Task: Are the artists embracing or rejecting modernist ideas. Choose one work; What are the formal qualities that appeal to you? Is there an implied narrative and what might this be? Is the work making you feel or think in a particular way? Write a concise response to the chosen work.
Canberra is luck enough to have the Masterpieces from Paris featured at our own National Gallery of Australia. It features 112 post-impressionist paintings on temporary loan from the Musee D'Orsay in Paris.The exhibition runs from the 4th December 2009 to the 5th of April 2010. It is one exhibition that is definitely worth have a look at. Just last week the Gallery announced that this particular exhibition has had the most people attend out of any exhibition that they've featured at the Gallery. "Never before have so many masterpieces been brought together in one exhibition in this country," NGA director Mr Ron Radford said. (McLintock, P 2009, Viewed: 1.3.2010, www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/10/2651408.htm)
The exhibition had 6 rooms each with a different theme. In room 5 one painting by Gustave Moreau has a particular quality to it that just captivated me and really stood out from the rest. At first glance it was just another painting of a woman but open approaching i noticed that i dismembered head was in fact what she was holding. Room 5 has a high focus on symbolism and so to does Moreau's painting Orpheus. The painting has a sort of mystical quality to it, set in a barren landscape with a woman looking longingly into the head which appears to be placed on a plaque. The general narrative behind the painting is that Orpheus was a musician who was killed by a woman, in the painting Moreau does not depict the act of the killing rather he shows a scene from afterwards of a young woman starring deeply at the head of the dead Orpheus. The artist appears to be rejecting modernist idea's through the mystical qualitites of his paintings. Moreau explored ideas such as mythology, philosophy and dreams through his work creating a very surreal element to his artworks. Featured in his painting appear to be three women playing music which could possibly symbolise the conection to the fact Orpheus was a musician. There is also a spiritual insight and a dreamlike quality to this work. The young woman appears to be very accepting and it almost a personal and intimate moment depicted.
The artwork really appeals to me as it is more than just aportrait of a woman. There are many hidden meanings and symbols behind it and you could spend hours breaking it down and considering all the different aspects of it. The work allows me to see the situation through the eyes of the young woman and interpret her feelings through the artwork. It evokes a feeling of sadness but also acceptance and compells a certain curiousity to understand the depicted scene.
Gustave Moreau
Orpheus
1865
Oil on canvas
Image can be found on http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/moreau_gustave.html
No comments:
Post a Comment