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Xavier Reed

Bogle, Bridgette

Art 1110

March 2, 2021

Artwork Compare and Contrast

Both pieces, Portrait of Edmond Aman-Jean(1882-3) and Portrait of Madame

Matisse(1905) both are portraits in their own aspects, however, both have their comparisons and

differences. Both works of art will be evaluated individually, how they are similar and different,

and the interpretation of each piece of artwork.

The Portrait of Edmond Aman-Jean created in 1882-3, was created by the artist known as

Georges Seurat. The painting is a conte crayon on paper and the size of the painting is 24 ½ x 18

11/16 in. . Conte crayon is a form of artistic resource that the book describes as “sticks of

charcoal combined with wax or clay that come in a variety of colors.”(Sinclair.edu art book, 33)

This art piece used a darker gray and black form of conte crayon to make the painting a deep

black and gray color. The painting consists of a portrait of a man known as Edmond Aman-Jean

who was a French symbolist painter who painted in the mid 1860s to early 1930s. The portrait is

of him sitting and painting on an unseen canvas. It is a very realistic painting as went painting for

that time period but the color of the art piece makes it stand out from other realistic forms of art.

The color gives the art piece a dark type of vibe and makes the painting look rough but with

good detail due to the use of conte crayon. The artist made a good decision to make the outer

parts of the painting darker while making the area around Edmond a lighter shade of black or

gray which really balances out the art piece. Finally, the painting has good use of line as the lines
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of the figure are much darker than the background which makes the main person stand out from

the background.

The Portrait of Madame Matisse is a good representation of abstraction. This portrait was

created 1905 by artist Henri Matisse. The portrait is of his wife that he had painted in an abstract

form while still keeping somewhat realistic lines of the figure present in the portrait. The size of

the painting is 15.9 x 12.8 in. and is a piece composed of oil on canvas. The art piece is of the

artist’s wife looking out to the viewer of the painting with her hair up in a bun. Her face is a half

soft tan color and a brighter color of yellow on the left side of her face that is separated in the

middle by a green line which is why some refer to this painting as the green line painting. The

artificial shadow of a green line is used to separate the two halves of her face. She seems to be

wearing a red outfit with a white color that has speckled colors on it. The most abstract part of

the painting is the background as it is split into different color sections of blue, pink, and orange

with a slight tinge of pink on her left shoulder. This painting uses a good sense of color as it is

very lively and colorful. This artwork uses a good sense of line as the artwork is split into the

different sections with geometric shapes and color. Proportion definitely plays a role in the

painting as well with the different sized areas in which the colors incompas which plays into the

aspect of abstraction in this art piece.

The similarities of both portraits are interesting to look at. The most obvious of the

similarities of both paintings is that they are portraits. Both of these paintings seem to use their

own way of using color to emphasize emotion in the pieces. Even though the colors are different,

they are used in the same context to capture the emotions of the artist working on the piece and

the person in the portrait. said in quote, “Matisse has used colour here to illustrate the emotions

he feels for his wife.” and a lot of people thought that but that has no relevance to his
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painting(“Portrait of Madame Matisse.”). Both of the portraits seem to provide a sense of

willingness or devotion by the way the portrait captures the faces of the two people captured in

the artpiece.

The differences of the two portraits are a lot more prevalent than the similarities they

share. To start, George’s artwork uses a form of material much like charcoal and was mixed to

form a darker style of art opposed to Matisse’s colorful form of portrait. George’s portrait has

more gritty or rough texture than the other portrait that consists of brush strokes and a smooth

texture. George was his artist friend and limited his palette to dark and gray colors in the image.

Both have good use of line but George’s painting seems to have a lot more naturalistic lines

compared to the other that is a bit more off balance due to it being an abstract piece. Another

common difference is that Matisse’s form of art is in an abstract form and George’s is in a more

realistic form of art. George made an effort to add a good deal of detail in his art piece and

Matisse wanted to get the realistic form but changed up the image to more fit his motives for

drawing the piece. Both of the art pieces were drawn at different time periods in which their

artwork was more related to the time period which can explain the differences between the two.

Finally, Matisse’s painting has the face of his wife looking directly out of the painting, while

George’s image captures his friend working on his own painting in an almost full body aspect

that focuses in on more of his whole body and action than just his face.

Interpretations of art really set each of these two art pieces apart from one another.

Matisse’s art form is in the category of abstraction or as some may call it modernism or

modernist form of art. One source states that he uses the “fauvist technique” in using colors and

shades to depict his wife rather than lines (Henri Matisse). I think the artist was trying to draw

his wife in a more abstract form as it was more prevalent in the time period. He wanted to follow
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the artistic form of the time to keep up with the flow of artistic movement and really enjoyed

drawing his paintings in a more abstract manner to not keep things realistic but representational

possibly. George’s Portrait focuses more on a historical aspect and realistic aspect rather than an

abstract. Realism was the form for the time but he really put a twist on it by his darker color

choice which really shows the devotion to the character in his artwork. Edmond Aman-Jean was

the person he was drawing in the art piece that really captures the characters devotion to art. The

portrait also idolizes him as the color is more light around his character which makes his head

the focal point that trails down to him painting as he was a French painter around the same time

as George. I think it made this portrait a lot more dark but realistic at the same time possibly

capturing the setting in which the artist in the artwork worked in. When I first saw each of these

paintings they both were very different to me. George’s painting seemed a lot more realistic and

dark with a lot of detail that he really enjoyed looking at. Matisse’s painting was much different

in an abstract form that was interesting to look at since you see a lot of different interesting

colors that aren't always used in traditional art pieces. I feel George was trying to emphasize the

devotion put into an artist's artwork while also trying to capture him in his work setting. While

Matisse wanted to use the form of abstraction to show that not all art has to be in a realistic form

which I think he does well by using unnatural colors in their art piece.
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Works Cited

“Portrait of Madame Matisse.” Portrait of Madame Matisse by Henri Matisse,

www.matissepaintings.org/madame-matisse/.

Metmuseum.org, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/339751.

“Henri Matisse: ‘The Portrait of Madame Matisse’ Structural Analysis.” Art Papers

Henri Matisse The Portrait of Madame Matisse Structural Analysis Comments,

www.art-papers.net/henri-matisse-the-portrait-of-madame-matisse-structural-analysis.ht

ml.

https://web.ung.edu/media/university-press/Introduction%20to%20Art-082817.pdf?t=151026134

1891
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