My Visceral Response

When discussing a visceral response, one image came initially to the front of my mind. "Woman Sitting in A Chair" by Henri Matisse is the first painting that enamored me. Using Richard Seymour's verbiage, it would be stupefying. I was so enamored with this painting that I almost bought a print of it when I was fourteen (considering how "almost" I was to buying it, and how little money I had as a teenager, this was a fairly spiritual decision).

I don't claim to know much about art history, but I do know that Henri Matisse comes from a pioneering school of visual artists known as the expressionists, one of whose tenets it seems is to disregard the rules, in terms of design, and create for the viewer somewhat of an emotional experience. Regardless of Matisse's knowledge of these rules, this is how the elements of design in "Woman Sitting in a Chair" stupefy me.

Line- Hard to ignore the obvious ones. Strong, bold, black diagonal lines create movement and intrigue all throughout the background of the painting. Visually this is done to great effect, because although when you focus on them they overtake the painting, when considered as a whole, the subject is highlighted very adequately. One's eye is drawn towards her and calmed by her presence. Since the black lines create such a busy and positively filled background, another, almost secondary focal point is created above and away from the woman's right shoulder, the left side of the painting.

Color- This is the one that Matisse is famous for. Color is what imbues this painting with life. It gives this woman a soul, in some ways. The first thing that caught my eye about this painting was the small, raspberry red mouth. The circular strokes in the swimming gray-greens of her shorts are hypnotic to me. One thing that is conveyed with the color that would not be told without it is the fact that her shirt is see-through, which adds a huge element of sensuality to the subject, she is now the flighty, artistic, modern, Parisian mistress. She is confident, mysterious, adventurous, and exotic.

Shape and Form- The distinction between shape and form is purposefully skewed in this style of painting; time is not taken to make items look three-dimensional that are three-dimensional. This is not at all a fault of this painting, in fact, the simplicity creates a more visceral emotional experience, like splattering red paint along a white canvas. The subtle slope of the mouth forms a sneer that is for some reason very dissatisfied, same with her left eyebrow. The eyes are colorless, and only partially finished, it looks like. Considering the shape and form, it seems Matisse tried to strip away needless strokes in order to show what shapes and forms creates true expressions. By it's very definition, visceral response was achieved.