ONLINE LECTURE RESPONSE #5

Impression and Post Impressionism 

Describe the difference between these two styles and explain how European colonization changes art in this time period.

 

During the period of impressionism art started to change from the more romantic and academic it began to be more based on what artist saw in contemporary life. During this period artist began to paint outside and visually grasping a scenery would then paint it on canvas. Artist work in this period where known for putting small dabs of pant very close to the dabs of paint so when one stepped back further they would be able to see the whole picture. When the impressionism period began artist began to try and capture the whole image vastly sketching and painting the scene. This is different from the post impression period because artist added there spiritual content and personal expression into there pieces This method is known as pointillism. These artist now only wanted to paint the scene and capture the art but they wanted to add there own personal touch that involved pieces of themselves such as feelings, emotions, beliefs or thoughts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



ONLINE LECTURE RESPONSE #4

 

 

 

 

Simon Schama's Rembrant- part one

 

1. Describe the portrait of the fur merchant. why is he "The Business Man's Hero"?

   

     The portrait is of a business man names Nicholas Ruts, He ran a fur business. The picture looks realistic and the colors are soft making the fur look very comfortable. The painting is called "The Business Man's Hero" because Ruts understood his clients back round and they were always just as hard workers as he was. 

 

 

2. What was the mood of the 83 year old woman?

 

     The 83 year old women looks very emotionless and sad. She seems very unhappy to me.

 

3. What is Rembrant communicating in his painting of Samson and Delilah.

 

     In the majority of paintings of Samson he is portrayed as being very powerful and strong. In Rembrants painting of Samson he made him appear powerless and weak. The communication that he Rembrant was showing was some sense of betrayal but a bit of love. 



 



ONLINE LECTURE RESPONSE #3 / HOMEWORK #4

 

 

The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance- Part One: Birth of a Dynasty

 

 

1. Why was the Medici family so important in the development of the renaissance?

           The Medici family was an important family to the birth of the renaissance because they bought Florence, Italy out of the medieval times. They did this by using new knowledge and technology. They took great risks in fields such as art and architecture to advance there family and there city. It started with the merchant Giovanni Medici and his son Cosmo Medici, they ran a small bank in the back of a wool shop. There clients were picked very carefully and based strongly on there loyalty. They took on a client who was a pirate and who the Medici family invested in who later down the line became the pope. This gave them recognition and they became the bankers of Florence funding almost every commercial business in the city. During the building of a temple the dome couldn't be finished and again they invested in someone that no one would help.  This gave them more power because with there money and there new artist Brunoleske they were able to complete the first dome shaped temple in all of the city and in it various artist who's paintings are still admired to this day. These events, artist and business that were able to thrive because of the Medici family took there city out of the dark ages and gave them new life, new recognition and new ways of thinking.

 

 

    2. Why was Donatello's David so revolutionary?

 

        Donatello's David was very revolutionary in the 15th century. This is because no one had attempted to create a free standing bronze sculpture of nude man since the ancient romans. It was also a very daring art piece because in that time especially in Florence art work of that nature was not admired or excepted.

 

   3. Describe this sculpture in detail.

 

      The sculpture of David is of a free standing nude bronzed man. He is stepping on a helmet with Goliaths head in it as a sign of victory. There is also a very long feather that goes from the helmet up the thigh in a sort of sexual manner. David's also holding a sword down toward the helmet.

 

 

       

ONLINE LECTURE RESPONSE #2

Harmon's Intro Design Principles

1. How does an artist create asymmetrical balance? Give a example.

          Asymmetrical means that something is not balanced / off balanced. An artist creates asymmetrical balance by making a part of an art piece larger then other parts in the same art piece. An artist can also create asymmetrical balance with color, by making a part of an art piece very dark while other parts of the same art piece are extremely bright. This causes great contrast in an artist work creating asymmetrical balance. An example of asymmetrical balance is Edger Degas Jockeys Before the Race.

This painting is a great example of asymmetrical balance because the horse towards the right of the painting looks very detailed and rich in color. The horse and person in the right of the painting also seem larger then the horse towards the left of the painting. The horse towards the left of the painting is not very detailed and the colors look very washed out compared to the horse on right. This contrast makes the viewer focus more on the horse towards the right causing asymmetrical balance.

     2. Describe several ways to unify an artwork?

          Unity is everything coming together as one. An artist creates unity in an art piece by giving the viewer a feeling that all of the elements belong together. In a art piece that is unified there isn't much contrast. Most of the colors and shapes are similar or blend well together, many of the same shapes are repeated throughout that same art piece. A example of a art piece that shows unity is this painting of Marilyn Monroe.

This painting of the late Marilyn Monroe is an example of unity in an art piece because her face is duplicated many times. The sizes of her face and the direction her face is painting is the exact same. The viewer feels a sense of unity because the colors are similar to each other and the picture is never changing just multiplied.

     3. How is scale change the meaning of an artwork?

        The scale in an art piece has to do with the size in relation to another size in the same art piece. Scale change is when something in an art piece is exaggerated by size in comparison to other normally portioned parts of the same art piece. A example of scale change in an art piece is this wall painting of a bay face and a rock.

This picture is an example of art scale because the baby's head is huge compared to the rock above it. Not only is the head exaggerated but from the viewers knowledge, in real life the rock would be at least ten times that of the baby's head causing great scale change to this art piece. 

      

                                                 

ONLINE LECTURE RESPONCE

Harmons's Intro to Egyptian and Greek 

In the chapters readings and the YouTube online lecture I've learned the values and rituals of the Egyptian people. Egypt is surrounded by the Nile river, it is the longest river in the world. This river is where most of the Egyptian people were provided food, commerce and protection. They also believe in life after death. This belief influenced them to bury the people who passed with artifacts to help guide them in the afterlife. An example of an artifact used to be buried was the hippo who was buried with a god. The hippo being such fierce animal was buried with a leg broken so that it wouldn't be able to harm the god in the afterlife. Another ritual the Egyptian people had was to shave off there eyebrows to mourn the passing of the family cat. The cat in Egyptian times represented the goddess of happiness. The Egyptian people also created art to symbolize there beliefs. An example of this is the statue of a ram head with a human body form, this structure they believe helped with fertility. One more example would be the cobra sitting on the falcons head, it repented kingship and unity for the family. One of the most beautiful women ruled during the Egyptian times was Nefertiti ruling with her husband from 1352 B.C-1336 B.C. Nefertiti mean beautiful women has come. This royal family also believed in one gob the sun which they believed was the symbol of life. In the Painting of there family you see them looking towards the sun and the suns rays as it gets towards them turns into hands, almost as if to be inviting them.

In the Greek culture the human form was considered to be the highest creation of nature. Many of the Greek art are of sculptures of the nude male human body. These art sculptures were created based on observation and mathematics. One of the first female nude sculptures during Greek times was a carving of Venus standing about five feet tall. This represented a new and modern idea nude structures, but it was still refined and kept a very modern pose. Another structure of a women was Aphrodite somewhat naked around the back area she stood. Aphrodite was the goddess of love born after her father was castrated by his son and his testicles where thrown in the water. While this happened she was created in the water and the water led her to land. After this period of time came the Hellenistic period from about 320 B.C to 30 A.D. This was the time of the Roman conquest of Egypt. More of the art work started to show more expression and emotion. One example of this was the carving of the  Laocoon group, the structure shows the priest and the men souring him in great agony. The story behind the structure was that the priest warned them about bringing the trogen horse and as a result they were attacked by serpents as shown in the carving. During the 2nd century B.C Rome became a major ruler, ruling over many people and cultures. 

HOMEWORK #2

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM of ART

The Greek and the Egyptian Exhibits

The above image is from the Greek Exhibit and it is called Vase. This beautiful blue vase has much artistic detail all over it. Its stands at 28 1/2 inches high and is made out of ceramic. Created between 1689-1694 by a man who was working for Stadhouder William of Oragne, and his wife the Princess Mary Struart. One of the Queens first request was to have big colorful designed vases made for the hall of her apartment. The vases expressed her love for gardens while still keeping with the formality of the queens reception hall.

The above image is from the Egyptian exhibit, it is the Kneeling Statue of Hatshepsut. This granite, painted statue dates back to 1473-1458 B.C standing approximately 34 1/4th inches high. She was one of the most important females to ever take the throne in Egypt. She rules after her husbands death and his son by another women was junior ruler of the throne. In the above picture it almost looks like she is holding the world in her hands.

HOMEWORK #1

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM of ART

 

The above piece is from the Africa exhibit. The leopard is from the kingdom of Benin it was created around the late 17th-early 18th century. Made out of brass it is a small piece, but the leopard stands strong and serious with little circles around the whole body. It's teeth are long and stick out. Pieces like this one where used in annual palace festivals where they represented there titles. Some where chiefs and some where kings and others citizens. this piece I feel is very detailed and looks very strong almost as if its standing guard to something. Below is my sketch of the above image.

 This next piece is from the Oceana and the Americas exhibit. It is called Mask (Lewa) from the Wogeo or Bam people from the Schouten Islands. Created in the 19th-early 20th century. This mask was considered to be very special to the people, it represented the spirits called village lewa. The mask big enough to fit over someones head is mad and carved out of wood. It was used during festivals to impersonate the spirits and to help ripen the coconuts that the village headman would distribute around the village. After the festivities were over the mask was then stored away. Below is the picture of the Mask and my sketch of it as well.