Essay Sample: Abstract, Semi-Abstract, Non-Objective Paintings

From the set provided, the painting that most appeal to me is The American School by Matthew Pratt. The picture seems to draw the viewer back to a time when life was quite simple and devoid of the trappings of present-day technology. It speaks of an era when people were real, and what you saw was all that you should have seen, without any hidden meanings. I like it because it depicts a group of people immersed in a serious discussion but still maintains a calm and serenity among them that is quite baffling. Whereas The American School is realistic art, Brooklyn Bridge is semi-abstract art, and Blue Green Red is non-objective art.

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What makes The American School realistic art is the fact that the subjects of the painting are real people, whom the artist presents truthfully and without a touch of surrealism. The people in the picture are identifiable as real individuals (Kulka 39). Their figures are not misshapen, contorted, or out of proportion but appear as any normal human being would. The painter also drew to scale the furniture in the room. Fundamentally, the picture depicts the real world just the same way as it appears, without any interpretation of the setting or adding emotional details. To accentuate the realism of the picture, the painter includes a bust sculpture on the artist's table, which stands in stark contrast to the two people flanking it to the left and right. Furthermore, there is an interplay of light and dark regions within the painting that gives it the impression of depth, just as one would feel when entering a room.

The representational base for the Brooklyn Bridge is an actual bridge, and the landscape observed in the picture is juxtaposed in a flourish of colors. Apart from the bridge, nothing else in the painting seems recognizable. One might have the impression of a city skyline above the bridge, but this is not fully recognizable. No distinct lines are showing where the horizon begins or even where it ends. The way the artist uses impressionism above the bridge is the same way he does under it. The observer has a sense of water flowing under the bridge but cannot outline where the banks of the river end. Also, the bridge appears to have some rocks at the base of the abutment on the left-hand side. Still, it is unclear whether they are actual rocks or other things altogether. Therefore, the abstraction is not complete, and this makes the Brooklyn Bridge an example of semi-abstract art.

The three colors in Blue Green and Red appear to be on the same plane. None of them seems farther away or nearer the observer. Their perception depicts some cultural influence in favor of the color green. Red and blue appear in almost equal measure, with a bias on the sensory-social feelings of relaxation and arousal. Geometric abstraction is evident since there are geometrical forms (for example, an incomplete ellipse and rectangles) as well as linearity in the painting. The painting has no spatial ambiguity or perspectival devices (Alberro 76).

Choosing The American School came quite quickly because I like realistic art as opposed to abstract art. It depicts the Renaissance period very effectively. The painting contained no artifacts of hidden meanings, and this is what drew me to choose it.

Works Cited

Alberro, A. Abstraction in Reverse: The Reconfigured Spectator in Mid-Twentieth-Century Latin American Art. London: University of Chicago Press, 2017. Print.

Kulka, T. Kitsch and Art. University Park, PA: Penn State Press, 2002. Print.