A creative oil painting of the Entombment re-evaluated in contemporary terms

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A CREATIVE OIL PAINTING OF THE ENTOMBMENT RE-EVALUATED IN CONTEMPORARY TERMS

A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Fine Arts The University of Southern California

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Fine Arts

by Max W. Butler August 1950

UMI Number: EP57885

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T h is thesis, w ritten by

JUOL UK I T T I IfUT Gitf BUTl^n under the guidance of h:A&.. F a c u lty Com m ittee, and approved by a l l its members, has been presented to and accepted by the C o u n cil on G ra d u ate S tudy and Research in p a r t ia l f u l f i l l ­ ment of the requirements f o r the degree of

50

Date.

Committee

Chairmax Chairman

/

TABLE OP CONTENTS CHAPTER I.

PAGE

THE P R O B L E M .................................. Statement of the problem

II.

.................

1

Importance of the s t u d y ...................

1

Organization of the thesis

1

................................

3

Fra A n g e l i c o ..............................

3

................................

4

Botticelli Mantegna

V.

. . . . . .

...................

.

4

....................................

5

El G r e c o ..................................

5

Summary of contributions

.................

6

PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS

.................

8

RESEARCH PROCEDURES .........................

11

Sketches and compositions .................

11

Early s k e t c h e s ..........................

11

Final c o m p o s i t i o n .......................

13

Titian

IV.

...............

REVIEW OF SOME PREVIOUS PAINTINGS OF THE ENTOMBMENT

III.

1

Life s t u d i e s ..............................

15

Studies of equipment

.....................

15

Composition study in values ...............

16

Intermediate study In color ...............

17

THE FINAL P A I N T I N G .........................

20

iii CHAPTER

VI.

VII.

PAGE Preparation of the c a n v a s .................

20

The u n d e r p a i n t i n g ..........................

21

Completion of the p a i n t i n g ...............

22

ANALYSIS AND E V A L U A T I O N .....................

25

A n a l y s i s ..................................

25

Weak p o i n t s ..............................

25

Strong points ............................

25

E v a l u a t i o n ................................

26

SUMMARY AND C O N C L U S I O N S .....................

27

S u m m a r y ....................................

27

C o n c l u s i o n s ................................

27

BIBLIOGRAPHY

......................................

29

LIST OF PLATES PLATE I. II.

PAGE "The Entombment" by Fra A n g e l i c o .......... "Jesus Carried to the Sepulchre" by B o t t i c e l l i ................................

III.

30

31

"The Dead Christ" by M a n t e g n a ............

32

IV.

"The Entombment" by T i t i a n .................

33

V.

"The Entombment" by El G r e c o ..............

34

Three Compositions

.......................

35

a.

No. I I ...............................

35

b.

No. I V ...............................

35

c.

No. V

...............................

35

VII.

Studies for a S e t t i n g .....................

36

VIII.

A Photographic Study of the A c t i o n ........

37

IX.

The Final C o m p o s i t i o n .....................

38

X.

Composition Study in V a l u e s ..............

39

XI.

Life S t u d y ..................................

40

XII.

Life S t u d y ..................................

41

XIII.

Life S t u d y ..................................

42

XIV.

Life S t u d y ..................................

43

XV.

Studies of E q u i p m e n t .......................

44

XVI.

Intermediate Color Study ...................

43

XVII.

The Final P a i n t i n g .........................

46

VI.

CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Statement of the problem,

It is the purpose of this

study to evolve an oil painting on canvas portraying a traditional subject, the Entombment, but re-evaluating it in terms of contemporary wartime experience. Importance of the study.

Since the Christian reli­

gion has been the greatest single factor in shaping Western culture succeeding classical times, it is natural that it should have been a constant source of subject material for art.

Even following the times of the pietlstic artists whose

sole aim was to produce for the church a work of art equal to their personal faith, its episodes have been used repeatedly with varying degrees of religious feeling, and often merely as a means of exploiting personal investigations of the pictorial elements of painting.

But regardless of artists*

individual approaches, the story of Christ has remained the foremost element of our common heritage, something with which we are all familiar and which each may re-evaluate in terms of his own experience to seek its private significance. Organization of the thesis.

The remainder of this

thesis is organized in the following manner: Chapter Two contains a review of some previous paintings of this same

2 subject*

Chapter Three is a preliminary consideration of

the problem other than compositional elements*

Chapter Four

describes the complete procedure of research done prior to the final painting*

Chapter Five deals with the production

of the final canvas itself.

Chapter Six analyzes the paint­

ing from the standpoint of pictorial composition* Seven is a review of the problem. Bibliography and Plates.

Chapter

This is followed by the

CHAPTER II REVIEW OP SOME PREVIOUS PAINTINGS OP THE ENTOMBMENT In reviewing some of the works of master painters on the subject of the Entombment, the writer cannot hope to do more than merely touch on a few of the varying approaches to the subject in view of the vast range covered by even a few of them.

The versions of the subject selected are those by

Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Mantegna, Titian, and El Greco,

I.

FRA ANGELICO (PLATE I)

Fra Angelico, as Vasari

describes him, represents

more than any other the artist producing art for the church; his pictures are saturated with religious fervor.

"The

Entombment1' of the door panel of the Santissima Annunziata, Florence, depicts the Disciples and the women gathered about the body which lies before the rock tomb.

The attitudes are

sorrowful without being theatrical, and no consideration of pictorial elements has been given pre-eminence over the religious feeling of the work.

1 Betty Burroughs, editor, Vasari's Lives of the Artists (New York: Simon and Schuster, 19^6), pp. 97-101.

4 II.

BOTTICELLI (PLATE II)

In ’’Jesus Carried to the Sepulchre” by Botticelli we see the subject treated by an artist who painted the Madonna and the Venus with identical elegance.

The figures have

been twisted out of genuine mourning into exaggerated attitudes which permit the artist to exploit the linear character of his highly personal and aesthetic style.

One

is most immediately conscious of a linear rhythm which, save for the recognition of familiar figures, may as easily be rendering a Greek myth.

III.

MANTEGNA (PLATE III)

A passion for the antique dominates one of Mantegna's last works, "The Dead Christ," now in the Brera Gallery, Milan.

The recumbent figure is shown greatly foreshortened,

a problem that continually interested the artist; over it is a sheet, both cloth and body being rendered in a single quality that gives them the weight of marble.

It seems here

that the painter was preoccupied with the technical problem of creating an illusion; and even though the women weep at the side of the slab with faces properly expressive, there is an adamantine quality which is more reminiscent of static Greek sculpture than human grief.

5 IV.

TITIAN (PLATE IV)

Its wealth at a height, Venice produced a church art from which the last vestige of piety was missing and which, instead, concerned Itself with material and physical beauty. Once the city had tasted of pleasure, she yielded herself without restraint; she gave herself over to the desires and the energy of which her senses had accu­ mulated so rich a store. She died of it, like those animals so bursting with life that they die in the act of reproduction. Her death transmitted to the future, In Inner wealth, the outward opulence which she had amassed for six centuries.2 In his masterful handling of "The Entombment," Titian gives us a painting In which the plastic quality of oil paint is at a zenith and in which the color has never been surpassed; here is a work in which the technique of paint was conceived and executed in its broadest terras, without limitations.

Spiritually speaking, there Is a great distance

between the humility of Fra Angelico and this powerful and imposing composition done by a master of the medium, even though both are on the same subject.

V.

EL GRECO (PLATE V)

Technical mastery of painting becomes again somewhat infused with religious ardor In the work of El Greco.

^ Elie Faure, Renaissance Art (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., [n. d.J), p. 179*

6 Mornand says about Spanish art in general: Possessing a strong Moorish strain, Spain practises her religion with fierce ardor: in her the gentle faith of the Gospels is stifled by sombre, haunting vision, . 3 •

t ■»/

And about El Greco in particular: Often marked by a strange asymmetry which disorganizes the planes, lengthens the lines, distracts the atten­ tion, the image of Christ shows forth like an apparition, though still preserving an essentially human form in order to glorify the magnitude of His moral and physical suffering.2* This version of the Entombment (collection of the Countess de la Beraudiere) is one primarily concerned with the plastic quality of the medium and yet one in which is reflected some strange personal feeling about the subject itself.

Whatever vision as an artist El Greco pursued of

the intrinsic possibilities of his medium, it must have been in some way galvanised by his particular attitude toward religion.

VI.

SUMMARY OF CONTRIBUTIONS

The conclusions drawn from a study of these few paintings is that the subject is in no way limited, either as to spiritual significance or the handling of technical

3 Pierre Mornand, Christ1s Image (Paris: French Library of Fine Arts, 1939)> P • 20. ^ Ibid., p. 308.

7 means of the medium.

The writer sought to realize the

freedom allowed by the subject for painting and to show that a traditional subject painted countless times can always lend itself to new interpretations.

CHAPTER III PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS The initial choice of a traditional subject for a painting posed a problem of approach.

Having seen many

stereotyped paintings of religious subjects done in an academic manner, the writer wished to avoid this approach. A picture in which traditional robes and attributes were used seemed particularly liable to result in this quality. It was felt that all parts of the composition should be researched through firsthand knowledge, and that any spiritual quality it was to have would have to come from experience.

In The Spirit of the Forms Faure reveals one of

the most important aspects of good composition: It was while watching, one day, a surgical operation that I surprised the secret of "composition" which confers nobility upon any "subject" and that can assure to the "great subject" its manifest pre-eminence over all others. The group formed by the patient, the surgeon, his aides, and the spectators, appeared to me like a single organism in action. I saw at once that it was impossible it should not be so, since each was at his own task and all united about the same center where the event was taking place, some through their profession, others through their passionate interest in the spec­ tacle, this other because he constituted the chief reason for the event. It was the event Itself, the very nature of the event, that determined In every dimension and aspect of the group the positions of the bodies, arms, hands, shoulders, heads, none of which avoided or could avoid its all-powerful Influence without weakening, thereby, the harmony and rhythm of this group.1 1 Elie Faure, The Spirit of the Forms (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., [n. d.J), p. 338.

9 It was decided to present the subject re-evaluated in terms of contemporary wartime experience.

A wartime setting

was chosen because war— specifically combat itself— is a source of vivid experiences of life and death, and these underlie all religions.

The writer having had firsthand

knowledge of combat, it would be more nearly possible for him to approach this quality mentioned by Faure in composing the figures around an action he actually had experienced. There was a certain possibility in this idea, however, of a too subjective approach which might result in the mere illustration of a specific event in World War II.

It was

desirable to keep the theme as abstract and general as possible, and to avoid dating the picture to any particular war.

Rather, it was intended to suggest the effect of

military uniform on man at any time.

To this end it would

be necessary to avoid using such military equipment as might suggest a particular nationality, or a setting that would allude to a specific place or incident. However, neither special message nor philosophy, nor even subject matter can make a painting a work of art. Essentially all these elements are only incidental to the handling of the pictorial elements themselves.

Painting is

not literary; a picture stands or falls on its intrinsic qualities.

Faure, in weighing the importance of subject

matter, refers to the great sketch of "Paradise” by

10 Tintoretto: There seems to be no "subject11 and one does not notice personages. This miracle is produced by the complex and multiple relations of tones, forms and con tours that interpenetrate one another and reply to one another. . . . It is a pure visual symphony in which nature, closely followed, is only a pretext to build a monument entirely contained in an imagination. . . .2 All these points influenced the attitude of the writer in his approach to the problem, forming a guide for the first steps of building a composition.

2 Ibid., p. 308.

CHAPTER IV RESEARCH PROCEDURES Many preliminary studies were required in preparation for the final painting.

No work was done on the final can­

vas until all parts and details of the composition had been previously studied and solved to the best of the writer's ability.

This chapter deals with the procedure of this

research, and is divided into steps of chronological order: (1) Sketches and Compositions, of Equipment,

(2) Life Studies,

(3) Studies

(4) Composition Study in Value, and (5 ) Inter­

mediate Study in Color.

I.

SKETCHES AND COMPOSITIONS (PLATE VI)

Early sketches.

No specific proportions were fol­

lowed in the earliest compositional sketches, with square, vertical, and horizontal arrangements all being used.

The

first sketches were small, done in pencil or pen and ink on white paper, and contained only hasty notations of placement of the figures.

This linear medium proved to be unsatis­

factory, however; the general criticism by the committee was that all these studies were conceived in two dimensional, linear pattern, and not as three dimensional compositions in which the movements of the figures were interwoven in space.

12 It was further suggested that working in larger dimensions might give more freedom in placing the figures. The second group of studies was done in charcoal and white chalk on tan paper roughly ten inches by fifteen. This particular medium was chosen for two advantages it offered: first, the paper color provided a middle tone upon which to work both toward light with white chalk and toward shadow with charcoal, and thereby describe the figures in volume instead of drawing merely their contours; secondly, application of light patterns on top of middle tones more nearly approximated the technique of oil painting on canvas than did the other method wherein light areas were simply white paper left untouched.

Several compositions were

evolved in this medium (Plate VI), each being rejected for at least one major weakness.

With the criticism of compo­

sition V, it was decided that the writerfs approach to the problem was essentially wrong.

First of all, the composi­

tions had been begun with arranging the figures themselves, giving no consideration for the space in which these were placed, and afterward a setting had been merely sketched around them to fill in gaps in the composition.

This fault,

it was suggested, was possibly an unconscious reversion to the earlier manner of drawing predominantly in line.

As for

the figure group itself it was pointed out that men placed in such positions could never succeed in lifting a dead body

13 as depicted; the relationship of the three figures was artificial and not at all functional.

Lastly, in each of

the studies there had been a failure to use both figures and setting to convey completely the story of the picture; neither the gesture of the men nor the equipment and sur­ roundings functioned truthfully toward this end.

These

criticisms were followed with suggestions that the writer (l) select an actual landscape and sketch it with the idea in mind of using it as a space in which to place the figures, and that he (2 ) use three live models, two in the act of lifting the third, in order to study the natural positions this action would require. Final composition.

Griffith Park was selected for

sketching because of its varying terrain levels, rock formations, and woods.

Several features were recorded,

including a clump of trees, a large oak tree, and a pile of large granite slabs and cornices, evidently once part of an edifice that had been razed.

The first two (Plate VII a, b)

were dismissed as unsuitable inasmuch as they were almost complete compositions within themselves.

The third (Plate

VII c), however, had certain favorable qualities; not only could the stones provide interesting forms pictorially, but, because of their evident former use in a building, their present condition could imply the idea of destruction as

14 well, a feeling consonant with the theme of war.

Another

trip to that area allowed the writer to sketch other views of the rocks (Plate VII d) and to further study their color. Since it was intended that the light source in the composi­ tion should be low and from the left, notes were made just before sunset as to the effect of light on the various planes of these stones when the sun was low on the horizon. In accordance with the suggestion that live models be studied, three students were asked to go through the act pictured in the composition, two lifting the third who lay prone.

As they repeated this action, photographs were taken

at various levels of the lift (Plate VIII); also photo­ graphed were such details as hands gripping the blanket that supported the inert body, and the position of the arms and head of the prone figure being supported.

The resulting

photographs proved the committee's previous criticism of the illogical relationship of the three figures to be entirely correct. With the use of these documentary films and sketches another composition (Plate IX) was executed in which consi­ deration was given to all previous criticisms.

A spatial

setting was provided for the figures; a fourth figure, one in the attitude of grasping the dead man's legs, was added to the principal group, while a fifth was put in the back­ ground to indicate the direction in which the three would

15 move once they had lifted the body.

These additions seemed

to the writer to present the story more completely to the spectator.

This composition was approved by the committee.

II.

LIFE STUDIES (PLATES XI-XIV)

A large drawing of each figure to be used in the painting was done from live models, these charcoal studies being thirty inches by forty.

No attempt was made to exploit

individual characteristics of the different models since it was desired to present the picture primarily as an event rather than a study of particular personalities.

Later,

when the final painting was begun, the photographs previously taken of the three students were used to supplement these drawings for details of folds in the clothing.

III.

STUDIES OF EQUIPMENT (PLATE XV)

A major problem for the writer was to present a tra­ ditional subject re-evaluated in terras of his own experience, and yet, in so doing, to avoid a too subjective approach which might lead to mere illustration of a specific event recalled from the Italian campaign of World War II.

This

aim necessitated avoidance of using particular equipment; only the barest essentials that would identify the men as being soldiers were used: helmets, boots, an ammunition belt,

16 together with uniform dress.

The American helmet being

deemed too large and shapeless for satisfactory pictorial form in this case, the smaller German helmet was used to derive that type of gear for the soldiers.

Several draw­

ings were made of German helmets in the Los Angeles County Museum collection, and from these sketches a general helmettype was derived.

Likewise, a type of rifle belt was

synthesized from a German belt in the museum and an American belt; the boots were designed after a pair of American combat boots owned by the writer.

IV.

COMPOSITION STUDY IN VALUES (PLATE X)

The next step toward unifying these separate studies into a final painting was to make a large composition in which patterns of light and dark were coordinated.

This was

done in a study twenty-seven inches by thirty-six in char­ coal on white paper.

Careful attention was given the

pattern of light areas which was to lead the eye through the picture.

The lighted planes of the rocks in the lower

right side of the picture were planned to convey movement up to the figure in the distance, from where, by means of light, the eye was directed down to the central standing figure and around through the entire group in a U-shaped movement, and into the rocks on the left side, traveling then down their

17 lighted planes to complete the movement through the picture. To achieve this movement a large abstract pattern of light and dark was first planned; then from the documentary sketches the rocks were rearranged so that their planes would logically create this pattern.

V.

INTERMEDIATE STUDY IN COLOR (PLATE XVI)

Once the basic pattern of light and dark had been established, it had to be transposed into color.

Experience

had shown the writer that it was best to work out the color study for a picture in the same medium to be employed later; it is difficult to match a color in one medium with a different medium. for this step.

Therefore, oil paint on canvas was used

The study was done twenty-seven inches by

thirty-six, large enough to permit research of certain details in aerial perspective and painting technique as well as those of color.

The major color scheme had already been

suggested by the intrinsic hues of material researched for the picture: the red of the granite and the olive of the uniforms, against which flesh tones appeared somewhat yellowish. The painting was begun directly on a white ground, the three major colors being laid in first to establish the scheme.

It was early decided to make the shirt of the

18 uniform a different tone from the trousers in order to avoid monotony of color in the figures.

A warmish yellow tone was

introduced into the shirts and into the lighted surfaces of the red rocks, while green was mixed into the shaded planes of the rocks.

This was done to relate all parts of the

picture through color. Two weeks were devoted to the oil study.

It was the

most valuable single step of the entire research procedure. Certain effects preconceived in black and white proved to be amiss in color.

For instance, the sharp contrast of

light and shaded planes of the rocks made them altogether too colorful for the rest of the picture; this, together with the many diagonals of their contours, created such an animated pattern that the figures of the men seemed quite static in comparison.

The shovel placed in the hand of the

farthest soldier— a device used to divert the eye down to the main group, and to tell part of the story— seemed unnecessary so that it was decided to omit it in the final painting.

The prone figure failed to provide the interest

proper to its importance in the subject; it was criticized as being too puppet-like,

lacking the sag of an inert body.

These failures, however, were valuable to the writer, for they pointed out pictorial pitfalls to avoid on the road ahead. Each step in the research procedure described in this

19 chapter was indispensable to the production of the final painting.

Any short cut would have resulted in insufficient

knowledge of the whole problem attempted, forcing the writer to resort to some kind of camouflage for these unsolved parts.

Now it was time to attempt the final canvas.

CHAPTER V THE FINAL PAINTING The production of the final painting fell into three main steps:

(l) preparation of the canvas,

(2) the lay-in

and underpainting, and (3) the completion of the work. Criticism was given periodically by the committee after the underpainting had been sketched in, continuing until the conclusion of the work.

I.

PREPARATION OF THE CANVAS

The canvas was prepared by the writer. The painter should by all means prepare the raw canvas himself. The present day ready-made canvas as sold in art supply stores is generally of good quality (I am referring to the best quality of canvas) and from the standpoint of permanence it should be looked upon as acceptable. However, the surface of a commercially prepared canvas— the mechanically even grain— is a serious handicap to the painter in producing sensitive textures. This circumstance should be seriously considered when one's impasto is not heavy enough to conceal an uninteresting painting ground. By stretching a piece of raw canvas on stretchers its thread attains a variegated pattern and irregularity which is charming to the eye. Such a pattern is non-existent on commercial canvas, which is prepared in yard-long lengths.1 Dimensions for the painting were established at thirty-six inches by forty-six.

Stretcher bars this size

1 Frederick Taubes, The Technique of Oil Painting (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company"J 1946;, p. 1.

21 were fitted together and re-enforced at the corners with laths. tacked.

Cotton canvas was stretched taut over this frame and The size used to cover the canvas was ordinary

gelatin mixed to syrupy thickness and spread on with a wide bristle brush.

When this glue was thoroughly dry, the

canvas was primed with white lead mixed with equal parts of linseed oil and damar varnish.

The canvas was then left

untouched for a week so that the layers of size and priming could thoroughly dry and harden.

II.

THE UNDERPAINTING

The composition was sketched on the white ground with charcoal; this lay-in was done freehand.

Certain changes in

composition previously decided upon were

effected in

this

drawing: the figures were made larger in

relation to

the

entire picture, and were moved slightly to the left; rocks on the right were reduced in size.

The charcoal sketch was

sprayed with fixative to prevent its smearing. Colors chosen for the underpainting were generally the intrinsic hues of the objects defined, reduced to a middle value and grayed; this provided a middle tone upon which to work toward both light and dark.

Colors were mixed

with damar varnish and brushed on over the charcoal drawing, being applied thinly so as to permit transparency.

A

22 sketchy technique was employed to provide variety of tone, and edges of the color areas were blended together.

III.

COMPLETION OF THE PAINTING

The color palette used in the painting consisted of: zinc white, ultramarine blue, prussian blue, viridian green, earth green, yellow ochre,- cadmium yellow, raw sienna, burnt sienna, burnt umber, Indian red, cadmium red, alizarin crimson, and ivory black. The pattern of light was established first in building up

the painting, this being done by relating the lighted

planes of the rocks with the lighted portions of the figures. These areas were built up in greater impasto with lighter and more pure color.

Dark gray greens and browns of the

uniforms were repeated in the shaded planes of the rocks in an effort to relate them to the figures.

This, however, was

overdone and early brought the criticism that a monotonous repetition of the same general tone throughout the picture made it appear too near an illustration in monochrome.

It

was recommended that the intrinsic hue of each object be clearly established, and that the use of identical colors in two different areas such as rocks and clothes be avoided. An attempt was made to achieve balance between warm and cool colors.

The folds of the shirt were painted a

23 light warmish tan where the light fell; then, in the tran­ sition where the form turned away from the light source, a complementary cool bluish gray was introduced, after which in the deepest shadow a dark rich yellow ochre was laid to re-establish the intrinsic color.

This same balance was

carried out between the warm olive and cold viridian green of the trousers, the yellow-orange and grayish purple of the flesh tones, and so on.

By this means a greater illusion of

volume was sought since the picture as a whole still tended to appear two-dimensional.

The rocks on the right of the

composition were especially criticized as being linear in treatment. At this point it was evident that an effective tran­ sition between light and dark areas was lacking, a too sharp contrast having developed.

The middle values in the large

figure drawings were studied, after which considerable time was spent establishing these tonal transitions in the figures of the painting. As the painting progressed, the large area between rocks of the right foreground and those in the distance created more and more an effect of vacancy; rocks were added to the middle ground in an effort to break up this rather geometric space.

Another outstanding fault was in the paint­

ing of the prone figure which appeared flattened into a design instead of properly receding in space.

More careful

24 rendering of middle values in the head, shoulders, and chest began to produce an illusion of foreshortening in this figure.

By this time it was necessary to spray the entire

painting with retouch varnish, as the use of paint without additional vehicle had resulted in a dry lusterless surface. This varnishing brought out many tones previously invisible, and especially provided contrast of hues in dark areas where color had sunk in. It is difficult to work on a painting several hours every day without becoming obtuse to its effects; therefore, the writer put aside the work for three days, after which time he was able to judge it more clearly.

It was found

that the light pattern was stronger than previously supposed and that it effectively unified the rocks and figures.

The least successful aspect of the painting was

in the middle values of the uniforms and flesh tones which had become muddy and relatively colorless.

More definite

color was introduced into these areas in an attempt to enliven the appearance of the entire canvas. Roughly six weeks after the final painting had been begun, it was pronounced completed by the committee (Plate XVII).

CHAPTER VI ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION This chapter is an attempt at a critical judgment of the completed painting in terms of its pictorial elements alone, both favorable and unfavorable aspects being con­ sidered*

I. Weak points.

ANALYSIS

The least successful part of the paint­

ing in the writer's opinion is the color value of the dark pattern.

Shadows are monotonous and monochromatic, this

resulting from use of the same colors in all shaded areas without due regard for the intrinsic hue of each object. These areas were overworked to a point of becoming muddy in color as related to the pattern of lights.

There is still

an unpleasantly strong sense of linear pattern about the whole picture even though much effort was devoted to render­ ing an effect of deep space. Strong points.

Perhaps the best aspect of the paint­

ing is its mood which is greatly suitable to the subject. The restricted color scheme, low in value, creates a melancholy atmosphere that is further emphasized by the slightly illogical avenue of great rocks.

The setting seems

26 to the writer, more successfully than any other feature, to imply violence and destruction without literally describing time or place.

The figures are well arranged, especially

the four in the foreground which are united by a single action.

II.

EVALUATION

A true evaluation of this painting cannot be given here since that is dependent upon time and the opinions of others who see it.

The writer can only state that a careful

research was made of all details of the work before the canvas itself was begun, and that the final painting was executed to the best of his ability.

CHAPTER VII SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS The painting itself having been completed and ana­ lyzed in terms of pictorial composition, it will here be considered in the light of the original problem.

I.

SUMMARY

It was the purpose of this study to evolve an oil painting on canvas portraying a traditional subject, the Entombment, re-evaluated in terms of contemporary wartime experience. In so far as the limited means of attitude and dress are concerned, this was accomplished, with the story being shown in the action of the figures, the uniforms supplying an implication of war.

But whether this particular version

provides enough significance to be recognized as the tradi­ tional subject, or whether, on the other hand, failure has rendered it merely an illustration of a war scene remains for others to decide.

II.

CONCLUSIONS

Painting is a medium in which there are no final answers.

The completion of one picture is simply preparation

28 for the next.

It Is hoped, however, that this attempt to

translate a traditional subject Into contemporary terms will interest other painters in seeking fresh material in tradi­ tional sources*

B I B L I O G R A P H Y

29 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Burroughs, Betty, editor, Vasari1s Lives of the Artists, New York: Simon and Schuster, 19^6. "509 p p . and 60 plates. Dewey, John, Art as Experience. Co., 1934. 335 pp.

New York: Minton, Balch &

Dorner, Max, Eugen Neuhas, trans., The Materials of the Artist and Their Use in Painting with Notes on the Techniques of the Old Masters. NewTork: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1934. 432 pp.; illustrations. Faure, Elie, Renaissance A r t . New York: Dover Publications, Inc., [n. d.J. 401 pp.; illustrations. , The Spirit of the Forms. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., [n. d . ]. $60 pp.; illustrations. Hiler, Hilaire, Notes on the Technique of Painting. Faber and Faber, Ltd., 1934. 3 ^ 0 pp. Mornand, Pierre, Christ1s Image. Fine Arts, 1939* 128 pp.

London:

Paris: French Library of

Taubes, Frederick, The Technique of Oil Painting. New York: Dodd, Mead and