Exhibition

Here are images of my exhibition displaying my final pieces that I created using Photoshop. I have also displayed my sketch book for this project. 

Here is a close up imaging the posters. 

Essay

[PDF]  Albrecht Dürer and David Shepherd artwork comparison

In this essay I will be comparing art by two different artists. The artists I am comparing are Dürer and David Shepherd. I have chosen to do my essay on these artists because they both have a very unique and different way of producing inspiring pieces of work. How I will be comparing the artist is by looking closely at masterpieces created by the artists. I will also be discussing certain details that I will look closer into. I will also be looking at methods of producing the finished piece.

Albrecht Dürer also known as Dürer, was a German painter and printmaker; he produced work in various ways including engravings within wood and watercolours. He was also a part of a movement called, ‘High Renaissance’.  High Renaissance was a visual art movement that took place in the 1940s. He is also known as Europeans first landscape artists. He is most famous for his watercolour painting of ‘The Hare’ and his engraving of ‘The Rhinoceros’. These two pieces of his work are very different, ‘The Hare’ was done for observation whereas, The ‘Rhinoceros’ was not.

‘The Rhinoceros’ (Source 1), this was created in 1515 by Dürer which was produced out of a wood cutting with pen and ink. I find the piece to be rather fascinating and interesting due to the appearance. The rhinoceros looks almost abstract and small details have been exaggerated dramatically to create such beauty within his work. It has been claimed that Dürer produced this piece without actually seeing a rhino with his own eyes. I find this amazing that such a bold and beautiful piece of work that become very famous was actually produced by a description rather than observation. The written description he worked from is above ‘The Rhinoceros’ picture I have got (Source 1). Unfortunately, the written description is in another language and I cannot understanding it. He has included features that are not on rhinos you would see today. In his work, he has included scaly legs as a feature and also placed a very small twisted shaped horn on the back of the rhino. These are feature that are actually not part of a real rhino. This makes his art piece not accurate but, it become very famous and conveys such extraordinary detail.

David Shepherd is a British artist. He is most famous for his painting of ‘steam locomotives and wildlife’. His work has been rather popular since the 1960’s and, is internationally known as ‘The World’s Best Wildlife artists’. David shepherd has always had an interest in conservation and animals in their habitat. In his life he has painted and drawn lots of pieces that allows him to share his experiences. He produces such lovely observational paintings and drawings of animals in their own habitat. He has produced lots of work that he has created throughout travelling the world and exploring wildlife. David Shepherd is not known well for his portraits that he has done, which include ‘Queen Elizabeth.

 His life as an artists and a conservationist has be on a few TV programmes including; BBC ‘Man Who Loves Giants’. He has also been on other programs such as; ‘Elephants and Engines’, ‘In Search of Wildlife’ and ‘This is Your Life’.

‘Savuti Elephants’ (Source 2) is an oil painting produced by David Shepherd. This is an observation painting done from a distance in Africa’s wildlife using oil paint. I find this to be a breath taking piece, due to the detail and how realistic the painting looks. He has focused mainly on the centred elephant, I can tell this by the amount of detail he has included on this individual elephant compared to the rest. You can see the curiosity in each elephants face. You can see that the elephants are deep in thought and are staring directly at David Shepherd as he painted them from a distance. David Shepherd has set this out in a way that allows you to see the depth between the elephants and gives the impression of his work coming off of the page. His painting conveys the beauty within each elephant and how amazing animals look in their own environment instead of in captivity. He has gone into incredible detail to create the creases within the skin of the elephants. He has also worked on a background and a foreground giving the sense of space. He has painted lovely long grass and has put very faint white birds flying within the sky.

Next, I will be now comparing ‘The Rhinoceros’ and ‘Savuti Elephants’. In Dürer’s Rhino, he has created incredible crisp lines with no mistake insight. Everything is neatly order and no line is out of place. He has only used one colour and gathered lovely detail but it is not realistic. No living creature has a definite outline that surrounds there whole body. Where as in David Shepherd’s, ‘Savuti Elephants’, is the opposite. There is no crisp definite lines in a neat order, his painting is smooth and looks very realistic. You can see the small brush strokes that he has created. He has used a range of realistic colours and made this painting look three-dimensional. But, in Dürer’s rhino, he has made the work look very two-dimensional.

The backgrounds in both of these masterpieces are very different, in Dürer’s Rhino, there is not much sense represented for a background. This is because; it is a very two-dimensional piece. The foreground and the main focus of this piece is of course, the Rhinoceros itself. The background is rather hard to distinguish. You can see the rhino is standing on solid ground, but it does not extend much into the background, it remains mainly in the foreground and just under the feet of the rhino. In comparison to David Shepherd’s ‘Savuti Elephants’ its quite the opposite, you can see clearly that the tall, wild grass is the foreground and the elephants are slightly behind followed by the background of the blue sky and white birds. In comparison, ‘The Rhinoceros’ is very two-Dimensional and flat whereas, ‘Savuti Elephants’ is three-dimensional and gives the detailed depth of space.

Next I will be talking about composition. In ‘The Rhinoceros’ the composition is very simple. The main focus of the artwork is centred in the middle of the work and has little surrounding which makes the audience’s attention focus in mainly on the rhino. Doing this makes the rhino look very bold and overpowering which reflects what a rhino is. Rhinos are very bold powerful animals. In ‘Savuti Elephants’, the composition is more complex compared to ‘The Rhinoceros’. This is because of the three-dimensional aspect he has. The composition is more interesting than the rhino but the positioning of the elephants means the main focus is aimed at the elephants but due to the detailed background and foreground, you lose a bit of the audience’s attention to the surrounding areas.

In conclusion, Dürer’s ‘The Rhinoceros’ and David Shepherd’s ‘Savuti Elephants’ are two very different a beautiful pieces in their own way. They both convey such amazing detail in different ways of expressing wildlife. The most obvious difference that stands out between the two artists is that fact that, the artists have worked in a different stay. The ‘Rhinoceros’ has been done in two-dimensional and the ‘Savuti Elephants’ has been done in three-dimensional. Because they have been done so differently, it makes them both have such unique stays of conveying an animal. I feel like the comparison of the two masterpieces is very gripping and really makes me think about possible ways that I could work to get different results to express a story within my own work.

The simplification of Dürer’s ‘The Rhinoceros’ is amazing and so unique, it’s very interesting to know he produced that by a description and not from observation. In my opinion I love the simplification of the two-dimensional art, it makes the overall finished piece very interesting. Even though the rhino is mainly two-dimensional, there is a feel of three-dimensional aspects from the use of shade and shadow. I really like how the whole wood-engraving has been printed in one colour. I think this makes a bold statement. It shows that simplification can be outstanding and create an astatically pleasing piece.

David Shepherd’s ‘Savuti Elephants’ is a lovely piece of work. In my opinion I really like the marks he has created using his paintbrush. I love the mixture between the smooth looking skin on the elephants along with the textured grass. I think the colours are amazing and are very realistic. The colours really complement the composition and the detail of the work. I love how realistic this looks, it looks like it could have been a photography he took himself, it is so perfect without a mistake insight.

Looking as these two artists has given me awareness to detail and how I should take time in my work to produce quality work like the artists. I have learnt that I think it is better to work in two-dimension and I would also like to work in two-dimension in my own work.

Source 1

 

Source 2

Bibliography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%BCrer's_Rhinoceros#

http://riowang.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/rhinocerology-1-rhinoceros-of-pope.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Renaissance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/0eHcrXb8RuqIEVYKkExljg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Shepherd_(artist)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shepherd-Elephants.jpg

http://www.davidshepherd.com/davidshepherd-savutielephants.html

Historical and Contemporary Artists

Historical Artists

• Dürer

Albercht Dürer is a famously  know as Dürer. He was a German painter, mathmatician and printmaker. He produced his work in various  was including engravings and water colours movements called "High Renaissamce".

This is one of Dürer's art pieces. It is called the 'Rhinoceros'.

It was produced in 1515 created out of wood-cutting and engraving with pen and ink. I find this particular  piece to be very intresting and almost abstract. I feel aspectts of the Rhino have been exaggerated to create such beauty.

Dürer's  'Rhinoceros' was based on a written  description, which is probably  why i thought it looked a bit abstract. This piece  of work was not an observational drawing and, Dürer never saw a rhino his self.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%BCrer%27s_Rhinoceros
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pd/a/albrecht_d%C3%BCrers_rhinoceros.aspx

• Hansken

Hasken is an elephant that various artists drew when she was around. The elephant  became famous in the early 17th century  in Europe. She toured many countries  and also performed circus tricks.

This picture has been produced by an anonymous  17th century artist showing Hansken performed tricks.

This is a wood engraving with an ink wash ontop. I fimd the detail to be extrodenary and I think it's  very effective  that the overal piece creates a creates a story of what Hansken did.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hansken
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pd/r/rembrandt,_elephant.aspx


Contemporary Artists

• Si Scott 

Si Scott is a graphic  designer  from the UK. He say worked for various companies  and has also produced  his own projects along the side. This swan design is one of his masterpieces.

He has deaihned amd created a unique  style that is his own. The image of the swan is lovely. The illustration  grasps alot of detail  just by using abstract  swirls and shapes to create the animal.  The artists produced this using a fineliner and scanned  it into the computer  for further editing.

http://siscottstudio.com
http://www.typeforyou.org/2006/08/30/si-scott-interview/

• Dean Crouser

Dean Crouser is an artist who loves to paint his work loose and simple. He captures  beauty out of simplified scenes but adds his own style. His use of colour makes the paintings exciting. 

The painting of the Peacock is an excellent example of the exciting colours he uses and also shows  his style  clearly.

In the Peacock painting you can see he hasused long strockes with no fixed lines which shows  how free he is with painting. The spontaneous  lines, cokoures and marks create an exciting  piece.

http://www.crouserart.com
https://m.facebook.com/pages/Dean-Crouser-Fine-Art/135052649883384


From this visual  research, I can see that historical  artists using wood an engravings  to create their art where as, contemporary  artists use a winder range of materials.

Essay Proposal

The theme of my project is ‘animals and the environment’. For this project I want to bring awareness to various different dangers that effect animals, for example, global warming is melting the ice where Polar bears live, deforestation destroying habitats where wild animals live. I am looking at working with conservation and looking at animals around today I am not looking at mythical creatures.

 Also how lots of animals are become extinct. I will also be looking at animals in art and how they are represented.

This relates to my previous project called ‘museum of me’. These two projects relate because, I used animals in the previous project and I am planning on using them again in my new one. Because I have worked with animals before, I can use the work produce already to help me get ideas and I also gives me the chance to develop my previous pieces.

For my essay I'm  going to be comparing two inspiring artists. These artists are; Durer and David Shepherd. I decied to compare these two artist  for my essy because,  they both have a very different  way of working.

One of my influences will be ZLS Whipsanade Zoo. Here I will be able to gather information about different types of animals myself. The groups ‘World Animal Protection’ and ‘National Wildlife Federation’. Both of these groups are working on ways to help and protect animals from extinction and offer problems.

All of these will help me gather information about individual animals and also which animals are in danger of extinction. I would also like to have a look at country sides and places with a lot of nature to do observation drawings.

The Courtauld Gallery

On Friday  20th March 2015 I attended  a college trip to The Courtauld Gallery. The purpose of this trip was to learn research and essay writing skills.
When we arrived  at the gallery,  we had an introduction on a painting. We as a whole class, had to work together  on analysing and gathering information  just by looking at the painting  and the plaque  next to it. We was given  starting points to help us understand  how we don't need to Internet  to do research. These points were;

● What is the artists name?
● What is the inspiration?
● What does the plaque say?
● What is the media?
● What cane you tell by the time setting?
● How has it been arranged?

These 6 questions  can help anyone get a better understanding of what the art piece in front of you is expressing. All of these questions can be answered  without the Internet or a book. When I was taught  about these points it opened up my mind as to how much you can learn just by paying a lot of attention to detail.
After this exercise  we then moved on to groups of 3 and chose  a piece  of work that we wanted to learn more about. Me and my group decided on a painting called 'Women in an Interior' by 'Pierre Bornard'.

This is the picture I took of the painting we selected.

From looking at the painting myself I managed to gather information about it  what I learnt is the following information; 

● Middle class women dressed formally

● In am informal setting

● Cold colours and books in the background

● Foreground is simple and the background is busy

● Bold brush strokes 

From reading the plaque I learnt the following;

●  The painting was made in 1867-1947

●  The artist  and the lady got married 19 years later

●  Oil on canvas 

Gather this information  gave me a good understanding  of what was going on at the time when this painting was made. I found  all this information to be very useful.

After doing this, the next stage was to look at the different ways of researching. We made two main categories  and brainstormed  ways we can research  our paintings further. The first section was called books and the second  section was called Internet. This is what was said for both sections.

Books                                                

● Encyclopedia                               

● Books on individual  artist        

● Books on art theory                    

● Catalogue                                      

● Newspaper                                   

● Dictionary                                    

Internet

● Artist website

● Interviews

● Gallery website

●University website

● Diaries/ biographies

●Letters

Those are all the things we were told are the beat places to look when doing research. I found this part of the day very useful  because I now know where to look when i need to find information  that is correct. I was informed that Wikipedia  is not a very realisable place to look when doing research because  it's  not always historically correct. I never knew  that information until I went on this trip.

After the class and I where taught where to go when researching work, we went off to do it ourselves  in our  groups. I chose  to only use book's to research out painting and this is what I learnt.

● He was a French  painter and designer 

● He studied  law

● The lady in the painting  was his mistress so, that means he was married to another women at the time

● He used light to draw attention  to the background  and used the silhouette to fill the foreground 

After all the research I came to the conclusion that, 'Pierre Bornard', used a cool colour scheme, which suggests a very calm and relaxed environment. He also used light to draw attention to the background, which created  a silhouette that fills the foreground.

Because  Bornard painted  like this it brings up the question, who is this lady? At first I personally  thought it was his girlfriend  or wife but after doing research  the truth  was reviled. The lady in the paint was not in fact  his wife at the time, but was his mistress. This means he was cheating on his wife with the lady in the painting.  

Cheating on someone is something that is usually kept i'm the dark which can be the reason he painted the picture this way. He painted  the lady in dark colours and made her hard to see and focused  the attention on the background. 

The pose that the lady has been painted in suggest that  this was a very informal  occasion.  The lady is not dressed up and she is painted in away that looks like she was having a causal  conversation within a home environment.

But even though I learnt this information, the one question  that remains for me is, what happened to his wife?