In the following essay I’m going to compare and contrast two 17th century artworks – “Las Meninas” by Diego Velazquez (1656) and “The Allegory of Painting” by Johannes Vermeer. Paintings depict artists working on a portrait, however, in Velasquez’s work the viewer is the person who is being painted and in Vermeer’s the viewer is just an observer of the artistic process. The only reason the observer knows that he is the center object of the future fictional painting is in the mirror on the back wall. The couple in the reflection is King Philip IV and his wife, Mariana. (Foucault, 8).…
Vermeer’s Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World, by Timothy Brook, sets out to explain how the world was transformed during the seventeenth century through a growing world market and expanding globalization between civilizations and cultures that either had not have contact or limited contact in the past. The book is organized into eight sections, each corresponding to a different piece of art created by Johannes Vermeer and other artists. Each of these sections covers a different factor, such as the economy for Chinese goods or the work and explorations around the world to create an accurate map of the world, which led to the overall globalization during this time. Beginning with the first section of the book, The View from Delft, the…
“Reconsidering the Stain on Gender and the Body in Frankenthaler’s Painting” written by art historian Lisa Saltzman, discusses the dissolution of boundaries between gender categories throughout post World War 2 America. Saltzman’s central argument focuses on America’s patriarchal society and their necessity to restore hierarchy and social order when faced with the potential shift in power with the rise of influence of the female gender. In this article Saltzman uses Frankenthaler’s painterly process “the stain” as the backbone for her central argument, as Frankenthaler had an unique disposition (in art historic purposes) for being the catalyst in the construction of male and female bodies. The stain being the area of focus was dismissed with…
In reference to a state of invisibility often relates to black Americans in their representation to culture and society. The concept of black and invisibility are connections in the art work of Kerry James Marshall. The subject matter of Marshall’s paintings, installations, and public projects is often drawn from African-American popular culture, and is rooted in the geography of his upbringing. Marshall shares that: “Blackness has always been stigmatised, even amongst black people who flee from the density of that blackness. Some black people recoil from black people who are that dark because it has always been stigmatised.…
Barefoot, wet, and cold, author Zadie Smith, as recounted in her essay Man vs. Corpse, finds an old collection of Italian paintings bound in a weathered hardcover. Grappling with the ever-familiar urge to explore lives unfamiliar—via social media—on her phone, she forces herself to thumb through the contents. She asserts that her “mind does not easily accept stately historical processions. But Golden Yellows and eggshell blues [...] are the sorts of things [her] mind accepts.” (2) Flipping through the pictures she is enthralled by the colors and lines so brilliantly and thoughtfully finessed upon the page.…
Christo and Jeanne Claude's were American's. They are environmental sculptures, noted for their contentious outdoor sculptures and enormous displays of fabrics and plastics. Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s huge, usually outdoor sculptures are provisional and require hundreds of subordinates in their construction. Their work look at the way viewers see them, including those who don't visit museums, these works force viewers to address questions concerning the nature of art.…
History has affected the way all of us are living our lives right now to this day. It has led to new concepts that people have adopted, new technology, and new ideas that have evolved throughout time. Early modern Europe and the scientific revolution have contributed to the development of these conditions. Events that support these conditions are the Inquisition and Galileo, Thomas Hobbes and his theory of the state of nature, and art from artists like Vermeer. Each of the previously mentioned events has brought about great advancements influencing Western civilization.…
Vermeer never really became a famous artist until his work was rediscovered and when that happened he grew and was known as one of the best artist during the Golden Age. Vermeer most likely taught himself but different scholars think he was trained by the Catholics. Throughout his life he was a part of a guild and he was even elected as the head of the guild four times.…
In an effort to describe the modernist painting, Clement Greenberg in his publication The Collected Essays and Criticism, makes simplified and exaggerated claims. Despite his best efforts, most of his assertions are shrouded in oversight and lack the necessary premises to be adjudged as an entirely objective and salient. His comments on modern art’s effects on human senses and relations with space, are one of said claims. He states: “The Old Masters created an illusion of space in depth that one could imagine oneself walking into, but the analogous illusion created by the Modernist painter can only be seen into; can be travelled through , literally or figuratively, only with the eye.” No one could argue with the first half of this assertion,…
In the 17th century the Netherlands experienced a golden age where economics, science and art flourished. As stated earlier, Rembrandt went against the positive trend in art and continued to create dark and sad pieces which indicate a personal struggle. This struggle is evidently expressed in the lighting of Rembrandt’s The Three Trees. There is a lack of humanity in this etching and where there are signs of it such as the couple fishing by the pond, there is darkness surrounding them.…
It wasn’t until my second year of college that I was truly moved by a work of art: Gustav Klimt’s Medicine. I was moved to tears, just by looking at this piece of art—I felt my world change. Up until this point, I woefully pushed myself towards the world of science to appease my strict Indian family. In accordance with my parent’s wishes, I spent my first two years of college as a Biology major, galled by the many chemical equations. However, I strayed further away from my parents’ wishes with each class.…
In the left hand side of James Ensor’s ‘Masks Confronting Death’, there is a faint image of a face that has been painted over: a feature that I had not noticed the first time I saw the painting. However, as I was living in Connecticut I had the opportunity to visit the Museum of Modern Art in New York City multiple times, and each time I was able to examine this piece in further detail. I had a similar experience when observing Claude Monet’s ‘Poplars’ in the Fitzwilliam Museum. In the central third of the oil painting is a brush hair, coated in green paint and attached within the painting. My great, great grandfather – George Bain – was a well-known artist and one of his paintings has a fine hair from one of his paintbrushes.…
Beginning in the late 18th century, a new direction was taken in the art world. Straying away from religious purposes, art became more about modernism. Modernism, defined by Clement Greenberg, focused in art is more about the medium itself rather than the illusion of scenes of reality. An example of how modernism in the visual art world contrasts from the traditional chiaroscuro and realistic scenes, can be found in the 8 ½ by 13 ft oil painting by Henri Matisse, The Dance, 1909-10.…
As human creatures with a complex nature, we sometimes experience odd feelings about the world and the reality we live in. We are skeptic about our surroundings and start questioning our existence wondering if all we know is a lie. Then, after such moments of reflection we come back to our senses and continue our daily errands without worrying too much about our previous thoughts. René Magritte is surrealist artist that makes us return to such odd feelings through his paintings, which are anything but usual. In concrete I shall analyze the painting called “The Human Condition” by the same artist, in order to explore the ‘real’ nature of object and the role of culture, convention and cognition, in human perception and apprehension of the world.…
In James Joyce’s novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, explores the different phases of his life. He grows from an innocent young boy to an independent adolescent man. Throughout his maturation, the experiences and interactions he has with the surrounding world affect his development and shape his personality. The impact strongly comes from influences, like family, religion, and people who interact with him on a daily basis. Joyce suggests not only that Stephen becomes mature through his experiences in sexuality, religion, and education, but these experiences also inspire him to redefine his world and unravel his feelings about art.…