Bacon Vs Hughes

(*= Next Subject)

*For contextual studies I am comparing Francis Bacon's - Figures in a landscape (1956, top left) and Arthur Hughes - The long Engagement (1855, top right). Both of these paintings are on show in Birmingham museum and art gallery. The paintings were produced nearly exactly 100 years apart. Although the paintings are radically different there are some key elements which are similar, for example both paintings feature two figures. The figures in Bacon's painting appear to be in a violent embrace - whether this is a representation of a sporting clinch or a sexual act is debatable. The Figures in Hughes painting are based on the Shakespeare characters Orlando and Rosalind who are unable to marry because of poor financial circumstances. There is a lot of symbolism in this painting, such as the ivy creeper, to represent the story behind it. To further my research i am going to watch the film 'Love is the Devil' which is about Francis Bacon. There are a lot of information sources available to investigate Bacon. I am also lucky enough to have visited his exhibition at Tate Britain last year. Hughes I am somewhat less familiar with, I have been to Central library and found a couple of books about his work which have been helpful.*Today i finished my 'Cakes' drawing (see earlier posts). Overall I have spent 7 hours working on it. I am fairly pleased with the end result however I could easily spent another three hours on it to make it perfect. The pastle colours I have used are all very light (white,cream,pink) I need to use some darker colours such as blues and browns to give the picture more depth.*I have been doing a bit of research about the film maker Tim Burton. I watched a short film he and Rick Heinrichs made called 'Vincent.'I love the way it merges 2D and 3D animation to create unique style.*I have been looking as some images of Jackson Pollocks work, he does so called 'action painting' using his whole body to fling paint on to a canvas . I find his work erratic and exciting, I can imagine him throwing all his enery and passion onto a canvas. It is this act of creating the painting rather than the finished article itself that I admire about his work. The photographer Hans Namuth has captured some fantastic images on Pollock at work. I am going to try and capture this method of painting in a short film I am making for my fine art project.