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The three artists I chose to compare are from relatively different art movements. Renoir comes
from the art movement of Impressionism, which has long, smooth brush strokes. Bierstadt was
a main player in the Luminism, Dusseldorf School of painting, Hudson River School, and
Romanticism art movements. Leverett is mainly part of the realism art style. He also works on
murals, and with pen and ink, woodcarvings/burnings, and pastels.
Perry Devlin
The Path
Oil on Canvas
RENOIR
Self Portrait
Oil on Canvas
Complete 1875
BIERSTADT
Bierstadt main collection of paintings consist of Western landscapes. Though he did have some other styles,
since the greater majority are of the Wild West, that is what I will focus on.
The American southwest is very beautiful , and very difficult to replicate. Somehow, though, Bierstadt
manages to capture the beauty of it perfectly.
The brushstrokes in this painting are very soft and long. Leveretts style is
incredibly soft and well colored, with smooth lines and complimenting colors.
Oil on Canvas
4 x 6
David Leverett
Leveretts excellent use of blending in this piece add to the serene vibe that the
painting gives off. The way that he blends keeps the realism at a strong point
while also adding a sense of impressionism. While there isnt much movement
is the piece overall, there is definitely balance in this piece. There is color
balance using warm and cool colors in contrast, and balance in the objects that
are painted.
MATISSE
RENOIR VS BIERSTADT
Both of these artworks look realistic in their own way. Bierstadts
painting is indeed more photo-realistic, and it was intended to be
that way. He has great perspective and balance and fantastic
lighting. The perspective shows the immense size of the American
southwest, and without it, the painting would not be as epic as it is
now.
The Path
Oil on Canvas
Bierstadt continues his beautiful collection of landscape paintings with The Rocky Mountains, Landers Peak. This painting was
obviously a real life monument in the West, and Bierstadt thought it beautiful and grand enough to paint. The painting does
have a wonderful sense of scale and the perfect amount of movement with the crowds, and serene peacefulness with the rest
The Rocky Mountains, Landers Peak, 1863
Oil on Canvas
186.7 306.7 cm
of the nature around them. While the overall color seems a bit whitewashed, with a small spectrum of color.
The background is also a very important part of this piece when it comes to the mood. It definitely
instills a sense of scale and perspective to the piece that is very important. The fade that it has is a
nice touch of depth and size comparison, also. I believe that without the fade, the entire piece would
be less large and intense. It would all seem smaller than it meant to be.
Just like Renoirs many other paintings, this one is very smooth and easy to look at. It has a low contrast with colors on the
cooler side, with a hint of warm color from the yellow grass. The landscape he chose to portray is evidence of a very clear, cool
day with beautiful weather to compliment the beautiful landscape. Impressionism is the perfect style for this landscape; any other
style wouldnt compliment the piece, it would only take away from the natural beauty.
The Paths mood is definitely more calm and smooth, just like the brushstrokes. Everything in the painting is soft and smooth. The trees
and grass look very comfortable. The colors are also very vibrant and beautiful, and without the warm and cool colors contrasting to make
the soft overlay, the painting wouldnt seem nearly as comfortable as it does now. . The entire feel of this painting is calming and based
around beauty rather than realism.
As you can see, the entire
painting is very blended and
smooth, with both warm and
cool colors to compliment
each other. From farther
away, the brushstrokes seem
very well blended and
smooth, and while they still
The Path
Oil on Canvas
Leverett has a different style than Bierstadt, much like most artists. Leverett
has a brushstroke that is very hard to detect due to his blending, while
Bierstadt has less blending, therefore a more detectable brushstroke.
Compared to Bierstadt, his style is relatively similar, except with much less
contrast. He has similar colors throughout the painting, where Bierstadt uses
a large spectrum of colors.
Oil on Canvas
4 x 6
David Leverett
Leveretts style is very much his own; the soft simplicity overall make a very realistic and
beautiful piece.
Oil on Canvas
4 x 6
David Leverett
Another example
of blending and
color contrast.
an orange sunset.
Bierstadt has very small brush strokes, most likely in order to get the most detail in the smallest areas. Each figure is very detailed,
no matter how small it is. The horses and people in the foreground look very intricate, even with the picture a little bit pixelated. The
intricate placement of his strokes changes how the overall piece is looked at. Each color and person and horse adds to the natural
feel of the piece, and gives the feeling of beauty and livelihood behind it.
waters.
amazing paintings.
Renoirs style of paintings is very soft and cotton-like. His blending technique is pretty soft and feathery, and his brushstrokes are like and
delicately placed. It gives the paintings a very comfortable feel to it, and makes it a calming piece, (almost) no matter the subject. While most of
his painting is very bright and colorful, wherever there are shadows, the shadows are very dark. The contrast of the colors is higher than most
other paintings of Bierstadt and Leverett.
The Path
Oil on Canvas
of the landscapes.
Overall, Renoir and Leverett have the most similar style of artwork. Leverett has a soft and realistic style of artwork, and Renoir has
a very soft and pretty feel to his own. Both are equally as impressive, of course, and both are very beautiful. Leverett seems to
have put more emphasis on realism, while Renoir painted what he saw, but. with a very impressionistic curb. While looking at
Leveretts work, I feel very calm and content, because his art style is a very calming style, and I can tell that the style also comforts
him as he paints it. Both Leverett and Renoir have a similar way of looking a nature, and their paintings reflect that. Between
Bierstadt, Renoir and Leverett, the latter two definitely are the most similar.
Another thing to note is how the brushstrokes look. Leveretts
brushstrokes seem almost nonexistent. Renoirs brushstrokes look
like oil, and made up of long brushstrokes. Both give the same
Oil on Canvas
4 x 6
David Leverett
serene attitude to the painting, the only difference is the way they
achieved the result.
The Path
Oil on Canvas
Oil on Canvas
4 x 6
David Leverett
The Path
Oil on Canvas
While each artists has their own style and medium and meaning to their pieces, I chose relatively similar artists.
Bierstadt is the king of the realistic western based paintings, while Renoir and Leverett are the masters of
impressionistic landscapes. Each has their own style, but they also have a similar ground to stand on: nature.
Bierstadts mood is graceful and epic in the painting to the right. It
shows his love for the American southwest and also shows how
Renoir painted a landscape, but with his own, softer style. Instead
of crisp realism, he chose to make a painting that makes whoever
is looking at it feel comfortable and warm.
Oil on Canvas
4 x 6
David Leverett
Though the art style is definitely reminiscent of Leverett and Bierstadt, the color takes more from Goghs painting style. The
color use in this painting is very vibrant and come from a wide spectrum,
I wanted to have some surreal aspects of the painting, mainly due to the fact that it is made with oil pastels, and I felt
obligated to. The main direction I was going for was impressionism. The entire piece should look very good, and I was
actually going for as little meaning as possible to show that fine art can still be fine art without a deeper meaning. To
succeed with this premise, I really had to focus on the way I made this; the strokes, colors and techniques were all very
important to this piece. I was thinking that since fine art is very meaning heavy, in order to compensate for my lack of
meaning, I had to really focus on techniques and looks.
The Path
Oil on Canvas
Both The Path and my piece Wolf-Rayet Planet show the beauty of nature, just as Bierstadt and Leverett do. The meaning behind
these paintings, to me, is just to show that beauty is everywhere. The act of painting it just proves that you see what is around you.
The way that you paint it shows how you perceive what you are seeing, and adds additional meaning to your piece. For Renoir, I
believe that he is showing how he loves where he is in the painting. It is a soft style, therefore shows that he feels comfortable
there, and maybe even nostalgic.
I tried to take the large scale and grandeur that Bierstadt creates and
use it in my piece. That scale took shape of the mountain and the
huge blue star, which are both in the background. The foreground
does not have any large objects or forms, which adds to the intensity
in the background. Opposed to Bierstadts The Last of the Buffalo,
where the movement comes from the human and animal figures, the
movement in my piece comes solely from the suns rays.
Among the Sierra
Nevada Mountains
California
Oil on Canvas
4 x 6
David Leverett
Bibliography
"Albert Bierstadt - The Complete Works." Albert Bierstadt - The Complete Works. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
Leverett, David. "David Leverett Fine Art." David Leverett Fine Art. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
<http://artforlifechange.com/>.
"Pierre Auguste Renoir - The Complete Works." Pierre Auguste Renoir - The Complete Works. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
"WikiArt.org - the Encyclopedia of Painting." WikiArt.org - the Encyclopedia of Painting. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.