In the 1950’s show What’s My Line four panelists determined guests' occupations — and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, determined their identity — by asking questions that could only be answered using "yes" or "no." Imagine you are a guest on What’s My Line. What questions could the panelists ask, what would you ask yourself? What would your answers be? How many questions would it take to determine who you are and what your narrative is?
Narrative Art & Storytelling
Edouard Manet
Luncheon on the Grass
1863
Oil on Canvas 84x106
Art tells stories. It is as simple as that! From the caves of Lascaux to Pompeii, the Dutch painters, and Caravaggio to our contemporary period, art historically tells stories. And not just through painting. Think of the stained-glass windows of churches with religious scenes depicted. Visual narration has often been the premiere genre in art along with religious, mythological, literary, historical, or allegorical methods.
Allegory in art is an “instance” in a story that is visually told.
Let’s look at this painting by Manet. Ask yourself: what story does Manet’s painting tell us?
Prompt: Write a corresponding story in two paragraphs telling us what the subjects are doing, thinking, feeling, planning? Why is the woman in the forefront unclothed? Why are the men clothed? What is the woman in the background doing? How did Manet use foreground, middle ground and background to tell the story?
David Salle makes large-scale paintings that arrange historical and pop cultural references into enigmatic compositions. Salle has famously invoked 19th-century paintings. His paintings and prints comprise what appear to be randomly juxtaposed and multilayered images, or images placed on top of one another with deliberately illogical techniques, in which he combines original and appropriated imagery. Imagery he uses includes items from popular culture.
At a 2005 lecture, Salle said:
When I came to New York in the 70s, it was common not to expect to be able to live from your art. I had very little idea about galleries or the business side of the art world. It all seemed pretty distant. When people started paying attention to my work, it seemed so unlikely that somehow it wasn't so remarkable. I made my work for a small audience of friends, other artists mostly, and that has not really changed. At the same time, having shows is a way of seeing if the work resonates with anyone else. Having that response, something coming back to you from the way the work is received in the world, can be important for your development as an artist. But you have to take it with healthy skepticism... I still spend most days in my studio, alone, and whatever happens flows from that.
David Salle
Byron's Reference to Wellington, 1987
Tina Barney
Intimate Life Photography
After looking at some of the art above, ask yourself: What is my story? What story can I tell through my art? Could you tell your story in the narrative format creating or using just one “scene”?
Prompt: What story would you like to tell? Can you tell a story using just one scene/composition?
Start by keeping a journal. What is your journal’s title?
Jot down ideas, doodle, make sketches showing how you might tell stories in the one-picture format.