Reworking the classics - Vermeer

"Good design is simple; that's why it's so difficult"

Paul Rand

My latest project is a reworking of some Old (and New) Masters. Having completed over 30 glass ‘drypoints’ for sale at the Paddington Art Markets I wanted to try something a little bit different.

The plan is to simplify well-known paintings by well-known artists and create the whole, or a detail, in fused or copper foiled glass. It will be a challenge to change a piece of art everyone recognizes and simplify it, using mainly straight lines, into a workable image. It will almost end up as a cartoon.

I should say at this point that while I am ‘appropriating’ all the works I will fully ‘attribute’ the artist’s original work. I am not trying to ‘copy’ anything; rather I am trying to interpret and create a ‘new’ work in the medium of glass.

Let’s remember now that I am not a trained artist let alone having any graphic design background. However, I hope my technical expertise and imagination will get me through.

Each piece will be framed and accompanied by an image of the original work, some biographical notes about the artist and some technical notes about how the pieces were made.

So, where to start? I debated whether I should begin at A and work towards Z or whether I should start with Lascaux cave paintings and move on chronologically. In the end I am going to kick off with an artist who I have long admired and who was under appreciated for 200 years. I also have a friend who can trace his family line all the way back to Vermeer in 1665 so he might even buy the piece!

The artist is Jan Vermeer, born 1632 and died 1675 in Delft, the Netherlands. He studied under Carel Fabritius (Rembrandt’s most inspired pupil) and entered the art Guild of St Luke in 1653. He was largely ignored during his life and died heavily in debt leaving a widow and 11 children. His genius was rediscovered in 1860, not least by the Impressionist dealers the Frères Goncourt, and there are now about 40 works attributed to Vermeer. Most of them are beautifully posed interiors with self-absorbed people and his handling of side light and shadows is masterful.

Having chosen Vermeer then I figured I might as well start with probably his most famous work – The Girl with the Pearl Earring - most famous because of the Colin Firth and Scarlet Johansson movie.

Vermeer was a great artist but even now some historians are critical of his work because he used a camera obscura that allowed him to project the subject image onto the painting surface. Critics say that this is ‘copying’; I think it is revolutionary innovation for his time. Vermeer’s painting techniques were to layer thin glazes of colour to build up light and shadow, broad areas of flat colour underpainting and ‘alla prima’ (a painting technique in which layers of wet paint are applied to previous layers of wet paint).

Now to the simplification and appropriation. I am looking for strong shapes that I can block out with straight lines so that it can be adapted for glass. First thing to do is to focus in on the face, turban and earring. This means losing her right eye and beautiful profile – my thinking is that to square off her face would lead to a worse compositional outcome. Then block out the main areas of colour so that it will still look like the girl and select the glass to match those colours.

I am using Bullseye glass for this piece though ordinarily I would choose Spectrum because it is smoother and easier to cut cleanly. Having cut all the pieces – just like for a stained glass window or a wooden marquetry work – they are then assembled with a layer of clear on top. 

Into the kiln for a full fuse (up to 810°C) and 24 hours later here is the finished piece before framing. It measures 210 x 210 mm square and framed it will 280 x 290 mm. I could have cut a little more precisely and taken a better photograph but the iridescent black background works really well and I am pleased with the skin tones.