Charles Demuth, 'I Saw The Figure 5 In Gold', 1928

Charles Demuth | I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold | The Met

My eye is at first drawn to the colour. That yellow instantly reminds me of the New York taxi cabs, and in my mind I link it to Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie which also tries to capture the city of New York through art. Just as Mondrian used colour to emphasise the pulsating liveliness of the city, Demuth is using it to emphasise speed. The receding five represents the speed of the fire engine that this piece is based on, zooming past the viewer and down the avenue of the city. The red signifies danger, fire, heat, noise. But it also signifies that liveliness of the city and New York as a hub of culture and a hive of activity. It links to the flashing lights of Times Square and Broadway, and it suggests the discordant sounds of sirens wailing down the streets - Demuth is making a piece of art come alive and highlighting art's power to represent not only a place, but a way of life.

Demuth was creating art in the Precisionist style and this is highlighted in I Saw The Figure 5 In Gold through the clean cut, geometric patterns and shafts of light and shade that are used instead of blending. These shafts again emphasise movement, and it if the viewer were to look at a different angle, the lighter colours would be in completely different places, as would the darker colours. The background shows fractured panes of apartment blocks, their angles suggesting height in an enclosed space. There are lines like telegraph wires and fragments of text like adverts and shop signs briefly glimpsed from the speeding vehicle.

The circles of light above the large, yellow number five at first just look like streetlamps, but then become headlights, then eyes staring back at the viewer, who ironically happens to be observing themselves. There are larger 'eyes' that also make up the corners of the piece, which links back to the idea of the fire engine moving away from the viewer and the overall sense of movement of the artwork. There is a suggestion that the streets of the city would be dark if it were not for the headlights of this vehicle, therefore showing how they act as a guide for the fire engine and also a guide for the viewer in understanding this piece. This is the Roaring Twenties but there is a suggestion that not everything is glamorous and positive - the fire engine itself is a warning, the red reinforces this and the word 'bill' shouts out from the top of the canvas. There will be a price to pay.

Comments

Guccio di Mannaia, 'Chalice for Pope Nicholas IV', 13th century

As the only work remaining of Sienese goldsmith Guccio di Mannaia, the chalice he created for Pope Nicholas IV in the late thirteenth century is an incredibly important work of art. Not only does it highlight the rich, opulent nature of papal commissions, but it proves the talent of Sienese goldsmiths and their resulting influence on painters and sculptors of the period. The chalice is innovative in shape and form, but it is striking first and foremost through the use of gold. It is an object that deserves to be viewed in the flesh, because of its reflective and therefore mimetic potential – like a bronze sculpture it is activated by light and should be experienced in the round as a three-dimensional, highly decorated art object. Its complicated design features an almost architectonic base, star-like as it spills out towards the viewer. The base builds up into the stem of the chalice which is decorated with an array of enamelled plaques featuring saints, prophets, angels and furt...

Cellini, 'Perseus with the Head of Medusa', 1545-1554

My eye is immediately drawn to the head of Medusa. At first glance it looks gruesome, as though Cellini has captured the moment just after the head has been decapitated, and it oozes blood and bodily matter. However the viewer then notices the similarity between that and Medusa's hair. Maybe it is just her hair after all. Cellini has cleverly enticed the viewer in here, to take a closer look and therefore involved them in the sculpture as a whole. Once they do come closer, they begin to notice other things such as the similarity between Perseus' hair and Medusa's snakes. Hero and monster are not so separate. Even the features of their faces are very similar. Perhaps Cellini wants to suggest that evil can often wear the mask of good. Or he could even be implying that everyone has some evil within them, even the hero Perseus. One of the good things about sculpture is that the viewer is able to walk around it, and fully immerse themselves in the piece. Cellini has used this...

Marianne von Werekin, 'Sunrise', 1920

An endless line of men that tug the rope of a small boat soon disappear into murky, burning red waters beyond. Colour is fantastical, mystical and otherworldly, producing an atmosphere far from reality. This is the Symbolist work of Marianne von Werefkin, part of the German Expressionists that worked in Munich from the 1910s. A movement so often dominated by the male names of the time – Kandinsky especially – Werefkin was a vital participant, expanding the range of art produced and displayed, complementing her work with art theory and written sources, as well as creating her own Salon upon her arrival in Munich. It is easy to get lost in biography with a piece such as this. Wasted, human potential seems to be at the heart of this work, signalled by the endless line of men pushing forward towards the edge of the picture plane. There is a sense of struggle and a universality to the suffering through the portrayal of faceless men in similar blue tones. Looking at the date produced o...

Art and Eye

Search This Blog