Vincent Van Gogh and Mark Making

Henry Moore

In my last life drawing class we had to focus on form. Our first exercise in this area was to wrap lines around the figure to help give a sense of dimension. This made me think of Henry Moore's sketches of figures in the London Underground. Amazingly enough, I managed to find the most perfect book based on Henry Moore's Shelter Sketches in the library. It mentions in the book that he never made sketches in the underground as it just wasn't possible: "It would have been like making sketches in the hold of a slave ship". He would write notes of what he saw and then make a sketch the next day.

He used many subtle marks that went around and followed the shape of the figure.

Even though some of these drawing are unclear showing an obvious figure, you can still tell that it is meant to be a person because of the shape

Source: Henry Moore, A Shelter Sketchbook - with a commentary by Frances Carey

David Hockey

David Hockney was born in 1937 and is an English painter, photographer, print maker and stage designer. He is known as one of the most popular and versatile British artist of the 20th century, showing strong influences from Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso.

Hockney found ways of fitting in a personal subject matter into his art. He began with copying fragments of poems onto his paintings, "encouraging a close scrutiny of the surface and creating a specific identity for the painted marks through the alliance of word and image". These messages then lead on to open declarations in a series of paintings made in 1960-61 on the theme of homosexual love. There was then a huge change in his approach in 1963 when he moved to California, where he focused on swimming pools and palm trees.

" Hockney changed from oil to acrylic paints, applying them as a smooth surface of flat and brilliant colour that helped to emphasise the pre-eminence of the image."

Wide Angle Art: Photograghs and Paintings

Zion Canyon, Utah, Oct, 1982, Photographic collage

With this collage you can see how he has managed to show a wide angle using photographs: he took pictures of his feet and then gradually went up until he had picture of the top of the mountains. In the collage I've noticed that the lighting is different - did the sun disappear whilst taking the pictures? did he come more than one time? Also I like how the further up the view the more photographs there are showing what was around him. This is probably because there's not much going on on the ground, however, he did manage to include some marks in the sand showing different textures.

Sitting in the Zen Garden at the Ryoanji Temple Kyoto, Feb 1983, Photographic Collage

With this piece you can see that Hockney was trying to fit in the entire garden and it warps a bit to fit in. Like the Zion Canyon piece, it has blank gaps in the composition. This might be because Hockney accidentally missed pieces whilst photographing or the pavement isn't a main focus.

Place Furstenberg, Paris, August 7th, 8th, 9th, 1985 Photographic Collage

This is a very large composition that have many photographs on top of each over not fitting neatly, making some areas much more abstract - especially compared to the first two compositions above.

Pearblossom Highway, 11th-18th April 1986 no.2, Photographic Collage

This piece, unlike the others is fully complete - there is no gaps. Like the 'Place Furstenberg' composition, it is very abstract and warped. However even though these pieces are warped there are still clear and recognisable. I feel like this one does not show a clear wide angle, unlike the others. This is because you don't have the fish eye appearance happening in this composition.

Chair, Jardin de Luxembourg, Paris, 10th August 1985, Photo graphic Collage

Unlike the other wide angle pieces done by Hockney, this one is inverted, making the closest thing to you smaller and the furthest larger. So the pictures were taken around the chair.

Interior, Pembroke Studios, London, 1986, Photographic Collage

Like the 'Pearblossom Highway', this composition is very broken up, and I find to be even more complicated (showing more signs of cubism). However you can still see that this is a wide angle, due to seeing how much space it covers.

A Walk Around the Hotel Acatlan Mexico, 1985, oil on 2 Canvases

This wide angle painting covers a large view which makes it curve. Unlike the photographic collages, the paintings curves are much smoother. Hockney also incorporates the inverted technique like what he did with 'Chair', on the bottom part of the pillars and the table. The painting also is much more successful in showing the fish eye effect.

Tyler Dinning Room, 1985, 14 colour lithograph

This drawing appears to show a slight wide angle, as it tries to fit everything around the table by inverting the size, so again small in the front and big in the distance.

From looking at Hockney's work it has helped me understand wide angle compositions much better and how they manage to fit together. This will now help me on making my wide angle drawing.

Bibliography
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/david-hockney-1293
David Hockey, Editor Dr Andreas C Papadakis vol 4 No 1/2-1988
David Hockney: You Make the Picture, paintings and prints 1982-1995, Paula Melia