Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Art - Essay Example This â€Å"something that can be conceived but not seen nor made visible† is often referred to as the sublime, a quality of transcendent greatness â€Å"with which nothing else can be compared and which is beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement or imitation† (Wikipedia, 2006). The presence of this sublime element, then, inspires the imagination in a specific direction based on which elements remain visible or understandable. Its significance is in the way in which it brings attention to the uncertainty of meaning inherent in the work, such that no resolution makes itself apparent. To understand how emotions or the sublime can be communicated through visual art, the work of modern artists Marcel Duchamp, with his â€Å"Nude Descending a Staircase #2†, and Amedeo Modigliani, with â€Å"Head of a Woman†, will be compared in terms of their materials, subject matter, content, composition, color and impacts of context or the time period in which they were produced. In terms of materials, both works of art are oil paintings placed on stretched canvas. Thus, they each represent a two-dimensional surface with little room for actual depth or movement. Although numerous means had been devised to create the illusion of depth in flat surfaces such as this, neither artist makes much use of these devices, instead allowing their backgrounds to remain relatively dark and formless. There are hints, however, at some form of space created in each. In Duchamp’s painting, for example, there is a hint of the stairway mentioned in the title in the bottom left corner offset by a somewhat smoother, flatter surface in the upper right corner. Because of the juxtaposition with the figure in the center, this latter surface seems to fall back, providing a shallow space within the painting. Modigliani also provides some sense of depth in his painting with unidentifiable dark-colored spaces to the right of the