[Who is Sharaku ?]Ⅸ syntactic device for harmonization in art

                                [ Daidozan Dohyoiri]                            

                                          top  MOA museum collection

                                          bottom  Takamizawa's Taisho Reprint

MOA museum in Japan has one of the last works by Sharaku.

I have seen the reproduction of this horizontally oblong picture several times without paying so much attention.

Acording to the commentary the sumo-wrestlers are watching the child sumo-wrestler in the ring.

As an illustrstion there are several mistakes: both sides of the ring are missing; the  poles are too narrow to hide the back of the sword-carriers.

 Recently I found  this Takamizawa's Taisho Reprint of [Daidozan Dohyoiri] online

and realized this is a masterpiece when it is seen as three pieces side by side.

Obviously the three pictures are not to be connected but to be put side by side like the reprint.

Three pannels look very harmonious in spite of separated pictures because they are made of the same circle-arcs, which the model can confirm us.

                            Shraku  [Daidozan]  left  circle-arc model

                            Sharaku  [Daidozan]  left  arc model

                            Sharaku  Daidozan]  center  circle-arc model

                            Sharaku  [Daidozan]  center  arc model

                            Sharaku  [Daidozan  right  circle-arc model

                            Sharaku  [Daidozan  right  arc model

Puting the three circle models together, we can check the relation on the basic structure level.

I have shown that Sharaku always used the largest circle and the second largest circle to make basic structure.

As we see no conection of the two circles(red brown and yellow)between the three panels it is obvious that each work was structured separately.

The use of unit arcs creates sense of harmony.

Great artists start using the grammar unconsciously.

Some of them eventually reach the level of syntax.

Modern art era was the age of syntax.

This century is the time of analyzing the digital images of the all masterpieces in art history.

Then, I hope, we can restart making unique artworks.

AI chess player beat the human champion.

The chess champion became less heroic.

But  the maker of the AI is the new champion.

[Who is Sharaku?] Ⅷ syntactic device can Identify who painted

Nine block copies of ”Sumo-e" by　Sharaku have been neglected.

They exist only as photographs because they are lost by the Great kanto Earthquake.

Besides some people think they are fakes.

As the digital images are available I try to identify them by the syntactic structure.

                               Sharaku  [Jinmaku]  sumou-e

In the circle-arc model the most slow curve( brown ) can be seen on the lower part.

                          Sharaku  [Jinmaku]  sumou-e  circle-arc model

To  see the pivots easier I made green circle-arc model.

                             Sharaku  [Jinmaku]  green circle-arc model

Then I made the three circles deeper green and thicker to see  four pivot points easier.

Next model is orange red circle-arc model

                  Sharaku  [Jinmaku]  orange red circle-arc model

On this model I noticed that the five different sized circles (purple, green , orange , red and red ocher) intersect at a point on the left.

Let me make models of another sumo-e[Raiden] to find the same device.

       Sharaku  [Raiden]                            

This is more ornamental.

                                    Sharaku  [Raiden] circle-arc model

The same circle is used to make the stripe pattern of the left person's kimono and the outline of the right person's kimono .

                           Sharaku  [Raiden]  blue circle-arc model

                          Sharaku  [Raiden]  a pivot with four circles

The four different circles (purple,green,orange and red brown) intersect at a point ( large black cross).

And the green circle has three pivots.

Here is  a whole body portrait by Sharaku which has a typical syntactic devices.

                    Sharaku  [Yamasita Kinsaku] detail  circle-arc model

There are three devices which can be found in the sumo-e.

a) The largest brown circle intersects at the point(blue cross)bwith the three smaller circles(pink,green and orange red).

b)The largest brown circles and pink circles make many pivots (Yellow crosses and light blue crosses).

c)The pink circle which I made brighter has six pivots.

The pivot device is  also used for [Osiokuri-hato-tusen-no-zu (Namiura first version)] by Sori(Hokusai), about which I wrote previous time.

    Sori( Hokusai)  [Namiura first version]

The four circles (yellow, green, red and light blue) intersect at the point(pivot) on the upper left.
This is the same technique seen in the two sumo-e.

This sumo-e series turned out to be very important experimental works to establish Sori's mature style.

 I assert that Hokusai under the name of Sharaku executed one hundred sixty works more or less.

Picasso's geometrical spirit in 1932 invented syntactical device

                         Picasso  Reclining Nude series in 1932
Picasso is said to have written the date of execution in the bottom side of the picture for the convenience of future researchers.
The catalog numbers which are based on the date can be used as the titles of the picture.
I arranged the digital images online by the title of [Reclining Nude] .
The digital image is a new medium of art in this century.
To study Picasso the titling is important because each work  is different experiment.
Each has unique design.
[Reclining Nude 32-042] which has solid balance like archaic sculpture seems to be made of simple scale.
I start with this picture as it looks obvious that Picasso used a sort of device like circle- rulers.

Picasso  [Reclining Nude 32-042] / circle-arc model /scale

The model shows that  three compositional techniques are used:
1) The design is made of limited circles. (scale)
2) There are points on which more than three circles intersect. (pivot)
3) More than three  pivots are lined. (pivot lining)
I have already explained about these three techniques.

                                   Picasso [Reclining Nude 32-042] circle-arc model
As I recognize another technique in this simple model,
 I made the largest circle(red) thicker.

                                      Picasso [Reclining Nude 32-042] largr circle-cross model
A circle with the horizontal and vertical diameters can make a unit which I call circle-cross unit.
The extended circle of the left foot can be moved down vertically to match the extended circle of the right foot .
The circle of the left arm can be moved to match the neck.

                                      Picasso  [Reclining Nde 32-042]  pink circle- cross model
Pink circle-cross units also are used  the same way.
The circle of the right thigh can be moved to match the left leg.
And sliding it to the left, it can be matched to the circle of the left arm.
The circle of the left upper arm can be moved to match the back side of the head.




In the next picture  the limbs are exaggerated.

                             Picasso [Reclining Nude 32-053]

                     Picasso  [Reclining Nude 32-053]  circle-cross model
Four different-sized circles (blue. orange, green, purple) make the basic  structure.
The largest light blue circles are the most important for the basic structure.
I made one sky blue circle deep colored to make it easier to see.
All the blue arcs are within the triangle which is made by connecting the three points (the top right corner, lower right corner and lower left corner).
Two intersecting points of the blue circles (pivots) are outside of the frame and one is on the right side.
One of the third largest green unit and two forth largest purple units are lined on the horizontal diameter of the deep blue unit.

                      Picasso [Reclining Nude 32-058]

                      Piasso [Reclining Nude 32-058] circle-cross model

                     Picasso  [Reclining Nude 32-058] /circle-cross model/lined 7 units


The basic one of the largest red circles is shown in thicker line.
Seven units of different size are lined along the horizontal diameter of  this largest circle-cross unit.
Picasso could have been great architect.
Renaissance artist could produce not only painting but also ornament, sculpture and architecture.
Understanding all the types of art is essential to become real artist.

[Reclining Nude 32-079] reminds me of gemstone: every part is packed like a bud.

    Picasso  [Reclining Nude 32-079]/ circle-cross model
The large red units make the basic structure.
All the red arcs are within the triangle that linked top right corner, bottom right corner and bottom left corner.
I colored the same red circle-cross unit in two hues (brownish red, vermilion)for explanation sake.
The two brownish red circles touch at a point: the horizontal diameters are connected (shown within the parallel purple lines).
On this horizontal line a blue unit and two yellow units are placed.
There is another pair of red circles which intersect( within the pallarel black lines).
.


The upper body starts opening like a flowering bud.

                       Picasso [Reclining Nude 32-080]

                       Picasso [Reclining nude 32-080]  circle-cross model

                      Picasso [Reclining Nude 32-080] seven different units lining


The four circle-cross units (sky blue, red, orange, purple)make the basic structure.
I made one of the five light blue circles thicker, which is basic.
The vertical diameter of the basic circle is placed on the center of the picture frame.
Three smaller units (a pink unit and two purple units) are on the horizontal  diameter of the basic circle.
The second largest red circle's tangent line is the same as the vertical tangent line of the basic circle.
One orange unit is on the vertical diameter of the red unit and another orange unit is on the horizontal diameter .

                 Sharaku(Hokusai) [Otanikoji]


Here in Japan they say that Picasso's works are like children's painting.
The majority of Japanese does not have any doubt that Sharaku was an amateur painter; a No-actor.
It seems for me that most Japanese in these days cannot see a painting formally.
We do't say that we see Manga but that we read Manga: painting is an illustration.
The lyric is more important than the sound in popular song for most of Japanese.
After finishing Japanese version of this blog, I happened to find You Tube Video [Picasso 1932: Love, Fame,Tragedy at Tate].
As the title suggests ,
any online articles about this show are  about Picasso's life and the paintig is by product of the great artist's life.
None of them are referring to formal aspect of Picasso.


Modern Art was one aspect of Modernism but unfortunately there were no serious art critics who could  equal structuralistic scholars like Jacobson or Chomsky.
I have previously classified four levels of seeing; 
1) Seeing with referential knowledge,
2) Seeing symbolically,
3) Iconic seeing,
4) Formal seeing.
Formal seeing  is innate act without referring any knowledge, which can be the base for the other three ways of seeing..
On this level the imaginative power works in the same way for Picasso and Einstein.
Art is significant because it is created on normative level.

Klee, Vasarely, Stella made the same type of polygonal mosaics (Geometrical classification of abstract art )

                                                   Klee [Village on the rocks], 1932
                                                   Vasarely [Quami], 1950
                                                   Stella [Irregular polygon], 1965
All the artworks can be classified into one system according to the geometrc structures of the work.
The upper three works are polygonal mosaics.

                                                 three works in the Irregular polygonseries
I introduce a new model called proto-shape: a polygon made of definite number of line segment with free angle and free size.

.

Both look like overlapped polygons. ( This is a seeing of iconic level.)
But on perceptional level, the two shapes can be seen as two  polygons to share sides.
The left is made of a triangle and a six- sided polygon and
 the right is made of a triangle and a eight- sided polygon.
A concave polygon  can easily be identified by paying attention to the concave.

There is only one proto-shape for any polygon without concave but several proto-shapes for concave polygons .

  The left shape can be smaller.

These are the same as proto-type.


 Concave polygons can be classified.
A triangle does not have enough sides to make a concave.
A quadrilateral can make only one concave.
Polygons with more sides can be made by paying attention to the concaves and the convexes.

        polygonal table




I used to buy many art magazines and Auctioner's catalogues in Strand for this type of Vasarely's works.
Now I find more digital works than my collection .
Without extending the polygonal table I made the nine- sided polygon by cutting off two concaves on a five- sided polygon.

The other polygons can be found in the table.

                                               polygonal distribution diagram
                                               mechanical compositional method
Vasarely seems to have used some algorithmic method.
The below illustration shows such imginary process.
1)  Draw  five six- sided polygons surrounding a five- sided polygon.
2)  Add concaves on the polygons.
3)  Move some shape parallel.


Stella and Vazarely used polygons as motif.
The polygon distribution diagram below shows that Klee used the same method.

                        klee [Village on the rocks] polygon distributio diagram
There are several many-sided polygons: three eight-sided polygons(vermillion) and three seven-sided polygons(brown).
None of them have remarkable feature as main role.
They look like the back ground of the surrounding convex polygons .
So I draw auxiliary lines to show the likely hidden parts of the polygons.

                        klee [Village on the rock]  complimentary line model
In this way I can eliminate all the concave polygons.
The convex polygons which are made with cardboard can be overlapped to make the design.
There are one hexagon and the rest are pentagons, quadrilaterals and triangles.
This basic design was constructed firstly
 and the secondary surface structure was  made by extending and overlapping the surrounding polygons.
The structural model below confirms my asumption.

                         klee [Village on the rock]  structural model of intersecting polygons
The  overlapping shapes make three dimensional illusion.
For example the two polygonal corners  are lined on a vertical line near the center, which look like steeples
and  the parts on the lower right look like eaves structure.


Finally I make two models for harmony and balance: scale model and line extension model.

                        klee  [Village on the rock]  scale model

                              

As a line segment has not only the size but the angle, I extend all the line segments

                       Klee  [Village on the rocks] extension model
The extended lines  intersect at many points, which makes the structure balanced.


The diagram of modern art movement by Alfred Barr shows that all the movements until 1935 converged to two types: non-geometric abstract art and geometric abstract art.
Most followers took this diagram as a model to fablicate more movements for extending the network of the diagram.
The importance in this diagram is that the final stage is formal: artwork became geometrically analyzable.


Without any analysis we can recognize that these three works belong to the same genre.
It seems that they were made without any direct influence though the makers had the notion of making abstract art.
The world of internet overflows with art-images which themselves are new medium of art.
But geometrical patterns can easily be classified on the level of seeing shape.
The same type of works  can be collected to study the difference of syntax.
Creating new artwork means inventing new syntactic device.

Klee's musical serialism in linear composition

Many artists who claimed that they were influenced by Klee's work understood only symbolical aspect of his painting.
Some modern composers like Boulez and Stockhausen showed interest in Klee's formal technique.
Klee did not express musical feeing but composed structures like a composer.
Though there are many writings about "Klee and music", words cannot explain the syntax of art.
I am going to use visual grammar for showing Klee's syntactic devices.

                                                          Cezanne/Picasso/Klee
Obvious stylish progress can be seen in these three paintings.
In Cezanne's landscape with buildings the linear structure is dominant.
Picasso neglected perspective and natural color, and the space looks like a structure made of cardboard.
Klee made a mosaic of quadrilaterals; all the geometric elements are quantifiable.
I made a network model.
The model neglects the size and angles of the line segments.

                     Klee CastleHill  line network diagram
These illustrations are the equivalent at the network lebel.
Naming the intersection as "dot", each point is expressed as D (N) [N=3, 4, 5: N is the number of line segments].
There are six D (5). ten D (4) and twenty D (3).
Adding the elements of size and angle, the design is made.


Any artwork is classifiable at this level.


A composition with straight line segments needs a new model to explain the syntactic device.
Any line segment can be considered to be a radius with a pair of two circles which centers are the two ends of the line segment.

                                  Klee  Castle Hill  linear scale model
The linear scale model suggests  that the balance is due to three devices;
1) The extension of some line segments pass through the dots.
2) Some circles form pivot structure.
3) Some dots are alined on the horizontal lines and vertical lines of the frame work.

                                  Klee  Castle Hill  linear scale diagram
Placing one end of each line segment on the center of concentric diagram, we can have horizontal line segments to compare.
The diagram also shows that
1)  there are twenty different size.
2)  the number of the line segments of the same size.

                                  Klee  Castle Hill  Colored line model
In this painting the size of the line segments are important.
The colored line model confirmes that the effect is based on the schematic design.
There are several regular patterns like:
1) a chain of three same sized line segments: the shortest pink ones and vermilion ones.
2) a chain of two same sized line segments: lightest pink, vermilion, yellow, yellow ocher.
3) three light blue ones are attached at a point.
They are fragment of decorative pattern.
Decorative art is not different from painting; the difference is a degree of regularity.


This model can be constructed with colored straw: cutting straws in size and connecting them with strings.
In such a model the angles and the positions are changeable but harmony remains the same.




Now we know that Klee used serial technique in 1929.
This is almost the same time when Schoenberg invented twelve tone music.
It does not mean that there were any relation between Klee and Shoenberg.
Both music and art are based on innate universal grammar.
Plato said " I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning."
My assumption is that the ability for sight precedes ability for hearing.
To understand any design we must have pattern-recognition ability beforehand.
The degree of sensing outside phenomenon is not analogue but digital.
Artist's expression  therefore becomes digital.
Digitaly expressed sounds and shapes form a scale.




After knowing that artwork is made according to the grammar, it is obvious that we cannot establish art theory without examining  the syntactic level of artwork.
The critics in the last century are like people arguing about classical music without reading the musical scores.