Day Thirty Five: Clouds after a Storm by Charles Harold Davis
Hello and welcome to day 35 of 100 days of Tonalism.
Today's study is 'Clouds after a Storm' by Charles Harold Davis.
This is the second piece that we've done by Charles Harold Davis. It has been one of the more popular images in regards to people interested in buying the studies that I have produced in this series. The study that you are viewing today is the third iteration that I've done from his painting.
I will discuss some biographical information about Charles Harold Davis in today's video so if you want to learn more about him as an artist be sure to check that out.
Meanwhile I'm going to get my soapbox out so please stand back.
Today I'd like to discuss what the value of art actually is. Some might consider this to be a big can of worms to open. There are many people both involved with the arts, and not, that have strong opinions.
Any work of art is worth only what people are willing to pay for it. At least it's worth in currency is what people are going to pay for it. This figure will change dramatically depending on a lot of factors that actually have very little to do with the quality of the artwork involved. Factors such as whether the artist is alive or dead, how popular they were in their own lifetimes, what schools of art he/she was able to associate themselves with or, against and whether they went with the trends that were popular during their lifetime or whether they went counter to those same trends.
Artwork actually has two values, the first value is its intrinsic value as a work of art. This value would be determined by factors such as:
There are many other factors that would also add to the intrinsic value of a work of art. These are just the ones that come to mind readily.
The financial/market value that can be assigned to a work of art involves different factors such as:
Both of these values are subjective. Just because they are subjective does not mean that an artwork does not have artistic value, In fact, art history can ultimately correctly judge the intrinsic value of a work of art. Especially after enough time has passed that fashion becomes unimportant. Also people can develop their own ability to accurately judge the artwork of their own time and of previous eras.
The idea that art has no intrinsic value of its own other than the ability it has to satisfy the needs of the marketplace was popular when I was young. The idea that there is no such thing as bad art was also popular. I strongly disagree with both of these notions. I think that some of the art that is lauded and sold for enormous sums of money these days is less than worthy. While at the same time works of exquisite genius go for pennies on the dollar.
I believe that if a work of art requires a salesperson to stand beside it and explain to you why it is worthwhile, desirable, should be purchased for a lot of money, then you're better off without that work of art in your collection. It would be far better to buy something beautiful that moves you regardless of "market" considerations.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Clouds after a Storm' by Charles Harold Davis, as I stated above this is the third study that I've completed of this painting. Clearly Charles was onto something with this image as people really respond to it.
Skies and clouds are my favorite things to paint and at times the landscape portion of my paintings function mostly as a support for the sky.
What is awesome about Charles painting is all the myriad striations of colors he used to compose it, it was fun to paint each time I executed a study and, I'm going to try and incorporate some of his sensibility into my work in the future.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Painted after - Clouds after a Storm by Charles Harold Davis, Study by M Francis McCarthy - Size 5x5, Oil on wood panel |
Today's study is 'Clouds after a Storm' by Charles Harold Davis.
This is the second piece that we've done by Charles Harold Davis. It has been one of the more popular images in regards to people interested in buying the studies that I have produced in this series. The study that you are viewing today is the third iteration that I've done from his painting.
I will discuss some biographical information about Charles Harold Davis in today's video so if you want to learn more about him as an artist be sure to check that out.
Meanwhile I'm going to get my soapbox out so please stand back.
Today I'd like to discuss what the value of art actually is. Some might consider this to be a big can of worms to open. There are many people both involved with the arts, and not, that have strong opinions.
Any work of art is worth only what people are willing to pay for it. At least it's worth in currency is what people are going to pay for it. This figure will change dramatically depending on a lot of factors that actually have very little to do with the quality of the artwork involved. Factors such as whether the artist is alive or dead, how popular they were in their own lifetimes, what schools of art he/she was able to associate themselves with or, against and whether they went with the trends that were popular during their lifetime or whether they went counter to those same trends.
Artwork actually has two values, the first value is its intrinsic value as a work of art. This value would be determined by factors such as:
- How much the work moves the viewer.
- How beautiful or striking is the artwork.
- What sort of technical virtuosity was used in the creation of the artwork.
- How easy is it for another artist to do something similar.
There are many other factors that would also add to the intrinsic value of a work of art. These are just the ones that come to mind readily.
The financial/market value that can be assigned to a work of art involves different factors such as:
- How lucky was this artist at finding good representation and venues for the sales of their work,
- How much does a work correspond to the tastes and fashions of the era in which the artist is painting.
- What sort of stories can be generated around the artwork to involve the imagination of potential buyers.
- How much artwork did the artist generate? Are there only very few excellent works or, did the artist produce thousands of paintings of differing quality.
Both of these values are subjective. Just because they are subjective does not mean that an artwork does not have artistic value, In fact, art history can ultimately correctly judge the intrinsic value of a work of art. Especially after enough time has passed that fashion becomes unimportant. Also people can develop their own ability to accurately judge the artwork of their own time and of previous eras.
The idea that art has no intrinsic value of its own other than the ability it has to satisfy the needs of the marketplace was popular when I was young. The idea that there is no such thing as bad art was also popular. I strongly disagree with both of these notions. I think that some of the art that is lauded and sold for enormous sums of money these days is less than worthy. While at the same time works of exquisite genius go for pennies on the dollar.
I believe that if a work of art requires a salesperson to stand beside it and explain to you why it is worthwhile, desirable, should be purchased for a lot of money, then you're better off without that work of art in your collection. It would be far better to buy something beautiful that moves you regardless of "market" considerations.
Cheers,
M Francis McCarthy
Landscapepainter.co.nz
A bit about 'Clouds after a Storm' by Charles Harold Davis, as I stated above this is the third study that I've completed of this painting. Clearly Charles was onto something with this image as people really respond to it.
Skies and clouds are my favorite things to paint and at times the landscape portion of my paintings function mostly as a support for the sky.
What is awesome about Charles painting is all the myriad striations of colors he used to compose it, it was fun to paint each time I executed a study and, I'm going to try and incorporate some of his sensibility into my work in the future.
To see more of my work, visit my site here.
 |
| Original painting, Clouds after a Storm by Charles Harold Davis |