The Spectrum

Issue date: 2/8/07 Section: A & E

Elaine Kaufman Feiner is a Westport artist originally from New York City. Her work of art, Miro's Moon 1, is part of the University art collection and is currently on display in the SC building. Feiner's paintings are usually semi-abstract nature scenes. She likes to go outside and draw the world around her and then add her own style. Feiner is not interested in factually reporting what is in front of her, but rather, in paring down a scene to its essential forms, in this case, to its moon and its luminosity.

Feiner moved to Westport, Connecticut in 1958 and bought a house on the banks of the Saugatuck River. Living on the river has given Feiner many opportunities to draw swans, ducks, tidal changes, and many other nature scenes, including the one seen in Miro's Moon 1.

Miro's Moon1 has a very mysterious and interesting aura and after viewing the picture for a number of minutes, it seems very calm and soothing. We observed the painting as a night scene with the moon shining on the river. The dark sky is lit up by the light of the moon giving a peaceful and romantic vibe. Feiner's shading and blend of colors evoke a foggy, cloudy night. Her unique, downward moving brushstroke on the upper part of the painting gives reality to the sky. On the lower part of the painting she creates a sense of water flowing over large rocks, creating small waterfalls.

After looking at and analyzing this painting, we wrote to Feiner to find out more about the scene and its meaning. Her answers follow:



Question:

Where did you come up with the title Miro's Moon1? Were you inspired by

the Spanish surrealist painter Joan Miro? By a particular work of his?



Answer:

I had pinned up on my studio wall a clipping of a painting by Miro that showed an oval moon - which I loved. Since most moon shapes are round-I decided to use it for this particular painting-therefore-'Miro's Moon.'



Question:

What influenced your color scheme?



Answer:

Because I decided that the time of day or night should be early evening-the colors I picked out to use were the blues + mauves + lavenders of dusk and the darker blues or blacks of the ice floes, in my river. And also the very high tall pine cliffs across the river.



Question:

Did you create this work of art outside while looking at the moon one night?



Answer:

Since I live directly on the banks of the Saugatuck River, I am constantly immersed in seeing the colors change hour by hour-day by night and in all the seasons-there are always certain colors or forms that I have never noticed before and this is exciting for me to see. I usually jot these down on paper to use for future paintings this is called 'a vocabulary of forms + colors.'



Question:

Is this work part of a series?



Answer:

Yes, I did another painting, a horizontal one also called "Miro's Moon II." Yes, I often work in series-or at least several paintings depicting a certain mood--.

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