On Flamingoes by Sydney Long
Sydney Long was an Australian painter who lived from 1871 to 1955. He was just another minor name in the artistic history of the nation. Yet, he was also perhaps one of the most intriguing artists of his time. He was rumored to be gay, yet married, not uncommon in Sydney, even today. He was known to be a man of contrasts. He could be charming one moment and waspish the very next. He was also known to have bitter, paranoid moments. Long was also a chronic liar. He lied about his age, the date of his marriage, the year he took up etching and the list goes on.
This dichotomy in his character added to the enigmatic appeal of some of his finest works. In 1902, Long created a piece of art that went onto be his greatest public success - Flamingoes. A simple glance at his painting is enough to see why. Flamingos is arguably Long's absolute extension of himself into his work. The painting is characterized by the very same dichotomies and contrasts that plagued Long himself.
The most striking element of Flamingoes is without a doubt the color used. Long adds vibrant, burning red hues to depict the flock of flamingoes. The very choice of color draws the viewer into the scene of the painting. But Long does not end there. In most pieces of art, the scene determines the colour scheme. Long flips this idea on its head and in Flamingoes, the color determines the scene. The scene takes place by a pond which distorts and projects the burning shades of red onto the water - an effect that is almost visually intoxicating. The choice of season depicted in the scene accentuates the choice of color. The faded orange hues of the autumnal trees in the background blends into the vibrant reds of the flamingoes in the foreground creating a harmony between the two. This harmonious blend is further accentuated by Long's detailing of objects. As one moves from the foreground and into the background, the objects blur out, almost like a bokeh effect on a modern camera. The flamingoes at the back no longer have precise detailing as the ones on the front and the trees in the forest are but a colored blur. This not only has the same aesthetic quality of out of focus blur in photographs, it also serves a functional purpose which is to bring the viewer's attention to the subject - the flamingoes. The viewer is thus represented by the naked women who too are observing the flock of burning red flamingoes.
Here too, the choice of character is determined by the color pallette of the overall painting. The hair of both women blends with the immediate backgrounds they are surrounded in from the viewer's frame of reference.
But it isn't just his mastery over color that Long wants to demonstrate. Long belonged to the Heidelberg school of Art - an Australian art movement that incorporated Impressionism to capture Australian life in the country. The use of his impressionist roots is apparent in Flamingoes.
How do you capture the transient and fleeting nature of a moment while incorporating movement as a crucial element of human experience? And how do you achieve this in a single painting? Long seems to have wrestled with these questions and come out victoriously. The scene feels almost serene and still, yet bursts with tiny movement in the form of the splashed water around the woman's feet. This tension between stillness and dynamicity yet again reflects the internal dichotomy seen in Long himself.
But what ties it all together? The most powerful element of Flamingoes - the color, is also not its most unique. But what binds the painting together is Long's use of darkness. The background is almost wholly comprised of darker shades eventually fading off to black. The lack of a strong source of light, allows the water to reverbate the powerful tones of red that Long uses. It is this epic dichotomy between a low-toned composition and a burning red that leaves the viewer awestruck. It is this grand, enigmatic dichotomy that characterizes Long.
The result of all the smaller dichotomies blending into one piece of art is a peculiar painting, the likes of which have not been seen before. It goes beyond decoration and beyond aesthetics. It feels almost hallucinogenic. So what is the meaning of it all? Perhaps the greatest achievement of Long was in the expression of his own mediocrity. That beauty need not be found only in grand hallways and stories of yore but can be found in the often ignored, familiar. Flamingoes speaks of no greater purpose and looks back to no lost era of beauty but it does leave anyone looking at it's mesmerizing colors, fixated and drawn into its momentary world, much like the women it portrays.
Long was perhaps aware of this lack of meaning and was modest enough to acknowledge his lack of genius, the kind of which he saw in his rivals. But sometimes the warm familiarity of mediocrity touches more hearts than the grandest of the grand. As Walter Pater wrote, "Long was not the kind of artist to burn with that hard gem-like flame", but he lit a small candle in the halls of Australian art, one that will never be extinguished.