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Brooklyn Museum Assignment

Part 1:

One artwork from the ancient world that caught my eye was “King Ashur-nasir-pal ll and a Winged Genie” in the Assyrian Palace Reliefs. Throughout the reliefs, you are able to see carved images of genies called apkallu. These genies were believed to serve King Ashur-nasir-pal and can be either eagle headed or human headed. In the artwork of King Ashur-nasir-pal ll and a Winged Genie, you are able to tell apart the king and his protective genie by the crown that the king is wearing. You can also see that the genie is facing the king asserting his obedience towards the king. The King also has a sash wrapped around his crown which shows the kings high status in Assyria. You can also see the king holding a bow which probably symbolizes warrior-like activities such as hunting. Throughout the reliefs, you can also see that most of the reliefs have genie’s holding pinecones towards a sacred tree. In this artwork, you can see the king holding a small bowl with his arm bent at a 90-degree angle meaning the bowl is probably filled with some sort of liquid. This can symbolize some sort of offering to a deity. I also noticed the king’s legs are all covered by his robe but the robe of the genie exposes one of his legs. This shows that the king probably isn’t as active as the genie where they’re constantly serving and protecting their king. The repetition throughout the reliefs of serving the king and tending to the sacred tree shows the importance of kingship and the culture of the Assyrians.

Part 2:

The artwork that stood out to me the most in Soul of a Nation was “The Flag is Bleeding” by Faith Ringgold in 1967. In this painting, you can see the American flag dripping with blood. Starting from the left, we can see an African American man holding his heart which seems to be the source of blood throughout the artwork. In his hands you can see a knife which indicates Ringgold’s emphasis on the violence in the 20th century. Moving along the painting, you can see a woman in the middle with her arms conjoined with a white man and the African American man. The painting seems to be split in half where the the left and right side of the woman’s face looks completely different. This may indicate the sympathy for African Americans as the woman’s face on the left side with the African American seems to be way more humanlike whereas the right side seems to look more evil. Despite the sympathy in the woman, she is ultimately controlled by the white male. This artwork by Ringgold symbolizes the systematic oppression and discrimination that African Americans had to face in the 1960’s. I chose this piece because of the ongoing inequality that America still faces today. This piece by Ringgold clearly depicts how America was built on slavery. “The Flag is Bleeding” relates to the other exhibits because it shows how the society and culture was at the time. The Assyrian Palace Reliefs emphasizes kingship and “The Flag is Bleeding” emphasizes the discrimination against African Americans.

Brooklyn Museum: Ancient World

During my visit to the Brooklyn Museum, I decided to really take my time viewing the different sculptures in the exhibition of the Ancient World only because I knew these artifacts and sculptures all go way back in time and they all truly have a significance to it even if we aren’t sure what it may be, we all have  different perspectives in each piece of art which makes it a lot more interesting to some. What caught my eye the most was the Statue of Nykara and His Family, before reading the information below it I thought the statue was of a young king with two women besides him as if they were his protectors in some way. I also notice that he had a closed tight fist and the person on his left side had his finger on his mouth as if he was saying “silence”, while the person on his right seem to have their arm wrapped under his or behind since it wasn’t visible. After reading the information I learned that the statue depicted Nykara seated between the two figures whom were his wife and son. Each statue was head to head, on the same height but if Nykara was to stand he would probably be double their size but that the mother and son were the same height. I could also tell how the sculptor’s added much detail to the hair or wig on each one of them, the wife’s hair had both horizontal and vertical line, Nykara’s hair or wig was made of somewhat curves or curls and the young son’s hair was long and fallen over his shoulder in what seemed to be a braid. Each sculpture was also looking straight forward, which seemed as if they were all directing their attention to the same place. I could also tell that the wife kind of had somewhat of a smirk in her smile, and she was also wearing a dress whereas the son didn’t have any on and he also had his hand on his father’s shoulder depicting the respect and love he had towards him. Overall I think this sculpture was showing the strength, love and respect they each had for each other as a family and how each of them were equally important to each other.

Brooklyn Museum Visit: Soul of a Nation

Soul of a nation is a very breathtaking exhibit. It takes up two floors on one side of the museum, and it is filled with artwork that sends a strong message about african american lives in America. One painting that really struck out to me in the exhibit had to be Archibald Motley’s “The First One Hundred Years: He amongst You Who Is without Sin Shall Cast the First stone; forgive Them Father for They Know Not What They Do, circa 1963-72.“My first reaction when I saw this painting was complete horror but as I started to really analyze it deeper I realized that as horryfing as this is, it really is a representation of the reality of America in years of 1963-1972.

From the start, I felt as though my eye didn’t know where to start because of the fact that there is just so much going on in the painting. This painting is a medium sized oil paint on canvas and the painting has very dark hues of blue but the blue also makes the small hints of red really pop out. My eye immedietly goes to the only part that is light blue, in the painting which is where the tree is. When the eye follows the branches, it can immediately find the haunting faces of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King that are hung on the train. Right under the face of John F I see something that reminds me of stained glass that usually belongs in a church. However, a part of the glass has been shattered right where a figures head is at. My guess is that the figure is Jesus. As the eye follows the branches downwards, we also see a disturbing image of a lynched body next to the statue of liberty. The eye keeps on being guided towards the bottom and this is where we see the blue color becomes darker. The red color becomes more striking when we see the red in the KKK member, in the burning cross, the fireman hat, and as our eye moves to the right we see striking red confederate flag, the blood coming out of the pipe of the house, and the devil that is standing next to the dove. The lines of this painting are fairly straight when we focus on the tree and the house but they become rounder once we focus on the figures ofthe painting and faces that are shown. It’s interesting to see how the darker colors on the left are brought forward with the light color in the background and on the right we see the darker color in the background with aspects of light color in the forefront. Something that I also noticed was the brushwork. The brushwork is precise in the tree and house but it becomes the opposite in the rest of the painting making me feel like everything is in motion and happening simultaneously.

The subject matter seems to be pretty obvious. It shows the vicious crimes that were done in the name of racism. We have the subject of murder come about in just the tree by itself. The faces of two significant figures who were brutally murdered because of the positive impact they had on race issues during the 60’s. We also see the KKK being represented by a member being in the front of the painting and the burning of the cross. The painting also has the representation of the marches that were done. The signs that are shown say “we want to vote,” “we shall overcome,” “freedom,” “we want to vote,”and “black power.” In contrast, we have messages that many white people had for  black people which were “go home niggers and get yourrelief check,” “America for whites. Africa for blacks.” On the right, we see a lot more symbolism. We see a skull which can represent all the death along with the blood coming out of the house, we see the devil next to a dove which can represent how evil was always alongside the peace that African Americans wanted, and we also see slavery being represented by having the women on the far right picking cotton. All these things represent what hundred years of racism looked like. 

This was Archibald Motley’s last painting after five decades of being an artist. Motley was known for painting pictures of black social life. With this painting in particular, it’s almost as if he went out with a bang. This painting is so chaotic and has so much going on and it really does capture the horrors of American history. 

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.

Museum Assignment I and II

Part I: Ancient World Exhibit

This is a pair statue of Nebsen and Nebet-ta. In the statue, I see two individuals that are are linked together by their left and right arms, hence why it is called a “pair statue.” I don’t exactly know if the two individuals in the sculpture are, but I am assuming it can be a man and woman of high power sitting holding hands. It can also be a husband and wife, two siblings, mother and son, or father and daughter. My assumptions are based on the distinct gender difference between the two individuals. The one on the right has pronounced breasts and larger eyes and the left person has a more structured jaw. Also, the person on the right has a black outlining around her eyes and is more indication the right individual is a female. Some other things I have seen is that the man has a different headset than the person on his right. Actually, the women has no headset and only has visible hair and only a necklace. Looking at the larger picture, both individuals are sat on top of a throne or maybe just a regular chair. The linking of arms indicate the two individuals are very close to each other, both physically and spiritually. The physical dimensions of the sculpture according to the catalogue description is: 15 7/8 x 8 9/16 x 9 1/4 in. (40.4 x 21.8 x 23.5 cm). The medium seems to be limestone. There are engravings on the “skirts” of each individual. On the sides and back of the throne/chair, there are more hieroglyphs.

Part II Museum Assignment: Soul of a Nation Exhibit

One Soul of a Nation art piece has particularly grabbed my attention and it is Wadsworth Jarrell’s Black Prince. What caught my eye is the myriad of colors used, but the colors that caught my attention first were red, blue, and yellow. A bulk of the artwork is red and white. Half of Malcolm’s face is mostly red and the other half is white with a few other colors such as yellow, red, and green.  The overall theme of Soul of a Nation is Black excellence. The words painted on this piece are: “To correct unjust conditions,” “I Believe in Anything and Everything,” “As long as it get results,” and “Political, Economical, Social, Physical, Anything Necessary.” This painting is similar to the other paintings in the Soul of a Nation exhibit in that the paintings sheds light on Black power and Black artists in the 1960s to 1980s. It brings a large population of black artists to collaborate and share their ideas. As for the formal properties, the painting is acrylic on canvas, measures 44 cm by 64 cm. The artist painted this in 1971 which is, as mentioned before, a prominent and flourishing time for black power and black excellence. This was also a time of the Civils Rights movements which is why Malcolm X is present in this painting. The emergence of black leaders and movements during this time period inspired these paintings. 

 

 

Blog #6: Brooklyn Museum Analysis Part 1 and 2

Stela with Bes and Tutu

In this limestone stela, two deities are present; which like we talked about is shown in the hierarchical size. The two deities are a big portion of this stela showing the significance of power Gods have in ancient Egyptian society. On the left corner are seven small figures that similar to Tutu and Bes are animal and man alike. These small figures are the seven demons that Tutu controls. Also, there is a form of hierarchy in this work, making these seven demons enclosed in a box with clear lines that divide them for Tutu and Bes. These lines also navigate the eye towards these two deities. It is also important to note that both Gods are depicted as animals. Animals that are powerful, not donkey’s or mice, but half man half lion (sphinx) with a snakehead’s tail (Tutu) and another half bull half man (Bes). Bes is shown holding a sword, which can be a symbol of warfare and fighting, which is representative of what he is a God of.  These pieces were intended to appease the deities to be less hostile and aggressive. In fact, this piece, in particular, was intended for the temple as a sign of gratitude and protection. Similar to what we have learned in this units appeasing these aggressive Gods was a religious aspect of Egyptian life, it was necessary in order to live moral and fearless lives.

Fairbanks or Garvey by John T. Riddle

The reason I chose this piece is because of the obvious division between choosing a destiny or resigning to one already decided, specifically for the African American culture in the United States of America. On one spectrum, (the left part of this piece) you have what looks like a brand of detergent for clothes in the form of powder. The phrase on the bottom of “Gold Dust” states in Spanish, “WARNING POWDER: Powder to clean.” The use of dividing this artwork into two allows for the emphasis to be on both messages. In the center of the right, we have a man in a marching band outfit who unlike the two boys on the left, looks empowered. He is dressed lavishly and not just defined but his color of skin unlike the two young boys on the left. Also, this piece states, “Up you mighty race,” with a message on the bottom, “What will you accomplish.” Opposed to the left part of this piece this message empowers and embraces, rather than stereotypes a race.

I think this united the exhibition, showing not only the history of what was expected onto this culture; but also shows the empowerment of each individual allowing them to change the destiny placed onto them in this nation. The exhibition had historical pieces and individual pieces of cultural pride, which in turn was embodied perfectly by this piece (in my opinion).

Brooklyn Museum Assignment

During my trip to the Brooklyn Museum, I went to look at the Egyptian arts and Soul of a Nation. My time at the Egyptian art section was interesting because there weren’t many “paintings”, instead there were many cravings, sculptures, and little trinkets. One of the artworks that took my attention was Mummy Cartonnage of a Woman. This sculpture is made of gold, and with small colors of blue and pink in it. It stood out the most to me because as I wander around the museum, many of the sculpture was carved in stones, but this is in gold. Gold is actually not uncommon during Egyptian time so I was relatively surprised by this piece. The artist put a lot of details in the headpiece, and the serpent armlets, in order to make this piece stand out and give it a pop of color, the artist added blue color mainly on the face. During Egyptian times, the blue color is a symbol of fertility, rebirth, and power of creation which is really fitting for this sculpture of the Egyptian goddess Isis. The color blue is also mainly associated with gods and goddesses. I believe the artist put in a lot of thought and preparations into this piece because he thought about what the colors mean during that time, and the details to portray his piece of the goddess, he made it obvious with the blue color, and the flowers that represented Isis.

The second part of my trip was to go look at the Soul of Nation artworks, and to my surprise, there were many colorful and big pieces that stood out to me. The one that stood out the most was the Archibald Motley piece. This piece is such a brilliant artwork portraying the hardships and times of slavery in America. The more I looked at this artwork the more emotions I can feel emitted from it. The colors of this artwork are mostly blues and red/orange with some whites. Immediately at first glance when you look at it, the colors of the blue seems very ominous and gloomy portraying the tough times. Within the art you can also see a man being lynched, the statue of liberty [representing freedom], the Confederate flag, the Ku Klux Klan, skull and devil, Abraham Lincoln and MLK’s head floating on the tree, and the broken stained glass on the tree. This is such a powerful piece because it shows the artist trying to put in all the troubles that the African Americans suffered through. The brightest part of this whole painting is the white clouds that looks like it’s on the horizon with the crosses out of the clouds, but right in front of it is the protest for freedom and a crucifixion on fire. This is one of Motley’s last piece after finishing within the span of 10 years, and I would say this a great last piece of his to portray the Black social life.

Blog Post 7: Brooklyn Museum- Soul of a Nation Exhibit

Brooklyn Museum Assignment- Part 2: Choose a work from Soul of a Nation that spoke to you. Why did you choose this? How does it relate to the rest of the exhibition? Use formal analysis to talk about the work and why you chose it.

In the Soul of a Nation Exhibit, the piece that most spoke to me was Freedom Now by Reginald Gammond. The painting is average sized and like most pieces in the exhibit, it was in shades of black and white, but what interested me the most is that it captured a very important moment in African- American history: The civil rights movement, which was at its peak when the Reginald decided to create his piece, 1963. The painting was completed in black and white which I believe is trying to convey the message of how civil rights is a black and white issue in that you are either for civil rights or you’re against it. In the painting, there is an illusion of a large group that is part of a larger protest and they all seem to direct their eyes are directed toward the viewer. The eye to eye contact between the viewer and the individuals in the painting allows for the artist to send a message that everybody is required to chose a side, either go out in the streets and protest the injustices against the African-American community or stay at home and allow for the injustice to go on. The piece also shows cut-off signs but makes sure to show the faces clearly which I believe Gammond did so intentionally to humanize the movement to an audience that probably was never sympathetic to the movement. Despite seeming like just a black and white painting capturing a moment during a protest, upon further analyzing it becomes clear that Gammond created a piece that empowers the viewer to support the civil rights movement and understand that a movement is not just a message but the people behind it willing to do anything to make sure that injustice is no more.

Blog 6: Brooklyn Museum- Ancient World

Brooklyn Museum Assignment: Part 1: 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.

In the Ancient Egyptian Art exhibit in the Brooklyn Museum, I encountered a small sculpture depicting a Queen and her child how had recently become king. According to the Brooklyn Museum, the Sculpture was from Upper Egypt circa 2228-2224/2194 B.C.E,  its measurements were 39.2*24.9cm, and it was made from Egyptian Alabaster giving the sculpture an orangey-white color. In the sculpture, there were two subjects: Queen Ankhnes-Meryre the second and her son, Pepy the second, who sat on her lap. The sculpture also had written down the name of each in hieroglyphics below them. The Queen was significantly larger than her son which indicates she is older and has an authority over not just her child but the King. Despite Pepy the second being a child of approximately six years old, he is not depicted as such in fact he appears to look like a small healthy young man fit to be a king, most likely depicted this way so that subordinates wouldn’t question the legitimacy of his reign. The artist also goes out of his to make it clear that both subjects are royalty when instead of King Pepy having his legs hangs like most kids, they’re actually placed upon a step to symbolize his importance and power. It is clear that the artist when out of his way to ensure that the Queen’s and new ruler’s image of power was not hindered due to pepy the second’ss young age, but they also made it clear that The Queen still hold a bit more power over  Peppy due to her experience.