Inside Out – how the interior scene creates fresh perspective in Art
From the simplicity of Van Gogh’s bedroom, to the bold mix of colours and shapes in Kandinsky’s famous dining room, the interior scene has been imagined in art for centuries. First born in Europe near the end of the
17th century, interior portraits began as detailed and technical replications of a particular room. They were created almost as a pictorial record, or inventory, of a particular room in a particular time. One of the earliest examples of this illustrates the library of Samuel Pepys in London, dating from around 1693.
Gyrth Russell - The Old Boathouse - Sold at Anthemion Auctions
During the 18th century, it became fashionable for the wealthy to commission portraits of the interiors of their homes, as a form of timeless evidence and memento of their tastes and possessions. During the 19th century, the fashion became popular with Royalty, allowing the general public a glimpse of the lifestyle and home comforts for which the doors would otherwise have remained closed.
The early interior scenes captured only a room and its contents, though as time went on, they began to include evidence and hints of both human occupancy, and the activities that may have taken place within the space, such as a discarded sketch pad or a pair of muddy boots. In this way, their nature began to subtly alter from what could previously have been viewed as a mere static recording. Some artists began to include people in these images, capturing not just a space, but a scene, a single moment in time with its own unique nuance.
John Smith Willock - The artist in her studio -
Sold at Anthemion Auctions for £880 Throughout classic and more modern art, the range of images that an artist may decide to capture in an interior scene is diverse. A recurring theme of the interior however, is the intersection between indoor and outdoor space, with artists particularly drawn to the play of sunlight through a window, and the effects of the unique light filtering into a room at a given moment on its mood and contents. An interior drama is created by the way the light renders the colour and shape of solid objects, depending on their proximity, the time of day, and the way that certain areas move in and out of shadow.
Despite their stillness therefore, inherent within the interior scene is the suggestion of movement and change, the passing of light and time, and the singular lives and dramas that they have witnessed.
The particulars of a scene often capture very ordinary or domestic moments, from a man cleaning his boots at a table, to a family around a fire or a forgotten cup of tea on a windowsill. It is precisely this domesticity, the simplicity of the observation, that often renders an interior scene so fascinating. Frequently without the level of drama and grandeur that might be associated with a sweeping outdoor landscape for instance, the interior scene offers us something different; a privileged intimacy - an invitation to slow down for a moment - to absorb the beauty in the everyday.
Anthemion auctions in Cardiff offer free valuations of watercolours, oil paintings and prints, as well as jewellery, silverware, ceramics and much more, every Friday between 10am and 4pm. Their Fine Art auction on the 24th of November will contain a wide array of watercolour and oil paintings, which can be viewed online via www.the-saleroom.com. They are currently accepting items for inclusion to all future auctions, and can be contacted with any queries on 029 2047 2444 or anthemions@aol.com