I've always enjoyed afternoons spent at the art museum. While attending the Cleveland Institute of Music, I would often stop in during practice breaks just to admire a few of my favorite paintings. Unfortunately, the Art Institute in Chicago is not free of entry as is the Cleveland Museum of Art, so I don't go as often as I would like, and if I do, I plan on staying several hours as not to waste $23. I am a musician, but I find it refreshing and exciting to allow other art forms to inspire and influence my own.
On a recent visit, I found myself thoroughly mesmerized with Seurat's famous painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. At first, I simply stood back and enjoyed the beauty - the lively colors, the content, the mood, the fashion, etc. Soon I inched closer and closer to the painting (well, as close as those grumpy security "officers" would allow) to examine the millions of tiny dots that Seurat used to create this masterpiece. Upon close inspection, this technique of pointillism seems so unnatural, contrived, detailed, and compartmentalized; but from a distance, the myriad of dots melt together into one unified and realistic work of art. This seeming dichotomy of micro and macro must exist in art.
As I have been studying the Suites, I find that I often get lost in the details, but Seurat’s painting reminded me that this is a crucial step in creating art. Every harmonic movement, melodic motif, articulation, bowing, dynamic, etc. is like the dots in pointillism. The micro must be addressed in order to create the macro. The challenge is to release one’s self from the details, step back, and look at the big picture.
This post reminded me of another of your favorite paintings - The Arnolfini Wedding by van Eyke. As Dad and I stood in the National Gallery in London looking at this masterpiece, I thought of the essay you wrote many years ago about the amazing detail and symbolism existing on that one small canvas. You are so right that these paintings are like Bach -- many intricate details woven into an incredibly beautiful piece of art.
ReplyDeleteMom, I still wish there had been a class in college that studied visual art and music side by side. I would love to read that essay that I wrote in highschool - I've probably forgotten about some of the details.
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