Undergrowth

Early in my life, the story about Sir Joseph Banks who urged King George III of England to introduce breadfruit to the West Indies and in 1787 the King dispatched Captain William Bligh on the H.M.S. Bounty to accomplish that goal was part of our history course. The extensive hand illustrations of plant specimens that he recorded and later inserted into various reference books were wonderful to look at and excellent guides for school science projects. They are online at: http://tinyurl.com/dzlmqn

Can art be a good teacher? You’ll have to decide all by yourself; however, if you want a real treat, my “bar,” so to write, was set by Vincent Van Gogh--http://tinyurl.com/75g657u

Vincent Van Gogh was a handful, almost certainly a victim of epilepsy, perhaps an alcoholic, maybe mad from the leaded paint he worked with, but in any case a raving, God-haunted lunatic most of the time and nobody's favorite neighbor. Fortunately for him, and us, Van Gogh was able to “focus on a small detail of nature that allowed him to keep a calm frame of mind," wrote Annabelle Kienle, co-curator of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's "Van Gogh: Up Close," a retrospective covering 47 of the Dutch painter's astonishing, point-blank paintings from nature. Of particular interest are those from Arles, Saint-Rémy and Auvers-sur-Oise, France.

It's not surprising that Van Gogh found transcendence in a "blade of grass"—an image he perhaps borrowed from the Calvinist critic Thomas Carlyle. Among my favorites is Van Gogh “Undergrowth with Two Figures.” See: http://tinyurl.com/6qos27f. It is among the most vivid landscapes he painted. Then locate the irises, sunflowers and vines which add to our understanding of what things looked like to him. Loads of images at: http://tinyurl.com/752gqmu.

When Vincent Van Gogh painted landscapes, he used more than paint and a brush. He also used his heart and his emotions. Other painters in earlier times wanted to paint landscapes exactly as they appeared. To Van Gogh, however, the environment was not just what he saw, but what he felt as he stood in it and observed it. He said, "...to paint nature, one must live in it a long time." His paintings of olive trees, with their bold colors and uninhibited brushstrokes, go beyond a description. What we see are trees as Van Gogh saw them, with all the frenzied emotion they inspired in him.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, artists no longer felt the need to create works that showed nature exactly as it appeared. Photography now provided an accurate record of the world. Paint became available in small portable tubes in a wider variety of colors. Artists were now able to bring their canvases outside and were free to experiment with light and color, and to express their feelings through painting. Among the Artists in Residence portrayals in Nori St. Paul’s article is a “photo collage” that captures what Tom Weinkle says is “the world through a metaphorical portal.”

The French Impressionists were interested in painting light and how it reflected off objects and surfaces. They painted "impressions" of the world with short, expressive brushstrokes and dabs of brilliant colors. Van Gogh often painted outdoors, directly from nature, rather than in a studio from his memory or imagination. However, Van Gogh did not paint exactly what he saw. Instead, he used bright, bold colors and exaggerated lines. He distorted the shape of objects in order to communicate the intensity of his thoughts and emotions. He did not sketch his scenes first, but painted directly on the canvas, applying his paint with thick, strong strokes.

Olive Trees is an exaggeration of reality. The branches of the trees curve and twist, the ground rolls like waves, and the sun blazes in a brilliant bright yellow. The short, powerful brushstrokes seem almost to have a life of their own, and are exploding with energy. The colors van Gogh used were often symbolic. To him, yellow symbolized love and light, red and green conveyed passion and conflict, blue was infinity, and gray was associated with surrender.

Read Nori St. Paul’s article at: http://tinyurl.com/7mh6a4a and take a chance that you will be captivated by local art. Go see one or both shows.