In many ways, every painting, drawing, and artistic composition exhibit similar characteristics. Spanning the millions upon millions of paintings created by people all across the world, there are a few compositional elements that can be consistently identified. Almost every painting is divided into two (and sometimes three) different parts. These labelings are referred to as the foreground, middle ground, and background. While the foreground is the main draw of the viewer's attention, often exhibiting the “action” or excitement of the work, its counterpart plays an equally important part. The background is considered the matrix of a painting, holding the main subject to the viewer’s focus [1]. Broken down into its most basic form, the concept can be illustrated as a balance between positive and negative space. Positive space is the main subject of the painting, while negative space is the area between the subject and the rest of the scene [1]. Most importantly, a background provides shape to the main scene. For example, suppose one paints a grey object onto a grey canvas. Since they are the same color and create no delineation between the foreground and background, the image is simply a series of defined edges [1]. This makes the contrast in color between the two parts of an image crucial to demonstrating a focus.
When considering backgrounds in terms of landscapes, the primary purpose lies in establishing depth within a painting. The perspective, hue, value, intensity of the color, and placement of objects are critical to the organization of a background [1]. Combining these elements either strengthens or weakens the realism of an image, depending on the artist’s intention.
The background can complement and supplement the foreground subject, an effort to provide context and explain the setting to the viewer [2]. Some artists make their backgrounds intentionally detailed, with plenty of textures and bright colors, while others make backgrounds vaguer and with muted tones. While each style is perfectly acceptable, they achieve different effects. When creating backgrounds, artists may ask themselves, “What does the viewer need to know? What is the focal point of my creation? What point of view does the capture take?” For each work of art, the answers can vary greatly.
Venetian art, under my interpretation, exhibits two main forms of backgrounds. Venetian artists use the natural landscape and the architectural landscape to establish context and demonstrate themes and values within their works. In the two galleries in this exhibit, one will understand how each is used and the purpose they fulfill.
[1] Goodnight-Melbourne, “A Discussion On Backgrounds In Paintings,” Deviant Art, January 21, 2015, https://www.deviantart.com/goodnight-melbourne/journal/A-Discussion-On-Backgrounds-In-Paintings-505684319.
[2] Artists Network Staff, “The Importance of the Background,” Artists Network, January 29, 2008, https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-mediums/watercolor/the-importance-of-the-background/.
Credits
Jackson Huether