At the Museum with Jennifer Hyde

Dentist by Candlelight (c. 1660 - 65) by Dutch artist Gerrit Dou is part of the European permanent collection at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. Dou paints the tooth-puller, a common character in Flemish artwork, and his subjects with miniaturistic detail. The painting is oil on oak and has a polished finish.

Light becomes the most overwhelming characteristic of Dou's painting. The sources of light are the two depicted flames, one being held by the dentist and the other in a lantern on the window ledge. Dou uses this to highlight the important parts of the painting. The lantern shows the frame of the painting which is the window which the viewer is looking through. The lantern subtly highlights figures of still life and vanitas in the foreground. Dou uses the primary light, the candle being held by the dentist, to highlight the main characters of the painting. The candle first directly lights the faces of the doctor, patient and concerned bystander. By doing this, the emotions of the three people are evident. The candle also lightly brings attention to the crocodile hanging from the ceiling. Space in the painting is defined by the light. As the light fades, negative space begins. Dou uses light to contrast between cool and warm colors. The direct light sources and the surfaces they touch are all warm tones while the surfaces outside the light's touch are cool. This helps to emphasize the subject of the painting.

Line is elegantly used in this painting to tell a story. Dou's wit is seen in the way he paints the patients face, scared and looking up. The way the eyes are drawn points a line to the crocodile on the ceiling. This is not something you would necessarily want to see in your dentist's office. Dou also implies lines with the direction of both the dentist's and the bystander's gaze. Dou repeats a curved line in the back edge of the metal bowl, up to the curve created from the heads of the three people, up to the curve of the crocodile and finally up to the curve of the window. This draws the viewer's eyes up through the painting to tell the story of the patient's fears with the dentist. The shapes of the people are very expressive of their states in the story. The dentist is standing erect over the patient giving him the place of power. The patient is sitting showing his vulnerability. The bystander is hunched over to show her worry. Dou uses circular forms to show relationships. The items in the window all have circular forms which are then repeated in the people. The curve of their heads married with the curve from the man and woman holding hands creates a circle. Within this circle is the main story of the painting.

Dou uses the light and circle to create emphasis. Although the light and circular forms are found throughout the painting, the central focus, the three people, is emphasized with direct light in the circle. Balance is somewhat symmetrical along the vertical line created by following the curved forms. Rhythm is found in the repetition of curved forms and lines. The rhythm in this piece acts as a unifying element between all the objects you see through the window.

Dou's Dentist by Candlelight is an impressive piece. His attention to detail on such a miniscule level, the entire painting is only fifteen by eleven inches, is breathtaking. Using the principles and elements of art, Dou is able to tell the story of the three interconnected characters.

Image on left from Kimbell Art Museum Online gallery, Image on right taken by Jennifer Hyde in South wing of Kimbell Art Museum in 2009

Paragone Discussion

‘Paragone’ is defined as a discussion (common in the Italian Renaissance) in which intellectuals debate the superiority of one Liberal Art over another. In the portion of the paragone assigned, Leonardo da Vinci presents his argument that painting is superior to sculpture. While putting forth his reasoning, he also introduces what sculptors have stated as the reasoning for the superiority of sculpting as compared to painting.

The group had some trouble with the Standing in the Shoes assignment, in making the perspective look real. The greatest challenge throughout this assignment was trying to create the vanishing point, and incorporating the aerial perspective in the perfect picture. It was also difficult to narrow down ideas of what to draw. We all gained a newfound respect for the artists in the effort and level of intricacy put into their final masterpiece

As a group, we seemed to agree that Leonardo’s concluding lines made up his strongest argument. On the topic of greater mental or physical fatigue between a painter and a sculptor, neither was seen as superior over the other. A sculptor may have to go through more physical fatigue, in creating a piece of art by shaving at it, and a painter would go through more mental fatigue as he thinks through his painting, and transfers his thoughts onto paper.

The weakest part of Leonardo's argument is his comparison of the environments that painters and sculptors work in. Painting can also be very messy and the environment may not always be calm and relaxing. A painter's work area could have paint flying everywhere, just as the sculptor has dust flying in the air. Also, an excellent point that was brought up was that a sculptor may choose to create pleasant settings by having music playing in the background.

The sculptor’s argument presented also had some flaws. A strong point brought up was that a sculptor has to be extra precise with his work. Once a piece is shaved off, it cannot be added on again. A painter has the advantage in this arena, since he may be able to change things around once finished. The weakest part of his argument was that his work is more enduring than that of the painter. Both put an enormous amount of effort into their work to bring it to perfection. It is not at all valid to argue this point as a level for superiority in the sculptor’s work.

Standing in the Shoes with Wajiha Hyder

This drawing of a street is drawn in a linear perspective. The street tends to narrow as it goes farther down. The shops and stores are clear and bigger in the foreground than in the background. There is shading in the back which shows it to be a bit hazy but still recognizable. The light post is drawn in the front and the back to signify the depth and position. This explains the aerial perspective because two of the same things are shown to be of different sizes to show that one is much farther in distance than the other. The size of each post is different because of its position from where we are standing. The vanishing point in this drawing is at the end of the street where no buildings can be seen. It is assumed that the town goes further beyond the last building but is not shown.

Standing in the Shoes with Javelo Jones

With my project I had to keep starting over, and because there isn't an eraser, I had to keep shaving down on my bar of soap. I too had a hard time deciding what I would carve but I just looked up and saw stewie and thought I would do that. Also, I have much respect for creations like the statue of david, because I struggled with these bars of soap. and honestly I dont think that I did was all that intricate, so I know I wouldn't have been able to do something really hard. I chose to do the sculpting because I thought it would be a harder since I already know how to draw. But yea it was really difficult, even with having such a simple subject.

Standing in the Shoes with Lisa Kenaston

Determining what to sculpt was the hardest part of this project. I chose fruit because that is what was sitting on my dining room table as I began to practice on my soap bar. It was very difficult to decide when the piece was done. I found my self shaving off piece after piece of soap trying to make it perfect but if I didn’t stop there would not be an object left in my hand. I also should have not used scented soap because the smell became overwhelming after a few minutes. Overall I enjoyed creating my own little sculpture.

Standing in the Shoes with Kristie Hilliard

This is a picture of a young lady and a young man enjoying a wonderful evening on the beach. The lady is sitting by the oceanside watching the waves pass by and the man is reading a book while sitting on rocks. I enhanced the perspective of my image through scale by having the man sit on the rocks. He seems to be close enough to shore that he can easily return, yet far enough away that he is still isolated, yet in view. The aerial perspective is shown by the different changes that are shown by contrast from sand to waves and the way that the clouds seem to be touching the ocean water in the background of the picture. The vanishing point is in the angle that the man is facing where the ocean seems to be disappearing. The birds are also flying towards the vanishing point.

Standing in the Shoes with Jennifer Hyde

I chose to explore Da Vinci's perspective drawing technique. I used a beach boardwalk as a setting to achieve this. I first established definition between foreground and background through shading and then through detail. Objects in the background were darker and less detailed than objects appearing in the foreground. I repeated human firgures and lamp posts both in the foreground and background. To achieve their relative sizes, I first drew the object in the foreground the correct size. Then using orthagonal lines from the foreground object to the vanishing point, I was able to find the correct height of the object in the background. The vanishing point lies at the far end of the walkway along the horizon line.