Argument 04
After Likeness
Once a likeness could be bought cheaply, painting had to say what else it was for. Colour theory and flatness are two of the answers it gave.
Photo: 19th-century portrait miniature of sitting woman painting by Valentine Manchon Duchesne - with scale · Wikimedia Commons
Entries
One cause, one consequence, each
- 01
Photography takes the job
Once a likeness could be bought cheaply, portrait painting had to argue for itself, and the argument changed the pictures.
- 02
Colour theory arrives
Simultaneous contrast and complementaries move from the dye trade into the studio.
- 03
Flatness as a position
Insisting the picture is a surface rather than a window, and what that rules out.
Raking light does the reading for you — the cracks follow the weave of the support and the drying of the layers above it.
Photo: Satyam Sanghal / Pexels