An Art Musing – A Thanksgiving Portrait of a Grandson in Yellow
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This photo I cherish, taken more than a decade ago, was a quick snapshot of one of my young grandsons I just happened to glance at as I was taking photos of the rest of the room crowded with family for Thanksgiving. For there, in the middle of the loud cheering, laughing, and shouting of the excited family members watching a football game, I beheld my grandson by himself alone, quiet and contemplative, so unlike his normal active self, and yet so like him in expressing his deeper inner life, so very different from the rest of his family.
For me, with this photo, his face, its expression, his eyes, his half seen mouth, are of course the centerpiece of this photo – recent careful haircut, flesh tones with a touch of red all around, hazel eyes with perhaps a touch of blue, prominent ear, the overhead light lightly reflecting from his forehead. A forehead I was only able to kiss when he was three and four by wrestling him down to the carpet, his shouts and useless protests ringing in my ears, holding him still for at least three or four kisses before letting him loudly squirm away.
And now many years later, as I gaze upon the photo, everything, every detail, is taken in, and recorded and traced over endless times by these grandfather eyes of love for a now grown young man.
And, of course, one of those details I dwell upon is the expression on his face which I have always interpreted as thoughtfulness. But, perhaps, when I took the snapshot, he was just tired, or maybe too much turkey and my family-famous stuffing had made him sleepy. Yet regardless of the why of his expression, everything about the photo to me is still intrinsically whole and connected within as little treasures, adding layer upon layer to the person of my grandson, who is deeply loved, as are all my grandchildren.
Now regardless of whether the subject is loved or not, a snapshot is rarely artistically “perfect”, and sometimes adjustments or changes are needed to enhance a photo’s aesthetic appeal or to better achieve the artist’s purpose of the picture.
With this photo, the yellow sweatshirt and the boy’s arm resting on the back of his chair provides a subtle yet wonderfully vibrant yellow diagonal. This given aesthetic of the photo then separates and lifts the warm flesh tones of the boy’s face from the surrounding warm wood tones of the chair, bookcase, and wood paneling of the room, and the coppery rose of the tablecloth covering and draping from the table.
In this photo, I also aesthetically appreciate the cooler touches of blue punctuating the warm dominant tones here and there within the photo – the window drapery on the right, the teacup and other touches of blue upon the table, the clothing hanging on the chair to the left, and the muted blue tones scattered within the bookcase. I especially like the blue of the collar of the shirt worn underneath the yellow sweatshirt, which I would not have thought to include if I had composed this photo as in a studio.
Now to increase the overall aesthetics of this photo, I did make an adjustment. I removed a person sitting at the end of the table – that was easy as a large and isolated object is fairly easy to remove even with limited skills. And, if I had more skill, I probably would have artistically removed the teacup and yellow card in front of the boy’s face in order to create a clear warm space surrounding his gazing eyes.
Now, also working alongside the aesthetics of any object – a painting, poetry, photograph, film, storytelling, to name just a few – to me there are always three essential intrinsic elements – the art object and subject, the artist/creator, and the viewer, all of which need to be considered.
With this photo, here the art object is a tenderly viewed grandson in a photo taken more than a decade ago, I am the photographer and creator of this blog, and finally the viewer is the reader of this blog – you.
And here, as a foundation of art, all three elements are tied in at the most basic, intimate, and binding level -within our shared humanity, and as individual humans, everyone with layers upon layers, all with stories, with relationships and hopes, and, sadly, sometimes neither. The very wide spectrum of our joyful and shattered shared human experience.
To me, the photographer, the photo is emotionally perfect, for my focus is upon the boy, a grandson, now an athletic young man, no longer a child but temperamentally the same in many ways, a young man who when he phones me, at the end, he always says “Love you, grandpa”. Those three words making me hugely wealthy, as the gift these words express is not something money can ever buy.
However, artistically I know the photo is not “perfect”, as I noted above, for if I had planned and posed it, I would have made a few changes, but there is nothing about my grandson that I would change. For he is the subject of the photo, that I offer my readers, yes, but truly first and foremost, he is an object of my heart, through what I beheld and captured on his face, because of who he is in the photo, but also now more deeply because of what he is no longer.
For nostalgia for the beautiful young boy, for me, does not compete with, but only complements and accentuates what he is now – a kind, tall, muscular young man – for within him the past and present fully reside, both fueling his hopes – and mine for him – for a future life purposeful, and satisfying, and happy with the woman I know he now deeply loves.
And as I share this part of the backstory of the aesthetics of the photo, I hope the viewer will see the beauty and thoughtfulness within the eyes of the child, yes, even though the background will not appear perfect, for I believe the sensitive heart and mind will gently erase anything that distracts, to thus deeply embed within the soul what is seen and understood as beautiful – as should be done with all the true beauty and art which surrounds us.
For I believe some may learn something of art and hopefully will not forget that beauty and truth in all its forms, including nature, is the great subject and object of art, comprising the necessary and essential food for our mind and heart. For an understanding of art and beauty in life, in what is all around us, is growth for our life in all its dimensions, which can also help shatter the imprisoning chains that the ways of a darkening world attempt to intertwine upon our souls. For what we see and make of beauty and truth is a reflection both of the beauty before us, and of the attitude and desire for truth which always seeks to dwell within us.
For beauty and truth, especially when we understand it of others, is what creates community within our shared humanity, and truly makes us human, we who were fashioned to live and express to others the image and likeness of the God who created us in love.
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Resource Section
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LINKS TO SPECIFIC INTERNAL SUBCATEGORIES IN WEBSITE
To view all posts featuring or including the Grandson of this Posting, please use the links below.
Email postcard story – And Then Memories of His Mama Washed Over Him – Writing In The Shade Of Trees
Echoes of the Death of Jarrett, Our Infant Son – Writing In The Shade Of Trees
A Grandson in the Late Winter Afternoon – A Musing on Art – Writing In The Shade Of Trees
To view all Thoughts & Musings on Art, please use the link below:
Thoughts & Musings on Art – Writing In The Shade Of Trees
To view all posts in the Moments of Seeing & Occasional Pieces, please use the link below.
Moments of Seeing & Occasional Pieces – Writing In The Shade Of Trees
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