Elizabeth Hiatt and Dr. Jon Green, Humanities; Professor Peter Everett, Visual Arts
Historically, there is a significant correlation between art and music. A study of music from the medieval square neumes of Gregorian Chant to the abstract designs of contemporary Minimalism reveals a significant correlation to the visual arts. Likewise, paintings such as Piet Modrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie and Whistler’s portrait Symphony in Gray and Pink acting not merely as an image, but as a representation of music, actual or imagined.
The observations I made during my preliminary research confirmed the need for a historical overview of the relationship between art and music. Most references were limited to ways that one particular individual or group mixed art and music, while other books briefly mentioned relatively superficial connections, such as how many artists have painted instruments. My goal was to obtain and share a broad understanding of both the history of art and music connections and also the scope of further possible connections today. I hoped that by observing the experiments of artists or musicians as they expand over time and place could bring greater meaning and significance to this subject, enlightening those who never knew there was a connection, and those who misjudged the extent of it. I also hoped that this would help me understand and explain my own experiments as an artist and musician painting musical themes.
The broad nature of the thesis was my greatest challenge. More research unfolded an almost overwhelming amount of information. I decided the best way to maintain “the big picture” and to control relevant details was to categorize my research historically and analytically. I divided my historical timeline into three chronological sections and focused on patterns that seemed to be related to time periods. Organizing the analytical section was not as intuitive. At first, it seemed that any way I tried to divide the topic into sub-topics, there were always too many examples that fell into multiple categories, thus making an outline that was hopelessly complex. After more research and thought, I finally came across a division that worked. I showed five different approaches to combining art and music; comparing, treating them as one and the same, using them as mediators, using them as mutual models, and using them as mutual subjects. Once I was able to organize my information in this fashion, the relationship between art and music became much more clear for me. I found that I was able to better understand my own experiments with painting musical themes. As an objective researcher, even clear categories would have still left far too much information to absorb and summarize. This is where my personal experiences and preferences as a visual artist and musician proved invaluable. I learned to decide when to elaborate and when to refer the reader to other sources according to my own developing tastes and interests. By doing so, I found that I was able to explain my music-themed paintings with much more clarity and confidence.
The research had a clearly positive effect on my series of paintings Shaping Musical Phrases. I learned that the long, smooth visual lines I had been painting for years were an expression of my attraction to lyrical music. I understood why some of my experiments (such as writing out notes and putting lines through them in connect-the-dot fashion) were not successful. My studies of choirs, ensembles, and their music inspired me to make a “visual chorus” with layers of translucent paintings. I was able to defend various approaches I took to conveying music visually (such as deciding on a musical title after I painted the piece… or using a musical title at all) by relating to artists who used similar concepts successfully. I connected with many artists (such as Robert Motherwell) and musicians (such as Earl Brown) as I read their thoughts and observations on the relationship of art and music and their approach to creating one or both. I found that the set-up of my paintings followed a concept of Kandinsky (who created a system of “floating forms” to defy gravity) and Schoenberg (who wanted to defy “tonal gravity”). Studying a wide variety of ideas encouraged and inspired my own, such as creating translucent paintings with the effect of cathedral stained-glass. Extensive research combined with consistent, thoughtful experiments fed creativity.
Eight diptychs of translucent layers of overlapping mylar and acetate were suspended with fishing line from the 5th floor handrails of the Harris Fine Arts Center so as to be visible on both sides on the fourth floor. The first part of each diptych held three to six layers of mylars sheets. Each sheet had a single shape painted with acrylic ink and when placed over one another, the translucent quality of each sheet set some shapes in front of others. The second part of the diptych involved watercolor washes on one to three sheets of acetate. Multiple sheets were superimposed in a similar fashion. Because they were hung from the outer handrails of an open building, a person could see both sides, depending upon the where he stood in the building. Complications with the policies of the building prevented me from providing the corresponding music for each painting as planned. Yet, I imagined that as in the work of Whistler, titles might be enough to inform those at least vaguely familiar with Debussy, Bach, and Rachmaninoff.
Two months later, these same pieces were later combined with four large textured oil paintings against the walls of the Harold B. Lee Library along with two Discmen playing the music that corresponded with each piece. I realized that the inclusion of the actual music proved to make the work a more literal combination of art and music into one. Those who had felt “something missing” in the last show seemed to find a greater sense of completion with the presence of the actual music. Because I listened to as well as imagined the music while I painted, both approaches seem equal in validity, though different in directness.
This work has been a fruitful academic and creative exploration—the culmination of my undergraduate experience. I believe the thesis and art shows have made the combination of art and music a more stimulating and accessible topic of exploration for the BYU community. I look forward to adding a greater depth and audience to this work in the future as I focus on a few details from the research and as I continue to improve my artistic skill and sensitivity.