NSC Visual Arts Developmental Process: Refer to FIGURE 2a and FIGURE 2b

Question

Refer to FIGURE 2a and FIGURE 2b. Analyse and discuss these works in an essay of at least 1–1½ pages.

Refer to the following:
- Subject matter
- Symbols
- Formal elements
- Style
- Composition

FIGURE 2a: The Kraal of Preller’s poetic interpretation of Ndebele life and culture. It is a modern painting featuring African women in a village. In the bottom right corner, a woman with red hair walks toward the centre of the town. The shirt she is wearing only covers the top half of her breasts and the facial expression is solemn. She is about to pass a woman in a pink dress sitting hunched away from the viewer. A woman’s face is very near the bottom of the picture, her hair is either very unusual, or there are objects protruding from her skull. The bottom left corner features four women, one of whom are wearing shirts, with slouched postures. One of the women is lying down in the street.

The centre of the painting features a red llama-like creature balancing on an abstract object, with a giant candle on its back and tiny figures dancing around the flame of the candle. Towards the left the candle is repeated and enlarged to be visible as tall as the naked woman hugging it. Behind it to the right and to the left of the scene has large chunks of rock missing. The house to the left of it has flags and blankets draped over it, which look more like hills.

The work is a visual universe of the exotic, exhilarating and strange – an ancient African experience. A personal romantic vision of an archetypal African tribe. Still life objects are seen here – a considerable amount of masks, gourds, patterned vessels, shells, mangoes and eggs.

In FIGURE 2b the paintings reflect Batts’ painted a naturalistic scene of the daily tasks of a group of African people. It is an expressionistic style that he witnessed and recreated in an expressive style. It is related to the fishermen’s decorative compositions. This can be seen in the rhythmic gathering of figures in the scene with the diagonal curved shapes of multicoloured figures that creates contrast starkly with the background in which the loose brushstrokes create the feeling of water and abundance of the fish caught in their nets.

Symbols
In FIGURE 2a one makes observations of tribal life and rituals from the mysterious surviving ruins, fetishes and symbols from the art of the primeval past. The visual is divided into two sections: The foreground section that is occupied by women, many of which are half-dressed and occupy the margins of the section and the men in section at the back.

The centre of the painting features a red llama-like creature balancing on an abstract object, with a giant candle on its back and tiny figures dancing around the flame of the candle. Towards the left the candle is repeated and enlarged to be visible as tall as the naked woman hugging it. Behind it to the right and to the left of the scene has large chunks of rock missing.

In FIGURE 2b Walter avoided symbolism that we encounter in his Symbols of life and Mantis man.

Formal elements
FIGURE 2a: Preller employs a format that balances the horizontal and vertical to create harmony, peace and unity in the work. The horizontal landscape speaks of peace and calm while the vertical represented in the structures and the figures speak of spiritual and cultural elements in the work. The work has decorative qualities. Strong contrasting colours; reds, browns, yellow-greens, white and cool polka dots.

The warm colours are reminiscent of the African people and their heritage as depicted by the candle’s reds and oranges for the boats and nets to contrast them with the variety of blues that were used to depict the water, thus creating a feeling of three-dimensional depth.

Style
FIGURE 2a: The style is surrealist with elements and imagery of the real and the non-real combined to create a dreamlike atmosphere. Imprecision and distortion is employed to create a perfectly balanced palette.

The style; sound structural composition, with discrepancies in scale, particularly of the figures, in relation to the perspective it serves.

FIGURE 2b: Batts applied a naturalistic scene of the daily tasks of a group of African people in an expressive style. It is related to the fishermen’s decorative compositions. This can be seen in the rhythmic gathering of figures in the scene with the diagonal curved shapes of the figures that contrast starkly with the background in which the loose brush strokes that create the feeling of water and abundance of the fish caught in their nets.

Refer to FIGURE 2a and FIGURE 2b - NSC Visual Arts - Question 2 - 2017 - Paper 1

Worked Solution & Example Answer:Refer to FIGURE 2a and FIGURE 2b - NSC Visual Arts - Question 2 - 2017 - Paper 1

Subject matter

Symbols

Formal elements

Style

Composition

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