Man of Fire

 

Jose Clemente Orozco’s piece Man of Fire, was created in the years 1938-39. Orozco is considered to be one of the most complex Mexican muralists. This piece specifically is also considered to be on the top of the list of his best accomplishments. Orozco studied at San Carlos Academy for Fine Arts and was most influenced by Jose Posada, another famous Mexican artist. Unfortunately during an experiment at school, Orozco lost partial sight in one of his eyes and his right hand. He became a political cartoonist where he started publishing his work in local newspapers.

I choose this piece because its not like any of the other styles we have studied. When I first saw it I immediately thought of Hercules (the disney movie). The reason my thoughts went to this move is it reminds me of Hades, the god of the underworld. The man on fire in the center of the piece looks like he oversees or rules everything because of his confidence. The men who are the outer rim of the piece look like they are slaves or are bowing down to the man in the middle. This is of course like the scene in Hercules when you see Hades and all his souls floating around.

Obviously this was not the angle that Orozco was aiming for, but in a way its the same thing. To me I think he wanted the man on fire to represent all the rulers (such as drug lords or dirty politicians for example) because they all intimidate people to get what they want, so people bow down to them. But if you think about it, sooner or later everything is going to catch up with them, just like the man on fire in the piece. It may look amazing and produce awe but sooner or later you are going to burn to a crisp.

References

Blackboard

Mother Nature

 

Pierre Bodo, who is from Congo, created this painting Femme Surchargée in 2005. He has several paintings that revolve around this image that he created that were painted in the same year and were given the same name. Bodo signs all of his work “Art Bodo” and revolves all his paintings around experiences, observations, and dreams. He is a major part of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s “popular painting” school where they believe art has to potential to alter the course of history.

I choose this paintings because to me when I see this painting I think of mother nature. How a lot of people think there is a god that plays this role and how she is in charge of nature. I like how he painted a body of a woman but then made her hair the extensions of nature. All different kinds of animals are sitting on her like they would a tree, but a lot of these animals wouldn’t be seen in the same area normally. I feel like he is bringing nature together in harmony and making her the center of it, like she is the one who brings peace.

I just liked the message that it sent and I liked the colors within the work. He really made the woman stand out with her different features and it caught my eye.

References

Blackboard

http://art.sy/artwork/pierre-bodo-femme-surchargee 

A Part of the Land

I picked this theme because it was always a big part of my life in my community. We had a great number of Native Americans in my class when I was little, so we did a lot of activities that involved us exploring outside and learning about their customs.

Lisa Fifield is the first artist that I choose, because she is part of an Indian tribe so being “one with the land” is important in her life. She was born in 1957 and is a part of the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin. She was diagnosed with Lupus after noticing a slight twitch in her right hand. She needed and outlet and was encouraged to start painting by a doctor to start painting.

Birch Bark Woman

I choose this painting becasue of how litterally the manis a part of the world. He is so one with her suroundings that he is a tree. This painting is really what inspired me to make my theme because I like how this shows Native American’s culture of believing everything is connected.

Helen Hide Bird

I liked this painting because even though its just a woman dancing, to me it says that she is dancing with nature. With the birds all around her it seems to me that she is dancing and maybe comunicating with the animals and the earth.

Murder of Crows

At first I wasnt sure about this painting, but after taking the title into consideration I think I got it. I fell that this conncects to my theme becase the painting is about a funeral. Crows circling like that and a group of people, it just seems like there was a death so everyone is mourning. Back to why it connects to my theme, is because everyone is gathered around the tree, and I remember learning about how some Native Americans burried their loved ones right next to a tree, so the tree could absorb their spirt and they could still be a part of this world.

The Bird Funeral

This one really spoked to me because there are so many ways to inturptet this painting. What I see and what made me connect it to my theme is even though the bodies have birds head, I beilieve that its people, who are mourning or respecting this birds death. The reason that their heads been transformed into bird heads is because they are trying to connect themselves to this bird, so they imagine themselves as a bird and what kind they would be.

James Garfield 

 

*None of the creation dates for these peices were available, they were all painting between 1990-present*

The next artist that I chose is Maya Lin, who designed and created the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1985. She won the ability to create this memorial at the age of 21, and was still and undergraduate in school. She is a commited environmentalist and is working on her last peice What is Missing? which is about the loss of habitat around us.

This wall amazes me everytime I see a picure of it. Seeing how far the names go and to think that every name was a brother, father, son, uncle, grandfather, it tuggs on my heart. I choose this as the last peice of my gallary because I think that it really makes people think and it brings a different meaning to ‘A Part of the Land’. All these men gave up their lives for America and when they came home they werent even appreciated. This wall connects to my theme because these men fought for our land, our country, and by having this memorial they can always be remembered for what they did for America.

Resorces

Blackboard lesson 8

http://0.tqn.com/d/dc/1/0/C/O/1/vietnam-memorial-wreath.jpg for the V.V.M, picture

 

The Harlem Renaissance

The painting I would like to discuss is not necessarily my favorite painting, but the painting that spoke to me the most. William Johnson’s Chain Gang (painted around 1939) really spoke to me because it just shows how the African Americans felt back when they were enslaved.

 

To me this painting represents how replaceable the African Americans felt. If you glance at it you can immediately see that it is three men in jail suits, but if you look closer you can see that the bodies are misshapen. The jail suits and the shackles represent the obvious of these men were prisoners of the white men, but the bodies are really what have the biggest story to tell. The two men look like the are attached, and not really two individuals, and the other man has no body, just legs, arms and a head. This to me really shows that they didn’t feel like individuals. The two men that look like the are attached, that represents how they lost their individuality and started becoming all alike because they were never allowed to be individuals. The man who has no torso shows how the African Americans felt about their worth, it shows that there was no need for a body (where the heart is) just working legs, arms, and a head to keep them going.

This all ties in with the Harlem Renaissance because that was when the African Americans started being creative. William Johnson showed his creativity by taking what he grew up around in South Carolina, and putting his outlook on slavery onto canvas. If looked at closely it really does show how the African Americans were treated and how it made them feel during these times.

Impressionism Indeed

I personally love Impressionism art. I love how informal it is and how you can just use you imagination on some pieces to see everything in the painting. However there are some Impressionism pieces of art that are a little too formal for my taste, and to me don’t really fit into the category of Impressionism. Take Edgar Degas’ painting, The Dancing Class (painted in Paris, 1874), to me it is too formal to classify as an Impressionism piece. There are distinctive lines and structure in this piece, instead of just colors blended together to create a picture. Its more abstract than earlier art, but to me its not abstract enough to be considered Impressionism.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s painting, Le Moulin de la Galette (painted in Paris, 1876), now to me that is Impressionism at its best. If you look there are no real definite lines in the heart of the painting. There are some for chairs and lights, but the people are all made of colors. Renoir just blended colors into shapes instead of painting in the lines. I also love how the people have expressions on their face but no lines, so you as the observer can depict their expressions in your own way. This is definitely my favorite painting in the Impressionism category and that I have seen so far.

Impressionism art is much more fun than earlier art because its not so serious. I personally don’t like having to look at solemn men and women or religious beliefs when looking at a painting. I like to look at something happy or something I have to use my imagination to depict. The Baroque era is an excellent example of what Im talking about, all the paintings seem so serious, and theres really no imagination used when looking at one. The artist has told you exactly what to think and there is no deviation from it. For a quick example look at George de La Tour’s work, The Hurdy-Gurdy Player (painted in France, 1631-1636). There is not mystery in this painting, its just a man playing the Hurdy-Gurdy, theres no mystery. Where as the work above, Le Moulin de la Galette, you don’t know what everyone is thinking because their facial expressions are so vague that you the observer must figure it out. Art is suppose to inspire the imagination, and Impressionism art does that better than any other kinds of art we have studied so far. 

Resources

http://www.ocaiw.com/galleria_degas/index.php?gallery=ball&id=48 

http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/110003530

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/renoir/moulin-galette/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_de_La_Tour

Familiarity within the Melody

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his 5^th Symphony in 1808. This was his most famous symphony and is known as “one of the most important works of the time”. This doesn’t come as a surprise to me because it is my favorite classical piece. I love how the melody repeats itself but changes tones, and how volume goes up and down through out the whole symphony. I have attached just a segment of the whole Symphony so you can enjoy it as much as I do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4IRMYuE1hI 

Beethoven’s 5^th Symphony is a classic example of how music changed to better the middle class. The melody repeats itself so it is predictable, but it changes slightly so it keeps it interesting. It follows the 4 movements of a symphony, 1- fast and generally dramatic, 2-slow and contemplative and a variation of the first melody, 3- livelier, 4- fast, but lively and happy. By Beethoven following this with his 5^th Symphony it is perfect for the middle class because it is easy to understand, but pleasant to listen to. Most likely it became so famous because it adds intensity and complexity, but then breaks it down and simplifies it. Also by repeating the same melody over and over again, and only slightly changing it every time it creates familiarity, which makes it so the audience can relate to the music.

References

Blackboard Lessons: Classical Era

 

 

The Influence of Council of Trent

The Crucifixion of Saint Peter by Michelangelo, he was also known as Caravaggio. This piece of artwork was created in 1600-01 in Santa Maria del Popola, Rome.

This piece of art work really shows how the Council of Trent influenced art work. This piece shows the crucifixion of Saint Peter in a plain and simple picture. You see four men in a close up with nothing in the background, this means that there isn’t anything to distract you from what is really going on.It also presents a lot of emotion on Saint Peters face which you can see up close because of how the piece is laid out. If you look closely you see that the look on his face is terror, but nobody is holding him down, as if he’s accepting his fate.

This correlates with what the Council of Trent wanted from art work; they wanted clarity, realism and emotion from art work. This piece shows all three of those aspects. The way that the piece is illustrated shows clarity because it only has one focus point, it isn’t jumbled or distracting, your eye is only drawn to one thing; Saint Peter on a cross. It also shows emotion with Saint Peters facial expressions, and by the other three men’s muscle structure. The emotion on Saint Peters face is terror, and you can see that he is tense because of his muscles and how they are flexed, this is common in tense situations. The muscular structure of the other three shows the same thing, they are tense because this act involves death, and they are also showing strain, because they are having to lift hundreds and hundreds of pounds. Finally realism is shown by Saint Peter. Even though he is terrified nobody is holding him down, so this means he is accepting his fate, he’s not fighting it by trying to run away, he is just accepting it. This whole piece is centralized around the values that Council of Trent wanted enforce.

Resources

https://classes.uaf.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_120117_1%26url%3D  

*Information was gathered from3.3 Influences During the Baroque Era and 3.4 Visual Arts During the Baroque Era under the name Caravaggio

 

Humanism at its Best

Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli was created in Florence, Italy, 1486.

What is so appealing to me about this particular work of art is how tastefully it was done. I really like how Venus is covering most of herself because to me that shows how vulnerable  she is, which depicts the mind of a new born even though she has a body of an adult. I also like how the other gods are around her but aren’t the center of the piece, and how their “powers” are illustrated. You can see the wind coming out of Zephyr’s mouth and how their are flowers surrounding him and his wife Chloris. Hora, on the left, is the goddess of summer and I think she is illustrated just as well with the way she is dressed and the colors.

This particular piece of art work really embraces the philosophy of Humanism, because it rejects the idea of there being a singular God like the church. This shows 4 gods all with a different power, unlike believing in one almighty God. Humanism is also represented in this painting because of the classical scholarship that the gods represent. Classical scholarship was what humanists developed by trying to understand the works of the Greeks and Romans. This is where the 4 gods in this piece came from, from Greek and Roman stories about the different gods. Instead of worshiping the gods, they used them to tell stories of how things came to be, which is what Botticelli is doing by illustrated the birth of Venus. There are 3 other gods around her blessing her with their powers and presence because she is the goddess of love. The seashell that Venus is standing on represents the fact that Venus was created by the sea, which again represents humanism because a being didn’t create her, and element did.

Resources

http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/vatican.exhibit/exhibit/c-humanism/Humanism.html

http://www.artble.com/artists/sandro_botticelli/paintings/birth_of_venus

https://classes.uaf.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_120117_1%26url%3D

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