One of our assignments for this weekend was to read an excerpt from "Steps Toward a Small Theory of the Visible", by English art critic, novelist, painter and poet John Berger. In it, he expresses his conception of painting.
Firstly, he says that painting is (and has always been) "an affirmation of the visible, of the existent"; the painter experiences the visible and announces through his painting: "I have seen this". This is clearly proven when we realize that the first paintings in history show animals, and many millennia had to pass before a human was depicted. The early artist painted what they confronted.
Another important idea the author expresses is that every authentic painting requires a collaboration between the model and the painter and, so, "the impulse to paint comes neither from observation nor from the soul, but from an encounter: an encounter between painter and model."
Finally, Berger affirms that there is a misconception since Modernism: that the artist is a creator. In the author's opinion, he is not a creator, but a receiver; so, what we understand as "creating" is in fact "giving form to what he has received".
 |
Portrait of a Young Girl, by Petrus Christus. C. 1465-70.
"It is impossible to deny the participation of the model"
|
No comments:
Post a Comment