Journal Entries: American Industrial Revolution - Essay Example

Journal Entries As America faced the tremendous changes that were brought forward during the IndustrialRevolution, they began to reject the understandings of the past and the idealized visions of artists and writers up to this point. There was a new insistence, brought about partially as a result of the new inventions of the age, such as the invention of photography, which was perceived to be the only means by which the real could be captured in image form. Since its invention, photography has been hailed by the masses as one of the best means of bringing the rest of the world to the public, affording them views of far-away places and peoples they would never have known about otherwise. Because the images depicted had to exist in real time and space at some point in conjunction with the camera, photographs were believed to represent the real separate from the filtering lens of the artist’s vision or talent of his brush. In its earliest forms, due perhaps in large part to the fact that exposure times were lengthy as the technology was in its infancy, photography was used as a narrative form, but even this early in its history, technological developments were allowing for more creative expression than simply recording the ‘truthful’ image. Even at its earliest point in development, photographers had the option of establishing their shot, choosing what to include and what to leave out. The length of exposure time required in the first cameras also created a necessity for this sort of established image, introducing ghostly photographic effects when this wasn’t strictly adhered and thus indicating the degree to which photography could deviate from the ‘real’ as it was at the time. At no point in its history can photography be said to have been limited to merely ‘true’ forms of capturing images. Despite this, American Realism continued to attempt to find new means of portraying the actual, the true, and the real as it was experienced in every day contemporary life. The Impressionist painters are typically associated with scenes of nature and explorations of how to depict the changing light of the moment. However, these painters did not focus all of their attention on the scenes of nature alone because the primary focus of their art was in capturing the emotional impressions of the moment as it was externally presented to the artist/viewer. In doing this, the Impressionist artists managed to realize, at about the same time that photography was proving them correct, that we don’t see every detail in the scenes that confront us, but instead manage to get an impression of the view through the basic shapes, colors and play of light that catch at the edge of our vision. The Post-Impressionists took this one step further and added personal visual emotional reaction to their art. Artists such as Vincent van Gogh and Edvard Munch deliberately exaggerated the types of Impressionistic distortions evidenced in the paintings of artists such as Monet in order to highlight their emotional reactions to the subject matter being depicted. Van Gogh utilized heavy impasto in his paintings to give the paint itself a means of expressing these emotional reactions while he deliberately exaggerated color contrasts to further highlight the emotional content. Munch also exaggerated elements of his paintings, such as the distortions seen in the head and landscape lines of “The Scream” as a means of focusing upon the emotional impact of the moment being depicted rather than the actual visual scene. In attempting to refocus the attention of art from the external world of impressions to the internal world of experience, Expressionism also represented a fundamental shift in artistic direction by turning its back on the natural forms of nature. Expressionists sought freedom from the rigidly defined traditional symbols of the classic art schools and searched for new means of expression through primitive or highly mechanistic forms, which led to movements such as cubism, which depended largely upon the geometric basic shapes of forms as a means of depicting discernible images reminiscent of the real and intended to suggest internal emotional response. The Sydney Opera House is an unusual construction of the 20th century. Built on a prominent peninsula, the opera house appears like a ship of billowing sails in the center of the harbor. The focus of this building is different from most buildings in that it contains very little in the way of exterior decoration, focus on windows or architectural features such as columns or pediments. Instead, the focus of the building is on the roofs, which slope from a high point down in graceful curves like layered orange wedges. The curved edges of the building keep the viewer’s eye in constant upward motion, reinforcing the uplifting ideas that were the foundation of the building’s design. Created to house artistic achievements of the community, the opera house is also an example of new materials and new methods of working with them to create something that has never been seen before. The shells that comprise the roofs of the building are faced with specially made glazed tiles in shades of white and cream. Although this color difference is not truly discernable by the observer, who tends to see the buildings as completely monotone white, the variations in shadings provide the building with the illusion of motion as sunlight reflects differently off of the various surfaces, again suggesting the idea of large sails in continuous motion. Even as the building suggests the future in its uplifting architectural structure, it also serves to suggest the past in the form of the sailing vessels that brought Europeans to the continent in the past and commemorates the location at which these settlers and the native people of the region first met, on the point where the building is now constructed. It is an amazing building that defies simple description and has thus far defied repetition. Greatly concerned with the direction our society has taken, 20th century sculptors such as Tom Otterness have created sculptures that often have something biting to say about the modern world. Although friendly, approachable and often displaying a great sense of fun, most of the sculptures created by Otterness speak with a negative voice about the Western world’s overwhelming preoccupation with money and the effect this has had. This concern is reflected even in his work designed for a children’s playground in Battery Park entitled “The Real World.” Installed in 1992, “The Real World” is envisioned as a map of the world beyond the playground, exposed for what it really is – a bunch of pint-sized individuals running around chasing after the penny that looms ever-large in their perspective, blinding them to other pursuits. Each of the characters portrayed within the park are designed to bring delight and enjoyment to the children who visit, but make serious social comments to the parents watching their children play in a series of vignettes found in areas such as the group of figures entitled “The Food Chain.” The food chain consists of a series of small bronze sculptures that follow a familiar pattern. An almost friendly-looking bulldog stands in erect attention with all of his concentration focused on a cat crouching on a nearby wall. His stillness is explained by the formidable chain strapped around his neck and attached with a lobster-claw catch around the base of a drinking fountain. The flat back of the dog serves as a handy stepping stool for small children wishing to get a drink while it also emphasizes man’s superiority over the other creatures and his position at the top of the food chain. The cat, crouched low and ready on the wall, is equally absorbed in the contemplation of a small, geometrically composed bird perched at the corner, inching his way closer to a fatly wriggling worm just ahead of him. The worm is being held up by one of Otterness’ Lilliputian figures, who often serve to represent the common man too often overlooked in the capitalist society. One form of ancient Chinese art that has captured the attention of the modern world is the Buddhist mandala. Within the Western world, a mandala is broadly defined as a circular geometric design that is intended to symbolize the various interactions of the universe. Traditionally, the starting point of a mandala is a dot to be placed at the center as the seed of the universe or the starting point. From this starting dot, the outward circle takes shape, breaking down the boundaries between the subject and the object and becoming associated with a deity. Surrounding this circle, traditional mandalas incorporate an outer square, representing the four directions that confine the physical world. The creation of the mandala is itself seen as a form of worship. In keeping with the origin of the art form, the mandalas created by monks are strongly illustrative examples of the teachings of the Buddha and all images are focused upon the center. The center typically contains the deity to whom the mandala is consecrated which traditionally takes one of three forms. These are peaceful deities focused on spiritual experience, wisdom or courage and strength in the pursuit of sacred knowledge; wrathful deities who take on inner afflictions that block passage to enlightenment; and sexual imagery that strives to accept the inner oppositions and achieve a sense of interconnectedness with all things. Color also plays an important role in the traditional mandala as each color is associated with one of the five delusions of human nature: white – the delusion of ignorance becomes the wisdom of reality, yellow – the delusion of pride becomes the wisdom of sameness, red – the delusion of attachment becomes the wisdom of discernment, green – the delusion of jealousy becomes the wisdom of accomplishment, and dark blue – the delusion of anger become the mirror like wisdom. Finally, a traditional mandala is frequently made with colored sand, to emphasize the impermanence of physical reality and the transience of nature. To me, the mandala seems to represent all that is amazing about Chinese art. It seems so simple and straightforward, but every element of the image contains layers of meanings and nuances of symbolism that require great study to appreciate and understand. Read More