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Gallery
Review
Art 100
Monday
3:30
By
Brian Jaeger
I visited the Landmark Gallery in search
of works to review. I picked three
paintings by Richard Springer that dealt with war. All three works are oil on
canvass. One piece, "Forgotten Victory" was alone. The other two,
"Road to Shiloh" and "The Long Road Back," went together.
"Forgotten Victory" showed
paratroopers jumping from three airplanes into a jungle. The planes and several
parachuters take up the right half of the painting. A close up view of three
soldiers in the overgrown greenery of the jungle takes up the left portion. The
open chutes are white against a blue sky. The soldiers are wearing camouflage
to remain discreet in the green of the plant life. All the men have guns, and
an explosion is happening at the time of the painting, in the trees in front of
the three main soldiers.
This piece starts off calmly enough, as I
looked up to where the transport planes flew through a perfectly blue sky. A
sense of action comes in as the troops fall towards the ground, but we still
know that they fall gently, though anxiously perhaps. The few men in the
background who have just landed showed confusion as they looked about for where
to go. We can then see a sense of fear in the three soldiers in the foreground,
mainly because of how closely together they are walking. We can only see the
backs of these men, but the lead soldier is looking back, and terror can be
seen in his face, which seemed to me to be the focal point. The three form an
implied line into the trees where we can see an explosion, possibly the cause
of the fear. I felt a good sense of balance, with the detail and closeness of
the three soldiers compensating for all the action with the planes and
parachutists. The artist used contrast with the white parachutes against the
blue sky to draw interest. He used the implied line of these falling men to
direct the interest to the landed soldiers. These men appear a bit too far away
to make any good opinions about what they feel, so we follow the line of
foliage that gets larger proportionately to where we see the splash caused by
one of the three guys, contrasting the green around it, and leading us up to
the men. The plants provide a nice pattern that is not at all bothered by the
appearance of all these men. The lines on the plants are certainly organic, and
though in all directions, are not really meant to show movement, but more of a
unity. Space is used very well in this piece, since we really feel the presence
of the soldiers who are near to us and almost feel as if we are with them.
The
other two pieces by Mr. Springer that I looked at were "Road to
Shiloh" and "The Long Road Back." Both use the same road as part
of the background. In "Road to Shiloh" we see three young boys and
one old man proceeding from right to left across the scene. The three boys are
in front. Two boys are carrying drums, and the old man has his gun. All four
figures are in step and seem to be moving at a decent pace. The old man is in
uniform (grey) and the boys are wearing jeans and nice shirts. The background
consists of a partly cloudy sky and rolling hills of grass. "The Long Road Back" shows the
same road with a similar trio, two with drums, of boys. This time, however, the
procession is going from left to right across the painting. A soldier walks in
font of the boys, but he runs out of the picture plane. The clothing is now
dirty on the boys. The background has a similar sky, and a line of trees
replaces the rolling hills.
The artist is obviously showing us the
before and after of a Civil War battle. The first painting gives us a sense of
the pride felt going into the battle. The legs of the marchers are diagonal to
imply quick movement, but in unison. The implied lines are mostly that of where
the characters are looking, which is mainly straight forward in what we might
interpret as feelings of pride. The focal point seems to be the face of a boy
who is not looking straight ahead, but off to the side either at something out
of the painting, or likely in contemplation. The texture of the clothing is
smooth, as is the outline of the hills, and even the road appears rather
smooth. The boys seem to be in the lead, with the entire army following them
into battle. I assume this because of the amount of empty space out in front of
the group. "The Long Road Home" was quite similar in composition, but
I feel as if the content is different. The boys now appear to be behind the
entire army, but we cannot be totally sure, since we cannot see very far behind
them. The figures are more slumped and do not appear to be walking together.
They are dirty, and their arms hang at their sides in fatigue. The element of
the second painting that jumped out at me was the implied lines of sight. Not
only do their faces appear hardened and sad, but all but one of the three are
looking down, as if in shame. The soldier, whose face we do not see, appears to
also be looking down at the ground. The fourth character, the middle boy, is
staring straight ahead, sort of like the way the boys were in the first piece.
He, however, does not stare at what lies ahead, but at what lay behind. The
boy's horrified face really is the focal point. The figures are larger in this
painting, possibly to show that their feelings are now even more intense than
before the fight. I feel as if the artist used different subjects in order for
us wonder about the other boys and how they felt now, but not show us.
All three of these paintings show a
separate part of war. We see the pride as the boys march toward a battle, we
see the fear during a battle, and we finally are revealed the contemplation
after a battle. I feel as if "Forgotten Victory" , with all its chaos
was quite a bit more exciting than the other two works, but all three were set
up well to make me feel as if I were standing there watching. "Road to
Shiloh" and especially "The Long Road Back" let me see into the
thoughts of the subjects more intimately than in "Forgotten Victory."
Although I have learned a lot about various kinds of art, I find these works to
be my favorite. I can handle mountains of feeling, but I also like to be able
to know what I am looking at. I feel as if Richard Springer does an excellent job
of showing both how the people felt and how they looked. Unfortunately, I could
not afford to bring these wonderful works home, but they were well worth the
drive.
