Chan Hoi Ling BoccioniStudyforStatesofMind(ThoseWhoGo)1911

1) INTRODUCE THE DRAWING IN GENERAL TERMS

•What is the title of the drawing?

 “ States of mind, those who go”

•What is the name of the artist?

      Umberto Boccioni

•What is the year the drawing was done?

In 1911

•What is the medium?

The medium is oil on canvas

•What is the subject matter or general theme of the work?

 It is a drawing about the mind of artist.

•Does the drawing have a particular purpose?

The drawing aims at express the feeling and mind of the artist. It is a scene of the train station. We can see that it is a mix scene with train station, passengers and smoke. However, it is not simply a sketch. The artist draws it in an abstract way.

2) DESCRIBE THE DRAWING IN DETAIL

The drawing is full of curved lines. Although they are in a same direction, it is cross and produce a feeling of confusion and messy. It is quite clearly that the lines are drawn from the right to the left with power and energy. It invokes the sense of motion. It releases strong feeling of stressful.

The tone of the drawing is dark and murky. It is mainly black, grey and brown in colour. There is all cold colour. It makes people feel depress and stressful. You cannot feel any happiness. And this reflects the mind of the artist is so down. He just want to express and release his messy, confuse and stressful mind though

In the drawing, the artist uses geometric shapes to implicate the train station and the smoke. There also are some figure through the smoke which is in cylinder and triangular shapes. As all the things is not in their original shape, it gives a weird feeling.

The texture of the drawing is crude. It is not in a smooth and delicate way. For the composition, it is mainly some smoke hide the train station and the passengers. Through the smoke, we can see the human figure and the station. They are all in geometric shape. Therefore, it makes us feel firm although it is not very clear. Besides, the platform of the train station is not showed, but we can still feel it. Everything is frozen in a motion state. The time is frozen, people is frozen and the station is also frozen. Every motion is hold and you can therefore feel the energy, the power and the state of artist’s mind.

The rhythm is very important in this drawing as the train, the human and the smoke are all in rush rhythm. You therefore can feel the stress and confusion of the mind of the artist and experience the excitement of the artist through his vision.  

It is quite a strong contrast in the upper and the lower part of the drawing. We can quite clearly see the face of the passengers while the platform is not allowed to see. It is hided under the smoke and the curved lines.The drawing is not harmonious and it somehow quite conflicting. It is because everything is not stable in the drawing. The passengers are not stably sit in their seats. It seems that they are nearly crashed outside the seats.

3) INTERPRETATION AND EVALUATION

It is a hard mood in this drawing, as the tone of the painting is dark and gloomy. Lines are heavy, thick and cross. The figures concentrate in the upper part of the drawing. All these things provoke depressed feeling. however, it is a thought-provoking drawing. After you see this drawing, you will feel a little bit heavy. You will think that life is not so easy and simple. There will not be no change or challenge in your life. Sometimes, you may feel confuse or stress of what you are facing. Peace of your mind is not always can exist as everything is keep moving including your mind just like the drawing. Therefore, I think it is an excellent drawing.