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Introduction
Painting is a
branch of the
visual arts in
which colour,
derived from any
of numerous
organic or
synthetic
substances, is
applied to
various surfaces
to create a
representational
or abstract
picture or design. Painting as well as poetry,
sculpture and music are “vlăstarele naturale ale
The Use of Words in British Painting 6
However, painting is
not only a source of
pleasure, it also
teaches. Some
paintings reveal what
the artist felt about
important subjects
such as: death, love,
religion and social
justice. Other provide
information about the
customs, goals and
interest of the people
of past societies.
Paintings also tell about such things as the
buildings, clothing, and tools of the past. Much of
our knowledge about prehistoric and ancient
times comes from painting and other arts,
because many early societies left few or no
written records.
In the course of
its history,
painting has
taken several
major forms,
involving
distinctive media
and techniques.
A few
techniques are
The Use of Words in British Painting 8
Saturation
the difference
in brightness
between two
colours is said
to be
“diferenţa în
gradul de
saturaţie sai
intensitate a unei culori”6 (Knobler I:92). When
two chromatic hues are combined, and their
combination produces a neutral grey, it is said
that they are complementary hues. For example
red and green, yellow and purple, or orange and
blue are such complementary hues. “Variind
proporţiile unui amestec complementar de tonuri
se pot realiza numeroase grade diferite de
saturaţie”7 (Knobler I:93).
Space is
achieved by
arranging lines,
colours, and
light and dark
areas in certain
ways. The artist
who works in
two dimensions
begins by
making signs os
a flat surface.
This surface is
his space, “lumea în care îşi construieşte ordinea
plastic a artei sale”8 (Knobler I:98). Limited by
dimensions and proportions of the bidimensional
plan, the painter arranges the forms in this space
in order to make the
meet the aesthetic,
representational and
expressive demands.
Texture refers to
the appearance of
the painting’s
surface; the viewer
receives the way
The Use of Words in British Painting 14
General
considerations
upon modern art
In the Biblical
tradition, the Old
testament knew the
conception of the
Word of God and of
Wisdom, that had
existed before the
creation of the world,
in God; through which
everything was
created. Wisdom was
sent onto the earth to
reveal the secrets of
the divine will and it went back to God as soon as
it had accomplished its mission. In the same way,
for Saint John, the Word was in God, preceeding
the creation. It came onto the earth sent by God
– the father, to fulfill a task that was to give
mankind a message of salvation, after which it
was to go back to God – the father. The New
testament and especially john the Apostle had
the mission to clarify the personal character of
this word (of the wisdom), which is endless:
“In the beginning the Word was, and the Word was
with God and the Word was God. This one was in the
beginning with God. All things came into existence
through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing
came into existence.
Whatever the
beliefs and the
dogmas might
have been, the word symbolized the
manifestation of intelligence in a language in
nature of the beings and in the continuous
creation of the universe. It is the light and the
truth of being. This general and symbolic
interpretation does not exclude a strong belief in
the reality of the divine Word and of the
The Use of Words in British Painting 26
polyvocal affirming
everything, denying
nothing. Indeed the
geometrical line itself, that
immaterial, ideal, one-
dimensional archetype of
univocal discourse, is
conceived by Derrida as
repression of the polyvocal
discourse of two – and
three – dimensional
material extension and the
image (Derrida: 86). Such
a repressed – unrepressed
formulation of the relation of language to image –
if not merely a verbal trick – implies an order of
priority, the unrepressed image as prior to its
repression in and as, language. The image and
its discourse are primal, originally. Language and
its discourse come on the scene as secondary. In
her book Introduction in the Analysis of the
Image, Martine Joly maintains this idea saying
that at the beginning there were only images
(17). Those images were meant to transmit
messages called ‘the forerunners of writing’,
using methods of description – representation
which didn’t keep only one schematic
development of the representation of real things
(The Interpreter’s Bible 6: 432-433).
Se signified