When looking into the work by artists suggested in a previous crit on my self directed project, I found the work by Spencer Gore and Oskar Kokoschka most interesting and relevant to my own work.
Spencer Gore
(Somerset Landscape, oil on canvas
1909-10, 41.5 x 50 cm)
1909-10, 41.5 x 50 cm)
(From a canal bridge Chalk Farm Road
oil on canvas, 1913, 43.3 x 68.6 cm)
oil on canvas, 1913, 43.3 x 68.6 cm)
Spencer Gore was a British born artist, born in 1878 and he unfortunately later died at the young age of 34 in 1914. Gore studied at the Slade school of Fine Art where is was taught under Philip Wilson Steer who became one of his most profound influences which was shown in his early landscape work showing elements of impressionism. Steer himself was inspired by artists such as Claude Monet and Georges Seurat who was a part of the impressionists.
During the early 1900's Gore spent a lot of time in London, Somerset and Dorset producing paintings expressing subjects such as landscapes and theatrical scenes. Gore is most known for his importance within the 'Camden Town Group', and along with fellow artist Walter Sickertt gathering together artists for the Fitzroy Street Group which was an organisation to help support and promote artists. The Camden Town Group was a group consisting 16 of English post-impressionists, men only. Their work was exhibited in the Allied Artist Association a group which was separate from the Royal Academy. Their paintings later went on to be exhibited in the Tate Britain in London. The Fitzroy Street Group was merged with the Camden Town Group in 1913 forming the London Group which still exists today.
Gore's early paintings have a neo-impressionist appearance with the strong use of bright pastel colours and also elements of pointillism. However his later works made in his final years have a strong relation to the post-impressionists with evidence of inspiration from Cezanne and Derain. Gore's paintings were displayed in the post impressionist founder Roger Fry's second exhibition.
Studying paintings by Gore, it is clear that throughout his career he experimented greatly with colour and application of marks to help express emotion and atmosphere within his compositions. He looked at both country and urban landscapes well as portraiture his work gradually increasing in exaggerated tones and shapes which relates back to his inspiration from the post-impressionist artists.
In relation to my own work I find his use of colour pallet particularly interesting as each cool or warm range in tones helps to generate a different atmosphere to complement the subject being depicted. I can relate to this as in my development I am using colours that I see within the environment to show atmosphere and what I felt at the time. Looking at his work this has encouraged me to consider the temperature of colour that I use and what it does to the landscape, how it changed the atmosphere.
Oskar Kokoschka
( Self portrait as a Degenerate Artist
oil on canvas, 1937, 110 x 85 cm)
oil on canvas, 1937, 110 x 85 cm)
1886 to 1980, Oskar Kokoschka was a Austrian born artist as well as poet and playwright. He is most famous for his highly expressionist portraits and landscape paintings. He was a soldier in the First World War but was dismissed in 1915 due to being severely wounded. Among his influenced are Gustav Klimt and Adolf Loos who was an architect. During the 1920's he was doing very well exhibiting artwork in Berlin. However when the Nazis came about after WWI, Kokoschka was deemed degenerate (art that did not support the ideas of National Socialism). Many of his paintings were shown in the 'Degenerate Art' exhibition in Munich in 1937 and as a response he produced a self portrait called 'Self Portrait as a Degenerate Artist. He fled to the UK where he remained for the rest of the Second World War. After the war he moved to Switzerland where he remained for the rest of his career.
His most successful works were his portraits. Kokoschka's painting technique was very erratic with a lot of texture and movement creating expressionist paintings. His paintings appear very moody and dark in terms of atmosphere due to the intense application of brush strokes depicting movement and depth. Kokoscha also worked a lot with colour experimenting with complementary and contrasting tones, his paintings often quite cool in temperature. In particular looking at his portraits, Kokoschka generates a lot of emotion though his use of colour and texture.
I feel very inspired by his work in particular his portraits and his ability to generate emotion through his application and use of colour. Within my work I intend to reflect a particular atmosphere through my interpretation of colour. I want to express my emotions in the landscape, how I felt when in that location and how I remember it.
