Level 3 Art and Design: Essay

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.