Taking Van Gogh To The City and Shore

Van Gogh, a master of linear perspective and composition, exaggerated traditional designs. Through his knowledge of  17th century masters like Poussin and Claude, he was able to persuasively improvise with their compositions.   He could broaden his use of color because  artists of the late 19th century had many more colors at their disposal. He amplified and exaggerated the rhythm of the lines, edges and shapes in his compositions. See how his compositions are a part of Claude’s legacy  (example 1). In 1870 Corot further experimented with the Claudian landscape using rhythmic and tactile brushstrokes (example 2).  Later, Van Gogh extends Corot’s  experiments as he compresses the picture’s space but, continues to rely on the receding  serpentine shape of the road and stairs. They  give us a feeling of  deepening space. Like Claude and Corot, Van Gogh used a framing Coulisse on the left and right (example 3).

example 1. Claude Lorraine 1600’s landscape.

example 2. Corot’s landscape of 1870.

example 3. Van Gogh 1890 landscape.

What follows are examples of another meandering recession but, using 21st century technology, further exaggeration  of forms, and further degradation of  legible shapes as they slip between abstraction and representation.

Let’s begin with a shore scene. Example 4 shows my original photograph. Example 5 shows that photograph after blurring and edge degradation which oblige the viewer to make more guesses about the picture’s content. Example 6 presents the image after its manipulation by painting tools (squeegees, fingers, brushwork).

example 4. original shore/beach photo.

example 5. photo after obscuring exaggerations.

example 6. mash up of photo and painting materials.

The next examples borrow Van Gogh’s receding linear perspective and compositional traditions. I begin with a photo of midtown Manhattan which was deliberately blurred when shooting and further distorted with Photoshop (example 7).  The image receives additional distortions in example 8 through manipulations in  both  Photoshop and my printer. Example 9 presents the image after the application of painting materials (squeegees, fingers, paints and brushwork). The manipulations to this image were made into the wet inks from  my Epson printer on a non-absorbent surface.

example 7.  original Blurred photo.

example 8. photo after printer and software manipulations.

example 9. photo after use of painting materials.