Out On An Insulting Limb When You Photoshop?
August 31st, 2007 by FineArtRegistry
When in Photoshop, proceed with caution.
Open Letter To Artists (From An Art Critic) - Part 38
James Abbott McNeill’s portrait of Arrangement in Gray and Black, Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Van Gogh’s Starry Night – only a few of the paintings that have been used in various ways, commercially and otherwise, to promote a myriad of products. From well known sources – Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, wine producers, national newspapers, to name just a few you – they have been used in a fashion that would make these artists turn over in their respective graves.
Joan Altabe, author of Open Letter To Artists (From An Art Critic) – Part 38, pleads with those tempted to use Photoshop in their creations not to bastardize someone else’s art. In the article she points out the many occurrences that have taken place. For instance, using Da Vinci’s painting Mona Lisa sporting a Breathe Right strip across her famous nose and Whistler’s mother with a spit curl protruding from her bonnet in the Sunday morning comics. Another painting by Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, was used in such a way to be just the opposite of the idea the artist was trying to convey, isolation and human beings that were anonymous. On the contrary, the offending party used famous stars in the faces of the diners, the complete opposite of the point he was making. Talk about bastardizing! The article goes into great detail with the tale of some of the other incidents that would be downright laughable if in the process they weren’t such a disgrace to the offended artist.
Joan Altabe is a resident critic at www.fineartregistry.com. She uses her sharp wit and humor to present her series of open letters to the artists of today. Be sure to read her most recent offering at the Fine Art Registry website.
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