Imagining Rhapsody

Can art overlap into multiple sensory realms? Fine art envelops around the classic forms of expression and often artists are likely to be more than one but what about the pieces themselves? Sculpture might fit the bill, but what about music? Some argue it is a single sensory to the average person. In the case of Arthur Dove he created a unique connection between music and art form in his jazz paintings opening them to create dual use of senses. As Donna M Cassidy explains, this effect is created by his interpretations of music did not simply summarize pieces of music into an encompassing canvas. Dove recognized this unique quality of synesthesia and meant to share the his period’s music with others note by note in their own imagination.

Arthur Dove grew up in the Roaring 20’s and was highly influenced by singers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Bill Crosby, and Duke Ellington. He enjoyed singing and could play a couple of instruments pretty well (2).  He was clearly a man of the arts and understood the mechanisms of how music should be not only listened to but created.  He painted a total of seventeen works that are not only different to any other artist in communicating song but differ from his own works (7). These pieces signify change from his other works that heavily involve nature and physical object abstraction. In these nature works, he mainly focused on circles and light to reflect simplicity and infinite beauty. However, in these Jazz Age pieces, he moved away into focus on line and color to promote something of raw quality (20). The shift in technique and modes of abstraction between his two types of work indicate a different purpose. Instead of reflections of visual objects he grabs the onlooker’s attention with pieces that have none. Though the paintings may look like that of a child’s play, his titles challenge viewers to look deeper into themselves to figure out what exactly the piece is. When the audience is given a hint of musical purpose in his paintings, they can take off into a realm of imagination and ponder why each aspect of the painting is displayed.

This can be best displayed by looking into paintings such as Rhapsody in Blue, explicitly named after Gershwin’s jazz piece. Looking at the mechanics of this painting, we can start to pick out different characteristics that seem to evoke a seemingly translucent quality; odd considering it is an aluminum canvas. This translucent feature created by the dimming of the edges makes the painting appear to be something of the human mind. Whether it is memory or though is unclear upon first glance, but the window created by the artist is synonymous. With this overall effect and Cassidy’s suggestion of music painting as, “an expression of the overall mood of the music as well as one-to-one parallels between specific musical passages and visual forms,” we can start to digest the different pieces of the painting (16). Every stroke had a purpose and meaning. Even though the lines and patterns displayed are fragmented, somehow the stroke direction seems to encompass them into one fluid motion. This visual first impression and overall observation stays with the viewer as something the artist wishes to share with them as an expression difficult to mimic.

So what was the method to Dove’s mimicry of jazz piano? Cassidy starts off his analysis of the painting by simply stating the title Rhapsody in Blue indicates direct correlation with the Gershwin piece through simply its suggestion of color. “Each tint of blue reflected the blue noes in the composition (16).” Blue and gray tints are present and display themselves as independent from the rest of the piece. Because they stand alone we can feel the painting as blue just as we can feel the music as blue. This particular equation to feeling and color is one of the most clear synesthetic features in the painting initially tipped off by the title. If we apply this idea that Dove mimics synesthesia to the other portions of the painting we can start to make some sense out of his patterns. Lines suddenly appear purposeful and repetitive strokes become meticulous. Cassidy found, “The oscillating black line to the left of the clock spring suggests the flow of the melody (16).” No matter if seen as a literal line of measure or a stroke of noise, the eye is drawn to the artist’s swift and bold metallic paint brushstrokes now known to be associated with specific notes and/or sections of the musical piece. Swirls with piano fills and fragments with pauses, it starts to fill the mind. It not only is mimicry of jazz piano, but leads your brain to associate the sound with the paintings movement.

After looking at this picture, you can’t help but to notice your thoughts when listening to music and how each genre differs within your own mind. When listening to music we don’t just vegetate on blank minds. We each contain our own little canvas on which we constantly paint and rotate in compliment to the feeling induced by music. Arthur Dove tapped into this remarkable function of the brain and made a statement out of it via his dual sensory abilities. The two channels of art, music and painting, are connected and can be interwoven into a display of imagination in his Jazz Age pieces. 


Works Cited

Picture: <http://prints.encore-editions.com/0/500/arthur-garfield-dove-george-gershwin-rhapsody-in-blue-2-1927-approximate-original-size-12x9.jpg>

Cassidy Donna M. "Arthur Dove's Music Paintings of the Jazz Age."American Art Journal, Vol. 20, No. 1. Kennedy Galleries Inc. 1988