How do artists express emotions when
these feelings are non-visual?
In literature, TS Eliot popularised
the term “objective correlative” for describing emotions and other intangible
feelings in terms of the circumstances supporting them. In the visual arts, the
representation of such non-visual experiences can be approached in a similar
way. For example, to portray melancholy an artist can allude to the condition
by the symbolism of setting, lighting, colour and body language (if a figure is
featured). More exciting than relying on pictorial tropes, however, artists can
also employ the essential structure of such experiences as an analogue
configuration (i.e. a non-representational pattern of lines matching what the
experience “feels” like) as the compositional structure for an image. The
following discussion focuses on the use of analogues to express meaning through
three compositional arrangements:
- configuring an image to match a predetermined
analogue of an emotion;
- superimposing an analogue of an emotion on top of a subject;
and,
- using imagery that matches the essential
constructs of a predetermined analogue of an emotion.
Let me begin with the first
approach where an image is reconfigured (i.e. warped) to resemble an analogue
drawn as a reflexive response (i.e. an instinictive automatic response) to an experience. If an artist were to conceive
that the feeling of depression is like a v-shape (see diagram below)—mindful
that not all artists would necessarily see this dreadful mental state in such a
simplistic structure—then this schematic arrangement of converging lines
descending to a low point would be the compositional arrangement that the
chosen image would be configured to replicate. Of course the degree of the
distortion of the original image is the variable where artistic sensitivities
play a role in what otherwise would be a simple game of anamorphic distortion.
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Analogue of depression
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In my drawing of a very corroded
lock plate—a relic found in an architectural excavation by the Archaeology
Department at James Cook University—I have digitally manipulated the original
drawing (shown below) through three stages of reconfiguration to demonstrate the
process and outcomes. Of course, the “success’’ of communicating a state of
depression from these adjustments can only be determined by each viewer’s
reading and there are far too many variables to ever be certain that meaning
can ever be express clearly. For instance, not all viewers will sense that
depression is a downward flow. Moreover, some will not have the “right” mindset
to wish to negotiate any meanings let alone depression and some may never have
experienced the feeling at all to be able to pass judgement. If I may stretch
this point even further into territory that I fear the most: some viewers may
not have been acculturated to looking at art to know what they are looking at
and have the skills to negotiate any meaning.
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James Brown
Door Lock Plate (an architectural feature from the old
Pen and
ink on watercolour paper, 76 x 57 cm
I am
selling this drawing for $850 AUD including postage and handling to anywhere in
the world. Please contact me using the email link at the top of the page if you
are interested.
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James Brown, Door Lock Plate
Three stage distortion to match a
v-shaped analogue of depression
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As a corollary to the analogue
structure of depression I have reconfigured the original drawing to match an
inverted v-shape compositional structure (see diagram below) envisaged to be
the complementary emotion to depression: joy. In the three drawings shown further
below, hopefully the different degrees of skewing the original drawing to match
the inverted v-shape expresses in each of the three consecutive stages of
distortion a heightening of this uplifting feeling.
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Analogue of joy
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James Brown, Door Lock Plate
Three stage distortion to match an
inverted v-shaped analogue of joy
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The second approach involving the superimposition
of an analogue on top of the portrayed subject may seem like a simple task of
unceremoniously drawing the abstract pattern of an analogue as a final layering
of marks. Although this is essentially true, the real art of employing this
approach is to integrate the lines of the analogue with the underlying image.
This is not easy. Ideally, the outcome should be an inseparable “marriage” of
the analogue with the underlying image to the extent that a viewer will only
see the analogue pattern subliminally and not wonder what the analogue pattern is
“doing there.”
In the three-stage superimposition
of the analogue of joy (the inverted v-shaped pattern) shown below, the upper
image blends into the original drawing to some extent by virtue of the colour
of the analogue. In the lower two images the analogue is softened so that the
pattern is barely discernable.
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James Brown, Door Lock Plate
Three stage superimposition of an
inverted v-shaped analogue of joy
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For the third and final approach to
using an analogue as a compositional structure, the subject itself is explored
until certain arrangements of its features are found that resemble the analogue
pattern. As an example of this approach a small section of the original drawing
of the door plate has been extracted (see image below) that has the same the
essential upward converging lines in its compositional structure as those in
the inverted v-shaped analogue of joy. By intention this small section as an
artwork on its own will embody and project the feeling of joyful elation. Of
course this image is simply a cropped part of the larger image and to truly
communicate the feeling of joy then a plethora of other visual devices will
need to be brought into play to assist in the projection of meaning.
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James Brown, Door Lock Plate
A fragment of the original drawing
resembling an inverted v-shaped analogue of joy
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A prime example of how an artist
uses other devices to supplement a fundamental analogue structure is Kathe
Kollwitz’s very beautiful and emotionally resonant etching Betendes Madchen [Woman Praying] (shown below). Here the
underpinning compositional structure fits broadly with the first v-shaped analogue
discussed above that arguably projects a sombre mood. In addition to this structure, however, the contrast of a mechanical style of cross-hatching, raised in strong relief by the intaglio
process rendering the background, juxtaposed beside the delicate lines portraying the woman’s hands and face presents the praying figure as spiritually removed from the
temporal world. Interestingly, this print also features lightly inscribed lines
laid over the rendering of the figure’s torso. These loosely-made gestural
lines may be viewed as the equivalent of the second approach of superimposing
an analogue pattern on an image.
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Kathe Kollwitz (1867-1945)
Betendes
Mädchen [Woman Praying), 1892
From the
1931 von der Becke edition with blindstamp (Klipstein 11: IV b)
Etching,
drypoint, aquatint and sandpaper in dark brown ink on thick cream wove paper
19.4 x 14.9
cm (plate); 31.4 27 cm (sheet)
Condition: very strong impression
in excellent condition. There is a tiny fox mark on the upper left edge and
faint toning from the print having been mounted.
This print is no longer available
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Kathe Kollwitz, (detail) Betendes Mädchen, 1892
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Kathe Kollwitz, (detail) Betendes Mädchen, 1892
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Perhaps an even more powerful image
by Kollwitz and one in which the subject is clearly modelled on an analogue
structure is the very large etching, Inspiration
(shown below). In this image, an elderly woman seen with her back nestled into
a crouching man has the man’s arm stretched across her front in a protective
way by virtue of the implement he grasps—a hoe? The angle of his protective
arm and its grasped implement, when seen in combination with the angles of his
legs, create downward converging wedge-shaped arrangement expressing a heavy
mood. Such a reading rests not only on the directional thrust of this wedge
shape. The point where the critical lines converge—the tool head of the
implement—is the punctum point (see the earlier post “Dujardin & Dietricy:
Punctum”) that projects the layering of implicit symbolic meanings of this
point: rural life, hard labour, grim determination and, with insight into
Kollwitz’s other prints, revolt and war.
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Kathe Kollwitz (1867-1945)
Inspiration, 1905
Originally
created for The Peasants' War, but ultimately not included in the cycle.
From the
1945 von der Becke edition with blindstamp (Klipstein 91: IX b)
Etching,
drypoint and soft ground etching in dark brown ink on thick cream wove paper
56.8 x 29.5
cm (plate); 78 x 45.8 cm (sheet)
Condition: very strong impression
in excellent condition.
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Kathe Kollwitz, (detail) Inspiration, 1905
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Kollwitz’s prints are so rich in
visual devices designed to express meaning that this discussion could be
ongoing. Nevertheless, there is one print that should not be ignored when
looking at ways of using analogues of emotions: Woman with Folded Hands (shown below).
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Kathe Kollwitz (1867-1945)
Woman with Folded Hands, 1898
From the
1931 (?) von der Becke edition with blindstamp (Klipstein 41: VI)
Etching, in
dark brown ink on thick cream wove paper
29 x 23 cm
(plate); 42 x 33.7 cm (sheet)
Condition: very strong and crisp
impression. There are two moisture stains well away from the image and a roughen
strip in the paper, again well away from the image, at the top of the margin
from a previous mounting.
I am
selling this print for [deleted] including postage and handling to anywhere in
the world. Be aware that as this item is large it will be rolled and posted in
a cylinder. Please contact me using the email link at the top of the page if
you are interested.
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This image, with its centrally
placed figure dramatically lit with chiaroscuro lighting, is a fine example of
how to use a flow of emotionally charged lines that may be read as analogues
generated by deep emotion. These lines seen as a downward curving flow from the
upper right edge of the image down the shadow side of the figure (see these
lines in the details below) to my eyes show a dark concern weighing down on this
pregnant woman—or a woman that I assume is pregnant based on the way that her
left hand gentle rests on her belly. With regard to the above three approaches
to using analogues, this treatment falls into the approach of superimposition
of analogue patterns where the graphic space of the analogue marks are
integrated with the pictorial space of the portrayed women (see the earlier post
“Haden & Brangwyn: Graphic & Pictorial Space” concerning these two
spaces).
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Kathe Kollwitz, (details) Woman with Folded Hands, 1898
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For an excellent explanation of analogues I recommend looking at Betty
Edwards’ Drawing on the Artist Within.