I chose „ Escaping criticism” by Pere Borrel del Caso, which is a painting on oil canvas, from 1874. Pere Borrell del Caso (1835 – 1910) was a Spanish painter, illustrator and engraver, best known for this painting, an example of trompe-loeil. Trompe-loeil is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects appear in three dimensions. Although the phrase has its origin in the Baroque period, when it refers to perspectival illusionism, use of trompe-lœil dates back much further. It was (and is) often employed in murals. The positioning of the hands, feet, and head outside the painted frame, and the shadows falling on to it, are what creates the illusion here of the figure climbing out of the painting. By holding up your hands to crop off the frame, it becomes a painted figure that could be in any number of paintings. With this type of trompe loeil, having the actual frame continue the style of the painted one, enhances the illusion. The picture features a boy clothed in a dirty white shirt which is hanging open and seems to be tucked into his rolled up brown trousers. The boy is holding onto the frame with both his hands and is just about to step out of it with his right foot. He seems to have a scared, shocked or disturbed face that instantly attracts the viewers attention. The colouring is all very green and yellow with a severe absence of any blue or red pigments. The composition of the piece creates a triangle from the left arm and the right leg up to his face which points out to the right. This again draws the viewers attention to the face.The light shines heavily from the left to attract the eye further to the perturbing face and starved torso of this young peasant boy. The background is a plain black. This allows the view to construct their own idea of what is happening which helps to make the painting more universal. He carefully avoids adding an extra narrative to the painting in response to romanticism Why I really love this painting is because I can observe two perspectives, which are emphasized by this technique and also by the subject. I think what Del Caso is trying to express, is an autobiographical aspect of art. He as a boy was born in the Catalan areas of Spain and moved at the age of 20 to Barcelona having to work as a carpenter in order to pay for his studies at the academy of Belles-Artes. But there, he did not agree with the aesthetical theory and romanticism that were taught at the academy where they made men into heroes and emphasised the imagined, giving each painting an epic sense of emotion. He instead inclined towards realism and based himself in the objective observation and reproduction of real life.We could interpret that this boy, who seems to be dressed like a poor boy who might be placed in the background of a romantic painting, is trying himself to get away from the two dimensional land of the romantics entering into the world of realism with an extra dimension of truth. At the same time we can say that the artist tries to escape from the criticism of art in general but another valid interpretation is that he is trying to express how we all might attempt to escape something especially as children.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 10:55:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015