UNIT 2
It would be hard to find a subject that no one has ever tried to paint. Artists paint the things they see around them - people, animals, nature, and non-living objects. They also paint dreamlike scenes that exist only in the imagination. An artist can reach back into the past and paint a historical event, a religious story or a myth. Some artists paint pictures that show no clear subject matter at all. Instead, they arrange the paint in some abstract way that expresses feelings or ideas that are important to them. Since prehistoric times, many artists have painted the subjects that were most important to their societies. For example, religion was particularly important in Europe during the Middle Ages, and most of the paintings created them were religious.
All great paintings, regardless of subject matter, share a common feature. They do more than just reproduce with paint something that exists, existed or can be imagined. They also express the painter’s special view about a subject.
People have always been a favourite subject of painters. Artists have shown people in their paintings in many different ways. For example, Renaissance self-portraits, like all portraits of the age, presented the sitter/subject in noble attire. However, self-portraits always assume an insight into the artist, beyond physical likeness. …It was Michelangelo who coined the adage that 'every painter paints himself' - although this was in contrast to his view that a human form had to be perfected by art: “Painting bore transparent witness to the artist's personal and quasi-divine capacity to create ideal faces and bodies that expressed the vital, enduring character of the subject. In the justification of a self-generating, self-sustaining individual, a direct, personal relationship with an omnipotent God was preferred to imitation of divine creation manifest in fertile Nature. In this view, naturalistic self-portraiture as a means of figuring artistic creativity is a contradiction in terms”.
Religious subjects dominated painting in some parts of the world for hundreds of years. A large part of all painting ever done in Asia is religious. Medieval Europeans painted almost nothing but religious subjects. Painters of the European Renaissance, which followed the Middle Ages, painted more religious pictures than any other kind. Religious pictures, as a rule, tell stories about gods and holy people and teach moral lessons. Many religious painters showed their subjects as powerful and stern, and others showed their subjects as loving or suffering figures. In one way or another, most religious paintings reflect the artist’s respect for religion.
The Last Supper is remarkable for Leonardo's stylistic innovations. In this painting he re-created a traditional theme in an entirely new way. Instead of showing the 12 apostles as individual figures, he grouped them in dynamic compositional units of three, framing the figure of Christ, who is isolated in the centre of the picture. Seated before a pale distant landscape seen through a rectangular opening in the wall, Christ—who is about to announce that one of those present will betray him—represents a calm nucleus while the others respond with animated gestures. In the monumentality of the scene and the weightiness of the figures, Leonardo reintroduced a style pioneered more than a generation earlier by Masaccio, the father of Florentine painting.
Landscapes and seascapes. Many artists turn to nature for their subject matter. They paint scenes called landscapes and seascapes that try to capture the many moods of nature: the peace and quiet of the countryside or the violence of the sea.
Still lifes are pictures of objects. Still-life painters usually make no attempt to tell a story or express an idea. Instead, they are interested in the objects themselves – their colour, shape, surface, and the space within or around them. Most still lifes show nonliving objects. Albrecht Durer’s Young Hare is a still life even though it shows a living object. Durer showed every detail of the animal, including the individual hairs and whiskers. In this way, he gave the picture the frozen stillness that is a special feature of still lifes.
History, mythology, and social expression. Artists often find their subject matter in the past. They paint pictures that record real events or myths of long ago. Many such paintings are intended to recall past deeds of glory or to teach a lesson. Many artists have used paintings to express political and social beliefs and to protest such things as war and poverty. Movements of social expression have appeared in painting throughout history.
Painting compositions. The way that painters arrange colours, forms, or lines is called composition. Some painters use no recognizable subject matter. Instead, they stress composition for its own sake. In other paintings subject matter is as important as its composition.
Painting as decoration. Many paintings have been created to decorate rooms or buildings. The subject matter of most of these paintings is less important than the painting’s place within the total scheme of decoration.