The Patriots Flashcards
Composition
The viewpoint of the painting is low down and close up. This means that the viewer is at ground level with the image. This helps to create visual impact and draws the viewer into the scene making your feel like you are part of the scene.
The compositional technique Rule of Thirds has been used in the painting Patriots. This can be seen to show two thirds of the image is the sky in the background and one third being the grass in the foreground. This draws the viewer’s eyes into the composition and places more emphasis on the main subject matter which is the three gang members and their dogs.
Materials/ Techniques / Media Handling
Oil paint is the only type of paint that allows the artist to achieve the strength of pigment.In ‘Patriots’, this can be seen in the vibrant pigment of the red caps and white vests stand out against the dark tonal ranges.This creates contrast in the painting and draws your eyes to the main characters.
Howson starts his paintings by darkening down his canvas with a red/brown wash with a very large brush to colour the entire canvas. He can then remove lighter areas with a rag to create highlights.He then uses a large brush to loosely knock in the darkest tones. This technique allows Howson’s paintings to feature great tonal variation, with dark shadows and bright highlights.His canvases are always large scale and this technique allows him to start fairly quickly before he adds any colour.
Subject Matter/ Imagery
The main subject matter of Patriots is football hooliganism. This can be seen by the imagery used in the painting . The three main figures in the painting ‘Patriots’ all have green scarves along with dangerous, harmful weapons. One of the men is holding a wooden baton and holding savage looking dogs. This leads us to believe that these men are in fact football hooligans who are looking for trouble.
The painting suggests violence and aggression and we can see this because of the imagery used. One of the figures is about to throw a broken bottle. This suggests the figures in the painting are about to attack someone.
Mood/ Atmosphere
The mood of the painting is unsettling.We can see this from the painting because there is a dark, stormy sky that looks almost apocalyptic . This suggests an uneasy atmosphere and that something bad is going to happen.
The body language of the main characters suggest a violent atmosphere.We can see this in the painting where one of the men is aggressively pointing beyond the canvas whilst restraining a rabid dog who is baring its teeth. This suggests the men are looking for trouble
Style
Peter Howson is known as one of the New Glasgow Boys. This was a generation of bold, figurative painters studied at Glasgow School of Art in 1980’s often taking subject matter from working class Scotland. In ‘ Patriots’ this violent scene was seen by Howson in the east end of Glasgow after a football match. It can be said that the three main characters are football hooligansas they are wearing football scarves and throwing glass bottles.
Peter Howson is known for his often disturbing and controversial work. His style of painting is very distinctive, mainly due to the way he exaggerates the features and bodies of his subjects. He does not try to make his paintings look ‘pretty’. His paintings are generally ‘ raw’ and often feature working class, masculine figures. In ‘Patriots’, Howson has kept with this theme. He painted three large, muscular, masculine figures whose faces appear distorted and angry, suggesting these men are powerful and violent.
Scale
Peter Howson always paints on a large scale. The large size of the painting ‘ Patriots’makes it look impressive adding to the visual impact it has on the viewer.
Distance and perspective is created through foreshortening.In ‘Patriots’,the figures get smaller towards the background. This emphasizes the size of the man’s trainer at the front of the canvas and makes it look very big and imposing.This creates volume and depth in the painting as one figure appears closer to the viewer the other figures appear further away.
Form
Form has been created on the dogs and menthrough the use of dramatic shadows and highlights and careful blending. Form can be seen in the strong and powerful dogs’ bodies.This suggests that they are dangerous.
The shape and form of the faces of the men is contorted. Their contorted faces suggest the men are shouting and have lost control of themselves. This is effective as it conveys that they are very harmful
Tone
Tone is used to create form. This is so important in the Patriots as the main characters are huge muscular figures. Howson has used dark tones to make the muscles stand out.This suggests to the viewer that the men are big in size and very strong and powerful. He has also used dark tones on the bodies of the dogs , making their muscles stand out showing that they too are extremely powerful.
Howson uses dark tonesthese are used in the background of the painting. This helps to convey the unsettling mood/ atmosphere of trouble in the painting ‘The Patriots’.
Line
Howson creates leading lines using the tense lead of the dog and the pointing finger of the lead man. This is effective as it tells us that the men are set on inflicting violence on a victim within their sights.
Peter Howson uses Line to structure his image. The three main figures are placed in a line across the canvas.This gives a sense of unity between the characters and draws your attention from one side of the canvas to the other where one of the characters is pointing in the distance suggesting where these characters are going to next.
Colour
Peter Howson uses colour to draw the attention of the viewer to the main characters.The use of the colours red and green in their clothing give contrast. These two colours are opposite on the colour wheel and stand out against the dark background of the painting drawing your eyes to the main characters.
In the painting, 2/3 of the men are all wearing red hats. Red is an advancing colour. This use of an advancing colour draws you eyes to the centre of the painting as the two men with the hats create balance between the man in the middle who is not. Additionally, the fact that red suggests danger tells us that the men are harmful and aggressive.
Influence
Peter Howson was influenced by witnessing the brutal and personally harrowing realities of combat as he was the official war artist during the Bosnian civil war in 1993. Howsons paintings have since been founded on visions of chaos and atrocity and populated by a cast of grotesque scenery and characters
Peter Howson was influenced by injustice in society, many of his works have been influenced by sectarianism. Peter Howson is from Glasgow where football sectarianism is a huge cultural issue. In ‘Patriots’ we can see the characters are football hooligans as they are all wearing the same coloured scarves and are holding weapons such as broken bottles and baseball bats as if they are looking for trouble.
Peter Howson was influenced by German Expressionism. In particular the work of Otto Dix. Peter Howson is known for exaggerating proportions of the human body, similar to Dix’s exaggeration of large hands and elongated bodies. In Patriots, Howson has given the three main figures unrealistic, large, grotesque and distorted bodies which make them come across as threatening and angr
