Tracing Your Artistic Influences

Rimrock Springs @ 2010

Artists do not work in a vacuum.  We have an artistic heritage, a visual language that continues a conversation started centuries ago.  And like children learning to talk, we start to communicate through a limited means, slowing gaining the ability to understand nuance and personal expression. 

I have often used the word "ideology" when discussing the foundation of artistic intent, but that word is not the best choice: by understanding the schools of thought, the philosophies driving those artists whose work resonates visually, I find it easier to incorporate those previous "conversations" into conversations of my own.

I remember vividly the first time I saw Theodore Rousseau's "Under the Birches, Evening", c1842-43.  It wasn't just the freshness of the image after weeks of viewing French Classical Realism: it was the sense of light and atmosphere, the feeling of being present in a particular place and time, and the scale of the landscape.  In the years since I have traced my fascination with the depiction of atmosphere and light through influences such as The Barbizon School (Theodore Rousseau, who informed the French and California Impressionists ), the Italian Divisionists, and the Spanish Impressionists, notably Sorolla. 

A current "conversation" in my work comes from Sorolla, who felt that the quest for truth and sincerity was more important than a "preoccupation with technique" - and while there is often conflicting points of view expressed with Sorolla's biographers as to whether he planed or remained spontaneous, the underlying truth was that the painting needed to convey a feeling of immediacy.

There are a variety of approaches an artist can take to achieve a sense of immediacy, and most do speak to technique, but technique with a philosophical intent.  While the Divisionists stepped away from the Pointillists, they were still philosophically driven to depict the effects of light and they learned from each other.  To paint thinly, or with thick gestural strokes, without a firm understanding of what you want to achieve visually is like engaging in a conversation with a limited vocabulary.  Fine for beginners, but I don't want to stop learning at the end of my first coherent sentence.

 

Comments

[Artistsvoice.wordpress.com]

Hi Sue, good discussion about influences and technique. There is a wonderful sculptor, Martine Vaugel, and I have seen her work from her early period. She is a very passionate artist, but the interesting thing is that she has developed her technical abilities on a very high level, simply so that she could get her passion across.
Michael Newberry

[Donald Diddams]

Interesting thoughts. I think techniques are like words, but the words need the paragraph -- the idea, philosophy and desired effect -- in order to have meaning. People with a large vocabulary, but lacking ideas, can be a real bore.

[Nina]

I think you've captured a lot of immediacy and freshness in Red Rock Springs!