25.1.12
Living with Art - Part 2
When children start to draw and paint, they deal with images they know best: mother and father, sisters and brothers, the teacher, the house, the dog. Many artists never lose their preoccupation with everyday things, and so we have a rich heritage of art depicting those concerns that are closest to the artist’s personal world.
Art that depicts the little moments of everyday life and its surroundings is known as genre. Often, its purpose is a simple one-to record, to please the eye, to make us smile. Images like this occur throughout the history of art, in all cultures and parts of the world. A charming example from China is Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk, part of a hand scroll made in the 12th century but copied from an 8th century painting. No grand political or social issues are at stake here. Rather, the artist has captured a delightful scene of daily activity: three women and a girl stretch and comb the length of silk, while a little girl peeks underneath as though to see what is going on. The fresh pastel colors of kimonos, the women’s quiet poses, the atmosphere of pleasant shared work-these elements give us a gentle masterpiece of genre.
The French artists were interested in portraying life’s little moments, the fleeting experiences that last for an instant and then gone, it was a particular favorite with the Impressionist painters of the late 19th century, whose goal was to record that which is transitory-an impression.
In Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Le Moulin de La Galette; young couples meet at the outdoor café, they dance, they fall in love. The viewer has a quick impression of the most delightful of all ways to spend a summer day. We can almost hear the bright music (a waltz tune unquestionably), feel the warm breezes, sense an atmosphere of innocent flirtation and fun. The painting shows that the French artists were interested in portraying life’s little moments, the fleeting experiences that last for an instant and then gone, it was a particular favorite with the Impressionist painters of the late 19th century, whose goal was to record that which is transitory-an impression.
Everyday life in the late 20th century may take a different kind of quality, as evidenced by the sculptures of George Segal. In 1982 Segal set up three of his life-size figures in New York City’s Port Authority bus terminal, ostensibly waiting in line to buy a ticket. The figures are naturalistic, having been cast from living models, they are made of unpainted white plaster. And they wait. Patiently, eternally, they wait in line, much as the modern-day individual has to wait for the bureaucratic realities of life to sort themselves out. Commuters moving through the bus terminal were much taken by Segal’s waiting people. Some good-humored passersby fell casually in line behind them, as though prepared to stand immobile as long as they did, amused by this image of themselves.
To be continued
From the book “Living with Art”
By Rita Gilbert
(Living with Art is a market leading art appreciation text for college students and other interested readers).
