Assignment #8 Surrealism and Cubism

Surrealism

Personal values, 1952 
Rene Magritte 

Surrealism mainly focuses with paradoxes, things in nature that defy logic and contradict itself. Painters tried to look deep within unconscious thought that could express creative ideas. Rene Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist who began creating paintings in the year 1915 with an impressionist style. He moved on to different forms of style until eventually creating his first surreal painting in 1926. Personal values steps into the reality of objects in reality being bigger than their environment. Objects in the painting are given human proportions compared to the room, creating a feeling of disorientation. When an object is given this element, the setting feels smaller than it naturally is. The walls are covered in sky wallpaper to help bring out a balance between being inside and outside. The color of the walls help bring unity with the darker objects in the painting.

Cubism 

Portrait of Pablo Picasso, 1912
Juan Gris

Cubism is breakdown of geometric form to construct an image that emphasizes the canvas. This art form decided to break away from perspective and move away from realistic drawings. Juan Gris was a Spanish painter and sculptor, born in Madrid, he was a distinctive artist of Cubism. The Portrait of Pablo Picasso was an early work of his which was a homage toward a notable innovator of cubism, Pablo Picasso. In the painting above, you can see the use of geometric shapes to help resemble Picasso's unique form. The portrait shows a crystalline structure composed by a fractured neck and head. The color scheme is dull composed with grey and dry colors. These colors allow a unification between the luminous touch and appropriate overtone

Assignment #7 Postwar Modern Movements

Postwar Modern Movements
Cao Fei 

Cao Fei is an artist who is into the idea of fantasy and crossing two different ideas into a brand new invention. When she was young, Cao took a liking to hip-hop and found that using elements from that genre to express ideals in chinese culture. Cao would film the different dances that residents of China would do when they listened to that music. This allowed her to venture into other cultures that originated from countries such as cosplay. Cosplay, when a person dresses up as a character television, video games, or books originating, allowed Cao to explain how the younger generation tries to break free from their assigned roles in society. Originating from Japan, Cao found that this form of expression showed a gap between the the young and the old. 

Cao believes that roleplaying and fantasy are both helpful for people to seek their own values. Such as when Cao began to play an online game that aided the idea of a second life. Her character, China Tracy, showed off the joys of having escaping from reality into a new one. These characters could personify your own interests in a way that reality could never do for you. When Cao made her own town in this online game, imagination was key in incorporating her own ideals. 

Assignment #5 Between World Wars

1. Dada Artwork 

Tableau Rastadada 
Francis Picablia

Dada is an art form that looked into the nonsensical and tried to mock the activities of the bourgeois. Dada occured after World War I with the idea that many artists saw war as an atrocity and gave negative reactions towards the folly of war. Satire and humor were the main ideas that artist's saw in the world around, disturbance in the aspects of society. In Francis Picablia's "Tableau Rastadada", you can understand the way he saw society and how he wanted to make art that looked funny and abnormal. Francis looks to poke fun at the lifestyle of the rich that is shown such as the shoewear and how the man is given those features. Along the leg on the left, you can see the word Christmas, this could be seen as mocking of the what happens during the holiday such as the buying of presents to give to one another. Celebrating a holiday such as this during wartime can be seen as disturbing because of the horrific events that are occuring. You can also see a pipe which appears to be connected to the nose of the man, trying to make the man look silly in nature.

2. What were the influences of Jacob Lawrence

And the migrants kept coming
Jacob Lawrence

Jacob Lawrence was influenced by a variety of ideas that can be seen throughout his artwork. Some influences include racial opression, humanism aspects, and the work of some other artists. Jacob used the traditions of humanism and social struggles of African Americans in his art to show the other side. Racial oppression was heavy in his artwork that showed the inequality between different races. With the humanism aspects, Jacob saw that the people in his art we all balanced and were each their own person with different lives. People with individual minds and capabilities that helped build upon the society. Artists such as Goya and Orosco who helped Jacob with his migration series and bring his concepts to that world. In his painting And the migrants kept coming, Jacob incorporated these elements into what he believed people saw at that time.

Assignment #4 Late 18th and 19th Century Art- Romanticism- Post Impressionism

Impressionism 

Impressionism had artists leave their homes or workplaces and discovering that they could draw art from the environment around them. Artists were able to go outside their homes and find beautiful, scenic locations that the artist would then use their skills to create such images. Artists used various weather conditions to help display the scenic location in their own eyes that would help others see the artist's perspective. Claude Monet's Coquelicots, La promenade helps display how some of the art was done and how they used different elements to put more emphasis on the environment around them. In this work of art, you can see that not much detail was put into the people in the scene but more on the landscape that surrounds them. There is a divide between the two zones of grass, one with poppies and on the left with bluish green that seems to resemble morning dew. The trees along the outside level of the grass help divide the greenery and the skies of blue. The image also creates this diagonal shift coming the people on the bottom right that stretches through the poppies and into the other family.

Coquelicots, La promenade, 1873
Claude Monet

Post-Impressionism 

Post-impressionism was the aftermath of what impressionism brought to the aspects of painting. Artists of the post-impressionist period worked off and or built off the ideas that period before had used and incorporated elements that they saw were missing in the artwork before them. These artists wanted to look beyond what their in nature and see the spiritual and inner aspect of what they thought was there. Vincent Van Gogh's Wheat Field with Crows brings about a different way of interpreting the surrounding landscape. Movement can be seen when the wheat fields have been rustled after the departure of the crows for their nightly feast. You can see this symmetrical view of the left and right side that join together at the green and brown trail. The dark tone of the night sky is balanced by the bright, golden color of the wheat fields.Along the wheat fields, you sense this feeling of loneliness that is shrouded by the emptiness of the landscape.

Wheat Field with Crow , 1890
Vincent Van Gogh

Assignment #3 Renaissance & Baroque

Renaissance Art 

 

The Crucifixion, 1495
Gerard David

     The title of this artwork is called The Crucifixion and it was created by Gerard David in the year 1495. Gerard Davis is an early Netherlandish painter using the inspiration of the crucifixion of Jesus to establish a story about that particular moment. As you can see from the image above, Jesus Christ has been crucified while the surrounding mourn and watch as he suffers in pain. On the left, the person in red has this intense expression while looking at Jesus, this expression helps express the pain and anger that the person conveys. The women seem to be praying for forgiveness for what Jesus has done, displaying a message of sorrow and regret. The person on the far left and the woman in green are both looking in the direction of Jesus which when you view the image, helps your eyes maneuver toward the center. The man on the right seems to be blessing Jesus because after the torture of crucifixion, the body will be laid to rest. The sky has this dark tone with clouds that are forming because of sorrow and discomfort being felt by those in the painting. 

     This artwork is a good example of its style because it reflects that of the art of the Renaissance. Symmetry can be seen in this painting as the two halfs are in balance, one side seeking pain and sorrow, but the other side seeking forgiveness. The balance is within Jesus as he is put upon the middle, being a part of both sides. Although the painting seems to want to put emphasis on Jesus, there is humanism amongst the people around. The people are given expressions that help bring importance to the image. Individualism helps to bring potential to the expressions that are shown. 

Baroque Art

Samson Captured by the Philistines, 1619
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri

     The title of the artwork is called Samson Captured by the Philistines created by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, also known as Geurcino, in the year 1619. Guercino was an Italian painter during the period of Baroque. Such painting was constructed during the early years of the Baroque period but shows off many distinct elements of that time. The painting depicts Samson, a judge who is given supernatural abilities by god contained in the locks of his hair. Delilah, seen as the woman on the bottom left, has just betrayed Samson by cutting of his hair causing him to lose his powers.The men in the photo, the Philistines, are restraining and overpowering Samson after the loss of his powers. You can see from the art that there is implied movement throughout, as if you had paused an action scene in a movie. The restraining of Samson is captured in this one moment that shows muscle movement and determination in the eyes of the men trying to subdue Samson. The scene packs realism and a dramatic scene that works of the Baroque period seems to display. The lighting of Samson followed by the dark background bring this overall balance within the picture.

Assignment #2 Design Elements and Principles

1. Unity is the ability of an artist to combine elements and have it feel as if there is a sense of completion between them. Combing the elements to have the artwork feel as if they are unified into one image helping to create harmony and satisfaction. An example of an element that artists use to unify their work is the use of color to bring an image together. Color helps similar objects in a painting feel more as a whole which can also be said about the use of shapes that are of the same size. Size helps show that objects of different varieties can be seen as equal to balance the idea of two different objects and how they are seen. Repetition or a certain pattern of a certain objects also brings unification because this element presents recurring images to bring a sense of a complete image. 

"Wheat Field with Cypresses" by Vincent van Gogh.

An example of an artwork that can present these elements and show unity is "Wheat Field with Cypresses" by Vincent van Gogh. The image presents the unity among the different colors that come together to balance the image with light blue clouds and yellow wheat fields. You can see layers of color among the light blue skies, the green bushes and trees, and the golden wheat fields that fit in their respective places.The clouds and bushes along the wheat field present this round shape that repeats in the objects that Vincent van Gogh had designed. 

2. Asymmetry is the opposite of symmetry as it tries not to balance the left and right side but uses different elements to help bring balance in the image. This idea does not disrupt the whole artwork but instead uses these elements to find stability within each other. For example, an image may appear to show that the left side has a much darker approach but seeks balance when the left collides with the lighter tone of the right side. Size is another aspect of asymmetry because an object may be small in size but because of its importance may disrupt the equilibrium but an object of much bigger size may help bring that needed balance. This approach to asymmetry using the size of two or more objects demonstrates that one object lack of size but importance may need compensation from that an object of greater size.

A work of art that helps demonstrate these elements is "The Oxbow" by Thomas Cole that is a landscape painting of the Conneticut River Valley just after a thunderstorm. On the left side of the image you can see the dark, mellow tone of the thunderstorm which is then balanced from the right side by the use skies that clearing up. The skies are clearing up and demonstrate how passing of a thunderstorm can lead to this serene environment. The branches on the left are bigger in size than the river on the right from the use of perspective viewing.

3. Scale is the idea of using perspective to help illustrate an importance in certain aspects. The size of an object may become exaggerated in the artwork to point out the relationship between that and everything around it. Something as simple as a piece of fruit may become enlarged as a statue to help see the relationship. In Escif´s mural of an off and on switch, the size of the switch is exaggerated to a ginormous level that stretches across an entire building. A simple object such as a light switch is drastically enlarged to show the connection with the world around it. The meaning behind any statue or painting can change depending on how enlarged the art is transformed.

  

Egyptian & Greek Art

Zeus/Poseidon from Cape Artemision

Maat and Hathor

        Egyptian and Greek art have different ways of expressing their views on gods and goddesses ranging from the structure of their body to the way they pose. Both choose to see gods in a human-like form, but overall tend to give them features from their perspective only a god could have.

The Egyptian painting of Maat and Hathor tells of the goddess of justice Maat kneeling before Hathor, the goddess of love and motherhood. The art was created in a two-dimensional structure that lets your eyes move from one side to the other to help display an event or story. The art was a way of portraying certain beliefs and helping one to envision their ideals. Hieroglyphics helped to describe the visual image and give meaning behind certain aspects of the art. A goddess kneeling before another tells that there was a profound respect for one another and with how the Egyptians saw them. The structure and posture of both goddesses helps portray them as powerful beings that have a strong influence over the people.

 The Greeks chose a different approach to expressing their own ideals and representing the beauty of humans. The sculpture is composed of bronze steel that displays either Zeus or Poseidon in a pose that looks to have held a staff. The Greeks had an appreciation for the human anatomy which the sculpture helps define such mastery in sculpting with such an exquisite body. In the Greek culture, a god is worthy of being given such a beautiful physique and a pose that defines the divine status. This is an appeasement for the gods crafted by that of worshippers who believed that it could be presented as a gift. Within the face of the sculpture shows such an intense expression meant to show that authority holds true to that god.