Perle Fine and Polyphonic

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Perle Fine
(Image from wikiart.org)

Fine, Perle. Polyphonic. 1945,
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. 
(Image from Guggenheim.org)

Artist Background
 
Perle Fine was born in 1905 in Boston after her parents had immigrated to the United States from Russia. She had interests in art throughout her early life and later studied at multiple art schools and took classes from other artists such as Hans Hofmann. Wikiart.org describes her as "among the most prominent female artists associated with American Abstract Expressionism." During the late 1930's, Fine became interested in nonobjective art, which the Tate website describes as a type of abstract art that uses geometric forms to convey simplicity and purity. Among her peers were renowned artists such as Jackson Pollock, Williem de Kooning, and Louise Nevelson. Much of her work is abstract with little to no recognizable forms. 

Artwork Background

    Polyphonic, which means "producing many sounds simultaneously," is a work of Fine's that encapsulates much of her style. Fine painted Polyphonic in 1945. During this time, she was influenced by music, dance, and outer space, according to The Art Story website. These influences, although broad, seem to come out in the painting and its title. The authors at The Art Story write about how Fine rejected the association with Surrealists and preferred her pieces to "evoke feelings and moods." While her pieces were often compared to other Surrealist pieces, her wishes to evoke feelings and moods seem more on par with her pieces like Polyphonic. No true, recognizable image is present in this piece, which differs from most Surrealist pieces. Polyphonic is a display of line, color, and forms more so than any concrete idea or subject. 

"Color is always a motivation." - Perle Fine (Quote retrieved from artnet.com) 

Elements and Principles of Design

    The piece's most evident elements of art - and perhaps the only elements - are line, shape, and color.  Besides the few small hints of brown, the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) are used, with a greater emphasis on blue and yellow. Shades of white also make up some of the biggest forms within the piece. In many ways, the shapes present in the piece are so unnatural that they seem to exist as attachments or materials onto the canvas, and not simply oil paints. They do not have a pleasant or orderly geometric form. By looking at the forms, the viewer may try to sort out an image or form that is known to them, in order to make some sort of sense of the work. Or, as mentioned above, the forms may simply cause feelings within the viewer due to their undecipherable nature. Lastly, the line within Polyphonic is a guiding element. Upon my first study of the piece, my eyes mostly stayed on the left half of the painting and the upper right hand side. This, I discovered, was from the guiding white line that stretches from the bottom left corner to the top right section of the canvas. However, other smaller lines, such as the ones that stem from some of the forms, cause eye movement for the viewer as well. 

Relationship to Modern Art Movement

    Though much of Fine's work is classified as Abstract Expressionism, which was a subgenre of the modern art period, Polyphonic does not seem entirely true to this classification. According to the Museum of Modern Art website, Abstract Expressionism was often associated with action painting, which showed erratic movement and used unconventional supplies to produce different emotional effects. Among the artists of these types of pieces were Jackson Pollock and Arshile Gorky. Polyphonic, although amorphous, seems more deliberate than this. Fine's inspirations of music and outer space seem evident in this piece in that the shapes create more of a feeling than a known image. Polyphonic differs from other pieces explored so far on this blog in that nothing personal to Fine seems to be evident in the piece. There are no hints of personal iconography or experiences that she went through in the work. Perhaps the most "modern art" characteristic of this piece is its denouncement of academic, prestigious art. It more neatly exists within the large, diverse conglomerate of styles that came out of the modern art period. 

Reader Questions: What is your opinion of nonobjective art like Polyphonic? Can anyone make art with not true shape or form or does it take an artistic mind to make it? 


Other Sources Used

Guggenheim Museum

The Art Story

    


                


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