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Recently I was asked what motivated me to paint. I responded with “Easy, anything with good light and shadow”. In reflecting on that a bit, I realize that’s only half of the motivation. The remaining motivation comes from my emotional response to a subject. And, now I'm certain that is why I’ve become a representational painter; a painter of recognizable objects.
Whether its poetry, music or a painting, if I feel an emotional connection, I’m hooked. To me, feeling that reaction in my heart and gut is the magic of all art forms. When it comes to visual art I’ve only ever experienced that kind of reaction to representational works. It’s hard to respond emotionally to grid of geometric shapes, or colors splashed on a canvas. It doesn’t mean I don’t like it, I just don’t feel that deep emotional connection.
The sad thing is how close the world came to losing the tradition of representational art. A little history lesson to give perspective:
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The earliest examples of representational art go back to cave drawings from 40,000 years ago. Yes, they do have abstract qualities to them, but, we still know what they are: people, spears and shields and antelope, making them representational.
- Ancient Egyptian art features figures drawn in profile because artists had not yet figured out how to portray depth in things like shoulders and noses.
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By the Middle Ages, artists had figured out how to depict form through the use of light and shadow, contributing to a strong interest in painting religious subjects.
- Representational art made huge advancements during the renaissance with improvements to paint materials and mixing, better understandings of human anatomy, and mathematical advancements that led to linear perspective.
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The impressionist movement beginning in the 1860s made room for free expression in representational painting: loose brushwork, use of broken color, the changing qualities of light. This was the first break from the very tight, realistic paintings preceding them.
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Then began the abstract art movement in the early 1900s. By the 1940’s, art schools adopted the philosophy that representational art “had already been done” and if it wasn’t “new” it wasn’t art. As a result, art students moved further and further away from the representational tradition. It was so pervasive, that these art schools believed that teaching the technical essentials of painting would limit creativity. My mom was an art student in the late 1950s; I was an art student in the early 1980s, and neither of us were encouraged to pursue representational art in college, in fact, we were actively discouraged from pursuing it by the schools themselves. After I started painting full-time in 2017, one of my former college professors told me that my work wasn't art because it was representational, it “had been done before.”
That mentality was so widespread that the world came close to losing the tradition and expertise of representational art entirely. Tradition and expertise that had been handed down from master artists for generations. For example, in 1980, there were roughly 7 ateliers remaining worldwide. Thanks to the efforts by arts organizations such as the Art Renewal Center to preserve the traditions of representational art making, there are now over 100 ateliers. Throughout it all, a few very notable artists remained true to their training and continued to paint in the traditions handed down to them.
Starting with current representational artists and working backward, here are two examples of the lineage and tradition we risked losing just here in the United States:
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As many American masters pass on, I cannot imagine how tragic losing these rich art traditions would have been.
Today, the ateliers in the US and abroad are working hard to preserve representational art forms. Their emphasis is on direct observation, knowledge of anatomy, drawing, perspective, and color theory. Now we just need university art schools, art historians, and collectors to embrace the traditions set down by the likes of Michelangelo, Vermeer, and Monet.
The lineage above causes me to consider the future implications of AI. While it certainly holds vast potential for good, what does it mean for creating with human hands and heart? And passing along the skills and knowledge of those before us? What does it mean for copyright protections if any digital form can be reconstructed without the original creators consent? Artists will continue to create for that is an essential part of their being. It is up to society to nourish the desire to create, and to support the results.
