Abstracted Reality

Jane Trotter’s Contemporary Abstract Photography

  • Home
  • Galleries
  • Shop
  • Interior Designers
  • About
  • Blog
  • All Articles
  • Personal Perspective
  • Thinking Abstract
  • Talking Triptychs
  • Exposed
  • In Harmony

“Music is the ultimate teacher” Wassily Kandinsky

Abstract Artist Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Kandinsky (1866 – 1944) is generally credited as the pioneer of Abstract Art. For this visionary and influential painter and art theorist, colour and music shared an inseparable and profound bond.

Kandinsky recounts an extraordinary visual reaction he experienced while attending a performance of Wagner’s opera ‘Lohengrin’ – “I saw all my colours in spirit, before my eyes. Wild, almost crazy lines were sketched in front of me”.

In fact, the influence of music inhabits most of Kandinsky’s artwork. In his ground-breaking 1912 Treatise ‘Concerning the Spiritual in Art’, Kandinsky espouses the deep interconnectedness of colour, shape, form, music, art, spirituality and the soul.

 

Impressions, Improvisations and Compositions

Exploring the connection between art and music even further, Kandinsky went so far as to give generic titles to his abstract paintings based on musical terminology. ‘Concerning the Spiritual in Art’ outlines his three basic classifications:

Impressions – “A direct impression of outward nature, expressed in purely artistic form”

Impression 'Autumn' 1908 - Wassily Kandinsky

Impression ‘Autumn’ 1908

Improvisations – “A largely unconscious, spontaneous expression in inner character, the non-material nature”

Improvisation 'Deluge' 1913 - Wassily Kandinsky

Improvisation ‘Deluge’ 1913

 

Improvisation 'Dreamy' 1913 - Wassily Kandinsky

Improvisation ‘Dreamy’ 1913

Compositions – “An expression of a slowly formed inner feeling, which comes to utterance only after long maturing. In this, reason, consciousness, purpose, play an overwhelming part. But of the calculation nothing appears, only the feeling”

Composition VIII 1926 - Wassily Kandinsky

Composition VIII 1926

Composition IV 1911 - Wassily Kandinsky

Composition IV 1911

Kandinsky painted a collection of 10 ‘Compositions’ between 1907 and 1939. Unfortunately, the first three of these large-scale works were destroyed in the second world war, but from what remains of sketches and photographs at the time, art historians can piece together the concept of an overarching sequence of paintings which were intended to be the musical equivalent of a cycle of ‘Symphonies’.

The ‘Improvisations’ have variously been described as less immense, more dramatic – perhaps more akin to a ‘Concerto’.

While the ‘Impressions’ may have a less musical title, several of them were apparently specifically written in response to hearing particular pieces of music.

Impression III 'Concert' 1911 - Wassily Kandinsky

Impression III ‘Concert’ 1911

Perhaps this painting was inspired by a concert Kandinsky attended? When I look at the work, I can easily image the hustle and bustle of concert-goers filing into a large auditorium, the vibrant colours giving a sense of urgency and anticipation. Maybe it’s because I play the piano, but to me, the large, black, almost triangular shaped block of colour suggests the lid of a grand piano.

 

Synesthesia

Kandinsky’s extraordinary ability to simultaneously experience music and colour so vividly (which he described at the opera performance) comes from the neurological phenomenon called synesthesia.

Kandinsky with one of his large-scale works

From the Greek syn meaning ‘join’ and aesthesis meaning ‘perception’, individuals experiencing synesthesia will have one sensory input involuntarily stimulate a second sensory pathway. For example, when someone hears a cat meow, they may experience the taste of an apple. In Kandinsky’s case, he saw colours when he heard music, and experienced sound when he painted.

Composition VII 1913 - Wassily Kandinsky

Composition VII 1913

Michael T. H. Sadler, the translator of Kandinsky’s ‘Concerning the Spiritual in Art’, states in his introduction to the book, “Kandinsky is painting music. That is to say, he has broken down the barrier between music and painting, and has isolated the pure emotion which, for want of a better name, we call the artistic emotion.”

 

A Personal Note

The more I’ve investigated Kandinsky’s paintings, the more I’ve come to like them, even though many appear challenging and sometimes difficult to understand. But perhaps that’s the point. The less you try to ‘understand’ and ‘rationalise’, the more you ‘see’; not from a representational or pictorial viewpoint, but ‘instinctively’ and ’emotionally’.

Embracing the endless interplay of colours, tracing the developing shapes and patterns and absorbing the entire canvas as one dynamic entity is incredibly rewarding.

Out of all of Kandinsky’s works, I would have to say, this is probably my favourite, ‘Yellow – Red – Blue’ painted in 1925.

'Yellow - Red - Blue' 1925 - Wassily Kandinsky

‘Yellow – Red – Blue’ 1925

Jane Trotter - Creator of Abstracted RealityJane Trotter is an abstract photographer living in Dunedin, New Zealand. Reimagining everyday objects found around the home, Jane transforms them into colourful and dramatic pieces of contemporary art. Her Fine Art Prints are available in sizes A4 to A1.

Exposed #19: Encoiled

Spoiler Alert!  In my 'Exposed' series of articles I reveal some of the secrets behind how I created my images.  If you don't want to know how I made 'Encoiled' stop reading now!

Encoiled - Abstract Art by Jane Trotter

There are two household chores I really dislike – cleaning the shower and doing the vacuuming. I suppose on the plus side, while I’m traversing the house, pushing the head backwards and forwards across the carpet, it gives my mind an opportunity to wander.

On one of these excursions, I began to take notice of the swaying hose with its multiple ridges and curving flexibility. “How could I put this to good use?” I mused. That fleeting thought set in motion several days’ worth of revision, experimentation and manipulation to photograph my stubbornly difficult vacuum hose.

First Attempts

My first attempts left much to be desired. I knew I wanted to present something simple, focusing on basic form and clarity of design. However, this proved to be much more difficult than I initially anticipated.

In this early shot, I’d managed to incorporate the idea of contrasting curves, and there was a little differentiation in colour, but that was about it.

Here, the composition and focus weren’t up to much, but I did like the little splash of colour along the ridges.

With this image, I was starting to get closer to what I wanted – more definition along the hose ridges and greater warmth of colour. By this stage, I’d moved the coiled hose up on top of our kitchen table (I’d tried it in several other locations around the house, but the lighting never seemed to be just right).

The light above the table was relatively strong and had an appealing golden hue. With the assistance of a black piece of card, I discovered I could accentuate the shadows within the ridges to help provide a feeling of depth and substance. So, camera in one hand, and card in the other, I persevered.

Slowly, but surely, things were starting to come together as I began to refine how I could create and control the colours.

Success!

After multiple attempts on several different days, I finally got a shot I was happy with.

The source image for ‘Encoiled’

Through what was a lengthy process, I’d learnt how best to utilise the black card and how to manhandle the hose into stark, contrasting and opposing shapes.

'Encoiled' - Abstract Art by Jane Trotter

‘Encoiled’ – the final version

In the end, I decided to flip the image horizontally as I felt, compositionally, this new orientation worked better. A little judicious cropping off the bottom and the usual basic enhancements completed the final presentation.

Perseverance is the Key

Pursuing this image felt, at times, like I was stalking an elusive big game creature – while I knew the majestic beast was hidden somewhere, I couldn’t quite distinguish its features through the undergrowth. But with perseverance and determination (and I’ll admit, a good degree of pride that I wasn’t going to let myself be defeated by a vacuum cleaner hose!) I got there in the end.

When it comes to matters of photography – persistence is a virtue!

Jane Trotter - Creator of Abstracted RealityJane Trotter is an abstract photographer living in Dunedin, New Zealand. Reimagining everyday objects found around the home, Jane transforms them into colourful and dramatic pieces of contemporary art. Her Fine Art Prints are available in sizes A4 to A1.

In the Mind of a Triptych Judge

I recently had the privilege of being one of three judges in the 2020 Nelson National Triptych Salon, hosted by the Nelson Camera Club of New Zealand. I thoroughly enjoyed looking at the 466 entries and am heartened that the art of creating a triptych is alive and well in this country.

It’s often the nature of a big, national competition like this, that feedback to individual photographers can be limited to an ‘Accepted’ or ‘Not Accepted’ result. So, in an effort to provide some general feedback to participants and prospective entrants in the future, I thought I’d offer some observations and tips to help improve your triptych making.

At the end of this blog post, I’ll also be showing you the top four triptychs in the Salon with accompanying commentary on the winning images. The authors of these images have very kindly allowed me to share their wonderful creations with you in this article.

What do you want to say and how are you going to say it?

As with any single photograph, a triptych must communicate something to the viewer, and the way in which the three panels combine to achieve this is the key.

Is an emotion, message, theme or story enhanced or developed by conveying it within three different panels?

How successfully can the triptych be understood and processed as a cohesive and unified visual experience?

Do the three panels have more meaning and context when viewed together rather than apart?

Are the three panels balanced in terms of subject matter and visual continuity?

Are shapes and patterns expanded upon across the three panels?

With a bit of luck, these fundamental questions will encourage you to think about your choice of subject and how you can approach, present and craft your material (whatever it may be) into a compelling and creative triptych.

In the Mind of a Triptych Judge

Alright, time for some observations and ‘dos and don’ts’ from the Salon. I want to stress these are just my own personal perspectives, ideas and criteria, but I hope they’re helpful and will give you an insight into my judging process!

Read and Follow the Rules

Please, please, please, make sure you read the competition guidelines and follow the instructions! This may seem pretty basic advice, but there were triptychs which I really enjoyed and would have accepted were it not for the fact that they didn’t comply with the rules. The two biggest offending areas:

  • having the background act as a 4th image
  • having the panels touch or overlap – you must have some separation between your panels

Choice of Background Colour

Be very careful with your choice of background colour – something neutral is best for most triptychs and even black can be very effective. Unfortunately, some backgrounds were too intrusive. Essentially, you don’t want the background colour to draw attention away from the panels, or clash with the colour palette of the triptych. Keep it simple.

A Single Image Divided into Three

There were many beautiful images which worked extremely well as a single image, but which didn’t work as successfully in the triptych format – the splitting into panels did nothing to ‘add value’ or enhance the original image. In some instances, the cuts were distracting.

If you’re not totally convinced that by cutting your image into three parts, you can convey your story better, or communicate your vision with greater clarity, don’t do it.

1 + 1 + 1 = 3 – It’s a Triptych – Right?

Well, yes – mathematically, but it doesn’t always work for a triptych. What do I mean? You may have taken three shots in a particular location or area, so thematically or geographically, all three images have a connection in that regard.

However, I don’t believe you can put three images together of a location and call it a triptych without there being some additional compositional or structural connection between the panels. The images still need to ‘flow’ and have something to visually link them together for the viewer to comprehend and process what they see as an actual ‘triptych’. On several occasions, it felt like three separate and distinct images were being placed next to each other and unfortunately, these didn’t function well as a whole.

All Creatures Great and Small

The Salon included many triptychs of various birds, animals and portraits of people. With this type of subject matter, to really make your triptych stand out:

  • try to tell a compelling story
  • show a sequence of events which are unusual or unexpected
  • photograph your subject from a different and creative angle of view

For me, three very similar ‘portraits’ of the same subject which don’t have these extra ‘creative’ factors aren’t enough, neither is the subject doing essentially the same thing in each image with minimal variation going to be strong enough to gain an ‘Acceptance’.

An extra word of caution – try not to have the background in each image too busy and/or different; it will distract from the subject.

Flower Power

While depicting a flower (or even insect) in its growth cycle lends itself well to the triptych format – it has been done a lot! My feeling is that in a competition setting, it will need to be exceptionally well done, both technically and creatively, to achieve success. Something with a slight twist on this theme, and a different viewpoint added into the mix will help to elevate the triptych and set it apart from the other entries.

Photo Journalism Style Triptychs

If you are creating a triptych of a sporting or civic event, the usual rules apply. Try to avoid just putting three images of the same event next to each other which have no linear or sequential connecting factor. Aim to show a developing story with your panels where all three of the images are required to explain or depict the whole proceeding. While each image of the triptych, in isolation, may convey the ‘flavour’ of the event, the three images, in combination, ideally should provide greater overall context, clarity and understanding of what has taken place.

Technical Competency

Technical competency is not the highest priority for me; I rate creative vision and communication far higher. However, the images do need to be of a high standard. Any glaring deficiencies will lesson your chance of making a good first impression and hinder your chances of success.

Different Triptych Layouts

I was really pleased to see some experimentation and a wide variety of different triptych layouts used by the Salon entrants. There was a good mix of vertical, horizontal and T-junction placements as well as some images being cut on a diagonal. Some triptychs contained panels of different sizes and some panels were also placed in a staggered, step-like design. There were even circular and oval panels.

When I assess a triptych’s composition, I look for how the panels are used to enhance the subject matter or story, and how successfully their arrangement provides a unified and coherent visual experience:

  • how easily can my eyes move from image to image in a storytelling narrative?
  • does the presentation draw my attention to a particular area of interest?
  • do I get ‘stuck’ anywhere in the triptych which prevents me from enjoying the whole experience?
  • are the panels balanced and weighted evenly?
  • how are patterns, shapes and colours echoed across the panels?

Good for a Laugh!

Humour goes a long way. I’m certainly not averse to authors injecting a bit of humour and light relief into their triptychs. Several of the entries in the Salon put a big smile on my face, either with their ingenious interpretation of a subject, depiction of an entertaining and amusing story, or presentation of a person or animal in a rare and comical situation.

A creative or playful title can also be a big plus.

The Winning Triptychs

Let’s now take a look at the winning triptychs from the Salon. Once again, I’d like to thank the authors for their willingness to make these images available for this blog post.

These four triptychs really hit the mark and embody the elements which myself and the other judges were looking for:

  • creativity
  • succinct and clear communication
  • clarity of vision
  • engagement and interest
  • a high degree of technical competence

My accompanying commentary for each triptych will hopefully shed a little more insight into why we selected these images for the top awards.

‘Lake Ruataniwha Abstract’ by Jay Drew APSNZ – Best ‘Around the Corner’ Category

‘Lake Ruataniwha Abstract’ is an excellent example of ‘less is more’, with the author skilfully relying on alignment, balance and correct proportion to bring the whole triptych together. There are several corners to be navigated as the viewer moves from panel to panel, the buoys receding and advancing in an easy regularity. With its minimalist, graphic qualities, clever pattern development and ‘out of the box’ thinking, ‘Lake Ruataniwha Abstract’ is a testament to the author’s creative vision.

‘Fortune Teller’ by Karen Moffatt-McLeod LPSNZ – Best ‘Monochrome’ Category

The three images in ‘Fortune Teller’ are not only excellent black and white portraits; more importantly, they present a developing and engaging storyline. With an inspired and ingenious use of depth of field, the author takes the viewer on a mysterious journey. Present, but not in focus, the fortune teller looks inwards, finding her inspiration. Gaining greater clarity in her future insights, her expressive hands come more to the fore, until finally, in the third image, she is crystal clear, eyeballing the camera, ready to deliver her prognostications.

‘A Brain Storm’ by Helen McLeod FPSNZ GPSA ARPS – Best ‘Weather’ Category

‘A Brain Storm’ is a wonderfully creative and very clever interpretation of the ‘Weather’ category. There’s a bit of everything; pouring rain, brooding thunder clouds and crackling lightening. All are judiciously presented and carefully balanced within the three panels, especially the swirling leaves. With a deft touch of storytelling thrown into the mix, maybe there’s a glimmer of hope as the ‘brain storm’ rages and then passes, with clearer skies hinted at on the distant horizon.

‘Midnight Train to Georgia’ by Dianna Hambleton LPSNZ – Champion Triptych

A beautiful, complex, compelling and engaging triptych, ‘Midnight Train to Georgia’ poses many questions for the viewer and makes us wonder. Each of the women inhabit their own panel and project their own story and emotions. One clasps a suitcase with a querying, anxious look, another’s eyes are averted in quiet contemplation, while the third hurries into the carriage, pensively stroking her chin. The three panels serve to highlight our protagonists’ isolation and inner worlds, even though they are only a few feet apart. In a haunting twist, the almost ghostly reflections in the glass add yet another dimension – spectral observers also separated from their worldly counterparts.

Final Thoughts

There were many great entries in the Salon and it was fantastic to see so many authors putting forward their work.

I hope the Nelson National Triptych Salon continues to be well supported in the future, and becomes a permanent fixture in the New Zealand photography scene for many years to come! Kudos to the organisers for running such a well-oiled and professional Salon.

Jane Trotter - Creator of Abstracted RealityJane Trotter is an abstract photographer living in Dunedin, New Zealand. Reimagining everyday objects found around the home, Jane transforms them into colourful and dramatic pieces of contemporary art. Her Fine Art Prints are available in sizes A4 to A1.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 15
  • Next Page »

Transform Your Everyday with Abstracted Reality

Receive exclusive subscriber discounts and all the latest news

Take your pick…

“Music is the ultimate teacher” Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Kandinsky (1866 - 1944) is generally credited as the pioneer of Abstract Art. For this … [Read More...]

Exposed #19: Encoiled

There are two household chores I really dislike - cleaning the shower and doing the vacuuming. I … [Read More...]

In the Mind of a Triptych Judge

I recently had the privilege of being one of three judges in the 2020 Nelson National Triptych … [Read More...]

Pictures at an Exhibition – the Symbiosis of Art & Music

Perhaps one of the finest examples of the link between art and music is Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an … [Read More...]

An Evolutionary Viewpoint – One thing leads to another…

As the saying goes, “one thing leads to another”. I find this very true when it comes to my … [Read More...]

Ansel Adams and 88 Keys

Ansel Adams is perhaps best known for his stunning, black and white landscape images of the American … [Read More...]

Exposed #18: Cascade

I always like to challenge myself in my photography. Especially with triptychs, it can be extremely … [Read More...]

Exposed #17: Solar Flare

I always like to keep a selection of the images I take from a photo shoot. Firstly, I’ll choose the … [Read More...]

‘Migrant Mother’ by Dorothea Lange

Sometimes a photograph can stop you in your tracks – you’re almost spellbound and its power deeply … [Read More...]

Exposed #16: Back in the Fold

With today’s abundance of technology and amazing gadgets, it’s easy to forget about the humble piece … [Read More...]

All material on this website is protected by copyright.

No content may be reproduced without express written permission from the author.

Contact Me
Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2014–2021 Jane Trotter · All Rights Reserved

Be the first to read a new article when it comes out!

Sign up to my newsletter and I'll let you know when I've penned another.
x