Brooklyn Bridge, Joseph Stella, 1920 - Coursework Example

Painting Reflection Worksheet Brooklyn Bridge, Joseph Stella, 1920 The Brooklyn Bridge was reproduced by Stella to present the most striking elements like pedestrian walkways, gothic arches as well as thicket of wires and cables. The event that inspired Stella to do the painting was the Brooklyn Bridge designed by John August Roebling; a German immigrant (Childe, 2011). The bridge was reproduced unfaithfully by the painter but she managed to produce a deft composition containing the most striking elements. 2. Stella’s hellish-red at the bottom of the painting is juxtaposition against the heavenly blue, which is the center of the whole composition (Childe, 2011).

This painting by Stella is both evocative and affective rather than a literal transcription of a bridge. Woolworth Building no. 31, John Marin, 1920 1. Marin is famous for painting landscapes scenes in New England. In this particular painting, Marin was inspired by the Woolworth building and decided to paint it using water color and charcoal to preserve the materials that were used to paint then (National Gallery of Art, 2001). Marin made even the most familiar views of the abstract during his time.

In his painting, even the city is made abstract. He dangerously depicts Woolworth building veering toward abstraction in his painting. 2. The building is painted to stagger ominously over the viewer of the work. In the painting, Marin has handled the surface roughly in his painting to demonstrate that watercolors can be classified as a modernist medium (National Gallery of Art, 2001). American Gothic, Grant Wood, 1930. 1. Wood was inspired by the American Gothic House in which colonialists lived.

He decided to paint the house and the people living in it. The paint portrays a farmer standing beside his spinster daughter (Fineman, 2005). The woman in the paint is dressed in a colonial print apron, which evokes the Americana of the 19th century and the couple is a traditional festival involving couples. 2. The painting by Grant Wood is organized rigorously. The man in the paint is holding a pitchfork and he is mirrored by a similar pattern in his overall stitching. The man’s shirt stripes have been echoed in the boards of the house and a barn behind him.

The woman, on the other hand, is tied into a composition to form a pattern of circles on her shirt that rhyme with the man’s spectacles (Fineman, 2005). In the last rhyming pattern, the pair has been rendered in a stiff manner to resound on the surface the work is done. Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Georgia O’Keeffe, 1930. 1. O’keeffe had a passion of artwork since his childhood. At school, his teacher had introduced the strange shapes and color variations of jack in the pulpit. This was the first time O’keeffe examined a flower and became keen on patterns and colors (Broad Strokes, 2012).

In 1930, he came across Jack-in-the-Pulpit, recalled when he was first introduced to the flower and was inspired to create scene paintings. 2. Jack-in-the-Pulpit by Georgia O’Keeffe has been created using skyscrapers, skulls and ahem flowers. The painter used the same technique to picture the three elements. The subject of the paint has been enlarged at the edges of the frame to produce a full front, which is oversize like (Broad Strokes, 2012). The painter did this to capture and produce a totemic quality worth of worship.

Freedom from Want, Norman Rockwell, 1943. 1. Rockwell was inspired by an FDR speech to produce his paint Freedom from Want. Rockwell painted a quartet of canvases for the four freedom series inspired by the speech (Murray & McCabe, 1998). The four freedom speeches were freedom of worship, expression, freedom from want and freedom from fear. 2. One of the speeches, Freedom from Want was reproduced in an edition of the Saturday Evening Post. This was a place of many Americans, which portrays Rockwell’s icon of domestic image.

The painting Freedom from Want presents the disturbing nostalgia of Rockwell and all seems to be well except the rear composition at the back which depicts a strange looking boy (Murray & McCabe, 1998). References Broad Strokes. (2012). Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Jack-in-Pulpit—No. 2: On view now at NMWA! Retrieved April 18, 2014, From http://womeninthearts.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/georgia-okeeffes-jack-in-pulpit-no-2-on-view-now-at-nmwa/ Childe H. (2011). The Brooklyn Bridge: Walker Evans and Joseph Stella.

Retrieved April 18, 2014, From http://humanitiesusa.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/the-brooklyn-bridge-walker-evans-and-joseph-stella/ Fineman, M. (2005). The Most Famous Farm Couple in the World: Why American Gothic Still fascinates. Retrieved April 18, 2014, Fromhttp://www.slate.com/articles/arts/art/2005/06/the_most_famous_farm_couple_in_the_world.html Murray, S & McCabe, J. (1998). Norman Rockwells four freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear. London: Random House.

National Gallery of Art. (2001). Woolworth Building, No. 31, 1912: John Marin. Retrieved April 18, 2014, From http://xroads.virginia.edu/~museum/armory/galleryK/marin.141.html