Nude Descending Staircase Case Study

Decent Essays
1. Duchamp’s “Nude Descending a Staircase” is composed of various elements. Right off the bat, we’re able to notice actual lines in the painting, the rhythm shown as the figure descends and much more. These lines create form, depth and texture in the painting. The dark outlines regulate the contours of the body and work in such a way to highlight the motion lines of the figure. As mentioned in the video, this painting reflects the cubist and futuristic effects. In the paintings, value distinct between positive and negative shapes. Movement in this painting seems counter clockwise from the upper left to the lower right corner.

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    When I first look at this painting the first thing I see is a man, and a woman with a very honest look on their face. The man is carrying a pitchfork , and is slightly in front of the woman. I look…

    • 333 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The painting Large Reclining Nude by Henri Matisse involved lots of experimentation to arrive at the final product. I believe that the significance of documenting the 22 photographs of the painting various stages was to emphasize the thought process of producing a final artwork. Matisse experimented different ways to present the artwork, such as by changing the woman’s position and background patterns, until he created the last painting. He documented to see the changes he made each stage and see how else he could alter the painting, until he was satisfied with the end result. The documentation of the series of photographs allowed Matisse to visualize other altercations and different methods to present the painting.…

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Kiki Smith

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The next contemporary artist is Kiki Smith. Smith is popular for creating nude prints and sculptures of men and women, but specifically representing women as figures for reproduction, menstruation, and motherhood. Her sculptures revolve around feminine work and explore the physical aspects of the women’s body. In her sculpture Train, made from wax, a woman stands in a small room with red beads flowing out of her vagina. The red beads stand out in the sculpture, because they create a trail behind the woman to symbolize blood and menstruation.…

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Escalator Observation

    • 256 Words
    • 2 Pages

    At approximately 12:49PM on Monday, August 7, 2018, I was headed down the escalator to the lower level curb side, when I noticed an individual snapping photos of what seemed to focus on the structure and one vehicle as well. The vehicle was a small, light grey, pickup truck. I immediately alerted the security officer beside me and proceeded with an attempt to interview the subject. He made it clear that he did not want to talk and continued up the escalator towards the TSA checkpoint. This was avoidance, a suspicious indicator.…

    • 256 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hatshepsut Analysis

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages

    While at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I entered the Egyptian wing which is a great place to be if you want to learn more about Egyptian art and the history. The subject of the art work is that for the ancient Egyptians, the ideal king was a young man in the prime of life. The physical reality was of less importance, so an old man, a baby, or even a woman who held the titles of pharaoh could be represented in this ideal form, as in this representation of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut. Although many of Hatshepsut's statues depict her as the ideal king, the inscriptions always allude to her feminine gender, sometimes by using both masculine and feminine grammatical forms, sometimes by including her personal name, Hatshepsut, which means "foremost of noble women." This statue was one of a pair that stood on either side of a granite doorway on the upper terrace of Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahri.…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Green Bridge II The Green Bridge II, by Lyonel Feininger, in 1916. It is an asymmetrical abstract piece made from oil paint on a canvas. Within the painting, there are three-dimensional objects, which would appear to tell a story. What appears a very busy street loitered with many people, walking to or from somewhere. The appearance of the buildings, surroundings, and the people are not normal, they have a really blocky or distorted appearance.…

    • 2161 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Roofs are being blown off the buildings and ceilings caving in! Rags placed in the hole in the walls and floors to keep out the cold and rain! Sewage coming up from the floors as children track it into the carpeted classroom rooms from the hallway! Everyone is running around asking for help, blaming each other and nothing still get done about the problem! Sounds like a bad sci-fi movie…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In some courses in which, maker Alexa Meade could be an old figure painter, duplicating the daylight and shadow that falls on the form during an authentic strategy. Be that as it may she takes a shot at relate degree unprecedented canvas: the specific shape. besides, he or she takes a set up manufacture — trompe l'oeil, the claim to fame of making a two-dimensional portrayal look three-dimensional — and turns it on its head.. Her point is to do to the inverse, to fall profundity and make her living models into level film.(Meade, In Reverse Trompe L’Oeil, Models Are Both Subject and Painting Surface, 2011 )(1) Meade's creative way to deal with antiquated picture originates from her enthusiasm for changing the individual before of her.…

    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mary Cassatt Analysis

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Mary Cassatt was a renowned American painter who created a famous painting known as “The Letter”. At first glance, it portrayed an older women sitting at a desk simply mailing out a letter. After analyzing the painting for some time, I uncovered more then what was seen at first glance. The painting is very unique and was difficult to interpret in the beginning. When I visually analyzed the painting, I saw an older Japanese woman wearing traditional Japanese attire while sitting at what looks like a desk inside of a room.…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the essay “the American Action Painters” Harold Rosenberg gives his own interpretation of abstract expressionists’ artwork. Rosenberg explains that a real Action painting…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Atmospheric perspective is designed to suggest a 3D space in the 2D space of the picture, and in which forms and objects distant from the viewer (Adams, 2003). This atmospheric perspective can be seen in the sky of the painting, the viewer cannot see anything distinct pass the mountain, but it is implied there is something beyond the mountains. The atmospheric perspective stretches the landscape of the painting, and makes the painting seem bigger than it actually is. Highlights in paintings are the points that have the highest value in the painting (Adams, 2003). In this particular painting the highlights of the painting are mainly on the faces of the objects of the painting.…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the poem “Nude Descending a Staircase” the writer, X. J. Kennedy, blatantly introduces the subject of a nude woman. In his poem the speaker is describing an unidentified woman as she travels down a set of stairs. This poem was written as a reaction or response to a painting created by Marcel Duchamp, that was entitled “Nude Descending a Staircase No.2”. Since the poem was a reaction to the art, it is categorized as an ekphrastic piece. In mostly all poems, the writer utilizes various poetic devices to help a reader further understand and develop a deeper meaning to the poem.…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Critical Analysis on The Night Cafe by Vincent Van Gogh In 1888, Vincent Van Gogh painted a painting called The Night Cafe. He used oil on canvas as his medium and used a 72,4 cm by 92.1 cm canvas. The subject matter of the piece is a narrative, and the setting takes place indoors. To be more specifically it’s in a cafe which contains many still lives such as clocks, tables, chairs, glasses, and much more.…

    • 810 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The painting I chose to do an analysis on is “Kneeling Mother with a Child at Her Breast”. In the painting I see a African women with dark skin kneeling down on both knees holding her baby in her left arm with one hand behind head and the other on the buttocks. She is kneeling on a round grey mat while the baby is sucking on her nipple. She is also starring in her baby’s eyes with somewhat of a grin on her face. Both her and her baby are butt naked in this painting.…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Scream Poem Analysis

    • 721 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “The Scream” I really like this painting because somehow it involves mystery and insecurity and to my eyes, the rare views in it reflect a sense of how deep the feelings and thoughts of a person can be. In addition, the fact that the composition does not allow viewers to appreciate the face of the screaming person, is what has drawn me to it. Even though it seems to be that it was a lovely afternoon for everyone, it seems that it was not for the scared looking person. Although two boats are seen on the lake and two people walking very pleasingly behind, the scared looking person seems to be astonished and perhaps confused toward something. Hence, looking at this mysterious individual posing his hands on his face with his mouth open has given me the impression that he or she is appreciating something non real that no one else is able to notice; no one but him.…

    • 721 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays