Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Donna Usher's 1983 work "Contemplation", which is a multiplicity of depiction of Usher's thoughts, masterfully reflects her ability to blend human aspects with natural symbols. The author relates that the falling leaves fold to the base of the painting, melting from the background to the foreground like a thought. The paper points out that, with the background appearing to shift vertically from cool and bluish at the top to a white hue at the bottom and becoming increasingly sharper, the viewer sees that color clearly plays a pivotal role in this work. The author stresses that the only variety that Usher employs in the piece occurs both between the levels, which vary in size, background color and content, and between the leaves, which vary in form, crispness and value.

From the Paper:

"The form of a simple, spatially elongated leaf creeps throughout the piece, as if they are falling towards the ground. The light structure of the leaves, which appear infinitely thin, seem to fall and crumple at the base of each of the four rectangular segments into which the painting is divided. The leaves seem to form sloping edges down the sides of the painting towards each "floor," which is coated, lightly in the first two and more densely in the second two, in the blurred, leafy forms. It is obvious that Usher was trying to create a sense of depth by juxtaposing vivid and blurred leaves."

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