dartmoutharthistoryfspwill-blog

[dartmoutharthistoryfspwill-blog]

Dérive Journal

I went on my dérive with Isabelle and Anna immediately after our last class of the term. We began at the center of Campo di Fiori and stood there until we saw a dog. We then followed the dog until we spotted a flying pigeon. Then we followed the course of the pigeon’s flight until we reached the nearest monument, which happened to be the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II. Then we waited until we saw the first person with Roman or Italian tourist clothing. We then followed him to the nearest public transportation, which was the 80 bus. We took the bus three stops, which happened to be the Barberini stop, and followed the first person we saw. We followed this person until they turned, and we turned the opposite direction. Then we made three terns decided by the “attractions of the terrain,” thus which completed our dérive. We finished in the area between Piazza Barberini and Piazza Repubblica. Although we only dérived for an hour and a half, I believe our dérive was a general success. This success is first and foremost due to our ability to leave the stresses of the outside world behind and let ourselves “be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters [we] might find there.” During most of our journey we were able to free ourselves from the constraints of society, allowing us to focus fully on the dérive. Nevertheless, during the end of our dérive we were tired after a long day of class and work and returned our minds to charting out our study plans for the coming weekend. The other problem we faced is that we dérived through areas that we had already explored (Campo di Fiori and the area surrounding the Barberini) and thus we were not able to disorient ourselves, as was my goal for the dérive. However, looking back on the dérive I think that both these problems could have been fixed with a few simple solutions. First, we should have attempted our dérive at a different time, so that we were not tired and hungry and could have better devoted ourselves to a longer, more intense dérive. And two, we should have started in a place we were not as familiar with, in order to better disorient ourselves. That being said, I enjoyed our dérive and thought it was a very interesting way to see the city.

[dartmoutharthistoryfspwill-blog]

Biennale Overview - Venice Day 4

During the fall of my freshman year of high school, I visited Venice and the 2011 Biennale. Thinking back to my time there, I am very hard press to remember one singular specific experience or piece of art during that visit. That is not to say that I did not value my experience that year, but I was unable to fully appreciate the Biennale on an intellectual level. Flash forward to the trip this year, and I feel that I was able to more fully invest myself in and understand individual works. Over the past two terms, coupled with my previous studies of art, I have built a solid foundation of art history. This enabled me to not only enjoy the Biennale, but also to experience it. I went to the Danish Pavilion and was able understand the merits behind it, while also scrutinize its mistakes. With the critical eye, I could see that an performance in the dark could in theory be a wonderful piece of contemporary art, but also that the dialogue ruined the idea. I could see beyond the playful, “instagramable” interactions in the Austrian Pavilion and see how Erwin Wurm was discussing the question of “What is art?” in his attempt to fit into the canonical line of art who asked the same question. Finally, I was able to understand the political message in the Egyptian Pavilion, which critiqued the backwardness of some parts of the country. Needless to say I was able to experience the entire Biennale at a much higher level, which will make this year Biennale a much more meaningful experience. 

[dartmoutharthistoryfspwill-blog]

Great Britain Pavilion - Biennale Day 1

Phyllida Barlow, Folly, 2016, styrofoam, wood, 

This year, the Biennale is full of many powerful, serious works like Rachel Imhof’s Faust in the German Pavilion or Mark Bradford’s Tomorrow is a New Day in the American Pavilion. While those two are successful examples of this year’s theme, many national pavilion’s serious message are extremely heavy-handed. That is why Great Britain’s Phyllida Barlow’s Folly is such a breath of fresh air. Barlow’s work is a playground of imagination. Each part of her work seems to be a combination of Surrealism and Picabia’s idea of broken machines. At first the parts appear menacing (for example, one is a large wall with large spikes on it), but upon further review they are actually harmless (the spikes are actually Styrofoam). At the same time Barlow plays with the idea of balance and teetering. Many of the works feel like they are about to collapse or tip over, yet they remain in place. In the first room, there is a forest of “stone” towers, actually made of junk, which seem to be a light breeze or a slight nudge away from toppling. In another room, a large, colorful wall diagonally bisects the room with two Styrofoam stones appearing as the only counterweight. Both works appear to only be stable in a fantasy land, but yet they manage to stay upright. Finally, Barlow also plays with obstructionism in Folly. The hulking presences of her work block the viewer’s sight lines and walkways, which controls their relationship to the space. However, she does not control the space in an aggressive way, but rather Barlow makes it appear as if the viewer is wandering through a fantastical forest. Barlow’s Folly is a complete joy, which returns the viewer to the fun of childhood imagination. 

[dartmoutharthistoryfspwill-blog]

Peggy Guggenheim Collection - Venice Day 2

Works like Picasso’s The Poet and Mondrian’s Composition No. 1 with Grey and Red are world renowned and canonical works, because they invert hierarchy within the work. Picasso started by destroying the relationship of figure and ground, and Mondrian followed suit by removing the hierarchy of line and color. However, Martin’s Rose plays with hierarchy in a way that I think is substantially more dramatic and innovative. Instead of changing the hierarchy within the work, she inverts the hierarchy of the nature of the work itself. By this I mean that she draws a pencil grid on top of the canvas thereby making the pencil grid the focus of the work instead of the typical painted figures. Thus, she completely flips the paint-pencil relationship. She further promotes the pencil grid over the paint in the work by drawing it on top of a layer of white paint. Going back to the designo of Micahlangelo and Raphael, grids have played a vital, but mundane and forgotten role in almost every major painting. However, Martin rejects this canonical past in her Rose as she elevates the graphite grid to the status of a figure. In my opinion, by focusing on the grid, she plays with the idea of hierarchy more than either Picasso or Mondrian do. Those canonical avant-garde artists only play with hierarchy within the structure of a traditional painting, while Martin actually works with the structure itself. This innovation makes Roses the most captivating work in The Peggy Guggenheim Collection. 

Agnes Martin, Rose, 1966, Pencil on Canvas, Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

[dartmoutharthistoryfspwill-blog]

Venetian Painting - Venice Day 1

Gentili Bellini, Procession in Piazza San Marco, 1496, tempera on canvas, Galleria dell’Accademia. 

Traditionally, Venetian painting is categorized by its deep, rich colors and its free form of plan and stroke. Students are taught that Venetian colore is the opposite of the Roman and Florentine designo, a style which emphasizes meticulous sketching, cartooning, and designing prior to beginning a painting. While some painters, like Titian, do fit in with that stereotypes of the Venetian style, greater Venetian painting should not be classified not by its chromatic and compositional scheme. Venetian painters plan rigorously in their own right, in a manner that some could say is designo. The Bellini family, Jacopo and his two sons, Giovanni and Gentili, is especially famous for their rigorous sketching process. I posit that what defines Venetian painting is its patronage instead of its styling. Venetian painters have a great civic tradition of primarily working for their Republic. Painters like the Bellinis devoted most of their careers to Venice even if Rome and other cities would try to tempt them to leave with lucrative profits. This devotion to the Republic resulted in great paintings like Gentili Bellini’s Procession in Piazza San Marco, Giovanni Bellini’s San Giobbe Altarpiece, Tintoretto’s Theft of the Body of Saint Mark and his multiple works decorating Scuola Grande di San Rosso. All of these works are examples of Venetian painters working for Venetian civic or religious institutions. Furthermore, these three painters all worked primarily or only for Venice. There seems to be a greater pride for these painters in dedicating themselves to the Republic. While the most famous “Venetian” painter, Titian, may have left the city for greater patrons like Pope Paul III, his works are more of outliers rather than the prime examples of Venetian painting.

[dartmoutharthistoryfspwill-blog]

Galleria d’Arte Moderna

Marcel Duchamp, Bicycle Wheel, copy of 1913 original, bicycle wheel on stool, Galleria d’Arte Moderna. 

Galleria d’Arte Moderna’s exhibition compares different artists, art types, and art styles across the last three centuries to show how art has evolved through time. The Galleria achieves this goal with works like Mondrian’s Grande Composition A and Yves Klein’s International Klein Blue 199, but in my opinion the most fascinating comparison is not between different artists, but between the different styles of one artist in particular, Marcel Duchamp. The Galleria places Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel directly in front of his Impressionist painting, Paysage á Blainville. Although this Bicycle Wheel is one of the later editions of Duchamp’s historic work, the original is dated 1913, just ten years after Paysage á Blainville. The relationship between these two works to show the rapid pace of evolution in modern art far clearer than any two other works in the Galleria. Of course, Duchamp had a cubist phase in between these two works as illustrated in his Nude Descending a Staircase, but for him to make the jump from mediocre impressionist painting to questioning the very fabric of the art world by combining mundane objects is extraordinary. He goes from valorizing the hand of the artist by emphasizing the heavy brushstroke in Paysage to completely negating the hand by stacking a bicycle wheel on top of a wooden stool and calling it art. Thus, by emphasizing the seismic shift that Duchamp underwent in the ten years with these two works, the curator is able to show how quickly time moves in the world of avant-garde art.

[dartmoutharthistoryfspwill-blog]

Borghese Museum

Bernini, Apollo and Daphne, 1622-5, marble, Borghese Museum.

During this program, we have focused on neo-classical reviews of art. These analyses valorize the accomplishments of ancient and Renaissance works, like the the Lacoon or Raphael’s Transfiguration, for their high naturalism and their effortless action. However, these same people were highly critical of the Baroque due to its exaggerated emphasis on emotion. While they admit the attractiveness of Bernini’s works, they believed that it was a fleeting beauty. While I agree that part of Bernini’s works’ initial attraction is their spectacularity, his works are imbued with great artistic talent, making them masterpieces. When you first see the Hades and Persephone or the Apollo and Daphne, it is hard not to be attracted to their spiraled composition or their fluid action. These qualities overwhelm the viewer, but once the initial astonishment fades away, one can truly appreciate Bernini’s sculptural talent. Of course the emotion and the attention to detail of the sculptures are not to be overlooked, but where Bernini sets himself apart as a sculpture genius is his ability to capture a fleeting moment in solid marble and incorporate the viewer in the work. The two feats coincide with one another as each sculpture draws the viewer around the work, which integrates them into the work, while the arc motion adds a sense of movement to each sculpture. Both accomplishments are further emphasized because the sculpture appears like it is going to topple off of its stand into the space of the viewer. In these two ways, Bernini achieves something that had never been before done in sculpture, which makes his works timeless masterpieces rather than fleeting beauties.

[dartmoutharthistoryfspwill-blog]

Michelangelo Sculpture

Michelangelo, Moses, 1513-5, Marble, San Pietro in Vincoli. 

Looking at Michelangelo’s works often only consists of valorizing his accomplishments. The Sistine Chapel, the Pieta, and the David are all rightly considered masterpieces and are the traditional focus of canonical art history classes. The study of Michelangelo almost borders on worship, but we often ignore his unsuccessful ventures. However, looking at the Moses and the Tomb of the Braci should remind us that even the most heroic artist can produce failures and mundane works. If not for the failed plan of building Julius II’s tomb, the Moses would be considered a success in its own right. The twisting body, the hand wrapped in his hair, the depth of cloth, and the slight arc of viewing make the Moses a very convincing sculpture, but the memory of Julius II’s tomb ruins the work. This relationship coupled with the unsuccessful flanking sculptures of Rachel and Leah make his project a failure. The Tomb of the Braci is not a successful Michelangelo, but for a different reason. Although the face of the teenager is imbued with a youthful liveliness, the work has long been discard and forgotten. It was even considered a work of one of Michelangelo’s assistants for many centuries This is because the tomb is small and tucked away in the wall of a side entrance to the church. The work is also very understated and does not try to grab out attention. Thus, the Tomb of the Braci is too unforgettable to be a success. These two works remind us that even the greatest artists can produce failures. In my opinion, it is just as important to study these works as it is to study the Sistine Chapel because it provides a great sense of perspective on these canonical sculptures that their most important works just can not. 

[dartmoutharthistoryfspwill-blog]

Museo delle Terme

Villa of Livia a Prima Porta, 39 BC, Fresco, Museo delle Terme.

As a student of art history and of ancient Greek and Roman history, I have studied a lot of classical sculpture. Both the Seated Boxer and the Niobide fit into that tradition. They have restrained facial expressions, a slight aloofness, and a great sense of naturalism. However, I believe that the Villa of Livia a Prima Porta exceeds that tradition. That is because, despite my studies and these traditions, I have never experienced something like the Villa of Livia. The beauty of that room transcends all classical sculpture. While it certainly evokes the Pompeian frescoes of the second and third style, it surpasses them. Unlike the Pompeian frescoes, the triclinium of Livia has a great sense of liveliness. The blooming flowers, the diverse arrangement of flora and animals, and slight breeze that rustles through the garden, imbues the room with life. However, unlike The Seated Boxer and the Niobide, the room integrates the viewer into the space instead of alienating them. The room envelopes the viewer with a sense of calm, which does not remind me of ancient work. However, in the Roman tradition, there is a political message in the frescoes. The space tries to convey a sense of fertility, prosperity, and peace in Augustus’ Rome. Inside his “peaceful garden” people are safe and secure, but beyond the fence, in the unknown wilderness, no one knows what dangers wait in hiding. The fact that such a complex message is hidden with in a landscape fresco astonishes me. However, at the same time, I wonder if that message was successfully communicated. It seems almost too hidden, as I think most people may have been taken with the beauty of the work to understand the complex message that it was trying to convey. 

[dartmoutharthistoryfspwill-blog]

Naples - Reviewing Naples

Before starting my analysis of the city, I think it is important for me to note that I really did enjoy our visit to Naples. I thought the art was incredible. I saw one of my favorite churches we have studied thus far and the works in the MADRE, Capodimonte, and the Naples Archeological Museum were all incredible. In addition, the food we ate was also fantastic, especially the pizza and the seafood. However, that being said, Naples was not one of my favorite cities. I am a big fan of cleaner cities and of course Naples does not fit into that categorization. I also felt on edge the entire time in the city. Even during the brief hour in the Naples’ train station, before departure, my hair stood on edge. That stress manifested itself in my body and I could feel knots forming in my shoulders. That may be attributed to the fact that it was my first real time in the city, but nevertheless, I was continually anxious. In addition to the seedy nature of the city, I also felt that Naples was cramped and disorganized in spite of its grid design. Finally, the amount of “creepy dudes” was truly astounding, even though we did not go out late at night. I know it is different for me as a guy, but it was still far beyond what I have seen in Rome or Florence. After all of this, I was so relieved to go to Sorrento. It was exactly what I needed to relax and “de-stress” after the intense experience of Naples. 

[dartmoutharthistoryfspwill-blog]

Naples - Archeological Museum

Farnese Atlas, 2nd Century AD, Marble, Naples Archeological Museum.

During our visit to the Naples Archeological Museum, we compared the Farnese Hercules and his hulking mass to the Apollo Belvedere and his smooth physique and discussed how the people of the Grand Tour viewed the two sculptures. The tourists, like Winckelmann, preferred the Belvedere partly because of the effortlessness of his action, while they were unimpressed that the Hercules had straining and bulging muscles and that he needed rest. After seeing the two works, I saw the Farnese Atlas. In my opinion, the Farnese Atlas fits in the middle of the two sculptures. While the Atlas struggles under the weight of the world, he does not need or rather cannot afford rest. The globe rests on the back of Atlas’ neck causing his head to turn in a very unnatural way. His head is also unnaturally pushed down towards his chest. The muscles in his arms and chest are taut and seem to be under great duress as a result of the globe’s weight. The muscles in his legs are similarly strained, but Atlas also seems to be rearranging them in order to alleviate some of that tension. Although there are wrinkles along his forehead and his face seems to be slightly displaced on his head by the globe as his face still manages to convey a sense of calm. His face refuses to betray the arduous nature of his task. It is this duality of the face and body that causes the Atlas to tow the line between the Apollo and the Hercules.  

[dartmoutharthistoryfspwill-blog]

Naples - MADRE

Anish Kapoor, Dark Brother, MADRE.

Winckelmann argued that the Athena at the Naples Archeological Museum is the best example of the sublime within art. According to him, her emotionless, seemingly asexual gaze and her monumentality isolates her from the viewer, allowing her to overcome us with her power. However, after visiting the MADRE, I would contend that the most sublime works of art reside in the contemporary. One work that contributes to the evidence of my argument is the two Ten-Thousand Lines by Sol Lewitt. The first way that this piece is sublime is because it is non-mimetic. Because there are no representational forms, it is impossible for the viewer to connect with it, they can only be lost within it. Standing in front, our mind tries to organize the lines into some sort of comprehensible shape or pattern, but alas we cannot. The only thing saving these works from completely overwhelming us are the titles as they quantify the seemingly limitless marks on the wall. We cannot confirm or deny the amount Lewitt claims, but by quantifying the works, it allows the viewer to understand the two pieces. The work, in my opinion, that is closest to achieving the sublime is the Dark Brother by Anish Kapoor. This is because it tricks the mind. The viewer is unsure of the depth of the work. Is it a black form painted on the floor? Is it a low indent that only recesses a few inches? Or does it go far beyond that? Our mind is consistently debating this depth. Therefore, we cannot comprehend the scope of Dark Brother and it nearly reaches the sublime. And the reason I say nearly is due to no fault of the work or the artist, but rather because of outside human pollution. Other viewers, assumably also trying to understand the void extending before them, threw trash down into the pit. Leaning over the railing and seeing the trash ruined the allusion for me and thus stopped the work from achieving the sublime. However, for those who did not lean far over and see the trash, they are still unable to wrap their minds around Dark Brother, and thus its sublimity is preserved. 

[dartmoutharthistoryfspwill-blog]

Vatican - Potts and Winckelmann

In reviewing the Alex Potts’ reading, we discussed how Winckelmann related the sublime to human form. Winckelmann argued that no idealized human form, like the Apollo Belvedere, could ever achieve the sublime because there is always either a hetero- or homosexual connection between an idealized sculpture and the viewer. Instead, Winckelmann posits that a form can only be sublime if it is elevated far beyond the viewer and is distant and “de-libidinized.” He offers the Sublime Athena of the Naples Archeological Museum as the prime example of a sublime human form. However, in the Vatican Museum there is another sculpture of a similar subject matter that also achieves a sublime state, titled Athena Giustiniani. Like the Sublime Athena, the Athena Giustiniani is void of sexuality. Unlike other contemporaneous sculptures of women, who wear “wet” clothing or nothing at all, this Athena’s clothes hang loosely off her body. They refuse to reveal any of her figure underneath. Additionally, she wears a military outfit, which further reduces her sexuality. She also has an extremely distant and empty gaze, which looks far past the viewer. Her face is a completely blank slate and appear almost above naturalism. This further makes it impossible for the viewer to connect with the sculpture in any sort of way. The Athena was also constructed with monumental form, so she looms over the viewer, terrifying them into submission. Her size is further compounded by the fact that she is placed upon a large base. Together her clothing, face, and monumentalized form elevates the Athena high above the viewer and makes her appear sublime. 

Athena Giustiniani, Fifth or Four Century BC, Marble, Vatican Museum.

[dartmoutharthistoryfspwill-blog]

Capitoline Museum - My Presentation

Capitoline Wolf, 5th Century BC or 12 Century AD, Bronze, Capitoline Museum.

The Capitoline Wolf is a fascinating piece of sculpture, at first due to its incredible craftsmanship and its context as a symbol. It has iconically represented the city, the Republic, and the Empire of Rome for almost two and a half thousands years, which is truly remarkable. Even with the finery and legacy of the Wolf, I think that the most captivating history of the work is the mystery behind it. As I mentioned in my speech, the Capitoline Wolf has long been considered an Etruscan masterpiece. Great art historical minds, starting with Winckelmann and going up to the historians of the early 2000s, concurred with that assessment. They even had evidence in literary history with sources from Cicero (1st Century BC), Benedict of Soracte (10th Century AD), and Magister Gregorius (12th Century AD). However, radio-carbon testing done in 2007 at the University of Salerno by Professor Adriano La Regina severely complicated this timeline; dating the wolf in the 12th Century AD, not the 5th Century BC. These findings spawned a whole new set of hypotheses, including my own that the Wolf is just the most recent in a long list of replicas and remakes. Nevertheless, the findings have created a whole lot of confusion and controversy within the art world. In fact, art historians are so split on the work that the Capitoline Museum puts both sets of dates on the Wolf’s wall text. This debate, which will not soon be resolved, is what truly makes the Wolf such a captivating piece of sculpture. 

[dartmoutharthistoryfspwill-blog]

Capitoline Museum - Viewing of Ancient Sculpture

Bernini’s Medusa and the Capitoline Brutus are two sculptures with extremely complicated relationships with the viewer. Both sculptures simultaneously attract and repel the viewer in multiple ways. The relationship between the viewer and the Brutus is mainly formed the sculpture’s eyes. They are hauntingly white and stare far off into the distance as if in contemplation. At first, they are off-putting; the frozen glance makes it difficult for the viewer to connect with the work. However, after sometime the gaze transfixes the viewer. It is impossible to look away from the steely deadness of his eyes. They are terrifyingly beautiful, drawing the viewer into the work. They are attracted to and captivated by this sculpture because it was so aloof. Bernini’s Medusa also forms a complicated relationship with the viewer, but in a far different way. The sculpture itself is marvelous as it captures the last seconds of Medusa’s humanity before she becomes a monster forever. You can see the worry, fear, and desperation in her facial expression, and the transformation taking place in her hair. It is Medusa’s fading grasp on humanity which is so alluring as it establishes a sense of pathos with the viewer. In my opinion, the furrowed brow is the most convincing part of the work as it completes her human expression. However, despite the bust’s beauty, Medusa is not supposed to be beautiful or even relatable. We are supposed to be horrified by her monstrosity or use her death to valorize Perseus. We are not supposed to feel pathos towards her. The viewer, therefore, connects with Medusa on a level he or she never thought possible. It is this conflicting duality which attracts and repels us and makes our relationship with her so complicated. Despite the difference in reasoning, the Brutus and the Medusa, both seemingly off-putting, still manage to connect with the viewer. 

Capitoline Brutus, 4th-3rd Century BC, Bronze, Capitoline Museum.

Bernini, Medusa, 1630, Marble, Capitoline Museum.

[dartmoutharthistoryfspwill-blog]

April 6 – Day 6 Artemisia Gentileschi

Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes, 1620-1. Oil on Canvas, Museo di Roma, Rome. 

[dartmoutharthistoryfspwill-blog]

April 5 – Day 5 Caravaggio

Caravaggio, The Calling of St. Matthew, 1599-1600. Oil on Canvas, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome.