Thursday, April 11, 2013

Satisfying

There is something so satisfying about this image for me, every time I see it. The style, the coloration, the composition, the cast shadows, the subtle drama, the bird cage (!). I normally don't like depictions of the time period shown here, but I just love looking at this one.

Thomas Maitland Cleland — 1934

3 comments:

Smurfswacker said...

Beautiful. The woman's cast shadow really makes the piece; it turns a flat drawing three-dimensional by pushing her forward. I've always liked this outline/flat wash style, but usually the drawings were deliberately flat and decorative rather than "realistic" or whatever you call it.

plaisanter said...

I agree, it is very satisfying, and a bit mysterious. It's on the cover of one of my vintage magazines -
Woman's Home Companion 1934 May.

Unknown said...

Yes, it's great. I don't like pieces in this style too much, normally, either. But this one is done astonishingly well. Everything (lights, composition, subject, etc...)is right and each element on its particular level falls exactly in place. Actually this makes for an astonishingly successful piece of applied graphic design.
Great!