Edouard Manet, Plum Brandy, National Gallery, Washington, D.C., gouache on Holbein multi-drawing book, 9″x 6.5″ (22.86 x 16.51 cm), 2/12/08, copyright Laraine Armenti
Manet’s painting ‘Plum Brandy’ is one of my earliest favorite paintings. Once again, as with the Monet copies shown in an earlier post, I worked from a small printed reproduction. My freehand translation is also quite small and done by eye without tracing. The copy is inaccurate in many ways, but that does not defeat my purpose which is to use copying to better understand how the original was visually constructed. With apologies to Monsieur Manet, I wish that I could have captured to a greater extent the sweetness of the woman’s tired expression and brandy induced world weariness.
Making this copy reinforced concepts from Henry Rankin Poore’s book “Pictorial Composition.” The power of the word “composition” took on a whole new meaning in this process. Rather than being a dry collection of questionable rules, suddenly it had the musical connotation of orchestration. This painting reveals Manet’s consummate skill of orchestrating a complex mix of color, design, paint handling and emotion. Here are principles from Henry Rankin Poore that are evident in this painting:
— pyramid construction of a single unit: the central figure; echoed several times with internal triangles
— balance and transition by opposition of spots: the irises of the two eyes are the same shape, size, and color as a spot in the center of the plum glass stem, forming an inverted triangle
— balance by transition: the decoration on the figure’s raised sleeve is a linear version of the plum in the glass next to it
— vertical and horizontal balance and unity: the background and table surround and lock up the figure into a flattened space like a set of puzzle pieces
There are many benefits that come from copying great art as a way of active seeing.