Category: Brooklyn Museum Assignment–Ancient World

Blog Post 6, Brooklyn Museum Ancient World

I chose Cat and Mouse from the Egyptian Reborn: Art for Eternity Exhibit. The formal properties we are suppose to look at are scale, medium, composition, and material. The scale is 1/2 x 6 13/16 x 7/16 in. (8.9 x 17.3 x 1.1 cm). The mediums are limestone, and ink. Limestone is a popular medium which was used in Egypt. There are 7 elements of composition. Color, form, shape, space, value, line, and texture. The color of Cat and Mouse is sorta sepia rock (limestone) and black ink. The form is two dimensional (if you go according to the image presented). The shape is flat. There is a lot of negative space in the art piece because the background isn’t filled out. I guess there’s a high value? There’s horizontal, vertical, diagonal, curved, pointy lines. Lastly the texture is smooth except in a few spots where there are some ridges from the limestone. Artist unknown.

The historical context is it was created in 1295-1075 B.C.E. It’s somewhere from the XIX Dynasty to XX Dynasty and it is from the New Kingdom period. It is drawing of a standing cat on the left offering a feather fan and plucked animal feather to a seated female mouse (right). The mouse wears a long skirt and has a flower on her forehead. She holds a dish in her right hand, and is holds a flower (I think) and cloth (often held by pharaohs) in her left hand. The cat also holds a similar cloth. The mouse is seated on a folding stool with animal legs and covered with an animal hide with the tail hanging over the edge of the stool.

The subject matter is unknown but my guess is either something humorous or satire about the royals at that time. It’s now a long lost story.

I can relate this to what we learned in class because we’ve seen painting of animals, which we are suppose to understand that they are really depictions of humans.

Brooklyn Museum Assignment Part 1 and 2

 

 

 

 

For the first part of the Assignment, I decided to enter the Ancient Korean Exhibit. I fell in love with these art pieces. This was my 3rd time into the museum. Everytime I go to the museum I check on this section because everything seems so expensive. From what I noticed about each art piece, one thing that all stood out about all of them were there sizes. They were all small and in my mind this means something of a decoration or tool. A figure such as the mini Buddha was considered to be both a religious piece. you can tell it was a religious piece by the position it was in. It was in a position of meditating and you can also make it out as religious because the hands are clasp together in a way that shows prayer. Like a divine being. it also looks decorative because it was made of gold, either owned by a wealthy family or an Emperor. The snail art piece looks to be a kettle. This kettle was a special kettle because of the designs it held that had drawings and other symbols. The museum didn’t provide any information on the kettle, but like the Egyptian makeup tool we discussed in class, this was probably just an everyday item that is considered a work of Art in today’s world. One thing I can say about it is that it seems to be representing someone because of the braided hair roped down it’s back. Finally my favorite piece of all, the Dragon holding what I think is a bucket. This Dragon was most likely a decorative piece because it doesn’t have any sign showing that it would mean anything more than just a Dragon holding a vase. It was most likely owned by someone wealthy because it’s made up of gold. In my opinion and best guess, I would say that the winding of the Dragon serves a purpose of showing immense strength by holding up the vase. Korean history is very rich. One important thing I must point out is the feeling I felt in this exhibit. These different pieces all brings out a tranquil mood because everything looks peaceful and clean. It just doesn’t show a history of battles. It shows a history of peace and tranquility.

This art piece was at the entrance of all the exhibits. I don’t know what exhibit it belongs to. But one thing to point out is the obvious symbolism of what innocence is. This picture uses a clear sky to symbolize freedom and uses the white clothing to symbolize innocence. One look at this image and it creates a warm and nice feeling to accommodate the innocence and beauty of the women in the picture. The 3 women all look away to make you feel and ask what are they looking at in the distance. The way the lighting is in the picture create the women to look like angelic figures.

MD: Ancient World Blog Post

Michael DeGennaro

Choose one artwork from the ancient world (your choice, but the BK Museum has a good selection of Mesopotamian and Egyptian art), use formal analysis to talk about the work and relate it to some of the concepts we have discussed in class.

This cartonnage/mummy was particularly eye catching to me because when I think of ancient Egypt, the mummification process instantly pops into my mind.  As as a child, it is what mostly interested me when learning about the ancient civilization. Mummification and the preserving of the human body is an art form in itself, adding makeup, and trying to rejuvenate diminishing features is difficult.  Though this piece of art is titled “Mummy of an Anonymous Man”, features that the artist chose to include can indicate his level of importance. On the exterior, the artist depicted a human head, whose eyes are wide open, glaring at his viewer. This shows that although their physical body has died, they are still alive and watching closely and intently from the afterlife.  His skin is a dark red-brown skin color which in ancient egypt, represented outdoor life and pursuits of men. Red was also the color of precious stones which can indicate his value. The artist chose to groom the man very sharply and neatly, similarly to the neatly groomed, though much longer beards we looked at in class, which can indicate his status in society as well.  The faded burgundy patch on his shoulder is an ancient symbol for holiness, which the artist chose to include as a sign of his possible God-like value. The gold necklace, as well as the sold idea of being preserved alone indicated that you are apart of the upper class, and your legacy will live on in the after life.

Blog Post 6: Brooklyn Museum-Ancient World

In the Ancient Near Eastern Art exhibit, I saw the “Winged Genie Wearing Fancy Bracelets” piece of art. I first noticed its very detailed wings. There is a strong level of realism to the wings that reminds me of the common depiction of an angel’s wings, although it is also similar to the wings of certain kinds of birds. One of the wings is slanted downward, most likely to show the other wing, although it looks as though it is broken because of this. The muscles in the arms and legs are a bit over-exaggerated although there is a certain animalistic aspect that makes it fairly realistic anyway. You can clearly see that they had an eye for detail in the ear of the genie since it looks very similar to our own real-life ears.

As we have discussed about other artworks, this genie also has the elegant, orderly, and long beard that is very carefully carved in. He also has a very elegant crown on his head, similar to those we have looked at before. He is wearing elegant clothes, so between this and the crown, I can deduce that this man is very important and highly worshiped in the Assyrian culture this work of art came from. As noted in its title, it has fancy bracelets in the shape of a sun (a central orb with triangular points coming from it). This symbol also appears on his crown, so I take it to mean that this symbol is highly valued and representative of nobility and high status.

Part I. Statue Of Metjetji

Walking into the Ancient Egyptian section of the Brooklyn Museum I was immediately fascinated by the numerous artifacts on display. It was really interesting to see that the artifacts varied from tombs to scriptures to the actual pottery they used. As I walked around the exhibit I found myself drawn to the Statue of Metjetji. I noticed that it was one of the few “human” sculptures in the entire exhibit and its representation of life development was very well depicted by the figures body structure and their traditional painted jewelry. When looking at the Statue of Metjetji one of the first things that captures your attention is the beaded skirt. Compared to all of the other colors painted on the statues, the color white still appears to have a stronger intensity. Then you have the pleaded part of the skirt that gives it some texture along with the colored beaded strands on the other side of the skirt, both going in a vertical direction creating a balance. As you look up at his chest the the colors become more desaturated but still manage to grab your attention by the use of lines and patterns. Once you reach their faces you can see there are differences between the two statues, specifically the eyes. In the Statue that’s supposed to represent an older man, the eyes are bigger and painted white. I think this is to show the wisdom and maturity compared to the other one. I think what makes the Statue of Metjetji unique is that it does a great job using color, lines, and texture to show the development of life.

Brooklyn Museum Assignment: Near Eastern Art

In the Ancient Egypt exhibit, I saw the “Eagle-Headed Genie Between Two Sacred Trees”. The first thing that caught my eye was the eagle’s head. As discussed in class, this relief reminded me of the “Lamassu”. We were told that in that time period, animals were portrayed a lot in paintings and sculptures. The relief has the head of an eagle and the body of a human where as the “Lamassu” has the head of a human, body of a lion/bull, and wings. In Near Eastern art, animals heads were a sign of divinity (the figure of being a god with qualities somehow related to the animal they are associated with). In Assyrian reliefs, the wings identified this figures as being supernatural. Both the human- and eagle-headed winged figures are genies, they were considered to be supernatural attendants to the king. The ones with eagle heads are considered to take more of a protector role, with their fierce qualities thought to frighten away evil forces.

The relief had many intricate lines to enhance the wings or the trees. Metal tools like chisels were certainly used to carve the initial shapes. Fine details are created with abrasives. The artist uses scale to emphasize the genie more than the trees.

In both of the  genie’s hands, he has a cone in one hand and a basket in the other. The eagle-headed genie was tending to a stylized palm tree which was a symbol of the fertility and prosperity of the king and his kingdom. By his arm, there are two daggers tucked underneath his garment. These daggers served more of a decorative purpose. In these reliefs, you can only see the handles which would have been inlaid with colorful stones. Some of these figures also carry whetstones, used to sharpen blades. These whetstones are carved with animal heads.  The first object from the left tucked into the genies clothing near his chest is a whetstone, the head of a calf poking out at the top.

 

 

 

Brooklyn Museum- part1

Fred Wilson (American, born 1954). Grey Area (Brown version), 1993. Paint, plaster and wood, Overall: 20 x 84 in. (50.8 x 213.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of William K. Jacobs, Jr. and bequest of Richard J. Kempe, by exchange, 2008.6a-j. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2008.6a-j_PS4.jpg)

This piece of artwork is designed by Fred Wilson who is an American artist. He describes himself as the “African Native American and European.” Fred Wilson was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1954, and lives and works in New York. He is now currently 64 years old. Fred called his artwork “Grey Area (Brown Version)“. He uses art objects to explore issues of race, gender, class, politics, and aesthetics. Made up of five portrait heads of the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti. Wilson encourages viewers to recognize how changes in context create changes in meaning. He refers this to the ancient civilization. 

In the beginning, I was thinking that why the artist is painting all the different dark colors and why it can not be all the pretty colors. Later, I realize that he was referring to this artwork to the ancient time and not the modern time. Also, the figure was referring to a queen and not a king or a weird looking person. 

 

Brooklyn Museum Assignment Part I & II

Part I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Part I of the assignment I chose to dive into the Egyptian Art exhibition at the Museum. As soon as I saw the sculpture showed above I was interested to analyze this particular work of art which is called Pair Statue of Nelson and Never-ta. Using Formal Analysis I immediately noticed that the sitting couple is made out of Limestone. As I looked around I noticed that the bench where they are sitting on has writing all around it and not only in the bench but also in the persons clothing. This makes me think of the art work we saw in class and how sculptures from all other places in the wold also had writing during those times. This means that they all had their own language and similar ideas when it came to language. Their clothing and neckless have an appearance of people who are in high level society which made me think that they are a married couple from the royalty. What makes me come to the conclusion that they are married is that the are both have one arm being each other’s back and not only that but the artist made their arm unnaturally long and if looked closer on the sides they are holding each other with affection. Their body posture is stiff and everything seems alined. There is parallel lines in every section of writing. Furthermore this writing and the limestone is painter with different colors of blue, red, brow, and black. Furthermore the volume of hair in each person is large and it makes their faces look smaller, specially the woman whose face is smaller and has a larger neck. It seems that they both are wearing some sort of make-up in their eyes which makes those look bigger and angled. the size of the Sculpture is a small. I love what it represents and I love looking at it. Using formal made me understand in a deeper way what the sculpture represented in Egyptian times.

 

Part II

For Part II, in Soul of a Nation, after looking around the exhibit I found my attention to be caught under this amazing yet horrifying painting, The First One Hundred Years by Archibald Motley 1891-1981. As you can see in the pictures I took, the painting seems to be oiled based. Also the use of dark and cold colors is very mesmerizing because it helps the viewer feel what is going on. In the painting I feel that the artist wants the viewer to focus on the two faces that hang on the tree (Martin Luther King Jr.- J.F.K) and one from the house (Abraham Lincoln). Those are the faces of important activist and presidents of the United States. The main thing they all have in common is that they were all assassinated.  I chose these particular painting because it summarizes everything bad and wrong that happened during African American slavery and when the confederate flag was wave by the prosecutors and the “pure” white people. All this horrendous events took place under the times of those three individuals’s faces. To me the painting is very sad and scary. When I saw the painting,  it made me feel anger. To the whole exhibition this work of art in particular shows what African Americans had to go through before they obtained freedom. The Exhibition is about the Soul of a Nation, it has work of art that represent the time where Blacks resisted oppression, and the time where people made a difference. Basically the exhibition as a Then and a Now. The painting above is very powerful and meaning full and the way it was painted with different colors, scale and dimensions make the viewer to want to see it. After Motley concluded this work of art, he never painted again.

Brooklyn Museum Assignment

For my formal analysis of art from the ancient world, I chose to focus on “Painted  Coffin Interior” 1070-945 BCE.  To begin with what we discussed in class and how this piece relates to our discussions, we can see that this coffin interior uses different registers to section off certain parts. The thick, light blue lines act as the registers divider, and the light blue is the most prominently featured color. Along with the light blue, there is white, dark green, gray, and black used. Also featured is a diamond pattern on  king Osiris’ legs, and semi-circles used for his torso. King Osiris is the central figure, taking up a majority of the coffin’s interior, and the largest in scale in relation to all the other figures depicted. The images of birds is repeated often throughout the registers, some of which have human faces. Next to many of the birds looks to be fruit, specifically grapes or berries. Like many pieces of Ancient Egyptian Art there is an ohm featured on the second register from the bottom. By the King’s feet we see a depiction of Anubis and another animal-type creature supporting the King’s legs. The King is also holding a striped staff or cane, across his chest. A heavily repeated image is the reddish circle with the white outer rim. It is repeated over the king’s head, at the very top of the coffin, and there are four that surround the kings torso. At the very top, it is unclear but it looks like two eyes are painted, perhaps to watch over the deceased in the afterlife.

 

A piece of art that spoke to me instantly from the soul of a nation collection was Wadsworth Jarrell’s Black Prince. It depicts a colorful and powerful image of Malcolm X holding up a finger. What I was immediately drawn to was the intense palette of red the artist used. Next to this painting were several other paintings also using vibrant and passionate reds to “drive” the art. After exploring the entire museum i found the soul of a nation collection to be the most striking and powerful. This piece, like many of the pieces in the museum, seem to represent the ongoing struggle African Americans have had in this country. Malcolm X is one of the most recognizable African American leaders in the past century so to choose him as the subject was very poignant. As mentioned the intensity of reds drew me into this painting but once closer, standing a few feet in front of the art, the painting took an entirely new dimension. The artist used hundreds of recurring “B”s to shape the painting, and repeating B words such as Black, Beautiful, and Bad. Along with all the B’s there is Malcolm’s X famous quote about using any means necessary. The quote hangs around X’s chest almost like a pendant or necklace, worn as a badge of honor. A small detail that I believe to be important is that the colors extend beyond the border of the painting. There are dots and splashes of paint beyond the white border, breaking through frame.

 

 

 

 

 

Brooklyn Museum: Ancient World

I chose the artwork called Funerary Stela of Intef and Senettekh and is a classical Egyptian art piece. The first part of the analysis I want to get into is the historical context of the work. It was made during 2065-2000 B.C.E. It is a stela from the tomb of Intef and his wife, Senettekh. It was more common this way to memorialize their family. Next, we can look at the context of the work, as in what is happening in the artwork. The work shows Intef and Senettekh sitting together with their dog underneath them. They are being offered a huge amount of food. You can see a variety of offerings from bread and vegetables to an actual head and leg of animals. The wife and husband are sitting together but you can see that the husband is sitting in a higher position and is in front of her rather than next to her. Also, the wife looks like she is giving a back massage to the husband. This can show that Intef and his wife are not equal as human beings and he has more power than her. Also, they are both barefoot which could be seen as them being royals or of importance.

Another form of analysis we can use is the composition of the work. The artwork is made of Limestone. Limestone were the main building stones used in ancient Egypt. This shows that this artwork was important as one of the most important stones were used to make it. It can also be that it was collected from the remains of a pyramid after it was destroyed or something. There is no color in the work, everything was carved. Also, the lines look very meticulous but also not too straight where it would not look natural. The scale of the work is not big, you can compare it to the size of a coffee cup.