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By gefercan
By gefercan
Beyond tenderness, on another side, there is the academic, perfect, systematic streak of the style, the painting that was born to be considered technically perfect, almost without trace of the human who made it. It may be that the best description for the softened, delicate, and terse works of William Bouguereau (France, 1825-1905), who was renowned for his technique in painting and drawing and one of the most accomplished artists associated with academic painting, something that at the height of the 20th century was not a compliment. Bouguereau's works still are exhibited at the first rooms of the Musee D'Orsay, a kind of introduction to the world before the impressionists, those revered prophets of the avant-garde. Bouguereau stands there as the symbol of the old world, a kind of Ancient Regime. This is curious, giving how different is his work from the traditional painting of, say, Fragonard, Tiepolo or other painters. Because, all in all, Bouguereau somehow denies the existence of a "maniera", of a style, of a personal view, as the perfection of the image is the ultimate technical goal. Yes, there are certain types of beauty and composition to look after, but they are far from the personal render of the violent brushstroke. This could be seen as a bureaucratic development of inertia of a system, or also a denial of the artist as a narrator. It has been seen as both probably during many years.
However, as time goes by, there has been a reappreciation of his work, especially in the technical acumen of his practice, and probably, as a consequence, somehow also in his themes and subjects. The academic system was so neat that somehow artists at the beginning of the 20th century, who at some point learn it, complained of its "robotic" result and of not leaving room for expression. Nevertheless, as with other traditions, is an accomplished corpus of knowledge that deserves a deeper look from the uninitiated.
When I started to copy his paintings it surprised me the huge amount of middle tones it has, a lot of grey areas with a little amount of certain colour: red, orange, green, according to the object they were depicting but always as a secondary, soft note in the overall tone. There is barely any strong, pure note of colour, but most of the brushstrokes are used to place these softened areas that, for sure, help the author to describe the luminous atmosphere of the image, with to the viewer, however, ends showing a green robe, a pink skin, a green forest, a dark hair.
Copying was crucial to the learning process in the painter's workshop. Repeating each movement, each shape, each colour, each composition. It could be done blindly and mechanically, but also consciously and reflexively. First, you train your hand and your reflexes, your "muscle/eye " memory. But also, you see in every brushstroke, in every line of the drawing, as part of a dialogue with the past. An interview. Why put that colour in that place? Why make the eyes like that? and then, as the painting progresses, find the answers. The process of learning through copies makes you observe the detail and the peculiarities of each part of the painting, especially the ones you probably didn't think to do in that way. In this dialogue, like in an interview, most of the excitement comes from the interviewee, the master you are copying.
Contract Address0x2953...4963
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MetadataCentralized
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Copy of Bouguereau (detail in red)
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Copy of Bouguereau (detail in red)
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By gefercan
By gefercan
Beyond tenderness, on another side, there is the academic, perfect, systematic streak of the style, the painting that was born to be considered technically perfect, almost without trace of the human who made it. It may be that the best description for the softened, delicate, and terse works of William Bouguereau (France, 1825-1905), who was renowned for his technique in painting and drawing and one of the most accomplished artists associated with academic painting, something that at the height of the 20th century was not a compliment. Bouguereau's works still are exhibited at the first rooms of the Musee D'Orsay, a kind of introduction to the world before the impressionists, those revered prophets of the avant-garde. Bouguereau stands there as the symbol of the old world, a kind of Ancient Regime. This is curious, giving how different is his work from the traditional painting of, say, Fragonard, Tiepolo or other painters. Because, all in all, Bouguereau somehow denies the existence of a "maniera", of a style, of a personal view, as the perfection of the image is the ultimate technical goal. Yes, there are certain types of beauty and composition to look after, but they are far from the personal render of the violent brushstroke. This could be seen as a bureaucratic development of inertia of a system, or also a denial of the artist as a narrator. It has been seen as both probably during many years.
However, as time goes by, there has been a reappreciation of his work, especially in the technical acumen of his practice, and probably, as a consequence, somehow also in his themes and subjects. The academic system was so neat that somehow artists at the beginning of the 20th century, who at some point learn it, complained of its "robotic" result and of not leaving room for expression. Nevertheless, as with other traditions, is an accomplished corpus of knowledge that deserves a deeper look from the uninitiated.
When I started to copy his paintings it surprised me the huge amount of middle tones it has, a lot of grey areas with a little amount of certain colour: red, orange, green, according to the object they were depicting but always as a secondary, soft note in the overall tone. There is barely any strong, pure note of colour, but most of the brushstrokes are used to place these softened areas that, for sure, help the author to describe the luminous atmosphere of the image, with to the viewer, however, ends showing a green robe, a pink skin, a green forest, a dark hair.
Copying was crucial to the learning process in the painter's workshop. Repeating each movement, each shape, each colour, each composition. It could be done blindly and mechanically, but also consciously and reflexively. First, you train your hand and your reflexes, your "muscle/eye " memory. But also, you see in every brushstroke, in every line of the drawing, as part of a dialogue with the past. An interview. Why put that colour in that place? Why make the eyes like that? and then, as the painting progresses, find the answers. The process of learning through copies makes you observe the detail and the peculiarities of each part of the painting, especially the ones you probably didn't think to do in that way. In this dialogue, like in an interview, most of the excitement comes from the interviewee, the master you are copying.
Contract Address0x2953...4963
Token ID
Token StandardERC-1155
ChainPolygon
MetadataCentralized
Creator Earnings
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