The Trapped Thief Vs. Ethiopia Essays - Action-adventure Games

The Trapped Thief Vs. Ethiopia It is apparent that art changes or varies with time, style, economy of the time, as well as individual artists. Works of art may differ as well as be similar in composition, painting style, subject matter, and what the artist is trying to communicate. I will be using these criteria to analyze and compare two works of art, in particular: The Trapped Thief by Nicholaes van Galen (1650) and Ethiopia by David Park (1959). Both of these works can be found on display at the University of Miami Lowe Art Museum; The Trapped Thief in the Sheldon and Myrna Palley Gallery, and Ehiopia in the Ben Tobin Gallery. I chose these two paintings out of the entire collection of works because I found that they shared various elements as well as contrasted with each other immensely. The composition, the way the objects are arranged in the work area, in these two pieces was handled in similar fashion. The Trapped Thief contained a thief getting caught in the middle of his heist by a nun. The figures are approximately life-size and practically fill up the entire canvas. The positioning of their arms, legs, and bodies express a sense of movement as we are looking at a brief moment in the midst of the action. They are placed over a plain dark background in order to lay emphasize on the actual figures and the action, not whats going on around them. In Ethiopia, the composition of the figures in relation to the rest of the painting is treated in a similar yet very different fashion. The figures are also life-size and take up almost the entire canvas; however, there is little movement expressed through their posture and stance. A simple background that is comprised of colors to compliment the rest of the image surrounds them. I found that this was a more effective comp ositional element because it made efficient use of the entire workspace without drawing attention from the main figures of the work. Both paintings handled the arrangement of its elements in their own effective way; whether it was leave the emphasis on the main figures or to compliment them. In discussing the painting style, we find that these two works were treated very differently in this aspect. Let us begin by comparing the brush techniques used in composing each painting. With minimal effort, one could easily see that The Trapped Thief was done with very soft and careful brush strokes in order to capture as much detail as possible. This can be seen in the sharp and clear eyes of the thief as well as in every crevice and wrinkle in the clothing. In Ethiopia, the brushwork is quite the opposite with very rash and expressionistic strokes used lay the paint over the canvas. The figures faces are implied with single brush strokes rather than several carefully painted features. It seems that the artist, David Park, has left it to the imaginations of the viewer to see the figures and fill in the details in their own eyes. Both brush techniques proved to be very effective and aesthetically pleasing in my opinion. With these differences between the two works, we can also fin d some noticeable similarities. Nicholaes van Galen (The Trapped Thief) chose to create delicate and gradual blends of shadow and light while maintaining a strong contrast in lighting. The lighting in both paintings was treated similarly as they both had a strong light source shining on the figures and creating very solid shadows in their midst. This strong contrast of darks and lights creates a sense of space and dimension which proved effective in grabbing this art admirers attention. Although both artists used oil paints as their medium for these particular works yet they achieved very different results. In examining these aspects, we begin to see that using different techniques in painting can bring about different results even when using the same medium. The subject matter in these two paintings also varies between the two. The Trapped Thief focuses on a scene in which the thief is being apprehended by one of the nun that he is stealing from.-- The thief and the nun are made to be