What are
the ways to make a form either advance or recede?
In the first post with its focus on
Turner, I discussed the importance of the direction a subject faces and its
placement in the overall composition when portraying movement. The following
discussion revisits this concept and introduces some additional principles
relating to the depiction of advancing and receding forms.
Let me begin by
returning to the idea that the direction a subject faces is an important
consideration when portraying movement. Rather than rehashing the issues previously
addressed with Turner regarding sideways movement, I now wish to propose
principles for representing movement by shifts to either the left or right
direction of advancing and receding forms.
The principle behind achieving the
illusion of advancing forms by the direction they face—and this is only one of
a number of visual devices (i.e. tricks) that I’ll be discussing—is as simple
as saying “advancing forms should face towards the right side of the image.” Conversely,
for receding forms “they should recede towards the left side of the image.” These
complementary principles are simple to say but the question as to whether they work
as convincing illusions in practice can only be shown by demonstration. Compare,
for example, the advancing horse-drawn cart in F Dielman’s etching, Merry Morning, after a painting by A
Wierusz-Kowalski with the receding horses in Veyrassat’s Two Horses (shown below).
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Frederick Dielman (1847–1935)
A Merry Morning, 1891
After the painting
by Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski (1849–1915)
Published
by Gebbie & Co.
Etching on
cream wove paper
30 x 21.3 cm
(image) cut within plate marks; 32.5 x 26.3 cm (sheet)
Condition:
The print is a strong impression but there are condition issues. There is a
nibbled lower-right corner and a diagonal crease on the upper-right corner.
There is a light water stain diagonally stretching from top-left to
lower-right.
I am
selling this print for [deleted].
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(detail) Dielman,
A Merry Morning, 1891
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Jules Jacques Veyrassat (1828–93)
Tow Horses, c. 1867
Etching
signed in pencil on warm-white laid paper
8.2 x 10.8
cm (plate); 13.1 x 15.7 cm (sheet)
Condition:
Crisp impression and in pristine condition.
I am
selling this print for [deleted]
|
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| (detail) Veyrassat, Tow Horses, c. 1867 |
From my viewpoint, Wierusz-Kowalski
and Dielman’s horse and cart advancing to the right suggests unconstrained flow, as any movement in this direction matches my left-to-right reading direction
that ultimately leads “out” of the print. If this image is mirrored so that the
same advancing party moves to the left instead of the right (see below) then my
perception of movement is constrained, as my left-to-right reading
direction metaphorically “fights” with the flow of movement portrayed in the
image willing the horse and cart to change their direction. Needless to say
each viewer may have a different response to the mirrored images but if my
reading is shown to be true than there is validity in the principle.
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(left) mirror
image of Dielman, A Merry Morning, 1891
(right) Dielman,
A Merry Morning, 1891
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To help clarify the validity of
this principle, Wierusz-Kowalski did many paintings of advancing horses and in
the video clip below the question as to which direction is more appropriate for
advancing forms may be tested further.
Wierusz-Kowalski
Alfred Uploaded by polscymalarze on Apr 16, 2010
If I may now turn to Veyrassat’s
receding two horses, the direction in which they travel diverts my
left-to-right reading to look pictorially into the image. This adjustment to
where I look is very different to the “fight” against the flow of my eye as is
the case with the mirrored Merry Morning.
There is a more fundamental
approach to suggesting advancing or receding movements and it is often used in
cartoons: for an advancing form, the middle area of its front surface should be portrayed in
focus and the form’s silhouette outline blurred. Conversely, for a receding
form, the middle area of its front surface should be portrayed as blurred and the form’s
silhouette outline in focus.
Veyrassat’s etching is a fine
example of how this approach works in a practical application for receding
forms. Here the middle of the front plane of the two horses—their rumps—is much
harder to interpret as horse backsides and yet the horses’ clear silhouette
outlines makes their receding direction easy to see.
With regard to Dielman’s advancing
horse there is a problem: the whole horse is in focus and there are no features
that are focally blurred. To demonstrate what would happen if the outer edges
of the horse were blurred while the middle area were in focus, the digitally exaggerated
altered image below may be revealing.
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Digitally
altered image of A Merry Morning
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An important variable in the
representation of advancing or receding forms is the speed that they are
travelling. Certainly variations of colour from strong contrast of advancing warm
colours (e.g. orange and red) and receding cool colours (e.g. blue and green)
can play a significant role as can the variables of chroma (i.e. the degree of
colour intensity), opacity, sheen and the attributes and placement of the marks
used (e.g. agitrons/animation marks or effects mimicking second-curtain flash
photography). But there is another more subtle and simple principle for
portraying very fast moving forms and that is to portray the form as being top
heavy. In this regard Dielman’s etching is a superb example.
In a
future posts I will build upon this use of unstable balance to connote movement
as it is part of a rich and interesting field of visual illusions that
artists have employed.
