Final Paper

Dempsey and Firpo George Bellows
The Fall of Phaeton Sir Peter Paul Rubens

My essay compares two artworks by American painter George Bellows and Sir Peter Paul Rubens who is a German painter. Bellows was born on August 12^th, 1882 and Rubens was born on June 28^th, 1577. The two artworks I will be comparing are Bellows’ Dempsey and Firpo made in 1924 and The Fall of Phaeton created by Rubens in 1906. Dempsey and Firpo was influenced by the realism period of the 19^th century. The Realists of the late 1800’s felt that painters should work from the life round them. The naturalistic and close to life depictions by Bellows showcased that as his art takes you right into scene of the painting as if it is happening right in front of you. The Fall of Phaeton was made during the Baroque period. Baroque was a movement in European painting in the 17^th and early 18^th centuries, characterized by violent movement, strong emotion, and dramatic lighting and coloring.

George Bellows Dempsey and Firpo was made in 1924 after the famous fight between Luis Firpo and Jack Dempsey. The theme of this piece is stories and histories. A theme is a concept or category that the subject of the artwork represents. The theme stories and histories has a subject matter of stories whose roots reach deep into their culture’s collective memory. Anyone with a deep knowledge of boxing history knows about one of the most historical fights of one of the greatest fighters that ever lived. Though the story in this picture is half told, as it would seem that the 4 year champion Dempsey, who is the man knocked through the ropes, is going to lose to Firpo, the first Latin American to fight for the championship. But after the event depicted by Bellows transpires, Dempsey gathers himself back in the ring to knockout his opponent and retain his championship. In the artwork, all of the people are drawn with a surprised expression on their faces at what has happened to their champion except the left most and only bald man who is also the least detailed. That is Bellows himself in a self portrait as he was a spectator of the fight.

The Fall of Phaeton by Paul Rubens made in 1606 also had the theme of stories and histories but because the picture is depicted from Greek mythology I saw a bit of the invention and fantasy theme. Though it tells a story, the fact it is from mythology means the story isn’t factual especially the flying horses and winged figures standing on a cloud. Without prior knowledge of the mythology it most mostly impossible to know what is exactly going on from just viewing the picture. Phaeton, son of Apollo the sun god, wanted proof that he is in fact the sun of a god after being told he had no proof. To prove it he asks to drive Apollo’s horses and chariot. When he does the horses sense the weakness of the mortal and run out of control. They get to close to earth and set it on fire. To stop this Zeus hits Phaeton with a thunderbolt represented by the ray of light streaking through the painting. Phaeton, singled out by the red cloth around him, falls out the chariot into the darkness of the painting.

George Bellow’s Dempsey and Firpo, uses several principles of design. The painting is symmetrically balanced with the action of the objects being focused towards the middle of his art with exception of the ref on the right side. The people also show balance as the spectators are balanced around the focal objects. Bellow’s even has two heads in the back sitting up higher than the rest on each side. The line of repeated spectators also shows rhythm but the most obvious example of repetition is the few copies of spotlights above and around the boxer in the ring. The spectators in the back have also been scaled down compared to those in front to show depth and distance. Because the painting is monochromatic, I would think that it would have been unified with grey and black and have no variety. The black background, the darkness of the clothes spectators wear, and gloves/shoes the boxers dominate the picture. But using different shades of gray, Bellow’s is able to create different complexions, flesh tones and hair colors. The best examples of it are the three men to the left of the boxer that got knocked out the ring. Each man has a different skin and hair color. The first man has a darker skin tone but lighter hair than the man next to him and the man to the right seems older because of the grayness seen in his hair. The unity and rhythm is not perfect but can be seen. The Fall of Phaeton by Sir Peter Paul Rubens also uses several principles of design. The focal point and emphasis is clearly the ray of light shining down and the objects it highlights as when I first viewed this picture, my eyes were drawn to light shining down on the woman with the blue cloth. That blue cloth stands out from everything else that has a complementary reddish orange tone. Next my focus moves to the horses in a counterclockwise circle back to the light. The implied light in the focal point contrasts the darker valued subordinate area around the emphasis circle I explained above. Besides the sun yellow used for the light, the vibrant red and orange colors kept you looking at the other emphasized objects from the horses to the man falling out the chariot wearing a red sash. Those colors are complemented by the blue of the clouds in the subordinate area. There is unity and repetition of the horses and people in a circular fashion as if they were connected by a chain.

This living characteristic of art is called mood. Mood is a state of mind or a feeling. Artists use a variety of methods to create mood in their works, including subject matter, scenery and composition. Coincidently both Dempsey and Firpo and The Fall of Phaeton have a very dramatic and surprised mood. They both give me a suspenseful feel of what is going to happen next. In Bellow’s piece he uses the body and facial expressions of the spectators to show their shock that the boxing champ Dempsey was knocked through the ropes. Rubens used the same types of facial and body language along with vibrant colors to show astonishment of what phaeton has done.

Dempsey and Firpo by George Bellows was a lithograph print. The printing process which creates a lithograph is different from other traditional methods. Most printing presses require the printmaker to etch an image or text into metal plates or physically carve out the image on blocks of wood or other soft material. To create a lithograph, no etching is required. The artist uses a set of greasy crayons or pencils to draw a mirrored image of the original artwork onto a smooth stone tablet. An oil-based variety of ink is applied directly to the plate and immediately bonds with the equally greasy crayon lines. Water is then wiped onto the remaining unpainted areas to discourage the ink from smearing. For multiple colors, a new plate had to be made, and inked. Because this print was monochromatic he only needed one, though there is a colored version of the painting that would require many plates. The textures throughout the print for the most part are very smooth especially for the skin of the people, but with a shading technique, Bellows makes things such as wrinkles in the shirts of the ref and the rough feel of the jackets some of the spectators have on very lifelike and realistic. The Fall of Phaeton by Paul Rubens was an oil painting done on canvas. Unlike water based paint, oil paint does not dry quickly as it doesn’t use evaporation to dry. This property allows the artist to mix or separate paint on the canvas without the paint drying or cracking in the process. This is very evident in this painting especially the way Rubens blends in the yellow streak of light with the other objects in the middle of the piece. Rubens started with a thin layer of blue and a thick brush and created his painting on top of that layer also with thin layers with exception of the main objects in the middle that have a thicker application of paint. Those objects were also painted with a much thinner brush than that of the 1^st layer.

Dempsey and Firpo has a realistic style. From the spectators, the boxers, the ref, and the ring, nothing if left to the imagination besides what you believe happened before or after the event depicted. The Fall of Phaeton on the other hand uses the Baroque style. The Baroque style had hints of realism because artists painted people with all of their imperfections, hence baroque meaning grotesque which is what many believed it was at the time. Baroque is also is characterized with extravagance with great drama exemplified by bold composition, strange juxtapositions of content and use of bright elementary colors. Rubens’ painting has all of these items from the primary color smorgasbord for your eyes to the positions he draws the people and horses.

Before taking this class, I would probably look at the two pieces of artwork I chose and said well they are both completely different on basis of one having color and the other not and nothing else. But despite that huge difference there were some similarities such as the shocked and dramatic mood shared by both artworks. Also Rubens and Bellows both painted how they viewed a particular event as realistically as possible though they are from different art periods, have different styles, and one is a real life event while the other is from Greek mythology. I chose Bellow’s Dempsey and Firpo because I am a boxing fan and have seen the video of the fight he painted but the video never show that angle of Dempsey falling out the ring. As for The Fall of Phaeton, I didn’t choose this one initially as I saw a different painting by Rubens, but found that someone else had chosen it. I then looked through his other works and was intrigued by that mythological painting.

EXTRA CREDIT

The color relationships of the Assignment list on blackboard seemed to be complementary colors after each other excluding the intro. For example, green and red for week 2 and 3, then orange and blue for week 4 and 5/6.