Chinese history, a subject that I have always been interested in but had limited knowledge in. Thankfully an important part of the Chinese history and culture is the artwork; otherwise it would be even more difficult to put together the history of the Chinese. Many of their traditional art styles are fading, such as the longstanding tradition of paper cut art (china.org). The one style that caught my eye while searching over the class website was the paintings from the Ming Dynasty, specifically the paintings of Chen Hongshou.
Chen Hongshou lived from 1599 to 1652 and is most noted for his paintings of ancient personalities at the end of the Ming Dynasty (Britannica.com). Chen did not always enjoy success during his life. He failed examinations twice before receiving official status in 1645 but had to shortly afterward to avoid the Manchus. At this point in his life he decided to become a Buddhist monk but struggled most his life between the ideals of Confucian government and his newfound Buddhism. This internal clash can be seen when reflecting on his paintings.
Magnolia and Erect Rock, Date unknown, Chen Hongshou
An example of this struggle between Buddhism and Confucian ideals is found in the painting above. Magnolia and Erect Rock was completed early to mid 17th century and is one my favorite paintings of Chens. In the painting it is easy to see how Chen’s skills in calligraphy translated over to his painting style. This is the main reason in that I am attracted to this style of painting. The elegant lines of decorative color surrounding the magnolia combined with the exaggerated sharp contrasts of the rock in the background make for an appealing image.
For the first non western post I have chosen the subject that I am the least familiar with, African art. In searching through the choice of African artists, El Anatsui is one of the only ones that appealed to me. His recent explorations in installation art are the most intriguing to me. In the video below Anatsui talks about naming the artwork in his native language because one word can have so many different meanings. This leads to the ambiguity that he strives for in his artwork and is often why he chooses to name the pieces in his native language. If he were to name them in English, it narrows the ability the piece has to evolve to more than one specific meaning. This is especially seen in his installation artwork that blends without context to let your imagination fill with whatever thoughts come from only the artwork in front of you and not the meaning behind the name of the artwork. To me this is a very intriguing idea that allows for the art to be solely judged what is presented rather than a preconceived thought based on associations with familiar objects and names.
A good example of this theme presented by Anatsui is the piece below. The piece is made out of aluminum and copper wire meshed with fabric. It is called Adinkra Sasa, which just looks like a jumble of letters to a monolingual English speaker such as myself and has no specific meaning. Initially this piece reminded me of flowing ashes of a burnt log and reminds me of stoking the fire during camping trips.
El Anatsui, Adinkra Sasa 2003
When examined in its native language the word adinkra describes a dyed cloth with imprinted designs made in Ghana by the Akan (africa.si.edu). The second part of the name sasa comes from the Ewe and it loosely translates to patchwork. This patchwork word was chosen by Anatsui to mourn the carving up of Africa by European colonial powers (africa.si.edu). Now knowing the meaning behind the words and why the artist named the cloth Adinkra Sasa completely changes my view on the piece and proves the point that Anatsui was making in the video above.
To most people urban buildings and streets are just a path to travel on their way to work, the grocery store, and entertaining events, but to others they represent a vast expressive canvas for all ideas. Street art is what changes a mundane morning walk to work into a stroll through an ever changing art exhibit. Street art gives a city a sense of character and allows visitors to more accurately feel the emotions of the city. It is not limited to sidewalk paintings or graffiti but encompasses everything from full commissioned building murals, to small patches with sidewalls of buildings.
Kurt Wenner is one the best known street artists on an international level. He began working for NASA as an advanced scientific space illustrator but left in 1982 to pursue a career in art (kurtwenner.com). In 1984, Wenner invented an art form all his own that has come to be known as anamorphic or 3D pavement art (kurtwenner.com). This has come to embody what most people think of as street art. I personally enjoy most all of his pieces, especially Office Stress. This artwork conveys a powerful message about the industry that many of us will find ourselves in at some point in our life.
Office Stress, Kurt Wenner 2007
There is always a strong emotion conveyed in his pavement art. Another example of this strong sense of emotion is in Gluttony. This piece of artwork is a perfect visual example of what I think of when I hear the word gluttony. The overconsumption of food until complete physical uselessness is far too commonly accepted and I feel as if this piece exemplifies the idea that gluttony should not be an acceptable practice in any aspect of life.
Gluttony, Kurt Wenner 2008
Another internationally recognized anamorphous painter is Julian Beever. A favorite quote of Beever’s I found was “My work appeals literally to the man (and woman) in the street and is not confined in galleries or limited by the gallery system”. This is what I like most about this style of painting; it must be viewed in its natural environment from a specific perspective. Beever is a British artist who began pavement art as a busker, drawing in different countries including the USA, Australia and Europe to fund his travels (julianbeever.net). As a result of his early travels and the rising popularity of anamorphous paintings in the 1990’s, Beever began doing commercial commission in the mid 2000’s (julianbeever.net). One of my favorite paintings of his is Batman and Robin to the Rescue. It is an incredibly realistic painting that is appealing to me because of the hours I spent as a young kid watching Batman TV shows and comics.
Batman and Robin to the Rescue, Julian Beever 2006
Another interesting piece by Beever is What Lies Beneath… This pieces creates good imagery and the optical illusion is done so well that it is hard to tell what is real unless you look into the distance where the painting ends. This was painted for Terryglass Arts Festival in County Tipperary, Ireland (julianbeever.net).
What Lies Beneath…, Julian Beever 2011
Up to this point most of the artwork shown has been commission street art or artwork done by artists that are already famous. The last two pieces were designed purely for the message they convey and not a paycheck at the end. The first is very well known but there is no artist to take credit for it; this is the West Berlin side of the Berlin wall. It was almost entirely covered with street art and was the largest canvas in the world when it was completely intact. To me this is the place of ultimate unregulated expression of ideas in an appealing artist manner. There were no restrictions on what artists could put on the wall because it was open to everyone but over the past 30 years much of the controversial artwork has been removed (Wikipedia.org). The only places where artwork exists anymore are Potsdamer Platz, Mühlenstrasse, and Bernauer Strasse (Wikipedia.org). Below is my favorite section I was able to find. This picture was taken in May 1989 about 6 months before the wall was taken down (berlinwallart.com). The reason I enjoy this painting is because you can see the different layers of things painted both before and after the main painting. Also I enjoy looking at this painting because it doesn’t remind me of anything and I can just enjoy it for the beauty of the artwork.
Berlin Wall 1989 (Artist Unknown)
The last piece in this exhibit is an interesting picture that I found while doing research on street art and also ties into the Berlin Wall messages about war. The Moebius band mural shows the endless stupid destruction and construction of cities at the Gaza Strip with tanks and bulldozers in an infinite loop (mural-guide.com). To me this moebius strip concept combined with the artwork of it represents an interesting message to passersbys on their way to work rather than just a dull grey wall to look at.
When I began searching for pieces for this blog piece I started with looking at looking at various visual artists I wrote about in the writing assignment such as Jean Crotti, Salvador Dali, and Pieter Mondrian. After deciding that none of these artists struck a particular interest of mine, I began looking over the artists listed on the course website and saw Georgia O’Keeffe. Perfect! I was just at an art exhibit in the Denver Art Museum two weeks ago that had a showcase highlighting some of her works from the early modern era. This assignment would be so much more interesting using pieces that I have actually seen in person, but now the problem was how to connect one of them to topic listed for the assignment. This will be covered later in this post.
The exhibit presented in Denver focused on Georgia O’Keeffe’s time in New Mexico after her husband Alfred Stieglitz died in 1946 and New Mexico became her permanent home (pbs.org). The showcase consisted of American Indian artworks, such as katsina tithu figurines, to provide viewers with an up-close look at the various cultural artifacts that O’Keeffe was exposed to during her time in New Mexico (denverartmuseum.org). These paintings provide a great insight for the start of the Precisionist movement that O’Keeffe was such a prominent part of (Wikipedia.org). If you would like to view more of the paintings from this exhibit they are listed available on the Denver Art Museum website that is listed below under the sources.
Precisionism was born as a result of the country experiencing a psychological reaction to the mass destruction wrought overseas by the First World War and the economic hardships of the Great Depression (Metmuseum.org). This reaction resulted in the United States starting to create its own sense of nationalism and isolationism to increase war moral and support for the cause of the wars overseas. Precisionism itself was the result of critics pointing out that the United States had no cultural identity of its own, but aided by the arts, the expansion into the west and increasing interest in American folk art that became the focus of Americans during the time. These branching interests of the American public and the natural beauty of the surrounding environment pushed O’Keeffe’s influences and help broaden her success as an artist.
Georgia O’Keeffe, Ram’s Head, Blue Morning Glory, 1938 New Mexico
I have never actually been to New Mexico, but just from the exhibit and paintings by O’Keeffe I was able to gather just how desolate and plain the expansion into the West really had been. Yet at the same time O’Keeffe was able to show the desolation, she enhances the natural beauty of all things around her through her painting style. To me this painting embodies the ideas surrounding Old West, influences of the depression and WW1, and the cultural American Indian art work. It incorporates culture of the American Indians because of the importance of spiritual domain of things that are long gone, while at the same time integrating the American need to shape its own identity through artifacts and traditions.
The start of impressionism is based on a satirical remark about a painting done by Claude Monet but out of that came so much more. The impressionism art laid the foundation for most of the art for the 20th century. I thoroughly enjoy the artist’s renditions of beautiful scenery and still life.
One of the main features of Impressionism is its focus on plunging perspective, and asymmetrical balance that have little to do with implied meaning, religious subjects, or emphasis on morality. The painting below shows a women just sitting on a couch in what appears to be her home, a perfectly natural and mundane event with very little implied meaning. While there is little implied meaning in the painting from my perspective, the painting definitely still evokes emotion and draws attention with its shapeless edges and blurred style of brush strokes.
Edouard Manet, Le Repos, ca. 1870-71. (Location unknown).
Another feature I enjoy from the Impressionism era is the exquisite landscapes. The effect created is similar to that of looking out a door or window at a small town in a valley, and it captures the effect of the light and color a specific point during the day. This is sometimes described as captured moments and most often characterized by short quick brushstrokes (theartgallery.com). The interesting part of these style of paintings for me is that from farther away they look to be detailed and realistic but when viewed close up they are actually messy and surprisingly unreal looking paintings.
Camille Pissarro Côte des Jalais, Pontoise, 1867
In contrast with the impressionism style of art was the Baroque era that has already been studied. Unlike Impressionism, Baroque art was designed to evoke a deeper implied meaning, use of religious subjects, and an emphasis on sending a moral message. These were accomplished by using dramatic lights and darks, so if a picture looks like there is a spotlight such as the one created in the painting below. I personally prefer the impressionism era art because to me most of the paintings create a lighter mood and simplistic style. The darker mood and thought provoking paintings such as The Dream of Saint Catherine of Alexandria are less appealing largely due to my lack of understanding of the historical references incorporated into the painting. Overall Impressionism art focuses on light and loose form while infusing the light throughout the painting, while Baroque style is closely controlled and focused on the distinction between dark and light.
Lodovico Carracci. The Dream of Saint Catherine of Alexandria 1593 (Location Unknown).
During the classic period there is a shift of focus in all areas of art. This is due to a number of political, economical, and societal changes. Events such as the American Revolution, the birth of modern philosophy with Rene Descartes, and the return of the Greek ideals lead to many challenges to the ruling class (Kljaich). Examples of these challenges reflected in the arts include the rise of underground theaters, a shift from Rococo style to neoclassical style, and the use of art as a medium for social critique. Who or what is supporting all of these challenges to upper class? During the classical period the growth of the economic power of the middle class allows them to undermine and criticize the morals and policies of the upper class through the expressions of art.
The influence of the growing economic power of the middle class is reflected in the change of musical styles. The middle class could now afford to support a new market for writers, artists, and musicians: public concerts were held for the first time; music printing increased enormously; musical journalism began (thinkquest.org). In addition, composers were now free to reflect and appeal to the feelings of the masses instead of a select group of experts. One of the composers that exemplify these qualities was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. After he composed and played for a considerable number of the royalty he was discarded and joined the Freemasonry (wikipedia.org). Freemasonry was a fraternity that was self-governed separate from the dominate religious powers of the day. This new found freedom allowed Mozart to compose some of his more influential pieces.
The piece that I have chosen to share with you is Mozart’s string quartet in C, K. 465 Dissonance composed in 1785. The link provided above is to just the first movement. If you would like to listen to the entire piece it can be found in reference [1] in my sources below. This piece is pleasing to listen to and through the repetition of the melodies it is easy to tell that this piece was written more for the common person to listen to. The simply repeated melodies provided the perfect balance between sophisticated and unfashionable for the middle class of the time. I particularly enjoyed this piece because some of the subtle changes in melodies reminded me of watch Tom and Jerry cartoons as a child. After having set this dark, brooding tone in the introduction, Mozart then lightens things up in the Allegro with the entrance of a pure and innocent little melody in the violin (thinkquest.org).
Aside from musical compositions the paintings of the classical era, particularly the paintings of neoclassical style are another example of the influence of the middle class. “Neoclassical art is characterized by clarity of form; sober colors; shallow space; strong horizontal and verticals that render that subject matter timeless, instead of temporal as in the dynamic Baroque works” (smarthistory.org). One of the central artists that exemplify the qualities of the neoclassical era was Jacques-Louis David. His themes gave expression to the new values of the middle class including the civic ideals of devotion to duty, honesty, and austerity.
The painting above is The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David and was painted in 1787 and currently resides in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. In this painting the famous Greek philosopher is in prison surrounded by his followers. Socrates is about to drink poisonous hemlock because he was condemned to death, unjustly, for his beliefs (artchive.com). David’s painting encouraged those who saw it to hold to their beliefs as reminder to all people of the era to stand up for what they believe in. David agreed with that the human intellect, independent of the superstitions of the Christian church, could show the path of courage and sacrifice for the truth.
The above painting is Cornelia, Mother of Graccihi, Pointing to her Children as Her Treasures by Angelica Kauffman in 1785. In this work Cornelia, in white, is shown conversing with another woman. The other woman is showing off her material possessions and asks to see Cornelia’s gems. In response Cornelia shows the women her two sons and displays them as her greatest treasures. This is related to the rising middle class because most of them still only have their children as a source of wealth and it is also shows that the upper class wealth cannot buy everything. Cornelia’s enduring loyalty and devotion to her children were both often used in art to show the desired traits in women of the time (wikipedia.org). Kauffman’s beautiful and touching rendering of the work is suffused with maternal feeling and sentiment (theartdaily.blogspot.com).
I am drawn to both of these paintings because of the messages behind them. By choosing to place value on family and virtuous behavior rather than just painting a work because some rich person commission it makes the paints attractive to me. Also the use of symbolism in the choice of colors in the paintings adds to the overall experience, especially the contrast between Cornelia and the women in red. The white dress of Cornelia adds to the purity of the message of placing family values over material possessions. Overall I believe the three works of art presented represent the ideals of the middle class during the eighteenth century as a result of the economic growth of the middle class.
The Conversion on the Way to Damascus By Caravaggio (1601) Rome
The baroque style of arts was signified by chiaroscuro and tenebrism to create movement, emotion, and drama as opposed to the controlled and idealized simple art of the Renaissance. A man by the name of Michelangelo Merisi, also known as Caravaggio, was one of the first artists to display traits of the Baroque era artwork. His work later inspired several painters throughout Spain, France, and Italy. Much of his work was commissioned for the Catholic chapels in an effort to counter the reformation. The goal behind the above painting and many others that it inspired were to evoke emotional and religious impact. Paintings representing scenes from the lives of the saints also provided good moral examples on which viewers could model their own behavior.
To further understand the meaning behind the painting shown above, a little history of the author and surrounding paintings will be discussed. This is second of two depictions of “The Conversion of St Paul” that were done by Caravaggio. The scene is this painting was redone as “Conversion on the Way to Damascus” by Caravaggio as part of a commission for the Cerasi chapel in Santa del Popolo and accompanied by “The Crucifixion of Saint Peter” and they were both completed in 1601 (Wikipedia.org). All of these paintings were a direct result of the goals of the Catholic Church during the Council of Trent. They were designed to inspire devotion and teach doctrine.
The scene the painting is depicting is that of the story of the conversion of Saint Paul. The painting portrays the moment when Saul of Tarsus, on his way to Damascus to annihilate the Christian community there, is struck blind by a brilliant light from the heavens (Wikipedia.org). In the painting Saul has fallen abruptly off his horse and the placement of his are outstretched are to commemorate and signify the crucifixion of Christ. “Sudden shifts from light to dark enhance the drama of the event as the horse and page stand by without understanding the significance of what is happening”, much like a observer not familiar with the story of Saint Paul would (themasterpiececards.com). Caravaggio was trying to convey religious principles to teach Christians about forgiveness and God’s power and highlight the turning point in Saint Paul’s life in which he converts to Christianity.
The attraction to the painting for me is the use of dramatic lights and darks to create an image that looks as if it is being shown on like a spotlight from heaven. I also appreciated the sense of motion in the painting. It appears as if the viewer of the painting has just walked into a scene that is in progress, not just a stagnate photo to commemorate an event. Overall I think this work is a good reflection of the religious ideas that the Catholic Church was trying to promote after the Council of Trent by promoting Christian ideals of forgiveness, condemning the sinful intentions of Saul, and reaffirming the worth of the Catholic saints.
Holy Trinity By Masaccio (trinità, 1425) in Florence
Have you ever looked into a painting or drawing and actually felt like you could walk into it? That is the feeling being portrayed when looking into the Holy Trinity by Masaccio. Masaccio is able to recreate the emotions of the time, as well as portray realism and humanism within the image. By combining Brunelleschi’s innovative ideas of linear perspective and Donatello’s art in the illusionistic three-dimensional modeling, Masaccio is able to create an image that when seen in person looks as if there is an actual cavern in the wall (finearttouch.com). This effect is created by placing the vanishing point of the painting at the height of the average man during this time period and is often overlooked when simply viewing a copy of the image (smarthistory.com). Masaccio is the first artist to combine these styles of painting and often credited with introducing humanism to the arts.
During the time period in which this was painting was made the people were not typically depicted as the same size as the holy figures. In this painting all the figures, including the commoners at the bottom, are of equal proportions. This is an excellent example of humanism (smarthistory.com). Humanism is also expressed by the people looking up towards God and Jesus with their eyes open. It expresses the idea average people can look at the Holy Trinity, including God. This is a direct challenge to the ideas of the Catholic Church during this time period and the start of the ideas for the reformation. Another direct challenge to the church and example of humanism in this painting is the depiction of God as a man.
This painting was of particular interest to myself because of my attraction to the creation of the illusion of three dimensional space on a two dimensional surface. This is one of the very first paintings to combine the use of embrace of the humanism of the current time. The figures also look very real especially seen in the detail of their drapes, and the muscles on the hanging body of Christ. All of these features combine really create the sense humanism and attention to the individual and detail within the image for me. My final point of interest for the image was the quote towards the bottom of the painting on the side of the tomb that reads: As I am now, so you shall be. As you are now, so once was I.
spmurphy2013 