APAH
Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
Artist: Paul Gaugin Date: 1897-98 Medium: oil on canvas Movement: Symbolism Form: continuous narrativelike fresco, or friezes weird multi-perspective view in background Symbolistcolors play an important role2-dimensionalsymbolic meaning, expressive, non-naturalistic Content: Tahitian natives in scenes that show the stages of life (from right to left): infancy, adulthood, old age figures are partially unclotheddressed in a non-western fashion Function: enigmatic, multiple philosophical interpretations essentially a private work, whose meaning was only known most personally to Gaugin himself
The Kiss
Form: -Art Nouveau (jugendstil) -flat figures, rich colors -gold (Byzantine influence) Content: -couple laying in a field of flowers -"eternity of a kiss" -both crowned with leaves or flowers Context: -artist: Gustave Klimt -1907-08 CE -during modernization of Vienna
The Stone Breakers
Form: -Realism (anti-heroism -oil on canvas/chunky -rough brushwork -against neoclassical style that dominated French art -dark palette Content: -young and old man -faceless men doing painful work that will neber get them out of poverty -this owrk is punishment for chain gangs -rock=faces Function: -"painting of nothing" -cycle of poverty -works: economically and physically trapped -accurate display of abuse and deprivation that was common in French rural life Context: -1849 (destroyed during bombing of Dresden in 1942) -artist: Gustave Courbet (prolific artist)
The Burghers of Calais
Form: -big, powerful, emotional statues -bronze -public monuments -fabric appears fused to ground -put on our level Content: -6 men who gave up lives to go outside walls during 100 Years War -nervous men before they were released -can see each face individually -look of anguish Function: -show desire to live vs. need to save their city -shown equal in status -make personal connection with each one Context: -Paris, 1884-95 -artist: Auguste Rodin -impressionism
Still Life in Studio
Form: -classical art -daguerreotypes record precise detail -photography Function: -elevate photography to art Content: -reversed image -long exposure and can't record movement -upstairs underneath the skylight due to no flash -fills his photos with plaster casts (angels) Context: -artist: Louis Jacques Maude Daguerre -1837 CE (earliest dated photography)
The Horse in Motion
Form: -impressionism -Albumen print -still photos/filmmaking -take pics of horse using trip wire on cameras set up that could take pics at 25th of a second -cut up and put on cylinders Content: -chronophotography -motion -horse with jockey Function: -photography on rise Context: -Eadweard Muybridge 1878 CE
The Coiffure
Form: -impressionism -overall curves and crisp line -drypoint/aquatint -genre scene -etching Content: -her prints are accessible and they can own them -influenced by Japanese Wood Block Prints (ukiyo-e) -preparing one's hair refers to ideals of femininity and beauty Function: -gives image of glamorous woman in glam setting -Japanese influence -capture fugitive, fleeting moment of the busy lives of the working class Context: -America w/ Japan twist -1890-91 CE -artist: Mary Cassat
Portrait mask (Mblo)
Form: -individual portrait that is naturalistic and abstract, refined features -polished surface suggesting health -complex coiffures -scarifications -introspective look on face Content: -individual portraits of specific people -expressing beauty -commissioned by husband -kept out of sight until preformed -preformance goes along with music Context: -Moya Yanso is the person who is portrayed -Baule people artist: Owie Kimou -early 20th century CE
Nadar Raising Photography to the Height of Art
Form: -lithograph: process of making a design on ston eblock with greasy crayon, ink applied to wet stone and stick to greasy parts to make a print (cheap way) -Realism Content: -Nadar- awkward photographer/businessman on high and attempting to raise photography to high art (takes first aerial shots of France Function: -make lithographs as a new mass media print method -crave of art in Paris -new kind of photography Context: -artist: Honore Daumier -made 6000+ lithographs -satirist, uses caricatures -1862, Paris -published in Le Boulevard
The Kiss
Form: -modern abstraction, little detail -symmetrical -stone Function: -version of The Kiss by Klimt Content: -two bodies becoming one, interlocked with each other -one thin line separating the two Context: -artist: Constantin Brancusi intertwined figures with interlocking formswoman on the rightslightly thinner, eye slightly smallerbulge suggests breasts two eyes become one the structure of the limestone stays trueleaving the surface raw and archaicreturn to a primitive form after the exactitude of the renaissance and the baroque and the 19th century etcrejecting the academy Context:cubismbreaking the human form into angles and shapes Brancusi Romanian-born french sculptoroutsider in the art worldRomania: long tradition of stone/wood carvingdevoted to finding the simplest and most elegant way to express the essence of his chosen subjectworked in Rodin's studio (see Rodin's "The Kiss")Many versions of this work1st: One of Brancusi's earliest efforts at stone cutting2nd: plaster cast - exhibited at an art show3rd: used as a tombstone in paris over a suicide victim4th: done as a commission. In the Philly Museum of Artthere might be more undocumented versions
The Saint-Lazare Station
Form: -oil on canvas -diagonal but flat lines -abstract -everything=light or color -non-heroic Content: -commuter railroads/trains -urban scene with trains, not just outdoors/nature Function: -make modern life look beautiful -emphasizes new ways of taking day trips on trains -urbanization Context: -Claude Monet 1877 Paris -impressionism
The Steerage
Form: -photograph/photogravure -German Expressionism Content: -Alfred on way back to Germany -below him: americans being sent back -elites on top while lower class is on the bottom Function: -converys message about the immigrants who were rejected at Ellis Island or people returning to old country to try to encourage people to come to US -show social status -influenced by cubists
The Scream
Form: -post-impressionism -dark and sinister colors -elegant, graceful, and linear -foreground and background blend together -tempera and pastels on cardboard -foreground and background blend -gender unknown Content: -red clouds -people in distance -boardwalk where he grew up Function: -someone experiences mental breakdown -outward display of inner thoughts -world transforming -scream through nature? Context: -artist: Edvard Munuch -Norway, 1893
Olympia
Form: -realism (genre scene) -flatness of body -rejection of use of space -angle of body -heavy paint application -features not perfect or idealized -woman makes eye contact with the viewer Content: -naked modern woman -unidealistic features -prostitute -cat (wealth) Function: -looks like a real woman -Olympia=prostitute (cortisone) -genre scene -sexual interest -scandy Context: -Edouard Manet 1863 -based on his favorite model
Female (Pwo) mask
Form: -smooth, brown surface with rich patina created by red clay and oil -eyes nearly closed -long thing nose -thick braided hair -high forehead -symmetric -naturalistic form with slightly geometric abstraction -protruding ears with earrings Content: -older female role model -beautiful, archetypal woman -forehead and right cheek are marked with cosmogram tear marks -danced by mean with fiber costumes, bookbs, and carries flywhisk Function: -entertainment -expression of female beauty -initiation ceremony for young men to separate from theirs mothers Context: -Chokwe people (Congo) -19th-20th century CE
Bundu Mask
Form: -three zones -shiny surface evokes water -"metal helmet" -small and nearly closed eyes -complex hair that comes in a great variety of forms -sheen=beautiful Content: -ceremony takes place in the forest on the "outside" on the edge of society -idealized beauty and moral guidance -neck rolls (health) Function: -life transition Context: -kept hidden until preformed -Mende people -19th-20th century CE
Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building
Form: -Medium: iron, steel, glass, and terra cotta -Horizontal emphasis -Decorative elements Content: -Maximum window areas to admit light -Terracotta tiles to decorate exterior -Heavy cornice at top of building (historical touches) -Elevator and glass (modernistic) -Grand entrance Function: -Horizontal emphasis symbolizes continuous flow of floor space -Expressing democracy and capitalism -Shopping Context: -influence of Art Nouveau in decorative touches "form follows function" -Louis Sullivan, 1899-1903 CE
Mont Sainte-Victoire
Form: Oil on Canvas -Juxtaposition of warm and cool colors (orange and green) - Green trees - Orange terra cotta rooftops -Geometric facet brush strokes Function: About the relationships of forms rather than the forms of objects themselves Content: -Paints how things are connected in space and the relationship between things besides the things themselves -Seeing a scene from multiple vantage points simultaneously, messes with time (simultaneity) - positive/negative or figure/ground relationship shifted to continuous Artist: Paul Cezanne - lived in Provonce most of his life - painted multiple times Context: 1902-1904 - most influential piece on modern art - Mountain in Provonce -Mont Saint-Victoire in the background
The Portuguese
Form: Oil on Canvas Functionto show all sides of a subject Content:neither naturalistic nor conventionalfractured formsclear edged surfaces on the picture plane—not recessed in spacenearly monochromenot a portrait of a portuguese musician, but rather an exploration of shapesonly realistic elements are stenciled letters and numbers Context:Analytical Cubism (1907-1912)first phase of cubismhighly experimental, jagged edges, sharp and multifaceted linesWorked with Picasso to develop this style"By breaking these objects into smaller elements, Braque and Picasso are able to overcome the unified singularity of an object and instead transform it into an object of vision" (Khan Academy - Analytical Cubism)
Starry Night
Form: oil on Canvas Function: Art for Art's Sake Content: thick short brushstrokes; Mountains in the distance that Van Gogh could see at his hospital (emphasized steepness); Composite Landscape (Dutch Church, Crescent moon, Mediterranean Cypress tree); At one with the forces of nature; Parts of the canvas can be seen through the brushwork; Strong left to right wavelike impulse in work broken only by tree and church steeple; tree looks like green flames reaching into the sky exploding with stars over placid village; cypress = symbol of death and eternal life Context: 1889 Vincent Van Gogh Period: Post Impressionism
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
Form: oil on Canvas Function: Art for Art's sake Content: First work of cubism; influenced by Cezanne and possibly African masks; Represents 5 prostitutes in a bordello on Avignon street in Barcelona, each posing for a customer; Poses are awkward, expressionless, and uninviting; Three on left are more traditional and 2 on right are more radical (represents Picasso's dichotomy); Multiple views expressed at the same time; no real depth; influenced by Gaugin's primitivism Context: 1907 Pablo Picasso Period/Culture: Cubism oil on canvas
The Valley of Mexico from the Hillside of Santa Isabel
José María Velasco. 1882 C.E. Oil on canvas The Valley of Mexico from the Hillside of Santa Isabel represents an important period in the development of Mexico's national identity and an important chapter in the history of Mexican art. Velasco's landscapes became symbols of the nation as they represented Mexico in several World Fairs. Atmospheric perspective and tiny human figures both create a sense of monumentality and awe of nature. To glorify the Mexican countryside
Nkisi n'kondi
Kongo power figure statues, often diecting men pierced with nails and blades, used to heal or inflict harm Power figure (Nkisi n'kondi); Kongo peoples (Democratic Republic of the Congo); c. late 19th century C.E.; wood and metal Completely Identify: Nkisi n'kondi (Power figure) Late 19th century CE Wood and metal Kongo Peoples Democratic Republic of the Congo Form: Serves as a power figure (a magical form seemingly carved in the likeness of a human) Imposing figure (leaning forward, wide stance) signifies strength and importance Contains many different types of insertions, including nails, pegs, and sticks that each have different meanings (see content) Sculpted out of wood and includes paint, metal, resin, and ceramic Meant to be small and transportable → only stands a few feet tall Function: Strong sculptural tradition among these people Used power figures as reminders of social obligations and enforcers of proper behavior Brought healing and protection to the community To symbolize an honoring of contracts and agreements Serves as a mediator between ancestral spirit world and the living world Content: Wooden human figure (meant to highlight its function in human affairs) Elongated belly button with cowrie shell (placed on its abdomen) - likely symbols of fertility, a link to their ancestors, and wealth (these shells were widely used as currency in the region) Wide, staring eyes and imposing stance - to help ensure that no other forces would interfere with the fulfillment of its ritual function (in which the spirit would seek vengeance on the wrongdoer) Often contain medicinal combinations inside them, covered by a piece of glass (glass represents the 'other world') These reflective objects symbolized contact with the supernatural The type of insertion driven into the statue would indicate the type of dispute/problem at hand, going into details such as severity of the problem, whether the dispute was resolved or not, etc. Serves as a type of nkisi (plural minkisi) which acts as a container of sacred substances activated by supernatural forces that summon spirits into the natural world Figures of spiritual importance and protection are very significant to the Kongo people Confiscated/destroyed by missionaries of the late 19th century when found because they were evidence of sorcery and heathenism Carved by a spiritual specialist (called the nganga) who activates the figures by driving nails, blades, and other metal objects into its wooden surface to make it "angry" and "rouse it into action" Would be activated by a shaman by the storage of medicinal combinations (bilongo) in the head in order to create a link between the spiritual and physical world Different items would be added to the combinations to call the spirits to do specific things
Ndop (portrait figure) of King Mishe miShyaang maMbul Kuba peoples (Democratic Republic of the Congo).
c. 1760-1780 C.E. Wood The ndop of Mishe miShyaang maMbul is part of a larger genre of figurative wood sculpture in Kuba art. These sculptures were commissioned by Kuba leaders or nyim to preserve their accomplishments for posterity. Because transmission of knowledge in this part of Africa is through oral narrative, names and histories of the past are often lost. The ndop sculptures serve as important markers of cultural ideals. They also reveal a chronological lineage through their visual signifiers.
