4. Motifs, images and devices
a. In time following in suit of Asher’s painting his great masterpiece, The Brooklyn Crucifixion II, Asher near instantaneously notes how this painting will cause his mother even more anguish. As Asher elaborates on his reasoning for creating such a piece of artwork he blatantly states among them, “For all the anguish this picture of pain will cause you” (Potok, 229). Asher knows already he cannot keep such raw emotion contained. He cannot burn this piece of work for fear of ignoring his own feelings and the feelings of his mother, and if he did attempt to he would become an “artistic whore”. This simple sentence, already foreshadows the sure to come torment Asher will unleash upon his mother by displaying the artwork for any eyes to lay …show more content…
The moments following Asher’s finishing of The Brooklyn Crucifixion II, was one already implying the devastation the painting will cause for Rivkeh.
b. Stepping back from his art work, Asher describes the pain he has depicted in the crucifixion of his mother, by noting, “I split my mother’s head into balance, segments, one looking at me, one looking as my father, one looking upward” (Potok, 329). This was a fascinating addition to the painting, for it represents how torn his mother was between her son, her husband and her call to duty to finish her brother’s work. How it was not merely the pain of waiting which mounted her onto the cross, but the additional anguish of being sliced into three parts for the sake of attempting to remain united with each of the three. Mentally, I cannot imagine any other way Asher would have painted such an epitome of anguish, without somehow connecting it to his fixation on Picasso’s Guernica (Guernica, Picasso). In Picasso’s work, he drew the eyes of the people, twisted and elongated so as to mimic Massacre of the Innocents by Guido Reni (Reni). Asher saw this distortion of the eyes in
a. In time following in suit of Asher’s painting his great masterpiece, The Brooklyn Crucifixion II, Asher near instantaneously notes how this painting will cause his mother even more anguish. As Asher elaborates on his reasoning for creating such a piece of artwork he blatantly states among them, “For all the anguish this picture of pain will cause you” (Potok, 229). Asher knows already he cannot keep such raw emotion contained. He cannot burn this piece of work for fear of ignoring his own feelings and the feelings of his mother, and if he did attempt to he would become an “artistic whore”. This simple sentence, already foreshadows the sure to come torment Asher will unleash upon his mother by displaying the artwork for any eyes to lay …show more content…
The moments following Asher’s finishing of The Brooklyn Crucifixion II, was one already implying the devastation the painting will cause for Rivkeh.
b. Stepping back from his art work, Asher describes the pain he has depicted in the crucifixion of his mother, by noting, “I split my mother’s head into balance, segments, one looking at me, one looking as my father, one looking upward” (Potok, 329). This was a fascinating addition to the painting, for it represents how torn his mother was between her son, her husband and her call to duty to finish her brother’s work. How it was not merely the pain of waiting which mounted her onto the cross, but the additional anguish of being sliced into three parts for the sake of attempting to remain united with each of the three. Mentally, I cannot imagine any other way Asher would have painted such an epitome of anguish, without somehow connecting it to his fixation on Picasso’s Guernica (Guernica, Picasso). In Picasso’s work, he drew the eyes of the people, twisted and elongated so as to mimic Massacre of the Innocents by Guido Reni (Reni). Asher saw this distortion of the eyes in