A Fancy Word for a Powerful Technique
SATURDAY MORNING ART THOUGHTS
What do these three paintings have in common?
The subject matter in the three is certainly not related. Neither is the emotional or intellectual attitude of the artists. Even the color schemes are different. However, the one technique they share is the use of repoussoir for their composing. A repoussoir in action is a frontal image to the right or left that captures our attention and leads us to the distant images. Its use goes way back to before the Baroque era.
What fascinates me about this device is its flexibility and potential for free expression within a traditional pattern, one that yields unity while bringing us into a painting.
It seems to me that these days, using a fancy French word like repoussoir (ruh-poo-swahr) is not the most acceptable way to communicate an idea, but let's forget that populist nonsense and allow ourselves to explore the power it contains as one way to compose paintings.
And just as in his popular Fifth Symphony, Beethoven gets our attention with a precise da/da/da/DUM, and Welsh poet Dylan Thomas opens one of his poems, "And death shall have no dominion," a powerful frontal image like Wyeth uses in Christina’s world or a more light-hearted frontal image like Calliebotte use of the couple with umbrellas, there is no limit for how we can use it.
There’s something you can explore!
Thanks Dianne. I didn't know the answer to your question but I came close. I was going to say triangular composition. Or the use of 3 points of interest with diminishing power. I have used this idea intuitively but now I see how it makes sense to exaggerate it more
Thanks for pointing this out I'll now use it with more intent.