YEAR 12 ART HOMEWORK

Homework tasks

1. Complete the formal comparison task between Schiele and Barton. You began this in class. I will collect this at the beginning of Term 2.
2. I will post an example on the middle weekend of the holidays if you would like to check you're on the right track. (updated 7th April SEE FURTHER BELOW ON THIS POST FOR MY EXAMPLE)
3. Download and read through some of the info in the Egon Schiele book online. Familarise yourself with more of his artworks. Egon Schiele book online download
4. View the 30 min artscape video on Del Kathryn Barton. Make notes of the commentaries for future reference. 

EXAMPLE OF COMPARING THREE GIRLS AND PLEASE...DON'T...STOP USING THE FORMAL FRAMEWORK

Composition – Negative Space

‘Please...Don’t....Stop’ by Barton shares a similar composition to Schiele’s ‘Three Girls’ in the way that they are both cropped to create an enclosed, almost claustrophobic  sense of negative space. This framing device which cuts off the heads and lower legs of the girls’ bodies propel a confronting gaze on their sexuality as well as their intimate unity.  The negative spaces that Barton has placed between the bodies make them appear more fragile and isolated as opposed to Schiele’s reclining models which merge as one intimate bundle of flesh and fabric.

Line

Barton harnesses a similar graphic, ornamental, angular line to Schiele which he learned from involvement with the Viennese Secession style. However, while her sensitive spidery line scrawls over the girls contours in jagged shimmers of detail, Schiele’s line is much more loose and free-flowing. As a result Barton’s figures are infused with a rigid, manicured form and discomforting posture whereas Schiele’s girls possess a relaxed, seductive grace.

Colour and texture

The use of complementary colour in the ‘Three Girls’ clothing exudes a flamboyant, aggressive energy. The way they have been painted with rough swirling brushstrokes create dynamic movement and implied texture to further enhance this expressive quality of aliveness, rawness. The skin is blemished with vigorous, imperfect flourishes of warm reds and sickly ochres, a characteristic that  upon first glance seems to separate the two artists, as Barton’s skin is porcelain white which is contrasted against elaborately decorated patterns. Although, on closer inspection Barton has tarnished her girls with subtly flushed checks that at once appear like smeared make-up and subtle bruises of the flesh. In contrast to the vibrant complementary clashes of colour in the ‘Three Girls’, the dominant colour in Barton’s painting is a suffocating monochromatic pink which creates a mood of delicacy and youthful femininity.

Style

Both artists utilise an expressive angular linear style of depicting the human form to emphasise the bony structure beneath the flesh. Schiele’s girls’ knees and elbows are nobly and awkward as are the protruding rib cages and elongated limbs of Barton’s adolescents.

Other formal qualities of note that could be discussed

·         Emphasis – Barton emphasises the eyes and enlarges the heads – why? Schiele elongates the limbs....

·         Techniques – Barton’s use of wet media is significant– (watercolour, ink, gouache) Gives the appearance of the bodies a wet, glistening quality. Translucent, ghostly, full of feeling – wetness associated with pain or emotion. Schiele’s technique is rougher, brushstrokes are direct and expressive, mottled....