Street Scene Essay Example for Free

Street Scene EssayIn the word-painting Street Scene, Pink Sky, Paris, at that place are several elements that make the painting a unique piece of subterfuge reflecting the contemporary olfactory perception of the expressionistic and post impressionistic movements of the early twentieth vitamin C. James Wilson Morrice expresses these movements completely in this painting, which is a masterwork of form, tinge and balance. In this painting, the first thing the eye goes to s the upper right hand p device of the painting. here there is a series of four buildings that are well illuminated and in shades of chicken and gold. The roofs are in shades of charcoal and burnt umber. ane notices that the buildings grow progressively sm aller as thy move down the street. Next, you notice the people. in that respect appear to be three women and a man. The man appears all in black, black overcoat and black hat. Next to him, facing him is a woman in a red dress and hat in brown and umb er. She is wearing gloves. unmatchables look then drift to the front left of the painting where the other deuce women are walking by the cafe. One appears to have brown hair and be wearing a white dress with a twin(a) white hat. The hat has a pink flower on it. The woman next to her, to her left, is wearing a dress of yellowish-brown, and a black hat.She overly has brown hair. To the extreme left, there is another building that appears to be a series of shops. This building has a dilapidated feel to it and is not as brightly lit as the buildings across the street. It presents a very stark contrast. The eyes then drift to the sky. It is a tumult of steely blues and pinky mauves. It looks like an evening storm sky, but it is just the settling dusk. One croupe feel the hurry of the people to get home after a day of neighborly gatherings or work. Finally, one gets to the bottom of the painting. Here one sees the edge of tables and chairs as one sits and contemplates as the adu lt male goes by.It is at if the informant is at a cross street. Looking down one street as they watch people pass by on another. That brings the viewer to another element of the painting main(prenominal)ly, the street. It is idle save for the people. There is not a carriage, horse, car, or anything on the street. Everyone is on foot. Though they are walking, there is no spirit of urgency in their movements. It is as if everyone is out for a Sunday stroll and the viewer is there watching as they drink their coffee and eat their croissant. This feels like a fairly typic street prognosis.The final element of the painting is just to the left of center. It is a cluster of trees and shrubbery. It ties the light and baleful elements of the painting together, as the trees have dark greens and blacks combine with light greens and yellow-greens to make a unifying element that brings all the elements together. The elements are arranged as if one is looking on a street and down a street at the same time. It is almost like a T intersection. The paining has a balance to it that takes the shape of a triangle. The lighter shaded elements are on the right side, and the darker shaded elements are on the left side.The browns, creams, umbers, and ocher colors confine themselves to the left. The golds reds, and blacks confine themselves to the right. The trees tie the light and dark elements together and give way them into a coherent genius and picture of everyday life on a Paris street. The trees also provide a much take balance. If it were not for the trees, there would be a harshness to the painting that would make it unbalanced and off-center. Morrice picks mostly sluggish shades for his painting, even the ocres and golds have a slightly muted quality about them. The colors commingle one into another, giving the painting a much needed fluidity.Morrice also arranges his larger elements to the back of the painting, forcing your eyes into the aforementioned triangle of the sky and the people. These are his main elements, and the ones your eyes go to after the brightness of the building. He wants the viewer to see the sky and the people and see some(prenominal) as time stopped, a moment that is captured forever. As mentioned before, the people are unhurried, and the sky is unhurried, which are the two elements that are the most important in this picture. Stylistically, the painting is a wonderful example of twentieth century post-impressionism.While it lacks the pestilentty of Monet, it generates the same feelings that the impressionists dothat is the sense that you are there, leaving you to interpret the details. That is the very character of impressionism. The viewer is given an idea, and they have to fill in the details. Post-impressionism at its soul is a revamping of the style without the subtle colors. Where Monet used pales and shades to make his point, Morrice uses muted bolds to bring the viewer to the scene. There is more a sense of ma king the impression more realistic instead of making it stylistic.This generates the move to the more bold moves of Picasso and his followers. Morrices work is in the vein of Cezanne. The use of color and element is similar in form and function, and the overall sense of the move to realism is there. Cezanne and Morrice both fit into the same mold, simply because they are both scene painters that use people as a focal point. The main difference is that Cezanne tends to use darker colors while Morrice uses brighter tones. They both tend to mute their tones, though Cezanne tends to do it more effectively than Morrice.Morrice borrows heavily from Cezanne. He uses blocks of color and focuses on sky, and the traditional views of the plane of the painting engender obsolete. Additionally, the conventions between foreground and background begin to become ambiguous. There is also a spatial ambiguity to the painting, as the sky becomes a patchwork of color, stream seamlessly one into anoth er. Even in the two women walking down the street seem to blend into separately other, the only differences seem to be in the distinction of their faces. The woman in brown seems to almost blend into the shops in the background.The woman in white appears to blend seamlessly into the scene. Faces are the only distinctions between people and background. There is only a bit of street and the black hat and face that even distinguishes her as an individual. The blocks of yellow are the only things that distinguish that there are four buildings. This is very much in the style of Cezanne. Even the trees and shrubbery seem to be in a block of color. Though the greens, blacks, and yellow-greens seem to blend, the eye can easily pick out the distinct shades and can see the summer look of the trees against the swarthy sky.Looking at the style of both Morrice and Cezanne, one sees incredible talent and gracious style. The overall impressionistic feel that we get from both painters is evident. As both move towards the twentieth century, there is a substitution from the previous impressionistic movement to the post impressionistic movement. The movement also shifts to the use of color in blocks to give movement and a sense of fluidity to the painting. Additionally, the focus on sky and people shows a movement away from the still lives and landscapes of the past to a movement of expressing people as the object and main idea of the painting.Thought the movement was not a long-lasting one, it left an impression on the art world that has affected painters and artists for years. The use of texture and color and form and function blend together flawlessly to create a new and exciting use of elements that added to the art world and still give us much to talk about today. The fact that we are able to draw comparisons to the present and the past shows us the relevance of the new art forms and how they still relate to todays art world.We as art historians cannot forget the contrib utions of the past as they will and do affect our futures. References Adams, L (1997). A history of Hesperian art. Madison, WI Brown and Benchmark. Art Gallery of Ontario, (2009). James Wilson Morrice, Street Scene, Pink Sky, Paris. Retrieved March 15, 2009, from Art Gallery of Ontario weave site http//www. ago. net/ago103760 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, (2009). Art History. Retrieved March 15, 2009, from Art History tissue site http//www. unc. edu/depts/wcwebs/handouts/arthistory. html