Shakira Cruz
April 10, 2019
Professor Conaty
ARTH 312-21
Draft for Claire Van Vliet
Claire Van Vliet, who was born in Ottawa, Canada in 1933, grew up near
Stonehenge, England where she was able to get an early exposure to nature and build
interest in landscape. During her teenage years, Vliet lost both of her parents and was
raised by her aunt in California. A year later at the age of 15, Vliet graduated from high
school and moved on into getting her bachelor’s degree of arts in 1952 from San Diego
State College. Vliet later then received her masters of fine arts in 1954 from Claremont
Graduate School. Today, Vliet is known as a book artist, painter, printmaker, and
draughtsman who has won the National Academy Award, two Honorary Doctorates of
fine arts and the MacArthur Prize Fellowship. Moreover, she is also known as the
founder of the Janus Press where many of her hand printed books that are composed of
original prints are published. One being known as “only a doctor.” In this print, the use of
lithography is utilized by Vliet in order to allow viewers to get a sense of what is going
on in the image and get an insight on what may have occurred during a specific time
period. Which in this case, during this time period the crash of the stock market
occurred in the US leading into the Great Depression which made life hard for many
due to individuals becoming unemployed or being paid minimum wage and therefore
, couldn’t afford to pay for certain things. Now, in this painting, Vliet utilizes many formal
elements in this print one being the use of contrasting colors.
To start off she contrasts black and white colors in the foreground with the man in
the foreground being colored white as well as the dead body, and in the background the
group of people are colored black/darker colors. This creates a sense of importance to
the man and body. The dark figures in the background are staring at the white colored
man in the middle which creates a focal point to where the eyes are drawn. Also,
because of the dark colors that are displayed in the print image, it portrays a sense and
mood of sadness and darkness due to the background that is painted in black as if the
individual’s standing behind the doctor were shadows. The perspective of the painting
makes it so that the white colored figures seems more towards the front of the painting
and appear in the foreground, while the darker figures seem more in the background. In
addition, there is an asymmetrical balance where the color white appears more on the
left side of the print image than the right side. Also, the amount of people displayed for
example, on the left side there are four people displayed whereas, the right side there’s
only three people displayed which also creates an imbalance in the print image causing
it to be asymmetrical.
For Vliet’s painting, only the old man’s body is detailed and you can see what
seems to be muscle striations. Vliet is emphasizing that the most important figure in the
painting is the doctor and the patient, as they both stick out the most than the rest that
fades into the background as if they are shadows. The message being conveyed in this
print is that, he is only a doctor who can can only do so much to save a patient, and is
April 10, 2019
Professor Conaty
ARTH 312-21
Draft for Claire Van Vliet
Claire Van Vliet, who was born in Ottawa, Canada in 1933, grew up near
Stonehenge, England where she was able to get an early exposure to nature and build
interest in landscape. During her teenage years, Vliet lost both of her parents and was
raised by her aunt in California. A year later at the age of 15, Vliet graduated from high
school and moved on into getting her bachelor’s degree of arts in 1952 from San Diego
State College. Vliet later then received her masters of fine arts in 1954 from Claremont
Graduate School. Today, Vliet is known as a book artist, painter, printmaker, and
draughtsman who has won the National Academy Award, two Honorary Doctorates of
fine arts and the MacArthur Prize Fellowship. Moreover, she is also known as the
founder of the Janus Press where many of her hand printed books that are composed of
original prints are published. One being known as “only a doctor.” In this print, the use of
lithography is utilized by Vliet in order to allow viewers to get a sense of what is going
on in the image and get an insight on what may have occurred during a specific time
period. Which in this case, during this time period the crash of the stock market
occurred in the US leading into the Great Depression which made life hard for many
due to individuals becoming unemployed or being paid minimum wage and therefore
, couldn’t afford to pay for certain things. Now, in this painting, Vliet utilizes many formal
elements in this print one being the use of contrasting colors.
To start off she contrasts black and white colors in the foreground with the man in
the foreground being colored white as well as the dead body, and in the background the
group of people are colored black/darker colors. This creates a sense of importance to
the man and body. The dark figures in the background are staring at the white colored
man in the middle which creates a focal point to where the eyes are drawn. Also,
because of the dark colors that are displayed in the print image, it portrays a sense and
mood of sadness and darkness due to the background that is painted in black as if the
individual’s standing behind the doctor were shadows. The perspective of the painting
makes it so that the white colored figures seems more towards the front of the painting
and appear in the foreground, while the darker figures seem more in the background. In
addition, there is an asymmetrical balance where the color white appears more on the
left side of the print image than the right side. Also, the amount of people displayed for
example, on the left side there are four people displayed whereas, the right side there’s
only three people displayed which also creates an imbalance in the print image causing
it to be asymmetrical.
For Vliet’s painting, only the old man’s body is detailed and you can see what
seems to be muscle striations. Vliet is emphasizing that the most important figure in the
painting is the doctor and the patient, as they both stick out the most than the rest that
fades into the background as if they are shadows. The message being conveyed in this
print is that, he is only a doctor who can can only do so much to save a patient, and is
