Overlapping / Transparency

Jacques Villon [Gaston Duchamp], (1875), La table servie

Graphite and black ink, squared in graphite. Source: Metmuseum.org

 

Overlapping is a device for creating an illusion of depth, in which some shapes are in front of and partially hide or obscure others. A transparency is situation in which an object or form allows light to pass through it.  When they are combined, two or more forms overlap, but they are all seen in their entirety. When used in drawing Overlapping/Transparency can accomplish an interesting ambiguity in the special pattern – what is in front-what is in back? It also shows the idea that just because we don’t see something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. A piece of fruit in the bottom of a bowl is still there, even if we don’t see it.  For some artists, seeing everything that exists is true reality (Drury & Stryker, 2009).  Show all or some overlapping/transparency, depending on how busy you want the composition or parts of the composition. In Still Life before an Open Window: Place Ravignan, Juan Gris combines opaque and transparent overlapping, as well as contour continuation and fragmentation.

Favorite Things, Overlapped / Transparent. 2011 Joan Kresek
All images are copyright protected and may not be copied, saved, downloaded,
reproduced, or otherwise used in any way without my written permission.

Still Life before an Open Window: Place Ravignan, 

Juan Gris (1915). OIl on canvas. Source: Philadelphia Museum of Art