The Great Wave - Visual and Emotional Qualities of Art

For many artists, their primary interests are in exploring both the visual and emotional qualities of art. Examine this statement with reference to a minimum of 2 artists and two examples of their work in detail. Refer to the formal elements, meaning and relevance of the artwork.

Visual and emotional qualities of art are the predominant concern for many artists. Thus, artists can be examined through the subjective and structural frames, deconstructing their artworks to enhance meaning and understanding. Through comparing and differentiating artists and their associated artworks, the distinct individual qualities can be more closely analysed. The Conceptual Framework deals with the wholistic artwork through the audience, artwork, world and artist. The artists to be discussed are Katsushika Hokusai and Claude Monet.

Psychological experience is examined through the subjective frame which encompasses immediate reactions, meaning and moods of artworks. Virtual properties are dealt with in the structural frame, including artists ideas and mediums as well as elements and principles of design.

French artist, Claude Monet (1840-1926) was avant-garde in the evolution of the Impressionist style. Disregarding the Realism movement, Impressionists were unconcerned with inspiring political and social debate, instead centralizing the aesthetic qualities of their works. Artists influential to the processes of Monet and the artistic movement include Vincent Van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Eugene Boudin.

Monet’s “The Japanese Footbridge” (1899) and “Waterlilies” (1916-1919), can be analysed through the structural and subjective frames to examine artists’ intentions, practices and objectives. Fundamental in Monet’s work was the utilization of the en-plein-air technique, learned from Boudin as well as oil on canvas medium. In combination, these elements allowed Monet to represent nature in its most pure state whilst exploring his personal attachment the garden at his residence in Giverny. Furthermore, painting outdoors provided natural light, accommodating for Monet’s focus on the interplay of light and dark to create depth and shadow. Featured in “The Japanese Footbridge” is a footbridge arching across a pond of waterlilies in the foreground with a background consisting of varying oriental trees and lush foliage. Monet’s “Waterlilies” presents a cluster of waterlilies in the fore and backgrounds, with fronds of weeping willow cascading downwards from the top corners. Prominent elements of design in these artworks include colour, through tranquil blue and green strokes, contrasted by pale pinks and yellows of the waterlilies as well as size, through the creation of dimension in the back and foregrounds increasing authenticity. Monet uses the principle of contrast through differing brush strokes; vertically to define greenery and reflections and broad horizontal strokes of fluid waterlilies. Additionally, balance is demonstrated through the interplay of natural and man-made features in conjunction with the composition.

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