Learning to Look at Paintings

by Acton; Mary

• ISBN13: 9780415435178
• ISBN10: 041543517X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-26
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Learning to Look at Paintings is an accessible guide to the study and appraisal of paintings, drawings and prints. Mary Acton shows how you can develop visual, analytical and historical skills in learning to look at and understand an image by analysing how it works, what its pictorial elements are and how they relate to each other.

Table of Contents

List of figures	p. xiii
List of plates	p. xv
Preface	p. xxv
Introduction to the second edition	p. xxvii
Introduction	p. xxxiii
Composition	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
Horizontals and verticals	p. 2
Harmony and balance	p. 5
Rhythm and the spaces between objects	p. 12
Curves and diagonals	p. 14
Colour	p. 18
Asymmetry	p. 20
Apparently random composition	p. 23
Collage	p. 24
Composition and installation	p. 26
Conclusion	p. 28
Space	p. 29
Introduction	p. 29
Linear perspective	p. 31
Geometrical space	p. 33
Imaginative space and illusionism	p. 36
Aerial perspective	p. 39
Space to walk about in: landscape	p. 41
Spatial distortion: ignoring the middle distance	p. 43
Multiple-viewpoint perspective	p. 45
Space in front of the picture	p. 47
Spatial disorientation	p. 49
Historical and memorial space	p. 52
Conclusion	p. 55
Form	p. 56
Introduction	p. 57
Sculptural form in the human figure	p. 60
Form achieved by chiaroscuro and sfumato	p. 63
Form made tangible	p. 66
The disintegration of form	p. 68
The rebuilding of form	p. 70
Form created with colour	p. 74
Form and scale	p. 76
The closing of the gap between painting and sculpture in the twentieth century	p. 78
Conclusion	p. 87
Tone	p. 88
Introduction	p. 88
Tone used to create drama	p. 91
Tone and the expression of emotion	p. 94
Tone and the realisation of form and space	p. 98
Tone used to create atmosphere	p. 104
Tone and the reconstruction of form	p. 107
The use of chalk and blackboard to manipulate tone	p. 109
Conclusion	p. 113
Colour	p. 118
Introduction	p. 118
The use of colour to express emotion	p. 124
Colour and the power of suggestion	p. 125
The power of colour to disturb the emotions	p. 127
The power of colour to express emotion without a figurative subject	p. 128
Colour and scale	p. 130
Colour and the expression of texture	p. 132
The use of coloured light for expression	p. 133
Conclusion	p. 134
Subject-matter	p. 135
Introduction	p. 135
Religious subjects	p. 136
Mythological subjects	p. 138
Historical subjects	p. 142
Scenes of everyday life with a moral	p. 145
Literary subject-matter	p. 148
The significance of the intended setting for a picture and the role of restoration	p. 151
Subject-matter and image making: clarity and ambiguity in communicating a message	p. 153
Subject-matter and the idea of abstraction	p. 164
Subject-matter and interpretation	p. 166
Poetical subjects	p. 169
Subject-matter and the idea of painting as poetry	p. 171
Conclusion	p. 172
Drawing and its purposes	p. 175
Introduction	p. 175
Drawing used to try out ideas	p. 177
Drawing and sculptural expression	p. 182
Landscape drawings	p. 185
Topographical drawings and watercolours	p. 187
Line drawing	p. 189
Individual drawing techniques in the twentieth century	p. 195
Conclusion	p. 200
Looking at prints	p. 202
Introduction	p. 202
The exploitation of detail: line engraving, woodcut and wood engraving	p. 204
The creation of mystery and ambivalence by means of tone	p. 209
The development of a print from its original drawing: etching and aquatint	p. 213
Lithography	p. 218
The coloured lithography	p. 220
Silk screen printing and the use of modern printing techniques	p. 223
New ways of making prints and the impact of digital technology	p. 225
Conclusion	p. 226
Conclusion: the use of comparison as an aid to looking	p. 228
Some questions to ask yourself when standing in front of a painting	p. 233
Glossary of some art terms	p. 234
References and further reading	p. 247
Index	p. 254
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