Art Appreciation Essay, Research Paper

DARK ROCKS Georgia O Keeffe ( oil in canvas)

Victorian Bouquet Severin Roesen ( Oil in canvas)

In this piece of art, Georgia O Keeffe transforms ordinary natural objects (rocks) into abstract things. By setting the dark rocks against the white background she magnifies the rocks. She establishes and portrays a special connection between organic forms of the natural world and the spirit.

In this special piece of art, Georgia O Keeffe used somewhat a chromatic way of coloring by using all kind of brown tones, but she adds some gold color. She does an excellent use of the shading process. She darkens the contours of the shapes, but she also leaves diffused white spots. This combination of dark shades and light created by the white spots gives the vision of depth, especially where she diffused the shadows, like under or below the objects.

If I compare Georgia O Keeffe s Dark Rocks design, to Severin Roesen s Victorian Bouquet, one can see the different kind of beauty that Roesen presents, creating an emphasis by the color intensity. One could also, appreciate that Roesen in this specific design, uses a variety of colors against dark surface, which gives more power and brightness to the colors, contrary to the white background used by O Keeffe in the piece of art that I am comparing. Roesen achieves the illusion of depth by using vertical placement. The artist draws small objects placed low on the picture place.

To balance the work of art, Roesen uses the position of the bouquet in contrast to the other objects, like the glass and small fruits. The placement of these small objects at the edge of the table balance the large form, which in this case is the bouquet itself.