Bert Gallery

Bert Gallery has worked with many talented art interns and assistants over the years. This semester, Brown University student, Katherine Stoeffel researched an essay to accompany the current exhibit – “I could Paint that. Oh really?!” Enjoy the essay and if you are in the Rhode Island vicinity come visit the exhibit!

By Katherine Stoeffel
Bert Gallery Exhibition November 6 – December 22, 2007

It’s tempting to think, “I could paint that,” while meandering through the Modern Art wing of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mark Rothko’s blocks of colors and Jackson Pollock’s drips and splashes, while evocative and innovate, seem to taunt, “Why didn’t you think of this?” One reason is that the average viewer lacks the dynamic combination of instruction, inspiration and talent manifested in these masterpieces of Abstract Expressionism. These paintings and other non-objective works represent a centuries-old legacy of art education and theory, culminating in the thoughtful, sophisticated choices each painter has made. Every brushstroke is a product of hundreds of years of intellectual thought preceding it. Western art education dates back to the earliest, religious painters of the Middle Ages, who formed guilds for legal purposes-to develop standards of production and rules for training apprentices, as well as name masters to enforce the rules. The guild instructed all young painters and printmakers in the traditional iconography of the Church, so they could to educate viewers with dogmatic and didactic images. During the Italian Renaissance, the “academy” theory of art education emerged. Artists worked mostly on commissions by intellectual patrons, who, due to the humanist movement, favored the expressive figures of ancient Greece and Rome. In order to familiarize them with the subject matter requested by their patrons, artists were trained in classic writing, ancient psychology, the science of perspective, ancient history, religion and mythology, and art education became more cerebral than a simple tradesman guild.

After the French Revolution, The Atelier of Jacques Louis-David changed the face of art education. He combined the formal training of the Royal Académie des Beaux-Arts with the master-apprentice relationship of the guild to create a more casual environment in which students could truly advance their skills. The freedom of The Atelier encouraged the emerging Impressionist movement. Similarly, the Bauhaus of post-World War 1 Germany established a school of art and architecture that integrated technique and content. The Bauhaus curriculum stressed gradually increasing specialization, culminating in studio experience. The starting point for students of the Bauhaus was the “Vorlehre” or preliminary studies, which offered a broad introduction to materials and forms.

The legacy of the Bauhaus lives on in modern art education throughout Rhode Island. The Rhode Island School of Design assures that all its students are well versed in visual language through its rigorous Foundation Studies. All incoming freshman are required to complete the year-long program, which comprises drawing, two dimensional design, three dimensional design and art history. These courses cover what the school considers fundamental knowledge for every artist, skills they must master before even choosing a major. Nancy Bockbrader, department chair of Fine Arts at Rhode Island College agrees that successful painters need a solid knowledge of art foundations. She specifies that painters are specifically trained in elements-line, shape, value, texture, color, and space, which may seem arbitrary to the untrained eye, especially in abstract works. The way these elements compose a finalized work reflect the use of the principles of organization, such as balance, movement, contrast, similarity, dominance, and proportion. The trained painter considers how each brush stroke affects these qualities in their work.

Equally important to the education of an artist is the development of intellect. Bockbrader says that art students “must understand the difference between what is significant content or not.” She says that art history, prehistoric through present, helps artists comprehend how historical and societal issues impact art making. The origins of Abstract Expressionism specifically demonstrate the importance of society in art. Abstract Expressionism emerged from the politically charged European movements of Expressionism, Cubism, and Dadaism, only becoming accessible to Americans in the cosmopolitan, Post-World War society. The influential works of European modernists like Otto Dix, Fernand Léger and Pablo Picasso, who used non-objective painting as a means to express the horrors of war, as well as domestic societal distress regarding the Great Depression, helped develop non-representational painting in America.

Regardless of history or societal influence, a painting must be visually powerful to warrant its viewing. For this reason, Bockbrader insists that art students “must understand the theories that lie in the in the study of aesthetics.” It is by no accident that painters move their audiences through non-objective art, but rather by their own thoughtful amalgamation of history, theory, and personal style and inspiration.
Perhaps I couldn’t paint that, after all.

Katherine Stoeffel, a student at Brown University, writes for Bert Gallery in Providence, RI. Katherine Stoeffel is an English major in her second year at Brown University. Though she plans on writing for a career, she enjoys studying art and architecture. She is lucky enough to enjoy both on a regular basis at the Milwaukee Art Museum in her hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She writes for The College Hill Independent and worked as an intern for Paper magazine in New York last summer.

Photos pictured at right:
George Morrison, (1919-2000), Abstract- Green and Black, Gouache, 21.5″ x 33.5″
Francis Hamabe, Sea Cucumbers, Mixed Media, 15″ x 20″