Category: 9:30 AM Class

Final Project Outline

I am choosing a paper proposal for my final project. The topic that I am choosing to explore is Humanism and its role in a developing world. In detail, I want to understand the positive or negative effects that Humanism had on different civilizations throughout history, with an emphasis on the artwork of each civilization. To do this, I will compare early works that focus on religion such as those of Egyptian civilization, to those that incorporate humanism such as Roman, Greek, and modern works.

Title: Cat Statuette

Artist: N/A

Date: ca. 332-30 BC

Museum: The Met; Gallery 134

 

Title: Outer Coffin of the Singer of Amun-Re, Henettawy

Artist: N/A

Date: ca. 1000-945 BC

Museum: The Met; Gallery 126

 

Title: A Hypocrite and a Slanderer

Artist: Franz Xaver Messerschmidt

Date: ca. 1770 – 1783

Museum: The Met; Gallery 548

 

Title: Blind Woman

Artist: Paul Strand

Date: 1916

Museum: The Met;

 

Title: Marble Statue of a Kouros

Artist: N/A

Date: 590 – ca. 580 BC

Museum: The Met; Gallery 154

Final Project Outline

Chaasadyah Charles

12/4/18

Professor Shaw

 

For my final project, I will be making a  piece. My piece will be of Medusa, however we will be giving her identities that relate her more closely to marginalized groups. She will have an Afrocentric, queer and feminist charged appearance. This piece will be a spin off of the many pieces of Medusa at the MET. The museum shows Medusa in terracotta, onyx, glass, marble, plaster cast, and even red jasper. I am not sure just yet how I will present her. That I have not decided as of yet.

MET Visit

My experience at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was different from the Brooklyn Museum. Just by walking up to the large building was an eye-opener. The inside was widely spaced and was very busy indicating it is a popular museum. The Museum is split up based on Geographically designated collections which I thought was easier to look at the art. When looking at the art on display you can see that Renaissance and the Baroque are vastly different. Although from the two painting I choose to use look identical for a few reasons: women are the main focus of the painting and it looks like a common domestic scene. If you look closely you can spot the differences. For starters, if you look at the painting of “Woman with a Water Jug” by Johannes Vermeer you see the subtlety of the light coming from the window on her headdress and under her arm which is one characteristic of Baroque art. Another characteristic is that the painting is “unstable,” it is a specific moment in time. The lady is picking up a pitcher, putting it down, and opening a window. She is caught in between the two movements. Also notice how she is ruining the balance and stability of the environment because everything is rectangular: the window, the map behind her, and the table and she is in between all of these objects. Now when looking at a renaissance painting, “The Rest on the Flight into Egypt” by a follower of Massys is more stable and looks serene. There are horizontal and verticals like the tree and the baby which are straight unlike the squares. The painting looks calm. It does not look like a transition or a specific moment of time. So even though at first glance these paintings seem similar they are actually from different time periods and areas and are seen to be vastly different based on that.

Final Project Outline / Background

Thesis: Greek and Roman art creates a central focus on the human experience through the showcase of the human body itself. Through various Greek and Roman art, you are able to see the aesthetics and natural beauty shown through sculptures of humans. This encompasses the stance of humanism through the appreciation of the human body.

Title: The Greek Slave

Artist: Hiriam Powers

Date: 1843

Brooklyn museum

The Greek Slave is a female nude that expresses all the struggles that this person endured through her lifetime. You are able to see the slave bounded by chains with a sort of blank expression showing the acceptance of her life and problems that she has experienced.

 

Title: Marble relief with Herakles carrying the Erymanthian Boar

Artist: Unknown

Date: 27 B.C.-A.D. 68

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This marble relief showcases Herakles successfully capturing a boar that rests on his shoulders. Through the showcase of Herakles’muscular toned body, you can see the appreciation of the role and duty of Herakles as a hunter and warrior.

 

Title: Kouros

Artist: Unknown

Date: 590-580 B.C.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Kouros is a free standing sculpture of a male nude. Through the stiffness and position of the body, you are able to tell that this person was of a high rank. The figure being nude also expresses the appreciation of the human body.

 

Title: Bronze Statue of the emperor Trebonianus Gallus

Artist: Unknown

Date: A.D. 251-253

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The statue of emperor Trebonianus Gallus reveals a nude male of extremely high class. Although different from many ideal body figures, this oversized statue reveals the appreciation of the human body as the expression and stance by the emperor shows power.

 

Title: Marble Statue of Youth

Artist: Unknown

Date: 1st century A.D.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Marble Statue of Youth is a clear representation of humanism through the visuals of the human body. The statue represents the victory of the male and just like many other Greek and Roman sculptures, the statue is a nude with an ideal body of a male athlete.

My MET Visit

My first experience at the Metropolitan Museum was nothing short of fascinating. The moment I walked up to the building, I was amazed not only by its size but by the history that I knew was inside. As I walked in and started looking around, I got lost in the first ten minutes. Once I found my way to the exhibits that I needed, I was simply in awe of all the beauty and history at my disposal. My first look was towards the Renaissance paintings. What caught my eye was the “Holy Face” painting by Gerard David.

Image result for Holy Face by gerard david

With this painting, there is a sense of stability and serenity. Seeing as this piece is named “Holy Face,” one would expect a sense of serenity to come out of it. Other aspects of this painting that differentiates it from Baroque styled art would be that it shows a calm nobility, it’s idealized, has clear light, uninterrupted contours and is more reserved. It is portrayed as a still type of piece where we can clearly see the intentions of the subject in question. There is no immediate movement in which we can interpret. However, Baroque styled art consists of a different type of agenda. Take for example the “Madonna and Child with Saints Francis and Dominic and Angels,” painted by Giulio Procaccini.

Image result for Madonna and Child with Saints Francis and Dominic and Angels

From this painting, it is seen that there is a certain emotional intensity being represented, as well as, a moment in time. Through the concept of “moment in time,” it is meant that this image is caught in the moment. Due to a constant energy and movement, the painter was able to represent the subjects as in the moment. Baroque art, which includes this piece, has a tendency to constantly consist of real and not idealized images that are very involving and close. A lot of diagonals are involved, as well as, dynamism. The effects of the light really draw in an audience because it truly puts an emphasis on the subjects being shown. The color scheme creates a dynamic of drama and importance to certain aspects as well.

Renaissance and Baroque art are very similar in subject matter, however, they both have a very different style in portraying the subject matter at hand.

My MET Visit

Visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art was a surreal experience. I have to say, I had a fun time doing this assignment. First, I will be describing and comparing two different sculptures from different time periods. The first sculpture, Adam (Tullio Lombardo), is an example of Renaissance art. This sculpture was created in 1495. The other sculpture is Marsyas (Balthasar Permoser) is an example of Baroque art. This was created in 1685. Both of these sculptures caught my eye because each sculpture represents a different tone and meaning. The first thing that came to my mind was the facial expression in the Baroque art. According to the background of the sculpture, Marsyas was a martyr that was burned alive after losing a contest with Apollo. This explains the absurd facial expression it makes. This sculpture is a perfect example of the dramatic tone that is present in Baroque art. Marsyas has a dramatic and emotional tone to it while Adam is more calm, soothing, straight, and serene. Another important thing I noted is Marsyas has more diagonal lines, unlike Adam which has straight/horizontal lines. This emphasizes the artistic and thematic difference between Renaissance and Baroque art. 

Final Project Outline

Overall Topic: For my final project I will create a mock tour guide that acts as a satire to pick apart the limited roles in which women are placed within works of art during the Renaissance and Baroque period. I find that for the most part there seems to be only three archaical roles in which women are depicted and portrayed as within both eras. These roles are stereotypically the idealized virginal biblical figures (Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene), the superlunary depiction of mythological goddesses (Diana, Venus, etc) and the delineation of ordinarily simple and mundane women. These three roles bind women to either the very high standards of being the perfect virgin, the otherworldly headstrong and beautiful goddesses within Roman mythology, or push them to embrace the simplistic life of domesticity. I will judge and fully exemplify all three of these archetypes in my tour at the MET. This tour will be divvied in three different venturings and in each venture we will view two pieces of art that speaks to and verifies the limited archetypes we’re exploring and working to confirm. The 6 works of art that will be viewed in this tour are…

Thesis: The roles in which women were strategically placed within Renaissance and Baroque art worked to subject them to very limited and two-dimensional roles within society that offered no proper insight to the true complexity of their nature.

The representation of women within the art of the Renaissance and Baroque era

  1. Venus and Adonis by Peter Paul Rubens
  2. Diana the Huntress by Giampietrino
  3. Madonna and Child with Angels by Cosimo Rosselli
  4. Portrait of a Woman, Possibly a Nun of San Secondo by Jacometto
  5. The Love Letter by Jacob Ochtervelt
  6. The Lacemaker by Nicolaes Maes                                                                                         The first two paintings hone in on the vital and ever present depiction of Roman goddesses throughout the Baroque and Renaissance period. The third and fourth paintings are specifically from the Renaissance period serving as the paintings that hone in on holy, biblical, or simply virginal women. The last two paintings focus on the stereotypical roles women resorted to, a desire for love and a duty to domesticity. All of these paintings work to give us a closer look into not just these artists interpretation of women and the purpose these women serve during these periods of time, but what purpose women were thought to serve according to societal standards as well.

Bibliography

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. Langara College, 2016.

In this novel, Whitney Chadwick’s survey reexamines works of arts and the ways in which the women within them have been perceived as “marginal, often in direct reference to gender”. To build on this further, she also addresses the “closely related issues of ethnicity, class, and sexuality”.  All of these work to support my thesis of the less than ideal way in which women are perceived in works of art.

Cruz, Katryna Santa. “Guided History.” Artistic Representation of the Female Gender from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, blogs.bu.edu/guidedhistory/historians-craft/katryna-santacruz/.

This article touches base on a plethora of published works that discuss the representation of women in art throughout the Renaissance era to the Enlightenment era. Through Cruz’s discussion of the contents of these works, she too highlights women in religious art and imagery, sexuality and eroticism, as well as the overall gender differences that are easily found within the art of these times.

Faulkner, Katherine, et al. “Representing Women.” Courtauld , The Courtauld Gallery, courtauld.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Goyateachersresourcesfinal.pdf.

Containing many different articles and authors, this pdf remarks skillfully so how exactly “art has played an important role in perpetuating stereotypical images of women and femininity; both negative and positive”. I think it’s important to include this work in my research paper so that I don’t find myself focusing entirely on the negative nature of my theme, but rather try to see some of the good that I might not have been so intuitive of before.

Gilboa, Anat. “Gender in Art.” New Dictionary of the History of Ideas, edited by Maryanne Cline Horowitz, vol. 3, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2005, pp. 876-882. Gale Virtual Reference Library, http://link.galegroup.com.ez-proxy.brooklyn.cuny.edu:2048/apps/doc/CX3424300308/GVRL?u=cuny_broo39667&sid=GVRL&xid=373e27a0. Accessed 11 Dec. 2018.

In using this scholarly article, I am able to gain a better insight historically of the roles that society placed on women and the meaning behind such a placement. The perception of women of the Renaissance and Baroque era becomes clearer with more of a historical context to back it up. While the other works I’m citing add the wood to the fire for my guided tours theme, this source acts to answer “But why?” It focuses on eroticism and women as allegorical references, two archetypes I myself mention and am eager to further explore.

Hungus, Karl. YouTube, YouTube, 31 Oct. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta-s_vzxWn8.

Here we have John Berger’s second episode of his series “Ways of Seeing” in which he discusses the concept of the female nude. He differentiates nudity from nakedness, and remarks that in order for a naked body to become a nude, “it must be completely objectified and exist only for the sexual pleasure of the owner or viewer”. Berger discusses a contradiction in European paintings of female nudes between “the painter’s, owner’s and viewer’s individualism and… the object, the woman, which is treated as abstraction.” Much like what I’m trying to prove in this tour, Berger strongly believes that these stark differences deeply affect our culture and how our society perceives women (how women perceive themselves even).

Met Visit

I took my visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Sunday December 2nd.  Due to the fact it was the weekend and during the beginning of the holiday season, it was crowded with locals and tourists alike.  Despite that, it was easy to notice that the Met is a work of art in itself both inside and outside.  I visited with someone who had an art assignment to complete from a different class.  Within the museum some of my favorite exhibits were the ones that focus on East Asian cultures such as “Children to Immortals” and “Japanese Arms and Armor from the Collection of Etsuko and John Morris”.  I also liked the Ancient Egyptian exhibit focusing on the afterlife.

Within the Renaissance exhibit were many paintings of religious imagery and iconography.  Many images were filled with the depiction of Mary and Jesus, representative of the influence of the Catholic Church on Europe.  This religious imagery was less realistic than that of the Baroque Era.  It was filled with brighter tones, colors and designs representing royalty.  Its symbolic imagery such as halos and thrones represented the deeper meaning behind certain religious stories.  Renaissance paintings for the most part favored more of a symbolic approach instead of a realistic one when it came to religious paintings, ignoring the move toward realism.

By the Baroque Era, the move toward realism had taken over even the religious paintings of Europe.  As contrasted below, the Baroque Era favored a darker, more realistic color scheme as well as more realistic depictions of people.  It placed its symbolism on the lines of symmetry between the subjects of the artwork. The Baroque Era’s realism also led to less of an emphasis on religious artwork. The difference between these two eras are shown in “Merry Company on a Terrace” by Jan Steen (1670) above and “Saints and Scenes from the Life of the Virgin” by Master of Monte Oliveto (1320) below.

Final Project Outline Proposal

Topic: The role/purpose of the depiction of women in Ancient Egyptian Art

Thesis: Although women and feminism were often overlooked in Egyptian art, the very presence of a woman alone was necessary for the art to contain true meaning.

The ways I will go about proving my statement

  1. depicting how the pharaohs headress resembled feminine features. I will propose the reason for that would be that in the Egyptian subconscious people needed something more to respect than just pure male dominance. The famine headress, and the skirts was a symbol of the understanding human side that only feminism can bring to the table.
  2. Depicting women in everyday life. Women weren’t always written off of all the art work for ancient Egypt. some pieces would show women dancing joyously together. other works would show a queen beside her pharaoh husband holding their child. These depictions are necessary to show that ancient Egypt didn’t just consist of the conquering of other nations and how strong the pharaoh was. On the other hand it displayed the need for family life and how beautiful it is. Again something that could have only been displayed with the presence of a woman.
  3. we will focus on the Queen Nefertiti there were many queens in ancient Egyptian history, but Nefertiti is the the default queen that we think of. the reason being she as a queen arguably contributed more to ancient Egypt legacy than some other kings and pharaohs.