The painting “Woman with a hat” (La Femme au chapeau) has been created by Henri Emile Benoit Matisse. He was born on December 31st, 1869, in Le Cateau-cambresis which is in the north of France. In the year 1889, Henri Matisse’s mother provided him a box of colors when he started painting (The personal life of Henri Matisse). Matisse studied under William-Adolphe Bouguereau in the year 1891 in Paris which ended up being a disappointing year later he educated under Gustave Moreau (The personal life of Henri Matisse). He learned a lot from both his masters. This painting was completed in 1905 in Paris.
This was a painting of Henri Matisse’s wife Amelie Noellie Parayre (The personal life of Henri Matisse). He created this painting using lines, shapes, colors and textures. “It is oil on canvas.” (Woman with a hat by Henri Matisse essay). This painting is known for its colors. Bright and non natural colors with contrasting effects made the painting eye catching. “The lines are thick and undefined.” (Woman with a hat by Henri Matisse essay). There are bends and variations in the broadness of the lines. Matisse has painted this artwork with clean brushstrokes giving it a naturalistic look. “It is not a portrait of Madame Matisse so much as it is the visual expression of her.” (Woman with a hat by Henri Matisse essay). Use of pastel colors made the portrait stand out separating it from the background. Matisse has used “three major hues that dominates the composition: shades of orange-red, blue and green.” (Woman with a hat by Henri Matisse essay).
Fauvism was the art style used for this painting. “Matisse was considered the spearhead of fauve movement in France.” (The personal life of Henri Matisse). Fauve specialists used bright colors straight from the palette on the canvas to create their paintings. This way the artist separated the colors and expressed their feelings through their paintings in a bold method. Using direct colors helped the artists to create a mood for their painting. Henri Matisse led this movement and inspired other artists. He first time introduced his fauve style painting “woman with a hat” in an exhibition in Paris called Salon d’Automne (The personal life of Henri Matisse). “Fauvist paintings shocked visitors.” (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica: Amy Tikkanen). Matisse’s paintings were revolutionary. Viewers had never seen anything such before. Fauvism also inspired other art styles. “Matisse alone pursued the course he had pioneered, achieving a sophisticated balance between his own emotions and the world he painted.” (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica: Amy Tikkanen).
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This painting was first exhibited at Salon d’Automne in Paris (The personal life of Henri Matisse). Currently it is on display at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (Woman with a hat by Henri Matisse essay). When it was first exhibited it got criticised because of the fauve movement referred the name as “wild beasts” (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica: Amy Tikkanen). But now it is loved because of the way it is created, use of raw colors and visual expressions depicted in the painting is pleasing to watch. The painting shows curves and textures which makes the portrait different from the background. Each element of the face has been created with different lines and curves using various colors making it easy for the eyes to read the image.
Henri Matisse’s use of bright colors and just brush stroking it to paint a face is something innovative and people still love it. This painting has emotions which caught my attention. Such detail of an artwork and using only colors to master this requires skills and Henri Matisse did this is something powerful. It inspired it to go forward and click a portrait with such emotions and the feeling of purity. The portrait has to be natural for it to reflect such emotions and that’s what is important to understand such basic yet necessary things to know as a photographer. I personally loved the way she is posing and will recreate that pose style.
I kept the pose same as it was in the painting. Thinking about the modern day photograph I updated the hat to a cap since I have noticed that hat is now replaced with a cap. People don’t wear a big hat compared to a cap and that’s what I wanted to show through my photograph. I used an iPhone to click pictures which was a challenge, as converting a painting into a picture you have to be careful with minor things such as expression which has a strong impact on the viewer.
I decided to click the photograph inside a room so I modelled one of my roommate and asked her to pose similarly and try to give the same expressions as in the painting. So on an iPhone I had to firstly adjust the lightings. The room was giving a dark effect and there were shadows so I had to adjust my angle such that no shadows are seen. I clicked lots of pictures wanted to get that natural look and expression. I asked my roommate to not think much about a photograph since people are used to pose a fake expression when getting clicked by a camera. I decided to click this image in evening to involve lights. I went through all the photographs after I clicked them and matched them with the painting of Madame Matisse. I finally selected this picture because I thought this is more close to the painting amongst the pictures I had with me.
Henri Matisse made a masterpiece and I learned a lot after researching about his painting. He made this painting with raw colors and brush strokes and only a well skilled person can create something like this depicting proper emotions. Trying to recreate this artwork I learned how much difficulties one had to go thorough to click something expressive and pleasant to watch. There are many aspects to look after before you click a satisfactory picture. Taking care of proper lights, expression of the model also the background of the image everything sums up to become a perfect picture. Talking about the history as time has changed things have got easier in terms of accessibility. From paintings to photographs life has become simple but the process is still the same. In both areas, you have to take care about your process, technique, selection. This research taught me a lot in terms of how to develop my modern day photography skills.
Works Cited
- “The Personal Life of Henri Matisse” Henri Matisse, 2011, http://www.henri-matisse.net/biography.html. Accessed 9 October 2019.
- “Woman With the Hat by Henri Matisse Essay” ARTSCOLUMBIA, https://artscolumbia.org/visual-arts/painting/woman-with-the-hat-by-henri-matisse-44977/. Accessed 11 October 2019.
- Tikkanen, Amy, The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, Fauvism, 29 Aug. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/art/Fauvism. Accessed 11 October 2019.
