Preview

Winslow Homer Dressing For The Carnival Essay

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
758 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Winslow Homer Dressing For The Carnival Essay
Art 4140
February 19 2013

Painting the Canvas of the 19th-Century African American Winslow Homer was considered one of the foremost painters in 19th-century American painting. Exploring Homer’s art gives birth to numerous unique qualities hidden within his work and life. Dressing for the Carnival is a fine example of his career as painter. This work was unique in content regarding to black culture, painting for Homer himself, impressing his personal values to the viewer. He completely avoided the stereotypes to any other African Americans images at the time and simply focused on the subject matter, figures in a background scene or landscape with a closer observation of specific images, narrative, sources, and process. In the 19th-century America, there innumerable images of African Americans had been produced during the period of Reconstruction after the Civil War, but Homer's Dressing for the Carnival is unlike all of them: a deeply nuanced tragic scene of preparation for festivity. Physical elements such as composition, position of figures in space, viewpoint, color and content all contribute to the separation of similar subject matter.
…show more content…
Less weight is placed on use of foreground, in turn creating less depth. The figures in the painting hold much more motionless energy, their gestures are held firmly without a potential for further movement, like a snapshot. This is easily observed because of the placement of the figures all standing in a line, all the same distance from the viewer. The figure is the focus of the viewer, with the background less important. The figures’ feet almost meet the bottom of the canvas, made a horizontal linear viewpoint overall. This focus creates a flow and path of the viewer’s eye from right to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Art 101 Formal Analysis

    • 519 Words
    • 3 Pages

    For example, I am observing the above listed painting through a formal analysis of it, and interpretations of my understandings and concluded with the observations. The artist has portrayed an image of girls in the midst. Second, an artists working on a painting that reflects the painting background, while the image on the mirror on the very back wall depicts what appears to be the King and Queen. Just as the mirror used to attract the viewer’s visibility and many illusionistic effects is the formal qualities used by Diego Velasquez; it also portrays reflections of images outside the view. The artist used three primary focal-points including reflected mirrored images, half-length, and self-portrait. However, the depth and dimensions of the painting has been block; this has been achieved through the use of tones, color, layers and shapes to overlap the…

    • 519 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Del Kathryn Barton

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Using herself and her children (Son, Kell and Daughter, Arella) as the focal point of the painting, it captures a maternal, motherhood like feeling by adding abstract line contours and detail to the painting setting off a free motion throughout the composition. The texture and tone used for the figures are soft, light and pale. Detailed patterns and abstract line work are used in the foreground to emphasize the figures.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dressing up for the Carnival is a short story by Carol Shields. The message communicated by the author was that in everyday life, people tend to conceal their genuine personality by exhibiting an illusion of the persona that they wish to be viewed as by their surrounding society. In this particular case the characters use physical props as their “costume”. Some characters use these props as a costume because they provide a sense of comfort. A character from this story would be X. X is an anonymous middle aged citizen. His prop is his wife’s lace-trimmed nightgown. He is careful to only wear this when no one is home, and usually after the sun goes down so that nobody would be able to see him. The nightgown provides him with comfort because he…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The short story written by Dorothy Parker, “An Arrangement in Black and White”, contains a lot of satirical writing. Most satirical writing is about politics and propaganda. In this story, we get to experience, in a way, that kind of satirical writing. Dorothy Parker creates a character who is too afraid to admit that she is racist. In an attempt to convince herself, the remarks she makes about the black musician at the party, seem funny at first and then you think of the real meaning. You then come to realize just how harsh this lady is. Also, how naive she is about her own beliefs. She is willing to admit that her husband, Mr. Burton is racist, however not herself.…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    La Meninas by Diego Velazquez uses perspective through the placement of his images in his form of art work. Foreshortening is a technique used in perspective to create the illusion of an object receding strongly into the distance or background. The painting shows a large room and several figures scattered throughout the painting. The illusion is that the figures are looking at the admirer of the painting and are the results of foreshortening. The illusion or foreshortening in accomplished in the figures in the art work. In La Meninas, the figures look a lot closer than what they are. They also block out the background of the art work. It captivates you into this illusion that…

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Wolseley

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In this painting, the movement has a significant impact on how the viewer will see it. John has tended to control the direction of how he wanted the viewer to look at…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The power of lighting has been used for many years by various artist. The girl’s eyes are illuminated in the painting which draws attention to them. Also, the nontraditional lighting may catch people off guard and make the painting stand out from the crowd. The rest of the painting is dark. This adds to the mysteriousness and eeriness of the painting. It also contrasts amazingly with the girl which again draws more attention to her. The only sources of light are held in the girl’s hands which, once again, draws more attention to her. The use of lighting draws attention to the girl as she hold the source of light and is the only thing illuminated by it. To be more precise, her eyes are the most highlighted by the light which reveals her fearless glare. The dark background adds to the eeriness, mysteriousness, and the contrast of the painting which might make the viewer feel a bit threatened while at the same time interested and curious - urging them to buy the…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    African-American Church

    • 2337 Words
    • 10 Pages

    There is great difficulty in defining the field of Cultural Studies, as it takes an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach to studying the art, beliefs, politics, and institutions of ethnic cultures and pop culture. For the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at Birmingham, one of the central goals of Cultural Studies was “to enable people to understand what (was) going on, and especially to provide ways of thinking, strategies for survival, and resources for resistance (Grossberg 2). Cultural Studies draws from whatever fields are necessary to produce the knowledge required for a particular project (Grossberg 2). It is a field that has no one unique narrative. Taking that into account, for the purposes of this essay I will examine one of many narratives Cultural Studies derives from – that of the African-American tradition. Even in focusing on it’s derivation from the African-American tradition, this will be but one path, not intended to serve as the sole trajectory within the African-American tradition of Cultural Studies.…

    • 2337 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    This technique is not quite as naturalistic and realistic as European art of this time, but it is drastically more naturalistic than the traditional indigenous art. Figures depicted in native indian art were solid, bright colors with harsh black outlines, creating an almost cartoonish effect. Additionally, indigenous artists had different conceptions and depictions of the human profile; often times the directions that different body parts were facing would form a composite profile that was not physically accurate. This depiction of profiles and figures is more anatomically correct than most original indigenous works. The dark coloring of the painting reveals indigenous roots, and allows for lighter parts of the piece to become the focal point. In this work, the light shines primarily on the foreground of the painting and consequently the eye of the viewer is drawn to the figure in the…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots” - Marcus Garvey. The Harlem Renaissance was a period of time in which racial pride and culture were thrust away in favor of a more traditional style of art. However, during this time, racial pride was best expressed through folk art via the means of relatable structure, understandable word choice and everyday subject matter. Common poets of the time chose not to imitate the formal and restrictive style of the European influenced “high art” and instead believed in a more down-to-earth, conversational style of writing. In these choices, poets began to shape a new form of art called “folk art” that gave readers content inspired by daily life and no longer barred by the restraint of European art.…

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A significant characteristic of Marshall’s paintings is unequivocally black skin tone of his figures. It is a development the artist says that came from an investigation into the invisibility of blacks in America and the unreasonably negative inferences associated with darkness. Marshall believes that you still have to catch people’s attention whenever you make something. The absolute beauty of his work speaks to an art that is simultaneously formally demanding and socially engaged. (Kerry James Marshall, PBS) Kerry James Marshall also shows the daily plight of socially planned public planning and critique this failed social engineering and how but still showing the daily pleasures and possibilities of the people who live there. (Smith, E., Marshall, K., 12) I chose him because I was intrigued by his accomplishments. There’s still minorities who are growing up and believe that they can’t achieve their goals because they believe it’s not possible or they gave up. Society needs to acknowledge minorities in order to restore hope in minorities. I believe that Kerry James Marshall has inspired minorities to reach for their…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Paintings of a realism nature are a source that illustrates the Gilded Age activities and how people viewed political, economic and social elements within their society. Winslow Homer (1836 –1910) a naturalist painter through his scenes of outdoor life explored the glitter of the Gilded Age with under currents of the life of African Americans. Various artists of the Gilded age explored themes related to a society in transition brought about by industrialization and rapid economic growth. Some artists celebrated the latest advances in science and technology with in their art while others such as political cartoonists outlined social divisions.…

    • 343 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Abduction of the Sabine Women, vertical lines are most projected. The columns and straight edge of the buildings give the painting a sense of order and organization although there chaos is supposed to be proposed. The vertical and straight lines contribute to the painting being realistic rather than simple and abstract. Many of the figures are looking and pointing upward also creating diagonal lines. Poussin used outline as a method to define his figures. There is implied line in the portrait as well. A man with a red tarp stands to the far left above everyone else attempting to call order, creating a point. One-third of the figures are facing his direction. Where the building to the far right is positioned it creates another point. Another third of the figures face that direction. The location of the babies on the ground, front and centered creates the last point constructing an implied triangle. This gives the painting a closed composition creating a focal point. The Hunting Scene also uses a series of vertical and straight lines. The trees tower straight up in the sky. The figures stand upright and tall. With a few characters facing the direction of two openings, focal area is…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Vasthu Sastra

    • 2073 Words
    • 9 Pages

    In the domain of the creative work of any art form or object of utility, we know that "movement" and "measure" always go hand in hand. These two elements of form figuration are indispensable in the sense that they ensure a definite shape of grace and beauty to the thought-form or experience.…

    • 2073 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cited: Hine, Darlene C., Hine, William C., Harrold, Stanley: The African-American Odyssey – Volume Two: Since 1865. Second Edition. Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. 2003.…

    • 1347 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays