Materiality and Illusion Brings One Back to History
A formal analysis of Dorothea Tanning’s painting Insomnias in relation to
art history
Karolin Ivarsson
Avdelningen för konsthistoria och visuella studier
Istitutionen för kulturvetenskaper
Lunds universitet
KOVK02, 15 p. Kandidatkurs ht 2012
Handledare: Cecilia Sjölin
Table of Contents
Introduction
3
Presentation of Subject Material
3
Purpose
3
Theory and Method
4
Research Overview
5
Delimitations
5
Definitions
6
Disposition
6
Thesis
7
Painting and Illusion
7
Overview of Insomnias
8
Compositional Direction and Color
9
Materiality in Insomnias
12
Thick Application of Medium
12
Thin Application of Medium
13
Specific materiality used to convey Illusion
14
Illusion in Insomnias
16
Viewer’s Interpretation
16
Formal Aspects That Create Illusion
16
Ambiguous Illusion
17
Brings One Back to History
18
Renaissance and Baroque Painting
18
Landscape Painting
19
Cubism
21
Abstract Expressionism
24
Surrealism Divides Materiality and Illusion
26
Conclusion
29
Bibliography
31
2
Introduction
Presentation of Subject Material
Medium has always been present in art yet it did not gain focus as something
besides a means to create an illusion until the 1800s. During Impressionism the medium
achieved importance as a physical entity that has its own meaning and depiction. Thus
bringing attention to the physical surface of the canvas. The interest continued into
Modernism, reaching its height during Abstract Expressionism. Abstract Expressionism
put focus on the rather than illusion discovering the possibilities the paint could offer.
Clement Greenberg, the art critic, wrote a great deal about medium and illusion in
relation to Abstract Expressionists as well as Cubism during the early to mid 1900s.
Dorothea Tanning was an active painter at the time and painted Insomnias in
1957. Tanning’s content identified her as a surrealist, but this thesis focuses on the formal
qualities of Insomnias - which would categorize her painting as being many things apart
from surrealist and closer to an Abstract Expressionist or Cubist. Insomnias is an oil
painting on stretched canvas it has a vertical rectangular format with the dimensions 207
cm by 145 cm (fig.1)
Fig. 1: Dorothea Tanning, Insomnias, 1957, oil on canvas, 207 x 145 cm,
Moderna Museet.
Purpose
Tanning’s painting exists as a blend of art historical styles, materiality, and
illusion. Insomnias does not fit into one category perfectly, rather it draws what it needs
from each style. One cannot address form in a painting without discussing the illusion,
3
just as one cannot avoid seeing the style of painting. By using formal analysis, I will be
focusing on how each of the formal aspects is incorporated into the painting. The focus is
on illusion and medium, and how they work together, but on not content. While I am
going to discuss the general understanding of the painting, I will not delve into the deeper
meaning.
In this analysis, I will examine the physical qualities of paint and how artists have
used these qualities to their advantage. It is also my purpose to explore how materiality
affects a painting in ways that an illusion is incapable of doing, while also discussing how
the materiality works together with illusion. Formal analysis places the physicality of the
painting in focus as well as how formal qualities affect the illusion. The formal qualities,
recall other painting styles from the past that used similar techniques or forms. Formalism
can bring one closer to history specifically in Insomnias, which draws on other historical
styles, and these styles way of using illusion and material in distinctive ways.
Theory and Method
Formalist theory is used to analyze the formal aspects of the painting, based on
observation as separate from, but still connected to, the content.1 Formal aspects include
shape, color, composition, line, and medium.2 All of which effect the depiction of an
illusion, but do not include the meaning behind these illusions. E.H. Gombrich discusses
the way a viewer takes an active roll in interpreting forms as illusion.3 Each viewer
perspective on illusions is based off of the formal aspects and the viewer knowledge of
interpreting these aspects.
The art critic, Clement Greenberg’s writes about illusion of depth in relation to
the flatness of the canvas. He does so by addressing aspects of Cubism including creating
depth with physical layering compared to shading as well as the use of trompe l’oeil.
Along with his description of what the term painterly means in relation to Abstract
Expressionism, which imply the possibilities of the medium.
1
H Foster, R Krauss, Y Bois, B Buchloh, Art Since 1900, Vol. 2 1945 to the present,
Thames & Hudson, New York, 2007, p. 33.
2
A D’Alleva, How To Write Art History, Laurence King Publishing Ltd, London, 2005,
p. 18.
3 EH Gombrich, Art & Illusion, Phaidon Press Limited, London, 5th edition, 1977, p. 157.
4
Research Overview
A great deal has been written about Tannings earlier Surrealist work. Martin
Sundberg and Alain Bosquet are two that have addressed her later work including a focus
on Insomnias. Their attention has been upon her life in connection with the production of
her work. Even though her style changed, they persist she is a surrealist painter citing her
expression of the unconscious though her choice of forms as well as her paintings’
content as evidence. Sundberg addresses the material qualities of the paint as relating to
her husband and fellow artist, Max Ernst’s work.4 Sundberg also discusses her work in
relation to feminist theory and the gaze based on a comparison to her past work.5
Materiality and possibilities of the medium is discussed by James Elkins in his
book What Painting Is. He compares artists to alchemists, noting that the two trades
function in similar ways. Alchemists like painters experiment and rely on those
experiments to increase their knowledge of the material in order for it to come into use
later. The material becomes second nature, but they do not understand the actual
chemistry.6 These experiments can be seen on the surface of the canvas in the materiality
of the paint.
Delimitations
Tanning has been a productive painter, sculptor, and poet, but I will only be
including her painting Insomnias, no other works by the artist will be discussed. The
focus of this thesis is upon painting. Therefore, the word artist is only referring to
painters. The term paint refers only to oil paint, due to the fact that Insomnias is painted
in oil paint. Her painting will only be compared to other oil paintings.
The analysis of the formal qualities of the painting is based on my observations
from 2012, at Moderna Museet in Malmö, Sweden. It has only been viewed in a museum
context, but will not be compared to the other works in the room. The age difference
M Sundberg, ‘The Metamorphosis of Dorothea Tanning: On the Painting Insomnias’ in
Konsthistorisk tidskrift/Journal of Art History, Routledge, Vol. 79, Issue 1, March 2010,
p. 24.
5
Ibid., p. 27.
6 J Elkins, What Painting Is, Routledge, New York, 2000, p. 22.
4
5
between the viewing and making of the work may allow for some physical changes of the
work, but all observations are based off of 2012. I will not be relating Tannings work to
her biography or to the politics of the time. Feminist theory will also not be discussed in
relation to her work, because it does not affect the materialist qualities of the painting.
Definitions
Materiality is a term that will be used to describe characteristic traits of a specific
medium. Materiality in this case does not refer to material or physical possessions.
Content will be used to mean the deeper, interpreted meaning of the painting that is not
directly present in the form, and may include symbolism. Illusion here is not part of
content, but stands alone as a depiction.
Disposition
Starting with the formal description of the Insomnias leads the subject matter into
the use of the medium, which affects the illusions created. The formal aspects in the
painting such as materiality draw connections to other art historical styles such as
Renaissance and Baroque painting, Landscape painting, Cubism, as well as Abstract
Expressionism. Followed by discussing Surrealism in relation to the formal aspects.
6
Thesis
Painting and Illusion
Painting has a tradition of being representative and mimetic. It was inherent to
painting to be as mimetic as possible, particularly before the invention of photography.
As photography developed, many believed it would lead to the end of painting. Instead, it
freed the medium from its need to represent the world.7 This freedom can be seen as a
reason for the growing interest in materiality and new forms of representation during
modernism. The medium became a more evident part of the painting. It is not just a way
to represent, but has its own meaning and purpose.
The paint medium can become an obsession for the artist. For some artists, the
material is intoxicating.8 They use the paint medium like alchemists use ingredients.
Elkins defines alchemy as “the generic name for those unaccountable changes: it is
whatever happens in the foggy place where science weakens and gives way to ineffable
changes.”9 This is because alchemy does not use chemistry in the way we use it today
with atoms and equations, but with experimentation and familiarity with the materials.
The artist does the same by combining different pigments and oils, specifically in oil
paint. The viscosity of paint will have an evident effect on the outcome of the painting.
Therefore, the artist is consciously aware of the medium and knows how to handle it
without actually understanding why it reacts the way it does.10 There are exceptions, but
the majority of artists work this way.
Today most paint comes ready made in tubes, which makes artists even more
reliant on experience. Most artists are unaware of how the paint was made, from how
much of each ingredient was used to what temperature they were mixed at. The paint is
used as a base mixture that is unknown chemically, but known with experience. By
mixing other known ingredients, such as oil and turpentine, the artist can alter the paint to
a desired consistency and texture. Elkins describes a Claude Monet’s painting being
7
S, Wallenstein, Painting- The Extended Field, Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, 1996, p.
41.
8
Elkins, p. 5.
9
Ibid., p. 121.
10
Ibid., p. 22.
7
dependent on two things “the precariously balanced viscosity of the pigment, and a nearly
masochistic pleasure in uncomfortable, unpredictable twists and turns.”11 This description
can be applied to most paintings, and especially Tanning’s. The application of the paint
on the canvas has an equally great effect as the medium on the outcome, from the tool
used to apply the paint to the motion of application.
Overview of Insomnias
In Dorothea Tanning’s painting Insomnias the motif is an accumulation of
abstract forms combined with evident depictions. Certain forms have illusionistic depth
but are not easily recognizable as a specific object. Sundberg describes it as “…eluding
the viewer’s grasp while remaining in motion,” meaning that the painting is not easily
comprehended it leads the viewer in one direction and then changes.12 The viewer may
recognize a figure, but that figure suddenly dissolves into faceted forms without any real
connection to the other figures within the picture plane. The composition leads the eye in
many directions and can be entered into from many different points of view.
The term ‘prismatic’ aptly describes the color as well as the faceted forms of the
painting.13 From my observation the painting consists of dioxazine purple, cadmium red,
cadmium orange, cadmium yellow, ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, and white.14 All the
fully saturated colors are present except for phthalocyanine green. The green that exists
on the canvas is either an impure green that has been blended together which include an
ocher-green or a turquoise-blue. There is a great deal of white in the center leading out to
each edge divides the painting into quadrants.
Some viewers may recognize different illusions in the ambiguous forms, but these
are as subjective as seeing shapes in clouds and are based on the viewer’s expectations.
There are three clear figurative forms that can be easily recognized and do not clearly fall
11
Elkins, p. 18.
Sundberg, p. 18.
13
Ibid., p. 28.
14 While describing the colors within the painting I have taken into consideration Elkin’s
explanation from his book What is Painting, p. 43 that counting colors is like counting
individuals in a family, each is unique and helps create the unit, common math of one
plus one equals two does not apply. Therefor each color is identified by its proper name,
like an individual. (Author’s Note)
12
8
into the category of ambiguity. These three forms, which include a child figure, a
woman’s face, and a dog like form, are in the lower right quadrant of the painting. Each
form is painted in arbitrary analogous colors, which do not correspond to their natural
color. The right side of the painting contains the majority of the figures as well as smaller
faceted forms that are distinctly defined with a great deal of contrast. The left side of the
painting, however, is less representative and has softer abstract shapes that blend
together. It also contains more complex colors that are layered and blended together. The
entire painting was built up with many thin layers in a variety of colors that creates a base
undercoat for all the forms. The painting is signed in bottom right hand corner Dorothea
Tanning 57 in black.
Compositional Direction and Color
The composition is built of color and forms that work together to shape the image.
The two elements are so closely intertwined it is almost impossible to describe them
separately. This is due to the fact that the colors and forms balance each other as well as
lead the eye. When looking at Insomnias the viewer will see the composition striving
towards the center, but also the eye will be led counter clockwise around the painting (see
fig. 2). In my opinion, the easiest entrance point into the painting is from the bottom
center. This is because the majority of the illusions are in the bottom and the eye wants to
go to something it recognizes. One of the first recognizable forms is the dog-like
hindquarters centered in the bottom of the painting. As the viewer follows the form, it
turns into more of a ferret creature nestled next to a child figure. The paws of this
creature establish a ground surface that is shared by the child. The child’s knee seems to
rest on that same surface. As the viewer look at the child’s face they are then drawn to the
right and see the woman’s face and arm. This quadrant goes changes hue from red-purple
to ocher-green to cobalt and ultramarine blue.
Leading into the upper right quadrant (figure 3), the woman’s face leads the
viewer up into another dark ocher-green color then up into the dark dioxazine purple of
the upper right hand corner. The forms begin to have softer boundaries, but are still
divided into small shapes. The eye then goes down into the dark brown area specked with
cobalt blue that is thickly laid in dabs across the brown. The brown creates depth in the
9
painting because of its high degree of color contamination and dark value in comparison
to the saturated naturally dark hues that do not recede to the same degree. From this area,
the eye is led down into the pure cadmium orange and red, which are so bright they
almost glow. This is due to the complementary blue beside the orange as well as the
value contrast of the saturated orange and the light cobalt blue.
One’s eye is led out of this darker thicker paint area into the light blue-white area
that is formed into an uneven surface across to the upper left quadrant. The light valued
form that connects the two sides has softer boundaries and transitions. The white is given
volume with the use of a light yellow, cobalt blue, turquoise, as wells as a light purple.
The white paint is thickly applied while the other colors are undercoats. The light purple
is actually a dark dioxazine purple pigment but is seen as a light value because it is
thinned out to the point that it has become transparent in many areas. The eye blends the
purple and white of the canvas so we experience the purple as a light value. The color
variation in the white gives the form variations in height by pushing the bluer tones back
into space and bringing the yellow closer. As the viewer follows the white form, it
transitions into darker values of ultramarine blue and purple that are formed with the use
of line. The eye is then led into the light yellow-orange corner.
From the upper corner, the eye is drawn down into the dark dioxazine purple
oblong form that leads the viewer into the bottom left quadrant. This form changes hue
similar to the purple form in the quadrant above. Both forms seem to oscillate behind and
in front of the white areas. The dark purple and blue form functions as a counterweight to
the dark areas on the right side including the face of the child and the brown area in the
upper right. The contour line defines the form while there is only some shading and far
less highlights than the faceted forms throughout the painting.
10
Fig. 2: Dorothea Tanning, Insomnias, 1957, oil on
canvas, 207 x 145 cm, Moderna Museet,
alterations by K Ivarsson, 2012.
Fig. 3: Dorothea Tanning, Insomnias, 1957, oil on
canvas, 207 x 145 cm, Moderna Museet,
alterations by K Ivarsson, 2012.
11
The thin layers of the purple on the top progress down into ultramarine blue and
into a contaminated dark blue. These colors are sunk into the canvas in a way that makes
hard to determine how they were applied. It looks as though the colors are rubbed into the
canvas like a stain. This can be done by applying thin but highly pigmented paint with a
brush and then pulling the paint out of this stroke so it becomes blurred around the initial
line that remains in place. Another possibility is that the artist used a rag or piece of cloth
to rub out a detailed area and the pigment that remains is that which has stuck to the
canvas.15 The grain of the canvas can be seen through the pigment so the paint becomes
one with the canvas.
Materiality in Insomnias
Thick Application of Medium
Applying thick layers of paint to the canvas gives the painting an automatic
physical presence that cannot be ignored. The paint comes physically closer to the viewer
and covers that which is underneath. Insomnias has a balanced distribution of thick and
thin layered areas throughout the painting. The pure white areas are all thickly applied
making them standout along with their clear value contrast.
The pure dabs of cobalt blue and cadmium orange in the upper right quadrant,
which were mentioned earlier, are also applied thickly. These dabs use paint direct from
the tube, which makes them intense in color, and are surface of the canvas. This
application leaves a mark of the artist causes as well as having the paint to lie on top of
the canvas surface. Separating the illusion from reality. They exist on the canvas and not
in the illusion. The orange dabs do not stand out visually as much as the blue, due to the
fact that the area has a great deal of orange and cadmium red as a base. This base is not
just made up of thin layers of orange and red, which occurs in other areas, but a more
opaque layer that softens the transition between the dabs of paint and the canvas. The
thick applications of paint also brings focus to those area, this can be seen in the child
figure as well as the white forms in the center. These areas stand out due to their
application as well as the physical emphasis that draws the views attention to them.
15
Sundberg, p. 20.
12
Thin Application of Medium
Often materiality is associated with thick layers of paint that demand attention,
but the thinning of paint is just as materialistic. Thinning makes the paint less apparent,
but emphases its ability to be transparent as well as other aspects that are not possible
with thick layers. The thin layers that form the base coat allow the grain of the canvas to
show through and the color pigment catches onto the ridges of the grain. It is apparent in
the bottom left corner where a lighter turquoise white was laid down thinly and quickly.
In this corner there are many colors, but they do not build a thick surface on the contrary
they work almost like watercolor where they blend together so the border between the
colors disappears.
On the upper edge as well as on a few places along the left hand side of the
painting, the paint seems to have been drawn out of the canvas. This can be done by
splattering turpentine on the surface and leaving it there. The turpentine pulls out the
pigment and creates lighter areas in the place of the droplets when the liquid is wiped
away. Based off of the round droplet like forms left on the painting, the canvas must have
been laid flat on the ground, otherwise they would have been streaks rather than droplets.
The spots are not perfectly round, but slightly waving along the edge. It is an effect very
similar to the appearance of raindrops on the ground. These marks continue down the left
side of the canvas. This is a process that emphasizes Elkin’s description of an artist who
learns from experience without actually understanding what actual chemically is taking
place.16 If you have painted this way yourself, it is easily recognizable.
The same process seems to be used in the upper left corner, but instead of having
the canvas laid flat it was vertical, as on an easel. The thinning is used on an area that is
light brown, which changes into yellow and cobalt blue. It becomes difficult to discern
where the colors transfer into the next. The surface does not seem to have a physical
thickness in this area but instead pigment looks to be part of the canvas. The blue hue that
leads towards the center of the painting is just as thin, but because more layers where
applied the color is denser and more vivid. The turpentine blends the area even more and
16
Elkins, p. 9.
13
creates a streak about 40 cm down the canvas. This process makes the area lighter in
value without adding more paint, which is different from many other areas of the
painting, including directly beside it. There is a layer of thicker white that is applied to
lighten the area.
Specific Materiality Used to Convey Illusion
The materiality in some areas emphasizes the illusion and gives the formal
qualities it needs to be convincing. This can be seen in the many faceted forms as well as
in the figures. A few of the forms use chiaroscuro technique to show depth while other
areas are just shaded. Greenberg explains the difference between the two techniques as
the chiaroscuro the contrast of light and dark, while shading is a gradient.17 The small
detailed faceted forms, compared to the larger forms, are built up in a use chiaroscuro to
create depth. The majority of these forms have a base color that is determined by the thin
background colors that are thinly applied. A thicker more saturated color that acts as a
shading tool is applied on top as well as a darker shade of that color for the core shadow.
The highlight is added on top to create the full contrast.
The large faceted forms have less contrast and either keeps to the lighter values or
the darker but still contains a base color. These were also created using thinner layers,
which allows them to create a gradient rather than contrast. Darker contour lines that are
stained into the surface function as shading between forms in order to distinguish the
forms and create depth. These forms function to create a more undulating space that is
difficult to perceive, due to their less specific illusionistic qualities to concrete forms.
Another area that uses chiaroscuro to delineate the form is the in the depiction of
the child’s leg, while also using the materiality of the medium to its advantage. The leg is
framed by the dog-like form on the left and the faceted turquoise background to the right.
The in this area the canvas was first stained with thin layers of paint consisting of, from
the bottom up, dioxazine purple, a red-purple, and an ochre-yellow. The layers glide into
C Greenberg, ‘A critical exchange with Fairfield Porter on “American-Type” Painting’
in J O’Brian (eds), Clement Greenberg The Collected Essays and Criticism, Vol. 3,
Affirmations and Refusals 1950-1956, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1989,
p. 239.
17
14
each other and are hard to distinguish between them in certain areas. This layer creates a
base layer that is a medium tone and allows Tanning to put in lights and darks to sculpt
the form.
The two sides of the leg are defined in different ways, but both function to curve
the form into a volumetric form. On the right side that defines the outer edge of the leg is
built up of wavy searching lines that are ultramarine blue and dark red which are a shade
darker than the hue they are painted upon. The lines together are perceived as shading as
well as a shadow, because they are slightly darker in value and emphasize the color in
which they were painted upon. They also allow for a gap between the lines, which can be
perceived as reflective light, because of their lighter value. These searching lines were
applied wet on dry with a viscous, probably using turpentine, because the paint is matte.
This is also seen in the line quality, which has an even edge, and is more solid or dense in
nature. Because the lines do not blend with the background or protrude from the surface,
they look as though they stained into the area after the thin base layer had dried.
The shading on the inside of the leg, on the left, is done using thicker layers. The
paint is smoother and applied thickly so that the canvas texture is barely discernable. The
knee uses the base layer as a highlight and then shaded with a darker layer of the same
hue, as well as the use of contour lines in the same ultramarine blue. Above the knee,
there is a thick area of paint that has a darker undercoat of red with light turquoise blue
on top. These colors were applied wet on wet, which gives them this smooth intertwined
quality. The colors were applied one after another and were not given time to dry so
instead of contrasting each other which turquoise and red usually do the colors seep
together and becomes flat. This is also due to the fact that the turquoise covers almost all
of the red giving that area of the leg a flat color. Even though this color lays flat on the
surface, it gives the leg depth because it is on the inner edge and contrast to the centered
thin light undercoats.
Highlights are the final tough that forms the leg into a recognizable shape. The
highlights are painted on dry brush and leave traces from the bristles. The paint has an
uneven contour as well as leaving specs of paint at the end of each stroke, which is what
happens when the brush is running out of paint.
15
Illusion in Insomnias
Viewer’s Interpretation
Illusion is a concept that depends a great deal on the viewer’s investigation of the
image, some forms lend themselves more easily to interpretation, while others seem to
slip away as one tries to grasp them. Not all the illusions are figurative, yet they all work
to form plastic space if sometimes ambiguous.
Alexander Cozens explains how viewers can see objects in indistinct abstract
forms. “It comprises the attitudes and expectations which will influence our perceptions
and make us ready to see, or hear, one thing rather than another.”18 Meaning that if the
viewer is inclined to see something specific, they will be able to do so because they are
projecting an idea onto the image. This can explain why certain people see different
objects and figures besides the three distinct forms in the lower right quadrant. Other
faces or forms can attract the views attention and can thus be interpreted based on the
views knowledge of visual depiction. Gombrich explains this clearly by stating, “… the
painter’s skill in suggesting must be matched by the public’s skill of in taking hints.”19
Implying that the viewer takes an equally large responsibility in interpreting the illusion
the artist tries to create. Some areas may only give hints of illusion, where the viewer fills
in the missing gaps in their imagination for example the darker line that runs near the
edge of the lower left quadrant could be interpreted as drapery in a sheet or a mask like
face that has been compressed looking to the left. These are equally valid interpretation,
due to the fact that they are based off of visual clues that are interpreted by the viewer
using their knowledge of imagery.
Formal Aspects That Create Illusion
The illusions in Insomnias are successful due to the use of color, shading,
highlights as well as contour line. These aspects can be seen as tools that help create
plastic forms. Each aspect becoming a clue to form three dimensional, while all the
aspects being tied together due to fact that they were created using the same medium.
18
19
Gombrich, p. 157.
Ibid., p. 165.
16
In describing Insomnias, the word shading has been used rather than chiaroscuro
due to the fact that shading can exist without the latter, but not vise versa.20 This has been
done to clarify that not all shading is chiaroscuro, which is contained to the child figure
as well as some of the small faceted forms beside this figure. Other areas use shading and
highlighting to create plastic forms, yet the absence of a consistent light source causes the
forms to exist separately.
The shading is done using color that has an inherent base value. Much of the
shading as well as contour lines use dominant hue of that area and occasionally darkened
in value. These lines often being dioxazine purple or cobalt blue as well as a red-purple,
which are dark in and of themselves. The contour lines define the facets as well as
functioning as shading in areas. Not all the contour lines define boundaries but also
indicate indentations or folds.
Ambiguous Illusion
Although the forms create depth using different colors and value they do not
always create an understandable space. This causes a degree of inconsistency that makes
the plastic space ambiguous. Gombrich explains ambiguity “We notice it only by
learning to switch from one reading to another and by realizing that both interpretations
fit the image equally well.”21 This is due to the use of similar visual clues such as
shading, highlight, and color which are elements that one is accustomed to using to
interpreting space. When these clues insinuate different types of spaces it becomes
ambiguous.
This can bee seen in Tanning’s painting in the upper left quadrant the dark
dioxazine purple and ultramarine blue form that is cupped or almost pocketed by a white
dominated form from below. The two forms are separated by the darker forms contour
lines. The right side of the white form blends slowly in the backgrounds light blue shade,
as does the darker form. The two forms play off of each other and oscillate between
foreground and background. The contour lines separate the forms, but do little to show
Greenberg, ‘A critical exchange with Fairfield Porter on “American-Type” Painting’,
p. 239.
21
Gombrich, p. 211.
20
17
which form comes forward. There is line variation, but what makes the darker form
appear to recede is the darkness in value. At the same time, if a viewer wants the darker
form to come forward the contour lines allow for that as well.
Brings One Back to History
Anyone with basic knowledge of art history could easily make connections from
the forms and medium in Tanning’s painting to art history, without going into the deeper
meaning of the painting. As Barthes wrote “To parody a well-known saying, I shall say
that a little formalism turns one away from History, but that a lot brings one back to it.”22
This means by looking closely and only at the formal qualities, the only thing relevant is
its relation to art history. The viewer easily relates the formal qualities of Insomnias, to
other styles, due to its similarities and excludes others due to their differences. The
formal qualities create the illusion therefore they must both draw connections from the
same style. The recognizable figures in bottom right recall renaissance and baroque art
with the use of chiaroscuro in the form of the child that resembles cupid, or putto. As
well as landscape painting from the 1800s that worked with aerial perspective and
atmosphere, specifically William Turner. The fragmented forms that create an ambiguous
space that are interpreted as background has strong similarities to Analytic Cubism as
well as the avoidance to become surface decoration. The materiality of paint from the
thick physical layers to the thin stains, relates to Abstract Expressionism. While Sundberg
has argued Insomnias recalls Surrealism it does not use the physical materiality combined
with illusion to make this connection.
Renaissance and Baroque Painting
The child figure resembles cupid or a putto due to its depiction as well as its use
of Chiaroscuro to create the of the form, this is a simple association many make due to
the frequency of both in Renaissance and Baroque painting. While not discussing the
content of the painting, the cupid/putto is one of the most illusionistic parts of the
painting. Therefore, attention is drawn to that area and the rest of the illusionistic areas
22
Foster, p. 32.
18
are in comparison to the child’s distinct face. The painting as a whole does not associate
with cupid, but certain elements of the figure can be interpreted as such. The area
between the child’s back and the woman’s face is filled with blue green faceted forms
that are sculpted with lights and darks. A great deal of darker shading is near the back of
the child that seems to lighten and almost form a pointed wing shape. The figure is out of
religious or mythological context, but still has a connection with cupid/putto. The type of
shading used is done with chiaroscuro, which was used in Renaissance and Baroque
painting. This specific use of chiaroscuro also makes the child into a convincing illusion,
due to its use of contrast. This formal quality establishes support for the illusion of the
figure as a cupid/putto.
Both Sundberg and Donald Kuspit have used mythology, specifically relating to
Daphne and cupid in their analyses of Tanning’s work to achieve a deeper content that
relates to feminism and Surrealism.23 This type of interpreting of the figure would imply
a deeper investigation into the content as well as a great deal of literary knowledge.
Therefore, it goes beyond the formal aspects of the painting and is based more in
interpretation than the painting itself.
Landscape Painting
Insomnias is not a landscape painting yet it contains elements which evoke
landscape specifically the focus on atmosphere and use of ground plane. Tanning and
William Turner share a similar type of atmosphere that is based on a limited value range
that creates an unclear defused space. This use of limited value was first used by Turner
as Greenberg points out Turner “…bunched value intervals together at the lighter end of
the color scale for effects more picturesque…”24 Turner consciously chose to use specific
values to create and effect the outcome of the painting. This can also be said of Tanning
who uses a similar ‘bunched value interval’ along the left and upper edge of the painting.
Although Tanning uses all values in Insomnias from darkest darks to lightest lights there
are certain areas that keep to one side of the value scale. In the light areas, for example
23
Sundberg, p. 28.
C Greenberg, ‘“American-Type” Painting’ in J O’Brian (eds), Clement Greenberg The
Collected Essays and Criticism, Vol. 3, Affirmations and Refusals 1950-1956, The
University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1989, p. 229.
24
19
the upper left quadrant the values stay within the lighter range with the exception of a few
dark lines that enter the area and function more to define forms rather than the
atmosphere. These dark lines are not in themselves that dark, barely past middle gray.
However, appear to be due to the contrast with the narrow value change within the light
area. These small changes in value give a subtler effect of depth rather than stark
contrasts. Greenberg also notes that it was important to retain depth when using a narrow
value range, which Turner and Tanning do.
The upper left quadrant has a progression from contaminated mixture of colors
into light yellow that has turpentine effects upon it. The colors flow smoothly into each
other creating a flat surface emanates a defused light. Turner’s painting, Norham Castle,
Sunrise, 1845 (fig. 4) has a similar light source that comes through a foggy defused
atmosphere. The color as well as the slight value change creates the effect of an
atmosphere.
The application of the medium supports the illusion that the lighter values create
an atmosphere. The paint is applied in light thinned out layer it is similar to fog, which
defuses. Just as the paint allows the viewer to see the grain of the canvas through the
layers of pigment, in the same way fog and atmosphere allows to viewer to see through
the water molecules to that behind.
The use of value and paint quality creates a formal likeness to landscape that
Sundberg does not notice. He agues these vague illusions to atmosphere and landscape
are to inexplicit to evoke landscape. I disagree with this, because landscape painting often
times is not explicit, even in Turner’s painting none of the forms are concretely defined.
Everything is defused yet the atmosphere as well as ground plane form a type of horizon.
A clear horizon line is not necessary for a landscape because if the ground plane are
present, the viewer can interpret where the horizon line should be. Tanning has a ground
plane and an atmosphere, which gives the painting a definitive space and viewing
direction. The viewer can imagine where the horizon is without seeing it. This interpreted
horizon also establishes the viewer direction. The painting cannot be turned upside down.
Otherwise, the space becomes abstract and top heavy. By not being able to turn the
painting in another direction, it indicates that the painting has a preferred orientation that
connects it landscape, which can also not be rotated.
20
Fig. 4: Joseph Mallord William Turner,
Norham Castle, Sunrise, 1845, oil on
canvas, 90.8 x 121.9 cm, Tate Britain.
Cubism
Insomnias has many formal similarities to Cubism, through its use of shading,
composition, as well as formation of depth. The use of color in Tanning’s painting differs
greatly from the brown, grey and black commonly seen in Picasso and Braque’s Analytic
Cubist work and draws itself closer to Synthetic Cubism. Insomnias will be compared to
Georges Braque’s oil painting Violin and Pitcher, 1910, (fig. 5) which was made at the
end of Analytic Cubism and on the cusp of Synthetic Cubism.
The faceted forms as well as the emphasis on shading in Braque’s painting ties
him to Analytic cubism, which is also shared by Tanning’s. Greenberg describes Analytic
Cubist depiction, as “the object was not so much formed, as exhibited by precipitation in
groups or clusters of facet planes out of an indeterminate background of similar planes,
which later could also be seen as vibrating echoes of the object.”25 This description can
be applied to Tanning’s painting equally as much. Greenberg’s description emphasizes
the ambiguity of the illusion and how the painting is built up of facets that work together
to create forms rather than existing as abstract art. The overall effects of the painting are
similar due to the emphasis on faceted forms which are more condensed in the center and
are larger and less defined closer to the edges of the canvas. These faceted forms also
C Greenberg, ‘Master Lédger’ in J O’Brian (eds), Clement Greenberg The Collected
Essays and Criticism, Vol. 3, Affirmations and Refusals 1950-1956, The University of
Chicago Press, Chicago, 1989, pp. 167-168.
25
21
function to deconstruct the relationship object-and-background.26 Certain recognizable
forms pop out at the view while the rest becomes undulating space that is difficult to
decipher. To prevent the forms from becoming flat, shading is used as well as leaving the
forms open allowing for other forms to connect and creates varying depth that is difficult
to interpret. This shading functions as a clue to create illusionistic forms if the shading on
two forms contradicts each other, creating an incohesive reality, which makes the space
becomes ambiguous.27 This type of shading is specific to analytic cubism and prevents
the background from being only “surface pattern.”28
Although the two paintings share the break up of the surface into faceted forms,
they differ in the quality of these facets. Tanning’s facets have softer edges that are more
organic in nature, while Braque’s are more geometric. The materiality of the paint as well
as the brush strokes vary in the two paintings, while they both depict interconnected
shapes with shading and highlights.
Braque’s painting Violin and Pitcher (fig. 5) differs from some of his earlier
Analytic Cubist work and brings him closer to collage as well as synthetic Cubism due to
his use of trompe l’oeil and contour lines.29 These two elements can also be seen in
Tanning’s painting the illusion of the child figure is done in convincing chiaroscuro that
creates a trompe l’oeil form, while also painting her name and date in the bottom right
corner.
Greenberg, ‘Master Lédger’, p. 168.
Gombrich, p. 239.
28
C Greenberg, ‘The Pasted-Paper Revolution’ in J O’Brian (eds), Clement Greenberg
The Collected Essays and Criticism, Vol. 4, Modernism with a Vengeance 1957-1969,
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1989, p. 62.
29
Ibid., p. 64.
26
27
22
Fig. 5: Georges Braque, Violin and Pitcher, 1910, oil on
canvas, 117 x 73 cm, Kustmuseum Basel.
There is a difference between the illusion of the nail and the child figure, but both
are a clear illusion of depth into three-dimensional space. The child’s face is convincing
in its use of chiaroscuro technique of stark contrast as well as the use of foreshortening in
the three quarter view profile, yet due to its arbitrary blue color it is not convincing as the
actual object it represents unlike the nail. The child is however convincing as a plastic
form and therefore has the same trompe l’oeil effect that the nail in Braque’s painting
contains. The nail as well as the child form gives the two paintings a definitive scale and
depth that the rest of the painting can compare to. Gombrich explains, “familiar objects
allows us to estimate the scale.”30 The nail was used as a new way to keep the painting
from becoming a decorative pattern, besides the use of shading.31 This use of illusion
creates a more definitive depth into the painting that seemed hard to grasp when
observing the facets alone. Greenberg also states that “…specifying the very real flatness
of the picture plane so that everything else shown on it would be pushed into illusionistic
30
31
Gombrich, p. 205.
Greenberg. ‘The Pasted-Paper Revolution’, p. 63.
23
space by force of contrast.”32 He means by this that the flatness of the canvas permeates
the illusion, and the illusion itself reasserts the flatness. By attempting to create an
illusion of three-dimensional depth on a two-dimensional surface it causes a reverse
effect of making the two-dimensional more evident. This can be seen in the face of the
child, by looking closer at the illusion one will be struck by the application of paint and
the way it lies flat on the surface. The thicker layers of cobalt blue which function as
shading lays closer to the surface than the middle tone and highlights in the face. The
artist’s name is often used to demonstrate this phenomenon because it is placed on the
surface rather than within a form creating depth. The use of illusion both creates and
negates the depth of the painting and points back to the surface of the canvas as flat.
Abstract Expressionism
Tanning’s use of form ties her to earlier traditions including Cubism which retain
a degree of depiction, yet her clear use of medium brings her painterly style closer to
Abstract Expressionism. Bosquet supports this statement indicating Tanning’s style as
relating to Abstract Expressionism yet retaining some figure forms.33 Insomnias also fits
into Greenberg’s explanation of Abstract Expressionism “It was, in effect, a painterly
reaction against the tightness of Synthetic Cubism that at first used the vocabulary itself
of Synthetic Cubism.”34 The loose handling of the paint in Tanning’s painting shows a
divergence form the stricter Synthetic Cubism yet the composition as well as depth
remains Cubist style. She uses techniques as well as other aspects from the Action as well
as the Color Field Painters to emphasis the use of the medium.
To explain Abstract Expressionism’s relation to medium and paint Greenberg
states.
If the label “Abstract Expressionism” means anything, it means painterliness:
loose, rapid handling, or the look of it; masses that blotted and fused instead of
Greenberg. ‘The Pasted-Paper Revolution’, p. 62.
Sundberg, p. 25.
34 C Greenberg, ‘After Abstract Expressionism’ in J O’Brian (eds), Clement Greenberg
The Collected Essays and Criticism, Vol. 4, Modernism with a Vengeance 1957-1969,
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1989, p. 123.
32
33
24
shapes that stayed distinct; large and conspicuous rhythms; broken color; uneven
saturations or densities of paint, exhibited brush, knife, or finger marks…35
Painterliness is the key to Abstract Expressionism therefore the medium becomes the
focus as well as its application method.
The Action Painters such as Pollock are well known for their thick layers as well
as rapid application of paint with a variety of techniques and motion. Tanning’s
application of thick pure color onto the canvas as seen in the upper right quadrant is
reminiscent of this type of Action Painting. The application of the paint is done quickly
and leaves a mark as evidence of the artist’s motion. The dots in the upper left quadrant
that were done with the use of turpentine shows that Tanning, like Pollock, placed her
canvas on the ground and dripped medium onto the surface. This creates a break with
traditional easel painting while also allowing the medium to make its own forms using
gravity. Pollock’s paintings are known for their allover effect, which are devoid of
figurative illusion yet viewers still see forms within the drips. Greenberg calls the
phenomenon of abstract painterly forms that still suggest illusion, “homeless
representation.”36 This also creates ties Gombrich’s earlier mentioned statement that
viewers interpret forms based on what they see along with their own knowledge.37
Insomnias, can be interpreted as having ‘homeless representation’ in the abstract faceted
forms that previously have been referred to as creating undulating depth.
While Abstract Expressionism is most often identified with the thick tactile lays
of paint, thin layers of paint that show the diversity of the medium are just as much a part
of the materiality. Color Field Painting exemplifies this other side of materiality that
emphasizes the color as well as the staining and thinning possibilities of the paint.
Tanning’s use of thin layers of paint to tone the canvas along with allowing the colors to
blend together into soft transitions recalls the techniques used in color field painting.
Greenberg seems to feel color field painting does not fit into Abstract Expressionism
completely he identifies Rothko and Newman’s art as “…a synthesis of painterly and
Greenberg, ‘After Abstract Expressionism’, p. 123.
Ibid., p. 124.
37
Gombrich, p. 165.
35
36
25
non-painterly or, better, a transcending of the differences between the two.”38 He
describes Color Field Painting as a transition due to their choice to focus on color as well
as other qualities of the medium that many Abstract Expressionists had avoided.39 In my
opinion, Rothko and Newman’s avoidance of the well known painterly expressions does
not make them less painterly. Rather, it just shows a different type of painterliness. For a
painting to be a part of Abstract Expressionism, it does not need to fulfill all of the
qualities specified by Greenberg as painterly. The action painters do not fulfill all the
qualities in each of their works, they select certain aspects, which are then executed in the
painting. Therefore, the Color Field Painters are equally entitled to use specific aspects of
the medium which emphasis its medium specificity. This can be seen in Tannings use of
staining in the contour lines of the dark oblong form that transcends the upper and lower
left quadrants. This staining technique demonstrates a relation to Newman’s canvases,
which uses the same technique in a larger scale. The variety in application of paint brings
the medium to the forefront and becomes the focus.
Surrealism Divides Materiality and Illusion
The formal aspects of Tanning’s painting do not tie to Surrealism, which is devoid
of material similarity that supports the illusions created. The painting contains
illusionistic elements that can evoke Surrealism, yet the formal application of paint that
emphasizes the surface does not support these illusions. Sundberg argues for the content
of the painting being of Surrealist subject matter, which is true, yet it is not expressed by
solely observing the formal elements such as medium, color, and shading. Surrealism is
identified by its focus on subject matter and content rather than medium and style, which
would separate Tanning from Surrealists because she is concerned more with the
medium. Otherwise, the subject matter would have been be depicted in a different less
materialistic manner.
Sundberg points out that the title of the work, Insomnias, connects the work to
Surrealism due to its interest in dreams and the subconscious. The title is not a formal
element of the painting it is outside of the painting and is more part of the context.
38
39
Greenberg, ‘After Abstract Expressionism’, p. 129.
Greenberg, ‘“American-Type” Painting’, p. 232.
26
Another argument Sundberg makes for the painting being Surrealistic is based on
the formal elements of the blurred and indistinct forms to evoke the unconscious.
The issue here has ultimately to do with control and involves various forms of
experimentation to avoid a ››controlled‹‹ creativity in order to bring the
unconscious to expression.40
This meaning that the painted is meant to express the unconscious using
controlled experiments. By not accessing the unconscious, Tanning is able to create a
balanced painting, which varies in application of paint. Yet this interest in the application
of paint goes against Surrealism, which Greenberg describes in his interpretation of a
lecture by Hans Hafmann.
From the point of view of this formulation, Surrealism in plastic art is a
reactionary tendency which is attempting to restore “outside” subject matter. The
chief concern of a painter like Dali is to represent the processes and concepts of
his consciousness, not the processes of his medium.41
Tanning’s use of paint indicates an interest in the paint medium beyond the point
of conveying an idea, insomnia. She has made a choice to experiment with the paint; to
thin out, rub out, layer and blend in an assortment of ways instead of clearly depicted her
subject matter. The obvious variety and allowance for the medium to act in new ways
shows an indisputable interest in the medium over just a means to an end that the
Surrealists lack. For Sundberg to relate these experiments to the unconscious it would
involve looking into semiotics as well as a deeper content, which is not applicable to the
formal analysis of this work.
Some of the illusions within the painting indicate metamorphosis, which would
draw connections to surrealist imagery.42 Yet these illusions are depicted using
materialistic applications of paint, which do not relate to Surrealist style. Surrealist
painting is known for its meticulous illusions that use the canvas as a window into
another world rather than a surface of its own. Sundberg himself admits Tanning diverges
40
Sundberg, p. 25.
C Greenberg, ‘Avant-Garde and Kitsch’ in John O’Brian (eds), Clement Greenberg
The Collected Essays and Criticism, Vol. 1, Perceptions and Judgments 1939-1944, The
University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1989, p. 9.
42
Sundberg, p. 27.
41
27
from Surrealist style into another visual style.43 Due to the fact that the materiality that
creates the illusion of the metamorphosis, such as the dog like form does not the support
Surrealism, it negates the formal influence of Surrealism. Sundberg argues for each part
separately the materiality as one thing and illusion as another avoiding the fact that the
materiality creates the illusion meaning they must support one another in the style.
43
Sundberg, p. 30.
28
Conclusion
Insomnias emphasizes the materiality of paint, while using this materiality to its
advantage to form illusionistic space, that the viewer interprets. Using elements and
techniques from past styles to make these illusions successful, attention is drawn, back to
the formal aspects of the painting. Tanning has experimented with the medium like an
alchemist testing how to produce a desired outcome. By describing the formal aspects of
the painting in detail one is able to understand how the painting was created and the
amount of attention that was given each application of to the medium.
The illusions that are created, be it figures or undulating ambiguous space are
dependent on the application of the medium. The painting can be interpreted using only
the formal elements due to the extreme variety as well as historical style associations it
creates. Each use of the material recalls an art historical style and helps create an
illusion. In the use of chiaroscuro, which recalls Renaissance and Baroque art calls
attention to the contrast in color value as and sculpting effect that shading can have. The
illusion of atmosphere created by layering thin layers of paint creates not only a
connection to Turner’s painting but also to the physical atmosphere itself. That is also
built up in layers that creating a defused view of reality. Tanning’s painting has a great
deal of illusionistic similarities to cubism with its use of faceted forms that use the formal
aspects of shading to create depth rather than ‘surface pattern.’ The shading on these
forms contradicts each other and creates ambiguous space by changing the viewer’s
concept of reality. As well as the use of trompe l’oeil in order to bring illusion to the
forefront while, simultaneously destroying the illusion. Greenberg’s stresses the
impossibility of the trompe l’oeil illusion, which is self-destructive and brings the focus
to the surface of the painted canvas. The clear application of paint in thick layers as well
as the discrete thin layers draws connections to Abstract Expressionism of both Action
and Color Field Painting. The focus on medium as a representation of itself as in the dabs
of pure color exemplify the thick layers while the thin layers that are stained into the
canvas recall color field painting. The diverse use of the paint medium brings attention to
its importance to the painting as a surface as well as its ability to create illusion. The
formal aspects of the painting do not support all art historical styles, which are
demonstrated in its dissimilarity to Surrealism. The medium is only relatable to
29
Surrealism through the use of content. While the illusions only create connections
through what they represent and not how they are depicted in formal qualities.
The formal influence of all these styles allows Tanning to create a painting that
crosses barriers visually and exist as illusion built on materiality.
30
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2012. Moderna Museet, © Dorothea Tanning/BUS 2011
<http://www.modernamuseet.se/en/The-Collection/The-collection1/Research/In-theshadow-of/Dorothea-Tanning/>.
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alterations by K Ivarsson, 2012, retrieved 2 December 2012. © Dorothea Tanning/BUS
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alterations by K Ivarsson, 2012, retrieved 2 December 2012. © Dorothea Tanning/BUS
32
2011 <http://www.modernamuseet.se/en/The-Collection/The-collection1/Research/Inthe-shadow-of/Dorothea-Tanning/>
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Britain. Reference N01981, retrieved 15 December 2012.
<http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-norham-castle-sunrise-n01981>
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<http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/braque/v_pitchr.jpg.html>
33