Definition and History
Pointillism is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of pure color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term Pointillism was first coined by art critics in the late 1880s to ridicule the works of these artists and is now used without its earlier mocking connotation. (Britannica - The Online Encyclopedia).
The technique relies on the perceptive ability of the eye and mind of the viewer to mix the color spots into a fuller range of tones and is related closely to Divisionism, a more technical variant of the method. Divisionism is concerned with color theory, where pointillism is more focused on the specific style of brushwork used to apply the paint. It is a technique with few serious practitioners and is notably seen in the works of Seurat, Signac and Cross.
The practice of Pointillism is in sharp contrast to the more common methods of blending pigments on a palette or using the many commercially available premixed colors. Pointillism is analogous to the four-color CMYK printing process used by some color printers and large presses, Cyan (blue), Magenta (red), Yellow and Key (black). Televisions and computer monitors use a pointillist technique to represent images but with Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) colors.
Neuroplasticity is a key element of observing a pointillistic image. While two individuals will observe the same photons reflecting off a photorealistic image and hitting their retinas, someone whose mind has been primed with the theory of pointillism will see a very different image as the image is interpreted in the visual cortex.
The painting technique used to perform pointillistic color mixing is at the expense of traditional brushwork which could be used to delineate texture. If red, blue and green light (the additive primaries) are mixed, the result is something close to white light. The brighter effect of pointillist colours could rise from the fact that subtractive mixing is avoided and something closer to the effect of additive mixing is obtained even through pigments.
The majority of pointillism is done in oil paints, but that is not required. Anything may be used in its place, however, oils are preferred for their thickness and tendency not to run or bleed.
This is a critique of my own pointillism painting titled “Religeous Array” and was created February 2010 using markers. It has images of peoples and symbols that depicts various religeons such as the Jesus Christ eating a loaf of bread, His Imperial Majesty (H.I.M), Emperor Haile Selassie I saluting, Pope Benedict XVI waving, Jewish children reading, Muslims praying, the eyes on a Muslim woman, a dove, a Buddhist statue, and resample of Michelangelo’s painting entitled “the Creation of Man” with god and the man in the image separated by an image of the earth. The images are complimented an objective line and shape design.
Analysis
The elements and principles of art were used to create a realistic effect in the appearance of the images used in this pointillism piece. Lines were used to create biomorphic shapes of the humans and organic shapes of earth and its continents. Keen attention was given to negative and positive space as well as form with the intention to capture correct proportions. The human figures were drawn with the intention to appear in an upright position as they would appear in real life and was individually position to make a properly balanced composition. Various colours were used to create the illusion of texture, areas affected by light, and shadows. Instead of using various tints and shades of the colours to show the variations of light and dark areas, emphasis was placed on the type of coloured dots and there amounts when placed beside each other as the eye mixes them to give the illusion of texture and new colours. All together the elements of art were used to create peaceful mood.
Interpretation
This Pointillism piece is influenced by major events that have happened during my lifetime and as a generation which the world has referred to as generation- x. A generation that experienced the election of an Italian Pope, Pope Benedict XVI born Joseph Alois Ratzinger, first female leader of a Moslem country in the modern world, Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan 1988-1990 and 1993-1996, the international recognition of one of the newest religeons, Rastafari, which praises a black god, Jamaica’s first Adventist Governor General (February 26, 2009), Patrick Allen, a female Prime- Minister of the Peoples' Republic of China (1981), Honorary President Soong Ching-Ling, and the revolution of women of various religeons being allowed to vote. My generation has experienced the socially acceptance of religeous changes.
Amidst war among countries for world power and natural resources religion has acted as an agent of peace. In recent times the various religeons have learned to live together peacefully on this small place called earth. A peaceful mood is created by images of a smiling Pope waving his hands, Buddhist monks praying with clasped hands and closed eyes, Amish children sharing and reading a book, Jesus eating with a calm look on his face, a flying dove which is a symbol of peace, Muslim eyes that says more than the impression on a visible face, a peacefully looking Buddhist statue, and the earth which is the center of the painting which was created by using a location type of focal point.
Problems encountered
During the exercise of producing this pointillism artworks I encountered several problems. Placing different coloured dots beside each other to create the illusion of mixing was a difficult process which forced me to change markers very often. This caused me to make several mistakes in taking up the wrong colour marker sometimes which was only realized after a few dotting. The markers often went out of ink individually causing me to use other simular colours as substitutes. Another problem was finding resource images from books and the internet. It was hard to find the specific images that I had in mind and its quality and lighting effects. These images were finally found after constantly searching for a longer time.
The first of my two pointillism pieces
is titled “Comfort” and was created February 2010 using markers. It displays
the image of a woman sleeping on the beach with a bible in her hands. The water
from the beach is used to cover the woman like a bed- spread while dolphins
play in it. The sky is also visible showing a sunset. Analysis The elements and principles of art were
instrumental in the creation of this art piece. Coloured dots were used to
portray people and things as how they would appear in real life. Light colours
were used to show areas affected by light while dark colours were used to
portray dark areas and shadows. The use of bright colours makes the work lively
and portrays a relaxed mood. Biomorphic shapes were used to create the form of
the human a dolphin figures while other freeform shapes create the bible, the
waves, the sun and the sky. Dotted lines were also used to create the outline
of the woman and the other things in the image. Texture is also created through
the various shading of coloured dots like the smoothness of the woman’s skin
and the roughness of the sand. Interpretation The image of a person sleeping on
the beach with a bible in hand represents the comfort people get from reading
the bible. Sleep symbolizes calm and the water symbolizes purity. The being
used as a comforter is a symbol of being covered in purity and being cleansed.
The sunset represents a time of relaxation, a symbol that is the end of the
peak hours of the day.
All images © 2013 Nicholas Barrett
