Importance Of Gesture In Art Essay, Research Paper

Essay #1

Gesture has played a very crucial role in the development of modern art. The gestures alone can tell us which time period a painting is from. In such paintings like, The Night Cafe and The Scream, gesture shows us what kind of message we should be getting when observing the paintings. The gesture shows us how we are supposed to be feeling, agitated and having a sense of isolation and fear. In many other works of art gesture has played a very important role. It tells us what the artist was feeling at that time and what type of message we are supposed to be getting.

Henri Matisse was the most well-known Fauvist painter. He was also well-known for his very bold use of color in all his works. Towards the beginning of his career he adopted techniques from the impressionistic painters and tried to modify them repeatedly. He would try to modify these techniques by using broader brushstrokes throughout his paintings. In his painting, Open Window, Collioure. 1905, Matisse makes it look almost as an impressionistic painting. He uses very sketchy brushstrokes. You can also see that he was not being very careful with his brush and hand movements. The paint seems to blotted on to the canvas. He was obviously not trying to be precise in this painting. All the gestures he uses are trying to capture the first essence of the scene he is painting. If you look close enough to the painting you can actually see which direction his hand was moving while painting this picture. Matisse

used a version of Impressionist brushstroke for all the natural elements of the scene. Also, if you are at a close up of this painting it looks like a bunch of brightly colored brushstrokes all splotched together. But from a distant view it looks like a painting with every gesture put in its place for a reason, to create this painting.

Emile Nolde was a German Expressionist painter. His work consisted of very extreme contrasts of color. He created works that were filled with very lively emotional power. In his painting Tropical Sun, he shows these emotions that he is expressing. The painting is a landscape painting. It depicts a scene of nature. It is painted with very cool and bold colors. The way it looks like he painted this picture is by taking is hand, dipping the brush into the paint and then taking that paint and splotting it on to the canvas. All the gestures he uses in this painting seem like very quick, splotchy and sketchy strokes. It also looks like he was pressing hard onto the canvas. You could

actually see each individual brushstroke and the way his hand was moving in each

direction. This painting almost looks like a big, sloppy mess. The artist does not make an effort to try to keep the painting nice and neat and clean. I guess he wanted it that way to express his own very vibrant emotions. These emotions might not be bad or they might not be good, but all we know is that they are very loud, expressive emotions and the gestures he uses help us to see that.

Egon Schiele was a artist during the Austrian Expressionism. He always

depicted emotional stress, and decadent or artificial demonism. In his painting, Portrait of the Painter Paris Von Gutersloh, depicts himself looking very troubled and disturbed. The colors are very cool and bold. All of his gestures seem they are filled with frustration and agitation. To me, he looks like he was on the brink of insanity, if he wasn t already insane. His brushstrokes are very blotchy and sketchy. Each individual brushstroke is visible. They are absolutely not smooth and calm gestures. Its as f you

can almost see which direction his hand was moving while painting this picture. It also looks like he used very quick strokes when painting this picture. His gestures play an important role in this painting because it is his way of releasing all his emotions. It also tells us how he is feeling. When you look at this painting you can obviously see, from the brushstrokes, what type of message he is sending. He wants us to see how he is feeling at this time. This painting reminds me of Edvard Munch s The Scream. They are both sending off the same type of message. You can see this by the gestures both

artists use. Although, if you ask me, I d rather look at The Scream rather than Schiele s painting any day. It takes one really strange person to paint something like that.

In all of these paintings gesture has played a very important role. It shows us how we should react to the paintings. Gesture can express emotion, tell what time period a painting is from and show many other things. Now we can look at a painting and see that the artist painted in that manner for a specific purpose and not just to make it look pretty.