Shadows and consideration of Platonic and Plinyan matters by Anne Hutchison
We were presented by our esteemed hosts with an interesting challenge today. The model was arranged against a tasteful, if slightly random selection of fabric hangings which complemented her colouring and frame nicely, and I settled in glad to be back in my spiritual heaven after the long Christmas and New Year festivities.
Just as we thought it was safe however, out came the shadows.......a projection of patterns and shapes thrown at and distorted against her form really threw the cat amongst the pigeons. I thought about the shadows for two minutes and eventually decided that I would ignore them, possibly adding them late in the day if the mood took me.
Then walking around at coffee time one couldn’t help notice that others had made the same decision to ditch the shadows, whilst some had boldly included them from the off. I began to wonder whether it was worth looking for some historical context to explain this phenomenon.
For the Greeks, the shadow was one of the metaphors for the psyche - the soul. A dead person’s soul was compared with a shadow, and Hades was the land of shadows, the land of death. This meant that shadows in art were thought to be ugly, heavy and dark.
Plato’s story about the origin of knowledge contributed to this negative validation. It demonstrates that you have to renounce the world of shadows before you can accede to true understanding.
The prisoners in Plato’s cave were incapable of gazing directly into the light of knowledge. They had their backs to this bright light and saw only the shadows cast on the cave walls. Plato’s point was that they saw only the shadow of reality, not reality itself. The image had a tremendously negative charge for Plato and he linked the image with the shadow—both were copies of reality. And so, from the beginning on, to attain true knowledge one had to renounce the shadow stage and progress out of the cave, into the sun.
I add to that Pliny’s story about the origin of painting which holds interesting parallels to the Platonic story of the origins of knowledge.
In Pliny, the shadow wasn’t charged with a negative aspect: his story tells of the maid of Corinth tracing her lover’s shadow on a wall to preserve his image whilst he was away - thereby giving birth to painting. The maid's father filled the outline with clay and fired it with the rest of his pots in order to comfort his lonely daughter—Pliny used the story to illustrate the origins of clay modelling. A wonderful story, a love story, and not at all negative, unlike Plato’s story about the origin of knowledge.
Based on these stories and many subsequent examples which deal with the addition of shadows in western art, I could see that our room was divided into two camps – The Optimists or rejectors of shadows (the possessors of Platonic true understanding) and the Pessimists – those who must include the shadows.
With thanks to Victor Stoichita and Tom and Tony – yesterday was a very good day for me.
"SMELL THE PAINT" by David Mace
As a new member of the group on only my second outing it is a bit daunting to be writing comments for this blog. HOWEVER it gives me a chance to say how impressed I was with the range and quality of the work and above all how relaxed and open the group is compared to some others I have experienced. I tend to be very much a 'back of the class' person not only because I like to draw the whole context of the posing model but because I have always been fascinated to observe the relationships and interactions of people in any group - in this case of model and artists in a particularly dynamic context. It also means that from my viewpoint I can observe other artists at work and learn from the exploratory nature of their artistic processes as their piece of work develops. As a prime example - I have known Tom's work for years but never actually watched him working. I was amazed to see how slowly - almost hesitantly - and in such an enquiring way he develops his final image. Each time I looked at the painting it seemed to have gone in a fresh direction. The previous stage was buried deep under the new. I always thought he just DID it !! Sorry Tom - I know better now.
This quality was apparent throughout the group. To watch Fiona build up her 3D image - translating the literal visual reality into a parallel reality through the complex language of a plastic medium was equally impressive and exciting. How confident and brave one has to be to face this kind of challenge - particularly to do so in public. I think this is the special quality of the group - with work ranging from the intensity of observation seen, for example, in the objective drawings of Roger, Joanne and Richard to the striking abstractions of the same visual form which is apparent in the paintings of Patrick and Tony. It was fascinating to see the delicacy of perception shown in the watercolour drawing by Chris F. set against the bold handling of colour and form in the paintings of Russell, Sandra and Dick for example.
There is in the group an unflagging intensity of involvement which is special and very rewarding and I am very thankful that I discovered it so soon after moving back to the region. I also love the actual quality of the working environment - a real working studio with the ongoing work of Tom and others on the walls and the wonderful tumbling sprawl of art paraphernalia all around - "SMELL THE PAINT" as my tutor used to cry when we were being too timid. It makes one feel so authentic as an artist - however limited that may be - in such an inspiring setting - so much more so than in the Village Hall or the School artroom. Above all else I appreciate the easy relationship of individuals all facing the same challenges and experiences and struggling in their own fashion to resolve their problems - and enjoying every minute of it. Thanks.
Paintings and drawings by Anne, Chris F, Chris, David, Dick, Fiona, Hadyn, Joanne H, Joanne, Patrick, Richard, Roger, Russell, Sandra, Tom and Tony.
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