Composer Series - #

Saul Bernstein
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Having a love of music I felt doing a series of portraits of the composers would have to include their music. I constructed a graphic language based on the music score.
From this structure, the likenesses began to appear.

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saul-bernstein > Beethoven

As I began to think about Beethoven I became aware of his anxieties. His frustrations stemmed from his deafness. The most popular work of his time was Moonlight Sonata, which he grew to dislike because audiences only wanted to hear that piece of music. Never mind his symphonies, audiences demanded the short Moonlight Sonata.

I started with this sonata as an irritant to remind me of my purpose throughout the work. I abstracted the sheet music into graphic symbols. The other element that became apparent to the work was the hands. In all of art history it was the hands that were used to express emotions. In the Renaissance it was codified; each digit had a meaning. I began to study a conductor’s use of the hand and that became the starting point for this work. The hands slowly became his figure and head.

saul-bernstein > Debussy

Sometime ago I decided that great composers were great graphic artists. They heard the music as they saw the notes, and I realized if they could do that then I could reverse the procedure. I took the six pages of Claude Debussy's "Clair de Lune" and made shapes out of each notation. Quarter notes became something other than half notes. I tried to remain faithful to the placement of each note to each other. The impression of night overtook the entire work when I started using color, and for that I used Goethe's psychological principles. I found it fitting that the great composers would be looking out at us through Debussy’s music.

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