Final Project: Comparing Ancient artwork

Introduction: The different techniques and time periods of all forms of art have greatly impacted the presentation of the artwork. Although all three portray statues the way that these statues are articulated have created a line of differentiation amongst the two. Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Roman and Ancient Greek artwork symbolize the different roles played in society during the coinciding time periods. In museums and pictures the statues display character and a certain poise while the three illustrate different aspects of the given time frames and the different societies. Although the three forms of art hold similarities, they differ in many ways. Ancient Greek artwork is significant in articulating human like statues. They used human forms to display god like statues and display the traits of a dominating human. Ancient Roman artwork is significant for displaying different forms of art using marble, stone, glass, metal, etc. Ancient Egyptian artwork is significant in portraying the image of gods. Ancient Egyptian artwork was surrounded by religion and the afterlife. They would fill tombs of Pharaohs with scriptures and paintings for their afterlife. The sculptures created during this time period mainly displayed the image of Pharaohs who were considered gods during that time period.

 

Statue of Aphrodite

Artist: Unknown/ Purchase, 1952

Date: 1st or 2nd Century A.D

Museum: Metropolitan Museum

In this statue Aphrodite the Goddess of love is shown surprised while taking a bath, with her arm extending to cover her breast in a phase, which both hides and reveals her sexuality. This was not surprisingly a huge deal for the Greeks. Aphrodite is the goddess of love, desire and beauty and the daughter of Zeus. This statue of the Goddess represented a celebration of the female body in an ideal form of beauty, proportion, and grace. This was one of many different nude Greek female figures we saw at the MET but this one stood out a lot more than the rest. As a class we have discussed Aphrodite in many of the text we read throughout this semester, including the Iliad and odyssey of Homer.

Statue of Dionysos 

Artist: Pacetti, Vincenzo

Date:27 B.C.–A.D. 68

Museum: Metropolitan Museum

In this figure of Dionysos he is appeared to us standing with his left arm over on an archaistic female figure identified as Spes, the personification of hope. He is shown wearing a panther skin over his chiton and a cloak wrapped around his upper right arm and shoulder. The panther skin was a great symbol to identify this God just like wine would have been. In order for a support a part of the cloak flows around the back and over the head of the God. Another Greek female figure stands in front of the God of wine with her feet together on the base, while holding the lower part of her dress to one side. After understanding the figure’s costume, hairstyle, and explicitly her pose it persuades us that it’s a representation of Spes, a Roman personification of hope. Rather than the Text the God Dionysos was essentially discussed in the lectures that took place in class.

Terracotta Column- Krater

Artist: Group of Boston

Date: 360–350 B.C.

Museum: Metropolitan Museum

This Greek vase in orange and black caught my attention right away, because we had seen similar images in the Power point discussions in class. The paintings on the Vase portray a Styr waiting for Dionysos, the God of wine with a jug and jar, where you can assume it had something to do with the Styr wanting wine while on the other side another Styr uses gestures to express abandons.

 

The Seated Statue of Hatshepsut

Artist: Unknown/ Rogers Fund, 1929

Date: 1479–1458 B.C.

Museum: Metropolitan Museum

This a limestone statue that honors Pharaoh Hatshepsut during her joint reign of power with Thutmose III, which was made around 1479-1458 BCE. The statue shows Hatshepsut seated, showing that she was a woman of power and authority. She is also wearing a headdress that only pharaohs and royal people wore. The statue is not naturalistic because of the awkward position that Hatshepsut is shown in, which is very common for ancient societies such as the Babylonian and the Egyptian. The pharaoh has an unnatural and stiff face and body and is not a way to depict the pharaoh. We can see that the pharaoh shows evidence of being a female because of the breasts and because of her long legs. The statue shows evidence of being damaged because the statue is not fully intact. The lower part of the right arm is missing as well as the left hand. The information also indicates that the statue was fragmented and had to be reassembled. The upper body was were excavated in fragments and the lower body was in another museum. Across the sides of the pharaoh’s seat are hieroglyphics which probably tell the story of Hatshepsut. This form of writing is used as a way to write down the story and life of the person, which is another method used by the Egyptians. 

 

Marble Statue of a Wounded Amazon

Artist: Unknown/ Gift of John D. Rockefeller Jr., 1932

Date: 1st–2nd century A.D.

Museum: Metropolitan Museum

This is a Roman statue created in between 1-2nd century CE, and is a copy of a Greek bronze statue from 450-425 B.C. The statue shows the mythical race of Amazonian women who would battle against heroes such as Achilles. The statue shows a wounded warrior standing in a naturalistic way. The use of contrapposto is present, a Greek creation, which tries to show the shift of weight onto one foot. The body of the warrior is expressed more by showing the warrior’s body, specifically breasts. The warrior is wounded under her right breast and also there is evidence of multiple scars on the back that show that she is a warrior. The facial features are detailed and realistic, but the facial expression is not expressive which indicates the acceptance of death. The warrior’s right hand is wrapped around her head indicating that she is not in pain or struggling, which further indicates that she has accepted death. The warrior is wearing her fighting clothing which openly show her body, indicating that this was considered common in her culture.

Conclusion:  Although these time periods have presented various forms of art, their artwork displays numerous similarities. They all display human like figures and are all presented in sculptures. The eyes, nose and certain physical features amongst all three: Ancient Greek, Ancient Roman and Ancient Egyptian art show distinctive traits as a human being. All three artworks display a dominant structure that essentially displays power and a higher or stronger being. The differences amongst all three artworks are clearly shown through the different sculptures. Ancient Egyptian artwork revolves around the representation of god or a high power. Which was displayed through Pharaohs. Ancient Roman artwork revolved around the illustration of sculptures that were presented in different materials such as bronze, marble, glass, metal and stone. Ancient Greek sculptures show a dominant male who has feminine characteristics and is shown having a muscular image. Ancient Greek sculptures relate to how a human being looks, they show a feminine side by allowing the sculptures to show a slight slouch or a soft knee bend, etc. 

Sources:

http://history-world.org/arthist.htm

This article talks about the differences between Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman artwork. This article presents the similarities and differences amongst the two.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/985469?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

This article talks about the differences between Ancient Greek and Ancient Egyptian artwork. This article elaborates on different techniques used during each time period.

https://artscolumbia.org/performing-arts/music/history-of-music-education-greek-roman-and-egyptian-30160/

This article compares Ancient Roman and Ancient Egyptian artwork. It weighs in on the different music, sculptures and paintings that were idolized during that time period.

https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/ancient-greek-art

This article weighs in on the significant pieces of art produced during the Ancient Greek time period. This article shows images of the most popular sculptures made during the time period and elaborates on the techniques used to produce this artwork.

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/ancient-mediterranean-ap/ancient-egypt-ap/a/egyptian-art

This article elaborates on the most popular art work produced during the Ancient Egyptian period of time.  This article explains the importance of the ancient pyramids and the meaning behind the coffins.

 

ARTD 1010 Final Project: Religious Altarpieces Paper Proposal

Religious Altarpieces and their significance to followers

Introduction:

I am looking specifically these art pieces because they relate to my topic of art with religious symbolism. This is also why they are all religious altarpieces. Christian followers have prayed to these pieces so they are guaranteed to have significant religious importance. They were objects of worship in churches and possibly in homes that represented the people’s faith in God. This strong devotion can be seen in the religious symbolism of the artwork. And some of these altarpieces are also built in a way that it surrounds you because they are large in size to create a sense of awe. I mainly want to look at the religious references like how a devoted christian would see it in an scholarly point of view. Why did they see these as important parts of their lives?

 

-Lorenzo Monaco, The Nativity, 1406-1410

Location: The Met

This is a painting made by Lorenzo Monaco between 1406-1410, titled “The Nativity”. It’s dimensions are 9 in by 12 in. There are 3 main figures in the painting. The Christ child is the center of attention, the virgin that is kneeling to the left adoring the Christ child she came birth to while the sun is above her head, and saint Joseph in the right looking up to the vision of the angel announcing to the Shepherd in the up right corner. Behind the Christ child is an Ox and a Donkey looking down on it. The virgin, saint Joseph, the angles and Christ child are represented as divine because they have visible golden halos. But Christ child and the angels are showing more divinity because they are emitting golden rays of light from their bodies. This includes the sun that will obviously emit rays of light. Their importance is even more accentuated  by the contrast of the bright divine figures lighting up the dark backdrop. This can be seen as telling people that God’s light will make things clear and show you the path towards clarity. I chose this painting because it is an religious Altarpiece like all the other works below. I also chose this because it is symbolic of the devotion followers have for Christian divinity.

 

Source: The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459007.

 

-Robert Campin, Merode Altarpiece, 1425

Location: The Met

Merode Altarpiece was made in 1432 in the workshop of Robert Campin. It is also known as “Annunciation Triptych”. It’s dimensions are 2 ft by 4 ft. The painting depicts the archangel Gabriel Virgin announcing to Virgin Mary that she will give birth to Jesus Christ in a house that looks to be from Northern Europe in the 1400’s even though this scene would have fallen place 1500 years before the painting was made. This biblical event takes place in a typical high class household to make these figures feel closer to followers, making prayers feel more profound and closer to God. This painting is also dense with objects that have symbolic meaning. Much of it has been lost but there are a few items that are clear. The shiny pot in the back represents the Virgin Mary’s purity and sinlessness. There is a small figure holding a cross gliding towards the the Virgin, representing the Holy Spirit that will make the Virgin pregnant with Christ. When Christ is born, it’s when one world ends and another begins. In this world it’s possible for human beings to be saved because Jesus died on the cross for everyone’s sins. I chose this painting because it potentially holds large amounts of religious symbolism with its many objects in view and its purpose was to make you feel close to God when you pray to the altarpiece.

 

Source: Harris, Beth and Zucker, Steven. Workshop of Campin, Annunciation Triptych (Merode Altarpiece). YouTube, commentary by Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. 4 Feb. 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1X0Lj7YEMs&t=607s

 

-Jan van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece, 1432

Location: Saint Bavo Cathedral

This altarpiece is very large and definitely creates a sense of awe when opened up fully. Even when closed, it is a large painting that is to be admired. It is truly a religious altarpiece of the highest caliber. When fully opened, it is 11ft by 15 ft, and when closed, it is 11 ft by 7.5 ft. This is essentially 2 painting in one piece of artwork. It most likely stayed closed most of the year and opened up on feast days as a revelation.

When closed, it shows 8 paintings in total. The 4 at the top shows the prophets and sybils predicting the coming of Christ. Below them is the actual event of the coming of Christ where archangel Gabriel is on the far left panel is announcing to Virgin Mary on the far right panel that she will give birth to Christ, the same scene depicted in the Merode Altarpiece. Gabriel is holding white lilies that represent Mary’s purity and virginity. There are actual words coming out of her mouth from writing on the painting in Latin where she says “Hail Mary, full of grace, blessed art thou among women”. Mary also has words coming out of her mouth with a dove above her head which represents the Holy Spirit. She replies “Behold the handmaiden of the lord”. The difference is that it’s backwards and upside down because she is replying “back”. Although these 4 panels show a high degree of realism, these words stick up in golden lettering, making them ethereal and speaks to God. The 4 panels below show 4 figures, 2 being the patrons that commission the piece and two sculptures that are the 2 Saint John.

 

Source: Harris, Beth and Zucker, Steven. Van Eyck, Altarpiece (1 of 2). YouTube, commentary by Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. 4 Nov. 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udgNvPpDb2I

 

When opened up, you’re overwhelmed with a wall of colors. First thing you see is a large figure in the center depicting of God the father dressed like a king with a gold jeweled papal crown on his head and a gold jeweled crown at his feet to show that he is the king of kings. He also has a scepter that has a clear crystal handle and embellished in gold to represent power. The running theme is God’s saving grace and power, depicting his plan to forgive and redeem mankind. On the left of him is Mary, looking like a queen wearing a crown and on the right of him is Saint John the Baptist. Another symbol of his forgiveness is a pelican, which in the medieval tradition, it was believed that when it’s young was starving, it would pick at it’s flesh to feed them. Representing the sacrifice of God to save humanity. One panel further out is angels singing and playing instruments in heaven. And on the farthest left and right are Adam and Eve naked. They look deeply human and imperfect compared to the other figures mentioned, which can be reflecting God’s willingness to reach out to humanity despite imperfections. Directly below God is an image of 4 groups of people looking towards the scene in the center where a lamb is on an altar. The lamb has a wound on its side where it is pouring out blood into a chalice, representing Christ’s sacrifice. This is because the lamb is shown to be calm and serene with rays of light extending out of it’s head, overcoming earthy pain/suffering. Surrounding the lamb are angels carrying the torture instruments inflicted on Christ to create a sense of sacrifice for the redemption of mankind. These two set of paintings tell a story of Christ and how God has forgiven mankind for its sins through religious symbolism, showing intense devotion to Christianity, creating a sense of awe and pride to be a follower of God.

 

Source: Harris, Beth and Zucker, Steven. Van Eyck, Altarpiece (2 of 2). YouTube, commentary by Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. 10 Nov. 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVhwinCiELI

 

Conclusion:

    These altarpieces are have clear religious significance when looking at religious symbolism represented in the art. All depicting the birth of Christ and Virgin Mary’s importance. The Nativity by Lorenzo Monaco depicts the moment Christ was born, the Merode Altarpiece depicts the announcement to Virgin Mary that she will have the Christ child, and the Ghent Altarpiece depicts the announcement to Virgin Mary and a dense amount of religious symbolism that tells the story of Jesus Christ’s and God’s sacrifice to mankind. The dense symbolism and constant appearance of Mary and Christ tells me that the birth of Christ is seen as the beginning of a world where humans can be forgiven for their sins because of God’s and Christ’s sacrifice. Followers truly believed that they basked in the light of through prayers. I believe that if we didn’t know the deep analysis of these paintings, we wouldn’t understand the deeply established and rooted beliefs of Christianity and would undermine the intense devotion followers had for the the divine. These altarpieces aren’t just pretty paintings, because it’s much more than that.

   

Final

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Jewelry was an important way that the Egyptians tried to get the attention of their gods. They thought that the more jewelry they wore, the more attractive they would be to the gods. There is a long-standing tradition of wearing pieces of jewelry that are symbolic in nature. Historically, jewelry was worn as a protective amulet or as an expression of faith, in addition to being a status symbol. Everyone wore jewelry in ancient Egypt, from poor farmers to wealthy royals. For the wealthy, pieces were made from semi-precious stones, precious metals, and glass beads. The poor substituted these with painted clay, stones, shells, animal teeth and bones. Jewelry affected everyone in the ancient world and through the modern world today. Each piece of jewelry symbolizes something different and it is interesting to see where it all started.

 

Annotated Bibliography

 

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, www.themodern.org/collection/conjoined/1241.

This art piece is called Conjoined and the artist is Roxy Paine. Conjoined is originally a piece from Roxy’s exhibit, ”Conjoined, Defunct and Erratic” in Madison Square ParkThis piece interests me because it shows how nature was overtaken by steel, technology,. But, it somehow still looked like nature. I truly found that fascinating. Conjoined is now part of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

 

Biennale. “Ludo.” Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte, 2017, www.voelklinger-huette.org/en/world-cultural-heritage-site-voelklingen-ironworks/artist-projects/ludo/.

This piece is called Völklinger by Ludo. Ludo is a Paris artist who works his Street Art along the lines of science fiction kinds of visions, ones in which nature and technology develop paradoxical connections. Ludo finds formal parallels between technological and organic growth and positions these elements together along such interfaces. In this piece we see a tree with poisonous green wire roots. This piece is now a part of the World Cultural Heritage Cite.

 

Oksenhorn, Stewart. “Art for Existentialism’s Sake.” Aspen Times, 4 Aug. 2004, www.aspentimes.com/news/art-for-existentialisms-sake/.

This art piece is called Defunct and the artist is Roxy Paine. Defunct is originally a piece from Roxy’s exhibit, ”Conjoined, Defunct and Erratic” in Madison Square Park. Defunct now resides in Aspen Art Museum. Defunct is a stainless steel tree sculpture on the museum’s front lawn. Paine’s striking work seems to reflect the tension between nature and technology. The shiny, metallic tree doesn’t quite fit in with the surrounding aspens, but neither is it wholly out of place.

 

Rojo, Jaime. “Brooklyn Street Art.”Cutthroat Trout & “The Art Of Beeing” in Reno, Nevada, 18 Feb. 2014, www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/2014/02/18/ludo/.

This piece is called Enjoy the Violence by Ludo. This is the same Ludo I mentioned before. He takes the images of nature perverted by weaponry and the growing militarism of society. This piece is a rose with brass knuckles growing from it (in Ludo’s signature poison green).

 

Valic, Mojca. “Ludo – Amsterdam 2013 The Work of Paris Based Ludo, Often Called Nature’s Revenge, Connects the World of Plants and Animals with Our Tech… | Street Art | Pinterest | Street Art, Street Artists and Art.” Pinterest, Pinterest, www.pinterest.com/pin/391039180117449918/?lp=true.

This piece doesn’t have a name but it’s by Ludo. It was created in Amsterdam in 2013. It is a tree with bolts connecting it to a machine. Ludo in general interests me. All his artwork is amazing, but I’m especially attracted to the way he perceives natures interaction with modern technology.

Bibliography for Final Project.

  1. Aciman, Alexander.“Recapping Dante: Canto 33, or History’s Vaguest Cannibal.”

    The Paris Review, Alexander Aciman ,

    23 June 2014,

    www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/06/23/recapping-dante-canto-33-or-historys-vaguest-cannibal/.

    When you first look at “Ugolino and His Sons” you can already notice that agony is the emotion expressed in this statue.You see it by the facial features and the body language. Reading the story behind it, made me even more impressed with the way Jean-Baptise Carpeaux captured the emotions of Ugolino and his sons according to their story accurately. Count Ugolino was punished for betraying his city, Pisa, by giving away fortresses to another town. He was locked up in a tower with his sons, when mealtime came, he realized that the doors were being nailed shut, and he also realized him and his sons were going to starve to death. He saw his children suffer from starvation and started to chew on his own fingers. By the time his children were dead, Ugolino was already driven by madness from starvation and started to eat the prisoner that was also there. The story told in this article, for me, further emphasizes how a story with so much tragedy can be depicted in a single work of art. It carries the emotion of it all and that’s why I chose the statue for my project.

  2. Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris,

    “Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (part 3 of 4),”

    in Smarthistory, December 10, 2015, accessed December 6, 2018,

    In this video, Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris are in the Arena Chapel in Italy, and one of the paintings that they talk about is the Lamentation painted by Giotto. At first glance, without knowing any context, we see there is a lot of sadness because of the death christ. We see the expressions everyone is wearing and there is a lot of dark and dull colors which adds on to the mood that the painting is giving off. As Dr. Zucker and Dr. Harris begin to talk about the symbolism and the meanings in this painting, the emotion one sees and feels begins to intensify because of the powerful meaning behind the symbolism. One of the things that I felt was extremely powerful was the mention of the tree on the top right. The doctors explain that it might look dead but bring up the fact that it also maybe winters, and it will come to life again when spring comes. They mention that this may also be an analogy to Christ and his eventual resurrection. Another thing that I thought was powerful was the mention of the position Mary, was in. Her knee is propped up holding her deads sons body, she is bending forward, her body is twisted, her arms are also holding him up, and her face expression is of pure sorrow. The doctors conclude that it‘s almost like she is trying to wake him up and is in complete shock of his death and of the way it happened. Once you get context of these things, it brings on a whole new wave of emotion. It‘s very effective.

  3. Farago, Jason.“The African Toll of the Great War, in Song and Shadows.”

    The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Dec. 2018,

    www.nytimes.com/2018/12/06/arts/design/william-kentridge-park-avenue-armory.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FArt∾tion=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=10&pgtype=collection.

    I wanted to include this because my project has a lot of statue work and paintings. “The Head and the Load,” is a play all about the fallen African soldiers that aren’t commemorated the way European soldier are commemorated. Farago writes, “The Head and the Load,” evokes these porters’ crushing, fatal labor in a long grief-stricken procession, backed by a plangent elegy from the marvelous Guinean singer and kora player N’Faly Kouyaté. The troupe marches one by one in front of Mr. Kentridge’s mucky charcoal animations, carrying cutout placards of flags, boats, gramophones and planes, as well as portrait busts of African intellectuals and an effigy of Raoul Hausmann’s “Mechanical Head,” a Dada artifact of 1919. Their real shadows intermingle with projected ones, creating an infinite funerary march of porters and matériel,” I chose this article because it shows another form of art that is useful in portraying emotion in the story it is telling. It doesn’t all have to a still-life work of art to be empathetic. Dialogue, costumes, and music can also be effective. 

  4. Hyman, Erin Williams.

    “Crouching Woman, Hidden Story: Erin Hyman on Kiki Smith’s Lilith.” 

    Open Space, 18 Sept. 2013,

    openspace.sfmoma.org/2013/09/beyond-belief-erin-hyman/.

    “Lilith” is one of my favorite sculptures of all time. She breaks boundaries, and I just love her unique story. Upon looking at this, someone can easily get spooked out. Everything about her is just weird and eerie, the position she is in, the roughness of her body, and lastly, the most terrifying thing about her, is her eyes. Her eyes are the only light colored part of her body and they are made of glass which makes her even more scarier because it’s almost as if she is staring right at you. Although you are creeped out, you also can’t help but feel curiosity. Before Eve was created from Adam’s rib, God had created man and women from dust. That women being Lilith, because both of them were made from dust, Lilith saw herself as Adam’s equal and did not want to be submissive to him. She fled Eden and wandered the earth punishing men and stealing babies. This is impressive because we see a break from the type of woman we usually see in art. We usually see some sort of fragility and softness in their face or in their pose in but here we the exact opposite. We see her body parts covered by her pose, we see the unevenness on her, and we she is just unearthly in every way. Hyman writes, “The sculpture of Lilith, like the morphing stories that have evolved around her name, remains wild, suspended, resisting any attempt to pin her down,” This fits to my theme because it is representing emotion and a story, but in a different way. It represents femininity in its genesis and firmness. Everything about “Lilith” is amazing. 

  5. Olere, David.

“Gassing.”

A Teachers Guide to the Holocaust,

fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/gallery2/D54.htm.

This painting is very hard to look at and to take in. Unfortunately, this painting does depict a reality. This shows Jews in a gas chamber in their final moments. Art is filled with a lot of mythology, but it is also filled with a lot of heartbreaking truths. Art is unfiltered and unapologetic and although it is horrifying, it is important for pieces like this to exist, because things like this cannot be forgotten. The extermination of six-million Jews was one of the most atrocious things that has happened in history and one of the most disturbing things about the Holocaust was the fact that many people were aware about these killings but nothing was done for a while. In the painting, we see the ghostly figures of Jews who actually looked like that because of the extreme starvation they were put through, we see them all crammed up, we see woman and babies included, and their faces of absolute agony. In the bottom right corner, we also see a can that says Zyklon B with the Star of David right next to it as if it was carved on the floor. Nazi’s would cram so many Jews in a small chamber and poor the murderous gas inside. This is another perfect example of a painting that creates such heartbreaking emotion and makes you empathize along with it. 

Final Thesis Statement and Images (Second Topic Chosen)

Michael Cefalo

Final Thesis Statement & images

Thesis Statement- After not only going through several time periods in history throughout the span of the semester but by also going through the exhibits in the met museum, is everything somehow connected in the means to create something bigger?

The end goal of this final paper is to get to the bottom of the ever so lingering question of “if everything we learned about is in some way connected to each other”. Providing not only pictures I’ve taken but pictures we have discussed over the course of the year, we will begin the journey down this conspiracy-driven question and once and for all come to a concrete conclusion to art that spans through a multitude of eras. 

 

Bronze Horse

8th century B.C.

Greek

 

Marble Statue of a lion

ca. 400–390 B.C.

Greek

 

Marble statue of Eirene (the personification of peace)

ca. A.D. 14–68

Early Imperial, Julio-Claudian