Figurative Artist Research: Ford Maddox Brown

I love the detail in this piece and attention to detail; especially striking is the hair which Ford Maddox Brown laced with the red of the background to show the gaps in the curls. This looks like it has been done using oil paints, because of the texture of the piece.

In this picture Ford Maddox Brown captures so many different walks of life all coming together in a street scene. It is something he is notable for being able to capture and observe the many different characteristics of people. In this image piece it looks like he has observed the people in this piece separately than brought them together in a street scene, I think this because although the scene looks very busy the figures within don’t seem to be interacting or even acknowledging the others presence which suggests he has brought separate studies together.

Figurative Artist Research: Kurt Kauper

Kurt Kauper uses very bold and strong colours in his artwork which could only be the result of acrylic paints which used especially in his backgrounds to bring focus onto the very clean and very beautiful figurative art he produces. The subjects of his artwork mainly consist of famous singers, divas and American sportsman especially hockey players. The piece above like all of his artwork is exceptionally clean and almost portrays the America suburbia kind of feel. The face on the piece below uses sharp angles on the face structure and features to give the subject a very fierce look which is associated with divas. The bold and clean make up on the face brings striking attention to the facial features and her head his held slightly higher to show a superior look. The shiny, blue ruffles of her dress only finishes the clean-cut look. The way he has used bold colours and clean strokes really give his subjects the authentic celebrity look and feel.

Figurative Artist Research: Gustav Klimt

It is clear that the subject of choice of Gustav Klimt is the delicate frame of the feminine figure where he makes it his goal to show their beauty in all of it’s splendour. The way he paints the pale and fresh skin tone with rosy cheeks and face with no disturbance from shade almost gives his subjects a doll like look. Helped also by the extravagant clothing which is defined more by colours than form and the coifed or flowing hair. The anatomy he creates isn’t always hundred percent accurate which I noticed more on the second piece where the fingers looked slightly long and alien, but I feel his goal with the anatomy is to show of the curvaceous and flowing forms of the female body without too much worry about precision.

Figurative Artist Research: Francis Bacon

 It is obvious that painter Francis Bacon’s work carries a very dark theme, with most of his figurative art being very disfigured and distorted. The piece above shows disfigurement with the twisted nasal bone and parietal bone protruding from the skin, in result of the bones being twisted and rearranged the skin starts to sag in certain places and used a very dark shade to show the eye sockets sallow into the skull. The painter purposefully uses pinks and purples to show the bad condition of the skin as if seeing underneath it. To make this piece of art as effective as possible the painter must have had a very strong understanding of how the head anatomy worked and from this knowledge could create a twisted piece that still held some realistic sense of a figure. The piece below I feel was done using as the different colours used reacted and interrupted with each other giving a spectral effect making the figure look as if he is disintegrating from the canvas.

Figurative Artist Research: Pablo Picasso

I’ve noticed that in Pablo Picasso’s figurative work he likes to take the human figure and anatomy back to its most primordial shapes and forms. The bold colours used give it a very abstract feel and is also reminiscent I think of stain glass windows. He uses thick black lines to show facial features again picking on their basic forms rather than minute detail. I admit I am not a huge fan of his work although I understand the reason for his success as his take on figurative art is very unique and extremely striking to look at. I feel that in these two pieces he distorts the shapes that create the figure to shoe the twistedness and disfigurement of the human condition. For example the first one to me looks like a warped sense of beauty where how the women is posed she believes she is radiant, but from an outside perspective she is warped and unflattering to the eye.  

Figurative Artist Research: Jolanda Richter

I particularly liked Jolanda Richter’s artwork because the poses of her subjects are always in dynamic poses, twisting and contorting in the air. The theme isn’t as clear but some clues lead me to think that the people in her art are in a dream experiencing the wonderful architecture of the world. Some clues that suggest this are the clothing the people wear which look like pyjamas and nightgowns. The lady in both these pieces looks very similar with the long red hair and could portray the artist herself who has travelled to these places and was awed by them which then inspired her art. This is figurative art which I feel has been painted with oil paints is very realistic.

Figuratiev Artist Research: Gordana Curgus

Gordana Curgus’s artwork really intrigued me as alongside her figurative artwork, seashells and windows feature a lot in her work to give a dream-like style much like Jolanda Richter. I especially like the piece above where the woman in the piece is being absorbed into the seashell, where the artist leaves an impression her body in the seashell with a shaded effect. It also looks as if one of the windows is trying to suck her into an oceanic world by the way the tip of her hair is orientating to the window. What strikes me about the piece below is the hair, because the rest of her artwork seems to have been done using oil or acrylic paints, however the woman’s hair looks to me as if it has been done with oil pastels because of the strange blend between the orange, pink, red and blue colours. The mood in both these pieces are very relaxed and bright sharing happy and relaxing themes of the ocean and music.