After a quaint boat ride down the River Thames we arrived at our destination of the The Tate Britain where our group was to inspect the gallery All Too Human: Bacon, Freud and a Century of Painting Life. In this exhibition the theme of a portrait is used to express the ideas of the artist, and convey human emotion whilst still having abstract composition. The two pieces pictured above are The Vigilante by David Bomberg and Head of E.O.W I by Frank Auerbach, and have both been chosen for analysis because they are portraits with unusual composition.
The Vigilante stood out to me because of its sinister vibes, and because of David Bomberg's utilization of black and red. The meaning of the colors red and black when understanding art can denote a variety of human emotions. Given the information on the Tate Britain's website, in 1954 Bomberg moved back to Spain after feeling he was not getting enough attention from the Borough Group. The subject of this painting is a gypsy woman, but is more of a statement for his own mental and physical health. It is said that he began to feel isolated, and was put in an awkward situation. These emotions are present in the title that reflect his sense of watchfulness. The fragmented surface of the painting is meant to depict his body's degradation, while the mental health issues must be interpreted. The color red usually symbolizes immense passionate emotions, and are meant to develop and portray the anguish Bomberg was facing. The color black which symbolizes the unknown and morbid emotions, and illustrates the connection between Bomberg's mental health struggle and his ability to capture that emotion with color. After further investigating this piece I am more drawn to its ability portray the emotions of the artist, and allow for the spectator to obtain a sensible idea of what Bomberg was aiming for.
The second piece that stood out was the Head of E.O.W I, because of it's intense color scheme and Frank Auerbach's utilization of a wood canvas. The model named Stella West posed for a series of these life size frontal head portraits from late 1960 to the summer of 1961. The sculptural quality that the painting has is due to the layering technique utilized by Auerbach. Auerbach did this technique in order to depict his sense of mastery of the subject. Although the painting might look horrifying at first glance the color scheme is quite harmonious given green and red are compliments to each other on the color wheel. The choice of a wood canvas also adds to the rigidness that Auerbach was seeking by layering the oil paint. These techniques create immense detail in the subject, and furthers the goal that Auerbach was trying to achieve, which was showing his mastery of the model's face.
Although these painting are similar, both of oil paint and similar color, the respective artists' goals are much different which is shown through their utilization of different compositions. David Bomberg combines passionate reds with the unknown and sinister qualities of black in The Vigilante to create a oil painting that can represent his struggle with mental and physical health. While Frank Auerbach utilizes the same colors (plus a few others) in his oil painting on wooden canvas Head of E.O.W I plus a layering technique in order to show his experience with his model Stella West. Through these distinct differences in composition the spectator emotionally reacts in dissimilar ways creating a drastically unique experience for both pieces.
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