Fra Angelico Reimagined

Detail from "Nolo Me Tangere", Fra Angelico

Among the many wonderful Italian painters of the early Renaissance, Fra Angelico is one of my favorites.  Though he painted his share of gilded, regal looking saints and angels, Fra Angelico's work also speaks of a more humble outlook. Even the smallest of nature's flora and fauna in his work are lovingly painted.  And the humanity of his figures is striking.

Fra Angelico, Perugia altarpiece predella

The influence of Fra Angelico echoes down the centuries, and reaches serious painters even today.  One thing that captivates me is the depth and volume of his work.  I am intrigued by the "cross sections" of structures, in which we look through arches and doorways to the happenings within.  This use of architecture is an important element in the workings of his paintings. 

"The Annunciation"

Fra Angelico, c. 1426

We can learn many lessons from Fra Angelico. I'm showing here how two different artists have interpreted some of his work recently.  I love how the painter Chris Liberti has interpreted "The Annunciation".  Liberti used the architecture of Fra Angelico's original work (above), yet adapted it as a framework for a contemporary vision. Liberti's interpretation (below) is a visual feast--completely his own, and at the same time completely comprehensive of the original.  I love the way Liberti's shapes and colors are so ephemeral, and so intertwined.  His painting is simply full of wonder.

"Fra Backyard"

20 x 20, Oil on Wood

(c) Chris Liberti, 2020

I am also taken with a recent collage by Olivia Hiester, based on another work of Fra Angelico.  With perfectly chosen shapes of color, Hiester evokes all the emotion and movement of the original painting. In fact, I think that the collage's simplification enhances, rather than detracts, from the power of the original. Hiester's cutouts recreate the fabrics' drape and fold to convey perfectly the volume and dimension of the figures. There is a solidity here that feels very earthly, despite the heavenly halos.  Olivia's work and the original fresco are below. Both lovely.

Painter Paper Collage, (c) Olivia Hiester 2022

I have read that the great artist Mark Rothko was especially impressed by Fra Angelico's frescoes at the Convent of San Marco in Florence, Italy.  Rothko was so taken by the "inner light" of the frescoes that he is said to have developed a special chalk mixture that he could use on canvas, in order to achieve a similar luminosity. I conclude with Rothko's painting, said to spring from this experience.  Long live Fra Angelico!  

"Untitled, 1950", Mark Rothko

Pentimento

 

Pentimento:  it's an Italian word, meaning "repentance".  In the art world, it refers to marks and areas that have been superseded and worked over, but which still can be discovered in the finished work.  One might say that the artist "repented" of his original marks, and made changes to them. Some pentimento is not visible to naked eye, and is only found via X-rays or infrared scans.  A famous example is in Jan van Eyck's painting shown at the top of this post, in which he reworked one of the male figure's hands.

"Seated Nude, 1966:

Charcoal on Paper, 33 x 23.5 inches

Richard Diebenkorn, 1966

But the pentimenti that most interest me are those which are intentionally left visible in the final artwork.  I find it fascinating to see these marks, because they show the thought process and the myriad decisions made by the artist during the creation of the work.  Sometimes these pentimenti are drawing marks left visible, and other times they are actual changes to the composition.  

"J.A.D.I., 1966"

Charcoal on Paper, 25 1/8 x 19 inches

Richard Diebenkorn, 1966

Richard Diebenkorn was a master at revealing, rather than hiding, his process.  As Thomas Larson wrote in Art Revue Magazine, Diebenkorn's "expressions of form and color collect and compound the residue of the many impulses it takes him to complete (or abandon) a painting.  No other American artist has kept the covered over decisions which make a painting as Diebenkorn has, and made them his unmistakable style."

Ocean Park No. 79

Oil on Canvas, 93 x 81 inches

Richard Diebenkorn, 1975

Diebenkorn famously said that he intentionally did things wrong at first, in order to set them right later.  For him, the process of making art was a process of correcting, and the correcting was joyful.  No wonder his work embodies the magic of pentimento!  His two charcoals shown above are intriguing for their searching lines. The mark-making shows Diebenkorn's journey of discovery as he explored the motif.  His large abstract Ocean Park paintings (such as the one immediately above) are also layered with shapes and colors that are applied, then abandoned and painted over.  The surface texture of the canvas speaks of the accumulation of time, and of the many decisions that have been made and revisited, over and over again.  I for one like to see this evidence of the painter's struggle--it makes me appreciate the hard fought battle of painting.  Enjoy!