Value, Entry 2.

For my second assessment of value, I have chosen to take a look at a piece by the impressionist painter Edgar Degas, 'The Millinery Shop'.

We are presented with a scene that is almost entirely described with value. Very little of the pure hue's can be found, save for the brim of a hat and a little on the blue bow on the lower hat at the center bottom of the screen. It is clear Degas has used value to express dimension and depth within the scene, with the dark background cast heavily in shadow, with a bight column to break the dark sector of the image and add tertiary interest. It is also clear that Degas has used this heavily shadowed background area as the framing device for his first focal point. The darkness spills out just enough to create a clear black boarder around the shape of the women's face. Her pale skin creating an area of high value contrast between the dark and light tones. A similar framing device is used on the hat to the farthest left, where we have very bright tints on the lit side of the hat, and significantly darker shades of the base hue to express the light occluded surfaces of the hat and its decoration.

It is easy to see that the light source in this image is to the far right, apparently off screen. What is interesting is the light seems to be lower on the horizon line as the brightest area seems to be the corner of the desk. Moving from this point up to the pure black shades at the top of the room, notably the top left, with nothing to break that region of shade, We can see that the light direction forms a neat gradient, giving the appearance of a scene with strong tonal values, yet evenly lit enough to make out everything Degas wishes us to see. To further this notion of a diagonal lighting gradient, from bottom right to top left, The woman's form is assisting the elevated hats in casting soft shadows across the table, steadily getting darker as the hats come together to obscure more light, keeping the tonal gradient I have identified consistent.

Also interesting to note is that only objects of importance are given the benefit of both sufficient lighting, and sufficient detail and attention from the artist. The hats in the light are meticulously labored over, with the light on the bows and decorations of particular note and effort on Degas part. However, we see that the hats entirely cast in shadow are shown almost no attention at all, one having just a few lines to express form and the other, more shadowed hat being little more than a muddy reddish sphere.

The scene seems to be a study of value itself, to Degas, only that which is visible with sufficient light is relevant to the overall aesthetic of the image, and all that really needs labored representation.