Fundamentals of Composition (ENGLISH edition) [1 ed.] 5904957084, 9785904957087

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F U N D A M E N T A L S O F A R T

V. A. Mogilevtsev

FUNDAMENTALS OF COMPOSITION Textbook

Saint Petersburg 2018

Reviewers: V. S. Pesikov

People’s Artist of Russia, Full Member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Professor, Head of Department of Painting and Composition, Ilya Repin Saint Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture

In 2017 the Russian Academy of Arts awarded «The Fundamentals of Art» series with a gold medal

Y. V. Kalyuta

Honored Artist of Russia, Full Member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Professor, Department of Painting and Composition, Ilya Repin Saint Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture

Academic Editor: E. A. Serova

Associate Professor, Department of Russian Art, Ilya Repin Saint Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture

Mogilevtsev V.A. M74 Fundamentals of Composition: textbook – (Fundamentals of Art series) Saint Petersburg, 4art, 2018. - 88 pp, illustrations ISBN 978-5-904957-08-7 In this book, the author, on the basis of his work as an artist and his experience as an instructor, aims to understand and explain how a painting is born. With the works by the outstanding Russian and international artists as the example, he reveals the process of preparing sketches and discusses the importance of collecting reference material when creating a realistic work of art. V. A. Mogilevtsev introduces the reader to the elements of visual design and talks about the most important of them. The text is accompanied by a large number of illustrations. The book is well illustrated, and it makes it the most understandable and convincing for young artists. I’m sure that this book will be interesting for everyone who wants to learn the secrets of professional artists. V. S. Pesikov People’s Artist of Russia, Professor, Head of Department of Painting and Composition, Ilya Repin Saint Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Full Member of the Russian Academy of Arts

In the work of any artist, whether just beginning his way in art or having already walked a long road, composition is of paramount importance. Composition is more than just a competent arrangement of objects, people and events on a paper or canvas surface. Above all, composition is harmony, a choice of the right design elements and techniques for creating an artistic image. This book is highly necessary and useful for teaching young people the basics of such a difficult occupation. In this extensive work, the author attempts a scientific and scrupulous analysis of the rich experience of Russian and world realist painting. He demonstrates the importance of preparatory work, reference material, the choices of color and plastic solutions and many more that are necessary in creating a work of art. Y. V. Kalyuta

Honored artist of Russia, Professor, Department of Painting and Composition, Ilya Repin Saint Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Full Member of the Russian Academy of Arts

The author expresses his gratitude to Nicholas Fedotov and Liana Solonkina for their contribution to the publishing of “The Fundamentals of Art” series.

Text, illustrations: Vladimir Mogilevtsev Translator: Anna Edwards Design: Nicholas Fedotov Editing: 4art Cover: K. P. Bryullov, “The Last Day of

Pompeii”, 1833 Reproductions: copies made by students of Ilya

Repin Saint Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Printed in Russia All rights reserved. The content of this book cannot be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the Publisher, 4art, St. Petersburg, Russia. The publisher has made every effort to give the correct credit for artworks in this publication. The author, editorial office and the publisher apologize for possible unintentional omissions and will do their utmost to make the necessary adjustments to subsequent editions.

4art 17 liniya V.O., dom 4-6 St. Petersburg, Russia 199034 www.4-art.org ISBN-10 5-904957-08-4 ISBN-13 978-5-904957-08-7 © 2018, English Edition, 4art © 2017, Russian Edition, 4art © 2017, V. A. Mogilevtsev

elements of visual design

DEDICATED TO THE 260TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF ARTS

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What this book is about There is an opinion amongst artists, that it is impossible to write a textbook on composition, and one can not but agree with this. To design is to be creative. Creativity cannot be confined within the boundaries of some rules. If we look into the history of visual art, we can see that styles and movements replaced each other, rejecting the canons established by their predecessors. The art of Neoclassicism rejected the rules established by the Baroque style. In turn, the social changes created new challenges for the art, and led to the rejection of the principles of Neoclassicism, and so on. Nevertheless, since the moment visual art was born and to the present day, despite the changes in styles, tastes and creative preferences, artists used the same elements of design. We shall try to examine these elements in this book. With the works by the outstanding artists as examples, we shall see how an artwork is conceived as a sketch, and we shall follow the process of creating some remarkable works of Russian art.

CONTENTS Color Patch and Plane.............................................8 ELEMENTS OF VISUAL DESIGN IN COMPOSITION

1. Recording the concept ....................................10 2. Variety of shape sizes ......................................12 3. Silhouette of the shape ....................................14 4. The edges of the shapes...................................16 5. Hierarchy of the details. Unity.......................18 6. Rhythm .............................................................20 7. Plastic connection ...........................................22 8. Color Relationships.........................................24 9. Alternation of warm and cool tones. Interpenetration of color ................................26 10. Twelve-part color wheel. Complementary colors ...................................28 11. Textures.............................................................30 DEVELOPING THE SKETCH Composition sketches, value and color studies..........................................34 Michelangelo ..........................................................36 Rembrandt .............................................................40 Rubens ....................................................................44 A. E. Egorov............................................................48 K. P. Bryullov..........................................................52 I. E. Repin ...............................................................56 WORKING ON THE PAINTING Working on the painting ......................................62 A. A. Ivanov............................................................64 V. I. Surikov.............................................................72 E. E. Moiseenko .....................................................80

ELEMENTS OF VISUAL DESIGN

8 elements of visual design

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Color Patch and Plane An artist creating a painting uses two things: a plane bound by certain dimensions, and a patch (patches) of color applied to this plane by a coloring substance (1). The plane is usually a canvas, a cardboard, a paper, a wall and so on. If the work is a relatively small one and portable, then the artist can choose the dimensions most appropriate to their concept. In a mural, on the other hand, the dimensions are given, and the design should be subordinate to the architecture. The patches of color, or shapes, are usually applied with various paints, using brushes or other graphic materials (charcoal, sepia, pencil, etc.). If the artist uses a line, for example, like Matisse, drawing with pen and ink, then the line indicates the boundaries between shapes (2). Artists have learned to express their feelings and thoughts, to create an illusion of a three-dimensional world on a two-dimensional plane, by an artful use of a patch of color (3).

The patches of color, arranged in a variety of ways, constitute the elements of visual design.

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ELEMENTS OF VISUAL DESIGN IN COMPOSITION 1 Recording the concept 2 Variety of shape sizes 3 Silhouette of the shape 4 The edges of the shapes 5 Hierarchy of the details. Unity 6 Rhythm 7 Plastic connection 8 Color relationships 9 Alternation of warm and cool tones. Interpenetration of color 10 Twelve-part color wheel. Complementary colors 11 Textures

Different artists, depending on their creative preferences and abilities, prefer different elements of visual design.

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1. Recording the concept A concept is what the artist wants to express in their work. The impetus to the concept is often an emotion, an impression of some events, or one’s own reflections.

us can evoke real feelings, and these feelings will dictate to the artist what means to use for their expression. That is why, as a rule, the first sketches cannot be very expressive.

Life itself provides a conscious artist with an infinite number of themes.

If a feeling or an idea that inspired work is strong enough, it will not let the author go and will make him or her to be constantly thinking about the concept. Tonal value, expressive silhouettes will appear in the sketch; accumulated reference material will help the sketch to become convincing.

Students are given themes for composition assignments, but a theme is not a concept. The same theme can evoke different feelings, different thoughts in different artists. Consequently, this results in different design solutions. Some students start the composition with the decorative approach, without having thought through, without having felt the theme. If there is nothing an artist wants to express in their painting, then it is impossible to find the shape for this emptiness. When an idea comes to mind, it should be recorded on paper as soon as possible, before it is gone. Therefore, the means of recording the initial concept are usually very minimal. Most often, it is a line. Such sketches are not created for display; they are to be preserved for the author to record his or her feelings and thoughts, to awaken imagination in the future stages of work. They often do not look like a finished piece – as a seed does not look like the tree it grows to become. Today, with the possibilities of printing, the Internet, the accessibility of museums and exhibitions, artists subconsciously accumulate visual information. Often, completely involuntarily, a large number of clichés and stamps emerges in the student’s head, and the student begins to make a variation on a theme of other people’s emotions. Only the world around

Rembrandt’s first sketch to “Danae” (1–2) has little in common with the painting and seems a little naïve. But the essence of the event and the idea are already outlined. Rubens, in a sketch for the painting “Martyrdom of St. Stefan” (3–4), attempted to denote the drama of what was happening without being distracted by the search for expressive silhouettes and details. In the first sketch for the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” (5–6), Karl Bryullov outlined the gestures and the silhouettes of the figures to convey the chaos of the distraught crowd and outlined the large masses of people, architecture. and the sky. Aleksandr Deyneka’s pencil sketch to “The Defense of Sevastopol” (7–8) captures only the emotion. The silhouettes and the rhythm are still absent. In the examples of the sketches above we don’t yet see the final solution, but we already can feel the emotions the artist wanted to convey.

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12 elements of visual design

light values

middle values

dark values

Pure white and very dark black are not used in painting.

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The value structure of Rembrandt’s painting «The Holy Family». Grey and dark areas are close in value, the light values are arranged.

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The value structure of Fra il Beato Angelico «The Annunciation». Grey and light areas are close in value, dark values are arranged.

2. Variety of shape sizes In a composition, as in a world around us, the sizes of shapes should not be repeated. The greater the variety in the sizes of shapes, the more expressive the composition will be.

Some contemporary artists make sketches in two tones, using a pen or a marker. It is implied that the third middle tone refers to either a dark or a light shape.

Working on a composition, a student uses three main values, which can be attributed to all the shapes: light, grey and dark. If the work is designed to be dark (1), the grey areas should be close to the dark. Dark shapes prevail; therefore, design is focused on arranging the light shapes. Examples: “The Holy Family” by Rembrandt (7), “The Flagellation of Christ” by Caravaggio (8), “Earth” by Evsey Moiseenko (11).

It is suggested that students should use three values for a value study. Tempera paint, white and black (umber), is recommended, as tempera makes it easy to make corrections. The whole canvas can be given a coat of grey paint first. The dark shapes are painted first, then the light ones. It is best to use natural bristle brushes for this job; they make it possible to create various textures and soft edges. It is not necessary to try to paint any details at this stage. At the first stage it is necessary to find the masses of shapes, their location and their approximate silhouettes. The approximate location of the large shapes is outlined in the composition sketch that expresses the concept. We can see this in the drawings by Rembrandt (3–4) and Evsey Moiseenko (5).

In a light painting, the grey shapes will be close to the light ones, therefore the dark shapes, which are the most active, are arranged (2). We can see it in paintings “The Annunciation” by Fra il Beato Angelico (6), “Fishermen” by Gregory Soroka (9), “The Reading” by Édouard Manet (10).

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3. Silhouette of the shape A silhouette of a shape has a great importance in an image. It carries the main information about proportions that make a depicted object recognizable. Precisely found silhouette gives expressiveness to a painting. In a 1781 silhouette portrait of E. A. Stroganova by artist G. F. Sideаu (1) the portrait likeness is achieved by the silhouette alone. The silhouettes of the features of the face, the hair, the eye sockets etc. are absent. In a sophisticated work by J. F. Anthing, “Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich and Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna with Children” (2), the artist conveys, with great elegance, not just the likeness of the characters, but also a peaceful intimate atmosphere within the family. A silhouette composition by F. Tolstoy (3) conveys not only the likeness of the people but also their emotional state.

should be expressive when viewed from a distance.

In many works we see how artists emphasize the silhouette, making the modeling of the form subordinating to it. As a rule, these are large scale murals or decorative works, that

To find lively and expressive silhouettes, it is necessary to collect reference material from life, make quick drawings and sketches, just as our predecessors did.

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This can be seen in these examples: “Our Lady” by Andrei Rublev (4), “The Angry Warrior” by Ferdinand Hodler (5), “Topaz” by Alphonse Mucha (6). Artist Valentin Serov paid much attention to the silhouette. Silhouette was one of the main visual elements he used. In “Peter I on the Hunt” (7) the artist finds expressive silhouettes of each figure, creating distinct characters. He unites them into groups, subordinating small silhouettes to larger ones. Another example of how a character is created with a silhouette can be found in Valentin Serov’s other painting, “Peter I the Great” (9, p. 17). It is the silhouettes that create a juxtaposition of Peter’s greatness against the background of his entourage.

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16 elements of visual design

1. A det ail of the painting

2. A scheme showing variet y in edges

4. The edges of the shapes In a composition, the main information about the form is located on the silhouette of a shape. The information is carried by carefully designed variety of edges of the shape. Within a shape, depending on the tasks, the form may be modeled more freely.

Rembrandt’s sketches from life (5, 6) confirm this.

We have already mentioned Rembrandt’s painting “The Holy Family” as an example of a dark painting in which the light shapes are arranged. Now let’s see how these shapes are given volume. Take the fragment – the head of the Madonna (1). We shall use tempera paint to mix three colors – light, dark and gray.

In his portrait of actress Maria Ermolova (7–8), artist Valentin Serov has found the expressive silhouette that creates a distinct character. At the same time, thanks to a variety of edges, the figure is located in a threedimensional space of the interior and does not look flat. In another Serov’s painting, “Peter I the Great” (9), the silhouettes of Peter’s figure and his companions stand out expressively against the light sky. The most active edges are on the head and the torso of the tsar. His feet are blending with the earth in the background.

First, we adjust the silhouettes, their tonal value and their proportions (3). After that, looking at the silhouette of the female figure as a whole, we create a variety in the edges (2, 4). Here I would like to draw students’ attention to the fact that it will be difficult to do this without working from life.

The silhouettes of the figures in the periphery of the painting are a lot less intense than the main figure. The fortress under construction, the city in the background, and the foreground are painted very loosely, to accentuate what is the most important.

3. A sketch painted with blocks of patches

4. Creating form using the variet y of edges of the silhouet te

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Hierarchy of the details. Unity In a composition, the main detail always tends to gravitate towards the visual center of the painting. Secondary details are located closer to the periphery. It does not matter what it is: a multi-figure composition, a portrait, a landscape, a still-life, whether it is a painting or a drawing. Details visually divide an image into sections. A detail can be an object, a still-life, a part of a person’s figure or a group of figures. A composition is «built» from the details. Details in the composition have a hierarchy which is created with contrasts and a variety in levels of completion. In any classical painting, we can find the most important detail, the second most important, the third and so on.

the draperies (2). The third is a lamp at the head of the bed (3). Then – the figure of Jairus, the head of John (4), and a weeping mother (5). In the foreground is a still life, accurate in color and value, but painted loosely (6). In the foreground, there are loosely painted figures and the interior (7). Here the unity and subordination are achieved by the variety in the degrees of completion and contrasts.

In Rembrandt’s painting “The Holy Family” (1–2), the main detail is the head of the Mother, a part of her torso and the book she is holding (1). This is the center of interest of the painting. The detail number two is a sleeping baby in the cradle (2). The third detail is the angel descending from the sky (3). The fourth is Joseph the carpenter working in the background (4). The least significant detail is the fire in the hearth and the objects next to it (5). In this painting we see how the artist, with the help of contrasts, identified the main details and, by gradually softening and paying less attention to the development of minor details, subordinated them to the major ones. Subordination creates a sense of unity and completion.

In the bright, plein air style painting by Vasily Polenov, “Christ and the Sinner” (5–6), the main detail is the figure of Jesus. He is distinguished by the contrast of light and dark clothes (1). He looks at the sinner as if stopping the movement of the crowd. The “key” to the meaning of the painting are the two figures of the Pharisees, one of which points to the sinner (2). The third detail is the crowd leading the woman to the trial (3). The next in significance is the bright area of the temple with the believers (4). The figures of Jesus’ disciples sitting in the shade (in the foreground on the left) are similar in value and do not interfere with the perception of the main characters (5). In a classical composition, the main details are usually in the middleground. In the lower right corner, there is a figure of a man on a donkey. It is also in the shade and is similar in value. Artists make sure that the angles in a painting, as in nature, are not all the same. Further you can see a cypress lit by the sunset (7) and a landscape in the top right corner of the painting (8).

The second painting we will review here is Ilya Repin’s diploma work “Raising of Jairus’ daughter” (3–4). The main details are, of course, the head of Jesus and the hand that supports the folds of the clothing (1). The next detail is the head of the girl, her hands and the light creases of

In this large, multi-figure painting, we can identify eight elements that have a clear hierarchy. The details within each element also have their own hierarchy. If we look around we can see a similar hierarchy in everything that surrounds us.

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6. Rhythm Repetition, with some variety, of the silhouettes of shapes, creates a rhythm. The rhythm creates a sense of tension and movement. Since the ancient times, artists used rhythm to convey these sensations.

Hodler, in his work “Jena Students Depart for the War of Liberation” (3) and Deyneka in the painting “The Defence of Petrograd” (4) both utilize rhythm to convey the departure of armed units to a battle.

We see how an Ancient Greek master of vase painting, depicting a sports competition, creates a sense of fast movement with rhythm (1).

Matisse creates a sense of dance by depicting various phases of the movement of figures in his “Dance” (7).

The Egyptian mural artist, painting the walls of the pharaoh’s tomb, very convincingly depicts the cry of the mourners by using the rhythms of the movement of hands, the vibration of the hair and the folds of clothing (2). In “The Battle of San Romano” (5), the Italian artist Paolo Uccello depicts the tension and the chaos of the battle by masterfully creating a rhythm with the silhouettes of the horses, the figures of the soldiers, the spears and the weapons.

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Artist Valentin Kurdov in his work “The Copper Samovar” (6), uses rhythm to convey the impression of a boiling, buzzing samovar. In Deyneka’s “The Defense of Sevastopol”, rhythm helps the artist to conveys the tension of a hand-to-hand combat and the juxtaposition of the light silhouettes of the sailors, merging with the white, stony ground, and the dark green figures of the German soldiers against the blood-red sky (8).

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7. Plastic connection In contrast to rhythm, a plastic connection of the silhouettes creates a sense of tranquillity, peace, and harmony. In this case, the silhouette of one shape flows into the silhouette of the other, possibly with some intervals. Here are some examples of outstanding compositions from different eras and countries; next to them are the schemes. The red lines indicate the plastic connections of the silhouettes, and the green lines highlight the rhythm that creates the dynamic. If you follow the red lines, the connection between them becomes obvious. The color relationships in Andrei Rublev’s “Trinity” (12) evoke a feeling of delight and peaceful joy. The plastic connection of the silhouettes and the lines add a sense of harmony, unity, and perfection. A Japanese artist Kitagawa Utamaro employed plastic connections and expressive silhouettes to create an image of a Japanese beauty, and to subtly convey the lyrical state of hope, sadness and expectation in his woodblock print “Reading a Letter” (3–4).

Sandro Botticelli’s “Spring” (5–6) captures the eyes of even an inexperienced viewer by its beauty, harmony and tranquillity. This impression is achieved by uniting all the figures with plastic connections and contrasting them with the rhythm of the tree trunks, which emphasizes the movement of the figures. Even Vasily Kandinsky, the founder of “expressive abstractionism”, whilst rejecting representational painting, could not avoid such an expressive element as a plastic connection. We witness it in his painting “Vague” (7–8) Time passes by, the artistic challenges change, but the elements of visual design remain the same. It is remarkable that different artists, separated by time and space, use the same principles of visual design. Perhaps this is because the soul of a real artist is unwittingly drawn to the beautiful, and they intuitively discover the universal laws of beauty.

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8. Color Relationships Each color carries an emotional charge, but it is the combination of different patches of color that can evoke emotions in the viewer. This is similar to music, where a combination of sounds can make a person feel delight, sadness, or create a lyrical mood. In painting, the combination of patches of color that evoke feelings is called color relationships. In Fra Angelico’s painting “Coronation of the Virgin” (1), we see how the color relationships convey a sense of joy and delight. The work is light, painted in tempera. A few dark – but not black – shapes highlight the happy mood of the event. Cold blue tones, sitting next to warm gold and pink, enhance the impact of each other. We observe similar color relationships in Andrei Rublev’s “Trinity” (1, p. 22). From the emergence of oil painting and until the second half of the 19th century, color relationships were formed by multiple layers of paint. Each layer, starting with the colored ground, contributed to the colors of the painting. The colors the artist introduced into a painting were harmonized by the previous and subsequent layers (2). In the second half of the 19th century, artists turned to nature and started working en plein air. The color solutions

were usually suggested by nature itself. This gave paintings a sense of authenticity and persuasiveness. Starting with Alexander Ivanov and to this day Russian artists have been using sketches from nature as references for their paintings. A painting like Mikhail Nesterov’s “The Hermite”, in which color relationships convey feelings of enlightenment and peace, would be impossible to paint without the reference material collected from life. The color creates a sense of happiness and joy of life in Alexander Savinov’s diploma work “Bathing Horses on the River Volga”, which was inspired by the sketches the artist made in Saratov. In Filipp Malyavin’s painting, “The Whirlwind” (4) the color solution is inspired by the peasant festive costumes. The active texture of brush strokes, the rhythms and the curves of the folds of the dresses convey the dynamics of a dance. It is impossible to just make up the color relationships in Arkady Plastov’s painting, “Dinner of Tractor Drivers” (6). In “Vast Expanse” by Deyneka (7), the theme of the painting is developed through the color scheme.

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9. Alternation of warm and cool tones. Interpenetration of color There are no paintings consisting of only warm or cool colors. Warm shapes without cool give the impression of lethargy, and cool shapes without warm ones repel by their lifelessness. The battle of warm and cool tones creates a sense of life. If you pay attention to how warm and cool tones are alternating in the world around us, you will notice that you can never find only warm or only cool color objects in one place. But even if this happens, all three-dimensional objects have light and shadow, which, in turn, can be either warm or cool. If the light is cool, then the shadow is warm, and vice versa: the light is warm – the shadow is cool. On a human body, if a person is indoors, the light is cool and the shadow is warm. Highlights and midtones are cool. The part of flesh between them is warm because the human body has a warm tone. The highlights and the midtones in the light prevail, so the light seems cool in relation to the shadow.

In large-scale paintings designed to be viewed from a distance, artists try to alternate warms and cools with the patches of local color and not to overcomplicate them with midtones which can make the color look muddy from a distance. We can see it in Piero della Francesca’s fresco painting, “Constantine’s Victory over Maxentius” (2). Humans see the color reflected from objects. The brighter the light, the more active is the influence of one patch of color over the other. The reflections of one color shape appear within another. Outdoors and under the direct sun, these reflections are stronger. Indoors they are weaker; nevertheless, they still exist. In Vasily Surikov’s painting “Boyaryna Morozova” (3) the interpenetration of color creates a feeling of an open air and forms the general coloring of the painting. In Arkady Plastov’s “Youth” (1), the reflected color is one of the main means of expression. Paul Cézanne examined the influence of colors on each other in his still lifes (4–5).

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10. Twelve-part color wheel. Complementary colors In 1676 Isaac Newton, using a triangular prism, separated a ray of white sunlight into a color spectrum. The creation of a twelve-part color wheel (1) was based on this discovery. Many artists and scientists studied color: Goethe, Runge, Lomonosov, Delacroix, and others.

gradually adding yellow-orange to blue.

Then, by adding white to the resulting tones, we will create a color gradient palette stretching towards white. By adding black paint to the original mix we create a gradient stretching towards black. We have created a lot of colors that are all in A special interest to the science of color arose in the late harmony with each other (2). The same could be done for 19th – early 20th century. Scientific research and many the second and third pairs of complementary colors. color theories were emerging, notably the works of Itten and Matyushin. Many artists were searching for the har- We add some black paint – and we create a gradient stretching towards black. The resulting shades harmonize with monious color combinations based on the color wheel. each other (2). The same can be done with the second and The half of the circle from yellow to red-violet refers to third pairs. Then select the tones that are the best suited for warm colors. The second half, from yellow-green to purple, your sketch. to cold. The opposite of each color is its complementary color. For a warm color, the complementary color is cold, That is probably how Leo Bakst found a color solution for and vice versa. his painting “Ancient Horror” (3). Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Complementary colors mixed together in equal proportions working on his painting “Girls on the Volga”(4), certainly result in a neutral dark grey color (2). Two complementary knew about the color wheel and complementary colors. colors neutralize each other when mixed together, creating complex, harmonious shades. You can take two or three pairs of complementary colors, and their mixes will be in harmony with each other.

I would like to point out to some characteristics of color combinations. When there is a color contrast together with the tonal contrast, it creates a sense of disharmony (5). Bright, spectral colors, similar in tone, sound harmoniously For example, let’s take a pair of complementary colors: (6). Complex, gray colors, similar in hue and in warmth, yellow-orange and blue. We mix these colors together, by require a break in value in order to avoid sluggishness (7).

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11. Textures If we look around and pay attention to the color patches that make up the visual world, then it is not difficult to see that each of them has its own texture. Each era has its own aesthetics. Therefore, the ways in which artists depicted textures in their paintings are different, but they always followed the same principle – just like in the world around us, the texture of each color patch must be different. Early Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden created the texture of each shape in his “Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin” (1–2) by carefully painting out the details. The painting is very lyrical and expressively decorative. The textures are created not only by the grass, the brick wall, the drapery in the background, but even by the city’s houses in the distance. Soft folds of the red clothes of St. Luke do not create a tension typical for the rhythms, but resemble an ornament, conveying a calm, plastic movement. The Dutch Golden Age artists considered this principle when arranging their still lifes, and combined objects with a variety of textures. For example, in Willem Kalf’s “Dessert” (3–4) we see a remarkable selection of different textures: glass, metal, rug, white drapery, various fruits on a porcelain dish. And all this diversity is placed against a flat dark gray background to enhance the impact of these objects’ textures.

The closer to our time, the freer the painting becomes. The Impressionists, despite the freedom and ease of execution, did not forget about textures when approaching color and value. An example of this is Claude Monet’s work “The Pond in Montgeron” (5–6). The silhouettes of the shapes are very soft and diverse, they are almost dissolving. The painting is light in tone, with beautiful color relationships taken from nature. It is a mosaic of various textures, conveyed through vibrant, various brushstrokes. If we divide the painting into squares, you can see that the textures are not repeated in any of them. In the decades that followed, the textures in paintings were created less and less by rendering, and more by using a physical application of paint. Artists started using the expressiveness of a brushstroke. In an energetically and expressively painted Malyavin’s work, “Women” (78), we see that each color shape has its own texture. To restrain these textures, the artist pays great attention to the silhouette of the shapes. In contemporary art, great attention is given to textures by abstract artists. For this, in addition to paints, they often use a collage of different materials. As we can see, texture has always been used as an element of visual design. Without it, painting would be boring and unattractive.

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DEVELOPING THE SKETCH

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COMPOSITION SKETCHES, VALUE AND COLOR STUDIES First of all, an artist needs to decide on the concept and then record it by loosely indicating the silhouettes of figures or groups. It is important that the first sketch contains at least a hint of what this is all about. Next, to be able to develop the sketch further, it is necessary to collect the visual reference material. The more the better. For this, it is important to have an ability to draw and copy. To assemble something, you need to have the parts. With the reference material, a search for a plastic and color solution will be possible. Preparatory sketches can be divided into two types. One kind is the “idea sketches”

DEVELOPING THE SKETCH: THE STAGES

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the artist does for themselves, their purpose is to capture the idea the artist wants to express. Here an artist gets to choose and apply the elements of design. Another type of sketches, with a fully developed coloristic and plastic solution, can be shown to others. Students present these sketches at exams, and professional artists show them to clients. A sketch like that, even without any details, should give the impression of a finished work. Let’s see how these creative tasks were solved by our predecessors.

Michelangelo

One of the best draftsmen in the history of art. On the following pages, you can see the composition sketches for his cartoon “The Battle of Cascina” (2, p. 36). Loosely outlined figures indicate the movements and the angles; next to them are the figure studies for this work. Even Michelangelo could not rely on his imagination and experience alone; he needed reference material. The collected material helps to make improvements and changes in the composition. Because nude figures prevail in Michelangelo’s works, the artist made numerous anatomical studies for various poses (23–25). Some of his preparatory drawings for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel have survived. They are masterpieces of fine art (26–31).

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Rembrandt often made his sketches with a pen and wash applied with a brush (4, 14, 30–32). It was very convenient since such technique preserved the details and created an impression of a directed light. Rembrandt’s paintings are generally quite dark in value; therefore, the light shapes are arranged. In his multi-figure compositions, people’s figures are indicted very loosely, all the attention is focused on the silhouettes of the larger shapes. Rembrandt was diligent in gathering the reference material. There are many of his drawings depicting the scenes from the everyday life (20, 22). Some of them the artist used for his paintings. The grouping of the figures, the various types and characters, the details of the everyday life – none of this could be just imagined; Rembrandt’s work is full of life.

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Rubens

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A great master of composition, an excellent draftsman and a wonderful manager who put the production of his paintings on a mass scale. Rubens’ composition sketches (1–11) do not impress the viewer; they have a meaning only for their author. At the sketch stage the artist collects a lot of material. This is evidenced by his magnificent drawings (24–28, 32–33); some of them are made not only from life, but also from the works of other artists. Today they are the works of art in their own right. Since Rubens’ workshop had many commissions, Rubens was mostly doing the sketches which impress by the virtuosity of their execution. A sketch was first shown to a client. The assistants and apprentices then created a painting based on the sketch. The master himself got involved in the final stage, that is why many of his sketched are done very thoroughly. One can’t help but be impressed by his Hermitage sketch for the painting “The coronation of Marie de Medici” (40). It differs from the final version by its unity, size and a slightly different composition. The painting itself (41), despite its very high quality of execution, surprises by the equality of its details, that makes the painting look slightly fragmented. One can guess that it was painted by several different people.

A. E. Egorov

p. 48–51

A representative of the Neoclassical period of the Russian academic school of painting. It is noticeable that he starts his composition sketches with setting the boundaries of the sketch (1–14). The proportions can be informed by the architecture of the interior or the author’s composition concept. Today, like 200 years ago, our students first draw the boundaries and then search for the arrangements of shapes, silhouettes and so on. Egorov was an excellent draftsman, well-versed in anatomy; he could draw a human figure from the most difficult angle (18). For his composition sketches he used black chalk to experiment and search for the silhouettes, and once they were found, he outlined them with a pen. He sometimes gave a drawing a light wash to establish the values. (24–30).

K. P. Bryullov

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A genius artist, a graduate of the Academy of Arts. Pages 52–53 demonstrate the sketches for his large painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” (12), as well as for a number of other paintings and murals (27–31). The idea for «The Last Day of Pompeii» came to the artist after a visit to the excavations of this ancient city.

The original layout of the city was well preserved, so the perspective of the street appeared in the composition sketch immediately and with some changes stayed in the final picture. The search for the silhouettes of figures and groups continued from the first loose composition sketches (1–4) to the latest, thoroughly developed drafts (8–10). Careful detailing in some of the drawings reveals a great effort in the gathering of the reference material (11). Unlike the thoroughly rendered graphic sketches, some color studies are semi-abstract (5). They hardly show any figures, but the color conveys the sense of tragedy. It can be noted that the composition sketches, despite the lack of details, convey the essence of the concept. The studies from life are magnificent (13, 21). The graphic sketches are carefully rendered (17). The color studies, without unnecessary details, convey the impression that should be made by the finished piece (22–23).

I. E. Repin

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An outstanding Russian artist, a graduate of the Academy of Arts. Page 56 presents some of the sketches and the reference material for his diploma work, “Raising of Jairus’s daughter” (20). The first sketches are dull and unimpressive, completely unlike the final solution (1-4). Repin approached collecting the reference material very seriously (8–19). Such an approach helps to find the best composition for a sketch just like a sketch informs the choice of the reference material. An artist begins to draw not just a model in a certain pose, in a certain costume. He draws characters (23–27) with their inner world and emotions. Often the preparatory sketches become real works of art. We see how emotionally charged his drawings for the paintings “Barge Haulers on the Volga” (21–28) and “Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan” (29–34) are. A desire to convey strong emotions in a sketch for the painting “Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan” initially required the artist to give the characters a caricature quality (42–44). However, in the process of working on the sketches and gathering the reference material, Repin found a measure in the expression of his feelings (45-48). The painting’s color solution was prompted by the study of the 17th centurystyle interior (50). Repin’s color studies for his late works are really interesting (52, 54, 55, 58). In them, the drawing is subordinate to the color. The color relationships express the emotions the painting is designed to convey.

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RUBENS PETER PAUL

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WORKING ON THE PAINTING THE STAGES OF WORKING ON A PAINTING

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When an artist starts working on a painting, they need the reference material. A larger size painting requires more information. It is very important to sketch from life, it will make a realistic painting more convincing. Color relationships taken from life can enrich the color impact of a painting and bring a sense of life. Working from life makes it possible to find expressive and lively silhouettes of the figures. It is necessary to fix and strengthen the feeling of life every detail must evoke and which, through the painting, will be conveyed to the viewer. It is rare that the collected reference material is enough to paint a picture. Sometimes, changes happen. Sometimes, something does not work out how it was required by the concept. A process of working on a painting and a process of collecting the material are closely linked. When an artist is creating a character and depicting their psychological state, he is required to resort to nature, as the only possible reference. This is confirmed by the creative heritage of the outstanding Russian artists.

A. A. Ivanov

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Ivanov’s most important work was “The Appearance of Christ Before the People” (102). Alexander Ivanov was the son of the Academy of Arts professor. Like many artists, he dreamed of creating a great work. When a young graduate of the Academy was in Italy during his pensioner (scholarship) trip, he found a theme of a truly universal scale - the appearance of the Messiah. Such a grand plan required an appropriate implementation. We do not know what the initial composition sketches were like. According to one of the first drafts made in 1833 (1), we see how far the initial solution is from the final one. In the “Initial” 1834 color study (2) the composition begins to resemble the last version. The presence of the collected reference material is evident, but the silhouettes of the figures and groups still lack expressiveness, the movement of the figures is not yet found. In the 1835–1836 “Stroganov” sketch (7) many figures are already defined, but some of them still look random in the composition. From 1836 to 1855, the artist is creating a small version of the painting (9) (now in the Russian Museum), which is serving as a sketch for the large canvas.

working on the painting In total, Ivanov painted more than 400 sketches, which helped him develop his characters (10–89). In his landscape studies he was searching for the right colors. He painted the nude figures and the drapery en plein air (90–98), thus anticipating the discoveries of the Impressionists. The development of the idea continues throughout the process of creating a picture. The canvas itself was finished in 1857. Ivanov’s studies and sketches for this painting became a real school for the subsequent generations of Russian artists.

V. I. Surikov

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Vasily Surikov was a great Russian history painter. His most perfect canvas is “Boyaryna Morozova” (92). It makes a strong impression on a viewer. In the 1880s, the church schism was widely discussed in the Russian society. Surikov was from Siberia, where many Old Believers lived. He could not remain indifferent to this subject. «The split» is a people’s tragedy of the Ancient Rus. After Patriarch Nikon’s church reform, the Orthodox people were divided. One group supported the «official» church. Another – represented the followers of the protopope Avvakum. The latter adhered to old rituals and were willing to face death for the sake of their beliefs. The artist was attracted by the challenge of creating the character of Boyaryna Morozova, a strong woman, convinced of her rightness, who sacrificed her position, material wealth and even the fates of her loved ones. The first sketch (1), which appears to be not very expressive, captures the essence of the idea: the antagonism between the rebellious Boyaryna’s figure, raising her hand in a reproving gesture, being taken away in a peasant cart, and the official church. Numerous sketches, drawings and studies (2–23) show a long way from the initial design towards the plastic and color solution of the painting.

E. E. Moiseenko

p. 80–85

Evsey Moiseenko (1916–1988) was an outstanding Soviet artist, the master of composition. In 1967 he created the painting “Mothers, sisters” (68). A theme of war and women was always close to the heart of a World War II veteran artist. “I remember my mother seeing me off to the war, and how, as a soldier, I went through the villages and left them. I can not forget the eyes of the women. I wanted to look into them through a glance of someone who is leaving”, the artist was saying. The figures of the women, as if surfaced from memories, are standing in the middle of a wide dusty road. They are depicted emphatically close up. Their eyes are directed towards the soldiers leaving for the front. The tracks from the truck tires are still visible in the dust. Mother’s mental pain and suffering are conveyed through the eyes of the women – the pain that could only be numbed by the incredible, titanic labor of the war years that fell to their lot. All this can not leave the viewer indifferent. The first sketch for “Mothers, sisters” was painted in 1965 (3). It is based on the artist’s memories of the first day of war; at the time the artist was doing his pre-diploma work experience in his native village of Uvarovichi. The first sketches are set in the collective farm market. Women, men and children are standing around a post with a radio speaker. The sketch is verbose, but the silhouettes of the characters of the final painting are already recognizable in some of the figures. A large canvas, “In the Collective Farm Yard” (22), was the first version of “Mothers, sisters”. The center of interest here is a group of women who are listening attentively to the reports from the front. An old man portrayed from the back, a guard, is the only male figure in the painting. In this work, the artist sought to transform the images of people he sketched from life (12–21) into archetypes. “As a rule, a picture is not born immediately. Its plastic solution emerges eventually and torments the artist for a long time” – said the master.

All the details of the painting are deeply and emotionally thought through by the artist. The search for the image of the main character is a good example (48-59). Of course, it is impossible to achieve such expressiveness and persuasiveness without the sketches made from life.

In the two subsequent versions the composition acquires a fragmentary character. The artist focuses all the attention on the women, who are frozen in their sorrow at the moment of farewell to the soldiers. The third version is closest to the final painting (35). Many of its characters will stay in the final canvas.

We see that the artist collected a lot of material to design each character (71–91). In the actual painting he was free to make his concept come to life, discarding all that was superfluous. I would like to note the quality of the scenery in this painting. This can not be achieved without studies from life (24–27). A combination of various textures, from the brocade and the fur to the beggar’s rags and the snow, creates a feeling of expressive decorativeness and immerses the viewer in the atmosphere of the 17th century.

Dissatisfaction with the expressiveness of his solution once again forced the artist to turn to the search for the composition. This led to his return to the horizontal orientation of canvas that better reflects the epic nature of the painting. At the same time, the artist gathers the material for the new characters (55–67). In this painting the artist rises to a new, very high, level. Here the images that seem simple at first glance, grow into the character types, and a silhouette of each shape carries an extremely expressive emotional charge.

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Ivanov Alexander Andreyevich (1806–1858)

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“THE FUNDAMENTALS OF ART” SERIES

DEDICATED TO THE 260 TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF ARTS

“Fundamentals of Composition” is the third book in the “The Fundamentals of Art” series. The two previous books, “Fundamentals of Drawing” and “Fundamentals of Painting” were first published (in Russian) in 2007 and 2010. These books do not claim to provide a comprehensive review of the subject. The author attempted to gather, systemize and present, in an accessible form, the principles that are at the basis of the academic education system. These books are written so that the grammar of the visual art, preserved within the historic walls of the Academy of Arts, could be passed to the future generations of artists.

FUNDAMENTALS OF ART

In today’s art world, we can witness a complete freedom of selfexpression, which conceals an inability to draw and sheer illiteracy. It is often covered up by abstruse theoretical justifications. But for some reason the works by many contemporary artists more often than not cause negative, depressing feelings, or repel by their emptiness. Classical grammar of visual art gives a true freedom of expression, an ability to convey to the viewer both a feeling of compassion and an admiration of the beauty of the world around us. Creating something beautiful is impossible without mastering the grammar of the language of visual art.

Fundamentals of Drawing Author: V. A. Mogilevtsev Publisher: 4арт Pages: 72 Year published (English): 2016 Cover: hardcover Language: English Dimensions (cm.): 24 х 34 х 1 Weight (g): 990 ISBN-10 5-904957-03-3 ISBN-13 978-5-904957-03-2

Fundamentals of Painting

Author: V. A. Mogilevtsev Publisher: 4арт Pages: 96 Year published (English): 2016 Cover: hardcover Language: English Dimensions (cm.): 24 х 34 х 1.2 Weight (g): 1300 ISBN-10 5-904957-02-5 ISBN-13 978-5-904957-02-5

Fundamentals of Composition Author: V. A. Mogilevtsev Publisher: 4арт Pages: 88 Year published (English): 2018 Cover: hardcover Language: English Dimensions (cm.): 24 х 34 х 1.1 Weight (g): 1200 ISBN-10 5-904957-08-4 ISBN-13 978-5-904957-08-7

OTHER BOOKS BY V. A. MOGILEVTSEV

В. А. Могилевцев V. А. Mogilevtsev

НАБРОСКИ И УЧЕБНЫЙ РИСУНОК

ОБРАЗЦЫ ДЛЯ КОПИРОВАНИЯ DRAWING SAMPLES FOR COPYING

ACADEMIC DRAWINGS AND SKETCHES

ФИГУРА FIGURE

УЧЕБНЫЙ РИСУНОК В РОССИЙСКОЙ АКАДЕМИИ ХУДОЖЕСТВ XVIII – XIX вв Санкт-Петербург / St. Petersburg

ACADEMIC DRAWING AT THE RUSSIAN ART ACADEMY XVIII – XIX centuries

Academic Drawings and Sketches

Drawing Sample for Copying. Figure

Anatomy of Human Figure

Teaching Drawing

Author: V. A. Mogilevtsev Publisher: 4арт Pages: 168 Year published: 2015, 2011 Cover: paperback with a flap Language: Russian, English Dimensions (cm.): 24 х 34 х 1.4 Weight (g): 1400 ISBN-10 5-904957-01-7 ISBN-13 978-5-904957-01-8

Edited by V. A. Mogilevtsev Publisher: Artindex Pages: 116 Year published: 2015 Cover: hardcover Language: Russian Dimensions (cm.): 15 х 21.5 х 1.1 Weight (g): 450 ISBN-10 5-903733-43-3 ISBN-13 978-5-903733-43-9

Author: V. A. Mogilevtsev Publisher: 4арт Pages: 132 Year published: 2016 Cover: hardcover Language: Russian, English Dimensions (cm.): 24 х 34 х 1.2 Weight (g): 1600 ISBN-10 5-904957-04-1 ISBN-13 978-5-904957-04-9

Editor: V. A. Mogilevtsev Publisher: Artindex Pages: 284 Year published: 2016 Cover: hardcover Language: Russian Dimensions (cm.): 24.3 х 29 х 2.2 Weight (g): 2200 ISBN-10 5-903733-55-7 ISBN-13 978-5-903733-55-2

MOGILEVTSEV Vladimir Alexandrovich 1994

Graduated from the Ilya Repin St. Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture of the Russian Academy of Arts, the workshop of Professor Y. M. Neprintsev, Full Member of the Russian Academy of Arts.

1994–1997 Continued his training at the workshop of Professor A. A. Mylnikov, Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Arts. Since 1994 A member of the Russian Union of Artists and a regular participant of national and international art exhibitions. 1995

Started teaching drawing at the Ilya Repin St. Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture of the Russian Academy of Arts.

Since 2013 Head of the Drawing Department at the Ilya Repin St. Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. 2017

Awarded Gold Medal of the Russian Academy of Arts for his «Fundamentals of Art» textbooks and contribution as an art educator.