Reflective and Comparative

Reflective and Comparative 

Alesha Lee

George Luks's Allen Street, 1905, Oil on canvas, 32 x 45 inches (Photographed in situ at the Hunter Museum)

When I was viewing Luks's Allen Street painting, I immediately noticed street vendors and concluded that this had to be a street view of a bustling city. The setting for this painting was in New York and based on the year it was painted, this had to be around the time that immigrants started rapidly settling into the United States. This formal representational painting reveals to us the different ethnicities and the clash of cultures that was happening in the lower east side of New York, which was probably Luks's intention as an artist. Luks's technique is very interesting in that his brush strokes are prominent and seem more free flowing. The brushstrokes gave the art piece a sense of unity and also movement. While I was viewing other works that were of representational content, I noticed how some paintings had very small and delicate details added to them. For example Severin Roesen's painting called Nature's Bounty.

 

 

Severin Roesen, Nature's Bounty, cir.1852-1854, Oil on canvas, 26 x 36 in. (Photographed in situ at the Hunter Museum)

Both Roesen's and Luks's works are of representational content and focus readily on realism. However, compared to Luks's work, Roesen goes into high detail into his painting, Nature's Bounty. When I looked at this piece in person, it was amazing to see such detail even in the smallest places. I got up close and personal to this painting and really appreciated all the detail. The oil on the canvas had already started to crack, which in my opinion intrigued me even more. To me, the precise brushstrokes were very therapeutic. Although the still life is very plain, Roesen made these ordinary objects into a successful painting by arranging them precisely and drawing the viewer in with the incredible detail.

Frank Stella, River of Ponds III, 1969, Acrylic on canvas, 121 x 121 in.  (Photo from Hunter Museum Collections)

When I walked into the part of the gallery where Frank Stella's work was displayed, I did not even notice it until I left because it was hung above the wall of the entrance. I got pretty excited when I saw Stella's work because I immediately recognized it. It was really great to see one in person and the size of it was huge. He definitely has an innate talent for choosing colors. For non-objective art, you really tend to stare at the art piece longer compared to a representational piece. I think it's because you want to look for some familiar object in the piece. While I was looking at non-objective pieces, I definitely looked at the work far longer than the representational pieces. I think in that aspect is what contrasts non-objective pieces to representational pieces. However, both types of work need much skill to execute. In this case, I look for patterns in Stella's piece and see the repetitive lines of the curve and how the colors work with each other. Just like how there is unity and balance in Luk's Allen Street, I feel a sense of unity and balance to this piece. To me, there does not seem to be a color that overpowers the others.

 

Putting a representational piece of art next to a non-objective piece of art will show the stark differences in style, but there are also aspects of each that crossover. They both follow the principles of design; however non-objective pieces might focus more on the principles of design. Some non-objective art can be inspired by representational or objective ideas or vice versa. In the long run, I think both styles need a great amount of skill and a good foundation of art, but one style does not trump the other.