kupka fugue in two colors

Frantisek Kupka

The Fugue of Two Colors

Combining Movement with Combining Movement with MusicMusic

• Frantisek Kupka (1871-1957) was one of the most influential Modern Czech painters

• Contributed to the development of Abstract Art Movement

• Studied in Prague, Vienna and Paris• Was puzzled with a dilemma of combining

painting, which is a static medium of delivering a message and music, which is a dynamic medium that cannot be pictured as an image.

Fugue of Two Colors

• The idea of the Fugue of Two Colors is not completely abstract

• On one side coming from – Movement of a ball of red and blue color

• On the other – Listening to Music of Wagner

• Many sketches have been made until the final masterpiece could be embedded on canvas with oil paint

Initial Draft with the Final PieceThe world of movement contrasting the world of

abstract thinking

Amorpha: Fugue in Two Colors. (1912). Gouache and ink on paper

Replica of Fugue in Two Colors: Amorpha, 1912. (1946). Gouache, ink and pencil on paper.

Initial Draft with the Final Piece

• What can be noted right away from those drafts?• What is similar to the initial draft?• What is different?• Which one is more appealing?• Do you notice the movement of the ball

transforming into music?

Development

Amorpha: Fugue in Two Colors. (1912). Gouache and ink on paper.

Second Draft of the Fugue

• What is different about it?• What makes you differentiate the two?• Why the lines are so thin in this draft?

The Costume of a Clown


Third Draft of the Fugue

• Isn’t this draft more playful? More Life-like?• Can you hear the music, when you look at it?• What is the difference between the 2nd and 3rd drafts?

UNIVERSE

Amorpha: Fugue in Two Colors. (1912). Gouache on paper

Fourth Draft of the Fugue

• Is the 4th draft deeper than the 3rd?• If so, how is it expressed?• Which one is more appealing?

Gives more freedom to the eyes? Gives more freedom to the thought?

Imagination


Returning Back & Polishing

What has changed? Any new techniques added?

Geometry of Circles and Ovals


Reshaping

Do the shapes of circles produce sounds? What are you hearing?

Initial Draft 6th Draft

Crater


Upward Water Flow


Three Players Chess Game


immortem

Replica of Fugue in Two Colors: Amorpha, 1912. (1946)

Conclusion

• Extraordinary image is hard to forget• Just like music… it is hard to hear it again,

exactly the same way as for the first time• Kupka achieved a balance between the fine arts

and performing arts – colors and movement coming to sound like a melody of his soul, in the Fugue of Two Colors: Shapeless.

kupka fugue in two colors

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