Activity10 - Style and Movement

March 30, 2007


The style of William H. Johnson’s 1942 painting, “Ambulance on the Go”, seems to be abstract. Abstract means that a given work of art was created such that certain parts of the visible world appear simplified or exaggerated. In “Ambulance on the Go” many of the real world objects appear to be drawn in simplified shapes. The objects appear so simplified that you might believe a child drew the painting. For example, trees are drawn without much definition, but as simple green ovals. The ambulances appear as simple rectangles with wheels that are uneven in proportion to each other.

In terms of movement, Johnson is classified as a Harlem Renaissance painter, but “Ambulance on the Go”, is clearly a World War II inspired painting. It is an expression of Johnson’s patriotism during the war effort. The “American Red Cross” ambulances depicted in the painting played a role in the volunteer-related services that helped the United States become victorious in World War II.

Compared to Johnson’s Work, Winslow Homer had a more naturalistic style in his paintings. Naturalistic means that objects or bodies are represented the way they appear to us in the real world. Light, colors, shadows, and bodies are realistically reflected in the artwork. Homer’s painting, “Dinner Horn”, realistically shows a female blowing a horn to call workers in for dinner. The woman is drawn to scale, the light and colors are reflected realistically, the wind seems to have a natural flow, and the shadows are consistent with the direction of the light source.

It’s not clear what movement inspired “Dinner Horn”, a late 19th century American painting, but it appears to resemble that of impressionism. Impressionism is art drawn from the artist’s impression of how light and color is perceived by their eyes. Sometimes light is not evenly distributed and is perceived to be scattered throughout a given scene. This is particularly true in scenes of outdoor landscapes. For example, in “Dinner Horn” we see an outdoor landscape where light is passing through several trees. In some areas we see lighter colors, but in others we see darker shadows. Looking at the female, the light source is perceived to be coming from the right, since her dress appears to be the brightest on that side. Overall the painting appears to be drawn on how Homer’s eyes perceived the scene.