Intro To Art: Zoma:Form, Style, Type and Visual Elements of an Artwork

A work of Art is generally is single but very complex composition containing a lot of information. In the following, we will analyze in an artwork, some of the elements characterizing it, like its form, style, type and visual elements. The present work was made by the American Edward Hopper (1882-1967). The artist is known for his paintings evoking urban loneliness of the great cities of the 20^th century, depicted by the artist as the home of isolated men and women.

This work titled Summertime (1943), is a painting, an oil-on-canvas art with dimensions 44 inches for width and 29.125 inches for height. It is a genre painting; that means an artwork portraying ordinary scenes. Here, the author is ironically picturing a lonely beautiful woman in a summer time. Edward Hopper is accustomed to this form of art (painting), and especially works of this type (genre) through which he described the solitude of the cities of his time. The exacerbation of the artist in the painting is great in the sense that one would barely imagine a graceful woman so lonely in summer. The style of this work is representational. The author is giving a representation of what he thinks to be the reality of his environment, without any distortion of his character (the woman) and her surroundings.

The use of the colors in this work is very amazing, in the sense that they are used in such a particular way by the artist in order to convey his message. Hopper is depicting a scene during summer time. One would definitely expect to see a very warm or hot scene, and the use of bright colors like red, yellow, or pink to represent that reality. On the contrary, the artist used a monochromatic blue tone in his work. The blue that is a cool color is actually chosen by the color to characterize this summer without brightness, without warmth, as refer to the loneliness of the woman. The blue, that has also the emotive value of sadness, is meant by the author in its choice. The artist is illustrating how in this summer time, the solitude of the woman changes an atmosphere which is supposed to be hot, bright and joyful to an atmosphere that is cool and sad. Our first contact with this artwork made us think of a very cold winter morning, except when we started paying attention to the woman’s clothing, then the title and the information about the painting, we finally realized that it was a summer scene. We can also notice that the monochromatic tone, purposely chosen by the artist is to emphasize the solitude of the woman, the loneliness of those cities where communication between people is very rare.

Hopper has used implied lines to convey his idea through his work. To the vertical lines implied par the woman, the columns, the doors and the widows which express strength and joy, the artist opposes horizontal lines implied by the sidewalk, the stairs and the slits in the wall, to emphasize the sadness of this lonely woman, and the melancholy of this empty atmosphere. Also, throughout those systematic vertical and horizontal lines, the author characterizes a very monotonous, flat and mechanical ambiance, without liveliness.

Besides the suggested lines used by the artist for an emotional purpose, we can also discuss about the contour lines in the painting. We see in this work a very particular way of the artist in using the contour lines. In some artworks, the contour lines are lost in the shading and the texture of the objects, so that even it is possible to discern the shapes, it is nevertheless difficult to distinguish the contour lines. On the contrary, in some works, the contour lines are prominent and dictate the shape of the object. But in this work of Edward Hopper, there is an amazing balance between the shading, the texture, and the contour lines, so that even we can visibly admire the effect of volume (3D) created through the ingenious shading and value, the contour lines are still clearly perceivable.

In the picture, we can also see some patterns. There are horizontal patterns defined by the horizontal lines in the wall of the house. We can also see a squared blue and white pattern on the interior floor of the building. Those repetitive patterns participate in emphasizing the monotony of this melancholy air.

The first look of the picture gives to the observer the impression of a flat value in this artwork, a strange intermediate value between light and darkness, deliberately designed by the artist to describe this mournful summer. However, Hopper is concerned about giving also to the viewer the sensation of the presence of light that can be seen through the shadows of the woman, the awning, and the upper corners of the windows.