story is behind it. Similarly, millions of people tune in for soaps on TV and generally gossip about the characters and their lives to their friends. They think they really know the characters and could almost forget that it is acting. Similarly, many people visit theatres each year for pantomimes and shows which become nice family nights out for a special treat.

To conclude, from my experience of the elective, I have found that I have learnt more about arts within society than I did before. They are all around as, and we learn about them more than we realise half the time. I think it’s important for the younger generation to know how important they are for our culture as well as enjoyment, so I think I will try to incorporate that into my teaching in future.