This is Franz Von Stuck’s Sin (1893, Oil on canvas, 35″ x 21″), which may get my vote for having perhaps the most accurate title of an art piece I’ve seen.

I like the color choices and palette here that Von Stuck used, or rather a lack thereof.  He keeps the colors simple, nearly a duotone.  What he does use for color throughout, due to it’s similarity, is a feeling of almost looking at the woman’s skin even when you’re not.  The colors around the outside are similar in shade and tone to the woman’s body, and it’s a temptation woven into the image. Even when you aren’t taking a look at her body, you still get the sense you’re looking into something seductive or even dark.

Von Stuck uses the composition well, though it’s a simple piece. In many pieces, the artist (any artist) would be tempted to make the woman’s head or even the snake’s head be the center of attention. The higher contrast would normally be there with the faces, and it would be set in a more accessible place.  But Von Stuck’s idea held simply to the inner thoughts of man, that when it comes to sin, you’re going to look at the body and damn the consequences.  By placing the more ominous, even the more intelligent parts, to the darkness, and highlighting so brightly the body, the viewer is led to give into the very title of the piece.

The menacing snake (the extra bright closeup to the right) would be a bit much in some scenes, but I think in this one Von Stuck did well by placing it in the shadows.  The woman’s face is still of the temptress, but the snake’s face is all about evil.

I think that in this piece, Von Stuck has done something that can be very difficult in art: to (nearly) perfectly capture a human emotion.  You (ok, mostly men here I’d bet) are drawn right to woman’s body, to the promise of lust, and to the seduction in the darkness of her face.  Von Stuck made it difficult to look away, even with the darkness and the evil so obviously present.  In that effect, he captured sin perfectly.  You know it’s wrong, but not even the snake’s going to stop you.

Opinions?

Russ

Ok, so my “little break” was more like a couple of weeks.  Add “extreme coughing from the lungs” to “Post-Las Vegas” and there you go. But I’m back, and this one is an interesting one for me.  It’s one of the first art pieces that I really took something from, especially in the extreme emotion.

This is Il’ya Repin’s Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16, 1581 (1885, oil on canvas, 79″ x 100″). The artist based it on a real event, involving (natch) Ivan the Terrible.  In the heat of an argument, Ivan stuck his son with his staff, mortally wounding him.

Repin used a very nice composition here, with very little in the background to steal your attention.  The foreground is a fairly nondescript rug, with little furniture in the room either. The only furniture that you can really see is knocked over, adding to the drama of the moment.  I like is the posing of the characters too, there’s little life left in the son, but he hasn’t passed on just yet.  Ivan is holding his son tightly, and holding his hand across the wound, as if trying to hold his son here on earth as long as he can.

Along with the composition, Repin brought the contrast into only the center of the piece, leaving the rest of the image to fall off into the darkness or into similarly colored areas.  There’s a strong sense to me that the light is actually knocked over, as the shadows that are being cast seem to come from a low spot.  It adds to the drama of the scene, and to the desperation in it.

The palette of colors he uses works well, and he put it in just the right spots.  Red is quite primary in the image, but it sits mostly around the exterior of the image. It’s almost a frame of red, surrounding and even highlighting the blood on the younger Ivan’s face. Your eye is brought right to the blood in the center, and right to the shock on Ivan’s face, a face of madness and horror.

Though certainly, without an actual photograph of the event, there’s no real way to know what happened in that moment.  But Repin has captured a believable emotion perfectly, as Ivan is hit full bore with the realization that in his uncontrollable rampage he has killed his own son. Ivan’s face shows the full horror of his actions, a perfect rendition of going too far, and realizing that you can never take it back.

Opinions?

Russ

If you’re looking for This Week’s Art, I wimped out and decided I had too many things to do this week.  I am heading to Las Vegas early in the morning for Photoshop World, which should be quite fun.  Wish me luck!