Text Panel
Pairs and Partners
Curators’ Conversations about Art
Pairs and Partners is all about points of view—specifically the points of view of museum curators. This series of exhibitions draw from the permanent collection of the MMFA to demonstrate the variety of ways in which works of art might be interpreted based upon an individual’s education, experiences, and judgment.
Chiaroscuro
The theme for this edition of Pairs and Partners is chiaroscuro. The word is an Italian term that roughly translates to “bright-dark,” referring to gradations of value, specifically lightness and darkness, in a work of art. Many early European examples of chiaroscuro were found in grisaille paintings, or works painted in monotone. Usually a grisaille painting served as a study to plan the distribution of lights and darks for a larger, finished painting. Artists employ chiaroscuro to reveal a subject in ways that range from the dramatic to the subtle; it is a technique used to create a sense of depth and three-dimensional forms on a two-dimensional surface.
Chiaroscuro was a prime design tool during the Baroque era (ca. 1590–ca. 1725). Artists like Rembrandt van Rijn and Jan Lievens frequently employed chiaroscuro to create dramatic pictorial compositions. Drama was a key design characteristic of Baroque style. Rembrandt, Rubens, Bernini, and other artists of the seventeenth century often combined chiaroscuro with diagonal compositions for paintings and prints as well as twisting, turning figural groups for sculpture to depict dramatic action, contrasting with the calm, quiet, still aesthetic of the Renaissance.
Today chiaroscuro has been used to suggest psychological tension or to bring attention to a composition’s structural elements’ relationships to one another in space. When looking at these pairs in the exhibition, keep in mind the different aspects of chiaroscuro and try to identify what the artists are trying to convey with their use of dark and light.
Label Copy
Caroline Davis (American, born 1963)
"Now Those Who Were with Me Saw the Light but Did Not Hear the Voice of the One Who Was Speaking to Me," 1998
Gelatin silver print on paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Association Purchase, 2001.6.4
Anderson Scott (American, born 1962)
Steam Press, 1990
Chromogenic print on paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Association Purchase, 1991.6.1
Although their subjects are very different, both Anderson Scott and Caroline Davis use chiaroscuro to define elements in their compositions. Scott manipulated light and shadow to highlight relics of America’s post-industrial society in a series of photographs documenting steel mills waiting for demolition in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In Steam Press, he emphasized the scale and complexity of the site while prominently showcasing the press as it emerges from deep within the mill. By capturing the natural light as it streams through the few windows and falls upon the press, Scott brings our attention to what was once a mighty piece of machinery, now derelict.
Davis also employed light to focus on a single area of her composition. In her depiction of the traditional, but vanishing, ritual of river baptisms performed by African-American churches mainly in the Black Belt of Alabama, Davis immerses herself alongside the initiate and submerges her camera to depict a sense of calm while providing an intimate glimpse of what the baptism candidate experiences in that moment. In "Now Those Who Were With Me Saw the Light but Did Not Hear the Voice of the One Who Was Speaking to Me," Davis captured concentrated light on the tips of the fingers of the minister and the white kerchief-clad head of the initiate. Details of the woman’s face and upper body disappear into the shadows of the water. This contrast lends an otherworldly glow to the woman’s head, creating a halo and evoking the spirituality of the baptismal rite.
These two artists skillfully play with the gradation of light and darkness in order to bring attention to the most essential features of their subjects. Through their manipulation of contrasts they simplify their photographs to bring attention to the steam press and the moment of baptism, letting each shine without distracting the eye with superfluous details.
—Jennifer Jankauskas, Curator of Art--
Ronald L. Milhoan (American, born 1950)
Four Envelopes and Letter, 1974
Charcoal on paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Association Purchase, 1975.2
Félicien Rops (Belgian, 1833–1898)
La femme au chapeau a cabriolet, 1862
Etching on paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Association Purchase, 1995.1.2
Chiaroscuro is a technique artists use to reveal subject or content in ways that range from the dramatic to the subtle. On the most basic level, it is a useful tool for suggesting depth and three-dimensional form on a two-dimensional surface. The deep, black hatching in the Rops piece suggests a coach interior, and in the Milhoan the shadows suggest that the envelope flaps extend from the wall’s surface. In the Rops, chiaroscuro suggests recession into space, and in the Milhoan it implies the opposite.
Chiaroscuro can also be used in ways that are less about creating an illusion and more about creating a mood. For example, the artist may use contrasts of light and shade as a metaphor for intangible opposites such as good and evil, happiness or despair, and any number of other polar opposites. The shadow that partially obscures the face of the woman in the Rops etching lends that sense of psychological mystery—what is her state of mind? Is she seeking anonymity for some reason? Unlike the shadows used by Milhoan, which are clearly and rationally related to the way the light is falling uniformly on the studio wall, the shadow on the woman’s face is mysterious in origin and difficult to assign to a source of reflected light.
—Margaret Lynne Ausfeld, Curator of Art--
Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669)
Self-Portrait with Saskia, 1636
Etching on laid paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Gift of Jean K. Weil in memory of Adolph "Bucks" Weil, Jr., 1999.7.77
Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669)
Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife, 1634
Etching on cream laid paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Gift of Jean K. Weil in memory of Adolph "Bucks" Weil, Jr., 1999.7.64
Rembrandt frequently employed chiaroscuro to create dramatic pictorial compositions. Rembrandt was a great painter, but most art historians agree that his finest achievement was his work as an intaglio printmaker. He made the most of etched and engraved lines, occasionally embellished with drypoint, and made masterful use of thick and thin lines and cross-hatching to render form in three dimensions and to dramatize life and art as a study in contrasts.
In these two etchings, Rembrandt utilized chiaroscuro to define form and characterize individuals. In Self-Portrait with Saskia, he used the contrast of light and dark to depict the personalities of himself and his wife. Rembrandt’s double portrait of himself and his wife is a study in contrasts: dark/light, male/female, active/passive, near/far. The artist sits close to the picture plane, pen in hand, his broad-brimmed hat shading his face, especially his left side. His wife sits quietly behind him, in full light, hatless. Her head and shoulders are brightly illuminated and the background beyond her is quite light while that behind Rembrandt is shaded slightly.
Rembrandt characterized Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife as a study in contrasts where chiaroscuro assumes symbolic importance. The story is from the Old Testament, where Joseph is seduced by his employer’s wife. In Rembrandt’s composition, grasped by his cloak and pulled toward the dark, draped bedstead, Joseph stands and struggles toward the light in an effort to free himself from the nearly nude, recumbent woman. Her figure is brightly lit, but is surrounded by darkness. A black, phallic bedpost adds to the symbolism of the scene, which shows the battle between temptation and goodness, light and dark.
—Michael Panhorst, Curator of Art--
Irving Wolfson (American, 1898–1981)
Bright Lights, ca. 1940
Etching on paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Gift of the artist, 1946.16
Jan Lievens (Dutch, 1607–1674)
St. Jerome in Penitence, ca. 1631
Etching on paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil, Jr., in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil, Sr., 1992.3
When an artist depicts a scene set outdoors at night or within a darkened interior, chiaroscuro becomes a natural extension of that setting. Artificial lighting is used to enhance the quality of the darkness; the darkness itself is intensified by the contrast with the light.
Wolfson’s image of a New York streetscape in Bright Lights makes this connection literally, both through the title of the work, and by the way the artist has shown parts of building structures as silhouettes. The water tower at the left, for example, is a simple shape created using drypoint against the brightly lit façade of the building behind it. While the artist suggests the character of the scene with details of signs, people on the street, and the suggestion of architectural details, it is the brilliance of the light that gives the print a mood of excitement and big city sophistication.
In a different fashion, the seventeenth-century painter/printmaker Jan Lievens created a somber, contemplative mood of despair and suffering with his image of St. Jerome in his darkened cell. The holy man is slumped in the darkened interior, with the light that emanates from a halo encircling his balding head picking out the stark musculature of his thin arms and legs. The crucifix is shown as an extension of his bony hands, the cross beam centered in the composition and identifying this as a devotional image. The light represents holiness and the spirit of grace bestowed by God on this pious man, the surrounding darkness of the cell represents the sinfulness that plagues man’s earthly existence.
—Mark M. Johnson, Director--
Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669)
Abraham Francen, Apothecary, ca. 1657
Etching and roulette on heavy laid paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Gift of Jean K. Weil in memory of Adolph "Bucks" Weil, Jr., 1999.7.124
Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867–1945)
Woman with Folded Hands, 1898
Etching on paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil, Jr., in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil, Sr., 1982.19.1
The individual, illuminated figure is the focus in both of these etchings. Rembrandt emphasizes the apothecary Abraham Francen’s face, as well as the large book open on his desk. Similarly, in Kollwitz’s work, the woman’s face is contemplative, emphasizing the placement of her hands perhaps touching an expectant belly; both are bathed in light. If we consider the light in each work as a metaphor for something beyond, the apothecary seems to be entranced in creative expression alongside reminders of eternity, while Kollwitz’s figure perhaps encounters the glow of new life. Both figures cast distinct shadows in their respective settings; the woman’s profile shadow seems almost like an aura in the relatively undefined interior. A simple moment of introspection is suggested by the shaft of light that illuminates her, while the apothecary shares the light with the religious and cultural objects.
Francen is seated before what is likely a collection of works of art, lit by the window behind him. Could he be regarding a print by Rembrandt, rendered with same deftness of line, texture, and full-bodied light observable in the etching? The natural illumination defines a well-appointed office in which details of the subject’s refinement and the artist’s hand are visible, such as the patterns in the apothecary’s fine clothing and the curl of his mustache. A Chinese figure on the desk reflects the globalism of seventeenth-century Amsterdam. Behind it, a dimly lit skull seems to point to the fleeting nature of collecting, while a crucifixion scene on the wall serves as a reminder of eternity.
The seemingly expectant mother in the Kollwitz print is deeply contemplative. The light on her hands and face streams in from an unseen source at the left, while the darkness she emerges from adds to the sense of gravity. The woman’s eyes indicate reflective thought, and her simple style and apparent strength indicate that she could be any woman. In a late nineteenth century art world dominated by men, Kollwitz offers a window into a moment of a woman’s life. The expression is timeless and universal, while the artist’s experimentation with the bold webs of lines and stippling are the hallmark of a modern artist who focused on graphic media.
—Alice Novak, Curator of Education--
Pairs and Partners
Curators’ Conversations about Art
Pairs and Partners is all about points of view—specifically the points of view of museum curators. This series of exhibitions draw from the permanent collection of the MMFA to demonstrate the variety of ways in which works of art might be interpreted based upon an individual’s education, experiences, and judgment.
Chiaroscuro
The theme for this edition of Pairs and Partners is chiaroscuro. The word is an Italian term that roughly translates to “bright-dark,” referring to gradations of value, specifically lightness and darkness, in a work of art. Many early European examples of chiaroscuro were found in grisaille paintings, or works painted in monotone. Usually a grisaille painting served as a study to plan the distribution of lights and darks for a larger, finished painting. Artists employ chiaroscuro to reveal a subject in ways that range from the dramatic to the subtle; it is a technique used to create a sense of depth and three-dimensional forms on a two-dimensional surface.
Chiaroscuro was a prime design tool during the Baroque era (ca. 1590–ca. 1725). Artists like Rembrandt van Rijn and Jan Lievens frequently employed chiaroscuro to create dramatic pictorial compositions. Drama was a key design characteristic of Baroque style. Rembrandt, Rubens, Bernini, and other artists of the seventeenth century often combined chiaroscuro with diagonal compositions for paintings and prints as well as twisting, turning figural groups for sculpture to depict dramatic action, contrasting with the calm, quiet, still aesthetic of the Renaissance.
Today chiaroscuro has been used to suggest psychological tension or to bring attention to a composition’s structural elements’ relationships to one another in space. When looking at these pairs in the exhibition, keep in mind the different aspects of chiaroscuro and try to identify what the artists are trying to convey with their use of dark and light.
Label Copy
Caroline Davis (American, born 1963)
"Now Those Who Were with Me Saw the Light but Did Not Hear the Voice of the One Who Was Speaking to Me," 1998
Gelatin silver print on paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Association Purchase, 2001.6.4
Anderson Scott (American, born 1962)
Steam Press, 1990
Chromogenic print on paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Association Purchase, 1991.6.1
Although their subjects are very different, both Anderson Scott and Caroline Davis use chiaroscuro to define elements in their compositions. Scott manipulated light and shadow to highlight relics of America’s post-industrial society in a series of photographs documenting steel mills waiting for demolition in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In Steam Press, he emphasized the scale and complexity of the site while prominently showcasing the press as it emerges from deep within the mill. By capturing the natural light as it streams through the few windows and falls upon the press, Scott brings our attention to what was once a mighty piece of machinery, now derelict.
Davis also employed light to focus on a single area of her composition. In her depiction of the traditional, but vanishing, ritual of river baptisms performed by African-American churches mainly in the Black Belt of Alabama, Davis immerses herself alongside the initiate and submerges her camera to depict a sense of calm while providing an intimate glimpse of what the baptism candidate experiences in that moment. In "Now Those Who Were With Me Saw the Light but Did Not Hear the Voice of the One Who Was Speaking to Me," Davis captured concentrated light on the tips of the fingers of the minister and the white kerchief-clad head of the initiate. Details of the woman’s face and upper body disappear into the shadows of the water. This contrast lends an otherworldly glow to the woman’s head, creating a halo and evoking the spirituality of the baptismal rite.
These two artists skillfully play with the gradation of light and darkness in order to bring attention to the most essential features of their subjects. Through their manipulation of contrasts they simplify their photographs to bring attention to the steam press and the moment of baptism, letting each shine without distracting the eye with superfluous details.
—Jennifer Jankauskas, Curator of Art--
Ronald L. Milhoan (American, born 1950)
Four Envelopes and Letter, 1974
Charcoal on paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Association Purchase, 1975.2
Félicien Rops (Belgian, 1833–1898)
La femme au chapeau a cabriolet, 1862
Etching on paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Association Purchase, 1995.1.2
Chiaroscuro is a technique artists use to reveal subject or content in ways that range from the dramatic to the subtle. On the most basic level, it is a useful tool for suggesting depth and three-dimensional form on a two-dimensional surface. The deep, black hatching in the Rops piece suggests a coach interior, and in the Milhoan the shadows suggest that the envelope flaps extend from the wall’s surface. In the Rops, chiaroscuro suggests recession into space, and in the Milhoan it implies the opposite.
Chiaroscuro can also be used in ways that are less about creating an illusion and more about creating a mood. For example, the artist may use contrasts of light and shade as a metaphor for intangible opposites such as good and evil, happiness or despair, and any number of other polar opposites. The shadow that partially obscures the face of the woman in the Rops etching lends that sense of psychological mystery—what is her state of mind? Is she seeking anonymity for some reason? Unlike the shadows used by Milhoan, which are clearly and rationally related to the way the light is falling uniformly on the studio wall, the shadow on the woman’s face is mysterious in origin and difficult to assign to a source of reflected light.
—Margaret Lynne Ausfeld, Curator of Art--
Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669)
Self-Portrait with Saskia, 1636
Etching on laid paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Gift of Jean K. Weil in memory of Adolph "Bucks" Weil, Jr., 1999.7.77
Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669)
Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife, 1634
Etching on cream laid paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Gift of Jean K. Weil in memory of Adolph "Bucks" Weil, Jr., 1999.7.64
Rembrandt frequently employed chiaroscuro to create dramatic pictorial compositions. Rembrandt was a great painter, but most art historians agree that his finest achievement was his work as an intaglio printmaker. He made the most of etched and engraved lines, occasionally embellished with drypoint, and made masterful use of thick and thin lines and cross-hatching to render form in three dimensions and to dramatize life and art as a study in contrasts.
In these two etchings, Rembrandt utilized chiaroscuro to define form and characterize individuals. In Self-Portrait with Saskia, he used the contrast of light and dark to depict the personalities of himself and his wife. Rembrandt’s double portrait of himself and his wife is a study in contrasts: dark/light, male/female, active/passive, near/far. The artist sits close to the picture plane, pen in hand, his broad-brimmed hat shading his face, especially his left side. His wife sits quietly behind him, in full light, hatless. Her head and shoulders are brightly illuminated and the background beyond her is quite light while that behind Rembrandt is shaded slightly.
Rembrandt characterized Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife as a study in contrasts where chiaroscuro assumes symbolic importance. The story is from the Old Testament, where Joseph is seduced by his employer’s wife. In Rembrandt’s composition, grasped by his cloak and pulled toward the dark, draped bedstead, Joseph stands and struggles toward the light in an effort to free himself from the nearly nude, recumbent woman. Her figure is brightly lit, but is surrounded by darkness. A black, phallic bedpost adds to the symbolism of the scene, which shows the battle between temptation and goodness, light and dark.
—Michael Panhorst, Curator of Art--
Irving Wolfson (American, 1898–1981)
Bright Lights, ca. 1940
Etching on paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Gift of the artist, 1946.16
Jan Lievens (Dutch, 1607–1674)
St. Jerome in Penitence, ca. 1631
Etching on paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil, Jr., in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil, Sr., 1992.3
When an artist depicts a scene set outdoors at night or within a darkened interior, chiaroscuro becomes a natural extension of that setting. Artificial lighting is used to enhance the quality of the darkness; the darkness itself is intensified by the contrast with the light.
Wolfson’s image of a New York streetscape in Bright Lights makes this connection literally, both through the title of the work, and by the way the artist has shown parts of building structures as silhouettes. The water tower at the left, for example, is a simple shape created using drypoint against the brightly lit façade of the building behind it. While the artist suggests the character of the scene with details of signs, people on the street, and the suggestion of architectural details, it is the brilliance of the light that gives the print a mood of excitement and big city sophistication.
In a different fashion, the seventeenth-century painter/printmaker Jan Lievens created a somber, contemplative mood of despair and suffering with his image of St. Jerome in his darkened cell. The holy man is slumped in the darkened interior, with the light that emanates from a halo encircling his balding head picking out the stark musculature of his thin arms and legs. The crucifix is shown as an extension of his bony hands, the cross beam centered in the composition and identifying this as a devotional image. The light represents holiness and the spirit of grace bestowed by God on this pious man, the surrounding darkness of the cell represents the sinfulness that plagues man’s earthly existence.
—Mark M. Johnson, Director--
Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669)
Abraham Francen, Apothecary, ca. 1657
Etching and roulette on heavy laid paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Gift of Jean K. Weil in memory of Adolph "Bucks" Weil, Jr., 1999.7.124
Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867–1945)
Woman with Folded Hands, 1898
Etching on paper
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil, Jr., in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil, Sr., 1982.19.1
The individual, illuminated figure is the focus in both of these etchings. Rembrandt emphasizes the apothecary Abraham Francen’s face, as well as the large book open on his desk. Similarly, in Kollwitz’s work, the woman’s face is contemplative, emphasizing the placement of her hands perhaps touching an expectant belly; both are bathed in light. If we consider the light in each work as a metaphor for something beyond, the apothecary seems to be entranced in creative expression alongside reminders of eternity, while Kollwitz’s figure perhaps encounters the glow of new life. Both figures cast distinct shadows in their respective settings; the woman’s profile shadow seems almost like an aura in the relatively undefined interior. A simple moment of introspection is suggested by the shaft of light that illuminates her, while the apothecary shares the light with the religious and cultural objects.
Francen is seated before what is likely a collection of works of art, lit by the window behind him. Could he be regarding a print by Rembrandt, rendered with same deftness of line, texture, and full-bodied light observable in the etching? The natural illumination defines a well-appointed office in which details of the subject’s refinement and the artist’s hand are visible, such as the patterns in the apothecary’s fine clothing and the curl of his mustache. A Chinese figure on the desk reflects the globalism of seventeenth-century Amsterdam. Behind it, a dimly lit skull seems to point to the fleeting nature of collecting, while a crucifixion scene on the wall serves as a reminder of eternity.
The seemingly expectant mother in the Kollwitz print is deeply contemplative. The light on her hands and face streams in from an unseen source at the left, while the darkness she emerges from adds to the sense of gravity. The woman’s eyes indicate reflective thought, and her simple style and apparent strength indicate that she could be any woman. In a late nineteenth century art world dominated by men, Kollwitz offers a window into a moment of a woman’s life. The expression is timeless and universal, while the artist’s experimentation with the bold webs of lines and stippling are the hallmark of a modern artist who focused on graphic media.
—Alice Novak, Curator of Education--
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