Essay on Joan Eardley and Girhard Richter's Work

Art Essay - Joan Kathleen Harding Eardley & Girhard Richter

Joan Eardley (1921 – 1963) was an English painter and was known for painting very powerful seaside views and landscapes. The expressive brushwork and thick paint which she used conveyed the force of the sea and wind. Joan Eardley was not influenced by any specific artists but in some of her early chalk and charcoal sketches, you can see the influence of Van Gogh. She then moved her style into Expressionism.

Eardley has many expressive and inspiring paintings; I feel piece is a good representation of her style of work. The painting is called ‘July Fields’ it is 53 x 61 cms, and is oil on canvas. The viewpoint of this painting is looking from ground level. Here we can see she has focused on the close up of the plants and fence at the front left of the painting, which is the main focal point. This was the first painting I seen by Joan Eardley which caught my eye because of the sketchy technique she uses to apply the paint. Eardley liked to immerse herself in her subject, making the direct connection with the landscape, making it seem almost realistic when real grass and seed heads and included along with the application of the paint. These plants would of been picked from the actual spot where she was painting, which gives the painting more texture as well as helping her capture the atmosphere and mood of the area; she used this technique of collage in many of her later works which I think is unique and inspiring for other artists.

The reason I like her work is because all of her paintings are so expressively painted and have so much energy. Every painting has something different in it, whether it is a collage; or a range of textures, achieved by applying paint with either a palette knife or with different brush strokes. All of these aspects that she has used help to portray a different mood in each piece of artwork. Most of her work was done quickly, and are mostly done on the spot. This is another reason why I like her work because she is able to capture the scene and gives you the feeling of what it would be like to be there, and I feel she achieves this very well.

The second artist I would like to talk about it is Girhard Richter; a German painter who was born in 1932. I was instantly interested in his work as soon as I seen his over painted photographs. The reason I loved this work was because this mixed media painting technique allows for experimentation, its unique and the outcome is also amazing.

Richter uses a range of techniques to apply the paint onto the photographs but is usually achieved by dragging the paint with a large board across the photograph. This bold use of paint results in a successful smearing effect of the different colours, as well as creating different textures.

Also by doing this, Richter is changing the mood in the initial photograph, and creating his own interpretation on it. He is able to make something which was once flat and boring, and produce an exciting and distinctive piece of art work, which I think is inspiring and uplifting to look at.

Richter uses a variety of photographs, ranging from landscapes to family photos, showing how diverse this painting technique can be. This modern artwork style is based on a process of trial and error, which Richter tests the relationship between the paint and photographs, to create something beautiful, or sometimes disturbing to look at.