Friday, August 2, 2019
Evaluate How Practitioners Use Text, Symbols and Compositional Strategies to Construct Meaning in Artworks.
Evaluate how practitioners use text, symbols and compositional strategies to construct meaning in artworks. Artists such as Mexican Frida Kahlo and British Francis Bacon are two 20th Century practitioners who employ text, symbols and compositional strategies to construct meaning about themselves and the wider world in their paintings. Kahloââ¬â¢s artworks such as he ââ¬Å"Self-Portrait as a Tehuana (Diego in my thoughts)â⬠and ââ¬Å"Henry Ford Hospital 1932â⬠provide an insight of her life and her obsessions with child-bearing and her husband, Diego Rivera.Likewise, Francis Baconââ¬â¢s ââ¬Å"Three Studies for the Figures at the Base of a Crucifixionâ⬠and his ââ¬Å"Self-portrait 1971â⬠conveys the suppression of his sexuality and inhumanity of one man to another. Self-Portrait as a Tehuana (Diego on my thoughts) 1943 Oil On Masonite 29 7/8 â⬠x 24 â⬠Gelman Collection, Mexico City Self-Portrait as a Tehuana (Diego on my thoughts) 1943 Oil On Ma sonite 29 7/8 â⬠x 24 â⬠Gelman Collection, Mexico City Frida Kahloââ¬â¢s artworks usually construct meaning through compositional strategies including autobiographical references and personal symbolism.Kahloââ¬â¢s ethnicity also has a significant impact towards her art making practices such as the repetitive themes of life and death. Her excessive fascination towards childbearing and her husband, Diego Rivera was evidently portrayed in her artworks such as her ââ¬Å"Self-Portrait as a Tehuanaâ⬠and ââ¬Å"Henry Ford Hospitalâ⬠. Kahloââ¬â¢s Mexican culture is highly apparent through the traditional Tehuana costume found in her self-portraiture artwork whilst a sense of estrangement and detachment from this culture is manifested in her artwork ââ¬Å"Henry Ford Hospitalâ⬠through her representation of Detroit where she had experienced her second miscarriage.Kahloââ¬â¢s life was perceptibly dominated by her obsessive love and constant thought of D iego that is has impacted her artworks thematically. This notion is evident in her self-portrait painting where Diegoââ¬â¢s miniature portrait appears on her forehead that literally and metaphorically signifies Diegoââ¬â¢s presence in her mind, which was also conveyed in the subtitle of her work ââ¬Å"Diego on my mindâ⬠. Diegoââ¬â¢s repetitive influence on Kahloââ¬â¢s work is again presented in another artwork however conveyed in another context.Kahloââ¬â¢s ââ¬Å"Miscarriage in Detroit (Henry Ford Hospital)â⬠, painted in 1932 elucidated her emotional and physical agonies from her miscarriages within her marriage to Diego. This artwork supports the notion of Frida Kahloââ¬â¢s infatuation towards child-bearing whereby the six floating images that connects to her lower abdomen by an umbilical cord-looking red lines precisely references to her second miscarriage. Henry Ford Hospital, 1932 Oil on metal 32. 5 x 40. 2 cm Collection Museo Dolores Olmedo Patino, Mexico City. Henry Ford Hospital, 1932 Oil on metal 32. 5 x 40. 2 cm Collection Museo Dolores Olmedo Patino, Mexico City.Kahlo also uses symbolism and texts to convey the depth of her artworks in relationship with her personal emotions and life experiences. The artwork ââ¬Å"Miscarriage in Detroitâ⬠evokes the excruciating experience that she had with childbearing whereby the six floating images suggests a sense of detachment and loss of control of her body. It also educes her constant link with Diego through the floating foetus that was named Dieguito meaning ââ¬Å"little Diegoâ⬠. A snail was used to represent the slow torment and horror of losing a baby while the machine is to symbolise her medical impersonality.Fridaââ¬â¢s study of medicine prior to her bus accident enabled her awareness towards the impact of her bus accident to her body and bones. This incident significantly affected Kahloââ¬â¢s artworks and was evidently revealed in her ââ¬Å"Miscarriage in Detroitâ⬠painting where the images of a pelvis and a side-view of a female anatomy represents this event along with an orchid that her husband Diego gave her. The concepts of connection and detachment are both portrayed in this artwork whereby the floating images are ââ¬Å"connectedâ⬠to her through the umbilical cord-like string connecting to her uterus.This string-like line links the objects to herself advocating its personal connection to Kahlo. The floating images also metaphorically suggest her detachment to the place where she had her second miscarriage. Kahlo also used personal symbolism to convey meaning in her artworks, which was clearly portrayed in her ââ¬Å"Diego on my mindâ⬠painting in 1943. Diegoââ¬â¢s obvious domination in Kahloââ¬â¢s life is evident in her artworks where her obsessive love and constant thought of Diego has become a thematic notion in most of her paintings.Diegoââ¬â¢s miniature portrait on her forehead indicates her obsessi ve love and constant thought of him. Due to this desperate infatuation of Diego, she painted herself in the costume that he greatly admired to attract and entice him closer to her. The roots of the leaves surrounding her head metaphorically symbolises a pattern of a spiderââ¬â¢s web in which she hoped to trap her prey, Diego. The impassive image of Riveraââ¬â¢s face on Kahloââ¬â¢s forehead however indicates her psychological obsession towards Diego but also of her ââ¬Å"philanderingâ⬠husbandââ¬â¢s tarnished indifference to her feelings.Surrealist artists such as Frida Kahlo evoke the meaning of their artworks through the use of symbols, texts and various compositional strategies. Musee National dââ¬â¢Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris Francis Bacon, a British painter elucidates his personal emotions through abstraction and surrealism which are evident in his artworks such as his ââ¬Å"Self-portrait 1971â⬠and one of his triptych series ââ¬Å"Thr ee Studies for the Figures at the base of Crucifixionâ⬠in 1943-1944. Bacon portrays both the suppression of his sexuality and similarly to Kahloââ¬â¢s feeling of detachment and hostility.His ââ¬Å"Self-portrait 1971â⬠conveys a provocative and disturbing representation of Bacon, one which embodies the painterââ¬â¢s strong feelings of despair and vulnerability that was possibly caused by the suicidal death of his lover Dyer during the same year. This distorted image of himself intensified with his use of broad-brush strokes, as well as the dark colours which are made harsher and more prominent but the added whites and blues. His emotionless state and detachment from the audience was symbolised through his blackened eyes thus also conveying his constant motif of death and ââ¬Å"silent screamsâ⬠.The name of his artwork is somewhat ironical towards his painting as the text states that it is a self-portrait however, it was distorted and perhaps metaphorically refe rring to his emphasis to the suppression of his sexuality. Baconââ¬â¢s artwork ââ¬Å"Three Studies for the Figures at the Base of a Crucifixionâ⬠in 1943-1944 summarises themes explored in his previous paintings, including his examination of Picasso's biomorphs and his interpretations of the Crucifixion and the Greek Furies.Bacon did not realise his original intention to paint a large crucifixion scene and place the figures at the foot of the cross. The structure of the artworks when put together does not convey any commonality thus further emphasising his personal emotions towards the feelings of displacement. The brightness and contrasting colours used in this artwork signifies the chaotic environment that he was in. The third image illustrates an open and gaping mouth as if it was screaming out of pain.This idea references back to his childhood and the suppression of his sexuality. The screaming object in the painting is a representation of Baconââ¬â¢s emotions during the times when homosexuality was a crucial topic to the society. The artists Francis Bacon and Frida Kahlo both convey the meaning of their artworks with references to their personal life experiences through the use of symbols, texts and compositional strategies.
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