Author: Sabrina Novacov

SN: Final Project (Creative Portion)


Above are images of my artwork at different angles that I created for the creative aspect of my final project in this art class. The artwork that I have chosen for my project was Egypt’s architecture, more specifically, Egypt’s Pyramid of Giza. I chose this topic because I am fascinated by how this pyramid is one of the longest lasting pyramid to date today and its structure is very intricate.  By recreating this pyramid, I wanted to focus on the bright color the pyramid contains, its dimensions, reflections and structure. Although the pyramid is 455 feet tall, I created a miniature version of it. The Pyramid of Giza is made out of almost 5 million blocks of limestone and was casted with agglomerated limestone concrete. Because I do not own those materials, I chose to improvise and use cardboard, and then draw many lines to represent the bricks. The Pyramid of Giza insists of tawny tones, which match the Desert it is located in, and the sparkle it has gives the pyramid a polished look. The shine comes from slabs of highly polished white limestone and stones were plated with gold, contributing to the sun reflection upon the limestone. In order for me to capture the exact architecture layout of the pyramid, the looks mattered, which is where the paint comes as an essential aspect. I chose a golden yellow paint to replicate the real pyramid. The shine in the paint shows the shine when the sun reflects the Pyramid of Giza and the sparkle the stone releases. In addition, while making this pyramid, I focused on the elements of composition: line, shape, color, value, texture, form, and space. These elements were vital in depicting a smaller version of the pyramid because when all of them are used together and are organized neatly, it determines what the outcome would be of my art piece. Knowing this, I made sure that the bricks are approximately evenly spaced and the lines show the formation the bricks took to form a triangular prism shape. Although the texture is difficult to portray through cardboard, I made sure to use the color to show the shine and bright colors that the Pyramid of Giza exhibits. Antonio Beato’s,  “Giza, Family of Tourists” art piece accurately displays the bricks, dimensions and texture the pyramid has, which helped me choose how to outline the bricks. It is noticeable that the limestone bricks reflect a dark shadow, which shows the distinction and space between each brick and using a marker, I was able to define the dark shadows and arrangement of it as well. Antonio Beato’s other art piece, “Pyramids at Giza”, shows the pyramid in its original location, in the outskirts of Cairo, and its dimensions as well, which I took into consideration. Successfully, I was able to create the exact artwork using many materials to create what I had in mind. With doing so, I made sure that it was a true representation of Egypt’s Pyramid of Giza, an important structure that holds a lot of history for Egypt.

 

SN: Final Project Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

“The Great Pyramids of Giza.” Smarthistory, smarthistory.org/the-great-                         pyramids-of-giza/.

This article gives a history of the famous Egyptian pyramids and how they came to be, along with the meaning it has for Egyptians. Each pyramid built takes part of a royal mortuary complex that also contains a temple. It provides a detailed description of the Pyramid of Giza’s structure, methods used to make it and close up images of the pyramid that I could use to help create a replica of it for my project.

Roehrig, Catharine. “Egypt in the Old Kingdom (Ca. 2649–2130 B.C.).”             The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/oking/hd_oking.htm.

This article tells the history of how during Egypt’s Old Kingdom era, artists began to express their culture’s worldview as architects mastered techniques needed to construct monumental structures made out of stone. Their structures were important to the culture because they preserved life after death. This offers my project insight on Egyptian history and how their monumental structures came to be, as well as helping me understand Egypt’s background and the importance of their monumental structures.

“Giza Pyramids.” Civilization.ca – Haida – Haida Art – Masks, Museum of History, www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/egypt/egca14e.shtml.

This article specifically focuses on the Pyramid of Giza and how it is known to be built by the three pharaohs, Cheops, Chephren and Mycerinus. According to the article, this pyramid is one of the only ones that survived the passage of time and it provides images of the pyramid iteself. The insight this article gives helped me learn more about the pyramid, especially because I recreated it myself for this project.

Forman, Werner, et al. “Standing Tall: Egypt’s Great Pyramids.” National Geographic, National Geographic, 24 Jan. 2017, www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/magazine/2017/01-02/egypt-great-pyramids-giza-plateau/.

The National Geographic article focuses on pharaohs and their placements in the pyramid after death, as well as how inscriptions in the pyramids have helped scholars discover new facts about Egypt. Not only does the article offer new information, the images included have helped me define the color, shape and texture of Egypt’s pyramids, which helped me define that in my project.

“Ancient Egyptian Art and Architecture.” Scholastic.com, Scholastic, www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3753871.

The article states that Egypt’s temples have been built as palaces and daily rituals, along with seasonal festivals, have been placed as artwork inside the temples. Beliefs of life after death was an important practice to them and it was believed that in order for a spirit to continue living, the body had to be preserved and buried with valuable possessions along with food and water. Due to the fact that my project is about Ancient Egyptian Architecture, this article helps me understand Egyptian civilization, what tombs and temples have provided to Egyptian life and more insight into Egyptian religion and beliefs.

SN: Final Project Outline

Image 1

Title: Giza, Family of Tourists

Artist: Antonio Beato

Date: 19th Century

Museum: Met Museum

Image 2

Title: Sphinx et la Pyramide de Chephren

Artist: Antonio Beato

Date: not determined

Museum: Met Museum

Image 3

Title: Pyramids at Giza

Artist: Antonio Beato

Date: late 19th Century

Museum: Met Museum

Image 4 

Title: Pyramid at Saqqara

Artist: Antonio Beato

Date: late 19th Century

Museum: Met Museum

Image 5

Title: Study of a Pyramid

Artist: Jacques Louis David

Date: not determined

Museum: Met Museum

Image 6 

Title: The Temple of Dendur

Artist: not determined

Date: 10 BC

Museum: Met Museum

Each of these works of art are Egyptian themed and more specifically, they focus on Egyptian Pyramids, which is what I created for the creative part of this project, the Pyramid of Giza. Several of these artworks depict the Pyramid of Giza in a detailed way with a family of tourists and an image of the pyramid from afar to show the surroundings. The others are the Temple of Dendur, a sketch of a Pyramid, and two other well known pyramids Sphinx et la Pyramide de Chephren and Pyramid at Saqqara. All these images show the details of Egypts pyramids and helps me highlight their dimensions, color and surroundings.

Thesis/Argument:

Egyptian pyramids are well known for their massive structures, such as the Pyramid of Giza, one of the only structures to remain intact, and it identifies well with my topic and the works of arts I have chosen due to it being one of the oldest and largest of Egypt’s pyramids in the Giza Pyramid complex.

SN: Met Museum Trip

My experience at the Met Museum was fantastic. I have been to the Met Museum a few times when I was younger, but I was glad I went again because on this trip, I had a better understanding of art, which led me to better evaluate artwork. Everything was spacious. There were many people there who were fascinated by the artwork as was I and there was so much to see that I would definitely make another trip to the Museum as soon as I can. One Renaissance Art that stood out to me the most was named Scenes from the Story of the Argonauts. The artist is Jacopo del Sellaio and he created the painting in 1465. The painting illustrates Jason retrieving the Golden Fleece on his horse consulting with Hercules and Orpheus. The Golden Fleece was guarded as Orpheus tries to make the dragon sleep.

One Baroque artwork that stood out to me was the painting made in 1632 named Robert Rich, Second Earl of Warwick. Anthony Van Dyck, made this painting with oil canvas of a Puritan sailor of fortune who dressed like a Aristocrat.

These exceptionally well done artworks highlight the differences between Renaissance and Baroque art. Renaissance art, born in Italy, contained the themes of philosophical and theological, where in the painting, Hercules and Orpheus were present. Hercules is a Roman god and hero as Orpheus is a hero with superhuman music skills. The painting also told a story and acquired knowledge. Baroque art focuses on a religious motif and insists of emotion and movement and in the oil canvas, the Puritan sailor can be seen with a smile on his face and focusing his body weight on one leg more than the other, standing with a specific position. Artwork in the Baroque era was also influenced by the Roman Catholic Church, the divide between Protestants and Roman Catholics, and religion ties into who the artwork was about, which was Robert Rich. The Baroque artwork has more emotion than the Renaissance one and there is more of a stillness in the way Robert Rich was painted than of those in the other painting.

SN: Unit 2 Summary

Ancient art refers to art produced by advanced ancient societies cultures such as Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Each ancient cultures have their own specific art that reflects their society.

Ancient Greek art emphasized the accomplishments and importance of human beings and were made to honor their gods that took human form in sculptures. Much of Ancient Greek art was made of stone or wood and were freestanding. The earliest statues were called kouros where the human stood straight in the sculptures but overtime, they took a more natural and relaxed pose. This new pose consisted of knees bent a little, head relaxed, hips thrust on only one side.

Ancient Roman art included architecture, painting, sculpture and mosaic work and was born from Greek Art. Roman sculptures were of statues, reliefs and sarcophagi arts. Many of these could be seen in daily life such as in public buildings, parks and gardens. Roman emperors had statues made of their honor around cities to remember the cities victories. Romans worked with stone, glass, metals, terracotta, bronze and marble to create their artworks.

Ancient Egypt art did not change much over time when the civilization ruled the Nile for 3000 years. Their art focused on religion where they filled tombs of Pharaohs with sculptures and paintings for their afterlife as well as temples, but there they put statues of gods and paintings as well there. They are famous for their big Great Sphinx of Giza sculpture, but they also carved smaller sculptures using limestone, basalt, ivory, wood and gold. In the tombs, the paintings represented the pharaohs that passed away and were of happy paintings. They carved reliefs into walls and their art considered pharaohs as their gods. In addition, their pyramids were made to protect those who died for a peaceful afterlife.

Similarities: All three ancient cultures art was meant to honor. Ancient Greeks and Ancient Romans honored gods as Ancient Egyptians honored their Pharaohs. Roman sculptures dervived from Greek sculptures and some were even copies. Other sculptures included philosophers, goddesses and successful generals. Both Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman art focused on humanisn, an emphasize on human experiences both psychological and moral and on physical beauty for Greek sculptures.

Differences: Ancient Egyptian art did not focus on humanism, but instead focused on tributes and afterlife. Ancient Greek sculptures were based on original ideas as Roman sculptures were a copy. Romans statues were made up of brightly painted marble as Greeks mostly used Bronze. Ancient Roman statues also focused more on realism as Ancient Greek art focused on idealism. ­­­Ancient Roman art showed more civic pride and were of people who achieved a lot in Rome. In addition, Egyptian art, unlike the other two, focused on symmetry and more on religion as the Greeks focused on philosophy. Egyptian architecture used ornamental stones, adapted styles of painting and their statues were largely proportioned including plump faces and big heads that showed no emotions.

SN: Humanism

Humanism signifies the value of human beings, their needs, and potentials. The art in Greece and Rome illustrate humanism very differently from Mesopotamian or Egyptian art. For Greek/Roman art, humanism emphasizes human experiences in all complexity such as psychological and morally. Their emphasis on physical beauty and athleticism represents a military advantage. For Greek art, the gods take the shape of a human and show the beauties of a human. Humanism in Mesopotamian/Egyptian artwork is mainly found in sculptures and is more of a traditional work of art focused on glorifying gods/kings.

Man with a Helmet is an original Greek sculpture created around 440 BC. In this sculpture, you can see that the man is very fit and muscular and the helmet could be an indication towards involvement with military. The way he is standing, the weight of his body is on his right leg as his left leg is extended. It shows a humanistic figure in a natural position.

The King Menkaure (Mycerinus) and Queen sculpture is an Egyptian sculpture is less humanistic where the King and Queen are in a strict pose with a straight posture and a non-relaxed look. The Queen is holding the arm of the Kings’ with a one foot forward position and a serious face. They were designed to show their power unlike in the Man with a Helmet sculpture.

 

 

SN: Brooklyn Museum Part 2

Part 2:

William T. Williams, Trane, is an acrylic painting that is rich in color and geometric abstractions. The colors included are red, grey, lavender, dark pink, yellow, navy, dark red, bright red, orange, light green, dark green, brown, brownish-beige, and black. Thin white lines separated every shape as they intertwined with one another. The geometric abstractions show the tension between the colors and forms and tests the limits of the other colors used during the intensive work process. Each shape ends with sharp points, and the colors make the shapes bolder as they fill up most of the paper. The pink shape in the middle seems almost trapped, surrounded by so many other geometrics pointing in different directions. I chose this artwork because the colors were bold, bright and to me, it is screaming a strong message. I thought it was very creative that I wanted to see the artist’s name. When I saw it was William T. Williams, I was surprised because I learned all about Williams in middle school, but I never saw this piece. Trane relates to the rest of the exhibit because each artist was of color and practiced art during 1963-1983, where those artists were able to individually create different kinds of art that reflect upon the movements of the time period. Each artwork tells a strong story and captivates the viewer to want to learn more about it.

SN: Brooklyn Museum Part 1

Part 1:

 

Amunhotep III is made to be seen as an aging man due to the sagging cheeks. The medium of this artwork is wood, gold leaf (seen on the hat and kilt), glass and pigment. The eyes are outlined in a dark grayish-purple color as the eyebrows are outlined with a blackish-purple color. His shoulders are straight and the arms seem to be either cut or never made. His crown is gold and has a lot of definition and texture with a black square and a gold circlular pattern around it. Amunhotep III was made to stand on a wooden base with his left leg more forward than his right, almost like he is taking a step. With his status of King, although his legs were positioned one in front of the other, he was balanced. The kilt has straight vertical lines in the back and different line patterns in the front. In addition, the front of the kilt is shaped differently. In the middle it is in the shape of a rectangle with slits of a right triangle on the left and right sides. On the back, it is shaped almost as a straight line on the bottom back of the kilt. There is a noticeable metal loop on his neck as well. Amunhotep III has more color in his face, specifically a golden brown, than he does on his body, which is a little bit of adarker brown. The statue was not as tall as I expected, but it was three-dimensional and I was able to get a glimpse of all of its characteristics.

 

 

SN: Unit 1 Summary

Formal analysis and critical pedagogy are vital because they help analyze and understand artwork. Contextual analysis has us go outside of the artwork to find answers and to understand how the art shapes ideas and values of the one who made it. Formal analysis helps us find answers to questions about artwork without referring to outside sources. By this we can explore visual facts of artwork and the meaning of what the artist includes in their art. There is no pure formal analysis because everyone has a different interpretation of ideas. The main factors of formal analysis are color, line, space and mass and scale. For color, we would look at the characteristics being used and what it represents. The lines help us identify from two dimensional artwork from three dimensional and the display of lights and darks. Lines can be strong or broken up. Space and mass can make the artwork seem as if it has weight or volume and scale is the relative size within the work and viewer. Composition is important because it shows all the elements put together in artwork. 

Paolo Friere was famous for his concept Critical Pedagogy. The Banking Model describes that teachers have the higher power in the classroom and the student is responsible for taking in what they are taught. The students are the recieving objects and this model controls their thinking, restricting any creative ways of learning that they have. Friere, with this concept, wanted to create a better world than just a better environment to learn in. It is supposed to encourage individuals to affect change thats more balanced where teachers are equal to students. Students are able to state what they need too and improve their ways of learning. 

These concepts matter to me because they tie into my learning, especially as a student. Formal analysis helped me learn how to analyze artwork and I definitley see that I have improved through learning its concepts. Critical Pedagogy is important to me because as a student, I like to create my own learning environment and I learn best through readings and teaching myself. The fact that teachers and students can be equal in the classroom makes classes less intimidating and students will be able to participate without feeling belittled or incompetent . 

-Sn