tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720084087539855728.post1732869419629280375..comments2023-07-07T06:32:43.264-07:00Comments on Art Matters: Subject Facts, Picture Facts, and UsMarilyn Baumanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09221864675491721708noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720084087539855728.post-1598856557535619662012-01-09T11:42:42.047-08:002012-01-09T11:42:42.047-08:00Actually, whenever I've looked at the Renoir &...Actually, whenever I've looked at the Renoir "Pomegranates" my eye goes first to the center where the overripe innards are displayed. I agree with Ms. Radano that "juicy, rich and vibrant" are apt words to describe the depiction, and why my eyes and senses make a transfer to blood and guts spilling out.<br /> The Soutine "Flayed Rabbit," on the other hand, while "visceral and meaty" seems gruesome mostly in subject matter but compared to the pomegranates, not so much in expression.dmbrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10161630859604294183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8720084087539855728.post-82578497879376712452011-12-04T12:09:58.922-08:002011-12-04T12:09:58.922-08:00Palettes are similar and I sense, as much as possi...Palettes are similar and I sense, as much as possible from digital images, that brush application is heavy in both. The Renoir is a sandwich composition while the Soutine is pyramidal albeit framed in an assymetrical digaonal block viewed from above. But both are still lifes, luminously rendered up close on a table. (I assume you are not looking for an lengthy essay here.)But, yes, they express oppositional qualities, i.e., the Renoir is soft, quiet, velvety, juicy, rich and vibrant. The "Rabbit" picture, on the other hand, is shocking, visceral, wet, soggy, decadent, meaty, morbid, and rather nauseous. While one painting portrays a subject that is life-giving, the other blatantly displays death at its most gruesome.... violent, bleeding and dramatic. Yet, it isn't just the subject matter that elicits these strong instinctive human responses. Renoir uses more cool and quiet blues in his painting, and renders the "cloth" upon which the fruit rests in soft, pillowy, velvety mottling. You sense a certain respect given the pomegranates. Whereby the "cloth" under the "rabbit" is stiff, papery and appears soiled. There are more harsh reds here, things are askew, the colors seem smeared, harder, applied with more force and brutality. So, yes, two paintings similar in color and light, but aided by the subject matter and the subtle differences in form and composition, are expressively quite different.Judith A. Radanonoreply@blogger.com