Unit 13 Artist Profile-Tony Robert-Fleury

Tony Robert-Fleury. (1 September, 1837 – 8th December, 1911).A French painter, Fleury known predominantly for his historical scenery based works.

The topic for the composition below, is the "release" of the insane from their chains-a frequent practice in the 18th century was to control the members of society, that were deemed "insane". Patients were treated not as humans who needed help, but as rabid, savage creatures who needed to be chained to walls, restrained/controlled 24/7-violently-using both chemical and physical- and left to squander in dark, cold, damp cells, on beds of dirty, flea infested straw. Deemed never fit to see the light of day, or the rest of rational European civilization again.

Addional there is vital importance, in noting how Fleury's painting depicts the gender bias and feminizing of psychiatric illness. Look at how none of the inmates being released, are men. They're all women. Which implies that women, not only are automatically susceptible to psychiatric illness, but that to psychiatrically ill, is the affliction of the weak and effeminate.

The women in the image that aren't ill, are hidden away in the background of the painting, submissive and meek. The utopian 18th century lady-is retrained and refined, they express feelings of horror and sympathy for their sexual counter parts, who lie sprawling on the ground and grovelling at the knees of their liberators. Unkempt, savage behaving and feral-the furthest thing from a lady of the time.

And the men? Fleury has represented them as being rational, sensible members of society-strong and robust in both mind and body-they don't suffer from the predictability of being weak-both physically and mentally-and are able to control all aspects of themselves.

The work below was selected as a form of social commentary/interpretation by the artist, and was produced in a very literal format-no abstraction here(!) The piece is a very striking scene, with many figures are all displaying a spectrum of both emotional  and bodily exhibitions. Perhaps Fleury's reasons, for treating the subject matter, of freeing the madman, in a literals sense, is that his intentions, were to have a direct message to the onlooker. When one looks at the work, you are essentially obtaining a 141 year old perspective into the liberation of the mad. A window into how the mad were represented society, and interpreted by the artist.

In other works by Fleury, he hasn't produced works that explode the liberation of the mad as such, but rather, he has depicted scenes that display a subjects of a smile field. In the piece below are profound elements of, chaos, collapse, hysteria, destruction and instability-both socially and personally. Other artist have also depicted scenes that emanate the above elements. One such artist is Benjamin West, in his 1770, Oil on Canvas, Death of General Wolfe.

The arrangement of the painting has been divided into liberators and onlookers- the left hand side ordered and busy-a tangle of liberators and terrified onlookers and the right-a disperse of near dumbfounded patients. The arrangement of the painting has aptly suited the contrasting arrangement of the subjects within. The conflict between the subject means that the painting as a whole is unified, the external conflicts between parties, results in dramatic scene in which captures audiences even today.

In order to produce this painting, Fleury would've used oil paints, cleaning oil, rags, oil painting brushes. The scenario or setting , that I am inferring, in which this piece was produced in, was from a window or sidewalk that very close to incident(s) occurring within the piece. A front row seat, for yet another act, of the performance that is psychiatry, and the 200 year or so battle society, has had-in terms of patients, approaches and attitudes. Painting this piece is a setting as described above, resulted in Fleury being able to capture the conflict, in format that would act as a glimpse to the past, a perspective of the present and as a forewarning to future onlookers.

To produce this piece, Fleury would've-presumably had to go an observe the incident as it happened-and the incident presumably would've been a monuments occasion. One obtains an impression that Fleury discovered were and when such a incident was occurring-as these things, often were a opportunity for the public to gawk and gander, to stare and shake heads. From the look of the image-one implies that work could've taken months or even years. (Considering the size and scale, the details hidden away)

When overserving this piece, one obtains the impression of a scene which resonates with imagery of both social and personal lunacy-and an aura of irony echoes through this piece. These patients are transgressing from chemical docility, to being socially controlled. Manipulated into the "ideal 18th century lady" mould.

Perhaps it is the facial expressions, of some of the released inmates, that reflect in my own internally regressed reactions to being in a situation that triggers my own psychiatric troubles. The way these woman are facially expressing themselves, echoes in how I am responding under the many masks of refinement, which I sew on-the moment I wake up.

Never revealing my true self-the image everyone else observers is not my own image, but a reflective façade. Society shall glimpse, what element's of myself, that I fully consent to them viewing-and nothing more. That element of control is like a corset- every aspect of my identity is contained, restrained, and controlled to a degree, in which conforms to my level of social acceptance.

My feelings about this painting are like a scar-a constant, painful and permanent reminder, that echoes in my own sufferings. This painting could exhibit emotions/phobias of, anxiety, mercy, terror, liberation, society, entrapment, chaos, collapse, hysteria, freedom, destruction and instability. This is a painting that is not quiet and content, but frantic and conflicting.

Toby Robert Fleury, Pinel Freeing The Insane From Their Chains, 1876, Unknown Media

Unit 13 Visual Research Sheets

 These two visual research sheets. were completed using collage, metallic ink/ paint, oil pastel, colour pencil, charcoal pencil, stick and ink, fine ink pen. A collection of visual research, objects and studies produced by myself, the focus of these two sheets, was to explore and produce visual and object based representations of my own psychiatric condition. As two overall pieces, these visual research sheets are consistent in their quality but also they evidence a wide and diverse range of materials, processes sand techniques-as well as an expansive interpretative range of collected items. Through the completion of these two sheets, one has obtained a much more broad idea of how psychiatry can interpreted using seemingly unrelated objects- and in a fashion that most certainly isn't negative, stigmatic, or socially backward. Also with the completion of these sheets, one now has a series of prompts for future sketchbook work surrounding interpretations of my psychiatric state.

Unit 13 Artist Research Sheets

The first contextual research sheet completed, was an interpretative reproduction of the "Strawberry Thief" print by William Morris. This contextual study was completed using Gouache, Ink and colour pencil.  My logic for this sheet not being a direct copy, is that Morris's work is renowned for being incredibly complex. Instead I took the clearest elements of the original, and added some of my own-in a similar style and colour to the original. Bright and with a unique twist on the original source, I do enjoy, what was 12 hours of graft.  If I could reproduce a piece of Morris's work, I would select a less frantic piece to produce a study from. However this piece was chosen not for ease of composition but as a challenge-how would I interpretably approach a piece I didn't much like the look of?

But from my personal perspective- I don't enjoy looking at Morris's work, the intricate patterns and detail of his work feels-to me-to be too ornate, overcrowded and is a tangled and tight composition, that eerily echoes the middle class aspirational Victorian household. A suffocating example of how the Victorian's wallpaper reflected their views of proper social conduct and behaviour.

Despite being a heavy influence in the Arts & Craft Movement-which was a dominant process-alongside occupation therapy with asylum inmates. The two topics focused on directing suitable inmates, to work that was therapeutically beneficial as well as an opportunity to evidence their talents.

The second contextual sheet completed, was two studies of Georgie O'Keeffe's early abstract works. These pieces were completed using charcoal and watercolour. Why I was drawn to these works rather than the infamous interpretations of her macro flowers, is that they are intriguing to look at, and both of these studies as being interpretive works of the "monsters" behind my mental illness. Physical manifestations of my psychiatric demons, which are made of smoke, ash and shadows. The phantasmal result of their vicious voices, violently fuelling the fires of agoraphobia and social anxiety. If I could complete these studies again I would complete them on One A2 stretched sheet- rather than on two separate A3 sheets.

Unit 13 Mind Mapping Melomania

Throughout this project-as well as at the beginning, I have both started-and will be continually adding to several mind maps-at the beginning of my sketchbook. These mind-maps explore the topic of interest within my FMP, as well as artists I can potentially explore, as well as subtopic which come under the umbrella term of "Mental Illness". Although some of the maps below, are more detailed than others, the maps that I feel are substandard will be added to at a later date when the relevant information becomes available/discovered.

Unit 12. Live Brief. Mother & Child. Woodcutting Wonders Workshop!

Woodcutting is another for of printing from a relief block. Similar to lino cutting, the image  is made by first drawing out a rough outline in pencil-on a block of MDF- which happens to be the most suitable for carving curves and lines out of. Once your outline is draw out, the  outlines are cut away using three curved wood carving tools.

Noting that wherever one carves away lines-these areas will be printed white in printing process. Also important to note that the prints will get progressively better as the on the first print the MDF absorbs nearly all of the ink- so a patchy and faded print will result. It is recommended that one produces around 8 prints-with each print getting progressively better than its predecessor.

As well as these two factors-and a slight ill favour to woodcut based prints-s that the ink cannot be washed off-so if one uses a single colour for the first set of prints the relief block cannot be cleaned of that first ink. This was something that I, only released at the end of the first 8 prints. Ah. a fickle mistake to make indeed.

Once your blocked has been designed, carved an inked up, you then place a blank sheet of the relevant sized cartridge paper on top-and roll a water based ink roller-a CLEAN DRY one-over the above side. And the pressure applied, will transfer the ink from the block underneath to the side of the sheet facing it! Huzzah! You now have a print in the colour you applied to the MDF relief block.

Despite a water based ink being used in this process-woodcut printing is still a messy matter so aprons are highly recommended-and gloves if multiple formats of ink are used in the same print. Although in terms of time, woodcut prints are a fairly simple, swift and speedy process-once the time consuming caring process is completed.

In terms of producing the actual prints it doesn't take too long to get from ink rolled block to finished print.

Unit 12 Live Brief. Mother & Child. Mono-Printing Magic Workshop!

The method of mono-printing that was used in the mono-printing session, was rolling out a layer of water based ink onto a marble slab, the sheet of paper was then placed lightly over the top and the image was drawn on the side of paper-facing upwards. Noting that any pressure applied on the drawing side would be attracted and printed on the inked side of the paper. In a way that iron fillings suspended in paraffin would be drawn to a polarized magnet. Once the image was drawn out I then proceeded to rub over the paper surface with a clean paint roller, then peeled the paper away to reveal the imprinted image on the back of my paper.

Despite a water based ink being used in this process-mono-printing- is still a messy matter so aprons are highly recommended-and gloves if multiple formats of ink are used in the same print. Although in terms of time, mono-printing a simple, swift and speedy process, with it  taking less than five minutes to produce a print. Easy sounding, no?

Unit 12 Live Brief. Mother & Child. Incogniton Intaglio

In the afternoon of the 5/5/2017, I completed an Intaglio print from a secondary research image as a reference. The image I selected was deliberately in a minimalist presentation. I choose  to produce a print with this image because, I felt that it would be successful and effective print-and I was correct in my thinking so.

Intaglio is method of printing where-oil based Intaglio ink-which is contained within large tins, not tubes-is applied to an aluminium sheet-in a coat as thinly as possible-using the edges of a card scrap. (The smooth thin layer of the ink is necessary for a successful print.)

As an oil based medium, Intaglio ink will stain-just as oil paints do so. So during the preparation of an Intaglio print, one must take protective precautions by wearing disposable gloves and an apron. Removing all jewellery is advisable, as is not wearing your Sunday best during Intaglio printing-it is a time consuming and messy process. And I do not use "messy" in a light way either.

Once you are well protected and you've scraped the ink over the metal sheet, the next stages of the Intaglio process can begin. Intaglio is a form of printing, where the print is produced by scraping away ink from the covered plate. And the design drawn on the plate is made, using cotton buds for the line work and damp cotton rags for the removal of larger areas.

For the removal of the ink, using the damp material, one does so in a circular fashion. The damp state of the cotton rag and the paper on which one applies to the plate-and then through the printing press-is also vital is it helps in producing a cleaner print.

Once your design has been scraped and rubbed away, you place the plate, facing upwards and a sheet of damp paper, on top of it. On the top and below these two items are layers of paper, and on the top and bottom of those layers, are thick fabric sheets. Once the materials are properly layered, its then time to put this through the printing press!

When the entire sandwich is pressed out, in the opposite direction, one peels the plate, away from the damp sheet-and on the sheet-the Intaglio print has been produced!

Insert image(S) of your own intaglio print(S) as well as analysis of outcome(s)