Pictorial Space throughout Art History: Cézanne and ... - ARAS

ARAS Connections Issue 2, 2012
and the two heads, between her right breast, the child's head, and the mother's
hair behind her head, and between the mother's right breast and her knees.
I also see triangles from the mother's pelvis to the two heads, to the
mother's two knees, and to her two breasts.
I see tension between the masses at the corners of these triangles. I also
see more tensions between the planes of pairs of triangles. For example, between
the planes of the pair of triangles from the mother's head to her knees, and from
her right breast to her knees. Also, between the planes of the pair of triangles
from her right breast to the two heads, and from her right breast to the child's
head and the mother's hair.
These proportionalities and tensions unify the composition. The space
between forms is alive with force and movement. The structure itself incarnates
the gentle, all-encompassing passion of mother and child.
The sculpture by Carpeaux may have profound qualities but it is not
plastic. There is no overall sense that the sculpture is derived from a simple
geometric form. From this viewpoint the sculpture seems tangled.
Plate 11: Master of Moulins and Matisse
Although these portraits come from different epochs their structure is
similar. In the Matisse, a diagonal runs from the lower-left corner back to the
upper-right corner. It is met by a diagonal from the upper-left corner to the
woman's left shoulder. In the portrait by the Master of Moulins, the diagonal
which advances from the upper left to the lower-right corner is contained by the
diagonal which runs back and slightly up across the girl's shoulders.
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