Four Views on Landscape

Animation. Cartoon contrasting the landscape painting styles of Constable, Turner, Monet and Van Gogh.

Cartoon representations of four artists (Constable, Turner, Monet, and Van Gogh) illustrate their different approaches to landscape painting. Paintings, styles, and colours are contrasted. Extracts from Beethoven’s 'Pastoral Symphony' accompany the animation sequences.

Keywords

Animation; Teaching aids; Art history; Artists; Landscape painters; Landscape painting; Constable; Turner; Monet; Van Gogh

Additional Description

The idea for Four Views grew from an approach she [Sheila Graber] had tried earlier in Michelangelo. This time, however, instead of concentrating on an individual she thought it might be interesting to explore the possibilities of taking a number of artists and illustrating their different styles by contrasting them with one another. Sheila made the film using cels and cut-outs, plus the occasional dissolve, superimposition and mask effect. It took four months of spare time working to complete and the music – extracts from Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony – proved a great help in suggesting ideas for the action. [‘Meet the Producers, Movie Maker, June 1977, pp. 465.]

FOUR VIEWS OF LANDSCAPE – 1976 4 minutes Made for fun and for use in art lessons, it portrays the differing approach of four artists to the theme of Landscape, Constable – ‘Down to Earth’ Turner – ‘Dramatic’ Monet -‘Impressionistic’ and Van Gogh -‘Emotional’. [‘The Films of Sheila Graber 1974 to 1977’, Animator’s Newsletter, Issue 5, 1983, http://www.animatormag.com/archive/issue-05/issue-5-page-30, accessed June 9 2015.]