Monday, September 21, 2015
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Ivan Shishkin, Woodland. 1889. Oil on canvas. 39 1-2 x 29 in. Date 1889 |
Although he was a devoted and prolific outdoor painter, Russian
landscape painter Ivan Shishkin was also a big fan of photography,
according to an
article in the Russian archives.
He became closely involved with photos while working in Andrey Karelin's
photography studio in 1870, coloring black and white photos for an
album that was presented to emperor Alexander II.
Shishkin encouraged his students to work from photos, especially in the
depths of winter, for example, when painting outdoors was
impractical. Shishkin wrote in one of his letters:
"... Let me give you one major piece of advice, that underlies all of my
painting secrets and techniques, and that advice is — photography. It
is a mediator between the artist and nature and one of the most strict
mentors you'll ever have. And if you understand the intelligent way of
using it, you'll learn much faster and improve your weak points. You'll
learn how to paint clouds, water, trees — everything. You'll better
understand atmospheric effects and linear perspective and so on..."
Shishkin enlarged details with a magnifying glass, and he also used a
projector. When he came to teach at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1897, he
specifically mentioned the need for a "magic lantern" type projection
device to aid in student learning, not only for enlarging photos, but
for presenting drawings at a larger scale.
Although photographs were used widely by artists during his time,
Shishkin was conscious of not mindlessly copying. He told his students
that the way an artist uses a photo will reveal the artist with talent,
because "a mediocre artist will slavishly copy all the unnecessary
detail from photos, but a man with a flair will take only what he
needs."
Shishkin's enthusiasm for modern tools like photography is not surprising during an era of technological innovation, and in an age of
positivism,
which placed a value on verifiable facts. His friend, portrait painter
Ivan Kramskoi also used photography, and he probably used one to guide
his portrait of Shishkin below:
 |
Portrait of Shishkin by Ivan Kramskoi |
But Shishkin never regarded photography as a substitute for painting
outdoors from life. Kramskoi marveled at his productivity: "He paints
two or three studies a day and completely finishes each of them."
Shishkin wrote: "In the case of art - be it art, architecture, such
practice is of the greatest importance. It alone allows the artist to
appreciate the substance of the raw material which nature presents.
Therefore, the study of nature is necessary for any artist, but
especially for the landscape."
Shishkin knew as much about individual plant forms as did the
professional botanists of his day. He probably would have agreed with
the critic Adrian Prakhov, who said, "I love the original character of
every tree, every bush, and every blade of grass, and as a loving son
who values each wrinkle on the face of his mother."
Shishkin said, "Work every day as if it is your daily duty. There's no
need to wait for inspiration! Inspiration is the work itself!"
------
Thanks to
Samir Rakhmanov for the link and the help with translation.
Previously on GJ:
Using Photo Reference
Comments
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I place reference photos in three degrees of experience and gesalt;
1. The photograph you took yourself.
2. The photogragh of a place you've been and experienced yourself, but someone else framed and shot. Perhaps a historial view, or a different season.
3. The photograph of an unknown place to you.
I have a digital camera that takes very good b/w primary images. They're much better than later converting color-to-grayscale in the computer, though I don't know which of the several b/w protocols my camera uses. Often I take color and b/w images of the same sugject or location. Primary b/w images record value and form more clearly.