week 12
“A Woman Reading” by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, 1869-1870.
I chose to use this painting as the artist uses natural hues, mostly cool colors, and a picture plane that brings the viewer’s eyes to the woman’s face. The colors used by Corot in the background with the sky and grass make it seem as if the weather was overcast, or going to rain. The green and blue as well as the yellow of her dress are all muted hues. It gives an almost sad feeling to the mood of the painting. The dark brown of her hair contrasts with the light ivory of her skin. The use of cool colors like the blue in her sleeves and in the sky as well as the green of the grass tie the painting together. It would look a lot different if there was no “color theme”. The horizon line with the boater and the trees goes into the woman’s shoulders, and brings your eyes to her face and hand. Corot did really well with lining everything up to focus on the woman, and not the boater; which I did not spot at first.
After doing some research, I learned that Corot was 72 when he painted this portrait, roughly five years before he passed away. Corot was much more famous for landscape paintings than portrait paintings. Some of his most famous landscapes would be “Ville-d'Avray” or “The Bridge at Narni”. He only painted women in his last years of painting, otherwise it was all landscapes.
With this painting, there are many things I enjoy about it. I like how Corot paid attention to the book and added paragraphs to the words she is reading. I also like how her expression gives nothing away about her book. It could be seen as a boring expression, but it’s up to the viewer on how to interpret it. I like how the man in the boat is sort of hidden, as his shirt is almost the same color as the water behind him. I like the use of an almost yellow white for the clouds in the sky. Whether it is yellow due to being so old, or was an intentional choice, it fits with the yellow-green of the grass as well as her skirt and headband.
