The idea is that the basis of realistic painting is an accurate representation of light and dark in an object. So a picture can be broken up in to a set of tonal values, from darkest to lightest. If these tonal relationships are correctly represented, then the picture is successful, and the rest will be secondary, including colour, attributed meaning etc.
You can interpret the tonal values in something by squinting until your vision is blurred. Your brain is then less attuned to the distractions of detail-- "oh, that is a person, I have to pay attention to depicting the face, and that is a tree, it is therefor dark brown". The face of a person when squinted at, just becomes another tonal value, maybe darker, or maybe lighter than the tree, depending on the light source and shadows etc.
This idea was a big revelation to me, and though I am still floundering about with my painting, this is a real anchoring theory. If you get too hung up on colour ("is that water greenish blue, or bluish green?"), you can ignore the tonal value, and if you get too hung up on attributing meaning to objects (ie, spending two minutes painting a wall, but two hours trying to paint the person standing by the wall), then the picture loses life, and will not hang together very well.Meldrum got a lot of criticism for his theories, being seen as too rigid and mechanical; closed to possibilities of colour and individual expression. Interestingly though, he considered Clarice Beckett to be his star pupil, even though she appropriated his theories and took them in a different direction.
Her paintings are full of meaning and poetry, and though they seem foggy and indecipherable, sometimes to the point of abstraction, a real heart and personality shines though, a quiet soul being passionately moved by her seemingly ordinary, humdrum surroundings. While her fellow pupils travelled overseas to paint in Paris or Rome, she stayed all her career in her home suburb, continually compelled to paint the entirely familiar, always excited by the same streets, the same telegraph poles, the same sea.
Images, top to bottom-- Max Meldrum, Colin Colahan, Percy Leason, Clarice Beckett, Clarice Beckett.
5 comments:
The aboriginal lady and the bottom Clarice beckett are beautiful mate. Just nice.
Yeah. That last Clarice Beckett is painted on a bit of cardboard! None of these modern pretentious painters who have their special canvases made with special wood and canvas to special specifications..
Makes me feel ok that I paint on $2 shop canvases!
The last two students of Max Meldrum who taught the method and it's principles were Allan Martin in Victoria and Graeme Inson in Sydney. Graeme kept on teaching till the year 2000 when he died. Still there are some teachers around...you also can buy Meldrum's book which was re-edited few years ago or get a copy of Don Gallagher's See it! Paint it! Which is a much easier read. I learnt the method at Graeme Inson studio in 2007 under the guidance of Terry Benson...one of his students; and I teach it regularly at the Newcastle Community Arts Centre. If you are in Sydney contact Terry or ask around...still there are people in Victoria or NSW who teach the method if you are interested.
Regards,
Pablo Tapia
Totally blown away by the ABC TV Creatives program on 4April2017 about Rosemary Valadon. She attributes her biggest breakthrough to learning Max Meldrum's Method of Tonal Generalization. I've looked it up following the program and am very excited by it. I really struggle to achieve in paintings what I want, and every now and then a key idea comes along, and this is one of them.
Ben McLaughlin's comment regarding Clarice Beckett's painting surfaces are very misleading. Sure, Ms Beckett painted on cardboard but the surface of the cardboard was properly prepared with gesso etc.
The carrier be it wood, canvas, cardboard or what ever is just that, a carrier. Max Meldrum experimented, sometimes with disastrous results, with various painting surfaces including bitumen. He apparently had a dislike of stretched canvasses in my opinion for good reason due to their being prone to damage and the delicacy of the carrier, linen or cotton. He was looking for a stable carrier and surface combination, striving for perfection as was his want. Occasionally he failed as we all do.
Many of the Meldrum school painted on 'prepared boards including 'masonite'. As a teacher of the Meldrum method and a student of Alan Martin I have seen many of Max Meldrum's and Clarice Beckett's paintings. As well I have restored some of Alan Martin's pictures which were mainly painted on Cotton Canvas glued or bonded to 'Masonite'.
To my way of thinking the perfect method of mounting oil paintings has yet to be found. Good craftspeople always try to utilise the best available materials if they are selling their work. Hobbyists can use what they want! They don't spend money for the sake of it.
I hope that this may clear up any misconceptions which may have been caused by Mr McLaughlin's post.
Don James
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