Lam Lok Pui (Teresa) talks on "BoccioniStudyforStatesofMind(ThoseWhoGo)1911"

1) INTRODUCE THE DRAWING IN GENERAL TERMS

•What is the title of the drawing?

 "States of Mind, Those Who Go"

•What is the name of the artist?
Umberto Boccioni

•What is the year the drawing was done?
Year 1911

•What is the medium? (ie the materials used to produce the picture, for example charcoal on paper, pen and ink etc)
Charcoal and chalk on paper

•What is the subject matter or general theme of the work? (eg is it a figure drawing, a map, a portrait, an autobiographical work, a picture about nature, a drawing of the city etc?)

It is a drawing of a scene from the street, which may come from the artists’ mind.

•What is the purpose of the drawing? (eg Is it a diagram that explains how something works? Does it record accurately record the appearance of something? Does it express the artist's emotion or memory? )
The drawing can clearly show the artist’s mind. The messy lines, black and white colour,
the sad face of the man, can show that the artist seems angry or maybe have some complicated feelings in his mind.

2) DESCRIBE THE DRAWING IN DETAIL
•How is line used? What does it do/express?

The picture has a lot of messy lines which are thick and rough and also has some strong and light pressure lines;

 the lines are also very jerky which makes the feeling of movement. The movement of the lines may represent strong wind and it may also show the emotional feeling of the artists, especially the lines that the artists drew on the men, makes a very sad feeling. And the messy lines also show the confusion atmosphere.

•How is tone used? What does it do/express?

The tone in the picture makes the overall very dark, grey and messy,

it makes the whole picture become gloomy and desolate.

It also makes the background becomes blurred.

•What can you say about shape and/or form in this picture? What is the effect?

It is quite difficult to talk about shapes in the picture, it is because the heavy lines have dominated the back scene and it has distoryed the whole picture. However, we can still see the shape of the houses, the clouds, the lamp poles and the faces of two men.  

At the top of the picture, the houses are not in regular shapes, they are bent and becoming smaller and seems like disappearing.

This makes a feeling of making a whirlpool and the houses were sucked into the whirlpool.

Although , we can only see separate houses at the top, the houses are up and down, which have made a shape of a hill and the artist has shaded that part in dark colour, but not drawing a shape of hill, which makes a bumpy feeling of that part.

Also, there is another whirlpool like shape at the right hand bottom of the picture, this can make people think of strong wind inside the picture or think of a machine (maybe a bicycle) that a man was riding on.

•Is texture a feature of the drawing?

Yes. The lines of wave were drawn from light to heavy pressure and the colour is from light to deep,

 which make the texture of the whole picture looks very rough.

And in the faces of the men, there are very light lines and this give a harsh and dry feeling.   

•What can you say about the composition of the drawing? What is the effect of this type of composition on the overall drawing?

The components of the picture include the front surface – the lines of waves, the scene at the back, which includes the hill, the houses, clouds, lamp pole and two men.

At the top one-third of the picture, the objects of the house, hills and clouds are linked together and some were piled up. That is what the artist wants to bring out, a confused, unpeaceful atmosphere, a bumpy hill and the other objects, turn out a sorrow and depressed for the viewer.

•Is rhythm important in this picture? If so, say more about it...
Yes, it is especially important for the artist to use a lot of curves to show the waves of the wind, that's the way to show a very powerful movement over the picture. And all the heavy line curves are in the same movements, which makes the wind blow to the same direction.

And we can see that the artist is repeating the lines of the waves and it has a same regular movement to the same side.

Also, we can see the houses are repeating, but most of them are not regular in the shapes.

•Is the picture balanced? Explain...
The picture is not balance. It is because when I put the picture far from my eyes, I can see that the tone has divided the picture into two parts; the left side is quite light and the right side is dark.
The darker side makes the atmosphere messier than the left side.
Also, at the top one-third of the picture, the objects are not in regular shapes (especially the houses), there are more houses at the right hand side and they are piled up.

•Is perspective used in the picture? If so, describe the way that the illusion of three-dimensional space has been created.

Yes, it has made a cubic picture from the horizontal movement of lines and the objects, like the houses, are becoming smaller and smaller, make the objects at the back are sucking into a whirlpool.

When you look deeper inside the picture, it has a feeling to suck you inside the picture.

The movement of lines gives the most illusion of three-dimensional space. The lines are drawn from light to deep colour, which construct a three-dimension.

•Is the picture harmonious? If so, in what way?
No, the picture is bringing out a sorrow and rough feeling. From the heavy thick lines that the artist used, are already made the whole become messy and complicated, it give me a confuse and nervous feeling when I first see the picture. And also the sad human faces and the moon make the atmosphere become very sorrow, seems like they have experienced something bad or maybe the artist himself want to express his sad feelings and make the picture so messy and loose.

•Are there any strong contrasts in the picture? Say more...

We can see a contrast from the waves. The waves at the left is lighter and loose and have nature feeling;

however, at the right hand side, the waves are very heavy and deep, which bring a intense movement, just like losing control.

3) INTERPRETATION AND EVALUATION
•What is the mood of the drawing? Justify your answer using information from your responses above

The mood contains a lot of emotions. The uncontrolled lines, the worried and sad human faces brings out that something bad has been happened, just like the war is beginning in their living place and they need to move away from their old town.

 The moon at the left-hand corner representing the mid-night, and mid-night can also show the sorrow mood than a sunny morning.

•What does the drawing express? Justify your answer using information from your responses above

As Umberto Boccioni is a Futurist and he played within the history of Modernism, what he drew is about the gone of the past, gone away things and he centered on drawing the portrayal of movement , speed, and technology, which is called the Futurism movement.

In this picture – “Those who go” is also representing the gone. The reson why the artist drew this picture is because "his aims was to vitalize matter, which is served as the expression of emotion and states of mind", (from Umberto Boccioni Biography, http://biography.yourdictionary.com/umberto-boccioni). So every lines, tones and shapes from this picture is involving different feelings and emotions inside. 

•In your opinion, why is this work interesting/moving/ clever/ imaginative/thought-provoking/......?  Choose the adjective(s) that best fit(s) the work, and then justify your conclusion in terms of specific features and qualities of the drawing.
The work is moving and imaginative and gives me an overall mistery feeling.
It is because the picture gives people a view of two layers - which is the bottom top and the lower part. From the top part, the thick,thin and messy lines which is presented by heavy and light force; although it gives a power of enegertic, but the the right side, we can see that the lines that Umberto Boccioni drew was very heavy and thick; the strong and powerful lines which make a sorrow and sad situation, and I can feel the artist maybe using a ireful manner to draw the lines.
And in the lower part, it gives me a mistery feeling is because of the unclear picture of the lower part. The picture is very rough and messy, some of the objects (like the houses,  lamp poles, the trees and clouds) are not in well structured and were being twisted into a mess; just like the picture behind the thick lines is going to diappear and gone away and Iet me want to find out more of the story behind.