Leung On Yu(Ashley) talks on "LydekkerAColumnoftheArmyWorm1880-90"by Lydekker ,

1) INTRODUCE THE DRAWING IN GENERAL TERMS

•What is the title of the drawing?
The title of the drawing is "A Column of the Army Worm1880-90".

•What is the name of the artist?
The name of the artist is Lydekker.

•What is the year the drawing was done?
It was done in 1880-90.

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

•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?)
The subject matter is a picture about forest.

•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? )
It record accurately record the appearance of the forest.

2) DESCRIBE THE DRAWING IN DETAIL

•How is line used? What does it do/express?
In the front of the picture, the line is very dark and detail because the veins and the sharps of the leaves are very clear. The line of the worms is jerky that make it seems moving and flowing. In the back of the picture, the line is very soft and light. It cannot show the detail of the leaves and the line is ambiguous.



•How is tone used? What does it do/express?
In the front of the picture the tone is more darkness and the shadows are shown on the leaves that can express the layers of the leaves. In the back of the picture, the tone is more lightness and color of the trees seems to merge with the background. It could express the different layer of the picture which may contain three layers from front, middle to back. Also, it can let people feel the far and near of the trees.

•What can you say about shape and/or form in this picture? What is the effect?
The form in this picture could show the three-dimension in the forest. The size of the leave is quite large and the tree is taller at the front, but the size of the tree is smaller and shorter at the back. We can see that one of the leave can cover half of the tree. The effect of the different size could let people feel the depth of the picture.

•Is texture a feature of the drawing?
The texture in this picture is smooth and the direction is coming to the front as the shape of the worm is small and seens moving to the front.


•What can you say about the composition of the drawing? What is the effect of this type of composition on the overall drawing?
The composition of the picture would fairly imbalance that the left hand side has some leaves but the right hand side has a big tree and some glasses. The arrangement of the elements would let people feel the left hand side is heavier.

•Is rhythm important in this picture? If so, say more about it...
The rhythm is quite important and strong in this picture as the artist use many leaves and tree in this picture. And, there are many thin wickers in the road. The repeated use of the leaves and wickers could create the movement and pattern to the picture.

•Is the picture balanced? Explain...
The picture is balance as the all the sides contain some leaves and worm and trees.

•Is perspective used in the picture? If so, describe the way that the illusion of three-dimensional space has been created.
The aerial perspective is used in the picture. We can easy to see the back and front in the picture, and the objects in the front is more clear then the objects at the back. Therefore. it illuslate the three-dimensional space that the depth in this picture is very clear to see.

•Is the picture harmonious? If so, in what way?
This picture is quite harmonious as the picture is full of plants. Also, there is no other object that irrelevant in the picture. So, all the leaves, threes, glasses match and very natural.

•Are there any strong contrasts in the picture? Say more...
There is a strong contrast in the front and the back. The front is quite dark and the back is quite light. Also, the road of the worm is the lighter and white in the whole picture.

3) INTERPRETATION AND EVALUATION
•What is the mood of the drawing? Justify your answer using information from your responses above
When I look at this picture, I feel a little bit lost. There are 2 reasons. First, we cannot see the end of the road as the curved lines of the road is continuous and the curved line may let me feel the road is very winding. Second, there are many leaves placed at the front of the picture so it would let people feel that there would have many obstructs in the future.


•What does the drawing express? Justify your answer using information from your responses above
I think the drawing want to express the armyworm is coming. The leading role in the picture is the worm as the worm contributes most of the position in the picture and it is very details and vey strong movements toward the leaves.it can imply that they are coming to the leaves. It seens that the leaves and plant would be distroyed by the worm in one day. 


•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.

I think this work is moving as the road is made by many short curved wickers. The road can let people imagine it is a moving river.