ARH Exam 3

Twin Figures (Ere Ibeji) Yoruba culture, Nigeria wood, 20th C., (Fig. 16-13)

-Ere=sacred -Ibeji=twin → sacred twin figures -culture had a very high rate of having twins but had high infant mortality as well -to appease the spirits, the sculptures were carved to stand in for the absent → art making something absent present -sculptures are "in the prime of their life" not babies -after the woman goes to the diviner to receive the figures, all the women of the village dance with the mother and they present them in their homes -meant to be a living part of the culture, ritual

J.M.W. Turner, Snowstorm: Hannibal and His Army Crossing the Alps oil/canvas 1812 (Fig. 17-26)

-Hannibal: general from Carthage fighting the Romans, crossing the Alps with his army and elephants -instead of putting the drama in the figures, he uses nature and light to show drama -interest in light, color, and loose brushstroke -trying to give the awe-inspiring effect of the landscape without being meticulous

Great Serpent Mound, Adams County Ohio c. 1070 (Fig. 15-18)

-an actual landscape (not painted) -mound in the shape of a snake, possibly made in the image of Halley's Comet -in 1066, the comet went by and the Norman invasion -not a burial mound, human made -inhabited by indigenous people of Ohio, probably were afraid of the comet and built the mounds to "appease the gods", making sure the covenant was good -made at the same time as the Bayeux tapestry that also noted Halley's comet -sign of science and art working together

Vincent Van Gogh, The Starry Night oil/canvas 1889 (Fig. 18-34)

-atypical image -vast space (rather than collapsed) -cypress tree in foreground, middle ground with the church, background with the mountains -a view through the window from his asylum, remote part of France with beautiful night sky -more expressive and symbolic than impressionism -Dutch church (would not have been in France, hearkening back to childhood) -cypress tree acts as marker of the picture plane, unites -strong horizontal element united by the vertical and tall cypress tree -cypress trees represent memorials, often in cemeteries, funeral overtones -brush strokes of background urge us to move with it

Gianlorenzo Bernini, Baldacchino, crossing St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican, Rome gilt bronze 1624-1633 (Fig. 14-2)

-baldacchino=baldachin or canopy -baldacchino marks where St. Peter is buried, under Michelangelo's dome -at the transept and the nave, at the crossing -end result of a "pilgrimage" -underneath the basilica are burial sites for saints, popes, early Christians -meant to circumambulate, walk around the church -Vatican grottoes and Necropolis -part of the ritual was visiting the tombs, seeing the bones of the martyrs was seen as an indulgence, a way to cut off time in purgatory -twisted columns refer to the early Christian twisted columns and Bernini's bronze Baroque versions, holds bones and important relics of Jesus's death

Jacob van Ruisdael, View of Haarlem with Bleaching Grounds oil/canvas (Fig. 14-28)

-celebrates the flatlands outside Haarlem that had been reclaimed from the sea as part of a massive landfill project that the Dutch compared with God's restoration of the earth after noah's flood -Gothic church, St. Bavo -powerful cloudy skies, dwarfs the labor of the tiny spotted humans -glorification of the industriousness of citizens engaged in one of Haarlem's principal industries → appealing to the the patriotic local market

Alexander Gardner, The Home of the Rebel Sharpshooter: Battle Field at Gettysburg, albumen print 1863 (Fig. 18-14)

-civil war photograph -photography changed the way we see war because of the immediacy of it -staged photograph, not documentary, but were not expected to not be staged -artistic sensibility to get the composition to have maximum impact on views of war

Pablo Picasso, Guernica oil/canvas 1937 (Fig. 31)

-during Spanish silver war, Guernica was bombed by Germans -first intentional mass bombing of civilians, killed more than 1600 people -stark, hallucinatory nightmare, symbol of the brutality of war -victims frozen in mid-movement, like they were caught in a photograph -restricted his palette to black, gray, and white, the tones of the newspaper photographs -women and children despairing -screaming horse: betrayed innocence, suffering Spanish Republic -bull: Franco (fascist leader) or Spain -Picasso refused to provide interpretations of the symbolism, just about massacred people and animals -used the language of Modern art to comment on an international scandal

Portrait Head of Pakal the Great, Temple of the Inscriptions Palenque, Mexico, Maya culture stucco/red paint (Fig. 15-6)

-found in his tomb, sarcophagus -in the guise of the Maize God, headband of maize flowers and upswept hair that is reminiscent of leaves of the plant -sloping forehead, elongated skull, large curved nose, full lips, open mouth → all ideals of Mayan beauty, associated with the youthful Maize God -Maize God represented the cycle of death and rebirth, cycle of planting and harvesting food -Paka's long, narrow face and jaw are individual characteristics that carry a sense of personal likeness into symbolic portrait -stucco head was once colorfully paint, traces of pigment

Rembrandt, The Night Watch (aka The Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq) oil/canvas 1642 (Fig. 14-22)

-group portrait of a militia (ceremonial group) -arranged the individual portraits in action and drama rather than lining up each person next to each other -breaks the picture plane -arrangement of portraits: central figure (captain) with his lieutenant in the foreground -pictorial space created by weapons (used as orthogonals) -not precise or exact, Rembrandt uses light to show us what is important -scientific idea of space manipulated by light -figure of little girl, illuminated, lit up by the artist because she is a very important figure, uses light more to show meaning rather than to show arrangement -captain is reaching out his hand → breaks the picture plane, this drama is essential of baroque -the hand is lit so it believably comes into our space -Danny's sword also breaks the picture plane, so everyone is included in the picture

Hip Pendant of an iyoba (Queen Mother) Benin City, Nigeria ivory/iron/copper c. 1550 (Fig. 16-4)

-idealistic portrait (as is typical with royal portraits) of the woman and of the role -figure of power in the culture -mother of king has much more importance than queen, role of mother in Edo society is extremely important -shown with elaborate necklace that identifies her as the mother -elaborate headdress: alternating portuguese traders and mudfish -color white = olokun, god of the sea, spiritual counterpart of the king -would have been worn by the king as a memorial or a symbol of unity -features are very idealized

Battle Scene, Hide Painting Mandan (North Dakota) buffalo hide, porcupine quills, pigment (Fig. 15-27)

-illustrates a battle fought in 1797 by the Mandan and their allies against the Sioux -shows warriors in 22 different scenes -party of warriors is led by a man with a pipe and eagle headdress, armed with bows and arrows, lances, clubs, flintlock rifles -figures stand out against light-colored background of buffalo hide -painter pressed lines into the hide then filled with pigments -strip of colored porcupine quills runs down the "spine" -robe would have been worn draped over the shoulders of the powerful warrior whose deeds it commemorates -as he moves, the painted horses and warriors would appear to come alive, transforming him into a living representation of his adventures and exploits

Templo Mayor (Great Aztec Pyramid) Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) reconstruction, c. 1500 (Fig. 15-9)

-most glorious place, palaces, zoos, cleanliness -paid great attention to cardinal direction -sacred precinct at the center of the island, at the heart was a twin temple complex -marked the sacred center of Tenochtitlan -one temple dedicated to the water/rain/fertility/agriculture abundance god Tlaloc and the other to Huitzilopochtli, patron god of the Aztecs who was also a war god associated with the sun -embodies the duality -sacrifices made atop the steps, pious rather than barbaric -reconstructed 7 times

André Le Nôtre, Plan of the Gardens of the Palais de Versailles France (Fig. 14-33)

-planned the gardens -turned terrain around the palace into art -neat expanses of lawn and broad vistas -gardens, pools, fountains, sculptures are geometrically placed -classically harmonious and restful in their symmetry

Francisco Goya, Third of May, 1808 oil/canvas 1814-1815 (Fig. 17-23)

-shows the horrors of war, terror and agony -early example of artist showing brutality of war -"history painting" -more organized and clear but still represents uprising and chaos -light and color used to highlight the horror, not in a necessarily naturalistic way but in a representative/emphatic way -brings all the light to the central figure -central light figure is wearing bright figures, in a pose like Jesus getting crucified

Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa oil/wood c. 1503-1506 (Fig. 13-1)

-stand-in art of the western art world, used in advertising, media -yellow-tinted because it is not cleaned, they just apply layers of varnish because they are afraid of destroying it -her gaze is frontal, looking at the viewer -mostly naturalistic, seen as a real person because of her intense gaze -Mona Lisa represents what it would be like if you are looking at her through a window -a wealthy woman in Florence's portrait during the renaissance was usually a side profile, removes the woman from being a human being and makes them an object Chiaroscuro- a dramatic contrast between light and dark Sfumato- outlines are obscure, obscured/"hidden by smoke", the distinctions between colors are blurred, adds to the mystery

Salvador Dalí, The Persistence of Memory oil/canvas 1931 (Fig. 19-28)

-surrealism: "pure psychic automatism", express the real process of thought, looking inward into a person, exercise outside of reason -influenced by Freud, psychoanalytic theory -artists wanted to explore the "unconscious mind", dreams are windows into unconscious -the small size invites you into it, intimate viewing -automatism: bypassing reason, everything is done unconsciously -juxtaposition of unlike elements -not abstract, if you had a landscape with melting clocks, this is what it would look like -correct shadow, correct perspective -a particular nightmare or dream -"hand painted dream photographs" -shows an interest in the inner life like Van Gogh

Vasily Kandinsky, Improvisation 28 (Second Version) oil/canvas 1912 (Fig. 19-6)

-synthesia: one type of sensory stimulation evokes the sensation of another, ex. Seeing sound, hearing color -theosophy: religious philosophy, metaphysics -thought you needed to use abstractly to show inner person -uses color in an abstract way, color is separate from line, coming from his inner psyche/soul -uses saturated, brilliant color because it is vital to his inner thoughts -just line and color on canvas, expressing his own thoughts about his place in the universe

Giovanni Bellini, St. Francis in Ecstasy oil/tempera/wood c. 1470s (Fig. 12-30)

-uses a tempera base and adds oil glaze on top -ecstasy: out-of-body experience → religious ecstasy -St.Francis receiving the stigmata, wounds of Jesus -landscape reflects the holiness of the saint, everything glows and is lit up because St. Francis believed God was truly in everything -emphasizes the importance of nature to Francis -revolutionizes art because if God is in everything, everything is worth being shown -so focused on nature that there is no Jesus or angels -the castle: probably a representation of a small town but also a standin for Jerusalem, representing heaven -deserted in this radiant landscape, show extremes of urban life and desertion -vanishing point, orthogonals, atmospheric perspective -composition is not symmetrical but balanced

Paolo Uccello, The Battle of San Romano tempera/silver leaf/wood 1438-1440 (p. 319)

-war seen in a 'jolly' fashion, a way to acquire land and territory -does not look scary -- war in all of its glory with the grand armor and horses -battle won by Florence, probably commissioned -not particularly life-like, more decorative and ornate -uses objects like swords to create a grid/orthogonals and allows the artist to create perspective and make figures smaller and smaller -geometric element that allows artist to create a sense of space -background doesn't diminish in space, background ramps up and is flat

Willie Seaweed, Kwakwaka'wakw Bird Mask Alert Bay, Canada wood/bark/feathers/fiber (Fig. 15-29)

Alert Bay, Canada wood/bark/feathers/fiber (Fig. 15-29) -during winter, northwest coast peoples seek spiritual renewal -dancing birds -essential to ritual dances: huge carved and painted wooden masks, operated by strings worked by dancers -Willie Seaweed: a Kwakwaka'wakw chief -brilliant colors and exuberantly decorative carving style determined the direction of twentieth-century sculpture

Francisco Goya, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, Los Caprichos, etching/aquatint (Fig. 17-22)

etching/aquatint (Fig. 17-22) -angry attack on contemporary Spanish manners and morals -personification of Reason (sleeping) -dark creatures, owls, bats, cats, let loose when Reason sleeps -enumerate follies of Spanish life -Goya hoped they would alert people to the errors of their follies ways and reawaken them to reason -opposite of Enlightenment belief that humans were innately good -believed that violence, greed, and foolishness of his society had to be examined to be changed

Sebastian Salcedo, Virgin of Guadalupe oil/panel/copper (Fig. 17-24)

oil/panel/copper (Fig. 17-24) -forced conversion of native peoples to Roman Catholicism -Christian iconography took on Mesoamerican inflection -patroness of the Americas -bottom right: female personification of Mexico, left: Pope Benedict XIV -between the figures, sanctuary of Guadalupe in Mexico -four small scenes circling the Virgin represent the story of Juan Diego -three scenes at top depict Mary's miracles -six figures above the Virgin represent prophets and patriarchs

Julia Margaret Cameron, Portrait of Thomas Carlyle silver print (Fig. 18-15)

silver print (Fig. 18-15) -main subjects were great men of British arts, letters, and sciences -famous British historian -slightly out of focus on purpose -blurring details calls attention to the light that spread over her subjects -concentrated expression, dramatic lighting of his hair, face, and beard

Edvard Munch, The Scream tempera/oil/unprimed canvas (Fig. 18-35)

tempera/oil/unprimed canvas (Fig. 18-35) -expressionist intensity of feeling -reminiscent of nightmares -overwhelming anxiety seeking release in the scream was a dread of death -fear of death: sky (of blood) and figure's skull-like head -fear of open spaces: open setting of painting -abstraction of form and color reflect influence of Gauguin