Short Essays in Art - Assignment Example

Please choose 8 of the following questions and write a little more then half a page on each question you choose. If you feel like you can answer the question in less that’s fine too. 1. Read the questions. 1. Take time to organize your thoughts. 1. Write each essay. Be sure to address the entire question(s). 1. Reread and edit your work. 5. Write in full sentences. Good Luck! 1) Francisco de Goya Édouard Manet The Third of May, 1808 The Execution Of Emperor 1814 Maximilian of Mexico 1867 Discuss the influences of war and modernization evident in the above works. What historical event is depicted in each work? What do these images suggest about each artists response to the referenced events and the social political forces behind them? How do these works reflect an evolution in the depiction of reality? Be sure to consider these works within the larger context of history painting. How are these work representative of the artistic movements with which each artist is associated? How do these images compare and contrast with images of war produced later, such as Otto Dix’s The Trenches (1923)? The Third of May, 1808 by Francisco de Goya depicts an event in history where the Spanish resisted Napoleon’s forces, but were not successful in their attempt. The painting shows a massacre, the emotions of the members of the group being killed clearly on their faces and the nature of the soldiers activated and engaged the tension thick within the work. Goya is obviously in sympathy with his countrymen, almost making the soldiers without individuality and generic. The piece The Execution of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, 1867 by Manet is a bit different in that the Mexican soldiers are more relaxed in their duties, their confidence in their victory without providing a villainous connotation which can be seen in the piece by Goya. Despite the fact that Maximilian was French, as was Manet, the piece seems to suggest some justification, the focus not on the man about to be assassinated, but on the soldiers. Where Goya focuses on the victims, Manet focuses on the victors. The piece by Goya represents a distinct shift in the nature of painting, the subject matter relevant to current events of the time and not to religious iconic subjects or portraiture. The realism gives way to the emotions of the piece, the expressiveness also a departure. Manet creates a realism that is associated with the events of his day, similar to Goya, although there is evidence of the emergence of Impressionism that will soon come to be the school of thought on painting. In comparison to the work by Otto Dix, these paintings provide the same type of commentary on war, but with more realism and emotional content, but with out the concept of satire that can be seen in the work by Dix. 2) Gustave Courbet                                      Edouard Manet The Stone Breakers                                        Olympia 1848-1850                                                        1863 Compare and contrast Courbet’s and Manet’s depiction of laborers. How do these representations correspond to each artist’s social status and political point of view? How do their respective views tie into the larger socio-political circumstances of the period, including the French Revolution of 1848 and the Haussmannization of Paris (1852-1870)? How did Haussmannization effect male and female laborers and spectators differently? You may want to consider these two images in relation to Caillebotte’s Floor Scapers (1875). The two depictions of laborers through the work of Courbet and Manet are very different in scope and social setting. The laborers in the Courbet piece, The Stone Breakers (1848-1850) are laborers in the field, the reflection of his background as having been raised in a farming family evident in his depiction of labor. The Manet piece, Olympia (1863) shows a woman servant, her job doting on the subject of the piece and presenting a very different version of work. Where the laborers of Courbet are creating and achieving, the Manet piece reflects an indulgence and luxury. Manet’s family was financially wealthy, thus his exposure to servants may have been different than Courbet, although his family undoubtedly had them as well. Manet lived an urban life where Courbet lived a rural life during his youth. The French Revolution of 1848 was about work and labor, thus allowing for the paintings to provide context for the political aesthetics and issues of the time period. Paris was being built to reflect less of an indulgence and more of the socially relevant economic problems of the time, thus these paintings contribute to that discourse, even in the more indulgent nature of Manet’s work. In comparison to Caillebotte’s Floor Scapers (1875), the pieces are less activated, where Caillebotte’s view of labor was much more intensely positioned. The workers are engaging in hard labor, where the work of Courbet and Manet do not show this same activation. 3) Umberto Boccioni Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Unique Forms of Continuity in Space The Street 1913                                                                    1914 Discuss the impact of urban industrialization on early twentieth century art. How did developments in science and technology influence EACH artists choice of subject matter and technique? Be sure to address the respective artistic movements with which each artist is associated and their views on urban and technological devlopments. What impact did urban industrialization have on the artistic treatment of the human figure? In discussing urban industrialization, the work of Umberto Boccioni and Ernst Ludwig Kirschner provides context for the changes that were being experienced at the turn of the 20th century. The Street (1914) uses a flattened perspective to engage the industrial dialogue, where Kirschner provides a textural material discourse to the topic of industrialization. The abstraction of the human figure in Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913) suggests a melding of the industrial with the organic, while the abstractions and recreations through the use of color in the piece by Kirschner provides for a commentary on the plastic nature of industrialization. Urban industrialization created a sense of alienation which is depicted in The Street (1914). Boccioni has created a sculture that is actively engaged, physical and emotional tension created within his use of ‘dynamism’ where as Kirschner defines his position in the movement of Expressionism in his work. 4) Claude Monet Paul Cézanne The Tuileries Mont Sainte-Victoire Seen from Les Lauves 1876 1902-06 How did each artist use painting style, color, texture, composition, point-of-view, etc. to convey particular ideas about the landscape? Be sure to include in your discussion a description of the work itself and the formal relationship between the works. Be sure to address the different ways each artist represents the landscape, highlighting the transition from Impressionism to the more abstracted modern forms, which announce Cubism. The style of both The Tuileries (1876) and Mont Sainte-Victoire Seen from Les Lauves (1902-06) are similar from a distance as the coloration is very similar and the pulled back landscape style view is also similar, but the painting styles are different with Cezanne using a longer stroke, with Monet’s work having more control. Both works are positioned within history previous to cubism, their sense of abstraction beginning the nature of cubism as it further takes apart the subject matter. Where Impressionism uses color in small strokes to create the impression of the subject, cubism took this abstracted school of thought and geometrically dissected subject matter. The landscapes both reveal the softened and almost ‘mushy’ look of the landscape, the details less important than the overall composition. Where the Monet piece is rendered in cool colors, the Cezanne piece reveals more of a warmer tone with the use of more yellow with the green and creating a sense of naturalism. 5) Pablo Picasso Paul Gauguin Les Demoiselles D’Avignon The Spirit of the Dead Watching 1907 1892 What are some of the socio-political, economic, and artistic reasons for the introduction of non-Western art forms and influences into art at this time? Define the Primitivist impulse and discuss its appeal during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. What historical events contributed to the artists’ understanding of and attitudes towards these cultures? How does the use of the female subject compare and contrast with previous representations of women? Discuss the growing urbanization of the modern European city during 1850-1914. What are some of the key historical-economical factors that shaped this process? How did artists react to the changing urban space and how does that reaction manifest itself in the themes and styles of their works? Support your essay with 3-5 examples (identify them by name of artist and title) from three separate artistic movements (styles). Possible themes to consider include: a), artist’s construction of social spaces (interaction of class and gender); b), artist’s relationship to viewer; c), artist’s point of view; d), artist’s attitude toward city life. The modern European city during the period between 1850-1914 was developed as the weight of feudalism was lifted and the growth of commerce began to create new levels of social class and disposable income. With the growth of industry and the move towards work and away from the feudal lifestyle came new technologies that were making changing to life and society at a quickened pace. As the space of life changed, the commentary that artists made about those changes were emerging. Events such as the French Revolution of 1948 was changing the nature of society in Europe, providing new inspirations. One of the more profound concepts was the change of the thematic focus on religious ideas towards a more secular approach to art. In this change, meaning began to emerge as the central focus above technique. Examples of work that expressed the changes in society can be seen in the Impressionists, the pointillism of George Seurat in his Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884-1886) provides for new technique, while commentary on the changing nature of leisure, class interaction, and gender can be seen within the work. The social space that is created provides a great deal of room for multiple levels of commentary. Paul Gauguin, as exampled in his The Seed of Areoi (1892), provides context for a sense of ‘otherness’ that emerged, looking beyond the boundaries of Europe to understand a greater global culture in which differences were appreciated. The commentary also relates to the social classes and the contrasts between Europe and Tahiti. Transitions between the period of 1850-1914 can be seen in the work of Wassily Kandinsky, whose pieces pre 1913 show aesthetics that are more related to pointillism and Fauvism, but shifted with the work Composition VII (1913) which was a complex work that would lead him towards even greater works of abstraction which led to the plastic arts. Jean-Francois Millet Edgar Degas The Gleaners Two Laundresses 1857 1884 Discuss the representation of labor in these two works. How are the subjects portrayed, and how are the artists’ own views and status reflected? How did the socio-political factors mold the artists’ choice of subject matter and style? Include the representation of gender in your discussion. The Gleaners (1857) by Millet shows women in the field, their backs bent as they engage in their work activities. Labor is seen as meticulous and tedious, the women picking through the field for what they are intending to find. Edgar Degas shows a more domestic setting, the women engaged in doing the laundry, presumably of a larger household. The emotional context of the work is shown for its tedium as well, although the work is seen as being done at a less activated pace. The time period provides for revelations that are concerned with social class, the rebuilding of the right to work still being considered in France at this time. The subject of work was a topic of modern interest of the time period, these depictions suggesting the dichotomy of the need for the revolutionary terms to be met as people were being given rights on the labor front, in contrast to the nature of work and the tedium that can accompany the process. In revealing women, both artists show no sense of elegance or traditional beauty and they are represented without a sexual component. They are shown to be more rough than an upper class woman, the nature of labor being defined in the bodily form of the women in both pieces. Pablo Picasso Marcel Duchamp Still Life with Chair Caning Fountain 1911-2 1917 Discuss how these two works are characteristic of the early modern art movements of the twentieth century. How do these works differ from and how do they respond to previous art traditions? What historical factors might these works be connected to? Be sure to include in your discussion a description of the work itself and the formal relationship between the works. Fountain (1917) by Duchamp is a piece that is part of the readymades, the use of found object that had been manufactured a part of the discourse on industrialization. This represents his period of association with the Dadaists, the work part of the anti-art nature of the movement. The piece is a urinal, the contrasting purposes of the work creating commentary on the nature of the changing world as it was on the cusp of industrialization that was transforming the nature of culture and society. Craftsmanship was being abandoned in favor of mass production, this piece representing the lack of aesthetics that this brought to the world. Picasso’s Still Life with Chair Caning (1911-1912) reveals a new form of cubism as it begins to emerge. Synthetic Cubism refers to the idea of putting several objects together in a composition, rather than tearing an object apart and reassembling it as was shown in Analytical Cubism. Picasso created a work that used oil cloth embedded to resemble chair caning, a combination of several objects, put into an oval with rope trimming the piece. Francisco de Goya Otto Dix The Third of May, 1808 The Trenches 1814 1923 Discuss how these two artists reacted to modern warfare in their respective eras, and how they conveyed their responses through the chosen subjects/themes, composition and style. Primitivism: Relevant to these works is the dissatisfaction with modern, urban life and the recourse to “simpler, primitive” cultures for inspiration. Goya provides an emotional expression of the event of war during his time, a piece that suggests that he witnessed the events, although this has been under dispute and it is more likely that he only heard about the events than witnessed them. Still, he was engaged with the emotions of the political environment and expressed his feelings clearly through the dynamic emotions that can be appreciated within his work. Otto Dix created work that held a sarcasm about the nature of war, taking it seriously, but at the same time providing a commentary on how it is a ridiculous state of human engagement. The theme of his work provides context for his satire, the nature of war discussed within the work, more than just the events that it portrays. Where Goya uses heightened emotions, Dix evokes a visceral response. Read More