Category: 11 AM Class

Final Project

Final Project- Creative Project 

For my creative project, I have decided to make a piece inspired by the abstract expressionist artist, Jackson Pollock. Jackson Pollock was known for his drip paint style pieces that at first glance may just seem like random splatter on canvas, but in reality, these pieces were so much more. The movement was a direct result of the Post-World War 2 world where the world was somehow even more unstable than before.According to the Museum of Modern art, the abstract expressionist movement was born in the 1950s when “the spirit of optimism had morphed into a potent mix of power and paranoia,”  this due to the Cold War and fear of communism spread by the McCarthy hearings (Abstract Expressionism, Museum of Modern Art). Like I stated before, these paintings are so much more because they belong to a movement in which there is a  “direct relation to the artist’s emotions, expression, and mood, and showcased their feeling behind the pieces they designed” (Jackson Pollock and his Paintings, Jackson-pollock.org). This personal connection to the painting also allowed for artists to be non- objective and explore new unorthodox techniques to fulfill their emotional needs rather than to make a painting with a specific audience (other than themselves) in mind. Along with the emotional connections formed by the artist and their canvas, there are also technical aspects that make a painting an abstract expressionism piece such as “physical engagement with his materials welcomed gravity, velocity, and improvisation into the artistic process,” ensuring the current feelings of the artist are correctly translated into the canvas (Jackson Pollock, Museum of Modern Art).

 

My creative Project

At first, while researching Jackson Pollock and abstract expressionism I believed that creating my painting would be easy and effortless, but I was wrong. Many factors went into creating a piece that I was satisfied with including materials, colors, color combination, texture, and the use of negative space. In the beginning, I had to choose between using paint, nail polish, oil pastels, or crayons, and finally chose crayon. I had chosen Crayon because abstract expressionism artists used unconventional materials, Pollock using house paint, and I had believed that crayons and a blow dryer were unconventional materials. The use of crayon in my piece would also add some texture to it. After choosing crayons, I tested how melting crayon would react on paper and to my surprise, they actually did go together. I also learned to create the piece I wanted to create I had to control the crayon’s splatter as much as possible by positioning the crayon and blow dryer at a perfect angle and distance from the paper. On my first version,  I melted the crayons one by one but it proved ineffective as the melting the crayon would also start to melt the already dried wax on the paper.  On my second try, I chose a different color from the first failed piece of yellow, dandelion, orange, and green to pink, orange, and red. My second piece (first successful piece) was completed, but I was unsatisfied with the end result and the abundance of white negative space. My third and present version was like its second version, completely different from its predecessor, the paper was now painted completely in a darker and grayer Blue, the crayon colors where now black, dark purple, white, and gray, and the direction the crayons were melted was in a clockwise direction instead of diagonally towards the top left corner. My third version was my best one because I was able to add more elements that made the piece more well-rounded as well as staying true to the origins of the abstract expressionist and Jackson Pollock painting by connecting with my canvas and capture my state of mind and feeling (mostly fear and anxiety) into the piece.

Works cited

“Abstract Expressionism”, Museum of Modern Art, https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/abstract-expressionism/

“Jackson Pollock and his Paintings”, Jackson Pollock
Biography, Paintings, and Quotes, https://www.jackson-pollock.org/

“Jackson Pollock”, Museum of Modern Art,            https://www.moma.org/artists/4675

“Abstract Expressionism”, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/abex/hd_abex.htm

“Abstract Expressionism”, The Art Story Modern Art Insight, https://www.theartstory.org/movement-abstract-expressionism.htm

 

 

 

 

FINAL PROJECT: “The Art of Deceit”

“Art of Deceit” by Kristine Veras

In class before we spoke on the period of Roman Portraiture, and how Art wasn’t always accepted for reasons of it being viewed as deceitful or for allowing too much freedom of thought or expression, and eventually Verism, a form of realism art, started being incorporated into Art more. Art was looked down upon and instead, more realistic things such as government, philosophy etc were seen as ideal. If you look at the piece that I created, it’s a bunch of headlines surrounding some of the biggest political scandals in the background, each painted a different color to stand out not only as a whole but amongst one another so that the viewer can draw individual attention to each headline. In the foreground, here is an astronaut, the size of the entire canvas; therefore it’s relatively large compared to the headlines to also stand out. The purpose of the Astronaut being that one of the most relevant scandals, mysteries, “conspiracy theories” is surrounding whether the Moon landing was staged or not. When creating the piece I really wanted to capture the irony behind Art being unaccepted for being “Deceitful”, when really  one of the largest deceits, yet one of the most present and active ones in our lives, is the government. There’s also an irony in how Art itself can be a political statement about political statements and maybe that’s why it wasn’t accepted, it was seen as a potential danger. And that is the art of deceit.

Final Essay Annotated Bibliography (Second Topic)

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/18.2.4/

 

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/05.30/

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/198766

These 3 pieces offer history to my project. With these sources I can better understand the conditions in which these pieces were built and why they were built. It gives us explanations on who these people were and what they have done to get statues built of them. It also helps because each one of these pieces of work come from a different region so we have more pieces to compare from for our project to see differences and similarities.

Roman Portrait Sculpture: Republican through CONSTANTINE

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ropo/hd_ropo.htm

This post gives a lesson on the importance of sculptures and it talks about how they come to fruition. This tells us about how these statues were typically made to celebrate a noted military achievement, usually in connection with an official triumph, or to commemorate some worthy political achievement, such as the drafting of a treaty. We also learn about how bad emperors usually did not get one or they got their sculptures destroyed.

Roman Egypt Essay

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/regy/hd_regy.htm

This was is really important because it ties a connection between the Roman and the Egyptian pieces of work and how they are influenced from each other. Rome’s rule over Egypt officially began with the arrival of  Octavian in 30 B.C., following his defeat of Marc Antony and Cleopatra in the battle at Actium. It talks about how once Rome took over a new fascination with its ancient culture became influential. Obelisks and Egyptian-style architecture and sculpture were installed in Roman fora. This led to the changing and development of a new Egyptian style of sculptures and a new Roman style.

Final Project Outline/Background

Date:ca. 1500–1525

Culture:French

Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art

 

Date:ca. 2458–2446 B.C.

Geography:From Egypt

Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Artist:Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne the Younger (French, Paris 1704–1778 Paris)

Date:1757

Culture:French

Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Date:A.D. 251–253

Culture:Roman

Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Date:ca. 1250

Geography:Made in Burgundy, France

Culture:French

Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Something that is within all the artworks above is the normality of the postures and facials expressions of the subjects used to covey. These are all pieces that are of royals and I chose this because I wanted to see how different types of cultures treat their rulers and how they represent them and preserve their memory through their art.

Final Project Option #1- The Evolution of Realism in Art History

Juan Jose Hernandez

Art 1010

Prof. Gwendolyn Shaw

December 11th, 2018

Final Project- The Evolution of Realism in Art History

In art history, artists have developed and evolved over time, always bringing new styles of art. Although art can be interpreted and defined in many ways, in this case art is the way artist express themselves and apply certain skills in painting or sculpting in other to create a work of art. However, the way art is made has evolved over time as new artists have incorporated their innovative ideas into their work. One new movement of art is the incorporation of realism in art projects. Realism was developed by Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) who was a famous artist recognized and criticized for challenging the way painting had been made. He suggested that “‘painting is and essentially concrete art and can only consist in the representation of real and existing things’” (Finocchio, Ross, 2004) This means that the old method of exaggerating dimensions of the human body and making those look unnatural did not make art realistic. In art history realism has influenced the way art is perceived by people evolving to a more natural and realistic art rather than exaggerated dimensions and unnatural work of art.

Over time art has influenced the culture of many civilisations and usually artist paint or do sculptures in other to represent a period, or event or simply to express and idea. The way art was made in the 1400s was different from modern art.

Below is a painting of The Dead Christ, by Andrea Mantegna c.1480-

In the image above is illustrated Jesus Christ laying in a bed after he has been crucified on the cross. The wounds and wholes of his hands and feet are visible which and the portion of Jesus body is pulled down by gravity because all his muscles are stretched and loose. The rib-cage are also very stretched, however the body as a whole is very large and it seems unnatural. The feet are the first body part upfront and they look very small compared to the whole body of Jesus. Furthermore, the face of Virgin Mary and John illustrate agony as they mourn over the death of Jesus Christ. Virgin Mary is drying her tears but the proportions of her hands do not match how far her fingers can reach towards her eye because she has it covered. Although it seems as if it was very large. One more thing to be aware of is that the hands of John are very small as he holds them together into prayer. This painting is unrealistic and unnatural, although the event is very religious and accurate, Jesus is painted to be larger than Virgin Mary and John.

In the 1500s painting was being introduced with better and more realistic dimensions but artists were not quite there yet.

Below is an image of Plato, Aristotle and other ancient philosophers and mathematicians depicted in Raphael’s School of Athens painted by fresco in 1509-1511-

In this painting the period of the renaissance is being represented by the accommodation of various philosophers throughout the painting. In the 1500s there was a rebirth in the interest for Roman and Greek culture because humans were thought to be the center of the universe during the introduction of Humanism during the Renaissance. The concept is represented by the many philosophers and great thinkers coming together having papers (from the very first printing press invented by gutenberg) and showing exchange of ideas through conversations and thinking postures. However the painting is unnatural because was impossible for all ancient philosophers and mathematicians to come together before an artist to paint them. The thing to notice however is that landscape was being added to the methods of doing art. There is depth in the structure because the artist included clouds that can be seen through the windows. Furthermore, there is also a mirror’s reflection of the structure seen from the point of view of the men painted. Realism is intended here but not achieved.

Realism was finally introduced in the late 1840s after the French revolution, where the french population wanted democracy and later on artists drew their focus on everyday-life of men and woman of the working class. Here art became more realistic and natural. Natural things that everyday people do such as harvesting, or brushing hair, or having lunch at the park are some examples.

Below is a painting of The Gleaners (1857) by Jean Francois-Millet-

In the image above, three women are collecting the leftovers of the harvest, it required “hours of hunched-over labor would often be rewarded with a small amount of meal” (TheArtStory.org). This form of work was the lowest in the french society for peasant women. But he image is not altered. The artist saw a scene and decided to paint it. The body dimensions of the women are accurate and the landscape is also natural. The horse is well painted to a small size which makes it look far away. The colors of the painting make it look as late afternoon. Furthermore the trees and cattle are also well represented.

In all three images, changing from time to time, the artists have incorporated events in history in general. Artists began to focus on everyday life and working class people which gave art a natural aspect. The incorporation of realism is very important in art today. Art is defined in many ways by many individuals, but in order to express a natural event then realism must be used. Art might continue to evolve, and it should be exiting.

Final project

The Egyptian civilization is one of the most influential periods in human history. However the award for the most influential falls in the hands of the Greeks/Romans. The difference in Greek/Roman and Egyptian views of humanity in the world shows how humanity change overtime. Through more and more human discoveries, the more humanity moves into the center of the world. Humanism has changed how humans and other animals are depicted in Art.

Figure of a Cat, Saqqara, Egypt, 350 B.C.E. – 1st century C.E – Brooklyn Museum

This is a figure of a cat called Saqqara from Egypt 350 B.C.E. This cat would have been seen as a god or close to a god. Cats were handled with care and given the utmost respect from the people in Egypt. This cat was most likely treated better than the peasants and slaves. The reason for that was how people envisioned the world back then. There was nothing special about a human if they weren’t the Pharaoh. Cats, dogs and other animals were seen as high beings due to the fact that these gods were mixed with features of different animals. It is a great example for my theme because it shows how in Egyptian society, Humans were centered as much.

Statuette of Anubis, Egypt- 332–30 B.C.- Met

This figure is of the Egyptian god of embalming and death, Anubis. As I said before, certain animals had a certain importance because they had connections with gods. This is one example of an animal humanoid mixture. Anubis has a body of a human, but what anyone would recognize first would be head of a jackal. This is important to my theme because with the head of a jackal Anubis shows no real human emotions and is seen to be set apart from what a human being would be. The Egyptians made their gods so different from a human because they didn’t understand the world yet.

Roman statue of bearded Hercules- Met by Brandon Falls- Brooklyn Museum


This is statue is an image of Hercules. This is important because of what Hercules symbolizes. He symbolizes Humanism itself and how humanity has changed. He is the son of Zeus and Alcmene. This means his father was a god that mingled with human beings and had the same emotions of love and courtship as a regular human. This is a change from the past Egyptian beliefs of gods only having children with other gods. This shows that a god can come down and share the same emotional space as a human being. Obviously different from the past where gods showed no emotions to humans. Their best guest was that they angered the gods. This new system put humans in the center of the world along with the gods.

Sardonyx cameo fragment with Jupiter astride an eagle- 1st century B.C.–1st century A.D.- Met

For this figure i’ll be pointing out the animal representation in this piece from the Egyptian pieces. Unlike how animals were praised in the Egypt we see a change where animals are mere tools instead of worshipped. This has to do with Humanism. People believe themselves to be in the center of the world and more important than animals. Animals aren’t seen to be important until they are useful to be used by humans.

Latona and Her Children: Apollo and Diana- Met by William Henry Rinehart

This is the most important symbol that shows how Humanism changed the depiction of gods, people and animals. Here’s Lotana the mother of Apollo and Artemis, two powerful olympian gods. The reason this is important is because of the way it depicts these gods. This sculpture shows how humanism brings that gods down to a human level. This implies that gods came into existence through something like childbirth. Not only is Lotana caring for her children, if you look closer you can almost see the emotions in the picture. You can see her face admiring her children. Makes you feel as if those children were actual humans and not powerful gods.

Annotated Bibliography

Cartwright, Mark. “Ancient Greek Sculpture.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia, 15 Mar 2018. Web. 11 Dec 2018.

In this source, it describes the history and background for the progression of Greek society that consequently created some of the most advanced and confiscated sculptures known to the ancient world. As well as describing and observing the progress Greek sculptures have made over the span of the civilizations experience.

“Early Classical Greek Sculpture.”accessed December 9, 2018, http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/antiquity/greek-sculpture-early-classical-period.htm

This source goes in depth with famous sculptures in what variety each posses as time passes on. To the material used as well as the particular style the artist had used to create the sculpture.

“British Museum.” accessed December 9, 2018,https://britishmuseum.tumblr.com/post/116634785287/most-greek-sculpture-that-survives-from-antiquity

This source shows posts of multiple sculptures from the Greek civilization in the ancient era in museums around in Britain. Having knowledge of other type of sculptures found in other locations can help solidify the similarities between the sculptures.

Margaret Talbot, “The Myth of Whiteness in Classical Sculpture.” The New Yorker.” October 29th, 2018. Accessed December 9, 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/29/the-myth-of-whiteness-in-classical-sculpture

This article shows how the original sculptures of ancient Rome and Greece used colors to show a more somewhat realistic depiction. Scholars show in this article how the marble statues would have looked like if the the color/ paintings were still in the original.

 

 

Annotated Bibliography

Final Project Choice #1- Write a Paper Assignment (750-1000 Words)

Topic: The evolution of realistic art. (1400s – 1800s)

Over history in art, realism has influenced the way art is done. The addition of more natural methods into art has made it more life-like and it helps the viewer to be more amazed and engaged.

Thesis: In art history realism has influenced the way art is perceived by people evolving to a more natural and realistic art rather than exaggerated dimensions and unnatural work of art.

All the sources used for my paper final are listed below:

 

Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker, “A brief history of Western culture,” in Smarthistory, June 8, 2018, accessed December 10, 2018,  https://smarthistory.org/a-brief-history-of-western-culture/

In this source I was able to find a brief summary of the evolution of art in terms of realism and from 3000 B.C.E. to modern art. From here, I have chosen images that I will be referring to in my paper. The article talks about the different units historians have divided art history into, such as Prehistoric (before c. 3000 B.C.E.), Middle Ages (c. 400 C.E. to c. 1400 C.E.), Renaissance (c. 1400 to 1600), Modern (after c. 1800). The source is very helpful to me because I can refer to a timeline of works of art that have been done with and without realism.

“Realism Movement Overview and Analysis”. 2018. TheArtStory.org
Edited and published by The Art Story Contributors
Available from: https://www.theartstory.org/movement-realism.htm
[Accessed 3 Dec 2018]

In this source I was able to find who were some of the most important artist during the realism movement. The article talks about what realism is, (the method to incorporate real dimensions and natural aspects to works of art) and some of the most influential works of art such as Rue Transnonain, le 15 Avril 1834 (1834) or The Stone Breakers (1849-50). From this website I was also able to find reliable art work that I refer to in my paper.

 

“Great Works: The Dead Christ, by Andrea Mantegna c.1480” Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, Michael Glover, Saturday 22 September 2012 00:00

In this website I was able find more information of The Dead Christ painting.

Finocchio, Ross. “Nineteenth-Century French Realism.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/rlsm/hd_rlsm.htm (October 2004)

 

In the Met’s Museum website I was able to  find more information about realism in art and where it originated from.

 

Overall, this sources will be used to rely my evidence on in my final paper.