Landscape Painting and The Inventor of the Piano by Tosh Berman

 

Landscape Painting and The Inventor of the Piano by Tosh Berman

May 4, 2014

May 4, 2014

This is my third day in the row where I try to focus on painting a landscape, that is outside my living room window.  Being the son of an artist, one tends not to go into a parent’s occupation and field of expertise, but then, there is that vision that I have in my head, and what I see outside the window matches pretty much, with respect to how I feel, a workable relationship.  I never or ever cared about contemporary art.  I’m mostly interested in capturing nature as not only how I see it, but I believe how most people see it as well. So as an ‘artist’ I basically just always want to share a common vision that we all have that is nature.   The tricky part is the skill in conveying that image as well as finding the perfect picturesque quality of that painting.

Most people I know are very much taken with the skill of the artist or painter, or even musician.  For instance, it is hard for most to convey if the idea is good or even original, but on the other hand if I can play the piano, and use certain stylish flourishes on the keyboard, most people will be satisfied with the results.   My focus is very much on that aspect of making art. For instance, I pretty much studied the works of the American landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church who specialize in not only painting realistic landscapes, but also added a touch of spirituality to the mix as well.  When we examine the nature, we’re trying to see the face of God.  A landscape painting has certain aspects to search for a religious feeling of some sort through the relationship between the sky and the trees.   The psychology of the painter, where he or she (there are woman painters as well) expose their inner demons by attaching it an image of nature.  Or perhaps one is wanting to make the ‘ideal’ world, by expressing the beauty of such a nature.  Often when we put in an animal or even a human in the landscape painting, I find that kind of risky.  That image could throw off the whole theme of the work, or bring the viewer to another part of the world, where you the artist, don’t want to take advantage of the viewer.  It’s a complicated relationship. That’s for sure.

The mechanical skill of using the brush is of great importance.  The fact is because i want to hide my brushstrokes to make it look like no artist touched the painting. I hope to lessen the artist’s presence in the work, so the viewer can just concentrate on the work, without thinking about me as the artist.  There are individuals out there who always want to take the credit, but for me, I rather the work takes the credit, and if the viewer can forget that I painted the picture, well that is the charm of the art piece itself.

Bartolomeo Cristofori is considered to be the inventor of the piano.  Originally he thought of the keyboard being attached to various species of cats - because each type of cat has a specific sound. This of course wasn’t logical, for various reasons.  For one, the original piano wire, which was made out of catguts, is considered cruel - especially when that piano string may be a relative to the actual cat used in the keyboard.  Over time, the catgut was replaced by piano wire made from tempered high-carbon steel.   And of course attaching the steel wire to a cat was not such a hot idea as well.  The big problem I see between a painter (like myself) and a piano player is that of ego.  I believe when one hears or sees a performance, they immediately think of the player and his or hers (there are woman piano players as well) performing that music.  On the other hand if you walk into a gallery or museum (hopefully that is where my work will end up), you come upon the painting, and the viewer throws themselves into the imagery as well as the spiritual feeling of the piece.  The painter is removed from the work, which I think is the proper position of an artist.

The tension between music and the visual arts is sort of like putting a cat and dog together in a cage.   The personalities of both beasts are so different from one to another.  It is my view that the music and the visual arts need to be separate from each other.   I tend to get upset when I pick up a classical music album, and they utilize a romantic landscape painting on its cover.  I don’t believe that it is the role of the painter or artist to convey what the music sounds like that is inside the album cover.

May 1, 2014

May 1, 2014

I detest the 8-hour work day.  It shouldn’t be more than 5, and that includes breaks and lunch time as well.  And to be even totally more honest, I hate clocks.  The whole clocking in and clocking out of a work place is insulting at its best.  Work should be a partner in with desire, and nothing less than that.  People live to eat, to breathe, and some to work, but work is more meaningful and beautiful when the worker sets his or her’s time and place.  It should represent an organic relationship between work and pleasure.   Work is often fastened to a purpose or to achieve something, which of course includes money - but to work with no purpose at all, except the pleasure of doing the job is the best way to live.

My two favorite painters are George Inness (1825-1894) and Jules Breton (1827-1906), both are considered to be landscape painters, but the big difference between the two, besides one being an American and the other French, is that they use the landscape to convey different meanings.  Breton was influenced by the French countryside and basically sees the beauty and idyllic vision of the pastoral existence.  Inness sees the landscape as an emotional expression of various degrees.  The aesthetic difference is great, but what is astonishing in how two artists can look at a tree with the skies, and be totally different in how one sees the world.

Of all the schools and thoughts regarding the subject matter of painting, I will always give a deep reflection to landscapes, because it expresses to me either the perfect world or the emotional state of the painter towards their subject matter.  As I write, I look outside my window on Waverly Drive, and I pretty much see the same things every morning, but the difference is not the landscape itself, but how I see it on a daily basis.  Due to my mood swings, the landscape changes on a consistent footing.  Yet, it pretty much remains the same, but only through my vision does it become something more vibrant and emotional.

On the other hand, the paintings by Cecilia Beaux (1855-1942) which are portraits of individuals of a certain class in America, are very straight forward.  I don’t really care for her paintings, but I do admire her thoughts on perfection.  She has been quoted saying "I can say this: When I attempt anything, I have a passionate determination to overcome every obstacle…And I do my own work with a refusal to accept defeat that might almost be called painful." Which I can totally identify with, because I too, struggle to overcome my personal troubles, and my rather doubtful habits, in trying to maintain a certain amount of work - but God forbid it can’t go beyond five hours a day!

An interesting figure from the past, Calamity Jane, was a force of nature that was part of the wild west, but with the additional talent of adding ‘perhaps certain’ myths along the way.  It has been commented that she was a handful, but on the other hand a very sweet person.  Yet, she was driven to make an identity of some sort, and it always makes me chuckle that she called herself “Calamity,” which is probably her take on the force of nature, and how she places herself in the eye of the storm.  Disaster is sometimes fate, but often made by eager hands to control fate or even worst, the ideal vision of a perfect landscape.

At a certain hour of the day, I like to read “The Magic Christian”, ” with perhaps music from Les Rita Mitsouko, while causally looking outside and making notes of the ever-changing landscape, that is my soul.