Understanding the Form Principle!
August 22, 2009
Peaches by William Mason Brown
Here is another in my series of museum favorites. This little still life (about 8″x10″) is in the High Museum in Atlanta, Ga. It was painted by William Mason Brown ca. 1870. One thing I clearly remember about it is being able to smell the peaches. I also imagined that the peaches were in perfect shape when he started the painting and had begun to turn by the time he finished. They do look a little like they are on the verge!
Brown (1828-1898) was born in the city of Troy in upstate New York. He studied with Abel Buel Moore and began his career as a portrait painter. Later he moved to Newark, New Jersey where his focus shifted to painting Hudson River style landscapes. After moving to Brooklyn, NY in 1858 his subject matter changed again. He began to paint highly realistic still lifes with an emphasis on the rendering of texture. These paintings lent themselves well to lithographic reproduction and Brown enjoyed quite a bit of popularity in that market.
I can’t help but wonder whether Brown was acquainted with his famous contemporary, William Merritt Chase, who was also living in Brooklyn at the time. When Chase wasn’t busy immortalizing James McNeil Whistler, he also painted a still life or two. Here is one of my favorites, also in the permanent collection at the High Museum.
Still Life with Fish by William Merritt Chase
Both of these paintings bring to mind Seth Godin’s book Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable. To be a purple cow means to be indispensible. The big indispensible purple cow which both of these paintings illustrate is form. Neither is at all vague about what is in the light or what is in shadow. The forms are clearly stated.
No matter what subject we choose or what medium we work in there is only one solid basis of approach to the realistic representation of life and the natural appearance of its forms. The truths underlying this approach have been passed down from artist to artist and generation to generation. In his book, Creative Illustration, Andrew Loomis gave the organization of these truths the name Form Principle. He defines The Form Principle as: the rendering of form as to its aspect at any given moment with regard to its lighting, its structure and texture, together with its true relationship to its environment.
The key phrase here is “…with regard to its lighting“. Without an in-depth understanding of light and how it plays over our subject we will not be able to do an adequate job of transmitting form.
One way of illustrating the Form Principle is by making use of a set of abstractions called the Five Types of Light:
- Light
- Shadow
- Midtone
- Accents
- Reflected Light
(I don’t know who first articulated form in these terms but it is often credited to John Singer Sargent. I first heard it from Scott L. Christensen.)
I refer to them as a set of abstractions because they are not intrinsic to the subject. They are intrinsic to the concept of light. Simply put, we are not supposed to paint the peach we are supposed to paint the abstract shapes, from the five types of light, which represent the peach. I often tell my students you are not painting “peaches or lemons or whatever the subject” you are painting shadows, midtones, lights, accents and reflected lights. Furthermore each of the Five Types of Light has its own shape, value, color and edge. Our ability to convincingly convey each type of light with regard to its shape, value, color and edges is directly responsible for the effectiveness of our forms.
Next week I will discuss the Form Principle, it’s significance and the five types of light in further detail. I may even include a rare figure drawing of mine…
Meanwhile I’d like to plug some workshops I will be teaching over the next year. I will be in the following locations:
- Indian Rocks Beach, Florida – Nov. 10-12, 2009 (plein air)
- Boca Grande, Florida – March 29-31, 2010 (the Impressionist Landscape)
- Cortona, Italy – April 10-17th, 2010 (plein air)
- Dingle, Ireland – August 7-14th, 2010 (plein air)
For more info click here.
Comments
4 Responses to “Understanding the Form Principle!”
Got something to say?
I just read your second blog on the Forum Principle, loved it, forwarded it to my painting friends,and now found this first one which is equally concise and very well put. I was just at the Indianapolis museum of art this afternoon coming to the conclusion that one of my MOST favorite paintings is a much bigger painting by William Merritt Chase of fish on table and in a bowl still life. The quality of the color and light in his painting strokes is amzing and powerful. He was a great painter. I hope to get your future blogs, but am not sure how to do that. Can you send them to my e-mail address?
[...] pitcher is perfect. I use it to introduce the Form Principle as a basis of approach. I convey the Form Principle using a sort of visual language called the Five Types of Light. Each of the five types of light [...]
[...] left off at the end of several consecutive posts discussing “The Form Principle“. The last in that thread was a “still life demo” which showed how to transmit [...]
[...] or constructs which help us communicate about visual concepts. One such convention, which I call the Five Types of Light, describes form. Form is the voluminous three dimensional structure of an object which is [...]