For my finale blog I wanted to look at Mexican Art. I have always admired Mexican art for it’s use of bold and bright colors.

This piece was created by Frida Kahlo called “self- Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, this is an oil painting that was created in 1940. Frida Kahlo is considered one of Mexico’s greatest artist. In this piece you can see so much detail and hidden messages. On the left side of Frida you can see the monkey behind her holding the thorns up agents her neck. Then when you look at the right side you see a black cat looking over her shoulder. Below Frida’s calm expression you can see a bird hanging from the thorns around her neck. What I really love about this work of art is the detail and symbolism that is presented in this painting. ” A bird is often symbolize freedom and life. Especially hummingbird which is colorful and always hovering above flowers. But in this painting the humming bird is black and lifeless. This might be a symbol of Frida herself. ”

This next piece is called “Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Central Park” and was created around 1946 by Diego Rivera. The Alameda Park, was Mexico City’s first city park. “The large mural represents three principal eras of Mexican History: The Conquest, The Porfiriato Dictatorship, and The Revolution of 1910”. What I like about this piece is how colorful it is. If you look at this piece from left to right you can see in chronological order you can see some of Mexico’s prominent figures from history.

This finale work of art is by the artist Rufino Tamayo titled “Tres Personajes” and was created around 1970. This piece is an “abstract depiction of a man, a woman and an androgynous figure in a rich palette of purple, orange and yellow, with Tamayo’s signature rough surface texture, made of sand and ground marble dust mixed into the paint”. I really like this piece because of the use of color as well as the texture used. I am not usually a huge fan of abstract paintings but I do enjoy this one.

Works Cited:

“Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park.” Diego Rivera, http://www.diegorivera.org/dream-of-a-sunday-afternoon-in-alameda-park.jsp.

“Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, 1940.” Henri Matisse, http://www.fridakahlo.org/self-portrait-with-thorn-necklace-and-hummingbird.jsp.

“Tres Personajes.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 July 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tres_Personajes.

In this blog post you will see works of art from the Mid Modern area that are centered around the Civil Rights Movement.

This first work of art is called “Soldiers and Students ” and is a watercolor piece that was created by Jacob Lawrence around the time of 1917-2000. Jacob Lawrence was an African American painter known for his depiction of African American life. I choose this piece at first because of the use of color and how it is used in this piece. I like how the color used does not take away from the message Lawrence is trying to get across. This piece shows “three armed guards and several protesters block a group of African American students from entering a schoolhouse.” Lawrence uses color and lines to create the outline of people in this work of art.

This piece is was also created Jacob Lawrence titled “Bar and Grill” in 1941. This piece is set in New Orleans where you can see the difference in treatment between African Americans and Whites. When you look at the piece you can see a wall the divides the room, this was during the time when the Jim crow laws were in place. When you look closer at this work of art you can see the difference in treatment. On the left side you can see there is a bar tender, a fan to keep them cool. On the right side there is no ceiling fan or an attentive bar tender. You can feel the frustration and anger from this piece from the artist. Lawrence lived through this time period and being n African American he dealt with a lot of the issues you see portrayed in his works.

This next piece was created by Norman Rockwell titled “New Kids in the Neighborhood” around the time of 1967. In this work of art you can see that a new family is moving into the neighborhood and the kids are meeting other kids from the neighborhood. Soon the kids will be playing together. If you look closely you can see someone peaking through the window looking at the children. This gives the idea that the adults may not be to happy with the new neighbors and may also have an issue with the children playing together. When looking at this piece really one element comes to mind, texture. No matter were you look, the grass, the clothes on the children, the chair in the yard or even the moving truck it all has such realistic texture! Texture is one of my favorite elements because of how life like it makes a picture.

Looking at another work of art from Normal Rockwell, this piece is titled “The Problems We All Go Through” and was created around 1963. This oil on canvas is showing a young girl being escorted to her first day school by U.S. marshes in New Orleans. This was created after Brown vs Board and the desegregation of schools in 1954. When you look closer at this painting you can see the graffiti on the wall. In addition, you can see the splatter and whats left of what looks to be a tomato that was thrown. From the grain in the concrete sidewalk to the cracks on the wall. The texture in this painting is unreal and truly brings this work of art to life.

This next work of art was created by Jack Whitten in 1964 titled “Birmingham”. Whitten had grown up in Alabama and moved to New York to go to art school. This piece is made up of aluminum foil, newspaper glued on to plywood. I does not seem like much, but when you look at the center of the piece there is “a newspaper photograph of a policeman with a dog attacking an African American protestor during the civil rights campaign in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963.” You can feel the pain and frustration in this piece by Whitten. You can see the texture from the materials used by Whitten.

This last work of art was created by Barkley L. Hendricks in 1969 titled “Lawdy Mama”. This piece stood out to me because of the bold gold background. Hendricks was a contemporary American painter who is best known for life size portraits of black Americans. In this piece you see a young African American women just standing holding her arm. What amazes me the most about this work of art is just how realistic it truly is. While there is not much information on this piece I can find you can feel the emotion coming from this piece. I like how you can see the texture in her hair making it more realistic. In addition, the color used in the clothing makes her stand out against the gold background.

Works Cited;

“Bar and Grill – Jacob Lawrence – Google Arts & Culture.” Google, Google, artsandculture.google.com/asset/bar-and-grill/ygH-J2Q59y90Gg.

“Barkley L. Hendricks: Lawdy Mama (1969).” Artsy, http://www.artsy.net/artwork/barkley-l-hendricks-lawdy-mama.

“Birmingham.” Haus Der Kunst, postwar.hausderkunst.de/en/artworks-artists/artworks/birmingham.

“Jacob Lawrence.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 June 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Lawrence.

“‘New Kids in the Neighborhood (Negro in the Suburb)” – Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) – Google Arts & Culture.” Google, Google, artsandculture.google.com/asset/new-kids-in-the-neighborhood-negro-in-the-suburb/VgHfa_a2WaOAuA.

“Soldiers and Students.” Soldiers and Students | Hood Museum, hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu/objects/w.976.187.

“‘The Problem We All Live With’ – Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) – Google Arts & Culture.” Google, Google, artsandculture.google.com/asset/the-problem-we-all-live-with/qwGpXUCsX0RPAQ.

For this assignment I decided to choose the topic, influence of The Great Depression in the early modern area. The Great Depression took place between 1929-1939 world wide but started in the United States. The Great Depression has immense effects on the economy but today we are going to be looking at the effects on art that took place. On May 6th 1935 The Work Projects Administration (WPA) was created. The WPA was a new deal agency that hired many job seekers, to carry out public works projects. The WPA employed approximately 8.5 million people from 1935-1943. Within the WPA there was a section specifically for the arts called The Federal Arts Project. This section was created to keep those creative and employed. Those who were employed included musicians, artists, writers, actors and directors. Public works that were carried out included having artist paint murals and paintings in public building like court houses and Post Offices.

This first work of art you see here was created by Millard Sheets around 1933 and titled “Abandoned”. This piece is a painting of an abandoned farm that has come to symbolize the Great Depression. Throughout this work of art you see darker colors being used almost creating the scene of chaos. I like how this painting is split the top of the painting is surface level where everything looks to be normal and fine. But the bottom there is chaos and abandonment. I like the use of contrast with the white horses and animals against the dark background. This work of art shows the effects of the Great Depression by showing an abandon.

This second work of art was created by Geroge Biddle titled “Sand” and was created in 1936. As you can see there is a similar theme in this piece to the first one. There is the same idea of abandonment. When looking at this piece you may notice that the “horizon line, gathering storm or dust clouds, and the use of the wagon wheel motif, which may symbolize the halt of progress and inability to move on from difficulties.” In addition, the live stock shown as dead gives the idea that they were left and abandon. You can see texture as well as contrast through out this piece. These bring the work to life as well as create an intense mood.

This finale piece is by Jacob Kainen titled “Drought” and was created in 1935. This piece follows the same theme as the others. This work of art shows the environmental devastation that occurred during the Great Depression. A few signs you can see in this piece that indicate the farm is struggling include the twisted tree, the farmers body language, and the overall emptiness of the farm. Out of the two other pieces I feel that this one is my personal favorite. I really like the details you can see throughout this entire piece. The texture throughout as well really helps create the life like affect that I really like.

Works Cited:

“Millard Sheets: The Early Years.” RSS, art-for-a-change.com/blog/2010/02/millard-sheets-the-early-years.html.

“National Gallery of Art.” Great Depression, http://www.nga.gov/education/teachers/lessons-activities/uncovering-america/great-depression.html.

“National Gallery of Art.” Great Depression, http://www.nga.gov/education/teachers/lessons-activities/uncovering-america/great-depression.html.

For this assignment we have to pick one style from the Romantic era that we like and one from this same era that we do not like as much. Looking through all the different styles in this era it was hard to decide which ones I wanted to focus on. But eventually I decided on the Impressionism and Post Impressionism.

Impressionism:

I decided to go with Impressionism for the style I like a few different reasons. Impressionism captures some elements that I really like. Impressionism also is the styles used by one of my favorite artist Claude Monet. Impressionism painters painted scenes that created an impression and used light and color in landscapes to capture that exact moment in time.

This work of art is by one of my favorite artist Claude Monet. This oil on canvas was created around the time of 1882. I decided to go with this piece because it gives me that warm summer feeling at the beach that I so wish I was at right now. In this work of art you can see the use of texture as well in the grass, ocean, and sky that bring this piece to life. Another element I can see in this piece is line as texture. When looking at the grass there are small lines that create the idea of long grass. Monet created this piece in Pourville, France which is described as a fishing town or countryside. He moved to Pourville because he believed where he was currently living was a bit to urban. A fun fact about this work of art is an “X-radiographs show that Monet reduced the rocky outcropping at the far right to balance the proportions of sea and sky”. I find this so fascinating because you would never know he made the decision to remove the rocks just looking at the piece.

This second work of art is an oil on canvas titled “Two Sisters (On the Terrance)” created by Pierre-Auguste Renoir around 1881. I chose this piece because of the bright bold colors that are used throughout really caught my eye. Another part of this piece that I really like is the background and how the trees are transparent to were you can see the “landscape backdrop of Chatou, a suburban town where the artist spent much of the spring of 1881”. Fun fact about this work of art is that the two girls here are actually not sisters. The first element I notice when looking at this work of art is optical texture. You can see this throughout the piece in the basket and in the background. Another element I notice in this piece is abstract shapes, you can see this in the basket on the girls lap as well as in the background.

Post Impressionism:

While I actually like some works of art from this style there are some elements that are not what I personally prefer. Post impressionism painters used symbolic and personal meanings when creating works of art.

This work of art is an oil on canvas titled “The Olive Trees” and was created by Vincent van Gogh. This work of art was created in an asylum that Vincent van Gogh voluntarily entered in 1889. One reason I really like this work of art is the colors. I like how with the use of the swirls melt the colors into the work creating this rainy day vibe that I so much enjoy. One element that I always look for in art work is texture. It is an element that I feel makes a work of art so life like. Another element is color as movement, looking at this piece you can see the greens and blues move and create this landscape picture. A third element is line as movement, looking at the darker thick line used to outline the trees and mountains is also creating movement throughout the piece.

This finale piece is by Paul Gauguin titled “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Wher Are We Going?”, created around 1897. This work of art was created after a field suicide attempt by Gauguin. He was sick and could not afford medical treatment. In addition, was in a lot of debt with family and friends. Due to his failed suicide attempt there is record of Gauguin’s comments on his own work. If you like this piece and would like to read his comments I would recommend checking out this link. Paul Gauguin “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Wher Are We Going?” Personally this is not a piece that I particularly like. I feel that this piece is to busy and cluttered for my personal style. I typically like more airy landscape paintings that have bright colors and texture that brings the piece to life. A few elements I see when looking at this piece is color as mood,

Works Cited:

Gogh, Vincent van. “Vincent Van Gogh. The Olive Trees. Saint Rémy, June-July 1889 | MoMA.” The Museum of Modern Art, http://www.moma.org/collection/works/80013.

Monet, Claude. “Cliff Walk at Pourville.” The Art Institute of Chicago, European Painting and Sculpture, 1 Jan. 1882, http://www.artic.edu/artworks/14620/cliff-walk-at-pourville.

“MOST POPULAR PAINTINGS.” Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Wher Are We Going? 1897 by Paul Gauguin, http://www.gauguin.org/where-do-we-come-from-what-are-we.jsp.

Renoir, Pierre-Auguste. “Two Sisters (On the Terrace).” The Art Institute of Chicago, European Painting and Sculpture, 1 Jan. 1881, http://www.artic.edu/artworks/14655/two-sisters-on-the-terrace.

This first piece you see here is an oil on canvas created by Nicolas Poussin around the time 1637-38 and it titled “Et in Arcadia Ego”. As you can in this piece there are shepherds surrounding this tomb stone which reads “Et in Arcadia Ego” that translates to “even in Arcadia there am I”.I chose this work of art specifically because I liked the blues and the texture of the background and how it made those pictured really stand out. One thing I find so incredibly interesting in a lot of these paintings we look at is how much detail in the bodies as well as in the background there is.

This next piece is titled “The Blue Boy” and was created by the artist Tomas Gainsborough around 1770 and is an oil on canvas painting. I chose this piece because the blue suit just caught my eye. This work of art uses the art elements texture, you can see this throughout the piece but mostly in the clothes the boy is wearing. During this time it was normal for men and women to wear clothes that covered up their bodies, that were heavy and lose fitting. And you can see that in this work of art that the clothes are a bit big on the young boy and without the use of texture you may not be able to tell. The young man in this piece was unknown for a very long time but eventually found out that he was Jonathan Buttall, the son of a rich London ironmonger.

The last work of art I will be looking at is called “Oath of the Horatii” This is an oil on canvas piece created by Jacques-Louis David around the time 1784 . When looking at the work of art I first noticed the difference in colors vibrancy and how truly life like it looks. From the detail in the bodies to the background it is truly amazing. This piece shows three men who are bothers standing together reaching out towards a man said to be there father who is holding three swards while women and children are on the side grieve.

All three of these works of art go along with the theme of The Growing Economic Power of the Middle Class in the 1700’s in many ways. When looking at the neoclassicism style works of art had characteristics of Patriotic self-sacrifice and moral virtue as well as subject matters of heroism and self sacrifice which you can see throughout these works of art.

Works Cited:

“Baroque and Rococo.” History of Art: Baroque and Rococo – Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Thomas Gainsborough, http://www.all-art.org/history294-18.html.

“David, Oath of the Horatii.” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, http://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/later-europe-and-americas/enlightenment-revolution/a/david-oath-of-the-horatii.

Poussin, Nicolas. “Et in Arcadia Ego, 1637 – 1639 – Nicolas Poussin.” Www.wikiart.org, 1 Jan. 1970, http://www.wikiart.org/en/nicolas-poussin/et-in-arcadia-ego-1639-1.

This piece is an oil on oak called the “judgement of Paris” and was created by Peter Paul Rubens around the time of 1632 and I do not know of the exact location this would have been created. This work of art is centered around Greek mythology. In the center of this piece you have three women said to be the goddesses Aphrodite, Hera and Athena; below in the left corner is cupid. To the right is Hermes and next to him holding the golden apple is Paris. Paris is the son King Priam of Troy who was abandon as a baby and raised by shepherds.

The story of this piece starts off with a wedding between Peleus and Thetis where all the Gods and Goddesses were invited except for one, Eris; But she decided to attend the wedding anyway and was turned away. She was so angry she put a golden apple addressed “to the fairest.” The three goddesses Aphrodite, Hera and Athena believed they were the fairest and should receive the golden apple, so someone else had to decide. Zeus told Hermes to take them to Paris of Troy, where Paris would decide that Aphrodite was the fairest.

Something that drew me to this piece was the background. I really enjoy works of art that have some nature elements. While I do think this is a very nice work of art, I personally do not gravitate towards art work with people in them. An art element that stood out to me was texture. Everywhere you look in this piece there is a lot of texture throughout giving it a more realistic feeling. In addition, the shading and tones throughout the piece give it so much depth. More parts of this piece that I like are the small details throughout in which you could identify who these people in the art work are; and who you don’t necessarily notice at first glance.

This piece is currently being displayed at The National Gallery in London. I found a really neat video from The National Gallery talking about this piece. If you found this interesting I would recommend checking it out if you want to see how the art piece is displayed today and some more in depth information about this art piece. “Judgement of Paris”

Works Cited:

The National Gallery, London. “Glossary.” The National Gallery, http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/glossary/judgement-of-paris.

“The Judgement of Paris, 1639 by Peter Paul Rubens.” The Judgement of Paris, 1639 by Peter Paul Rubens, http://www.peterpaulrubens.net/the-judgement-of-paris.jsp.

For this assignment I wanted to find a piece that I had not seen before; after some time of searching I finally found it. Sandro Botticelli was known for his large scale paintings influenced by mythological subject matter. During this time art was commissioned for Catholic churches. This piece was created for Di Pierfrancesco’s personal home, Villa di Castello. This piece, “Primavera,” was created by Botticelli after he returned to Florence from Rome around 1480 and is one of his best known and talked about pieces. In addition, this piece is one of a series of mythological works done by Botticelli. Today no one truly understands the exact meaning of this piece.

In this piece you can see eight adults along the entire picture standing on flowers below the trees. When looking at the trees you can see that they bend forming an arch around the goddess. Those said to be pictured include “Venus, Goddess of Love, is in the centre of the orange grove, on her left Flora, Goddess of Flowers and Spring, appears clad in garlands of flowers. Next to Flora is the nymph Chloris, she is pursued by Zephyrus, God of Wind, who has a burning passion for her”.  Those on the right side of Venus are The three Graces. These are female companions to the goddess of love who perform a dance at the start of the spring season. Floating above them is Amor, the son of Venus who is shooting his love arrows blindly. This piece is showing the celebration in the arrival of spring.

The reason I chose this piece was because it was a little different than what I normally look for. I usually look for pieces that are bright with a lot of nature and landscape scenes. This piece still has nature elements but focuses more on those pictured. One thing that really drew me to this piece as well was the use of contrast. The nature elements being dark to really emphasize the Gods and Goddess pictured in this piece makes them appear brighter and more God like. Humanism comes into play in this work of art with the Gods and Goddess pictured throughout.

Works Cited:

“Primavera, Botticelli’s Mythological Painting of Love.” Italian Renaissance Art.com, http://www.italian-renaissance-art.com/Primavera.html#gallery%5BpageGallery%5D/0/.

Richman-Abdou , Kelly. “The Significance of Botticelli’s Renaissance Masterpiece ‘Primavera’.” My Modern Met, 14 Oct. 2018, mymodernmet.com/botticelli-primavera/.

Around 1881 Monet created this oil on canvas piece which was inspired by a home he was renting in Vétheuil, France. Monet planted gardens wherever he lived and this house was no different. For this home, he actually made arrangements with the owner to landscape the terraces. The young child at the end of the steps is Monet’s son and the two behind him are others who also lived in the same house with him. One interesting thing about this piece is the large flower pots where Monet’s and he took them whenever he moved.

I chose this piece “The Artist’s Garden at Vétheuil” taking inspiration from the season changing into summer. The green grass, sunflowers and blue sky’s give me a warm feeling. This piece also takes me back to a time when summer meant I had no school or responsibilities. Spending time with friends and family swimming in the pool, having a backyard BBQ and neighborhood bonfires are just some things that come to mind when I think of summers I had when growing up. This piece also reminds me of my childhood home. My parents had a very large garden with beautiful flowers of all kinds and my favorite peonies.

Along with the feeling I get from this piece I really enjoy the bright vibrate yellows, blues, greens. As well as the shades of color you see throughout this piece that really bring this picture to life. My absolute favorite part of this piece is how very real it is. When I look at the grass I can feel it and remember what it was like running through the grass barefoot when I was a child. When I look at the sunflowers I can smell them and remember helping my parents in the garden. You can feel the overall warmth coming through this piece and all things to do with summer.

Source:

“The Artist’s Garden at Vétheuil.” Art Object Page, www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.52189.html.

My name is Cassidy Bruno; I am from Ohio but currently living in Alaska with my husband who is in the military. Together, we have one dog named Kinley who is a black lab-mix. I am currently a full time student majoring in Business Administration and a second semester sophomore at The University of Alaska Fairbanks. My husband and I have lived in the Fairbanks area for almost a year and we enjoy being with friends, walking our dog, looking for new restaurants and places to explore on the weekends. This will be our second summer up here in Alaska and we are excited to take advantage of the beautiful weather and sunlight!

Growing up, I always looked forward to art classes. I enjoyed painting, drawing, and pottery. As time went on and my schedule became busier with school, I have grown away from creating art myself. I enjoy many types of art but gravitate towards paintings which are abstract or are of nature. I also enjoy going to art museums, I have been to the MET and the Museum of Modern Art both in New York City. At these museums I got to see some of the most beautiful and famous art pieces in the world. The picture you see above is one of my favorites by Monet that I got to see in person. In addition to seeing “Water Lilies” by Monet, I also saw Vincent Van Gogh “Starry Night” which I will say is a lot smaller than I originally thought it would be. If you enjoy art as well and ever get the chance to travel to New York City, I would highly recommend checking out these museums.