Friday, December 6, 2013
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Renaissance of the Black Panther
What does it mean to be black, not only in America but around the world? (Even a person of color)To be black is to be tired, anxious, ambitious. But also to be an extremist, rational, radical and irrational; to struggle from generation to generation, to be unequally disproportionate ! You may disagree w/ me but it is truth, that you can not argue. To be colorblind, disillusioned by reality, to feed into the illusions of society is to be childish and naive in comparison. I am an American citizen but i am not american; nor am i proud to be an American. There is nothing proud about america, unless of course, you pride yourself, your wealth and your great fortune off the misfortune of others. I am of a people who built this country, yet still reps none of the wealth benefits or opportunities allotted. Instead we are dehumanized, exploited, silenced made an example of through propaganda. There is nothing proud about a country that stills a culture away from its homeland by force in aims to work for it. Take this message how you will, but in your best interest it would be wise to remove the shades in-which, you hide behind. As the old American saying goes "On doit se réveiller et sentir les roses"...WAKE UP AND SMELL THE ROSES!
Inspired by: Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael and Louis Farrakhan....Black Panther lingering!
Inspired by: Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael and Louis Farrakhan....Black Panther lingering!
Monday, March 5, 2012
WK10-Renaissance Art
Renaissance art overall particularly the High Renaissance was very enjoyable. I was strongly drawn to, and intrigued by Historia paintings Baroque and Romanticism. In most instances, if not all I was intrigued visually by the details of art within any period with a few exceptions. Theodore Gericault’s piece The Raft of the “Medusa” intrigued me not only visually but historically. A piece with Romanticism characteristics all over it, the historical context caught my attention more than the painting itself because I had seen works equally striking. It was the story behind the painting that blew me away. The thought of something so tragic conveyed into a painting was unreal. It persuaded me to take a second glance at the image before me; “The Raft of the Medusa”, and examine it thoroughly. I endlessly compared the story to the depictions in the painting visualizing the event as it happened. In the painting, the back corner of the raft floats in the bottom middle foreground; while it’s other two visible side corners reach to the left and right bottom appearing to extend off the sides of the canvas. The composition is very visually striking, and it evokes great emotion. The lifeless pale dead bodies lying about on the back edge of the raft is saddening. Some partially on the raft and partially in the water it is a very dramatic driven piece. It is a horrifying nightmare in which, one can only sympathize for the individuals. I felt like this piece emphasized the importance of each person upon the raft. This was very much a tragic Romanists work of art. It definitely stresses emotion, intuition not in the common since but just a characteristic of Romanticism, and reason. His painting looked inwardly and focused on an aspect of the past.
Baroque art is one of my favorite styles thus far simply because of the lighting. One of my most beloved pieces is by Joseph Wright the Blacksmiths Shop. It was very much in my opinion, a Baroque style with slight classical influence in subject matter but a strong diagonal composition. It possessed naturalism and illusion in a dramatic setting. I felt slightly involve with the painting myself because of the strong transition of lighting. My reaction was almost similarly to the blacksmiths, reacting to the light as if I was actually a part of the painting. Joseph’s “An Experiment on a Bird in the Air-pump” was also a fascinating piece. Quite similar in style to his Blacksmiths Shop, it’s a depiction of men, women and children gathered in the dark around a science experiment conducted under a small bright light. This light highlights the garments and faces of each individual, giving the viewer a visual detail. The man conducting the experience is actually the center of the piece along with the equipment he’s using. The light doesn’t highlight him as much. The piece is both calming and unsettling.
Historia Art are paintings with narrative that tell a story in which, instruct the viewer in a pleasurable sense. It contains a variety of colors and bodies in the composition that moves the viewers through the expressiveness of the figures represented. I feel like Baroque and Romanticism all have characteristics of historia to some degree. I enjoy a good story and if a painting is well painted, with all the above criteria such as Baroque style etc, it has my interest. Historia art is what drives my interest because I like to know the meaning or story behind a painting. But not just any story, a story that is dramatic, emotionally driven like Baroque art. It must be a painting that focuses on individuals and stress emotion like Romanticism.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii.
Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii.
The Oath of the Horatii, was painted in 1784 and is considered the true cornerstone of Neo-Classicism. This painting according to scholars gave visual form to the ideas of the French Revolution before the events of Greek history. The Oath depicts three warrior brothers extending their arms toward “the handful of swords that their father thrusts aloft” (Smith), and a group of women and children huddling off to the side in the background. The focus in this painting is described as “too complex”, resistant and versatile, a political concept in history. The painting slowly reveals itself or rather its meaning in bits and pieces. David assures his knowledge of anatomy in the image by depicting an ideal sense of smooth polished skin, and developed muscular structure. There were many French painters of the 19th century who followed him, like his student Ingres, Delacroix and Gericault. Jacques-Louis David was the image “personification” of the Academy in the 19th century.
Jacques-Louis David was born in 1748 in Paris into a family of master masons and architects. He entered the French Academy at age 17 but struggled to establish himself as a decorated artist. It took nearly a decade for him to find his style and five tries to win the Prix de Rome (award), in which at one point he attempted suicide by starving himself for two days. David was describes as an ambitious person who strived to stay ahead once he attained his status. In 1793 David was elected, deputy to the National Convention during Louis XVI trial, where he voted for his execution. He organized revolutionary festivals and painted “Marat Assassinated,” years later he served a year in prison “after the fall of the Jacobins” (Smith). He served as Napoleon’s first “named” painter a position in which he initially turned down.
In 1980 Empire to Exile, the first major exhibition of David’s (his) work was shown in the United States featuring twenty-six paintings and twenty-two drawings. The Empire to Exile, Clark show was organized in collaboration with the J. Paul Getty Museum, and overseen by Philippe Bordes, a teacher at the University of Lyon. The exhibition concentrated on portraits that depicted Napoleon and mythological scenes; as well as drawings done in Brussels. The exhibition showcased a rare look into the innovative painter who apparently admired the work of Michelangelo. David also grew up admiring Boucher, and his work closely aligned with Boucher’s. David’s heroic image of Napoleon Crossing the Saint-Bernard, scholars speculate that he was hinting at the impossibility of Napoleon’s heroic crossing of the Alps, referencing the tiny soldiers trudging in the background. It is fact that Napoleon originally made the trip on a mule but he was painted on an elegant steed. David later died in 1815 after his exiled to Brussels; in the event of his unfortunate death during his life he expanded his understanding of the human body from his collections of antique sculptures, he was considered the first painter of modern life.
ROBERTA, SMITH. "ART REVIEW; Sizing Up Jacques-Louis David, in a Compact Way." New York Times 10 June 2005: 39. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Mar. 2012.
Theodore Gericault, the Raft of The Medusa.
Theodore Gericault, the Raft of The Medusa.
In recent years researchers have been trying to establishing the timeline of Theodore Gericault most controversial project, the Raft of the Medusa. Gericault is thought to have completed his studies for the Raft during the spring and summer of 1818. Then worked out his composition during the summer and autumn, in which he transferred his completed design onto canvas by November 1818.
The French painter Jean Louis André Théodore Gericault style is considered to be the first true romanticist. The son of a lawyer, born September 26, 1791 in Rouen; Gericault in 1808, entered the studio of the famous painter of horses Carle Vernet. Shortly in 1815, Gericault joined the royal musketeers and was stationed at Versailles for 2 or 3 months. He return to Paris in 1817, where he created his first lithographs the following year he began work on what become his largest and best known composition, the Raft of the Medusa; a tragic shipwreck in which Gericault conveyed into a painting. Gericault painting was intended to be a confrontational piece, both politically and artistically. He transformed a contemporary subject into a historical painting. The story of the painting “The Raft of the Medusa”, is a depiction of a real historical event described to him by two me he met in 1818; whose accounts of the shipwreck inspired his piece.
The voyage of la Meduse was first published in 1817 by Henri Savigny and Alexandre Correard, a surgeon and a geographer on the Medusa; also the two men Gericault encountered in 1818. The ship was transporting soldiers, passengers and the governor Colonel Julien Schmaltz; when the catastrophe occurred. The ship ran off the west coast of Arica on July 2nd 1816, when it claimed over 150 lives including the Captain. The ship was abandon, and approximately 250 people were put onto six life boats leaving the vast majority whom were ordinary soldiers, low ranking officers and civilians to a makeshift raft. In haste to get to shore the tow-ropes were untied leaving 149 men and one woman stranded; with no provisions and no navigational equipment. “Outbreaks of mutiny…mindless violence occurred from the second day” (Christine). By the fourth, survivors was practicing cannibalism and the eighth day, survivors through the injured and dying overboard to extend provisions. The final fifteen men survived for another five days until their rescue, five died shortly after.
Gericault chose to use the first sighting of the “Argus” prior to rescue as his composition from a number of scenes. His painting visualized, “the fallacy of hope and pointless suffering, and at worst, the basic human instinct to survive…[which] superseded all moral considerations and plunged civilized man into barbarism” (Christine). The second edition of the Medusa narrative depicts abolitionist sympathies, interpreting the black figure as a symbol of hope. The ordinary soldiers on the raft were in fact multi-racial. The selection of a black man in France at the time was a highly controversial decision. Scholars believe the exhibition for this second edition was timed specifically to coincide with British anti-slavery agitation.
Rosenthal, Donald A. "Gericault's Expenses For The Raft Of The Medusa." Art Bulletin 62.4 (1980): 638. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Mar. 2012.
Riding, Christine. "The Fatal Raft" History Today 53.2 (2003): 38. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Mar. 2012.
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=4023bf02-1300-462d-a74d-32d13936ab55%40sessionmgr4&vid=7&hid=15&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=9075377
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Blacksmith's Shop by: Joseph Wright
Joseph Wright of Derby is well known for his intriguing method used in his “Blacksmiths Shop” painting. He produced five series, pictures of the blacksmith’s shops between 1771 and 1773, were he incorporated a small piece of gold leaf onto a “white under layer of a picture” (David H.). The first version was purchased by Lord Melbourne which is now housed in The Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut. The picture you see here is his second version of a Blacksmith’s Shop. Joseph Wright referred to these pieces as “Night Pieces” “emphasizing their romantic elements” (David H.). Although his methods were unusual they were original “a scientific masterpiece.” His painting depicted three blacksmiths crafting what appeared to be a horse shoe during the night.
Wright a pupil and protégé of Sir Joshua; gained a reputation within a seven year period as a local artist in London without influential patrons. He was interested in the effects of dramatic light (from candles, lamps, and the reflection of the moon). His interests were along the same lines of; “the new scientific philosophical [ideals] of industrial developments in the Midlands” (David H.). His Blacksmith painting was thought to have been created in the summer or autumn of 1770. The method used for Joseph Wright’s Blacksmith’s Shop, was the covering of a narrow strip of metal, in which a thick (opaque) layer of Naples yellow was applied. This created the luminous effect, which was the compositions focal point. The method was not revealed until two centuries later where it underwent a technical examination.
The most intriguing thing to me about this painting aside from the luminous lighting effects; are those things the light emphasizes; the two blacksmiths facing the observer standing in front of the bright metal are highlighted thoroughly. The blacksmith with his back toward the viewer is highlighted as well. But in a more darken light, so the viewer gets a sense of transition, the contrast from extreme bright light to dim low lighting, gradually receding into an opaque darkness. The building itself drives a very dramatic effect. In fact it complements the focal point of the painting; illustrating the remaining light that’s not being hovered over, as reflecting onto the walls softly highlighting small details of the surrounding area. The observer then gets a small, minute view of the buildings architectural design.
Of course the additional lighting of the outside sky depicts the moon shielded behind a cluster of dark clouds. The painting itself aside from the three blacksmiths, indicate several more characters lurking in the dark. One version is of a teen boy covering his face as he turns away from the bright metal. The second, which is the one you see here, is of a young girl mimicking the same action in front of people assumed to be her parents appearing next to her. In addition there is a young boy peeping between the two adults. A woman on the left closes to the blacksmiths mending the strip of metal, and man on the right sitting with a hood covering his face. The woman’s body is highlighted by the glowing strip of metal while the man presence recedes into the darkness.
Joseph Wright's Early Subject Pictures
Benedict Nicolson
The Burlington Magazine , Vol. 96, No. 612 (Mar., 1954), pp. 72+74-80
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/871444
Joseph Wright of Derby and the Sublime Art of Labor
David H. Solkin
Representations , Vol. 83, No. 1 (Summer 2003), pp. 167-194
Article DOI: 10.1525/rep.2003.83.1.167
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/rep.2003.83.1.167Sunday, February 19, 2012
Baroque Art
Baroque art is characterized by propaganda and “deliberately evokes intense emotional response from the viewer” (p.712). It is dramatically driven with theatrical compositions and compiled with several different Medias within a particular work in which artists display their talents. Baroque art has its own ideal and principals of classicism. Its idealizations are based on observations in the material world. Baroque compositions are often asymmetrical (uneven, unbalanced or lopped-sided), though “diagonal…in space” it is rich to harmonious colors with visual reference to ancient Greece and Rome. Artist of the seventeenth Baroque period created lifelike paintings, depictions of their world. Genres for paintings were scenes of everyday life, still life and paintings of inanimate objects such as food, fruit or flowers.
The role of the viewer changed in the 17th century, Italian Renaissance was about the visual possibilities of perspective and idealism of form. This was valued and kept viewers at a distance. Baroque artists wanted to engage all viewers as participants in the works of art. For example artists in Catholic countries depicted scenes of passionate spiritual life of religious ecstasy to inspire viewers to renew their faith. Protestant countries displayed images of communal parades and city views; this was meant to inspire pride in “civic accomplishments.” These works of art engaged and drew the viewer in visually and emotionally.
Artist in 17th century rejected and incorporate Renaissance ideals (such as humanism, naturalism, idealism, and visual harmony). Bernini DAVID for example very much holds an idealistic view for anatomy an ideal young man. His David displays a mescaline body etc with humanistic lifelike qualities. Of course the sculpture is a bit more modest than Michelangelo’s DAVID because the genital are not exposed. Bernini’s version lacks the Renaissance ideal of naturalism in his DAVID’s posture. It is an unnatural but realistic movement. There is an unbalance of harmony in Bernini’s DAVID’s twisted body, which appears to be in-motion. The sculpted figure is also tarnished, realistically dirty from battle. Oppose to Michelangelo’s DAVID, which is clean and motionless in a contrappasto posture. His David does not appear to be or have been in battle. Michelangelo’s sculpture is also humanistic because it posse lifelike qualities of an individual, as well as accurate bodily description of anatomy. It is hormonally balanced, natural in its posture and ideal in appearance according to the renaissance era.
Bernini’s DAVID and Michelangelo’s DAVID are similar ideally in anatomy and humanistic features. But they differ naturalistically, somewhat ideally, and in visual hormonal balance. Michelangelo’s David compared to Bernini’s is lifeless, a still life of events of the past. His David is depicted more as a statue rather than an actual life-filled being. Bernini’s David on the other hand appears to be filled with life. Its twisted body in motion depicting an event of the past brought into the present. Engaging the viewers, making them fill emotionally drawn to the battle of a historical event. Bernini’s David sparks drama and emotion opposed to Michelangelo’s version. Which is more of a classical display of pre historic era?
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