Aesthetic Harmony - Oil LandscapeExhibition Text:
"Higher Education in the Middle Ages" reveals the exclusivity and status of Universities during their initial development in the late 11th century. This piece was created by applying oil onto canvas with inspiration coming from Paul Signac's pointillism technique with compositional choices and Oxford's structural characteristics from their Medieval Gothic Architecture buildings. Text: Higher Education in the Middle Ages
Size: 76.20 x 60.69 cm Medium: Oil on Canvas Completion: October 2023 |
Inspiration
The Papal Palace by Paul Signac
As the third and final artwork being examined in my Comparative Study, The Papal Palace by Paul Signac happens to be transitional point of Impressionism art moving into Neo-Impressionism, which in turn created the pointillism technique of blending color through sight. This is specifically a repetitive element of Signac's work that uses formal patterns of a consistent, bold brushstrokes that only vary in color to allow a full composition to form when the whole is viewed at a distance. Beyond the formal qualities of the work through Signac's ventures of projecting famous ports in his environment, the Papal Palace is an Medieval Gothic building that has it's monolithic sizing and powerful association with the Catholic Church at the time to be very complimentary in the work. The Papal Palace takes up the majority of the composition with the only sense of scale being provided by the Avignon bridge connecting the land. I believe that investigating Medieval Gothic Architecture further with the foundational structure in The Papal Palace painting can be very beneficial to associate my work with the overall theme of this architectural movement. Following a similar color scheme will also be incorporated to distinguish the subject, supporting foreground, and background.
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All Souls College by Oxford
Medieval Gothic Architecture tends to be associated with the beginning of Universities as these institutions were developed in the Middle Ages around the 10th century and would later return as a revived style for churches in the 18th century. I needed to identify a form to use as inspiration and an example that showcase the qualities of a Medieval Gothic building, so after looking through Universities as the central theme I discovered All Souls College at Oxford. The main feature I was interested in and first noticed from the building was the Quadrangle, which is essentially a courtyard that is surrounded by buildings. From this aerial perspective we can see a green space that is created which is completely blocked from view when at a pedestrian perspective. Following the previously discussed composition from The Papal Palace, I believed that this particular structure would be a great way to further connect a separation between the institution and the audience. The particular lighting shown in the nighttime image on the left that has the quadrangle illuminated from below can also be used as a device to communicate the interior green space.
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Planning
For this project I wanted to expand beyond solely identifying to an audience what Medieval Gothic Architecture is since the style is much more recognizable and instead try to create meaningful connections with it's historical context. Being reminiscent of Romanesque Architecture that was heavy and earth bound, Medieval Gothic wants to project a composition that embodies a monolithic size and perfect proportions. The characteristics of a daring, asymmetrical structure with weighty material choice displays an authority of power, which initially had me looking at churches but then led me to the association and start of Universities in the Middle Ages. I found it interesting through diving into research how the idea of higher education that had started in this time was very exclusive and revolved around social standing. Taking an analytical route of each inspiration and identifying their real-world context was the route I imagined would be most applicable as the environment that's present today can spark ideas for brining in a past art style.
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Elevated view of All Souls College along with College Plan Blueprint
To start with All Souls College, the physical characteristics is what resonated with me the most and is what I wanted to focus on. One of the previously mentioned ideas of Medieval Gothic Architecture was quadrangles, a courtyard surrounded by buildings that as google maps showed was quite a common occurrence at Oxford. Originally I thought of identifying the general idea of how the interior space/layout would be formatted from blueprints and then begin developing the exterior for a more original design. However by transitioning into a pedestrian view or in a sense the perspective of someone disconnected from the institution it was clear that the castle-like gate was a powerful feature. My sketching would lead from the gated idea to a full imagining and slight simplification of the All Souls College that could communicate to the viewer an quadrangle being present despite not being visible and the larger distanced buildings in the back added upon the monolithic size.
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Elevated view of Papal Palace along with Rhone River pedestrian view
When it came to composition The Papal Palace was the clear choice, but it was important to note that Signac had created his paining through his ventures along famous ports. Beyond just the gothic palace, there are plenty of other supporting structures found within his painting through clever blending and purposeful perspective choices. One of these was how the Avignon bridge (Pont d'Avignon) that is shown connect one land to another in the painting is actually destroyed in real life. Initially I had thought that the constant floods that caused it collapse and eventually left it at it's current state occurred after Signac had painted the port in 1909, but it was actually abandoned in the mid-17th century. This essentially meant that Signac had purposely framed the image to have the bridge be complete, and I wanted to expose that notion in my composition. The two primary components I would utilize in my final sketch would be having a horizon line that consisted of the lake and bridge, while having a higher elevation where the structure would be placed.
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Developing this final sketch was combining that identified physical characteristics and composition onto a proportional format. On the top left I had a brief idea of what I was thinking of implementing onto the canvas up to this point, and then below I would have a much more refined version that can be used a general guideline that would be expanded about 5 times it's current size. Starting from the top, the All Souls College design was expressed in a more 3D form and since both sides of the actual building were pretty much symmetrical, I had decided to only show the majority of the structure to allow more room for the sky. Speaking of which, light lines were created for the three distinct color palette that would crash in the background. From there I had the exposed abandoned bridge that meet halfway along the river, and using a T-ruler I could make marks for where the reflections of the building would consist. I only had one supporting building to go with the main structure, which was inspired by one of the odd stone towers that was oddly residing in the Oxford Campus.
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Process
Transitioning my initial planning onto canvas was pretty straight-forward as the dimensions were relatively similar. This would allow me to establish two horizon lines: One for the river and another for the main structure. Along the river I would start establishing my "Avignon" inspired bridge that would be unfinished/disconnected and the main structure would have its front section outlined and then add depth for the quadrangle as discussed in the planning. When creating the ground of which the University would be stationed, I had decided to add another Oxford-inspired building in the background as a supporting component to add a bit more to the composition.
From there I could start implementing the pointillist technique, which generally involve having a established color palette with noticeable values of the original color. I would apply about three horizontal brushstrokes or as many as I could across an area until switching to another value, typically starting with light shades and working towards darker ones. This concept is shown on the left as with the base sage green tone that completed one third of the sky. I would be using the same flat brush through this entire process for consistency purposes, but after I had finished the green section I began transitioning into a smaller brush that matched more with The Papal Palace and allowed for color variations to be present.
Each of the three sections of sky had it's own distinct coloring with a few overlapping blues occurring, as I wanted to be careful of the oil paint "mudding" up if the colors clashed too much. Once the backdrop was complete, I began using the same color palette I kept for the blue sky onto the supporting building to allow it to blend into the background and not be a focal point for the viewer. I would then start painting the green tones that would accompany the bridge and cleanly transition into the bush section along the peer. I stayed mindful for the coloring in this particular section and kept to mainly a blue-green base tone.
The main structure and focal point of the artwork was up next, and it had it's own distinct red-orange coloring that contrasted the rest of the painting. The buildings that are present switched from horizontal to vertical brushstrokes, and with the university we can see how the values aren't spread along the building but instead transition upwards from light to dark. When displaying depth for the quadrangle section, I had used a even darker tone of blue that made the walled gate entranced and the tall dominating buildings along the back the primary focus of the structure.
After the windows had been filled and the main structure was completed, I would lastly have to address the lake section of the painting. Longer horizontal brushstrokes that were messier than the background were utilized, with most notably the supporting buildings being reflected along the water. Now originally this effect would have extended and included the University being reflected in the water, however beyond the red-orange tones I wanted to make this distinction from the less of the composition more noteworthy. As mentioned before if a large variety of oil paints are mixed together, it causes a muddy effect to occur. I thought that "what if the structure lacked a mirrored image? Furthermore, what if the reflection broke/contrasted the pointillist styling". This change in style wouldn't be attention grabbing but an interesting way to utilize a otherwise "wrong" use of the medium to visualize the additional color pallets entering the already existing variety color schemes.
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Experimentation
Aesthetic Harmony being the subtitle of this page relates to the importance of color and how it interacts in the artwork, which is most prevalent with oil paint in particular. I wanted to keep as close to the original color pallets of The Papal Palace as possible, which involve taking the painting into a color pallet generator and identifying which of the base tones was most prevalent in the work. This was tricky to discovery considering how the whole work uses the pointillist technique and the values can change drastically, but I landed on the values shown on the left. From there I had gotten additional oil paint that matched my identified color scheme as best to my abilities as possible.
I would narrow down those color from five to four, which during the whole process of painting ending up with four distinct paper plates of color pallets. Of course beyond solely color I needed to explore and refine the pointillist technique that would be utilized, which I had some experience doing Impressionist acrylic painting studies in the past. I would try out using different brush sizes, amount of values per section (three is typically has the best result), layering, tones, and orientation of brushstrokes. Each one of these practices was eventually utilized in the creation of my artwork one way or another.
Lastly when it came to the technique portion it becomes worth noting that consistency was a huge component of this project. Since the majority of brushstrokes were horizontal, it was much easier for me to position my arm to create constant, bold lines. When I had identified that the buildings would have to use vertical lines, I had a problem consistently doing a motion that resulted in straight lines and as a results looked much more messy. However a surprising solution was that since this canvas was in the medium sized realm, I could just flip the whole thing 90 degrees to continue the horizontal motion, which was succesful.
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Critique
Similarities
- Medieval Gothic Architecture: Acknowledging the physical characteristics and qualities associated with movement, the main structure/focal point of each work projects a monolithic presence and perfect proportions which is applied through it's seer scaling.
- Color Scheme: The choice of how the composition would be broken up based around distinct color pallets makes each component of the landscape distinct, with the background against foreground boundaries being incorporated from The Papal Palace to the lighting choices of the main structure against it's surrounding from All Souls College.
- Impressionist Technique: The method of applying the oil paint was important to retain the unique style of the piece, where individual colored brushstrokes where applied to cause an effect where the viewer would need to distanced themselves from the canvas in order to interpret the image in full.
Differences
- Rhythm: Higher Education in the Middle Ages with the use of differentiating brushstrokes creates a rhythm that transitioning from the bold distinct sky box, to the vertical buildings, and down to the messy river with develops a calm setting with the structure as the point of emphasis, which steers away slightly from consistent formal patterning.
- Framing/Perspective (Left): All Souls College beyond the physical characteristics that had been interpreted is positioned in an elevated view to show the viewer the quadrangle component and capture the entire building, but my artwork instead chooses a straight on view that only implies a indoor courtyard and decides to only show a portion of the full structure.
- Styling Differentiation (Right): The Papal Palace retains the Impressionist technique throughout the entire canvas consistently, whereas my artwork using the "muddy" effect that occurs with oil paint for removing the mirrored image element of the main structure against the river that breaks the styling.
- Medieval Gothic Architecture: Acknowledging the physical characteristics and qualities associated with movement, the main structure/focal point of each work projects a monolithic presence and perfect proportions which is applied through it's seer scaling.
- Color Scheme: The choice of how the composition would be broken up based around distinct color pallets makes each component of the landscape distinct, with the background against foreground boundaries being incorporated from The Papal Palace to the lighting choices of the main structure against it's surrounding from All Souls College.
- Impressionist Technique: The method of applying the oil paint was important to retain the unique style of the piece, where individual colored brushstrokes where applied to cause an effect where the viewer would need to distanced themselves from the canvas in order to interpret the image in full.
Differences
- Rhythm: Higher Education in the Middle Ages with the use of differentiating brushstrokes creates a rhythm that transitioning from the bold distinct sky box, to the vertical buildings, and down to the messy river with develops a calm setting with the structure as the point of emphasis, which steers away slightly from consistent formal patterning.
- Framing/Perspective (Left): All Souls College beyond the physical characteristics that had been interpreted is positioned in an elevated view to show the viewer the quadrangle component and capture the entire building, but my artwork instead chooses a straight on view that only implies a indoor courtyard and decides to only show a portion of the full structure.
- Styling Differentiation (Right): The Papal Palace retains the Impressionist technique throughout the entire canvas consistently, whereas my artwork using the "muddy" effect that occurs with oil paint for removing the mirrored image element of the main structure against the river that breaks the styling.
Reflection
With my first ventures into creating art, one of the techniques that had resonated with me was the pointillist technique from the acrylic studies I had done. So of course it was interesting to refine that previous skill into an oil paint medium with its distinct properties and expanding to a much larger scale than I had originally experienced. I really enjoyed the time that had been spent narrowing down the Medieval Gothic Architecture design and the visual color pallet that are showcased throughout the work with really helped me develop my understanding of the medium and formal pattering. My inspiration came in the from of Paul Signac's compositional and color choices and Oxford's physical characteristics of their campus.The biggest challenge in this project was definitely narrowing down the structure and supporting buildings that would comprise the composition, as this artwork is pretty direct with how The Papal Palace is constructed.
When I first showcased this technique in my illustration, it had incorporate acrylic and watercolor pencils on canvas board which had lost the distinct nature of each brushstroke being present, and this was an aspect that I wanted to heavily refine in this project. My favorite part was definitively seeing the visual construction of the artwork come to life that definitely made the time-consuming component of doing individual, distinct brushstrokes really worth it. I hope that others are able to enjoy the aesthetic harmony that was the driving force of this artwork and the incorporation of color in full onto the compositional and subject choices.
Connecting to ACT
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
Paul Signac's pointillist technique and color scheme was closely examined and implemented in my artwork to have differentiation in the backdrop and foreground, but also a unified style through the composition. Oxford and their building characteristics align well with the topic of Universities I was investigating and had been a prime model for the physical characteristics of the Medieval Gothic Architecture movement.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach of Paul Signac was to develop a sense of an aesthetic harmony as he was one of the first figures to develop the Neo-Impressionist movement qualities and the pointillist technique utilize, with Oxford's building centralizing around the quadrangle centers that had those private inner green spaces.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While I researched my inspiration, I had found the pointillist technique that aligns with formal pattering and consistency throughout the work is meant to have an interaction with the audience in how it forces the viewer to be positioned further back to view the composition as a whole.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme of my inspirational research revolved around going beyond the qualities of the architecture movement being examined but instead incorporating the start of an institution (in this case being Universities) into the actual project.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
The use of formal pattering can establish an aesthetic harmony, in which the color palette is complimentary with the composition and a calm/relaxed setting is established within the artwork.
Paul Signac's pointillist technique and color scheme was closely examined and implemented in my artwork to have differentiation in the backdrop and foreground, but also a unified style through the composition. Oxford and their building characteristics align well with the topic of Universities I was investigating and had been a prime model for the physical characteristics of the Medieval Gothic Architecture movement.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach of Paul Signac was to develop a sense of an aesthetic harmony as he was one of the first figures to develop the Neo-Impressionist movement qualities and the pointillist technique utilize, with Oxford's building centralizing around the quadrangle centers that had those private inner green spaces.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While I researched my inspiration, I had found the pointillist technique that aligns with formal pattering and consistency throughout the work is meant to have an interaction with the audience in how it forces the viewer to be positioned further back to view the composition as a whole.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme of my inspirational research revolved around going beyond the qualities of the architecture movement being examined but instead incorporating the start of an institution (in this case being Universities) into the actual project.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
The use of formal pattering can establish an aesthetic harmony, in which the color palette is complimentary with the composition and a calm/relaxed setting is established within the artwork.
Citations
Breihan, John. “Department of History.” Gothic Architecture - Loyola’s Historic Architecture - Department of History - Loyola University Maryland, 2023. https://www.loyola.edu/academics/history/architecture/cga.