Mid-Morning Art Thread [Kris]

Lonely Dwelling
Alfons Walde

Lonely Dwelling is a view of the Tyrolean Alps of Austria. The first thing I noticed about it is its texture. The mountain in the background is craggy and rocky, with high, steep cliffs created by Walde’s application of thick, heavy paint. It is caked on in a way that makes the work look three-dimensional, shaping the surfaces and creating sharp edges and deep crevasses. The artist sculpted this picture, not just painted it. In art, this technique is called impasto.

Along with impasto, Walde also uses chiaroscuro, a heavy use of contrasts between highlight and shadows, usually for dramatic effect. In a piece as quiet as this however, chiaroscuro is used instead to shape and define some objects and frame others. Look back at the blue mountain in the center and the buildings on the edges. There are no clouds allowing strong sunlight. The sun is also low in the sky — either mid-morning or mid-afternoon. This creates long, dark shadows and bright highlights. On the mountain, the blacks work with the thick paint to visually build up the crags and boulders even more. The mountain is solid, massive, and steep, and towers over the dwelling.

Walde’s use of steel-blue creates the illusion that the mountain is in the far distance. Called atmospheric perspective, this technique implies great distances in art and creates an illusion of depth on flat surfaces. Notice how the mountain fills the background even though it’s far away. Walde emphasizes the massiveness of the mountain. In the foreground, the deep black shadows frame the bright mountain and draw my attention to it even more.

Another trait of atmospheric perspective is as an object recedes into the distance, it will get hazier because the air diffuses light passing through it. Here the mountain is crisp and clear, however. Walde might be trying to convey thin air and high altitude. To me, this implies a physical toughness in the people that live here.

In contrast, the foreground is occupied by two plain buildings and two small figures – all painted in browns and black. Here too, Walde’s impasto sculpts and defines the buildings. Almost windowless, the houses seem roughly constructed. Walde’s brown paint creates a plastered-on effect on the outer walls, like a wattle-and-daub or adobe-type construction. To me, this makes the buildings look simple and rough and unassuming. A clue into the lifestyle and personalities of the people who choose to live here.

The mother and child are interesting. Walde painted this family in the same black and tans as the buildings, except for a small, blue cloth on the mother’s lap, the same blue as in the mountain. I think Walde is trying to create visual connections between the Tyrolian people and their region through color. He uses chiaroscuro to shape them. Rather than human forms, they seem to be constructed from blocks and without the heavy shadows, I think these figures would look flat and lifeless and might get lost within the painting. The chiaroscuro gives them mass and dimension.

Walde uses texture, color, and light to define the rough and rugged terrain, and through that, its people. Walde was Tyrolese himself. His later career focused on bright and positive depictions of this region, advertising its virtues and features, and portraying its people. I think his hometown-pride shows in works like this.

posted by Open Blogger at 09:30 AM

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