The Forces Of Light And Shadow

Light and Shadow has been an important painting language and element being research and focus in Western art ever since a long time ago. Artists have shown the importance of light in numerous works of western painting history. Especially in classic realistic oil painting. light and shadow has a mission of conveying the theme of painting, constructing screen and emotional expression. It is one of the key factors that drawing transformed from touch to visual form, and offers more possibilities for the future development of painting.The main thread of this paper is the study on the light and shadow which is a unified but also independent element. I summarized the important roles of light and shadow in realistic oil painting through analysis of typical work emphasis on it in Western art history. The main purpose is to combine creative intention with theory basis, and strive to guide contemporary self creative practice by applying these findings.This paper consists of three parts. The first part of it is to explain some basic concepts about light and shadow in painting, paving the way for further verification. The second part discusses the role of light and shadow in realistic painting from eight aspects, and illustrates different emphasis point of light and shadow application in key works of various periods. The third part is about applying my learning to my practice. It explains my thinking during the process of practice, and the inspiration, feelings and experiences got from it. The motive is to solve painting problems through practice, and to explore and research individual technology style and development.