Inspiration – Zorn: Water and Light

 

Anders Leonard Zorn became Sweden’s foremost artist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like his contemporary John Singer Sargent, he was famed for realistic portraiture which conveyed spontaneity and character. In this post I will focus on his handling of light and water, and the lessons that can apply to atmosphere in architectural illustration.

Anders Leonard Zorn was born in rural Sweden to a German brewer and a farm girl. Although illegitimate, his father set aside money for his education, and he was raised by his grandparents on a farm near the town of Mora. Because of his exceptional talent at drawing he was sent to the Royal Academy of Fine Art in Stockholm. Once he established his career he married Emma Lamm, the daughter of a wealthy family with useful contacts. Most of his busy career was spent in the cultural capitols of Europe and the United States, although he always spent the summer in his hometown.

Zorn made his mark with wonderful portraits of the rich and powerful (he painted portraits of 3 presidents). My interest in Zorn is his handling of light and water. 

 

 

 

LIGHT ON FACES

This portrait of fellow painter Bruno Liljefors might seem spookily wrong, but it catches the strong reflected light coming from a field of snow to the left of Liljefors; something I experienced growing up in Minnesota.

These two portraits use a more conventional light coming from the right. Most traditional portraits use a light coming from over the viewer’s shoulder (“Beaux Art”).

Above are a couple variations of light that leaves the subject’s face in partial shadow, a form of “Saarinen Light”. Zorn was quite adventurous with modeling a subject’s face in middle value shadow.

This cigarette girl in “up” lighting illustrates Zorn’s skill in using an extreme light in a complimentary way (enhancing her beauty).

Zorn’s self-portrait captures not only the complex light of two light sources, but does it with the unforgiving technique of etching.

 

 

 

LIGHT AND BUILDINGS

Zorn painted surprisingly few views of buildings or cities. He graduated with a degree in perspective and anatomy, but I could not find any example of perspective layout in his drawings (The paintings do not however, show any blatant mistakes).

It seems that Zorn saw the built environment as scenery; there to “look” right and serve as support to the people in the painting. The paintings above exemplify this, a foggy London (Ambient light) and dancing in a farm village (Dusk lighting).

Interior views can be more exacting regarding perspective. This view of women baking shows that Zorn understands perspective. The light is straightforward except for the woman a far left who is lit by both the daylight on the right and the red oven on the left.

Curiously, Zorn seemed to have a preference for unusual viewpoints which is reflected in the assumed vanishing points at the top of the two paintings above. Note also that he is playing with multiple light sources, the second painting showing the color change between daylight and firelight.

These paintings, one of an informal rural dance, and the other a formal society affair, show Zorn’s love of contrasting light effects and color. They also represent the two worlds that he moved between most of his life; the simple farming community and the sophisticated urban world of social elites.

This self portrait uses conventional lighting for what could have been a conventional portrait. The mostly obscured model in the background sets up a tension which makes this painting so fascinating.

 

 

 

LIGHT AND WATER

The combination of light and water is one of the most difficult things to draw or paint. Zorn 

mastered water's translucency and movement, perhaps because he spent much of his student 

years in Stockholm, a city surrounded by inlets, lakes and rivers.

He uses the simplest of means to capture reflection, refraction, transparency and color in any situation. The result is always a fascinating and mysterious composition that draws the viewer into a closer exploration of the paint on paper or canvas.

A preliminary color sketch. Note: Zorn was very traditional in the extensive research, sketching, value studies, color studies and refining that went into what seems a spontaneous painting.

The final.

And detail. Amazing illusion of the play of light on the water surface.

 

 

 

Now I don’t expect architectural illustrators to paint like Zorn, but as inspiration he is worth checking out.

 

 

 

 

For a short bio with lots of images…

https://mydailyartdisplay.wordpress.com/2019/01/09/anders-zorn-part-1-the-early-years/

 

For a detailed biography…

http://www.artgraphica.net/free-art-lessons/anders-zorn-oil-painter/anders-zorn-oil-painter.htm

 

 

 

 

 

Inspiration - Schell Lewis

I happened on an old Harvard Magazine (March April 2009) yesterday while sorting out moving boxes in the attic. (No, I’m not Ivy, my son is). It had an article on the Supreme Court with a rendering of the Supreme Court building in Washington. The rendering was by Schell Lewis, an excellent but now forgotten architectural delineator.

It struck a chord with me. First, it was sad that such a talented artist was now completely forgotten. And second, it reminded me that I had gathered images for a blog post on him; a post that was filed away when I found so little biographical information.

Since I’m more interested in the art than the artist, I’ve decided to post what little I’ve got.

According to the 1920 census, Schell Lewis was born about 1887 in Moline, Illinois (I found a site suggesting that he was born in 1875, but that seems improbable). By 1920 he became known for his skill in architectural delineation. He worked in the office of Charles A. Platt for years, but by the late 1920s he was doing professional renderings for other architects. He was active into his 60s, with little evidence of age. The latest image I could find was from 1960.

The following is from Pencil Points magazine, vol. 2, 1921
“Though Mr. Schell Lewis has made many excellent perspective drawings and sketches he has not specialized in rendering… His charcoal drawings, made as a means of studying the designs in the office and not as presentation drawings, convey the character of the designs admirably and are done with great facility.
Mr. Lewis was born in Moline, Ill., but his family removed to New York when he was a youth. After acquiring the rudiments of drafting he entered an architect’s office in New York. Then, after a few attempts, he secured a place in the office of Mr. Charles A. Platt, in whose organization he has been continuously excepting six months with the U. S. Shipping Board and six month with Trowbridge & Ackerman.
All of Mr. Lewis’ work shows an appreciation of architectural character as well as a knowledge of architectural design.”

I first saw Lewis’s work in Drafting Room Practice by Eugene Clute (Pencil Points Press 1928). I found an old copy in a used book store years ago. There was no biographical information, but they reproduced a number of wonderful architectural detail studies done in charcoal.

The only other story I found concerning Lewis’s work is in The President as Architect: Franklin D. Roosevelt's Top Cottage, By John G. Waite Associates, Architects. In 1938 President Roosevelt sketched out the design for a “cottage” on his Hyde Park property north of New York City. Lewis, who did regular work for Henry J. Toombs, FDR’s favorite architect, was brought on to do a couple pencil renderings for a publicity brochure. Being a “traditional” renderer familiar with traditional architecture, he fit in perfectly with FDR’s love of the old country style of building.

Here are a few additional images which show something of Lewis’s rendering process. His preliminary sketches are nice examples of value studies produced by all artists of the time. The preliminary working out the light and dark areas ensures an image that presents the subject in a pleasing way. See my post on Gustave Doré for more of the same, as well as all of my posts on composition.

Prelim sketch for Cadet Barracks at U S Military Academy

Finished rendering of Cadet Barracks at U S Military Academy

Prelim study for an aerial view of a Church

Prelim sketch for a rendering of a Church

Finished rendering of a Church

Unfinished Prelim study for a Church

______________________________


The following images are all of the Schell Lewis renderings that I could find on the internet. They are arranged in roughly chronological order. Comments are included as I felt the need.

1088 Park Avenue New York City, 1924

This and the next 6 renderings are nice examples of subtle value manipulation used to enliven otherwise dull forms.

Apartment Block in New York City, 1926

Proposed Development at Warm Springs, Georgia, 1926

111 John Street, New York City, 1927

15 East 39th Street New York City, 1928

1441 Broadway, New York City, 1929

Bronx County Jail, New York City, 1931

_________________________

Proposed Chapel at Kent School, Kent, Connecticut  1929

The image above was the only interior rendering that I found.

Georgia Building, 1933

Chapin School in New York City, 1935

The following 4 renderings are from the 1939 World’s Fair, held in New York City. Both Hugh Ferriss and John Wenrich did illustrations for the fair.

Court of the States Building, Inner court collonnade & tower

Court of the States Building, Inner court

Court of the States Building, Spanish grouping

Court of the States Building, West court

___________________________

Band Building, 1947

Mallory Gymnasium, Rhodes College, 1949

Toronto City Hall proposal, 1955

Trezevant Hall, Rhodes College, 1959

Moore Moore Infirmary, Rhodes College, 1960

Proposal for Mahan Hall at West Point, 1967

Lewis seems to have preferred pencil throughout his career, but was clearly a master of ink as well, as shown in the last two images I found. The first is copied from the internet and is very low resolution. The second image (noted simply as "brick house") is scanned from Arthur L. Guptill's classic Rendering in Pen and Ink, and is detailed enough to show both the overall composition and the satisfying details.

Burrow Library, Rhodes College, 1951

So, what do I take away from all this?
Schell Lewis is inspiring because he blends the large, conceptual view with the rendering of crisp detail. “Fine” artists can often get away with a broad-brush splash of emotion or symbolism (the rest is commentary). Architects, on the other hand, are usually obsessed with the details: “God is in the details”. But both scales of view are necessary.
The architectural illustrator must needs do both. Yet, it is unusual to find someone who can mix the two extremes so seamlessly as Schell Lewis did.