A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

In the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Dorian Gray, a handsome young man, has his portrait painted by Basil Hallward, a respected artist among the community. When realizes his beauty is only going to last for so long, he expresses out loud how he wishes it was the painting that ages instead of him. When he learns that his wish has become true, his actions become more sinister and his morals lose their importance. Dorian Gray is a dynamic character that goes through several…

indication of mystery in excellence or God; it is a diversion in which man lets off an overabundance of steam [stored energy]; otherwise it is the outflow of feelings by man’s psyche, and most of all; it is pleasure; however, considering everything, it is a method of social unity amongst mankind; consoling them in similar feelings and forever extending the shared common visual language of the world. Through new visual ideas introduced by artists, categories of styles are borrowed and begin to…

Inside a busy city there lays a large portrait, housed within a museum of modern art. To the untrained eye, there is nothing particularly extraordinary about it, but experts claim it is worth millions. All the while, in the outskirts of the city, a gorgeous, sprawling mural covers the side of an abandoned building, catching the attention of everyone who catches sight of it, yet it is labeled as vandalism, as mere graffiti. What is the role of art in our modern society, and what is the true…

The artist of this painting is Fritz Scholder, a ¼ Native American Luiseno born in Breckenridge, Minnesota. Always being interested in art, Scholder spent his childhood drawing and using his imagination (Fritz Scholder: Indian not Indian). Being a fourth generation American having no Indian objects around the house or anyone to teach him about his heritage, Fritz did not grow up considering himself an Indian. (Fritz Scholder: Indian not Indian). From a young age, he was not proud of being…

René Magritte is a surrealist artist who has produced a reputation for his “clever and intriguing imagery” using basic designs and ordinary symbolism. Maybe viewers for the most part got caught by his The Son of Man painting, but may not know the painter by name. Rather would recognize the iconic painting and the repetitive topic and theme in another depiction by this artist. There's considerably more to know about Magritte and how the painting fits into his works as a whole. René François…

reflected the vibrancy and individuality of the world around her. I was immediately drawn to Arbus as an artist after reading Aperture’s collection of her notes; her desire to understand the “folkloric” and psychological facets of contemporary society is one with which I deeply empathize. After becoming enamored with Arbus’s philosophy, appreciating her contributions to street and portrait photography was natural. Studying the various methods and styles through…

The New Negro Movement “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything” (George Bernard Shaw). Change is a powerful thing. The Harlem Renaissance had a major impact on the Civil Rights Movement. The Harlem Renaissance was an African-American cultural movement that began after World War I, in the early 1920s. It was centered in Harlem, New York. It was led by African-American activists, writers, poetics and athletes. The Harlem Renaissance…

man’s genitals with a fig leaf that could be taken on and off. The reason for doing so was simple: they didn’t want to offend modern society’s standards about what was “appropriate” for the public. After all, the man was completely nude – this could offend not only families, but also young children, men, and the…

of years, it has skyrocketed into normality around the world, especially in America. There is evidence of tattooing from centuries ago, specifically more than 5,000 years ago. In 1991, a frozen man was recovered in the Alps that would change history. Ötzi the Iceman is “the most famous tattooed ancient man” in history (Lobell and Powell 1). They discovered that Ötzi’s body contained over fifty tattoos that covered his skin, becoming one of the best preserved human remains found with evidence of…

Painting is dead. The notion that painting is an outdated and irrelevant medium today has come up in recent years in the art world. Move over painting, it’s the era of installation, video and sculpture. No one proves this statement wrong more so than Jenny Saville. Throughout this essay I will be taking a look at Jenny Saville and one of her earliest yet most stirring pieces - Branded. This is a painting notable for both its brave and outrageous subject matter and its sophisticated technique.…