Newton, M.W (2014) Mark making and melancholia in painting : a language for visual representation of the melancholic. PhD thesis, Bath Spa University. doi: 10.17870/bathspa.00005164
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Abstract
Introduction – Research Question:- What are the elements (marks) that support a melancholic narrative in painting and in particular how can they be harnessed to heighten the feeling and create an ‘authentic’ melancholic work from a painting of simple and natural motifs? I summarise the changes in the meaning of the term melancholia, especially in the last two centuries, and discuss the validity of melancholy painting today. I summarise the key developments to the debate in the 1980s between the artists and the theoretical art critics and hypothesise that paintings that refer to this ‘death of painting’ are inherently melancholic. I seek out the “language of marks” for expressing melancholy by extrapolating from an examination of 100 paintings but fail in my attempt to quantify them objectively. The assumption that feeling is grounded in the formal properties is tested through detailed examination and subjective analysis of key extant works, concentrating specifically on how colour and expressive mark-making can be used by the artist to enhancing the emotional content. I use examples of extant paintings to show that it is possible to use context as a way of adding to the melancholic content of a contemporary painting. Practical Study:- The practical research takes the form of painted samples, copies of extant contemporary works, explorations of melancholic motifs (metaphors) and finally a body of work testing the integration of the theoretical analysis with the practical work. Conclusions:- In addition to melancholic meaning being grounded in the formal properties of a painting, expressive marks can be appropriated and re-presented but the requirement for them to be authentic is open to conjecture. However, referencing the ‘death of painting’ can enhance melancholic content without the use of irony or becoming kitsch.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
|---|---|
| Note: | This PhD consists of a text-based component accompanied by four collections of creative material. It also contains a substantial 'Review of 100 Key Paintings' document in the appendices that has not been included in this online version of the thesis due to copyright. |
| Keywords: | PhD by Practice, contemporary painting, melancholy, artists, art criticism, expression, reproduction |
| Divisions: | Bath School of Art, Film and Media |
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| Date Deposited: | 20 Jan 2015 15:19 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Feb 2024 18:47 |
| URN: | https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/5164 |
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