Posts – Page 18 – Fall 2018 Art 1010 at Brooklyn College

Final Project Outline/Background

Theme: Humans and Gods
Thesis Statement: Throughout history many historical artworks have been related to the Gods interacting with humans by showing symbolism and meaning through sculptures and paintings.
These art works relates to my final project because it shows how Gods and humans have flourished and represented through out time in the forms of art. These works of art illustrate gods and how they are viewed by people, it makes me want to explore and learn more about why these gods are portrayed this way and how they interact with humans and to seek out the history behind these art works.

Artist: Unknown/ Gift of the Hearst Foundation, 1956 (56.234.15)
Title: Marble statue of Hermes
Date: Roman, Imperial period, 1st or 2nd century A.D
Museum: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Related: Hermes was the god of trade and was also known as the messenger of the gods, he was often interacting with humans such as travelers, herdsman, merchants, and etc.

Artist: Unknown/ Gift of Mrs. Fredrick F. Thompson, 1903 (03.12.13)
Title: Marble Statue of a youthful Hercules
Date: Roman, Flavian period, A.D. 68-98
Museum: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Relation: Hercules was a demi-god and a hero, son of Zeus, King of all gods, and Alcmene, a mortal woman. Hercules suffered and went through many problems in his life like a mortal does, even though he was a god with incredible strength and speed. He was a symbol for the phrase “a man may be destroyed, but not defeated”.

Artist: Unknown/ Lent by Antikensammlung, Stacchiche Museen zu Berlin (AvP VII 24)
Title: Marble statue of Athena Parthenos
Date: Greek, Hellenistic period, ca. 170 B.C.; after the mid-5th century B.C.
Museum: The Metropolitan Museum
Relation: Athena was a Goddess of wisdom and war, daughter of Zeus, she participated in wars with heroes and have had conflicts with humans.

Artist: Charles Joseph Natoire (French, Nimes 1700-1777 Castel Gandolfo)
Title: The Rebuke of Adam and Eve
Date: 1740
Museum: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Relation: Adam and Eve were the first humans to live and were created by God however they were punished by God because they disobeyed Him and sinned by eating an apple from the tree when they were told not to.

Artist: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, Venice 1696-1770 Madrid)
Title: Allegory of the Planets and Continents
Date: 1752
Museum: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Relation: This painting portrays the course Apollo takes across the sky which shows deities around the sun god symbolizing the planets and allegorical figures on the cornice represent the four continents. The earth and heavens are imagined as having changed places with the sun and the sky.

Project Outline

Thesis Statement: Architecture in its purest form provides a certain influence on society through its intersection with individualistic creativity. This concept of art is used worldwide in an ongoing attempt to create drastic changes in modern civilization and in the minds of the general public. Through the architectural genius of Bodys Isek Kingelez “City of Dreams,” the exhibition known as “Toward a Concrete Utopia: Yugoslavia,” and from public architecture such the WTC and UN building, the world is in an attempt to move towards a better future.

Image result for bodys isek kingelez UN building piece
ARTIST: Bodys Isek Kingelez
TITLE: U.N.
DATE: 1995
MUSEUM: MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)

Image result for bodys isek kingelez ville de sete 3009
ARTIST: Bodys Isek Kingelez
TITLE: Ville De Sete 3009
DATE: 2000
MUSEUM: MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)

Image result for bodys isek kingelez ville fantome
ARTIST: Bodys Isek Kingelez
TITLE: Ville Fantome
DATE: 1996
MUSEUM: MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)

Statement: These three pieces from the “City Dreams” collection represents a hope towards a future society living in unity and peace. A society where expression and freedom are celebrated through color. Where there is no war or conflict.

Image result for zlatibor hotel serbia by Svetlana Kana Radevic
ARTIST: Svetlana Kana Radevic
TITLE: Zlatibor Hotel, Serbia
DATE: 1981
MUSEUM: MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)

Image result for podgorica hotel montenegro svetlana kana radevic
ARTIST: Svetlana Kana Radevic
TITLE: Podgorica Hotel, Montenegro
DATE: 1967
MUSEUM: MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)

Statement: These architectural pieces were built post-war in an attempt to rebuild the Yugoslavian society and provide a sense of hope to a better future. Their fast pace in rebuilding shows a resiliency towards the abuse of power and the courage to stand right back up.

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

Met Museum Experience

This was my second time going to the Met. This experience was interesting because I forgot how much bigger it was compared to the Brooklyn Museum. I was able to see a vast collection of art from both the Renaissance and the Baroque period. In the Renaissance period, they focus more on religious aspects while in the Baroque period they focus more on the action. The paintings has a freeze moment in time. Within the Renaissance period, a piece of art that caught my eye was the “The Dormition of the Virgin”. It is part of a double sided piece. I liked this painting because it has a vast amount of colors that instantly caught my attention. Like all the other renaissance paintings that I’ve seen, this one had a religious aspect to it. The painting focused on the Virgin Mary. She has passed away. She was the only person in the entire painting to have the golden halo around her head. She was surrounded by some of Jesus’s disciples and Mary Magdalene who is in the red clothing and holding a leaf branch. Mary Magdalene is also seen crying and wiping her tear. One of the disciples is reading the bible (the Catholic version) as everyone else is paying attention. In the Baroque period a piece of art that caught my eye was the “The Abduction of the Sabine Women”. In this piece there were so many things going on. In the front you can see a woman that is going to be taken away. You can also see a man who looks like his the head leader in charger. On the right you can see that there is a fight going on between people.

Final Project Outline/Background

Thesis Statement: Realism, also called naturalism, is the movement where artwork was made based on the quality of representing a person, thing, or situation accurately. It avoids any kind of artificiality and questionable elements. Artworks made during the realism movement serve to show the struggles and lives of people during a specific moment. It shows them in their natural element rather than exaggerated or unnatural.

Artworks:

William Bouguereau, The Elder Sister, reduction, 1864, The Brooklyn Museum.

Anton Mauve, Digging Sand, 1875, The Brooklyn Museum.

Otto Dix, The Businessman Max Roesberg, Dresden, 1922, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Weinberg, H. Barbara, Doreen Bolger, and David Park Curry, American Impressionism and Realism: The Painting of Modern Life, 1994, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Théodule-Augustin Ribot, Breton Fisherman and Their Families, 1880–85, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Breton Fishermen and Their Families, ThÃ©odule-Augustin Ribot (French, Saint-Nicolas-d'Attez 1823â1891 Colombes), Oil on canvas

The reason I chose these artworks is that they all relate to the theme of realism. They emphasize the natural parts of these people’s lives and show the world of the ordinary rather than someone well-known. They all illustrate something different in each artwork. Each person has a different life and story which in itself is very interesting.

Final Project Outline

For the final assignment, I will be doing the first option, which is the paper proposal.

Thesis statement:

The focus in art shifted from Gods in Egyptian art to humans in Greek & Roman art. This is known as Humanism. The Greeks & Romans believed that humans should be celebrated equal to or even more so than the Gods in their artwork.

The three works of art I will be discussing include:

The Brooklyn Museum

Meretseger

EGYPTIAN, CLASSICAL, ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN ART Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty

ca. 1479–1400 B.C.E.

From the side:

I will be using this to show the emphasis that was made on the Gods in Egyptian artwork. This goddess, whose name means “she who loves silence,” has a woman head and a cobra’s body. An animal with a human head is a common thing Egyptians did in art. Some background information is that as a local deity, Meretseger guarded the Valley of the Kings, where monarchs were entombed, and the village of craftsmen who worked there. Though a dangerous animal, her purpose was to protect the workers in the valley, and also sometimes to punish people who did wrong things. Gods were the focus in the art pieces showing superiority over human beings. This is seen in the artwork because Meretseger is not portrayed as a human being. This shows that the gods were special because they were portrayed in a different kind of appearance compared to humans and were the focus in Egyptian art.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET)

Marble statue of a kouros (youth)

Ancient Greece, Attic

ca. 590–580 B.C

This sculpture shows how humans became the center in art. This is one of the earliest marble statues of a human figure carved in Attica. Ideas were still taken from history. For example, the rigid stance, with the left leg forward and arms at the side was from Egyptian art. The statue marked the grave of a young Athenian aristocrat.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET)

Marble statue of Hermes

Roman

1st or 2nd century A.D.

The Greeks had a major influence on Roman art. This sculpture depicts a built, muscular man standing in a more confident pose in nudity. I will use this to show how humans were the core in Romanian art.

Final Project Outline

Theme: Humanism of the Gods and Goddesses in Greco-Roman Art

Thesis Statement: These works of art illustrate the value of humanity as something that is not to be belittled through its humanized representation of its very own gods, something not common in other depictions of gods throughout the span of human art.

Image List:

Statue of Dionysos leaning on a female figure ("Hope Dionysos"), Restored by Pacetti, Vincenzo, Marble, Roman

Title: Statue of Dionysos leaning on a female figure (“Hope Dionysos”)

Artist: Restored by Pacetti, Vincenzo

Date: 27 B.C.–A.D. 68

Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art

How It Relates To My Project: This god is portrayed as having very anatomical human features. He holds himself as a human male would when showing off his strength. His head tilt and bent knee show that his body functions the way a human’s would, so the humanism is clear here.

Marble head of a goddess, Marble, Greek

Title: Marble head of a goddess

Artist: unknown

Date: 4th century BC

Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art

How It Relates To My Project: This goddess looks very human in her bored or irritated expression. She is shown as having human emotions, and as reacting to such emotions in an utterly human way. The humanism is her carved features is present as well.

Bronze statue of Eros sleeping, Bronze, Greek

Title: Bronze statue of Eros sleeping

Artist: unknown

Date: 3rd–2nd century BC

Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art

How It Relates To My Project: This artwork highlights how Eros, the god of sensual love and desire, is illustrated in a completely human stance. Most gods, at this time, and, even still today, would not be interpreted as sleeping. Yet, here is one of the Greco-Roman gods sleeping in a way that looks so characteristically human.

Marble head of Athena, Marble, Greek

Title: Marble head of Athena

Artist: unknown

Date: ca. 200 BC

Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art

How It Relates To My Project: This work makes humanism in her facial structures very visible. She has a human emotion on her face, of a slightly surprised disgust. Her head is caught in a motion of turning that looks very characteristic of a human turning their head to look at something.

Eros Stringing His Bow 21

Title: Eros Stringing His Bow

Artist: Lysippos (Greek original); Roman copy artist unknown

Date: 2nd Century AD

Museum: Onassis Cultural Center

How It Relates To My Project: This artwork highlights how Eros is, yet again, taken down to an almost human stance. He stands like a human would when stringing a bow as he is doing. He does not look ‘god-like’ when he strings his bow; he looks like an average human doing this. His body moves in a human fluidity, and the specific carvings also illustrate humanism.

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.