Peter Howson - Mr Great Heart Flashcards
Subject Matter
Portrait of a boxer with arms raised, ready to fight.
Side on view although he is peering at something in front of him.
He is outside, city scape, late at night.
Style
Realistic but stylised and line and tone is used in a contrasting way to over emphasise the muscular quality of the body in his figure compositions.
Media handling
Oil paint is applied smoothly and delicately, adding to the feeling of soft muscular skin.
There is no difference in how paint is applied to other textures which adds to the surreal feeling of the image.
Composition
Boxer is the focal point.
Perspective is as though we are looking slightly up to the boxer, his upper half fills most of the canvas and makes him seem really large.
Only see his body to his waist so we are focused on his arms and torso as that is the main feature of a boxer.
Mood
The mood of the painting is dark, the colours used enhance this as Howson has used dark, earthy colours like browns, greys and blacks.
Boxer is focused and staring as if he is about to fight though he looks sad as opposed to mad.
There looks like there is a storm brewing behind him.
Highlights on the boxers back looks as if the moonlight is reflecting off him which gives a serene feeling.
Line
Howson uses thick black lines to show the definition of the characters muscles and makes the character seem cartoonish and stylised.
He has also done this in the background so the buildings are quite stylised.
Tone
Image has high tonal contrast and the dark and light areas are very contrasting.
Tone shows light coming from the top right hand side.
Although very tonal the colours are dark so the light seems to look like moonlight, this adds to the dramatic feeling of the image.
Tone shows the form of the overly muscular boxer who’s skin appears smooth and round.
Colours
He uses realistic colours that are dulled down.
The colours are earthy colours and areas are dulled down with black.
The light areas are very contrasting with the darkened down areas which adds to the dramatic effect of the image.
They also add to the nightmarish and sad feeling of the image.
Texture and pattern
Paint is applied smoothly which adds to the oversized muscular quality as it shows every muscle definition and every over exaggerated crease in the fabric.
Clouds in the background are smooth and over exaggerated which are repeated to create a pattern.
