RSA Scottish Art
Dance
 | Artist: George Donald |
| Title: Dance | |
| Year: 1988 | |
| Medium: etching with collage on paper | |
| Dimensions: | |
| Suggested topic: | |
| Source: RSA | |
| View full screen image of this work | |
| Open print version of this work | |
| © the artist | |
| Description: George Donald has been passionately interested in the study of anatomy and the human figure throughout his career. Dance is a complex piece. The artist has applied fragments of coloured paper to the surface and has then printed a series of etchings on top. This layering of images provides a lively and colourful backdrop to a series of figure studies. The figures are frozen in ballet-like poses and also as a series of figures in motion (bottom right) in the manner of the pioneer photographer, Edward Muybridge. Texture, pattern and blocks of colour executed as brushed washes dominate the image. Zigzags, lines, grids, halftone screens and checked fabric are placed alongside each other in a frenzy of emotion. The energy of dance comes through even at this level.The composition is based around four quarters. The top two quarters, predominantly yellow on the left and red on the right, separate the female and male figures. The lower quarters show a small charcoal sketch and “stop-frame”, images of the Muybridge figures. In the lower middle section a woman in a dress helps to form a triangle with the other two figures. The etched figures have been made to look almost like blurry photocopies, again emphasising movement.The mood of this image is vibrant and energetic. We see the figures moving and creating shapes, which could convey different meanings. The “dance” in the title could refer to a real dance, or to an emotional “dance” between people. It could even refer simply to the interaction of colours and shapes in the image. | |
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