Ramadan & Eternal Child - Irma Stern

Irma was interested with the Arab culture of East Africa and she regularly went to Zanzibar. Ramadan is thought about an essential painting in Irma's profession. She began illustrating appeal in the atmosphere of the painting, rather than the external image of the topic. This work reveals a senior Arabic guy sitting hunched over and hoping. We see how calm and serene the Islamic male stays despite the fact that he sit amidst the hustle and bustle of a busy fete.

Irma displays a feeling of spirituality & & wisdom, as the man is shown as aged. The focal point is the old male's white turban, and the big form of his body.

The vertical composition of this work provides off the sense of strength. The foreground is mainly composed of the guy's body while the background has plenty of unidentifiable shapes representing the busy market crowds. The figures in this work are highly detailed. Tonal worths have actually been simplified, and natural, neutral colours have actually been utilized, which is uncommon due to Irma's usual preference to intense, lucid use of colour.

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Loose, fast brush strokes have been utilized, connecting Irma's work to that of an Expressionist.

The Eternal Child, 1916
This work was one of very few with the subject of children that Irma painted. After her divorce in 1934 she showed very little maternal instinct in her artworks. The Eternal Child was the first painting that Irma did that clearly showed the change in her style of painting, and was done with oil paints on board.

It shows her individualistic way of capturing the subject matter, which, in this case, is a young girl. Irma spotted this girl on German train, and she painting this figurative artwork from memory.

This way she could interpret reality however she liked. Max Pechstein greatly applauded this work as he saw that the painting could evoke strong emotions and reactions from the viewer. The girl’s large head and small body indicates fragility, as do her small hands grasping flowers. Irma is showing the damage of war on the youth. Children are defenseless and afraid, yet hope glimmers in their eyes. The young girl’s eyes are wide and hopeful, as are the bright flowers. The focal point of The Eternal Child is the pink, founded face of the girl. The tonal values of the painting greatly contrast, and the background colour is flat giving the work a lack of depth. In fact, all the colours in the work are flat leading the painting to be seen as two-dimensional, though the detail of the face does have depth.