The Role of Art in Human History - Essay Example

Art Museum Paper The role of art in the human history is often established and the progress of human civilization is closely linked to the development of art. The value of art in human life and society has always been recognized and the preservation of art attained great significance in the human history. The aesthetic experience provided by art pieces underlines the great role of art in human life. The value of an art museum may be realized in terms of the great experience that a human being attains in enjoying art pieces preserved and maintained as the heritage of humanity. My recent experience of visiting the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), one of the prominent art museums in Los Angeles, may be explained in this connection. It is the most significant and largest encyclopedic art museum in the region. Situated on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angels, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has a number of great art pieces which attract people all over the world. The art museum is a storehouse of American art, ancient Islamic art, South and Southeast Asian art, Chinese and Korean art, Japanese art, modern and contemporary art, European painting and sculpture, photography, prints etc. However, it was one of the chief art pieces in the Modern Art Collection which caught my particular attention. It was 'Weeping Woman with Handkerchief' (1937) by Pablo Picasso which made me reflect on the significance of art on human world. To introduce the great art piece that won my interest, 'Weeping Woman with Handkerchief' an elegant example of the modern art especially the art by Picasso. The piece is a painting, oil on canvas. I found the luxurious piece ready for public view in Ahmanson Building 2nd Floor and the gallery display of the piece kept on changing from time to time. I approached the piece with an expectation of how it demonstrated Picasso's work in general as well as how it expressed the artist's personal life. The view of the magnificent work by Picasso has been one of my dreams for a long time and the beauty of the sight helped me appreciate the power of modern art. The size of the piece is 21 x 17 1/2 in. (53.34 x 44.45 cm). It was gifted to the museum by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Mitchell and every one who comes to enjoy the beauty of the art recognizes the value of the gift. The piece remains one of the permanent examples of beautiful interpretive art and it remains a decoration to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The beauty of the piece is mainly because of the physical agony evident in the face of the lady in the picture. It is the emotional elements of the piece which attracted me more. The exploration of the main themes of the stylistic period which was noted for Cubism, Neoclassicism, and Surrealism, etc was the major concern of Pablo Picasso and it is evidently visible in the piece 'Weeping Woman with Handkerchief'. The art piece with tears all over her face is a symbol of despondency. The woman in the piece, adorned with the traditional matronly mantilla, is the manifestation of Spanish womanhood and she articulated the artist's public as well as private distress. "She was the victim of war, the grieving mother, the terrified peasant, the stunned survivor; but more specifically, she was a portrait of his lover, the artist-photographer Dora Maar, one in a long line of Picasso's muses." (Highlight from the Modern Art Collection) The dramatic relationships of the artist with women reveal the meaning of the metaphors he used in the art in order to convey the amount of his feelings over events in Spain. The symbolic elements of the pieces of art are often considered significant and as remarked before the main symbol of the piece 'Weeping Woman with Handkerchief' is the face of the woman expressing misery. It is a representation of Picasso's inner torment due to the horrendous images of the massacres in the Spanish Civil War. There is a strong political and social message that the art piece demonstrates. The artist's empathy for his lover and partner Dora also represents Picasso message against Fascism. Dora, who is the model of the piece, is represented as an impassioned political accomplice infuriated by Fascism. The majestic piece of 'Weeping Woman with Handkerchief' is "deeply committed to conveying a powerful, universal message condemning war. Dora willingly submits her features to be brutally distorted and deconstructed by Picasso who contorts her beauty into a harsh ugliness to arouse raw human emotions of anguish, compassion and despair." (A Journey through the Exhibition) Therefore, the value of the art for the entire world is evident and its disturbing images illustrate the modern situation of human beings suffering from the pain of war. Another level of interpretation of the piece relates the symbol of the weeping woman to the Christian motif of the grief stricken Virgin Mary mourning the dead Jesus Christ. The color and technique of the piece help the effective representation of the themes of the artist. There is deep intensity of the expression in the eyes of the woman. The sharp surface of the picture leading to the jagged black lines to the centre "her mouth and chin, where the flesh seems to have been peeled away by corrosive tears to reveal hard white bone." (Weeping Woman by Pablo Picasso) Her handkerchief seems to be a piece of glass and her eyes are black apertures. Any person who is inside the picture feels like being inside pain. One feels as if the picture hits him like a blow in the stomach and the power of the piece is great. Significantly, "the theme of the eye staring out of its socket preoccupied the Surrealists and both Dora and Picasso used it in their work as a symbol of awkward pain." (A Journey through the Exhibition) The 'Weeping Woman with Handkerchief' is an example of art in assisting human beings to find meaning to various activities. The illustration of the woman, who is greatly close to the artist at the turbulent time of his life due to the involvement with politics, suggests how the art can represent the uncovered realities of human experience. "This painting takes such associations and chews them to pulp. It is about the violence that we feel when we look at it, about translating the rawest human emotion into paint." (Weeping Woman by Pablo Picasso) My experience of visiting the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has had significant impact on my appreciation of art. I began to realize the power of modern art and appreciate the artistic expressions of the human realities. Therefore, the power of art in influencing human thinking and reforming the society is evident from my experience of viewing 'Weeping Woman with Handkerchief' by Picasso at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Works Cited Highlight from the Modern Art Collection. Modern Art. LACMA collections online. . A Journey through the Exhibition. Weeping Woman Series. Education Resource Picasso: Love & War 1935 - 1945. National Gallery of Victoria. 27 Sept. 2008. . Weeping Woman by Pablo Picasso (1937). 27 Sept. 2008. . Read More