Domenico Tiepolo (1727–1804)Frontispiece, 1797, Pen and ink with wash on paper, 16 × 11 1/2 in (40.6 cm × 29.2 cm)
PURSUING AN IDEA
A theme is an overall idea that carries through a work or a series of works. The expression and elaboration of the theme may be the goal of the artist in producing the work. In other cases, themes emerge as the artist pursues other ideas or ambitions. Themes are often supported by motifs, repeated elements that can have both symbolic and structural value. (See Motif on page 116.)
• Philosophical
The artist pursues a theme to convey an idea. For instance, in The Disasters of War, (see page 133) a series of etchings by Goya (1746–1828), the artist pursues the theme of the senselessness of violence brought about by human conflict. Each image shows an instance of the theme in action or in some way that relates to the theme.
• Abstract
A visual idea is carried through a number of works and explored through multiple variations. Robert Motherwell’s series of paintings, Elegy for the Spanish Republic, explores variations on a series of abstract visual motifs in the context of an overall comment on the demise of the democratic movement in Spain. The artist called it “a funeral song for something one cared about.” An even more abstract example is Joseph Albers’s series Homage to the Square, in which the artist explored the theme of color interaction within a single geometric composition over several hundred paintings.
• Narrative
A series of works forms a narrative that displays a theme and variations. Domenico Tiepolo (1727–1804) produced a series of more than a hundred pen and ink drawings on the theme of Punchinello, a rather hapless, but amusingly clownish, stock character in the Commedia dell’Arte. The narrative is extremely loose, but each image presents a dramatic situation that reveals and elaborates on the nature and behavior of the central character.
See also: Narrative on page 120; Motif on page 116; Politics and Polemics on page 132
Domenico Tiepolo (1727–1804)
Frontispiece, 1797, Pen and ink with wash on paper, 16 × 11 1/2 in (40.6 cm × 29.2 cm)
Punchinello’s Father Brings Home the Bride, 1797, Pen and ink with wash on paper, 14 × 18 13/16 in (35.5 × 47.7 cm)
Two of the more than a hundred drawings that the artist made on the theme of Punchinello. The inscription in the frontispiece means “An entertainment for children.”
