The Brooklyn Museum of Art assignment proved to be an extremely enlightening and insightful experience. Out of all exhibits, I chose the Ancient Egyptian exhibit. The Ancient Egyptian exhibit astounded me in a plethora of ways, and showcased the adept carving/sculpting abilities of the ancient egyptians. Specifically, the one piece that I chose to write about and formally analyze was “The Wilbour Plaque”. This artwork presented itself with a sense of mystique, as it exhibited the faces of Queen Nefertiti and presumably King Akhenaten facing each other with what appears to be line markings/scratches down the middle of the plaque, separating their faces. What specifically piqued my interest were the snakes sculpted on the top of both of their crowns, as well as the fact that only the ears were protruding pieces of the artwork. Through the use of formal analysis, I was able to define a significant amount of otherwise overlooked features of the plaque. Firstly, concerning the texture, the plaque sculpture was made using limestone, a commonly used material in sculpting. Furthermore, the color of the painting was monotone, as usually expected for ancient sculptures; a light colored shade of gray. In fact, it was noted that this artwork was initially used as a model-piece by ancient egyptian artists to carve offical images of kings and queens from the ancient kingdom of Amar. This explains why there is a hole on the top of the otherwise smooth surface of this plaque, as it was initially held on a wall via a cord inserted through this exact hole. Pertaining to concepts spoken about in class, it can be related to a plethora of other ancient egyptian paintings seen before, as it also idolizes kings and queens from that time, with snakes being a present object of symbolism.

The second exhibit I visited, The Soul of a Nation, did a wonderful job exhibiting the beauty of black history, as well as the works of art that were produced during the times of black history throughout the US. The one painting that truly piqued my interest was titled “The First One Hundred Years”. This artwork is emulating the dark, yet very real past of the US in which black americans were exposed to the cruelty of lynchings, slavery, the KKK, hate speech, and more. As done for the previously discussed artwork, I used formal analysis to give myself deep insight on the powerful emotional presence that this painting evokes. Firstly, the texture of the artwork is smooth, yet sensitive to the touch, leading me to decipher that the painting must be oil on canvas. Furthermore, the interesting color scheme presented within the painting is used in accordance with the message that the images within the painting are attempting to present. All red and bright colors used within this painting are used to represent the evil such as the time: the hanging confederate flag, the KKK member, and the vicious attack dog. Along with this, one can see the heads and bodies of black people hanging at the time, as well as a “whites only” sign with a policeman assaulting a black man right next to it. There is also a “colored only” sign in the painting, with the date “1863” engraved above it in order to symbolize the civil war. The more neutral gray and white colors used in the painting are used to symbolize the brighter side of an otherwise disgusting situation within America. In specific, in the back of the painting, the crosses under bright light are meant to symbolize the positive hope and success that black americans had in fighting for change and freedom within the US. This artwork is significantly different from all other paintings in this exhibit in that it contains more “objects” in it than any other artwork in the exhbit, as well as the use of only red, gray, and white colors, which differs from the other artworks in the exhibit in that they use a wide array of bright colors (namely orange, some blue, and red).