Time is the most crucial element in art. It affects all types of art including performance, still life, photography, video, paint, etc. Time can also be shown in many aspects without the viewer even realizing it. In Claude Monet's "Rouen Cathedral", he tries to capture a church in a painting at different times of the day. In Themes of Contemporary Art: Visual Art after 1980, Jean Robertson and Craig McDaniel inform that"...motion and speed are increasingly important aspects of the representation of time in art" (116). Monet is trying to depict the cathedral at an exact point in time. He does this at different times of the day when light dramatically affects the result of the painting.
Claude Monet, like other artist, is representing time in one of the various ways. He captures time through light hitting on the same scene repeatedly. Others show time through narratives, life events, etc. Time made this picture of the cathedral look like a completely different painting from his other cathedral paitnings. In Chapter four "Time" of Themes of Contemporary Art Jean Robertson and Craig McDaniel states, "...time is measured and made manifest by change" (114). If it had not been for time which in turn, affects lighting, Monet would not have been successful in his paintings. This change of light through time of the day is what completes the painting and makes time the most crucial element depicted through the series of paintings.
Robertson, Jean, and Craig McDaniel. Themes of Contemporary Art: Visual Art after 1980.
2nd. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. 114 & 116. Print.
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ReplyDeletereally enjoyed reading this blog. It made me think about the Impressionist movement, which is one of my favorite periods of art. Although this movement is not a part of this class discusion or even a part of contemporary art, it does, however, speak clearly of the use of time. A major strength that the Impressionists possessed was their ability to convey time in such an emotional way. They showed time through the modification of light, which changes over time.
ReplyDeleteI too am a big fan of the Impressionist Movement and Impressionist artists. Although we did not study the movement, characteristics or artists directly the impact of impressionist work relates and impacted many of the artists we did study. Not only did the impressionist artists depict the changing qualities of light to depict time, but the developed idea of total realism through the practice of in plein air, where reality was to be confronted as it was, and not according to some preconceived idea became the new art practice. Artists such as Monet and Cezanne produced art of the moment, using quick short brushstrokes to capture the light and movement of that exact moment. The feeling, concept and characteristics of the Impressionist movement can be easily related to action paintings and drip paintings of Pollock or the dynamism works such as Buchi and Tagli of Fontana and many other future artists.
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