Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Cloisonnism: Divide the picture into a few large cells, edge to edge, partitioned by heavy lines
- Type
- Set in Cloisonnism's manner (Set lettering outside the cells in black at the keyline weight, hand drawn or slab), and let Fauvism's lettering (Brush lettered forms, nothing geometric, read by complementary against the ground) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Cloisonnism's material (Flat unmodulated colour from memory inside dark contours, with no shadow or gradient); bring in exactly one thing from Fauvism (Unmixed saturated pigment, vermilion, viridian and cobalt, laid thick on untouched white).
- Colour
- Build on #d7d4bf, #bd3c10, #151215 and admit one accent from #efd2c5, #a0241f, #343b3e.
Where they fight
- Cloisonnism and Fauvism share no intent, so the contrast has to become the subject rather than something to smooth over.
Caution
- Cloisonnism Adding heavy outlines afterwards produces no division of colour, only an ordinary picture inside lines. Letting shading or depth back into the cells breaks the enamel like flatness.
- Fauvism Covering the whole surface with strong colour stops the vibration between neighbours and leaves noise. Always keep the bare white ground that lets the clash register.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Cloisonnism (style, 1888–1895) and their accent from Fauvism (style, 1904–1908). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Cloisonnism exists for: work built cell by cell in separate colours, like stained glass or tilework, or drawing a remembered landscape in simple shapes and colour rather than from life. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Cloisonnism - Thick, dark contour lines - Flat colour fields without shading - Decoratively simplified shapes - Colouring drawn from memory Composition: Divide the picture into a few large cells, edge to edge, partitioned by heavy lines. Type and lettering: Set lettering outside the cells in black at the keyline weight, hand drawn or slab. ## Accent comes from Fauvism, used sparingly - Pure colour straight from the tube - Complementaries set directly side by side - Bare white ground left unpainted - Rough brushstrokes doubling as contours Let one material quality come from it: Unmixed saturated pigment, vermilion, viridian and cobalt, laid thick on untouched white. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #d7d4bf, carry the structure in #bd3c10 and #151215, and let a single accent come from #a0241f. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: luxury, intimacy, calm, exhilaration. ## Where they fight - Cloisonnism and Fauvism share no intent, so the contrast has to become the subject rather than something to smooth over. ## What goes wrong - Cloisonnism: Adding heavy outlines afterwards produces no division of colour, only an ordinary picture inside lines. Letting shading or depth back into the cells breaks the enamel like flatness. - Fauvism: Covering the whole surface with strong colour stops the vibration between neighbours and leaves noise. Always keep the bare white ground that lets the clash register. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Cloisonnism 1888–1895 / Style / Fin de Siècle Art
A manner of painting named after the partitions of cloisonné enamel: flat fields of colour enclosed by heavy contour lines. It brought the way of seeing of ukiyo-e prints and stained glass into oil painting, abandoning shaded volume in favour of colour laid down from memory. The technique that prepared the flatness of the poster.
- Fauvism 1904–1908 / Style / Avant-garde
A short-lived movement that severed colour from the depiction of its subject, slamming pure hues onto the canvas as flat planes. The brushstroke itself carries the contour, and adjacent complementaries make the surface vibrate. It became the starting point for every later design that uses colour as a device of emotion.
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