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Met Trip

During my trip to the Met Museum, there were many tourists there which were surprising to me because it is the middle of winter yet there were still many people there. Upon going to the MET, it was so beautiful and somehow makes me feel like I’ve transported back to a different era. Although the met was beautiful, and with arches on the ceilings/structures reminding me of some of the paintings in the renaissances time, there were many people crowding around which annoyed me. I don’t generally like to go to places that are crowded with people, it feels like times squares which can be displeasing.

 

During my time there I noticed that Renaissance and Baroque art has many similarities. They both heavily emphasize on religions; both place an importance on Adam and Eve, Madonna, crucifixion..etc. Both arts portray realism, uses rich colors in the art and another thing I realize is that both arts have somewhat of a high importance in women, more specifically mothers. Take Virgin and Child (Renaissance Art) for example, the color displayed is extraordinary, and eye-popping, although there weren’t bright colors in it to make it stand out, the subtle hues of blues and reds can make this piece feel so live and eye-catching, yet it also displays the motherly and tender love she has for the child. Another comparable piece in the Baroque Art is the Madonna and Child with Saints, again it highlights the importance of Madonna and the motherly affection for the child. The Madonna and child with Saints piece also not overly exaggerated with color pigmentations yet display such realism and subtle colors that make it hard to look away.

 

Some of the differences that I have noticed is that Renaissance art pieces do tend to have more of a religious input and most paintings would have crucifixion, whereas baroque has a more important in musical instruments, and exaggerated expressions. I searched that both Renaissance and Baroque comes from European artwork, and the main difference is that if a painting or sculpture is made between 1300-1600s then it is most likely considered a Renaissance work, and if it was made between 1600-1750s then it was considered Baroque. Baroque artwork was also heavily influenced by the Roman Catholic Church around that time period hence the religious artwork with crucifixion and Madonna.  

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).

Final Outline

Topic: Jewelry in Ancient World

Thesis: Jewelry had a big impact on the ancient world and its art.

Intro: Jewelry was often passed from generation to generation as family heirlooms. Occasionally it was dedicated at sanctuaries as an offering to the gods. The form/ size of jewelry or what part of your body the jewelry was worn could identify what class you are a part of. Sometimes jewelry was made to honor not only the gods but the kings of the ancient world. Every detail of jewelry from the material used to the carvings have hidden meanings.

 

Gold and cabochon garnet ring

3rd–2nd century B.C.

Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City

The size of the hexagonal bezel, set with a plain but impressively large oval garnet, combined with the fact that another smaller garnet is set in a circular bezel at the center of the hoop at the rear, suggests that one was meant to wear this ring on the thumb. The piece is a striking example of the extravagant and ostentatious lifestyle of the rich in the Hellenistic world.

2. 

Gold Ring 

3rd–2nd century B.C.

Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City

Intaglio gold ring: head of Alexander the Great in the guise of Herakles, wearing the lion’s skin, with paws, fastened around the neck.

3. 

Gold armband with Herakles knot 

3rd–2nd century B.C.

Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City

The Herakles knot on this sumptuous armband is enriched with floral decoration and inlaid with garnets, emeralds, and enamel. According to the Roman writer Pliny, the decorative device of the Herakles knot could cure wounds, and its popularity in Hellenistic jewelry suggests that it was thought to have the power to avert evil.

4. 

Gold openwork hairnet with medallion

3rd–2nd century B.C.

Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City

The medallion represents the head of a maenad, one of the female followers of the god Dionysos, wearing spiral earrings, a wreath of vine leaves and grapes, and a panther skin.

5. 

Pair of Gold Armbands

3rd–2nd century B.C.

Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City

These imposing serpentine armbands represent two tritons, male and female, each holding a small winged Eros.

Met Museum

From its architecture to its massive art collection, The Met has a little bit of everything and one is sure to find something that captures his or her interest. Considering that The Met is the United States’ largest art museum, it is easy to get lost within its many corridors and wings. As a famous tourist site, there are a lot of visitors to the museum. However, the museum is commodious enough to hold a large number of visitors exploring artworks there. It was astounding how by switching between different parts of the museum could lead to completely different auras and cultures. The experience felt like a journey to the world and a travel in time. It broadened my horizon and taught me not to limit myself to only one possibility as in one single museum exist civilizations from around the world and even from decades ago. Overall, my experience in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is enriching and memorable.

Master of Monte Oliveto (Italian, active Siena ca. 1305–35)
Saints and Scenes from the Life of the Virgin

These well-preserved panels are the wings of a portable triptych, the center panel of which is still unidentified. The anonymous master worked outside Siena itself, but his scenes are based on those of Duccio’s famous altarpiece in the cathedral of the city. The left wing depicts three principal scenes from the life of the Virgin (her so-called “joys”) while on the right wing is her coronation in heaven. The six saints—three males and three females—would have been chosen by the person for whom the triptych was painted.

Merry Company on a Terrace

Another of Steen’s self-deprecating depictions of his own unruly household, this painting centers on the inviting figure of his wife, who looks out at the viewer with an empty wine glass in her hand. Steen, his face flushed with drink and a comic hat on his head, sits at the far left; next to him, with a sausage in his cap, is Hans Worst, the same theatrical figure depicted by Hals in a nearby work. To this day in the Netherlands, “a household by Jan Steen” remains proverbial for disorder and domestic chaos.

Final Project Proposal

Theme: Women have been devalued from Ancient Art, demonstrating how low women are from men.

For the pictures I plan to use I will be using art that demonstrate a hierarchy of men only.  I will include art showing humanism because even when regular people were the focus it was just men sculptures and now as much women.  I am still looking for other art work.

 

MET visit ( Renaissance and Baroque)

All I have to say is that there is a reason the MET is widely known and regarded, and well you can tell. In other words, it is packed especially Friday afternoons. But, despite the foot traffic, the museum in itself is both externally and internally beautiful and eloquent. The entrance to the museum almost reminds me of European style architecture, and the large stairs are inviting and enticing, almost asking for someone to enter this historically charged, beautiful world.  Also, other than the fact that it is difficult to navigate through the museum, you can literally and figuratively get lost in it. Between trying to find renaissance and baroque artwork, added to the many distractions (in other words collections) it is impossible to only spend an hour in the MET. It’s basically a sin not to spend more than two hours admiring.

The two artworks I chose to represent either Renaissance or Baroque art are Gerard David’s, Archangel Gabriel; The Virgin Annunciate (Renaissance) and Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich’s The Adoration of the Shepherds (Baroque).

Other than the dates, the Renaissance piece is much more simplistic and technical. It is very simpler to ancient classical Roman and Greek artwork. It focuses much more on the mimetic representation and anatomical correctness. In other words, it is much more linear and lacks motion, along with emotion. This transition from medieval, abstracted artwork is notable because of the application of heavenly (outer world) figures, such as saints can now be found on the Earth, and is applicable to the working man.

The Baroque piece is much more dramatized and can almost be mistaken as chaotic. In other words, it is much more life like or what modernly we call an off-guarded moment. This style is most simpler to the shift of classical artwork towards Hellenistic artwork. Rather than static, baroque artwork is much more dynamic. It depicts both emotion and motion.

     

Final Project Outline

Thesis Statement: Humanism over the span of the Mediterranean culture had varied and changed with every new empire that rose. The first to create this display were the Sumerians although unnatural at first provided the steps into the sculptures later to be used by the Greeks and Romans and later in the Renaissance.

Artworks:

 

Title: Perseus with the Head of Medusa

Artist: Antonio Canova

Date: 1804–1806

Location: Metropolitan Museum

 

Title: Marble statue of the Diadoumenos

Artist: Attributed to Polykleitos

Date: 69–96 AD

Location: Metropolitan Museum

 

Title: Bronze statue of the emperor Trebonianus Gallus

Artist: Unknown

Date: 251–253 A.D

Location: Metropolitan Museum

Title: Marble statue of a Kouros (youth)

Artist: Unknown

Date: 590–580 B.C.

Location Metropolitan Museum

Title: Standing Statue of Merti with flaring wig

Artist: Unknown

Date: 2381–2323 B.C

Location: Metropolitan Museum

The statues above can help describe the progression of the concept of humanism in art. From a unrefined figure that represents a human, towards a more realistic depiction and detailed appearance on how a person would normally look like.

Final Background and Outline

In my final project I will be looking at: ancient Egyptian, Greek/Roman, 19th and 20th-century art and see how art evolved all the way from ancient Egypt to the 19th- 20th century. Some things I liked to explore are what impacted these paintings and how they are different as time progresses and from different civilizations. 

Each work highlight different time periods I want to explore to show how different the art is either based on civilizations, cultures, or movements.

The five paintings I will be using are:

Campbell’s Soup Cans

by Andy Warhol

1962

The Museum of Modern Art

The Brooklyn Museum

Did The Bear Sit Under a Tree

 by Benny Andrews

1969

” Starry Night”

by Vincent Van Gogh

Museum of Modern Art

June 1889

kouros

700-480 BCE

Metropolitan Museum of Art

 

The Brooklyn Museum

The Head of a Queen

1400 BCE

 

 

Unit 2 summary

In unit 2 we began to look at statues ( MANY STATUES) from ancient civilizations. We started with ancient Mesopotamia and then Egypt as well as Greece and Rome. It was interesting to see the differences in culture between all these lands be conveyed through these intricately sculpted slabs of stone.

In ancient Greece the art that they made was based in humanism. They wanted to express the greatness of man, they did this by sculpting men nude to represent power and pride equal to god. After Ancient Greece we learned about Rome their artwork wasn’t much different then Greece’s aside from a change in color of statues due to  material change.

In Ancient Egypt unlike the work of Greece and Rome their work was centered around the many gods that they worshiped. In ancient Egypt there were many gods and they ruled over particular entities like the sun and death and even cows. This was represented in there art which showed the gods and events that they participated in.

Unit 1 summary

Unit 1 was very interesting. Not only did we learn about paolo Friere’s  banking model of education but we also learned about formal analysis. Paolo Friere was a Brazilian native who grew up poor and and studied law although he never actually got to practice it. Paolo came up with the banking model of education and it states that education becomes like an act of depositing where the teacher deposits info unto the students and the students receive it. There is no communication simply a transaction of info. Paolo felt that this was wrong and that education should have an open dialogue so that students could express there concerns to the teacher , inquire upon topics that are unclear to them.

Formal analysis is a big help when it comes to interpreting works of art.  It gives us a deeper understanding into a piece and a greater appreciation for it. When formally analyzing we look at the lines of a painting the colors, shapes, sizes and along with the texture. All of these elements help us understand the mood and the actions going on in a work as well as where to look next what is up close or what is far away things like importance and even reasoning behind it being there in the first place.

At the end of unit 1 i had a greater appreciation for art and paintings in particular. I feel like this is due to the fact that i can now look at a painting and understand the work that was put into it and the thoughts behind them as well.