A few years ago, my family and I visited Japan, spending part of our trip in Tokyo, home to Shibuya Crossing — one of the biggest intersections in the world. While there were many highlights from our time in Japan, Tokyo stood out as especially striking due to its contrasting landscapes. The city is a unique blend of urban infrastructure and bustling streets mixed in with serene natural spaces. This careful preservation made it an incredibly memorable experience, and I sometimes imagine myself rejoining that vast, organized crowd of tourists, salary workers, students, and locals as we crossed that iconic intersection. Looking back on that experience left me wondering what it would look like from different perspectives: from above, from a distance, through a narrow frame, or with a panoramic lens. How much of the world would I be able to see? How would I perceive the people around me, and how might my conceptions of such an influential location change? Artists have been experimenting with this idea for centuries. Take Cathedral paintings, for example, where the necessity to look upward to gaze upon its characters and architecture emphasizes symbolism, proportion, and composition. In this article, I will reference two artists who use framing and perspective to their advantage to better illustrate the message and depth of their paintings.
Neo-Romanticism is a genre that succeeded the Romanticism movement, primarily gaining popularity in Great Britain during the early twentieth century, influenced by the emotional distress associated with the impending Second World War. More broadly, it is an independent impression of contemporary life and associated melancholy. Despite being a relative of Romanticism, the style is far more exaggerated and relies heavily on markedly darker visual tones. I really appreciate this style because it relies on red hues to create significant contrast between the subjects and their surroundings in paintings. Stanley Spencer, a champion of Neo-Romanticism, is a fantastic reference for the importance of framing and its influence on a painting and its message. Take, for example, Spencer’s work “Scrubbing the Floor,” which depicts a man mopping the floor while passersby attempt to unsuccessfully navigate around him, dropping the pallets they are holding when they slip. Like many of Spencer’s paintings, the scene is mundane but, I believe, quite emotional. The painting maintains a wider perspective, allowing the viewer to see the two hallways the characters are traversing. The dimly lit side has the unsuspecting pallet-holders, while the brightly lit side has the floor mopper. This painting seems to be an ode to ignorance, emphasizing the blunder of the mopper in making the floors slippery and the sealed misfortune of the pallet carriers. This painting appears to reflect the uncertainties of everyday life, suggesting that new phases in our existence can be shaped by forces beyond our control or prediction.
Now contrasting this with a more tightly framed piece, the difference is quite noticeable. Wassily Kandinsky, a renowned Russian abstract expressionist painter, produced a variety of influential abstract paintings that focused primarily on color theory and disassociation from nature (a fantastic contrast to Spencer’s settings and tones). I particularly enjoy Kandinsky’s woodcut print, “The Singer,” which is an expressionist portrayal of a singer and a pianist ensemble performing together. The piece is relatively matte for Kandinsky’s vibrant collection, but the composition is unique because the contrast creates a sinking effect in the canvas. The pink dress of the singer and black of the shadow in the room create a sense of dimension, even though it isn’t really there. In the case of Kandinsky’s piece, the frame is condensed so the background is hardly present in the piece. Our focus is drawn to the singer in the foreground, allowing us to draw conclusions about the importance of the singer and her accompanist, as well as the nature of the venue in which they are performing. This interpretation is spurred by the lack of visual queues obstructed by the narrow framing of the painting, reinforcing the concept that artists will frame a painting depending on what message they are attempting to convey and what freedoms they offer the viewers in interpreting it.
