A Few Brief Comments on a Portrait by Renoir


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Here is a quick glance at some very elementary events in this portrait by Renoir. These basic qualities I highlight are the backbone of the painting, without which this portrait would not become a work of art. Let me mention as well that I am convinced these qualities must exist at the beginning of any work of art, and that one cannot simply mechanically draw a portrait and then shoehorn in separately the elements of movements of color and value that I bring up in the video. Thus it is important as students (and we are all students) to study these phenomena as being welded together: the color with the form, the front, and the back, the surface and the space. A daunting task, but I see no other way forward…

Via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1CJ5pExJtE