BACH 333

Johann Sebastian Bach and Giambattista Tiepolo

2018 marked the 333rd anniversary of the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach. 

The German Baroque composer is one of the most influential figures in the history of music. His work established the structural understanding of Western musical form and harmony that became the foundation for every composer over the past three centuries.

His religious works (Masses, Passions, Cantatas) and secular compositions (Sonatas, Concerti, Overtures, Suites, Fugues, Canons) display a mastery of the interrelationship of musical conversation among each of the voices and instruments. 

Giambattista Tiepolo, an Italian contemporary of Bach, was the foremost fresco and mural painter of the era. His depiction of semi-draped figures, suspended in the heavens, met the mores of the time while giving him a means to express either a secular or sacred theme, depending on the patron for whom the work was commissioned. 

Our work is an interpretation of the music of Bach while visualizing it within the aesthetic of Tiepolo. Each model listened to the music, selected an image of clouds and sky, and then a Tiepolo pose where she found herself in the context of each element. 

Just as Bach interwove melodic line, form, and sound in harmonious counterpoint, these images bring the expressive female figure to their own counterpoint of movement, empyreal drapery, and painted presence.