Fang mask, Gabon, Wood, 26 in (66 cm) highBENDING, TWISTING, STRETCHING, AND PULLING
Distorting a form, a figure, or a face is one of the most dramatic and powerful statements an artist can make. Many approaches are possible.
• Facial distortion
In much tribal art, images of the human head are subject to gross distortions. Eyes are often fantastically large, while teeth or noses may be prominent or nonexistent. The effect can be deeply disturbing, even frightening. Modern Western caricaturists routinely distort the head, exaggerating features of public figures as a form of humor.
• Figural distortion
Byzantine artists routinely elongated figures, particularly on the walls of churches, to create a sense of presence. The Cretan artist El Greco (1541–1614), borrowed from this tradition and brought the power of elongated forms into Spanish painting with highly expressive effect. The German Expressionist painters of the twentieth century often brutally distorted figures for dramatic effect. The French painter Balthus (1908–2001) experimented with full-length portraits in which hands and feet were impossibly tiny and foreheads flat. More whimsical artists, such as Britain’s Stanley Spencer (1891–1959), also distorted figures, often conveying a kind of awkward and simple charm.
• Spatial distortion
Perspectival space can be distorted or skewed by adjusting the geometry. This can create surprising or alarming shifts in space. Edvard Munch (1863–1944) sometimes used this strategy to create a sense of alienation and unease. Similar results, in a harder style, were achieved by the American Surrealist artist George Tooker (1920–2011).
• Distortion as style
Some artists adopt a distorted notion of form and space as an individual style. The Columbian artist Fernando Botero (1932–) paints all the figures in his paintings as though they were enormously fat. He has made a whole career out of playing endless games with this one idea.
Fang mask, Gabon, Wood, 26 in (66 cm) high
Edvard Munch (1863–1944)
Self-Portrait with a Bottle of Wine, 1906, Oil on canvas, 43 5/16 × 47 1/4 in (110 × 120 cm)
The artist distorts the perspective so that it closes in on the sitter and is somewhat unstable on the right.
