17.11.14

Everything About Figurative And Genre Art

By Christa Jarvis


Art is one of the few things that make our world more round and beautiful. It opens up our eyes to see not only beauty but also truth. What makes it significant in the human life is still debatable for some people. But one remains certain for all of us, it is life. It came to us thousands of years ago. It is as old as time but as beautiful as the future.

There must be countless classifications of it these days. It comes along with different movements and categories. Among its most spectacular creations, painting is one of the oldest and most experimented forms. It gave birth to a number of forms like figurative and genre art, which is also referred to as representational. Primarily, it refers to the artworks that are inspired by the everyday life. That includes ordinary scenes from schools, market and regular household.

It spread during the early Renaissance period until the twentieth century. It remained as one of the most utilized form in the modern world. A lot of people confused it with abstraction and expressionism, but both are entirely different from what it is. Their individual origin of time can provide a clear distinction for each.

It is often confused with other forms particularly in abstraction. That is because some of their characteristics overlap with each other. But what everyone must know is that the later was part of the development of figuration. What draws the line between is that figuration contains real life models while the abstraction does not.

Moreover, figuration deals with the surface level of a specific work while abstraction goes deeper to the point that work became unrecognizable. Both contained ideas that are worth thinking but how they are transported to its audience depends on the form. Such forms continue to motivate young artists of today to experiment and explore.

One of the most well known proponents of figuration is Salvador Dali. He is known for the strange and striking images in his works. They always contain surprises and experimental mixtures that allowed him to play with dreams and realities.

The painting which he entitled as The Weeping Woman is one of the best examples of the genre. It is made out of oil in canvas which he painted on nineteen thirty nine. It is one of his most intriguing works for it is where he started moving away from his usual war themes. His mistress served as the model of the work. What is mainly shown on the work is the suffering women across any culture.

His influence did not stop on his works, it goes beyond the school of art produced by his style. One primary school of the figurative art is the Cubism which Picasso pioneered with other artists. In Cubism, a work always has a subject which is depicted in multiple viewpoints in order to widen its context.

Art today functions in different from and value. It is safe to conclude that its creation goes beyond what is beauty. Its significance dwells on appreciation and function.




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