The purpose of this essay is to describe the asymmetrical composition of “The Dancer Examination, 1874”and from this image there is a few similar features to “The Great Wave at Kanagawa, 1833”. As the composition, here are some of the things we ought to consider: How have the elements of the painting been placed? Does our eye flow across the whole painting or does one element selfishly dominate? Is the main focus of the painting slap-bang in the center of the painting (both vertically and horizontally), or off to one side? Is there anything that draws your eye into or across the painting? Also consider whether it's been slavishly copied from reality or from a photograph rather than thought put into which elements were included?
Edgar Degas (1834-1917) was an inspiring Parisian painter who lived in the nineteenth century. He was famous for portray of ballet figures. The dancing class was painted with art materials, combining media in a very surprising ways during 1878. Unlike to most artists, his focal point is not right on the central of the picture. Edgar depicts these figures from the sides and by using bright colors which concentrating primarily on the effects of light shot as photography. Photography was in its early stages of development. As there was often a difference between what the photographer saw in the viewfinder of his camera and what actually appeared on the negative, photographers would crop their pictures to improve their composition. This resulted in some unusual arrangements which emphasized shapes and forms at the edge of the image. Impressionists embraced the asymmetrical effects of cropping and made it a prominent feature of their compositions. Degas never reconciled himself to be an Impressionist, but he preferred to call himself as a “Realist” or “Independent”.
The Impressionists were not a formal artistic group as such, more a collective of artists seeking recognition for their innovative techniques and approach to using color in art. Traditionally, the Academic artists had created images where the lines, shapes, tones and colors were arranged in a way that led the eye to the focal point of the painting. This was the most important area of the picture and was usually situated in a central position. Sometimes, it could be a poor composition if the background or edges of the painting detracted from the focal point. True to form, Degas broke this central position rule. His works show he used of asymmetrical compositions, a style he learned from studying photos of Japanese arts. He admired the asymmetrical compositions and the concentration of surface patterns which were similar features to Ukiyo-e work by Katsushika Hokusai of the Japan artist. Their asymmetrical arrangements contrasting large areas of flat color with patches of intricate pattern offered a compositional format. Impressionists could use to develop their ideas about color. Sometimes, even the most avant-garde artists need the security of knowing that the path they have chosen to follow has some roots in tradition.
Japanese prints were influence compositional format on Impressionists about the asymmetrical arrangements. The idea contrasts large areas of flat with patches of intricate spatial pattern of a painting. The compositions of Katsushika Hokusai offered the Impressionists this precedent of asymmetry, albeit from another culture, and consequently the confidence to forge ahead with their new ideas. Sometimes, even the most famous artists need the security of knowing that the path they have chosen to follow in Japanese prints.
The preeminence of “The Great Wave at Kanagawa, 1833” can be attributed in asymmetrical composition, in addition to its sheer graphic beauty. The compelling force of the contrast is between the wave and the mountain. The turbulent wave seems to tower above the viewer, whereas the tiny stable pyramid of Mount Fuji sits in the distance. The eternal mountain is envisioned in a single moment frozen in time. Hokusai characteristically cast a traditional theme in a novel interpretation. In the traditional scene of a famous place, Mount Fuji was always the focus of the composition. Hokusai inventively inverted this formula and positioned a small Mount Fuji within the midst of a thundering seascape. Foundering among the great waves are three boats thought to be barges conveying fish from the southern islands of Japan. Thus a scene of everyday labor is grafted onto the seascape view of the mountain.
In Dancing Examination, Degas focused on these "not-in-examination" when the dancers, released briefly from their strenuous examination, could relax. The dancers’ extended limbs alternate with the empty spaces in the room to create a rhythm between the groups of figures and the space itself. To produce the Dance Examination’s dramatically receding perspective, Degas ran a broad expanse of wall, uninterrupted except for a mirror, to the side wall of the room. He also positioned the dancers in a perfect diagonal, directing the eye flow from the lower left to the upper right corner. The tiny dancer master and audients in the back wall contribute to the illusion of deep space.
Just as he sketched the dancers’ every gesture and position to make his paintings as authentic as possible, the dancers performed countless repetitions to perfect their movements. Colorful accents in this otherwise tonal work help lead the viewer through the painting. Starting with the orange shawl and pink stockings of the dancer on the far left, Degas touched the center dancers with pink and blue, and finished with the bright yellow fan and red and coral bows on the right. These touches of sparkling color give the work a delicate luminosity.
Degas used both tightly controlled and dynamic brushwork in the Dancing Examination. He combined black and green with white in broad strokes to create the voluminous tutus. The dancers’ shawls are also loosely painted, in sharp contrast to the careful delineation of the chair, floor boards, and overall architectural space.
Conclusion of this essay is assimilated as follows: The elements of both paintings are placed asymmetry which emphases at left side; our eye flows cross the both paintings from the space to the center; the main focuses of Fuji mountain and dancing girl are in the center of the paintings; and both are slavishly copied from reality. Both paintings preserve the integrity of the picture plane that is to signify the enduring presence of flatness underneath and above the most vivid illusion of three-dimensional space.
Edgar Degas, “Dancing Examination, 1874”, Oil on canvas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA. |
| Katsushika Hokusai, “The Great Wave at Kanagawa, 1833”. Polychrome ink and color on paper, 10 1/8 x 14 15/16 in. H. O. Havemeyer Collection, 1929 |
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