Mid-Morning Art Thread [Kris]

Two Boys With A Bladder
Joseph Wright of Derby

Two Boys with a Bladder is about light. The children inflate a pig’s bladder to play with. A single candle provides the only light source in the painting, creating sharp contrasts between light and shadow, and allowing different materials to react to the light.

Although a candle is present, Wright hides the flame behind a translucent object. This diminishes a dominant, radiant light, softening it and robbing it of its strength. Instead, the bladder is illuminated and Wright has added the nice detail of the blood vessel to give it texture and substance. With the candle flame hidden and the light diffused, the focus becomes the boys’ faces.

The boys are posed slightly behind the bladder so they get direct exposure to the light source. While the intensity of the light focuses my attention to the faces, the horseshoe shape created by the boys’ forms draws my eye back to the center. The concentric ovals of the bladder and the boys’ poses create a bull’s-eye effect but it’s a contradiction. The center of a bull’s-eye should be the target of the eye but the edges of the target are the real center of attention. Only the standing boy’s line of sight and the straw move my eye back to the center, the bladder, and, finally, to the implied flame of the candle.

Wright places the boys’ faces on different planes. The one on the right stands and arches over the bladder and light. He is in strict profile and produces a smaller overall shape. The sitting boy’s face is placed lower, at nearly the same level of the candle flame. He is turned towards the viewer and the light illuminates his whole figure. Because the left-hand side of the painting has a larger and brighter shape than the right, Wright places the bladder slightly right-of-center. Here, this glowing circle adds its weight to the small, thin form on the right, counterbalancing the left and harmonizing the whole work.

The light on the faces reveal a lot of detail. The standing boy concentrates on blowing up this balloon. I imagine it must be difficult to blow a bladder up—harder than a vinyl balloon today. The membranes of the organ would seem tight with little give. I like how the light flickers in his eyeball. The boy on the left watches, but he’s not looking at the bladder. He’s watching the other boy intently. This allows the candle to shine into his eyes too. They are a beautiful light green, matching the color of the standing boy’s outfit, further linking the two sides, and complementing his own.

Wright’s use of color here is very subdued, though. The red, green and yellow in the clothing are washed out. The skin tones of the boys is a warm but pale ivory. This keeps the colors, especially the more vivid ones like red, from stealing attention from the light. Only the gold from the trim on the red uniform and the brass in the candle holder sparkle in the light.

This is a very quiet and gentle painting. Most of the elements are dulled. The subjects are mostly in shadow. Colors are unsaturated and all light is reflected, not direct. Only small dots of light twinkle, adding a spark to this otherwise relaxed work.

posted by Open Blogger at 09:30 AM

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