I'd almost wager that this is one of those pictures on which Fred used some of the special-edged cut-out cardboard or plastic pieces as tools. He may've been experimenting with them on this painting's background.
The background in this painting also reminds me of something Fred told me that should interest you as much as it did me. When we had our visit, I was a big fan of the old English master Thomas Gainsborough, primarily known for his portraits as you might know from art history. Naturally, I had just about every book on Gainsborough that was being published around that time. In one such book, there was a Gainsborough landscape in which I could make out what I was certain was a "secret" image of a person designed into the background, the kind of image you would normally only recognize if you knew what to look for. It was disguised as part of that background...for some esoteric reason I suppose.
Anyway, I showed the picture in the book to Fred, and asked if he could make out the image I had discovered. He did, and agreed that it looked intentionally designed rather than done accidentally by the artist. Afterward, he said he too on a few rare occasions had purposely stuck some "symbolic" images into his compositions, and subsequently chuckled in such a way that I got the hint those hidden images might not meet with everyone's approval.
So, it DOES give us something to ponder when we study Fred's paintings.
2 comments:
This is a colossal painting!
I love that green light coming from the dirigible.
Scotty will be painting this for me next year.
The Pfeiffer signature runs up Doc's leg on the left. It is very hard to see unless you blow the picture up.
A beautiful and breath-taking illustration.
I'd almost wager that this is one of those pictures on which Fred used some of the special-edged cut-out cardboard or plastic pieces as tools. He may've been experimenting with them on this painting's background.
The background in this painting also reminds me of something Fred told me that should interest you as much as it did me. When we had our visit, I was a big fan of the old English master Thomas Gainsborough, primarily known for his portraits as you might know from art history. Naturally, I had just about every book on Gainsborough that was being published around that time. In one such book, there was a Gainsborough landscape in which I could make out what I was certain was a "secret" image of a person designed into the background, the kind of image you would normally only recognize if you knew what to look for. It was disguised as part of that background...for some esoteric reason I suppose.
Anyway, I showed the picture in the book to Fred, and asked if he could make out the image I had discovered. He did, and agreed that it looked intentionally designed rather than done accidentally by the artist. Afterward, he said he too on a few rare occasions had purposely stuck some "symbolic" images into his compositions, and subsequently chuckled in such a way that I got the hint those hidden images might not meet with everyone's approval.
So, it DOES give us something to ponder when we study Fred's paintings.
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