Dappled light

We may be used to drawing a model under a direct, uninterrupted light source, with the only shadows being those cast by the figure itself. However when other objects are introduced in front of the light source, the model will be adorned by interesting shadow shapes. The most everyday example of this is dappled sunlight coming through the canopy of a tree. The impressionists popularised painting ‘en plein air’ (outside) with a focus on the fleeting effects of light and shadow. This means the shadow shapes would be rapidly changing as they painted, especially in Scotland where you can never count on sunshine! Luckily for us, the effects of sun through foliage can be recreated in the studio with the benefit of a constant light source.

Most essential to representing shadows is tonal contrast. As seen in Anders Zorn’s ‘Nude under a spruce tree’ the shadows can be so large that you start to see light shapes rather than shadow shapes, in the form of chinks of sunlight hitting the body from one side.  In this case it may be useful to work on a mid-toned paper so that areas of light can be picked out in white, and the paper left bare to represent the shadow colour, or shaded in black for a more dramatic contrast. The chiaroscuro of natural light seen in Zorn’s work gives an impression of immediacy and spontaneity, rather than that of a scene composed in the studio. Whilst this gives him an affinity with the impressionists, his figures are not just used to reflect the play of light but maintain a weight and corporeality absent from impressionist painting.

When working in colour like the impressionists, close observation of the shadows reveals that they contain a multitude of subtle colours. The impressionists rarely used black in their painting, creating softer shadows than those of Zorn. A fine example of this is Renoir’s ‘Torso, Sunlight effect’. He is quoted as saying “No shadow is black. It always has a colour. Nature knows only colours.” Following the theory of complimentary colours, he adds violet to his flesh tones for the shadows, the complementary of yellow sunlight. As a general rule, shadows contain cool colours whilst the highlights are made up of warmer hues. The deepest shadows, such as under the breasts and below the right arm, are tinged with green and purple. All this colour theory serves to capture the impression of dappled sunlight dancing across the skin.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, ‘Study: Torso, Sunlight effect’, 1876

Light and shadow shapes follow the contours of the body and when drawn accurately can help to describe three-dimensional form. Take this advice from Monet; ‘Try to forget what objects you have before you. Merely think here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it just as it looks to you, the exact colour and shape until it gives you your own naïve impression of the scene before you.’ When Renoir’s nude in the sunlight was first viewed, and colour theory was relatively new, she was criticized for looking dead due to the blue-green patches on her body. To avoid your shadows looking like abstract tattoos or bruises on the skin it may be helpful to continue the shapes beyond the figure, onto the floor and walls around them. Julius Leblanc Stewart used this technique in ‘Sunlight’, painting pools of sparkling sunlight on the grass and tree trunks around his figures. This gives a suggestion of the material that the light is travelling through and unifies the scene.

Julius Leblanc Stewart, ‘Sunlight’, 1919

Shadow/silhouette

The figure is sometimes represented as a shadow or silhouette for its formal qualities and symbolic associations. The silhouette provides a simplified, flat form which can be invested with expression by removing unnecessary detail, and creates a sense of mystery by restricting what is revealed.

During the nineteenth century the cutting of silhouettes for portraits was a common simple method for capturing a likeness in profile. It was believed to be too limited a technique for full figure illustrations until Arthur Rackham proved otherwise. He developed black and white silhouette illustrations for Cinderella in 1919 and Sleeping beauty in 1920. The new technique made the books financially successful because they were cheaper than their colour-plate equivalents. Rackham’s clever use of negative space enabled a high degree of expression in his figures that told a story on a two-dimensional plane. The silhouette format and its elegant contours combine haunting humour with dream-like romance, a visual manifestation of the fairy tale genre. Intrigue draws the viewer in as the silhouettes leave much to the imagination.

Arthur Rackham, Illustration for Sleeping Beauty, 1920.

In a drawing Andy Warhol depicts both the three dimensional figure and the outline of its shadow. ‘The Shadow’ was one of several popular, American fictional characters that Warhol drew inspiration from for a series of prints called ‘Myths’ in 1981. This self-portrait drawing is based on a photograph of Warhol embodying the character, using strong lighting to cast a shadow of his profile on the wall behind him. He translated the photographic image into a simple, stylised line drawing. Once again the shadow creates mystery, as if symbolic of a hidden facet of his personality. By stripping the image down to line as opposed to a filled-in silhouette, Warhol plays with the confusion of positive and negative form, returning to the quintessential problem of art: perception.

Andy Warhol, The Shadow, 1981.

Anthony Gormley takes the mystery of the silhouette and turns it into an interactive experience in which the viewer also becomes the subject. ‘Blind Light’ is a brightly lit, glass walled room filled with mist. As figures enter the space they dissolve into the atmosphere. From the outside, anonymous shadowy figures are seen to emerge out of nowhere, coming into resolution only when they touch the walls. In this way, the walls act as the picture plane, with the figure becoming abstracted to the limits of readability as it moves away. This is the exaggerated effect of atmospheric perspective in action. It is another work which plays with perception, removing the viewer’s sense of location and knowledge of their surroundings as they themselves are reduced to a silhouette.

Anthony Gormley, Blind Light, 2007.