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[dpape-blog1]

As with you, I can say that this chapter was a really good one to end with.  I mean it brought us up to speed as to how we’ve gotten to where we are right now in the art world.  I didn’t really talk about buildings and architecture in my post, but I can agree with you that the architecture talked about in this chapter was pretty amazing, and it’s crazy to see how far it’s come.  Overall, this class has been nice learning about so much art, and it’s been a pleasure reading many of your blog posts.

Chapter 31

Chapter thirty-one has art such as Continuity, Innovation, and Globalization. This was hands down the most interesting chapter yet. Lots of weird pieces of art and stunning buildings. One building that I thought was really stunning was R Buckminster Fuller’s American Pavilion Expo. I love the shape of it. It is hard to tell from the picture in the book, but you can see through the building, which makes it all the more special. it was meant to exist in close contact with mankind and nature. I loved that he took nature to mind when creating this beautiful structure. He intended to put these buildings everywhere from restaurants to military facilities. His Biosphere is the most spectacular. It ranges from seventy-six meters. It comfortably fits a seven story exhibition. That is pretty impressive. I would live here.

The Louvre Pyramid is another amazing building. It’s made of all metal and glass. It is beautiful when it is lit up in at night time. This pyramid is the entrance to the Louvre Museum. For some reason it reminds me of something that would be built under the water with the Mermaids. It has that magical feel to it. It is seventy-one feet tall. I love seeing buildings that are aesthetically pleasing as well as functional.

A piece of art I really enjoyed was Jean Michel Basquiat’s Carbon/Oxygen. I have enjoyed Basquiat for years and years. I have really enjoyed his art and seeing it in the book these past few weeks. He emerged from the Punk scene, which I know a thing or two about, in New York. He was a street smart, graffiti artist who transformed into the gallery world. His work contained words, letters, numerals, and more. I like his work so much. It is emotional, chaotic, and real. There are not a lot of artists that I truly love in this world, but Basquiat truly holds a piece of my heart.

Matthew Barney’s stuff is awesome, creepy, and weird. Everything I love. His stuff is so unique and I want to know everything I can about every piece of his. He has a lot of horror, SIFI, fantasy     stuff. These are things I have always been drawn to. He created The Cremaster Cycle, which is a series of five films, that explores the process of creation. It is said to be one of the most brilliant achievements in avant-garde cinema. He even dated Bjork! He has a very interesting brain. His work is unlike anything I have seen these past two semesters. I am very into photography and special effects makeup. I was really hoping I would see an artist like Barney, the more we got to the end of our book, my hopes were dwindling,  I was very happy to see his work at the very end of our book. If you guys want to see some unique art, check him out. You wont be disappointed.

This chapter was so fun, they ended it with a bang. I am sad to see it come to an end. I have really learned a lot these past two semesters. I have really come to appreciate art in a new way. My eyes have been opened up more to new things.

[dpape-blog1]

Week 15

Chapter thirty one is amazingly the very last chapter in our book.  It’s strange to see this class come to an end.  I’ve definitely learned a lot up to this point and have been really interested learning about all these different art forms now leading into contemporary art of today.  Art styles and ideas of Continuity, Innovation, and Globalization have become very evident in this chapter.  I think this chapter does a decent job describing art up to this point, but the book also isn’t completely new, and it’ll be exciting to learn about new art of today on my own time.

The first concept really introduced in this chapter was that of a returning to Realism in art.  Chuck Close’s Self-Portrait is really amazing to me.  I searched images of him online and think it’s crazy how perfect his portrayal is of himself.  He uses diamond shapes full of color to really create himself in an amazing piece of art.  I think this style is extremely close to Realism because it’s an extremely realistic self-portrayal, and I can definitely see Chuck Close’s real image in the piece that he created.

The next piece I wish to talk about from this chapter was The Cowboy by Duane Hanson.  At first when I looked in the chapter, I wasn’t sure how it was considered a creation of art.  Once I looked closer, however, I realized that this man wasn’t actually living.  It’s an extremely lifelike sculpture made by a Super-Realist sculptor in Duane Hanson.  It’s an amazingly done form of contemporary art, and I’m sure it took Hanson a large amount of time and effort to complete, especially considering every single part of the body needed to be molded in a very specific way.

Environmental art was actually pretty cool to learn about.  It showed people what the world can really look like.  These pieces of art are normally really amazing to view, which is the case for Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson.  The reason I really like this piece is because it’s just so real, and it makes me want to see this sort of thing for myself.  I think environmental art does an extremely good job of creating feelings like that, as it’s so real.

Race and gender issues really became more of an issue during this time period as well, which is why Empress of the Blues by Romare Bearden is one of my favorite pieces in this chapter.  It’s obviously showing us a part of black culture in America at the time.  Jazz and The Blues were extremely important to black culture, and they really gave many black people an image to look at and be confident with portraying themselves.  As part of this piece as well, a black woman is taking center stage with her singing and really shows that both women and black people have a place in society.

Overall, I can definitely say that I’ve learned a lot from this chapter and this class and book as a whole.  It’s been very interesting going through chapters every week and learning about how art styles were able to either coincide with one another or transition into each other.  Art has come a long way from the beginning, but it’s been cool to see that change.  While some Renaissance art is still some of my favorite, there are many other pieces we’ve covered that have become other favorites for me.  This last chapter has kind of brought me up to where we are today in art, but I definitely want to keep learning more about what’s going on in the art community right now.

[dpape-blog1]

I like how you talked about the Happenings during this time period, as that’s not something I discussed in my post.  That sort of thing sounds extremely interesting, and I’d like to see that for myself in person.  The Campbell’s Soup piece was one that I talked about and found interesting myself.  It was immaculately done, and I can see how a painting like that would be used to sell more of a product back then.  The biggest idea was Pop Art, and you did a good job explaining that type as well as the rest in your post.

Week 14

Week 14: Chapter 30 - Pop Art, Op Art, Minimalism, and Conceptualism.

The most prominent style that emerged in America during the 1960’s was called Pop Art. The origins of this style come from England in the 1950’s. The images for this style were found from everyday life, the mass media, and other commercial sources. This was in great contrast to Abstract Expressionism, Pop artists used imagery of objects extensively, and choosing very ordinary objects as well. Another prevalent artistic expression during the 1960’s were called Happenings. Many Pop artist participated in these multimedia evens that took place in special environments. Painting, assemblage, television, radio, film and artificial lighting were examples of the forms. Artists would make art on the spot to express themselves. One piece of Pop Art that I found to be interesting was Jasper John’s Three Flags. He uses the American flag as a artistic image, using a ordinary object, a flag, and making art out of it. It is a very interesting piece, and it shows the premises of pop art. One recognizable piece of commercial art was Campbell’s Soup (tomato), painted by Andy Warhol. The picture that he painted were very precise and there was no visible remaining paint texture. I found this piece very interesting because it was a picture that was used to sell something, a true commercial art during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Another piece I found a connection with was Roy Lichtenstein’s Torpedo….. Los! I find this picture interesting, because it looks like something that was taken out of a comic book. This picture is a war comic, which shows the political turmoil during this time as well. I also found Wayne Thiebaud’s Thirteen books a very interesting piece. This is a painting of a stack of thirteen books, with shading and an interesting 3D look. I found the use of white to really add to it, as well as the amazing shading and geometry of the books. Optical Art was another movement that was practiced during the 1960’s. Op art is full of geometric shapes and is very abstract. These artists produce kinetic effects from using various arrangements of colors, lines and shapes. In Aubade(Daw, painted by Bridget Riley, the slight changing of colors and the changing width of each lines just makes the painting move on the paper and look very interesting, creating an optical illusion. Minimalism is another style that this chapter goes over. I find minimalism to be very interesting because of the fact that iit is using the most primary of structures in various ways to create art. A good example of this is Donald Judd’s Untitled. This is a set of rectangular boxes that hang from the wall, made of galvanized iron, and painted with green lacquer. The boxes are arranged above each other, and the shadows from each one are different and it provides a very interesting image to look at.

All in all, I found that this chapter was very interesting and had a lot of good artwork in it.

Thanks,

Eric

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Week 14

Overall, reading through this chapter has taught me a lot more about the different types of art movements that came along in the middle nineteen hundreds, as Pop Art, Op Art, Minimalism, and Conceptualism were all covered, making the chapter full of relevant information.  In Pop Art, objects considered to be pretty boring and mundane were used as the main attraction in pieces.  Op Art was mainly concerned with optical illusions.  Minimalism was used to purely focus on art and industrial materials.  Finally, Conceptualism is where the thoughts included in the work stand for more than the work itself.

Learning about Pop Art and what it stood for was pretty interesting to me.  While the objects used were seen in many parts of everyday life, I’ve just never seen any style of art quite like it.  My favorite example of Pop Art in this chapter was Campbell’s Soup (Tomato) by Andy Warhol.  As the book says, Warhol’s work was arguably the best example of Pop Art.  The reason I really like this piece is because it just seems so real and kind of related to what they would see in a normal day.  It just seems so real and is incredible to me that someone could paint with such precision and life.

Op Art wasn’t really talked about that much in this chapter, which leads me to believe it wasn’t necessarily all that important or liked during this period.  I can definitely see why this is, as, the subjects used weren’t necessarily exciting to look at.  The only piece talked about was Aubade (Dawn) by Bridget Riley.  This piece doesn’t really mean all that much to mean, as it’s just lines with a couple different colors throughout the whole piece, which creates somewhat of an optical illusion.  Maybe if I saw more forms of this art, I would like it better, but the one example presented doesn’t leave me all that impressed.

Minimalism was somewhat like Op Art, as it was based on essentials.  The piece in this section that I liked the most was Untitled (in Honor of Harold Joachim) by Dan Flavin.  Light had a lot to do with sculptures in Minimalism, which is extremely true in this specific piece.  Personally, I’ve actually seen a piece kind of like this in Des Moines a couple years ago when my family and I went to look at art.  I don’t believe I have a photo, but I could definitely see that piece being created during the same time period.  The light just makes it really interesting to look at and completes the piece.  Just having background knowledge of this sort of piece makes me really appreciate this style even more.

Finally, Conceptualism was a type of art carried on from Minimalism.  Even materials in the art were to be taken out.  The piece that really spoke to me and told me the most about this period was simply Art as Idea as Idea by Joseph Kosuth.  While it’s only a piece with a definition of a word included, it really speaks to what this style was all about.  I still see things like using the different definitions of words in things like movies today to really get across the message the screenwriter is trying to convey.

Overall, I’d say this period taught me a lot about the next stages of art.  While they were all technically different styles, they were somewhat related to each other.  I think that was what made it so easy to learn about, and I think this was a very productive chapter and week of learning.

[dpape-blog1]

It was pretty interesting to learn how much of Abstraction actually came from other styles, like Regionalism and Social Realism.  Many of the art forms during this period were connected in subtle ways.  Your description of The Gate is spot on, and I agree that the edges really make it just that much more interesting to the viewer.  I also really enjoyed White Light.  The thing that spoke to me was how the white in the painting was really able to shine through on the painting.  I guess that explains the name.

Week 13

Week 13- Chapter 29: Mid-Century American Abstraction

This chapter is about American Abstraction. This style came from the background of Regionalism and Social Realism, and was also influenced by artists and intellectuals coming to the United States from Europe. This was largely due to when Paris fell to the Nazi’s , the center of the art world had shifted to New York. Two influential artists that came from Germany were Josef Albers and Hans Hofmann. Josef Albers taught art in North Carolina, while Hans Hoffmann taught art in New York. Both of these people largely influenced the next generation of American artists. One painting by Hans Hofmann, The Gate, is a very abstract piece of art. I was confused when first looking that this piece, but after reading about it, I noticed that the edges of this piece vary from very precise edges, or textured edges, and it creates a very interesting piece overall once this is understood. A famous piece by Josef Albers was less understandable by me. I understand that this painting, Homage to the Square, is exploring the squares, but all I see is squares on top of each other. I am sure there is something I am missing to be able to interpret this painting, but I cannot understand it fully at this point. A painting I enjoyed looking at in this chapter was Jackson Pollock’s White Light. Although this piece is full of lines of different widths and a lot of unrecognizable shapes and textures and colors, I feel like when looking at this painting I can briefly recognize something. It reminds me of looking at clouds, when you are just looking at the entire thing, it is nonsense, but when one part is looked at closely, something somewhat recognizable is able to be seen. Another painting I have a connection to in this chapter is Ellsworth Kelly’s Spectrum III. This is a painting of an alignment of color. This is a painting of just colors, and I found it very interesting. I have previously tried to learn how to use colors to make something that looks interesting and good, but it is very difficult to make something like that without using imagery. Although it can be seen as just a spectrum of colors, I think that it shows the research put in to learn about colors by the artist. Another piece that I found to be very interesting in this chapter was Louise Nevelson’s Black Wall. This is an assembly of various tools and parts that are placed in boxes on a wall., I find this very interesting, there is no diverse use of color, but the lines and shapes, created by the arrangement are very distinct and interesting. I found this to be a very interesting piece, there are not many pieces that do not use color when there is such an easy way to use it during this time. I enjoyed reading this chapter and learning more about styles and interesting pieces.

Thanks, Eric

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Week 13

The main idea and art style in chapter twenty-nine was that of Abstraction in America.  To me, Abstraction is a very interesting style of art.  It actually emerged from background ideas of Regionalism and Social Realism.  New York actually became a major center for art during this time period as well, as Europe was majorly concerned with the Nazi threat.  When looking at abstract art, it doesn’t necessarily describe anything, but it’s just kind of interesting to look at.

The first art style based on Abstraction and talked about in this chapter was Abstract Expressionism.  These were paintings that didn’t really represent anything in particular.  These types of painters had almost always passed through and had a bit of experience in the Surrealist style.  My favorite painting from this particular style was The Artist and His Mother by Arshile Gorky.  Gorky was extremely influential in getting more and more artists to transition from European Abstract Surrealism to American Abstract Expressionism.  The Artist and His Mother was actually his most famous work, which explains why it was so influential to other artists.  The painting was based on an old photograph but doesn’t really seem to have much hidden meaning, but the artist’s mother seems to be in control, as she has an undeniable quality of being like a queen.  Gorky had a tough life and probably wasn’t celebrated as much as he should’ve been during his life.

The next major part of Abstraction was Action Painting.  To me, Jackson Pollock’s work is the epitome of this style.  He was pretty creative in this style of art, as the book talks about him using a drip technique to accomplish his work.  This type of art may seem to be easy, but I think it takes inspiration to paint like this.  Whenever I think of Abstraction in art, this is exactly the style that I imagine.  White Light by Jackson Pollock is actually my favorite Action Painting piece in this chapter.  It’s incredible to just look at all the colors, and it seems like creating a piece like that would take a lot of time.  The colors almost seem to highlight the white in the piece, however, which is what I assume was intended.  The edges of the piece are highlighted, which makes it look much better.  Even though it looks to be a small addition, it adds a lot to the piece.

Color Field Painting is the next specific style of Abstraction described in the chapter.  While I think this style is still interesting, I definitely prefer the other specific styles.  This art seems maybe a little easier to have created.  In The Bay by Helen Frankenthaler, she just simply poured thinned paint onto the canvas.  This was somewhat strategically done, however, as the colors of paint were layered and really seem to blend well.

West Coast Abstraction is the final form of Abstraction talked about in the chapter.  Much of this art came in the form of sculptures based on landscapes from the West Coast in the United States.  My favorite piece from this style was Black Wall by Louise Nevelson.  I feel like I’ve seen this piece before or at least something extremely similar.  This piece really speaks to me.  I think that the main reason for this is because there’s no color to distract me from seeing and thinking about the various shapes and boxes included in the work.  

Overall, I thought this chapter was pretty interesting, as Abstraction has always been a style I’ve been interested in.  It’s kind of strange to me, but I really enjoy looking at abstract art.  It was also really cool to see how important the United States really became in art during this time.

[dpape-blog1]

You did a really good job starting your post, and I really feel like it’d be understandable to someone not taking this class.  There were many art styles during this time, and they were definitely influenced by World War I.  I will agree with you that the Dada style was the most influential, but it wasn’t exactly my favorite style.  Surrealism came from Dada but definitely dealt more with extraordinary beings and beliefs.  Regionalism was my favorite because it influenced my favorite painting, which is American Gothic, another painting I talked about in my post.  

Week 12-Chapter 28

Chapter 28 dealt with many different art styles. Instead of the past chapters having only one or two art styles this chapter dealt with many different styles including; Dada, Surrealism, Social Realism, Regionalism, and Abstraction. All of these styles were post World War I. Even some of the styles were influenced from the Depression and Facism like Social Realism and Regionalism. Surrealism came from and was related from the Dada style.

 To me the Dada style was the most influential style there was. It came from post-World War I and showed some events during World War I that were major. Dada style even ended up influencing the Surrealism style. According to the book, Dada refers to an international artistic and literary movement. This was important to the whole world. Even though it was such a bad time for the world because of the Depression and World War I this art style was able to suggest to a younger and more playful time. It was a creative way to bring happiness to people. One artist that showed some playfulness in his art style of Dada was Jean Arp. One piece that I could see it easily in was The Dancer. In this art piece, it was just a string that was laid out on a flat surface. This string took form of a figure that looks to be dancing. It seems to be more of a happier Dada style. It doesn’t look like much but it can be very beneficial to the people during this time because of the depressing times and events that have happened. There was some humor in this piece with such a small head and a big square body with a circle in the middle. To me I believe it made some people happier to look at this piece and bring up their moods.

 Surrealism came about from the Dada style. This style dealt more with imagination like myths, fantasies, and dreams. It was a way for artists to relate it to the people and show what they were thinking. To me it showed that some had hope and others were in fear for the world. This style even ended up impacting the style Abstract. Surrealism was even experimented using pictures. This was an important style as it led to new renovations for the world.

 I also find Regionalism intriguing because it was easy to see what region the artist was painting about. One piece that is very famous is the American Gothic done by Grant Wood. It is very evident that this piece is supposed to be in the Midwest. In the background, you can see an old farmhouse and a corner of a barn that represents farming and the Midwest. As we know now, it was even in Iowa which is pretty cool since we live in Iowa and can relate to it so easily. Another item in this piece is the pitchfork. That is another symbol representing Iowa and the Midwest. Even the clothes the two are wearing are older and represent farming clothes. Cultures are different in each region and showing their clothes is part of a culture and that is how Grant Wood showed them standing in the Midwest.

 These art styles to me were influential to the world and to each other styles. If it wasn’t for some of these styles deriving during this time then it would affect other styles not coming up either. Some of these styles like Surrealism and Dada were closely related but Regionalism and Social Realism were much different showing how the world was diverse. In this time period it is evident to me how much is changing with all the different art styles showing it in their own unique way.

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Week 12

In chapter twenty-eight, there were another few relevant art styles talked about, such as Dada, Surrealism, Social Realism, Regionalism, and Abstraction.  Dada was an artistic and literary movement that occurred throughout the world during World War I.  This style was filled with pessimism and despair.  Surrealism was the style of art that replaced Dada.  Surrealism was meant to make art look more real than just seeing its appearance.  Social Realism and Regionalism were two art styles that became extremely popular in the United States during this time, as European art had been influenced by the rise of Fascism, and this was the United States’ response to European art and had their own political influences.  Finally, Abstraction countered Social Realism and Regionalism, and it looks as though we’ll learn more about that art style in the next chapter.

I think the best work of art that represents the Dada style in the chapter was the work of Marcel Duchamp and his reproduction of Leonardo’s Mona Lisa.  He drew a mustache and beard on her, and many people felt he defaced this amazing work of art.  I think that explains this style well, as it was pretty controversial and wasn’t really that serious or happy of a style.  

My favorite work of art that represented Surrealism was definitely the Mask of Fear by Paul Klee.  It’s kind of a crazy painting when I think about and look at it.  Paul Klee was attracted to childlike imagery and used the Surrealist idea of automatic writing to aid him into paintings like this.  His art definitely shows Surrealism to me, as his work exceeds reality’s limits.  

Social Realism and Regionalism were quite a bit like each other it seems.  Obviously, my favorite piece in this art style was American Gothic by Grant Wood, as that was the very first piece I submitted to this class that was my favorite piece of art coming into this class.  I just really like how it portrays a farming family during this time period.  It was also cool knowing it was based off of an Iowan farm.  

Finally, Abstraction wasn’t really talked about all that much, but my favorite piece was Cow’s Skull with Calico Roses by Georgia O’Keeffe.  I’ve always heard O’Keeffe was a great artist, but I don’t remember really seeing many of her pieces before.  I think that, even though I didn’t really learn too much about Abstraction art, this was a great representative, as the painting was kind of ironic, as it included features from both life and death, which included a message about how life and death go hand in hand.

The video was very interesting to me.  Personally, I don’t think I ever could make any type of good art, but it was interesting learning about what painters actually have to go through, like with the first oil painting.  Even though it was basic, it was still extremely hard to do.  Artists can also be considered intellectuals with some of the deep meanings included in their paintings.

Overall, many of the style in this chapter weren’t all that attractive to me, but I did like the new American art styles created during this time.  As I’ve said, American Gothic by Grant Wood is probably my favorite painting of all-time, and it was cool learning that it was created during this time period.  While much of this art wasn’t my favorite ever, it was really interesting to me seeing the differences in art styles just based on where the artists were located.  

[dpape-blog1]

I really like how you brought up how Fauvism and Expressionism were actually a couple styles of art that had occurred in this specific period.  Obviously, as you said, they had to have some sort of impact on art styles that came after them, which is what happened, even if it was just a small impact.  I like how you brought up how Picasso also started a revolution with artists and Cubism.  Picasso was extremely influential in the art world.  Finally, I agree with you that I didn’t really like Cubism as much, but it has proven to be influential.

Week 11 Blog Post

In chapter 27 there comes up two new styles called Cubism and Futurism. These styles are during the twentieth century just like Fauvism and Expressionism were. Cubism and Futurism came after these two styles though. In Fauvism and Expressionism paintings you can still see some Cubism and Futurism styles within the paintings. They are not the main parts of the paintings but there are small parts to the paintings. For example, in Picasso’s Gertrude Stein, you can see some Cubism in this painting. In her right arm, it is contoured and shaded. That is some signs of the development of Cubism. Also in this piece, it looks like a mask on her face and artificial hair. You can tell this because the hair doesn’t look like it has roots to grow out of.

One art piece that I thought represented Cubism in this chapter very well was done by Pablo Picasso and was called Demoiselles d’Avigon. In this painting, it is very obvious how Picasso makes the masks. The long nose structure and the offset of eyes shows exactly that it is a mask. Because Cubism and Fauvism are so near together of styles there was some Fauvism in this painting with strong strokes of color. One important part of this painting is the multiple vantage points in this painting. In the past styles, it has always had one vantage point. Picasso added in multiple ones and that started a new revolution of multiple vantage points for many different paintings and artists.  

Futurism came mainly about because of the industry and machine age. During this time period the world was flourishing with new machines and becoming strong in industry. This influenced many artists and that is how Futurism came about. Futurism to me looked like it was art made from machines. It gave the paintings look like it was made from plastic or metals. The paintings didn’t look life like but looked fake. It was a new interesting different kind of style to me.

One painting that I liked the most out of all the Futurism paintings in this chapter was done by Fernand Leger and called The City. At first glance this painting looked very busy, confusing, and cluttered. As I looked into this painting deeper I could start to see how it represented a city using bold colors. The high walls and poles made it represent a city. I think Leger did a good job making it look clustered because that is what a city to me looks like. It is tall high buildings with poles scattered throughout the city. In the background, I could see skinny crossing beams that represented electricity poles and power lines providing power to the city. In the middle of the painting there was silhouettes of people walking. This showed the high populated urban area. In this whole painting, it made look fake and like plastic to me which brings about the Futurism style representing the Industrial Age. To me, this painting did the best job representing Futurism and the Industrial Age.

I liked the Futurism style better than Cubism style. I was able to relate to the Futurism style easier than I was to the Cubism style. I didn’t get where the Cubism style came about or what the paintings meant with the masks and looking fake. I could understand why the Futurism style didn’t look so real because it was representing industry. Industry was important during this time and when I think of industry I think of metal and urban areas. That is exactly what artists showed in their paintings and they did a nice job of representing this age through Futurism.

[dpape-blog1]

Week 11

Art during this time period in the twentieth century definitely showed an advancement, as a couple new movements, including Cubism and Futurism, were introduced to the world.  While Cubism was the most influential style of the early twentieth century, Futurism also definitely had its place during this specific time.  I’ll talk about each one of these movements and how they really impacted art throughout the world.  Cubism was an art form that really influenced the future and was said to be the wave of the artistic future.  As the book says, it was a revolution in the art world, as it influenced the way the artist thought about space, like the flat canvass and in the sculpture.  As I said, this form was very influential and even inspired a new style called Surrealism.  Surrealism is based on having a truer reality than just the visible world, which looks to be a future topic we will study that I’m definitely looking forward to learning more about.  Finally, Futurism may not have been quite as well known to most, but it was a contemporary movement somewhat related to Expressionism.

As I said, Cubism was one of the most influential styles of art during this time period of the twentieth century.  One of the pieces of art in this chapter that really gave me a good impression of Cubism was the painting called Gertrude Stein by Pablo Picasso.  Pablo Picasso has always been one of my favorite artists of all-time.  I’ve seen a ton of his work in art exhibits that I’ve gone to, and they’ve always made me think.  This specific painting marks the climax of his Rose Period of art, which had followed the Blue Period, which I have already posted about.  Obviously, color is a big issue in this painting.  It really emphasizes the beauty of this piece.  As opposed to The Old Guitarist, a painting I talked about in last week’s post, the color in this painting is has a much happier connotation attached to it, as The Old Guitarist was quite a sad piece.  In the case of this piece, ideas from Cubism dearly impacted it, as Stein is constructed from spatial and planar shifts, definitely part of Cubism.  Overall, this piece really interests me, as Picasso spent an immense amount of time touching up and perfecting this amazing painting.

Futurism, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be as well known, but it was greatly influenced by the world and what was going on in the world at the time.  Industry and the machine age is really what allowed this age to be created and advanced.  The thing Futurism really called on was complete reform from past art forms.  As part of Futurism, literally all of the arts and traditions from the past would be abandoned.  I can see how this movement may have been considered controversial.  My favorite piece from this period was Unique Forms of Continuity in Space by Umberto Boccioni, which is coincidentally the piece featured in the weekly overview this week.  This piece really makes me think about Futuristic art.  As the book says, this was basically the epitome of this art style, as this piece was Futurism in its plastic form.  To me, this piece shows an moving life form determined to be great and become innovative.  It might not look much like a human, but it is made to look like that.  Overall, I really like this piece and how well it explains Futurism.

Overall, this chapter really did a good job representing what a couple art forms, including Cubism and Futurism, did for the world during this time period.  Cubism is a form that has really influenced many later art movements and is obviously extremely important in the world of art.  Futurism may not have been quite as important, but it was a form of contemporary art and was also very interesting to learn about.  I’m glad I was able to experience this chapter for myself and see how art has continued to transform.

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I didn’t originally research your North American additional research part, but after I read your description, I figured I’d check it out for myself.  Your descriptions were spot on, and those pieces were especially interesting, as they didn’t always just pertain to art.  Henri Matisse’s Woman with the Hat was one of my favorite pieces of art as well from this chapter.  Like you said, the woman was caught in thought, but all the colors in the piece just made it look so much better to me.

Chapter 26+Individual Research

For our individual research I had a very hard time picking one nonwestern region. There were so many interesting art pieces. I went back and forth between North America and Central America. Eventually I decided to go with North America. The deciding factor for me was Patriot by Norman Bel Geddes. The Emerson Radio and Phonograph created in 1940. These radios are so beautiful to look at and the bright colors are amazing. These were so futuristic looking. They used different types of colored plastic; the casing is casted with phenolic plastic and the knobs are made of durable molded urea plastic, the grill and station dial are made of molded cellulose acetate. The technology was new for this era. This is something I would love to display. My house is full of vintage furniture and accessories. The designer, Norman Bel Geddes, was born in Michigan. He began his career in theater design in 1916. In 1927 he opened an Industrial Design studio. He popularized the streamline aesthetic which is particular to American Art Deco. He applied this look to cars, trains, planes, telephones, and buildings. Bel Geddes created an amazing teardrop car model. It is incredible. Although his car designs never went into production, his vision was very influential. What I wouldn’t give to have a time machine to go back and own some of his pieces. I wish I could walk a day in his shoes. I would love to see what the world looked like though his eyes. Please do yourself a favor and look at his work.

I also love the Frank Lloyd Wright house from this timeline. I am very familiar with his work. I am from Madison Wisconsin and his work is very well known there. In fact, I lived next to one of his houses. It was the Robert M. Lamo House. It was so beautiful. I included a link for this house. I hope you guys take the time to read about it. Lloyd had such a great eye for detail. Unfortunately, the family that owned the house moved out and they rented it out to college students who threw many parties in it. I never understood how they could let something that beautiful get trashed. I never saw what it ended up looking like before I moved away. I still think about that house to this day and wonder what it looks like now. His style was just incredible to me. He had a wonderful eye for detail. 

Chapter twenty-six was also filled with many beautiful art works. So many bold vivid colors. I really loved Henri Matisse, Women with the Hat. Oil on canvas. I love everything about this piece. I just pops off the canvas. Although the colors are bright and cherry, the women face looks sad. She seems lost in thought. Makes you wonder what was on her mind. I really like Matisse’s work. He really loved working with color. His work is something I would proudly display on my wall.

Emil Nolde’s Still Life with Masks is awesome. I really want to own this piece. I love it! Nolde captured a variety of cultures on one canvas. This is such a unique painting. Emil’s art is just incredible. His portraits are so special and outstanding, easily my favorite portraits thus far. I would also have to say that he has to be one of my favorite artists in the book.

There were so many talented artists this week. This has been my favorite week of the semester. I am so drawn to bright color and this chapter has many. It was also nice to talk about an artist, Lloyd, I have some background knowledge in. I don’t think the upcoming chapters can top this one for me. Again, please take a look at the Lloyd how I mentioned earlier.

Link to the Frank Lloyd Wright house: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_M._Lamp_House

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Week 10 Attachment

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Week 10

Chapter twenty-six had a lot of great information in the advancement of art moving from Impressionism into a couple of the early twentieth century styles, including Fauvism and Expressionism.  A couple of the main painters during this time period were Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, which the book does a great job describing how they impacted art.  

While this piece of art wasn’t directly expressed in the chapter, an amazing work of art that came during this time was the Pointing Man by Alberto Giacometti.  This piece actually sold for a record breaking amount of money.  I had the pleasure of actually seeing this piece for myself.  I’m not exactly sure where I saw this piece, but it was a traveling piece that went from museum to museum if I’m not mistaken.  This artist also created another piece that looked quite a bit like the Pointing Man in the additional research section.  The thing that interested me most about these pieces was the fact that they used Expressionism in such great detail and to such a great extent that it is a piece I really feel can help to summarize this period of art.  I’ll enclose a photo in a new post. 

Fauvism was another style of art discussed in this chapter.  Colors, especially vivid colors, were extremely important in the paintings created using the idea of Fauvism.  Henri Matisse was one of the greatest Fauvist artiststs.  He created my favorite Fauvist painting called the Woman with the Hat.  I really like the use of colors in this piece to really make the painting look especially interesting to me.  This piece of art looks to me like an abstraction type of art but yet there’s still obviously a woman projected on the canvas.  

Like I said, Picasso was another amazing painter during this time period.  The piece that really struck me was The Old Guitarist created during Picasso’s Blue Period.  During this time period, Picasso was a person who was especially dismayed.  He had been moving all over the place and was never really able to settle in during this period.  The reason the Old Guitarist and the Blue Period are so incredible to me is because it uses such great symbolism and even describes Picasso’s life.  The subjects in The Blue Period were especially poor people who looked very sad.  This is represented well in The Old Guitarist.  The character in this painting looks sad because of the way the painting is colored.  Without such mastery of color, this painting would not look anything close to how great it looks with color.  When I look into this painting, I can really feel the pain the character is going through.

In my additional research portion of my blog post this week, I chose to research a little more about Western and Central Sudan art in Africa during this time period.  I chose to research African art specifically because other artists during this period, like Matisse, received inspiration from art in Africa and how they were more tied to nature.  I can definitely see how African artists were perceived as being more tied to nature by just looking at a few of these pieces.  Janus Helmet Mask looked to be some type of mystical creature.  The Equestrian Figure was probably my favorite piece, as it looked to be a rider on the back of a horse, which looks especially interesting to me.  Overall, I can see how Africa influenced some of the other art during this period, but it wasn’t as amazing to me as that of Fauvist or Expressionist art.

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This was a very interesting chapter to learn about, especially when talking about how they used the illusion of light to enhance their art.  It’s interesting to find out that while this art movement was founded in Paris, it was actually influenced by Japan.  I really like how you talked about how the paintings looked like they were created by fingers instead of paint brushes.  It’s definitely something I can agree with.  I also talked about the painting by Georges Strait where differences in light are very obvious and enhancing to the painting.

Blog Post Week 9

In chapter 24 of the book, “A History of Western Art,” by Laurie Schneider Adams, Impressionism was introduced. Impressionism is defined as, “a style of painting developed in the last third of the 19th century, characterized chiefly by short brush strokes of bright colors in immediate juxtaposition to represent the effect of light on objects; a manner of sculpture in which volumes are partially modeled and surfaces roughened to reflect light unevenly.” It evolved in Paris in the 1860’s and was actually influenced by Japanese prints and new developments in photography. Subject matter included such as leisurely activities, entertainment, landscapes, and cityscapes. Impressionist painters studied natural properties of light, changes in light and color caused by many different things (time of day, weather conditions, and seasons,) and effects of artificial lighting (theatre spotlights, café lanterns, and streetlights.)

Although this style used very rapid and unique brushstrokes, in my opinion, most of the paintings look like they have been done by the artists’ fingers, just because of how almost chunky and/or blurry each stroke looks depending on the painting. An example of a “chunky” and “blurry” painting is painting, “Bassin des Nympheas,” which means “water lily pond,” by Claude Monet. He used thick brush strokes and many tones of greens and some greenish blues to picture the water, which strokes were vertical like. He pictured the lily pads in tones of green, which were painted horizontally over the water and dots of pinks and whites portray flowers on these lily pads in the water. At the top of the painting, bushes are pictured in more tones of green in thicker, vertical, and more slanted brushstrokes. It is a beautiful painting, but I feel like I could have painted it with my fingers!

Chapter 25 of the book was about “Post Impressionism,” which means “after impressionism.” This style was influenced by the Impressionism style (bright colors, shadows, and very distinctive brushstrokes) but the major difference was that they did not “dissolve” their edges which were outlined or defined by sharp color separations and were very clear. In my opinion, most of them still looked like they were done by finger painting, so they still looked pretty “chunky,” but they no longer seemed blurry. I think it is because the outlines were there instead of “blurred” together in the painting. Although a lot of the paintings were similar in this way, I noticed a couple that were not that were displayed in the book. “A Sunday Afternoon,” by Georges Seurat was a painting of a park landscape with many attendants at the park. It was not painted in chunky strokes, but rather softer ones. Lots of color, shadows under trees and people are shown, as well as reflections in the water of the lake in the left hand corner. Light was greatly displayed in this painting. Another that was not “chunky” to me was “The Dream,” by Henri Rousseau. It pictured a naked woman in the middle of the jungle surrounded by lots of green plants that were separated by different tones of green, animals hidden in the middle of these plants (almost like a seek and find,) and an almost hard to see woman painted in a greenish black playing an instrument. It reminded me of a childhood book I used to read, the styles are so similar, but I do not remember what it is called, I wish I did!

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Week 9

Chapters twenty-four and twenty-five introduced the Impressionist style that lasted from the 1860s into the early twentieth century.  It was interesting to me how different this style was from Realism, as Impressionism almost never responded to political events, even in the case of the Franco-Prussian War that took a toll on France but not the art.  I can see how this artwork wasn’t overwhelmingly received in a positive way, especially after experiencing Realism.  This type of art was more of a way to get a feel for an event.  In my own opinion, I personally like the look of the Realism movement over the Impressionism movement.  

While I wasn’t especially impressed with Impressionist art, there was one piece that I thought was extremely cool to see that came from this time period.  That piece of art was The Thinker.  I think we’ve all seen The Thinker before this class, and it’s one of those classic pieces a person never forgets, at least that’s the case for me.  It shows us a very muscular man who is just sitting on a stump in deep thought.  As the book alludes to, The Thinker was also influenced by the Italian Renaissance, as it was a human figure built into a monument.  The Thinker does a good job of summing up this period of art in my opinion, as the Impressionist art would really make the observer think about what the art was showing them.  

Chapter twenty-five, while similar to chapter twenty-four, described more about art that was Post-Impressionist but was definitely influenced by Impressionism.  There were just a few minor differences and advancements in art that came in this period that weren’t included in the Impressionist period.  Another part of this art that made it different, and in my opinion more interesting, was the fact that artists were also more likely to use events from their own lives to influence their art.

My favorite piece of art from the Post-Impressionist era was definitely Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.  Incredibly, a television show called Family Guy actually introduced me to this piece.  While that show is meant to be funny, it tends to use famous stories or things like art in its episodes as inspiration.  This painting really spoke to me, and just last year, I traveled through Chicago on my way to a mission trip in Detroit and stopped at the Art Institute of Chicago.  It was absolutely incredible to see that piece, and I was amazed to see it, as I didn’t know that was where the piece resided.  The contrasting colors in this piece as well as the fact that it’s a piece where the figures are incredibly frozen in time are a couple parts that I really like about it.  The little girl holding onto her mother in the middle of the painting has always stood out to me as well.  The creator, Georges Seurat, has been called a Neo-Impressionist as well as a Pointilist, which basically means he was very innovative in his art.  He used a new technique that he called divisionism to create his work.  

Overall, while this art is in no way my favorite that we’ve learned about in this class so far, there were a few iconic pieces that came from this era, including The Thinker and Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatta, both of which I talked about in this post.  Even though I didn’t enjoy it as much, I still learned a lot about this art movement and found it to be much different than Realism.

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I like how you started your post very strong.  The Industrial Revolution was extremely important in the development of the world.  In fact, we would not be anywhere close to where we are today without the Industrial Revolution.  I also really liked how you distinguished between the two periods, Realism and Romanticism.  These periods were almost complete opposites.  As you said, Romanticism was all about emotion, while Realism was all about real life.  I didn’t expand on Lithography, but it became very prevalent and widespread during this time period.

Chapter 23  - Nineteenth – Century Realism

The nineteenth century was a time when a lot changed in the world. Human right ideas changes, the Industrial Revolution occurred. Many new inventions made this possible, during the change from an agricultural based society to a industrial based society.

Realism was a new style that became popular during this time. Instead of the abundant stylization and emotions that came from romantic paintings, these paintings were much more about showing the everyday life of people. Something that people could expect to see in their lifetime, such as people working the fields, or a horse fair. These were not things that no one ever saw; these were events that almost everyone in this time period would be able to see. It is really a totally different outlook on painting than most previous movements. I can relate to this movement, because whenever I try to make are, I try to create something realistic, something that seems like it was real, and that someone could have seen. It usually doesn’t work out that well, but it helped me understand this a little bit better, at the very least.

One painter that I found very interesting in this chapter was Gustave Courbet. He believed that people should only paint things that they have seen or experienced. One of his paintings, called Stone Breakers was very interesting to me. It had a focus of two men that were breaking stones. Their faces are cut out of the picture, but this painting was just really interesting to me. Based on the small details, this had to have been something that he experienced. There is even a place with tools to make food. Unless a painter had experienced this himself, I think it would be very hard to imagine. This painting really shows how art can be based on personal experience and why that adds to the painting.

  Another thing I found interesting in this chapter was Lithography. This was a new print technique that was used at the end of the eighteenth century. It became the most widely used printmaking method soon after. A lithograph was created when an artist makes an image with a grease crayon on limestone. Limestone will hold the image, then water is added, and it will stick to the non-greased areas. The stone will then be rolled with a greasy ink, which only sticks to the image. Then paper can be applied to print the image. Comparing to the previous methods of printmaking, this method has a clear advantage, it was able to be re-used many more times than the previous methods. I think that the lithograph was a huge tool that spread printmaking even farther than it was before. This technique seems like it was one that would be relevant for quite some time.

Overall, this week’s chapter was a very interesting one. I really liked the movement towards realism and enjoyed appreciating all of the paintings in this week’s chapter.

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Week 8

Once again, chapter twenty-three was a huge change and transition from chapter twenty-two.  Realism took the place of Romanticism during this time period, which was a very sharp contrast.  The biggest reason for this sudden change was the French Revolution.  As a result of this revolution, artists started rejecting Romanticism and found a new interest in Realism.  They didn’t enjoy the exaggerated force included in Romanticism.  As a result, artists were influenced to use the influence of their lives, like human rights.  Because of this, human rights were greatly influenced during this time period.  Paintings during this time period became much more lifelike.  Another thing that really took off during this time period was photography.  Finally, architecture became even more advanced, which allowed for more incredible works of art, like the Eiffel Tower.  

Probably my favorite painting talked about in this chapter was The Gleaners by Jean-Francois Millet.  The reason I really like this piece is because it does an amazing job representing the transition from Romanticism to Realism.  The three peasants really stand out in the painting, which was part of Romanticism.  On the other hand, this painting was also very much part of Realism because the three people were of color.  This was a great representative of how hard people of color had to work compared to white people.  The painting does a great job showing these colored people had to pick every last piece to survive, while white farmers were very comfortable and had luxuries, as evidenced by the prosperous farm in the background of the painting.  One thing the book showed me that I hadn’t seen myself was that the background has a glow to it, while the foreground includes a shadow of darkness, which shows the difference in people who had different colored skin.  

As I said, photography became prevalent during this time period.  My favorite photography portrait in the nineteenth century was the Lincoln “Cooper Union” Portrait taken by Mathew B. Brady.  I’ve seen this photograph before of Lincoln, and I believe it’s quite historic.  It shows us extremely accurately how Lincoln actually looked during his presidency.  Without a photograph like this, it would be hard for me to think about who Lincoln was and what he looked like.  It shows me that Abraham Lincoln was someone who thought a lot about problems needing to be addressed and showed me that he was honest, which is one of the things he is well known for.  It also represents his intellect, as he’s holding a book, which shows his dedication to learning and literature.  The use of the column in the photo also gives a great representation of the division of the North and the South based on the issue of slavery.  

The last thing concerning art that improved by an immense amount during this time period was architecture.  As I already alluded to, the Eiffel Tower was built during this time as part of the Realism period.  The thing that really surprised me reading about the Eiffel Tower was that it was built temporarily, meaning it was meant to eventually be taken down.  It was built as a remembrance of the French Revolution.  Engineering became even more advanced, which allowed for such an extravagant structure to be built.  Honestly, it is amazing to me that such a structure could be built, especially at this time.  The Eiffel Tower is one of my favorite structures in the entire world, and I am excited to someday see it for myself.  

Overall, this chapter definitely taught me a lot about Realism and art in the nineteenth century.  It was incredible for me to learn about the different art in this chapter, especially The Gleaners, the Lincoln “Cooper Union” Portrait, and the Eiffel Tower.  Studying these forms of art more in-depth really allowed me to experience the period and Realism as a whole in a much easier way.  Realism has grown on me and may be my favorite form of art that we’ve studied up to this point.