Blog #9

I did not see a topic for this last blog, so I will give it a stab on my own...

Our last reading I was struck by the intense realism of the work by Rosa Bonheur. An artist I have never heard of before. Her painting of Plowing in the Nivernais looks so real I thought it was a photograph. To be honest this is not my favorite as I prefer a more painterly painting where brush strokes and the efforts of the artist are visible. It is amazing to think that this woman whose work received the highest award in France to become the first woman awarded the Grand Cross and membership into the Legion of Honor is so unknown (to the every day person,not necessarily the art specialists)!

It further illustrates how many truly talented artists there are in the world who never get recognized. I personally have several friends and family members (my mother one of them) who do exceptional work that really never gets justly recognized. I am most interested in exploring the meaning/definition of art throughout history. This is what my paper topic is on. I often struggle with how I feel about reproductions and their place in "art". Something to look forward to discovering more about!

Assignment 6

After reading about the Palace of Versailles, I have an even greater appreciation for it. I visited there for the first time this summer and they had just completed and reopened the Hall of Mirrors. It is so overwhelmingly detailed that I actually did not see some of the things that were noted in our readings - in particular the ceiling paintings. Now I must go back. One of the interesting aspects of Baroque Art is the seeming lack of composition with regards to emphasis on any one particular thing. So much goes on in the paintings and architecture that there does not seem to be a focus. I find this less appealing from a viewers standpoint. It is somewhat like the way movies are being filmed lately with everything happening in flashes before your eyes and no time to actually see what is going on.

Assignment 5

This painting by Caravaggio was very interesting to me due to his signature use of tenebrism and also the fact that it is a true baroque painting with an scene of religious subject matter - Death of a Virgin- with no religious references or symbolism. It shows the world as it is - a natural representation of the death of a virgin and her grieving companion. As with most of his paintings, these figures are large and actually fill the canvas - you feel as if they are IN the room with you. Amazing to think that this GREAT artist was imprisoned and unsuccessful attempts were made to kill him for his "criminal" offenses. I find this painting particularly beautiful, it definitely pulls at my emotional heart strings. I am grateful that he was able to accomplish so much in his short life for those to emulate and enjoy.

Assignment 4

Well, I have tried to post the image but, NOT WORKING! Aghhh! Sorry, please refer to your books
Wow! The story about Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper and the disastrous results of his experimental technique of working directly on dry intonaco really hit home for me! My mother made custom mosaics for a living. She too was prone to experimenting with materials and techniques. She invented a style of 3 dimensional mosaic using slate of various types (silver, rust, and serpentine), which we gathered off of the mountain sides of Northern California, to make these 3-D mosaics of birds and trees. Then one day she decided that the rusty tin cans we saw at the garbage dump was a magnificent color so we gathered that! And she made sculptural 3-D mosaics (some as large as 8' by 12') of various types of trees. She always envisioned a call from one of her clients informing her that their custom mosaic shehad made for them had disintegrated... so far so good, however, she has been to repair a few that showed signs of "some disintegration". It is the danger of the creative mind that they may get them inadvertently into trouble as a result of their overactive imaginations and creativity. So, I truly could relate to Da Vinci's situation with the Last Supper and the failure of his experimental technique as it fades away. I am also in awe of the abilities of artists' to apply the technique of foreshortening to convey such accurate visions. My visits to many of the museums in Florence, Italy presented first hand observation of the amazing technique applied to mosaics particuarly on ceilings. Another technique used by my mother to give her mosaics 3-dimensionality was that of chiarosuro - in which she heavily contrasted tones of color to give her mosaics depth - although this technique was not applied to her "garbage rusted tin can" mosaics.

Assignment 1

In Jan Van Eyck's painting, Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfi(?) and His Wife, Giovanna Cenami(?) , I was ammused by the fashion of creating a garment for the woman to be worn in such a way as to make her look pregnant. The fact that her appearance of fertility is considered attractive is still applied to our world today. The advent of botox to plump a woman's lips, which makes a woman appear more voluptuos and sexual as well as the "baby doll" tops that make even the slightest of girls look pregnant and were all the rage a few years back are remnants of the historical context that a fertile woman is more valuable than an infertile one.

My Personality in Three works of Art

I have chosen the three works of art below which I feel reveal some aspect of my personality:




This painting by the American painter,Henry Potthast, depicts my deepest desires. The free movement of the garments and the color palette give a sense of calm and freedom. That is how I want life to always be, calm and free! In addition, the content of this painting, A Day At the Beach, is my idea of an ideal day. I love the sea! The subjects, a woman and her child represent family to me. Family and socializing is something I value strongly. This is a classical image of a day on the beach as it is imagined to be spent by the bourgeoisie on the East Coast of the U.S. during the time period.



Amedeo Modigliani is one of my favorite artists! The figure in this painting is much like myself - somewhat ordinary at first glance, but in some ways extraordinary. The unfinished quality of the painting with minimal detail of the garment, the blank eyes and the lack of ornamentation is how I feel- still so much is yet to be expressed! What you see now is only the hint of what is to come or might be. Just like this painting, where very little is revealed about the subject, I too am a reserved person who you must get to know to really understand who I am and what I am up to. If I am understanding the term correctly, Humanism, is the way that Modigliani seems to paint. His paintings are primarily portraits and human figures. He expresses the world and himself through human beings.

This mobile by Alexander Calder is a superb example of my philosophy on life - play is beautiful! Often his work is non-representational. I like to live my life in this manner, not always having what I do have purpose or meaning - just doing things for the fun or joy or sheer beauty is enough reason to me. I enjoy the playful juxtaposition that is in much of Calder's work and how he also includes movement, i.e. change. His mobiles are so fun and as they move they change appearance. That also reveals apart of me- I thrive on change! I have lived many lives- corporate, yacht crew, factory owner, flight attendant, and as I moved through those lives, my appearance, although essentially the same, changed.

There is so much to see of oneself through art. It is why it appears to be the ultimate form of self-expression.