Mozart's piano, Villa Bertramka, Prague, Czech Republic, 2003 photo

Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery One: Travel Abstractions -- Unlimited Thought > Mozart's piano, Villa Bertramka, Prague, Czech Republic, 2003

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29-APR-2003

Mozart's piano, Villa Bertramka, Prague, Czech Republic, 2003

Mozart and his wife Constanze stayed here in 1787 while he was working on his opera "Don Giovanni". He finished the overture in Bertramka's garden pavillion just a few hours before its premiere at Prague's Estates Theatre. I abstract Mozart's piano, still standing in Bertramka's music room, by backlighting the scene, allowing the room around it to fade into darkness. The single rose, placed on the piano's lid every day, is also abstracted, as is the tiny statue of a musician standing before the window, a symbol of Mozart's music and perhaps his diminutive size.

Canon PowerShot G2
1/50s f/3.5 at 7.0mm hide exif

Full EXIF Info
Date/Time	29-Apr-2003 15:00:16
Make	Canon
Model	PowerShot G2
Flash Used	No
Focal Length	7 mm
Exposure Time	1/50 sec
Aperture	f/3.5
ISO Equivalent
Exposure Bias
White Balance	(-1)
Metering Mode	matrix (5)
JPEG Quality	(6)
Exposure Program
Focus Distance	65.540 m

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Phil Douglis		25-Jan-2008 20:22
Thanks, Vera, for re-reading Theodore's excellent question and then reading my answer to him. I am sure you will keep my phrase "removing descriptive detail" well in mind as you pursue your own goals as a photographer. You often use this principle now in your own work, but every now and then you slip back into showing descriptive detail that the viewer does not really need to see in order to get the point of your idea. Learning how to abstract our images is a process that takes time and practice and eventually it becomes instinctive. You will be routinely removing descriptive detail by moving in, using shadow, soft focus, and sometimes completely changing your camera position to get stuff out of the frame that should not be there. Keep on learning, Vera, and put it to work.

Guest		25-Jan-2008 17:59
I am glad Theodore asked the question on abstraction. We tend to get stuck on what we know even though we read something. I have gone through this chapter a couple of times now thinking I could go out and do. My mind kept going back to Theodore's definition as that is where my roots are. "Removing the descriptive detail" are the words I am going to keep close at hand from here on in when I think of abstraction. V.

Phil Douglis		14-Nov-2006 18:50
Thanks for the question, Theodore. In the introduction to this gallery, I define my use of the word "abstraction" as follows" "I am using some form of abstraction in each image in this gallery -- hopefully to ask questions of my viewers, and stimulate their imaginations. When I abstract my images, I am honing them down to their essence, removing descriptive detail, encouraging unlimited thinking. I consider abstraction, along with incongruity and human values, as the foundation of expressive photography. " Now look at this image again. Does this help you understand my use of abstraction? Phil

Guest		14-Nov-2006 15:52
Phil, please excuse me asking such a basic question. I'm having problems understanding "abstraction." When i think of the word abstract, i usually think of abstract art like a painting consisting of many odd shapes and sizes with many different colours. I don't really understand how Mozart's piano and the rose is considered abstracted in the way you've mentioned. Could you help me out with this?

Phil Douglis		17-Apr-2006 06:02
George -- thanks for your cropping suggestion. If I had cropped it as you suggested, it might have worked equally well. However it would no longer be the same image and might not say the same things this one does. There are no right or wrongs in cropping. It all depends upon our purposes.

George Christakos		14-Mar-2006 14:51
Pretty good. With another framing (part of the courtin the statue and part of the piano with the rose) it could be powerfull. Anyway, just an opinion...

Phil Douglis		14-Oct-2005 22:34
Thanks, Galina, for your wonderful suggestion. If I ever get back to Prague again, I will make a shot for you where the statue itself is reflected in the lid of the Piano, along with the rose. It would be an even more abstract photograph than this one. I don't know if it would be any more expressive than this or not, because the statue is not of Mozart, but a musician. (But Mozart is in this picture -- he is in the frame on the wall.) I am becoming more and more interested in using reflections as abstraction -- so much so that I recently published an entire gallery on using reflections to transform reality (Gallery 26).

Galina Stepanova		14-Oct-2005 21:56
I should come back here and read all the comments... At the moment I just enjoyed the picture the way you introduced it to us, and also I think about version where the reflection of statue would be the main subject together with rose and the part of piano. Rose-beauty, reflection of Mozart’s' statue-memory of composer and the piano -his forever music... Thank you for this picture, Phil!

Phil Douglis		28-Aug-2005 23:55
I loved your comment, Ramma, because it tells us that abstraction not only triggers our imaginations through the power of suggestion, but it also can trigger feelings that simply defy verbalization. What you feel, of course, is what I felt as I was making this photograph. The presence of Mozart was palpable in that room. His music from Don Giovanni was playing as I shot this scene. I could feel Mozart at that piano, and this image was the result of those feelings. And now you tell me that you are feeling him too. Thank you.

ramma		28-Aug-2005 19:22
This image has a certain Feel to it. I cannot describe it, but the piano, white sheer curatins, single long stemmed rose, the frame on the right, with a reflection of lamp or candle, the dramatic pose of the musician ! I cannot pin point what it is, seems like you have fully achieved the Goal of Abstraction in this image. Inspite of everything shown quite clearly, i still feel something i cannot describe ! abstraction at its best !

Phil Douglis		19-Jul-2005 17:14
Thanks for seeing the abstractions and metaphors at work here, Iannis. I did not see the statue as Mozart himself, but rather as a symbol of Mozart's passion -- music. You can read it anyway you want -- the important thing is that this image has stirred your imagination. I thank you for letting it welcome you.

Guest		19-Jul-2005 07:09
Many times little things, like the small statue of Motzart, have a greater value and meaning versus the big ones. The picture triggers my imagination to a little guy like Motzart at 7, who mortified the piano with his devine talent. An artist like him never dies and the rose laying at the piano is like an honoured gesture to his valouable heritage. The light of the window has the meaning of a living legend despite the fained room which declares sadness. Very nice abstraction here Phil Iannis

Phil Douglis		12-Jul-2005 22:27
Could be! Or it could just be a violinist getting warmed up!

awais yaqub		12-Jul-2005 22:11
that Sculpture seems to be saying "dont take my photo"

Phil Douglis		17-Apr-2005 03:08
You have read this image well, Ruth, seeing in it much of what I intended to express here. I was working with scale incongruity, and you picked up on that immediately. How prominent the little musician is, even when compared to the huge piano that fills the bottom half of the image. I also intended the death metaphor, with the wilted roses placed upon the shining wood. The light is critical to meaning -- the spirit of Mozart still shines in this room. As I made this photograph, his music from Don Giovanni was playing softly from speakers in the ceiling. It made the spine tingle and the heart soar. A very emotional moment. It was not easy to hold the camera steady.

ruthemily		16-Apr-2005 17:20
the statue seems to tower over the piano despite it's comparitively small size. that to me, represents the mastery of one remarkable mind over something larger. mozart's music has touched a much wider audience than i'm sure he could ever have imagined possible. the coffin metaphor is a strong one. the photo does have a very melancholy mood about it. the rose forms a kind of crucifix as it 'crosses' with the shadow of the statue. but at the same time as the sadness, the figure is basking in the light, despite the piano and rose being dark and redundant. a man never to be forgotten. the rose makes me think of the end of a performance when flowers are showered over the soloist, or presented as a bouquet. the photo on the wall...i'm thinking about that. even his own gaze comes back onto himself as a composer holding the baton up high.

Phil Douglis		15-Dec-2004 00:27
Thanks still again, Mikel, for commenting all twenty-four images in this gallery on abstraction with such careful thought. I greatly appreciate the insights you have given us, and I hope you have been fully repaid with new insights as well. I agree with all you say about this abstraction. I like the coffin metaphor here, too. (I think the single flower on the lid gives us that impression.) As for Mozart's Requiem, I'm sorry to disappoint you. As I stood in this room, the background music was from "Don Giovanni." This was, after all, the Villa where he worked on that opera in 1787. There is plenty of melancholia in that music as well, enough to suit the backlighted abstraction of this image quite well. Try that CD on for size!

Guest		14-Dec-2004 23:50
Great picutre, I loved this one too, although it gives me a melancholic feeleng. In a certain way, I think that the piano how it's shown could also be his burrial coffin during the burrial cerimony of a genious. The only thing that is missing is his own 'Requiem. It is a very clever image I think and very well resoved. It touches me, it realy does, next time I look at it I will play the CD with the 'requiem of Mozart' and see if it works.

Phil Douglis		01-Dec-2004 22:57
Don't forget about the painting of Mozart and the single rose, either, Clara!

Guest		01-Dec-2004 18:10
the little musician becomes the main subject, the piano discretely a second one. but is the whole atmosphere of musical creation which is evidenced by the image.

Phil Douglis		31-Oct-2004 19:52
A beautiful interpretation, Nut. I agree with all you see and say. You did not mention, however, the role that light and shadow plays here in evoking the memory of someone who is gone. By showing less of this scene, I try to say more.

nut		31-Oct-2004 16:58
Mozart gone, but he leave something behind that is the evolution of music. A dry rose on Mozart's piano told me that he gone but not forgotten. Reflections on his painting also told me that he gone. It's nice decorate to put his painting on that side so my imagination told me that Mozart look at the tiny status of musician. And I think a musician standing represent the music. One thing in this room is so frest. It's the musician standing. Look like he's ready to play violin. And with the bright background behind him like this gice me the conclusion of this photo. Mozart gone, but he leave his music with us. That's why some said "Some of the notes fell under the desk, but the Overture went capitally on the whole".

nut		31-Oct-2004 06:39
I saw Mozart painting on the top right. I can't explain what I feel to this photo. But you remind me about how wonderful Overture is. I will come back later to see and think more.

Jill		13-Dec-2003 00:41
To speak of technicality would only insult this beautiful photograph. Just to have stood in the same room as Mozart reflecting, composing must have been an experience rare.

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