Formal Analysis: David Bourdon And Gregory Battcock

Formal Analysis: David Bourdon and Gregory Battcock David Bourdon and Gregory Battcock is an oil on canvas piece by the artist Alice Neel. In this piece you see two seated men, one in suit and tie and the other only in underwear. Both men seem to be staring off into the distance with disinterest. This piece is actually a portrait of the openly gay couple. Alice specialized in portraits and bringing attention to features others usually didnt say much about although you could not help think of. All Alice did was put it in a painting. This piece’s success atributes to a few artistic elements such as color, balance, and content. The neutral versus bright colors represent the position of these men. Balance in the painting give it a sense of harmony and equal parts. Content is what this piece is all about with both the content we see and the content we understand. …show more content…
On the right side we have David Bourdon, a well put together businessman is what he appears to be depicted as. Neel uses these colors to represent a more “conservative” character as opposed to Gregory Battcock on the left. Bourdon is represented as a more traditional man almost trying to go under the radar in the sense of his homosexuality. We can clearly see that Battcock is more exposed, sitting half naked in bright clothes. Both men were openly gay but maybe this use of color represents how each character went about it. Battcock is obviously embracing his homosexuality, at least that’s what we can decipher from the use of contrast in colors both men are