Non-Western #2

This is Wilfredo Lam’s “Composition”. It was painted in 1976 in Cuba. An abstract nearly formless painting similar in style to Picasso’s work, it seems to represent a human form. With at least four pairs of eyes and several sets of animal like ears the image is raw. The darkness seems to surround the figure in the middle and ikts expression is almost akin to fear (if an expression can be made out on the creature).

I chose this work for the appearance that it has a defeinite subject without actually having one. The form at the center is basically human, but not definitively. The form is intended to be a combination of the modern art forms with the ancient forms of the Americas, which tend it to look like a mix of Picasso and ancient Mayan pictographs.

Early Modern

By 1919 an expedition by Eddington had shown that gravity can bend light around stars confirming Einstein’s general relativity. In 1931 Salvador Dali completed “The Persistence of Memory”. The symbolism in his painting shows at least an unconscious influence of the new scientific theory of the day. The melted clocks show that time is not a fixed and immutable concept. The clocks are representative of time and the distortion they show mirrors the science that says that time is relative. Whether he intended this to be the case or it was simply an idea that had driven itself into his unconscious and made its way out when he painted his own dreams is unknown. The one thing that can be said is that this is likely influenced by the science.
The work is both sparse and somewhat disturbing. It evokes a dreamlike world where the mind is only able to focus on a few key concepts at any one time. Staring at the clocks seems to allow them to melt right off the page.

Impressionism

In general I am not a fan of Impressionist paintings. The emphasis on the technique of the painting rather than the aesthetic reaction of the audience diminishes the appeal of impressionism for me. Monet’s “Impression Sunrise” is in my opinion one of the better pictures of the style. It has more form and almost reflection in the water. It is however difficult to make out the exact scene. On the right there is some kind of boat or maybe a house on the shore. The left has maybe trees or telephone poles.

Impression Sunrise

View of Delft

Contrast the nebulous uncertainty of impressionism with the work of Vermeer from the Baroque. His “View of Delft” contains many of the same elements: water, reflection, boats, trees and buildings. I would classify it as more aesthetically pleasing as there is attention paid to what is being painted, not just how it is being painted.

Contemporary Virtual Exhibit

The theme of this exhibit is meetings, both illusory and real. To that end the works herein are ones that tend to have people meet the illusory world.

Kurt Wenner first painted a street in Rome in 1992. His works are typically classical styled images that mirror the style of frescoes called anamorphism that created the illusion of height. In the case of his works they create the illusion of depth. This is a technique that has been widely used by artists since Wenner conceived it.

“Reflections” has the actors meeting their illusory selves in the drawing, as well as having the audience meet the illusion of the actors apparently staring into a “mirror”.

“Echo and Narcissus” has Echo meeting Narcissus, narcissus meeting himself and the audience meeting the past in the form of a myth come to life out of the pavement.

“Last Judgement” shows people meeting their final ends and the audience contemplating meeting theat end.

Julian Beever is an English-Belgian chalk artist who began using the anamorphic style in the mid 1990s. Even more so than Wenner his drawings look to be built into or out of the concrete at certain angles.

“Beneath Every Carpark” juxtaposes the past and the present with the insinuation that history lies beneath the ground everywhere. Here the people meet the past and the fact that their civilization is built on the base of history.

“Meeting Mr. Frog” is pretty self explanatory. Just a little girl meeting a giant frog.

“Politicians Meeting Their End” is also self explanatory. The politicians meet their ends, the people meet the wonderful realization of a world without politicians.

Non-Western

This is Dong Qichang’s Shaded Dwellings Among Streams and Mountains. Created sometime between 1555 and 1636 it is calligraphy on a hanging scroll.
I chose this piece as it is a significant departure from the standard paint on canvas medium that is known in the west. While using just calligraphy the artist manages to convey the scene in superb detail. The light and darkness used to create the rocks and trees gives the scene a depth and dimensionality that is offset by the almost unfinished nature of the image (note the white, un-detailed house and the left margin of the image).
Dong Qichang is a well known landscape painter from the early seventeenth century. He strove to bring art back to the masters of the 900s by creating a spiritual connection to them by creating art stylistically similar, but not imitative. In many ways there are similarities to the expressionist school of painting from western arts as he attempted to find the impression of the scene he chose to paint.

Blog Assignment #3

Faust by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe was origianlly written in 1806, but was later rewritten by the author between 1828 and 1829. It is considered a great piece of German literature. As can be seen from the works of Dante (of the divine comedy only the Inferno is well known and the Paradisio and Purgatorio are often neglected) the depiction of Hell and the devil is significantly more popular than depictions of heavenly things. As such the work would appeal more to the people than earlier morality plays. The content of the story would also be appealing to the people as it contains not only the interest of the devil, but involves everything from discussion in the salons of the day to the main character renouncing the devil for his love (too late).
I enjoy Faust because of the style and connections to other literature that the imagery of the devil brings up. It is a great contrast to the great frozen devil of Dante’s Inferno and quite similar to the depiction of the devil from the book of Job (most particularly in the walking to and fro in the world part).

As the book is no longer under copyright, it is posted in its entirety here.

Blog Assignment #2

It is unknown exactly where and when The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer was painted, in fact very little is known for certain about the work. It has not even been decided what manner of painting it represents. Some would say that it is a portrait, while others would classify it as a tronie, a work created for the study of expression and character rather than to represent the person painted. Portraits were typically commissioned by wealthy nobles or the new merchant class to glorify themselves. The picture would represent their grandeur for all present and future people to see.
This does not seem to be the case with this painting as the girl is not the idealized beauty dressed in finery that would be expected of a portrait of some noble or merchant. Her garb is exotic (the turban) and the pearl earring is the only piece of jewelry visible. The expression and exotic clothing would tend to place this more in the category of a tronie than of a portrait.
Tronie were not valued the same as other kinds of painting as they did not have the complexity that art buyers were looking for at the time. While there was a tendency for people to invest in art (speculating that its value would increase) it is likely that this piece was not valued so highly. Had they known how much more it would be valued in the future it may have attracted more attention in Vermeer’s time.
Personally I tend to like or dislike a painting based on how the subject interacts with the person looking at it. Paintings that I favor tend to make me feel that I am there in the place or scene that is painted. The girl with the pearl earring acknowledges your presence and makes you wonder why she has turned her head toward the viewer. That her mouth is slightly open makes it seem as though she intends to speak, though she is frozen at that point. She gains your attention and then remains mute.

See http://girl-with-a-pearl-earring.20m.com/ for more on the painting.

Blog Assignment #1

Titian’s Venus of Urbino (painted in 1538 for Guidobaldo II della Rovere the Duke of Urbino) represents a stark and unabashed sensuality that prior to the humanist movement would have been viewed as unacceptable. The glorification of human beauty and accomplishment that humanism espoused led to paintings that also glorified the beauty of the human body. The Venus of Urbino takes this one step further as it not only depicts the beauty of the body, but the beauty of sensuality.
The painting is not however, a radical departure from the societal norms of the period. While it does depict sensuality as can be seen by the position of the girl’s hand and the way she stares frankly into the eyes of any who looks into the painting it does not do so in a setting outside of marriage. The painting would have originally been on a box that was given to the Duke’s bride as a wedding gift. Iconography within the painting such as the sleeping dog and pot of myrtle on the window ledge are symbols of faithfulness and constancy respectively (see http://arthistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/titian_s__venus_of_urbino_).
For me the draw to this painting comes from the scene itself. The young lady reclines on the bed carefree while it seems her maids rush to find clothing to dress her in the background. It would appear to me that Titian’s intention was to show that the lady was above the concerns of the rest of society. Her maids scramble to cover her nakedness, but she is uninterested. Whether or not the painting was intended to depict a particular young lady or not, she is the goddess of love.

Venus of Urbino

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