History sticks to your feet

babylonfalling: Christer Themptander

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 19:48:05 -0500

Christer Themptander

Pop Art I have always been fascinated but Andy Warhol, but turned off by how well known he is and...

Wed, 19 May 2010 01:52:00 -0400

Pop Art

I have always been fascinated but Andy Warhol, but turned off by how well known he is and his most famous works.

However, after learning more details about him in Art History, I have a deeper appreciation for the work he made, his ideas, his processes, and the evolution of Pop Art.

Andy Warhol, Oxidation painting, 1978, copper metallic paint and Urine on canvas

(close-up)

I have always been fascinated by decay and chemical reactions, as well as the color palette of shiny coppers and crusty turquoise. Thus, I instantly fell in love with this painting. I also liked the human quality that these had that Warhol’s other works conscientious lack. Yet despite the direct human interaction, it still feels somewhat separate from us because of its chemical reaction.

It reminded me of a photographer I absolutely love, David Maisel.

He took these photographs of found copper canisters containing the remains of asylum patient. Time has eroded and oxidized the outsides into beautiful colors and crystallized patterns.

http://davidmaisel.com/works/lod.asp

Although the reading annoyed me to an extent, it proved the point home that Warhol has truly put on this facade and his fame give him the power to give other people fame. He repeats images to devalue them and in turn, by him just touching them, he brings value and meaning back in. He turns things to diamond dust.

Andy Warhol, Diamond Dust Shoes, 1980

Action Painting and the Abstract Expressionists I’m going to start with the most powerful...

Wed, 19 May 2010 01:51:00 -0400

Action Painting and the Abstract Expressionists

I’m going to start with the most powerful Abstract Expressionist paintings that I’ve seen in person.

Jackson Pollock, Number 1, 1950 Lavender Mist, c. 1950

As I wandered around the National Gallery with my father who is completely unaffected by the art world, I saw the huge Lavender Mist from across the room. A group of kinder gardeners were sitting around it as a woman tried to win over their appreciation for Jackson Pollock. I stood humbled by the size and the layers of the painting. It truly felt like a piece of him. This was no crafty splatter paint project. This was a whiskey drinking, Marlboro smoking, man’s guts on the canvas. It was thick with time, and begged me to touch it. It is a piece that is only powerful when seen in person. When you can see how the tar mixes with the latex and how shards of sand and glass lick the surface. How it is no Mellow Mushroom bathroom floor.

Franz Kline, Orange Outline, 1955

Will Taylor has always brought up Franz Kline when we are creating abstract compositions. I never really was captivated by the glossy pictures he showed us of his work. However, when I was in the Raleigh Museum of Art I stumbled upon this piece. Suddenly my boredom with Kline’s geometric, black and white shapes vanished. I could see the layers and layers of time. The vibrant paint underneath, whispering from the application of white on top, aggravating the thick, expressive black lines. Although small, this painting had a presence of its own. I could see his touch on the surface.

No. 1 (Black Form Paintings) - Mark Rothko (1960s)

In the National Gallery I walked up to the very highest floor and was enslaved by these paintings. They were in a room rich with skylights and you could hear the whisper of music throughout the space. However, the paintings were what commanded the space. Their presence loomed over me. But it was a warm and complex looming. It wasn’t dark and scary, it was almost spiritual. After only seeing Rothko’s colorful work I was absorbed into the black. The subtle way some blacks sat more blue, and some gleamed red like sharpie ink. Some were matte and others glossy. They weren’t just black either. They suggested work. They whispered that they contained more color underneath, color that you could no longer unlock. Just as Rothko’s content. No image could describe this feeling.

Rauschenberg, Brace, c. 1962

In the VA department, especially in Pam Griffin’s class Rauchenberg is God. We have had projects where we were essentially asked to paint a Rauchenberg painting. So my feelings toward him have always been a little resentful. However, when I saw his work for the first time in person in the National gallery my thoughts changed. They were larger than I expected and suggested much more work and time and labor. I had always thought he used paper images as the black and white photos in his paintings, but in fact they are screen prints. This to be is the hands of Pop and Abstract Expressionism holding, taking images and repeating them without touch, and then adding action, expressive marks, content, meaning back in. Breathing life into the lifeless.

The power of art video made me appreciate Rothko even more. Seeing his struggles to preserve meaning a truth in art and rejecting the material world spoke to me. Although I found the actor who played him a bit cheesy and distracting, the shots without him speaking were powerful and beautiful. They seemed very intimate and showed an accurate depiction of an artist alone in their studio. Simon Schama always speaks so passionately about art work and makes us feel the passion one way or the other.

Surrealism The world’s favorite mustache. (poor Velazquez, his mustache is way bigger than yours.)...

Wed, 19 May 2010 01:25:00 -0400

Surrealism

The world’s favorite mustache. (poor Velazquez, his mustache is way bigger than yours.) And the world’s most famous surrealist, Salvador Dali.

SURREALISM, noun, masc., Pure psychic automatism by which it is intended to express, either verbally or in writing, the true function of thought. Thought dictated in the absence of all control exerted by reason, and outside all aesthetic or moral preoccupations.

Salvador Dali, Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate One Second Before Waking Up, 1944

In the arousal of sleep a woman lays open to attack horizontally across the plane. Hovering above her open body is an arch of predators. Despite their curling rage as they leap for the attack, they are formed in a graceful arch, quite more peaceful than a direct, angular diagonal. This arch contradicts their motive, ensuring the dream state. An elephant upon stick legs passes blindly behind the violent scene of attack. Seemingly determined and detached from the action. The sky is blushing with the morning, another sign against the violence. It seems as soon as the prick touches the ivory nude, reality will blow the smoke away from the surreal scene.

René Magritte, The Key of Dreams, 1930

André Masson. Automatic Drawing. (1924)

Duchamp, Nude Descending Staircase, No. 2, 1912,

“Nudes do not descend staircases.”

Nude Descending a Staircase

Toe upon toe, a snowing flesh,

A gold of lemon, root and rind,

She sifts in sunlight down the stairs

With nothing on. Nor on her mind.

We spy beneath the banister

A constant thresh of thigh on thigh—

Her lips imprint the swinging air

That parts to let her parts go by.

One woman waterfall, she wears

Her slow descent like a long cape

And pausing, on the final stair,

Collects her motions into shape.

X.J. Kennedy

Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot, and Griselda Pollock. Cassatt, Little girl in a blue arm chair, c....

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:47:00 -0400

Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot, and Griselda Pollock.

Cassatt, Little girl in a blue arm chair, c. 1878

This is one of my favorite pieces by Mary Cassatt. A moment that is caught only by a mother. A moment reflective of both childhood and womanhood. A child stuck in a grown-ups world, swallowed by the ocean of blue chairs, awkwardly plopped trying to filled the space. The little girl is slouched with legs spread, a pose criminal for a grown woman of the time. It shows to me the world that woman painters see, and how different it is than the men’s world. It almost makes me glad that the woman couldn’t paint what the men could, their subject matter in some cases seems more true. Sometimes when one is restricted the most powerful work is secreted.

Cassett, Five o’ clock tea, c. 1880

Certainly a woman puts the paint on the canvas differently than a man. Woman encounter different experience, overcome different obstacles, and simply have different bodies than those of men.

However, during the Impressionist era woman not only faced these differences from men, but they also were restricted in many other ways.

Manet can easily have access to paint a fellow painter nude for his Olympia, but as for her paintings she would never be able to paint one like the masterpiece she modeled for.

Woman of the time simply didn’t have access to the same things men did. And thus their subject matter was radically different. A man could paint a bird’s eye view of Paris, while Morisot painted what she saw— the balcony bars hiding Paris.

Morisot, View from the Balcony, c. 1872

Monet, Garden of the Princess c. 1867

However, woman weren’t truly kept prisoners, they were let out. But the problem that persists, as Pollock acknowledges, “they are the spaces of bourgeois recreation, display, and those social rituals which constituted polite society….”

“Modernity is still with us, ever more acutely as our cities become in the exacerbated world of postmodernity, more and more a place of strangers and spectacle, while women are ever more vulnerable to violent assault while out in public and are denied the right to move around our cities safely. The spaces of femininity still regulate women’s lives —from running the gauntlet of intrusive looks by men on the streets to surviving deadly sexual assaults. In rape trials, women on the street are assumed to be ‘asking for it’. The configuration which shaped the work of Cassatt and Morisot still defines our world.”

-Pollock, pg. 89

Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes (and Photography) Photography, in my opinion, is one of the most...

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:47:00 -0400

Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes (and Photography)

Photography, in my opinion, is one of the most challenging art forms we have today.

It is so simple, so accessible, easy to learn and even automatically have technical precision, but it is capturing emotion, feeling, an atmosphere, that makes one see the “truth” differently.

The First Photograph c. 1826, Joseph Niepce

First portrait, 1839, Robert Cornelius, self-portrait

First color photograph, 1861

1975, first digital photograph

Barthes talks about a photograph never fully being distinguished from what it represents. This to me is the challenge. We have this contraption at our fingertips, we have an endless supply of images to capture permanently in light, but its never that easy. Because things are so accessible it is the challenge to take the referent and make it into something that doesn’t only read on surface level. What good is it to document a leaf? We see leaves around us all day everyday. But it is the way you frame the leaf, the parts you leave out, the parts you zoom in, the amount of light you let leak in that creates a evocative statement. That changes how we view that leaf. That makes us see the world differently.

Photography is not only a way of making us see our world differently, but also a proof of existence. It offers a looking glass into the past. “The effect it produces upon me is not to restore, what has been abolished (by time, by distance) but to attest that what I see has indeed existed.” Barthes talks about the way we look at photographs and the conclusions we make. When we see a photograph from the 1900’s for example, we know that everyone captured in that moment in time is now dead. Photographs become our only view of reality in those settings. We see the faces they where, the clothing, the objects, the setting and we create a view of their world based on that. That view could be close to accurate, or it could very well be distorted by the filter of the photographer’s eye.

Some of my favorite photographs:

1930s-1940s photos in color in the Library of Congress

http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/sets/72157603671370361/

James Cooper

Found photograph by the Polaroid Kid

Night-blooming Cereus, c. 1988 Sally Mann

Corey Arnold

Alexa Meade paints people to look like expressionist portraits, and, takes their portrait. They also become still lives in galleries.

Rachel de Joode

Van Gogh and Gauguin Before Van Gogh and Gauguin color was translated literally on the canvas. How...

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:47:00 -0400

Van Gogh and Gauguin

Before Van Gogh and Gauguin color was translated literally on the canvas. How dare you use yellow for the grass and red for the sky.

Van Gogh talks about color as means of expression, as a power, “I am know going to be the arbitrary colorist. I exaggerate the fairness of the hair, I even to orange tones, chromes and pale citron-yellow. Behind the head, instead of painting the ordinary wall of the mean room, I paint infinity, a plain background of the richest intensest blue that I can contrive…I get a mysterious effect, like a star in the depths of an azure sky.”

Van Gogh, Sunflowers, c. 1888

The flowers seem to melt in the vibrant background of the same color and wash out their vibrancy. They droop and curl over and some have lost their peddles. They seem in dialogue with one another rather then with their surroundings. Every hue has a lick of yellow that makes the mood sickly, unlike the kind of yellow of the sun. Their rejection of the sun is mimicked through the color. Not only are they constrained by color but also by the frame. They remain within the frame but read as though they are gazing off the plane by their crumbling, twisting gestures, visual arrows, and the accents of the pure white and black. They search left, right, down, and straight ahead, but not one gazes up to their nourishing sun.

Van Gogh, The Potato Eaters, c. 1885

Gauguin uses color as a vehicle for expression as well. However he doesn’t seem to set a mood as powerful as Van Gogh seems to set.

Gauguin, Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going, 1897

This piece certainly feels tranquilly and exotic through his use of tranquil blues in the back ground and warm, vibrant yellows in the foreground. However, I think that separates him the most from Van Gogh is the brush strokes. Van Gogh’s strokes are more expressive and create a mood that is more powerful than any of Gauguin’s.

Or it very well could be that crazy people are just better painters.

Constructivism “The optimistic, non-representational relief construction, sculpture, kinetics...

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 23:38:00 -0400

Constructivism

“The optimistic, non-representational relief construction, sculpture, kinetics and painting. The artists did not believe in abstract ideas, rather they tried to link art with concrete and tangible ideas.”

Dedicated for social purposes, “art for art’s sake.”

Vladimir Mayakovsky

Artipop Poster by Mayakovsky

Poetry

“The rain sobbed all over the sidewalks;

the scoundrel, condensed into puddles,

all wet, licks the cobblestone-beaten corpse of streets.

And on this gray eyelashes—

yes!—

tears flow from eyes—

yes!—

on his icicle eyelashes

from the sagging eyes of drainpipes.

The snout of the rain drooled on all the pedestrians,

but flabby athlete after athlete flashed by in carriages:

stuffed to the eyeballs,

they burst,

grease dribbled through the cracks,

and together with chewed-over rolls

and the cud of old ground meat

it flowed down in a turbid river from the carriages.”

—From “Sleeping on the Wing”

Ilya Bolotowsky

born in St. Petersburg, Russia on July 1, 1907. (My birthday!)

Untitled Ilya Bolotowsky, silk screen print, 20th century

Ella Bergmann-Michel

Botanik - Construction 3 B132 Ella Bergmann-Michel, Ink and Graphite with chalk c. 1922

Thin, perfect lines and arrows jut this way and that mechanically instructing the eye throughout the piece. A teetering high-contrast form vertically stands in the center. A perfect circle of dust radiates out of the center sending tentacles vertically up through space. Like soldiers they stiffen out suddenly, forming a brilliant white commanding arrow that instructs us off the page again. Despite the chaos of arrows pointing every which direction, the composition seems balanced. The focal point is in high contrast, while circles begin to fuzz into the background around it and thin hollow shapes reenforce the teetering figure in the focal point. The piece speaks to me as a mechanical dancer, drifting up, up, up, and out.

THEN

NOW

Shepard Fairey

Manet Self Portrait with a Palette Edouard Manet c. 1879 Olympia Edouard Manet c. 1863 Olympia...

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 23:11:00 -0400

Manet

Self Portrait with a Palette Edouard Manet c. 1879

Olympia Edouard Manet c. 1863

Olympia Yasumasa Morimura c. 1990

What inspires me about Manet’s Olympia is how he did not intend for his pieces to be picked up with such controversy and scandal, but he merely painted what he saw. Not only did he paint what he saw, but by answering Baudelaire’s call, he shattered people’s illusions. “To the wealthy collectors of art and women, who regarded both as possessions, Olympia stripped them of their illusions. Her body is ripe for the taking, but everything else, including the meaning behind that enigmatic almost-smile, she’s keeping for herself,” Mary Elizabeth Williams comments in her essay “Manet’s “Olympia”.” And despite all the fuss and facing of rejection, Manet continued to paint what he saw and how he saw it, with bold brush strokes and surprising contrasts.

I love the way Mary Elizabeth Williams ends her beautiful rambling with “To worship a goddess is easy, but to love a human — especially one who offers no hint of reciprocation — is far more work, and infinitely more thrilling. Manet brought the hidden world of the everyday into the light and made it remarkable. For all that’s reserved about Olympia’s demeanor, the passion of her creator is there in every stroke and every line. She may withhold her heart, but we, helpless, are under her spell forever.” It is true, as artists it is easy to paint a portrait of a Brittany Spears and get praised for the recognition of the image and possible beautiful rendering of that famous image, but to take a person off of the street and make that image potent and full of integrity and emotion, that is much more beautiful.

Constantine Guys “The Painter of Modern Life” by Charles Baudelaire c. 1863 Portrait...

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 23:00:00 -0400

Constantine Guys

“The Painter of Modern Life” by Charles Baudelaire c. 1863

Portrait of the author

Favorite quotes from the work:

“Rapturously breathing in all the odours and essences of life.”

“A child sees everything in a state of newness, he is always drunk.”

“The boisterous sun beating a tattoo on his window pane.”

At first I was puzzled by his analogy of the sun as a tattoo, because I thought of permeance. But after discussing this in class, it was brought to my attention of the origin of the word, as a sound. The perpetual beating of the tattoo machine mimics the perpetual beating of the sun on Guys’ window pane. The gnawing at him to get up and capture the world as it moves, as it stands that moment in his time.

Baudelaire comments on the hierarchy of artists in this piece. How there is a closed circle of vision and vocabulary. I see this a lot as being an artist. We have ways of interpreting, seeing, and talking about pieces that other people outside art school are unaware of or may not understand. Sometimes this is can be an issue, we are trying to make pieces commenting on the world as people of the world, but we use methods and terminology that the rest of the world is unfamiliar too. We must be aware of our audience, but still appreciate the knowledge we gain from art school and art practice.

This goes well into Baudelaire’s idea of genius. “Genius is no more than childhood recaptured at will, childhood equipped now with man’s (or woman’s!) physical means to express itself, and with the analytical mind that enables it to bring order into the sum of experience, involuntarily amassed.” We must balance childhood and adulthood, be aware, yet not aware, be able to adapt but stand our ground, be the center but hidden. As artists we need to be aware of our place as people of the universe, in the present time, but yet be able to tap into higher knowledge and knowledge of the past.

Although this article is dated, because many have now fulfilled Baudelaire’s wish for artists to capture the world as it is happening, it still brings up things we need to be aware of today as artists. Sometimes we get too caught up in the hierarchy of art, what is art, and how is “supposed to be made.” We need to keep pushing the envelope, and yet not go too far, we need to keep in mind we are creating the image of our generation for our grandchildren to reflect on.

Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Happy Accidents of the Swing, 1767, French Rococo Rococo: a style that...

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 22:58:00 -0400

Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Happy Accidents of the Swing, 1767, French Rococo

Rococo:

a style that originated in France in the 18th century, marked by elaborate decorativeness, light colors, and organic forms.

Jean-Honore’ Fragonard embodies French Rococo in his scandalous painting of the swing. Through his symbolism he depicts a woman swinging from one man to another. Her shoe carelessly flings off to show her loss of virginity. As her leg dangles in the air her pink, fleshy dress ripples and gives the “rake” on the left a straight shot up her skirt. This play of scandal, sexuality, and royalty embody the period of French Rococo.

The Wardrobe Jean-Honore’ Fragonard c. 18th century

In response to this flirty, playful, and scandalous movement came Neoclassicism.

This period was a return to a classical emphasis on sobriety and restraint in both form and content.

Napoleon Crossing the Alps David Bonaparte c. 1902

This attempt to be sterile with seriousness backfired. The thrust of the horse upward and the perfectly captured and composed, almost mocking face of Napoleon suggests a masculine sexuality. A overly showy, strong, and big kind of air. Basically, overly decorative and sexual just like Rococo.

Las Meninas Diego Velazquez c. 1656 Foucault and the power of the stare As viewers of artwork...

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 23:07:23 -0400

Las Meninas Diego Velazquez c. 1656

Foucault and the power of the stare

As viewers of artwork we are comfortable with being the observers. As an observer you obtain the power of interpretation and analysis. Velaquez’ plays with our power in his 1656 painting Las Meninas. The artist, the princess, and many of her surrounding figures appear to be acknowledging our existence as we peer into the scene. “The painter is turning his eyes towards us only in so far as we happen to occupy the same position as his subject. We, the spectators, are an additional factor,” Michel Foucault writes in his essay “Las Meninas.” The gazes seem to poke a hole through the picture plane and tap us on our shoulder. By playing with this perspective, Velaquez’ makes us question who really has the power. Is it the princess with the pulse of people and gleaming light around her? Is it the painter, the mastermind behind the piece, the knower of what the large canvas in the foreground holds? Or is it us, the observer, the manipulator and processor?

Foucault believes this play with perspective puts the painter in charge of us. He pulls us by our collars and forces us to enter the picture. “As soon as they place the spectator in the field of their gaze, the painter’s eyes seize hold of him, force him to enter the picture, assign him a place at once privileged and inescapable, levy their luminous and visible tribute from him, and project it upon the inaccessible surface of the canvas within the picture.” Velaquez’ sets up an opportunity for us to image our selves in a place of royal power. He lets us taste moments, a gaze here and there, a reflection in the background, but ultimately he holds the reins. He doesn’t let us peer behind the looming canvas, and the truth of the matter is we cannot jump into the royal gathering because it is only made of paint. For me, I see this painting as an endless push and pull of power. However, we will always have the ultimate power, because even though we are being starred at in return, we can simply shut our eyes, and that is something they cannot.

Other interpretations…

Las Meninas Joel Peter Witkin c.1987

Las Meninas Picasso c.1957

Bernini Bernini, “Apollo and Daphne” c. 1624 The over-all thrust of the piece is...

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:08:00 -0500

Bernini

Bernini, “Apollo and Daphne” c. 1624

The over-all thrust of the piece is captivating. The way it swirls through space and activates the negative space around it. It is like a continuous breath with intricate moments. Those moments provide as a climax to the gesture of the action taking place. I love that moment where Daphne’s fingers are transforming into tree branches.

Bernini, “Ecstasy of St. Theresa” c. 1652

Bernini uses Theresa’s habit as a tool to show the ripping ecstasy and pain of the wound. He captures her mid breath and the composition of the piece moves the eye up to the moment. While the rays in the back are shooting down like the golden arrow.

Bernini, “Pluto and Persephone” c. 1622

I can’t get over the delicate pressure that Bernini captures in this piece. He turns the marble into flesh. The detail of every muscle articulates the thrust of the struggle. He captures her breath and emotion perfectly in her face. This yearning activates the negative space around the piece.

Stone turned into flesh,

it a different way…

Debra Baxter

“Untitled (open/end)” c. 2009 Debra Baxter

“Palate Cleanse (big dumb heart)” c. 2009 Debra Baxter

“Suck It Up (hyperventilation bag)” c. 2009 Debra Baxter

Debra captures flesh and breath through her stone with the folds and ripples and the way those folds suggest a life inside that space. Her pieces have that moment of intricacy that Bernini’s have, but she uses crystals instead. The crystals suggest a action and help articulate that thrust and transform the negative space.

Buddha vs. Jesus I could not find any of the works from the book that I compared and contrasted...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:46:00 -0500

Buddha vs. Jesus

I could not find any of the works from the book that I compared and contrasted online, but I have put in substitute pictures above and provided the page number to the actual image I am referring to.

“Opus Sectile Panel of Christ”

pg. 354, Italy, 250AD

-Color

-Decorative marks that only serve as just that, unmeaningful

-Because of the surprised look, secular decorative marks, and over-all consistency in color this depiction of Jesus Christ shows no real sign of greatness and if you didn’t know what he “looked” like you would not infer this was a depiction of the son of God.

-This presentation also shows Christ very humble and human-like, peasant-like

“Yakushi-Nyorai, The Medicine Buddha”

pg. 451, Japan, 790AD

-Monochromatic

-Focus is on line

-The decorations are more symbolic and meaningful like the lotus flower and his halo being “the wheel of existence”

-Because of these symbols and his formality the Buddha is shown more God-like and holy than the depiction of Jesus.

Both:

-Rigid form

-Depict a kind of religious hand gesture

-Unifying use of color

Julia Kristeva reading Looking at page 243-244, what historical influences shaped Bellini’s...

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:02:00 -0500

Julia Kristeva reading

Looking at page 243-244, what historical influences shaped Bellini’s perception?

Flemish landscape painting, iconography, and Mediterranean architecture.

What few biographical details do we have of his life? Describe particularly the status of his relationship to his mother revealed on 244, 246-7

His father and brother were both painters, his father Jacopo Bellini and his brother Gentile Bellini. His brother-in-law also happened to be a painter as well, Andrea Mantegna.

He was the official painter for the Ducal Palace.

His wife Ginerva Botcheta died young and as did his son.

He died in 1516 but it is uncertain when he was born, most likely around 1410.

Giovanni’s status with his mother isn’t really known. It is said that he might be an illegitimate child or possibly a son from his father’s previous marriage. So it seems that he didn’t have much of a relationship with his mother at all. This is shown in his Madonna and Child paintings with the Madonna never making eye contact with the child but instead her gaze is off on something else.

What do Leonardo’s paintings of Madonna and child tell us about him, according to Kristeva (244-5)?

They silently speak about his childhood and him being born an illegitimate child and thus having two mothers. Both his mothers were very affectionate and this love and double motherhood is shown in his depiction of Madonna and Child.

Leonardo, “The Virgin and Child with St. Ann” c. 1506

How do Bellini’s Madonna’s differ from Leonardo’s? 247-8

Bellini’s depict Mary as very stern and emotionless, while Leonardo’s are more playful and loving in his depiction of Mary. In Bellini’s Madonna and child he depicts the mother looking away from the child and holding him very stiff and formally, while in Leonardo’s the mother is shown gazing at the child with love and emotion.

Bellini, “Madonna and Child” c. 1468

Leonardo, “Madonna and Child with Flowers” c. 1478

Kristeva reveals the significance of Bellini’s use of color in several passages. How is his production of meaning through color significant and different from others in his time?

I believe that even though Bellini’s Madonna’s lack emotion and are presented to us very formally, his use of color provides a sense of life and vibrance that is different from other paintings of his time. Most paintings of his time present color as what they see, and don’t use it as a tool to explore meaning and emotion as I believe Bellini does.

What does Kristeva mean when she writes: “the theme of Christ’s death often appears coupled with the Nativity theme, as if the son’s death were supposed to provide a necessarily tragic and human rendition of this indeterminate passion-anguish-melancholy-joy giving iridescence to the serenity of the maternal body?” 253

I believe Kristeva means that we always tie Christ’s birth and death hand in hand and this is seen especially in Bellini’s paintings. His depiction as Mary with a cold and absent look and her fingertips barely caressing the Child show the looming knowledge of Christ’s death.

What changes does she trace in Bellini’s paintings of Mary from his 1450-1460, (p. 253) to those of 1455-60 (253-4) to those of 1460-64 (254) to those of 1475-80 (259), those of 1480-90 (259) and the final series from 1500-1509 (263 ff)?

Bellini’s paintings of Mary from 1450-60 are depicted as distant and cold. She barely makes contact with the child and the expression she wears is almost on the verge of sadness. From 1455-60 the Virgin’s contact with the child changes and her physical grasp becomes possessive and almost violent. From 1460-64 Bellini is still focused on the mother’s grip but now her hands have shifted to the bottom of the child or on his genitals. From 1475-80 he began to introduce architectural structures in the backgrounds of his Madonna and Child portraits and the body was minimized. From 1480-90 Mary is depicted with a sense of fear and seems ready to flee, and the child becomes accentuated. The child is shown with his hand at his mother’s throat. Finally from 1500-09 Bellini presents Mary as calm and absent again with the infant’s body parallel to hers and seems easily separable.

What happened in Bellini’s family life between 1485-1499 to which Kristeva attributes the major changes of these later periods?

During this 15 year period Bellini lost both his wife and his son. These tragic events were reflected in his changes in style of his Madonna and Child portraits.

Michelangelo and the Renaissance “The Torment of Saint Anthony” Michelangelo 1487 What...

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:33:00 -0500

Michelangelo and the Renaissance

“The Torment of Saint Anthony” Michelangelo 1487

What do I know about Michelangelo? (Prior to class)

The first thing that comes to mind is the book “From the Mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.”

I remember when they become fascinated with a sculpture and its mysterious initial’s engraved on it. They later find out that it is a Michelangelo piece. I believe this piece was a vase, and so learning that he had also made things as humble as a vase compared to his elaborate and almost god-like other works this shocked me.

The next thing that comes to mind is a sketch of his that I had to recreate in drawing class.

“Studies for the Libyan Sibyl” Michelangelo 1508

By recreating this piece I learned a lot about his touch as an artist and I gained an appreciation for his balance of tight well-rendered forms and the way they fade loosely into the atmosphere. This recreation also helped me with my composition struggles, for even in his sketches Michelangelo has a sense of balance in composition.

Of course I know the basics, he lived in Italy during the Renaissance and he painted the magnificent Sistine Chapel.

And he had a great beard.

And his work lives on…

I wonder what he would say.

Creation Hugo van der Goes, The Fall of Adam and Eve, c.1470 Genesis 1 001:002 And the earth was...

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:37:00 -0500

Creation

Hugo van der Goes, The Fall of Adam and Eve, c.1470

Genesis 1

001:002 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

001:011 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

001:021 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

001:022 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

“And the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)

All of these passages are very visually striking. I could see myself creating a work of art using any of these lines. The line that especially inspires me is Genesis 2:7. The vision of God’s mouth breathing life to the dust of the ground and forming man really intrigues me. Not only does it present an opportunity for a visually pleasing picture but it also makes you think. I think about how far away we live from dirt now but it is not only religiously but scientifically what we are made out of. I want to explore the idea of our separation from dirt using examples from art history for my midterm project.

James Croak

creates human forms out of cast dirt.

http://www.jamescroak.com/index.html

Gothic painting “American Gothic” Grant Wood, 1930 not to be confused with...

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:30:00 -0500

Gothic painting

“American Gothic” Grant Wood, 1930

not to be confused with “American Goth”

The term gothic in art history refers to

1 a : of, relating to, or resembling the Goths, their civilization, or their language b : TEUTONIC, GERMANIC c:MEDIEVAL 1d: UNCOUTH, BARBAROUS.

2 a : of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a style of architecture developed in northern France and spreading through western Europe from the middle of the 12th century to the early 16th century that is characterized by the converging of weights and strains at isolated points upon slender vertical piers and counterbalancing buttresses and by pointed arches and vaulting b : of or relating to an architectural style reflecting the influence of the medieval Gothic
3 often not capitalized : of or relating to a style of fiction characterized by the use of desolate or remote settings and macabre, mysterious, or violent incidents

(“high brow”)

The term goth in society now refers to

1) A music genre that came about in the 80’s as an of shoot of punk.

2) A subculture of people who originally listened to Goth music. Now has increased to fit Industrial and Black/Death metal followers. Goths are typically seen as morbid, wearing black clothes almost all of the time, and wearing make up regardless of sex. Also seen to be more open minded to other cultures, sexualities etc.

(“low brow”)

“Annunciation” Martini and Memmi, 1333

This painting is reflective of the Gothic style of architecture

“Wilton Diptych” 1396

The features that distinguish gothic style painting from byzantine specifically are the way the fabric is presented as more realistic and fluid and how we can see human form underneath the fabric. The gothic paintings above have a sculptural aspect to them that most byzantine do not have. Also the forms in general seem more natural and not as stiff and rigid as in byzantine work.

Lucas Cranach, Judith Victorious, c. 1530

Jan Van Eyck, Arnolfini Wedding Portrait, 1434

These gothic paintings distinguish themselves from the other work we studied by their depiction of a light source and a depth of space. These two pieces also have a theatrical quality to them that is unique to the gothic style.

Revival Gothic architecture, began in the 1740s

“Transfiguration” Theophanes the Greek 1403 The gold leaf background and the stiff...

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:06:28 -0500

“Transfiguration” Theophanes the Greek

1403

The gold leaf background and the stiff depiction of fabric distinguishes this piece as a Byzantine work of art. The unique aspect of this work that separates it from most Byzantine works is the ability to see human form underneath the heavy, stiff fabric. Christ is shown scaring the eyes of the Apostles below. Even though the Apostles and prophets are human, they are portrayed as the same proportion and on the same plane as the divine Jesus. However the angels and saints in the background are shown much smaller and further in space from Christ. It is interesting that these other divine figures aren’t placed on the same plane as Christ and the others.

Although one might never see a Byzantine piece and a Warhol piece within 20 feet of one another they share many similarities.

Andy Warhol uses repetition of ideals and disturbing crashes to loose the value and impact these images may have if they stood alone.

“Green Car Crash” Andy Warhol

1963

“Marilyn Diptych” Andy Warhol

1962

Both Warhol’s work and Byzantine style pieces use gaudy and bright colors.

Although his goal is to loose value through repetition, his paintings gained value through his fame.

Byzantine work on the other hand, repeats images and ideals to increase their value.

Virgin and Child with Saints and Angels, St Catherine’s Monastery, Turkey, 550

Berlinghiero, Madonna and Child,

However, it seems with Byzantine works and other styles, repetition of religious iconography decreases the value and meaning of it in ways.

Andres Serrano comments on the way manufacturing and mass production of religious, holy iconography takes away the meaning and value of it. He seeks to restore the life and connection through his process of submerging store bought religious iconography in bodily fluids.

“Piss Christ” Andres Serrano

1987

“Madonna and Child II” Andres Serrano

1989

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:30:14 -0500