Relief of Mourning Women - Essay Example

Art History Thesis: No matter what the nature or physics (medium) of the art piece, it is seeded in an emotion. There is no art without emotion; art itself is an expression of emotion. Egypt (Relief of Mourning Women) Relief of Mourning Women1 Limestone painted picture of this mournful funeral is from XIII dynasty (381-343 B.C.E) and is 29.0 x 34 x 3.5 cm in dimension, and goes by the title of Relief of Mourning Women. Humans are full of emotions. And it is only common to see them expressed in art form, in the form of oil painting, stone carving, gold on wood, watercolors or any form. Sitting in the Brooklyn Museum are the three mourning souls. Grief is the theme of this ancient art piece that entrances, mesmerizes the audience. Suddenly ancient Egyptian culture doesn’t seem that far away in time. It would be hard to argue that the viewer doesn’t feel the anguish of these three mourning women. Grief or mourning is a very powerful emotion and when displayed through Egyptian beauties, it has ten times the impact on the viewer. The grief for the deceased which is evident on the faces of these girls immediately radiates through the stone and leaves a saddening but lasting impression on the viewer. Funeral processions are being accompanied by mourning and loud cries in pharaoh’s Egypt. Beating one’s breast in the sorrow for the deceased was common at that time. As can be observed here; the three women are beating their breasts with their top (right) hand while clutching at the dress with the other, a heart shattering display of anguish when the mourner beats herself or pulls her hair. This Egyptian mourning is by no means a silent one. Loud cries of grief can be ‘heard’ from the open wailing mouth of the woman on the right. And the mind is a wonderful movie theater, it personifies these women and the wallowing can be heard today, after thousands of years. Movement Right to left is the apparent movement, with eyes looking straight to the front (no downward gaze of a mourner). The breast beating is being performed, (performed because apparently it’s a part of their custom and not some sudden grief that engulfed these three women) with a closed right fist. The usual beating (as apparently seen on TV) by African and Middle Eastern mourners (religious mourners) is done with an open palm, not with a closed fist. From what I can imagine is it will not be a severe beating, probably just a gesture. And the wallowing would have been performed not like a choir as only one woman in the picture has an open mouth. The limestone painting is not in the perfect state. It’s damaged from many areas. But mourners’ bare feet can be observed. An interesting thing to observe is the use of colors. It was painted originally but now the paint is hardly visible. Ancient Egyptian art paints red those people that worked in the fields and brownish for women and those that worked indoors. So probably these women must have been originally painted in light brown color. The delicacy of three wailing women is apparent by their plump figures and probably indicates their beauty (as captured by the sculpture). Wishful thinking would be to have the artist write the story of the picture underneath the limestone. Engraved or written with quill on papyrus. Who has died and left these beautiful women mourning? Was it royal blood, a pharaoh maybe? Regardless of the rank, Egyptians had so much affection for their loved ones even after death. What can be related is the fact that they believe in an afterlife (not the usual concept of heaven/hell but sometime later in a different millennium). They buried pharaohs with truckloads of treasures so when they wake from their slumber they will have plenty to live their second incarnation. Action Mourning is the only apparent action here, which is being performed in unison, like a social activity. There is no bodily interaction between the three women however they are still connected. Tied to the same chain of sorrow and mourning brings them together. Their action of willowing makes them a unit, a part of something other than their selves. The dark ominous shadows of death can be felt from their faces. And it’s no wonder that crisis sometimes unites people. When they forget their self-misery or banal trivial matters that so indulge the human soul and they join the army that fights the crisis by standing together. Social circles are not formed on individual needs, they are formed on collective grounds, sharing of glory, sharing of pain and sorrow. Social relations Women of Egyptian era from 400-300 BC had close associations with each other, they were usually harem girls, just like far eastern culture of China and Japan. Pharaohs had several mistresses, so if it’s the mourning of a pharaoh’s death then there is a chance that these three women are wives or mistresses. But they are mourning together, an emotion that unites them. It is easy to suck on someone’s happy moments and joys but it is hard to sob for someone for their misery. Roman (Wedding Procession) Wedding Procession2 The medium is oil on canvas and the painting dates 1872-1875. On the right bottom corner, signature reads Elihu Vedder Rome 1875 and has on official title, Wedding Procession. Dimensions; 46 x 149.4 cm, an oil painting in horizontal stretch mode. Fast-forward to 19th century, the medium and technique changes but the same factor that connects all the art pieces in the world, the expression of emotion is found here. Here is an oil painting of a Roman wedding procession. And viewer immediately feels a happy vibe about this painting, merry making at its best in classical roman atmosphere. Contradictory to the sad picture from Egypt (earlier), this is the exact opposite of social activity, a wedding processing. This is a singing dancing caravan, happily on their way. Movement Flutists and violinist lead the procession in the painting, followed by little dancing girls. These tiny angles look so absorbed in the dancing that they appear to have forgotten about the bride and groom. The viewer can spend all the time in observing the dancing girls, simply beautiful depiction of joyous expressions. Vedder painted them so well that it would be like missing an elephant if someone doesn’t see them dancing in their head after gazing at the painting. Their frocks are dancing, their faces beam with joy, they are living in that moment, so carefree so innocent. The flower in the dancing girl’s hand seems as if it will leave her hand any moment, and fall at the bride’s feet. Here comes the social factor; the expression on bride’s face, so gallant as if living in the pretense of ignorance or indifference. As if luring the groom to impress her and win her heart every time he looks at her. The groom equally desires her and the expression on his face tells the story. He simply seems to adore his prize, this romance is the cherry on top of the Roman social dish. Another emotional star clicked by the painter. The wedding procession is marching toward an unknown destiny, but the journey seems to be no less rewarding. The procession appears an active group of delighted individuals, as if all are a part of something beautiful, something glorious. It is simply a waste to ignore the essence of this painting. It is not the oil, or the canvas or the dress that puts life in such artwork, it is the art and skill of capturing emotions that truly makes them a living art. Back to the movement in the painting; no one is as elegant as the bride. The rest seem to be moving in haste with natural body motion, whereas the bride is taking her time. Probably adoring the attention a Roman bride gets when getting married. For that moment (at least) the earth revolves around her. Social dynamics of such procession speak volumes of how marriages were seen in the Roman culture. Action The dancing girls exhibit the most vibrant action in the painting. It overshadows much larger figures of adults. Dancing vs. walking of the procession, the dance leaves no chance for the ‘walk’ to dominate the picture. Probably the strongest emotion always wins. And who can miss the band leading the procession? In fact the dancing girls and the band complement each other. They enforce, give each other energy. It is as if the start of the painting (from right) is high voltage joy, followed by mixed emotions of bride and groom (bride and groom’s expression certainly don’t complement each other, they are quite the opposite), and then people in the middle of the procession busy in their talk (probably checking if everyone’s here). And in the end, the person looks for someone which is out of the frame. Social Relation The Egyptian Mourning Women and Roman Wedding Procession are starkly different at the. It is amazing to see that people get so sad that beauties of Egypt suddenly become breast beating destitute at departing of a loved one, on the other hand the union of two souls (a Roman marriage) brings joy to the faces of companions, a yin yang thing maybe; the balance of nature. It would be very difficult to find something similar in between the Egyptian sculpture and the Wedding Procession. Even the actions are opposite; high pitched wallowing vs. the delicious sounds of the violin and flute, however the emotion-capture is common, not only in these two art pieces but in all the art of the world. Sources Vedder, E. (n.d.). Wedding procession. Retrieved from http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/158/Wedding_Procession Brooklyn Museum (n.d.). Relief of mourning women. Retrieved from http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/4309/Relief_of_Mourning_Women Read More