1.<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0The visible brush strokes in “rough” paintings by Rembrandt and Frans Hals…call attention to the virtuosity of their makers, but such dashing brushwork also works as a realist ploy.<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n 2.<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 In Hals’ portraits, the quick and decisive look of each stroke suggests spontaneity, the recording of one specific instant in the life of the sitter. Moreover, with these techniques Rembrandt and Hals edited out many descriptive specifics, creating a composite image that is greater than the sum of its parts.<\/strong><\/em>\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n 3.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 This strategiy makes the viewing experience of their portraits resemble lifelike encounters with the sitters, in which we tend to focus on a few aspects of a person rather than on every hair, wrinkle, button and earring…Rembrandt further simulated an actual meeting by casting less important parts of his portraits in shadow and by highlighting faces, hands and significant attributes.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Page 80<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 If by “spontaneity”, Ms. Westermann means ” being voluntary,\u00c2\u00a0proceeding from one’s natural feeling or acting upon one’s\u00c2\u00a0native tendency without external constraint” (which is the meaning of that word\u00c2\u00a0provided by Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary), then\u00c2\u00a0she cannot\u00c2\u00a0have been\u00c2\u00a0more\u00c2\u00a0mistaken in her perception of Frans Hals’ masterpiece, Banquet of the Officers of the St. George Militia, 1616.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0One look at the following diagrams in which I have\u00c2\u00a0painstakingly\u00c2\u00a0mapped out the possible “external\u00c2\u00a0constraints” within\u00c2\u00a0that\u00c2\u00a0composition will\u00c2\u00a0reveal the\u00c2\u00a0type of fallacies\u00c2\u00a0frequently committed by our art critics or historians regarding\u00c2\u00a0true\u00c2\u00a0art. The existence of an intricate program of “external constraints”, which are in fact\u00c2\u00a0what I have coined\u00c2\u00a0as ” the rhymes, rhythms and meters” of\u00c2\u00a0a true\u00c2\u00a0composition–in order to bring home the intimate relationship between painting and poetry,– shows that our art critics and historians do not have the ability to avoid committing the fallacies discussed below.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Those fallacies directly result from the claim that ” Frans Hals’ work suggests spontaneity.”\u00c2\u00a0 After looking at my diagrams\u00c2\u00a0mapping out the “external constraints”, it\u00c2\u00a0would become\u00c2\u00a0clear that\u00c2\u00a0our art critics or historians’\u00c2\u00a0blindness to the true artistic merits of a masterpiece has prevented them from surmounting the barrier of the superficial. They have failed to look beyond the extremely mesmerizing effect of Frans Hals’\u00c2\u00a0powerful,– in fact, what has appeared to them as “spontaneous”\u00c2\u00a0brushstrokes.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 When one is not sure of what\u00c2\u00a0one wants to convey to\u00c2\u00a0the readers,\u00c2\u00a0one often employs this deceptive formula of, “…this, that or that–so on, so forth–\u00c2\u00a0is greater than the sum of its parts…etc.”\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 That\u00c2\u00a0is\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0deceitful\u00c2\u00a0technique of vagueness, predicating on something that\u00c2\u00a0one\u00c2\u00a0could never be held accountable for.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0But what are the parts and what is the sum? Why is the sum greater? That is the tricky part that Ms. Westermann has failed to\u00c2\u00a0address to us\u00c2\u00a0in a satisfactory way. If the sum is the entirety of Hals’ painting, and the parts are his “free\u00c2\u00a0brushstrokes”, then it is\u00c2\u00a0quite\u00c2\u00a0possible that Ms.Westermann, like most people whose understanding of Frans Hals is\u00c2\u00a0virtually nil, gets\u00c2\u00a0superficially\u00c2\u00a0enthralled by the\u00c2\u00a0artist’s masterful\u00c2\u00a0brushstrokes without ever\u00c2\u00a0digging into\u00c2\u00a0his composition–i.e. the entirety\u00c2\u00a0in which the\u00c2\u00a0brushstrokes are just\u00c2\u00a0one\u00c2\u00a0aspect\u00c2\u00a0of its beauty. Now\u00c2\u00a0Ms. Westermann\u00c2\u00a0also seems to be\u00c2\u00a0saying that with the impressionistic technique Frans Hals has “edited out” the “descriptive<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0specifics” of his sitters and created instead a composite image\u00c2\u00a0representing the sitters’\u00c2\u00a0“\u00c2\u00a0resemlances” or being employed\u00c2\u00a0as a\u00c2\u00a0“realist ploy.”\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 In suggesting “these techniques” of ” Rembrandt and Frans Hals”, i.e. her coded words\u00c2\u00a0for\u00c2\u00a0the impressionistic techniques,\u00c2\u00a0she also\u00c2\u00a0implies that\u00c2\u00a0Frans Hals’ artistic intent(or Rembrandt’s, for that matter,)\u00c2\u00a0is\u00c2\u00a0one of\u00c2\u00a0description or simulation.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 That implication\u00c2\u00a0reveals a gross insensitiveness on her part\u00c2\u00a0towards the very\u00c2\u00a0heart of Poetry–which has nothing to do with description or lifelike\u00c2\u00a0simulation!<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Secondly, it is due to\u00c2\u00a0the author’s\u00c2\u00a0misconception with regard to\u00c2\u00a0another painterly intent of Frans Hals (or Rembrandt, for that matter,), i.e.,to record “a specific instant in the life of the sitter” or “makes the portraits resemble lifelike encounters with the sitters”\u00c2\u00a0that another fallacy is born. Recording “a specific instant in the life of the sitter” or “make the portraits resemble lifelike encounters with the sitters”\u00c2\u00a0are\u00c2\u00a0certainly not the intent of Frans Hals (or Rembrandt).\u00c2\u00a0Either master’s\u00c2\u00a0intent, which is basically poetic by nature, is\u00c2\u00a0to share with us\u00c2\u00a0the\u00c2\u00a0universality about\u00c2\u00a0life’s situation in the floating world, instead of dwelling on\u00c2\u00a0any specific\u00c2\u00a0details\u00c2\u00a0at a\u00c2\u00a0personal level of the sitter.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 At any rate,\u00c2\u00a0implying that Frans Hals has tried to give an\u00c2\u00a0impressionistic description or\u00c2\u00a0 “realistic simulation” \u00c2\u00a0is truly\u00c2\u00a0an insult\u00c2\u00a0to the master. It is probably\u00c2\u00a0the last thing Frans\u00c2\u00a0Hals\u00c2\u00a0would\u00c2\u00a0do in any of his paintings. Frans Hals’ portraitures of people\u00c2\u00a0are\u00c2\u00a0some of the greatest metaphors of the human race\u00c2\u00a0under merciful\u00c2\u00a0Heaven! He\u00c2\u00a0has never given us\u00c2\u00a0a single frivolous\u00c2\u00a0description of his subjects\u00c2\u00a0as far as I can remember. Only mediocre artists would be involved in the banality of description. Great\u00c2\u00a0painters provide visual metaphors– and that is\u00c2\u00a0the legacy\u00c2\u00a0Frans Hals has passed on to posterity.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Figure 1: Frans Hals\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Banquet of the Officers of the St. George Militia<\/em>, 1616.<\/strong><\/p>\n Figure 2: Mapping out\u00c2\u00a0a small portion of the rhymes, rhythms and meters in the composition of Banquet of the Officers of St. George Militia,1616.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The\u00c2\u00a0figures below illustrate the composition of one of Jan Steen’s masterpieces, Celebrating The Birth,<\/em> 1664. The young Jan Steen was a student of Master Frans Hals and much is in\u00c2\u00a0common between the two masters\u00c2\u00a0in\u00c2\u00a0building up their\u00c2\u00a0compositions.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Figure 3: Jan Steen Celebrating The Birth 1664<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Figure 4: Mapping out a portion of the rhymes, rhythms and meters of Fig. 3.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0Figure 5: Mapping out a portion of the rhymes, rhythms and meters of Fgure 3.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Figure 6: Mapping out a portion of the rhymes, rhythms and meters of figure 3.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Figure 7: Mapping out a portion of the rhymes, rhythms and meters of Figure 3.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Critique by Ben Taishing Lau<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Today we shall\u00c2\u00a0expose some of the fallacies committed by contemporary art critics\u00c2\u00a0and historians alike. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0About the art of Frans Hals and Rembrandt, the author\u00c2\u00a0Mariet Westermann has these entries in her book, A Worldly Art\u00c2\u00a0 (Prentice Hall\/Abram 1.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0The visible brush strokes in “rough” paintings by Rembrandt and Frans Hals…call attention to the virtuosity of their… Continue reading THE MYTHS ABOUT FRANS HALS<\/span> ![\"HALS](\"http:\/\/www.trueartblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/HALS%201.jpg\")
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