"Man Fishing" by Robert Scott Duncanson

“Man Fishing”

        The picture, “Man Fishing” by Robert Scott Duncanson is a marvelous combination of people and nature. In the foreground, a boy is dressed in a white shirt, covered by a red vest to match the black pants on his legs. The boy is fishing in a slow, peaceful pond; a boy stands on the sandy bank, leaning against the grass above.  The boy, appearing young and interested, waits patiently along the shore to feel a tug on his ever-present line. A tan, woven basket sits behind the boy. In the mid-ground an old canoe, hiding behind a large forest green shrub, floats just out of the boy’s sight. In the background, the forest is trees and light clouds among a baby blue sky.  The focus of the picture is on the boy and his fishing pole. 

         The painting is composed of faint broad strokes for the clouds, a variety of crooked line for the dark brown tree branches, and smooth straight lines to make up the murky green pond. The tone begins as a vibrant green at the top of the trees. The sky, a baby blue slightly infiltrated by the snowy white of the clouds. As your eyes scroll down towards the bottom, the colors get darker and darker. Finally ending with the black and green of the pond. 
         The meaning of the painting, “Man Fishing”, by Robert Duncanson is that the human race just take from nature and take the natural beauty for granted. The boy, young and focused, lies on the rock. This symbolizes the reliance of nature to humans. The picture depicts the advantage people take of nature. The boy is just focused on his actions and catching a fish, that he overlooks the beauty of the sky, the trees and the pond that he stares at with such focus.  The message of the painting is to not take advantage of the environment. For the city can always be updated and preserved but nature can’t.  

   

Descriptive Paragraph

            The picture, “Man Fishing” by Robert Scott Duncanson is a marvelous combination of people and nature. In the foreground, a boy is dressed in a white shirt, covered by a red vest to match the black pants on his legs. The boy is fishing in a slow, peaceful pond; a boy stands on the sandy bank, leaning against the grass above.  The boy, appearing young and interested, waits patiently along the shore to feel a tug on his ever-present line. A tan, woven basket sits behind the boy. In the mid-ground an old canoe, hiding behind a large forest green shrub, floats just out of the boy’s sight. In the background, the forest is trees and light clouds among a baby blue sky.  The focus of the picture is on the boy and his fishing pole.

 

Annotation of “Man Fishing” by Robert Scott Duncanson

Composition Notes:
1) In the foreground, a boy is fishing in a slowly moving pond
2) In the midground, a old canoe boat slowly floats in the bond, hidden by
a bush
3) The picture gives a harmonious feeling to the viewer

Line Notes:
1) The tree branches have a curved shape off their tree bases.
2) The fishing pole stretches horizontally along the screen.
3) There is very little light hitting the water.

Tone Notes:
1) The light tone of the blue sky shows its afternoon
2) The tone of the clouds show that they are in fact moving not stationary
3) The light adds a peaceful presence in the painting

1) The long curved strokes on the clouds
2) Short swift strokes on the fishing pole
3) Wavy strokes for the clouds

Color:
1) light colors in the sky showing the day time
2) darker colors in the mid ground showing distance from the sun
3) in the foreground, the darkest colors because they are the farthest and get
the least sunlight.