Old lady with a cat - Book Report/Review Example

Number] Painting Review or Critique “Old lady with a cat” portrait is a fine depiction of how an artist views and paints the viewed reality in a most subtle manner. The work is in flat tones with dominated pale colours used in it. Artist has given less importance on symmetry of the work and more on the object under observation (the old lady). This oil painting has dull light saturation over all and the texture of the painting seems smooth enough to show all the angular movements of the subject and her surroundings.

The flat tones only enhanced the presence of the subject at focal point more. The dominant mood of the visual is grim and at the same time realistic. There is not much light in the work, the overall effect of light is dull but there are no shadows to speak of. Thus, here, one can observe the proposed concept of “intensification of reality” by Lucian Frued (23). The lines are smooth and every feature or part of her body is painted with meticulous attention entailing all the details of her emotions, state, and position.

The artist has tried to give a realistic image of what was before his eyes. The only notice worthy thing is the expression on her face and the artist has accumulated his earnest effort to depict them efficiently. Her messy bun is uneven, the rope above her head is muted, the walls around her give a dramatic effect of her position due to their shabbiness. Overall, she is simple yet attention capturing; the small cat in her arm is showing her affectionate side, but her exasperated show that she has seen and experienced more bitter truth to make her an unbeliever.

One can observer the intuitive characteristics of the artist in depicting an average face of an experienced woman. Frued suggested that an artist needs to express the nature of subject by all means and not what he knows and how he can depict them, but my using all the versatility of angle and technique to depict the right tone and expression of the subject under study (23). In under analysis portrait, artist with some distance absorbed the significance of the subject and that is why he was able to paint small, but significant details like fine lines on her forehead, fine lines under her eyes, the curves on her nose, the mole on her cheek, deep in-thought look on her face, and her pouty lips, all well represented with their peculiar details.

Artist has infused aesthetic sense of imagery to portray sensory emotional values of the subject. There is a philosophical notion of the subject in choice, it has nothing to do with beauty, value or prestige, but artist’s aim was to highlight the rationality of virtue rather than beauty. Since the cat is not at the focal point therefore, little attention is paid on the details of her being present. It has been painted to show her presence as a comfort on her and her being a pet cat, but nothing more is done to her outline so to signify her.

It is only supporting the outline of the old woman with a thoughtful look. Work cited: Author name, Book Name, Publishing place, Publisher name, Year