Exploring Curves and Gradations

I spent some time last weekend at the Museum of Modern Art enjoying their beautiful collection. It was my second visit this fall so I decided to choose a personal theme or 'filter' for observing the art works. I have found that this approach to browsing through a gallery that I am able to visit more than once is a good exercise. It encourages me to examine works that I might not spend much time on otherwise as perhaps the subject or the color is not of interest to me.

So, for this visit to the museum, I focused on how artists used curves and gradations in their work.

Here is a work by George de Chirico entitled The Serenity of the Scholar. (I apologize for the angle of the photo).

 This caught my eye because of the effective use of gradations in the pose of the hand on the cylinder...

 and in the glasses resting on the table.

Upside Down Ada by Alex Kata, painted in 1965, has some wonderful curves in it.

Upside Down Ada

 Notice the hair - both for the curves and the gradations....

and, of course, the curves that create those rivoting eyes.

It would be impossible to visit the museum and study curves without one of the most famous paintings housed at the museum - Van Gogh's Starry Night.