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Lesson Plans


re. Hodgkin's paintings

[ Thread ][ Subject ][ Author ][ Date ]
DOROTHY PIERCE (73743.2134)
18 Jul 96 17:38:18 EDT

Before me is a reproduction of Howard Hodgkin's "On the Riviera", l987. In it I
see great swaths of red-orange, black, white, placed almost symmetrically,
conforming somewhat to the vertical/horizontal format, behind which are some
swiggles of red and blue, and the whole is banded by the green-painted frame.
The red-oranges, of course, seem to come forward, the blues to recede. There
is much more going on here than I can describe, and we might assume that Mr.
Hodgkin has abstracted these colors and shapes, and even their placement, from
some personal, visual plus experience he had on the Riviera. This is a method of
painting developed with many variations during the era of Abstract
Expressionism, which taught us to pay attention to what was called "pure" color,
shape, line, texture, and what they can do to space (and , perhaps, what they
can do for expression.) I am not here to defend AE. The Emperor has all kinds
of clothes!

What was the content of your AP sessions? Addressed to subscriber who attended
workshops at TCU.) I, too, have been teaching AP for several years and, trained
in both traditional and abstract/non-objective methods of painting, prefer to
see students develop the ability to draw and compose meaningful images rather
than jump quickly into what is sometimes impossible to critique, at least,
within the usual parameters of the secondary school art classroom today.
Non-objective art is not widespread at the secondary level at this time.
Students need, however, to be aware of the lessons learned from AE, and there
were some. Beyond that, we all know that artists break boundaries to create
images which may have few familiar precedents and for which our traditional
criteria are inappropriate. To shock, stun, surprise, stimulate--these are all
legitimate aims of art, aren't they?

RSVP. Thanks. D. Pierce 73743,2134 compuserve.com (Dallas)