explanation arth final

Pieter Claesz, Vanitas Still Life, 1630s, oil painting

-celebrate material possessions -presented as if strewn across a tabletop -morality and humility central to the calvinist faith tempered dutch pride in worldly goods -although he fostered the appreciation and enjoyment of the beauty and value of the objects he depicted, he also reminded the viewer of life's transience by incorporating references to death -type of artwork → vanity paintings -each feature a reminder of death -references to mortality include skull, timepiece, tipped glass, cracked walnut -all suggest the passage of time or someone who was here but has departed -he emphasized the element of time by including a self-portrait, reflected in the glass ball on the left side of the table -he appears to be painting in still life -but in an apparent challenge to the message of inevitable mortality that vanitas paintings convey, the portrait serves to immortalize the artist

Peter Paul Rubens, The Raising of the Cross, 1610-11, oil painting

-painted for Saint Walburga in Antwerp -reveals his careful study of the works of Michelangelo and Caravaggio -depict heavily muscled men in unusual poses straining to lift the heavy cross with Christ's body nailed to it -represent foreshortened anatomy and the contortions of violent action -inspired by Michelangelo's twisting sculptured and painted figures -placed the body of Christ on the cross as a diagonal that that cuts dynamically across the picture while inclining back to it -the whole composition seethes with a power that comes from strenuous exertion, from elastic human sinew taut with effort -the tension is emotional as well as physical, reflected on Christ's face and his followers -bright highlights and areas of deep shadow inspired by Caravaggio's tenebrism

Rembrandt, Night watch, 1642, oil painting

-painting is not a nocturnal scene -the dark tonality today is the result of the varnish the artist used, which has darkened considerably over time -captain frans banning cocq, his lieutenant, and 16 members of their militia, contributed to Rembrandt's fee -⅙ paintings by different artists for the assembly and banquet hall of Amsterdam's new Musketeers' hall -1715 → trimmed the sides because it was moved to the town hall -captures the excitement and frenetic activity of men preparing for a parade -rather than present assembled men posed in orderly fashion, he chose to portray the company rushing about in the act of organizing themselves -record the 3 important stages of using a musket -loading -firing -readying the weapon for reloading -refining light and shade into finer nuances until they blended with one another -he discovered gradations of light and dark as well as -degrees of differences in pose -movements of facial features -psychic states -he showed how humans perceive light and his shading arrived at these differences optically -rembrandt found that by doing these he could render subtle nuances of character and mood, both in individual and whole scenes -manipulating the direction, intensity, and distance of light and shadow -varying the surface texture with tactile brushstrokes -he discovered for the modern world that variation of light and shade, subtly modulated, can be read as emotional differences

Forbidden City, begun 15th century, Beijing

1368 → zhu expelled the foreign Yuan dynasty from beijing zhu founded ming dynasty and proclaimed himself as the 1st emperor he built his capital at nanjing but the 3rd emperor moved the imperial seat back to beijing ming architects laid out beijing as 3 nested, walled cities forbidden city dates to 1576 describes the highly restricted access to the inner compound, where the ming emperor/son of heaven resided layout provides the perfect setting for the elaborate ritual of the imperial court entrance gateway to the complex, the noon gate has 5 portals only the emperor could walk through the central portal 2 entrances to its left/right were reserved for the imperial family and high officials others had to use the outermost passageways meridian gate entrance 40-yard-tall-triple-passageway only the emperor, his retinue, and foreign ambassadors who had been granted an official audience could pass through within forbidden city more gates, courtyards, gardens, temples, and other buildings led eventually to the hall of supreme harmony hall of supreme harmony emperor is seated on his dragon throne on a high stepped platform where he receives important visitors largest wooden building in china columns ming builders transported gigantic tree trunks from sichuan province down the yangtze river perched on an immense platform above marble staircases, the hall was a climax of a long north/south axis fill for the platform consists of soil and rocks the ming engineers collected from the excavation of the great moat around the imperial complex beyond the hall is the even more restricted inner court and the palace of heavenly purity private living quarters of the emperor and his extended family of wives, concubines, and children northern end of the central axis of the forbidden city is the gate of divine prowess palace servants gain access to the complex

Henri Matisse, Woman with the Hat, 1905, oil painting

Artistic Critique and Exploration he depicted his wife, amelie, in a conventional manner compositionally but the arbitrary colors startle the viewer the entire image consists of patches of color, juxtaposed in ways that produce jarring contrasts

Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear Bearer), Roman marble copy after a bronze original of ca. 440BCE, greek

Epitomizes the intellectual rigor of high classical statuary design Contrapposto But polykeitos want to impose order in human movement , to make it beautiful and to perfect it Achieved this through a system of cross balance of the figure's various parts Straight hanging arm echoes the rigid supporting leg Providing the figure's right side with stability needed to anchor left side's dynamically flexed limbs Tensed and relaxed limbs oppose each other diagonally Head turns to the right while hips twist slightly to the left And although doryphoros seems to take a step forward , he does not move Polykleitan style Dynamic asymmetrical system balance Motion while at rest Harmony of opposites Ideal statue of a nude man

Wu Zhen, Stalks of Bamboo by a Rock, 1347, painted scroll

Yuan Dynasty wu zhen was among the literati individuals from prominent families who painted primarily for a small audience of their social peers literati art personal in nature shows nostalgia for the past bamboo was a popular subject symbol of the ideal chinese gentleman who bends in adversity but does not break approximated the cherished art of calligraphy he differentiated the individual bamboo plants and revealed in the abstract patterns the stalks and leaves formed bamboo plants are perfect complements to the calligraphic beauty of the chinese black characters and red seals the bamboo and inscriptions gave opportunity for him to display his proficiency with the brush

Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing, 1766, oil painting

a young gentleman has convinced an unsuspecting old bishop to swing the young man's pretty sweetheart higher and higher while her lover stretches out to admire her ardently from a strategic position on the ground young lady flirtatiously kicks her shoes toward the cupid statue cupid holds his finger to his lips landscape emulates watteau's luxuriant perfumed bower in a park that very much resembles a stage scene for comic opera glowing pastel colors and soft light convey the theme's sensuality

Georges Braque, The Portuguese, 1911, oil painting

analytic cubism art of depicting new wholes with formal elements borrowed not from the reality of vision, but from that of conception cubists rejected naturalistic depictions, preferring compositions of shapes and forms abstracted from the conventionally perceived world subject → portuguese musician the artist recalled seeing years earlier in a bar in marseilles braque dissected the man and his instrument in dynamic interaction with the space around them

michelangelo, david, marble, 1501, high italian renaissance

chose to represent the young biblical hero before he encountered goliath exhibits energy in reserve rugged torso, sturdy limbs, and large hands and feet alert viewers to the triumph to come swelling vein amplifies the psychological energy of david's pose classical nude in mind greco-roman statues → hero physique abandoned the self-contained composition of the quattrocento statue by abruptly turning the hero's head toward his gigantic adversary compositionally and emotionally connected to an unseen presence beyond the statue presenting towering, pent-up emotion rather than calm, ideal beauty

Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii, 1784, oil painting

depicts a story from pre-republican rome , the heroic phase of roman history serve to instill patriotism and civic virtue in the public david was a neoclassical painter so the painting was neoclassical style sacrifice features, statuesque figures and classical architecture leaders of the warring cities of rome and alba decided to resolve their conflicts in a series of encounters waged by 3 representatives from each side romans chose as their champions, the 3 horatius brothers, who had to face the 3 sons of the curatius family from alba sister of the horatii, camilla, was the bride-to-be of one of the curatius sons wife of the youngest horatius was the sister of the curatii painting shows the horatii as they swear on their swords, held high by their fathers, to win or die for rome they were oblivious to the anguish and sorrow of their female relatives action unfolds in a shallow space much like a stage setting defined by simple architectural framework he developed his statuesque and carefully modeled figures across the space, close to the foreground, in a manner reminiscent of ancient relief sculpture rigid, angular, and virile forms of the men on the left effectively contrast with the soft curvilinear shapes of the distraught women on the right juxtaposition visually pits virtues enlightenment thinkers ascribed to men courage, patriotism, loyalty women love, sorrow, despair the message was clear and identifiable to the french public although he painted it under royal patronage and did not intend the painting as a revolutionary statement, the painting became the semiofficial voice of the revolution

Édouard Manet, Olympia, 1863, oil painting

depicts a young white prostitute reclining on bed olympia was a common professional name for prostitutes nude except for a thin black ribbon tied around her neck bracelet on her arm orchid in her hair fashionable slippers on her feet she meets the viewer's eyes with a look of cold indifference black maid presents her with flowers from a client olympia horrified public and critics alike shamelessness of olympia and her look verging on defiance perceived both the maid and olympia as evoking moral depravity inferiority animalistic sexuality racial divisions subject style brushstrokes are rougher shifts in tonality more abrupt

Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night, 1889, oil painting

expressionist method the artist did not represent the sky's appearance communicated his feelings about the electrifying vastness of the universe filled with whirling and exploding stars with the earth and humanity huddling beneath it used color to express him forcibly dark deep blue suffusing the entire painting together with turbulent brushstrokes, the colour suggests a quiet but pervasive depression

Théodore Géricault, Raft of the Medusa, 1818-1819, oil painting,

he abandoned the idealism of neoclassicism and embraced the theatricality of romanticism subject → 1816 shipwreck off the african coast of the french frigate, medusa, which ran aground on a reef due to the incompetence of the captain, political appointee in an attempt to survive, 150 passengers built a makeshift raft from pieces of the disintegrating ship raft drifted for 12 days number of survivors dwindled to 15 finally, a ship spotted the raft and rescued the emaciated survivors this horrendous event was political dynamite once it became public knowledge artist wanted to capture the horror, chaos, and emotion of the tragedy yet invoke the grandeur and impact of neoclassical history painting took 8 months to complete size ensure accuracy of his representation he visited hospitals and morgues to inspect corpses, interviewed the survivors, and had the model of the raft constructed in his studio in the painting, few despairing survivors summon what little strength they have left to flag down the passing ship far on the horizon subdued palette and prominent shadows lend an ominous pall to the scene he departed from straightforward organization of neoclassical compositions and instead presented a jumble of writhing bodies arranged the survivors and several corpses in a powerful x-shaped composition piled one body on another in every attitude of suffering, despair, and death one light-filled diagonal axis stretches from bodies at the lower left up to the black man raised on his comrade's shoulders and waving a piece of cloth toward the horizon cross axis descends from the storm clouds and the dark, billowing sail at the upper left to the shadowed upper torso of the body trailing in the open sea place raft at a diagonal so corner juts outward further draws viewers into the tragic scene seems as though corpses are sliding off the raft into the viewing space also a commentary on the practice of slavery he was a member of an abolitionist group that sought ways to end the slave trade in colonies he placed jean charles, a black soldier and one of few survivors at the top of the pyramidal heap of bodies

Suzuki Harunobu, Evening Bell at the Clock, 1765, woodblock print

he played a key role in developing multi-colored prints nishiki-e → brocade pictures sumptuous and brilliant colour prints employed the highest quality paper and costly-pigments image focuses on a particular time of day/year 2 beautiful young women seen from japanese elevated viewpoint sit on a veranda 1 is drying herself after a bath erotic scenes are common in ukiyo-e while her maid turns to face the chiming clock artist has playfully transformed the great temple bell ringing over the waters in the chinese series into a modern japanese clock flatness of the depicted objects and the rich color recall the traditions of court painting

Night Attack on the Sanjo Palace, 13th century, painted scroll

historical narrative painting depicts some of the civil-war battles at the end of heian period represents the nighttime attack on the sanjo palace during which the retired emperor goshirakawa was taken prisoner and his palace burned swirling clouds of smoke dominate the composition soldiers on horseback and on foot do battle depicted the buildings from above at a sharp angle painter's staccato brushwork and vivid flashes of colour

Claude Monet, Impression: Sunrise, 1872, oil painting

hostile critic applied the derogatory term impressionism sketchy quality undisguised brushstrokes artist embraced it

Reliquary guardian, 19th or 20th century, wood and metal

kota people venerate their ancestors collect cranial and bones (relics) of the deceased and place them in special containers (reliquaries) crowned by guardian figures called mbulu ngulu these figures have severely stylized bodies in the form of an open diamond below a wood head kota sculptors covered both the head and and the abstract body with stips and sheets of polished copper and brass believes that gleaming surface will repel evil simplified heads have hairstyles flattened out laterally above and beside the face geometric ridges, borders, and subdivisions add a textured elegance to the shiny forms copper alloy is reworked sheet brass/ copper wire taken from brass basins originating in europe and traded into africa kota inserted the lower portion of the image into the box of ancestral relics

King on Horseback with Attendants, ca. 1550-1680, brass

the central figure is an Oba because of his distinctive coral beaded regalia. Also, attendants hold shields above his head, either to protect him from attack or possibly from the hot, tropical sun. This was a privilege only afforded to an Oba. The figures around him range in size due to their level of importance within the court → hierarchic scale

Basawan and Chatar Muni, Akbar and the Elephant Hawai, ca. 1590, watercolor

miniature painting young emperor, akbar, bringing an elephant under control shows his ability to rule akbar is babur's grandson and is called the great akbar enlarged the imperial painting workshop 100 artists kept them busy working on a series of ambitious workshops 1 of these was to illustrate the text of the biography he has commissioned Abul Fazl to write indian miniatures watercolor paintings on paper served either as illustrations in books or as loose-leaf pages in albums rarely framed or hung on walls basawan → painter designed and drew the composition chatar muni colored the painting painting depicts the episode of akbar and hawai a wild elephant the 19 year-old ruler mounted and pitted against another ferocious elephant when the 2nd elephant fled in defeat, hawai still carrying akbar chased it to a pontoon bridge the elephants capsized the boats but akbar managed to bring hawai under control and dismount safely akbar viewed the episode as a symbol of his ability to govern to take charge of an unruly state basawan chose the moment of maximum chaos and danger from the frightening day when the elephants crossed the pontoon bridge, sending boat-men flying into the water composition is bold high horizon and 2 strong diagonal lines formed by the bridge and the shore flatten out the vista created a sense of depth by diminishing the size of the figures in the background basawan was also the master of vivid gestures and anecdotal detail bare-chested figure clinging to the end of a boat figure with outstretched arms sliding into the water as the bridge sinks oarsman who strains to steady his vessel while his 3 passengers stand up/lean overboard in reaction to the commotion

Sen no Rikyu, Taian teahouse, ca. 1582, Kyoto

momoyama period tea ceremony ritual preparation, serving, and drinking of green tea host's responsibilities serving the guests selecting utensils determining the tearoom's decoration carry important political and ideological implications provided a means for people relatively new to political or economic power to assert authority in the cultural realm sen no rikyu was the most venerated tea master during momoyama period established rituals and aesthetics of the ceremony manner of entry into teahouse crawling on one's hands and knees he believed crawling fostered humility impression of no rank in the teahouse designer of the 1st japanese teahouse built as an independent structure, as opposed to being part of a house oldest in Japan interior displays 2 standard features of of late muromachi residential architecture thick, rigid straw mats called tatami accommodate traditional customs of not wearing shoes indoors and of sitting on the floor alcove called tokonoma served as places to hang scrolls of painting or calligraphy display other prized objects usually has dark walls with earthen plaster covering square corner posts the room's dimness and tiny size produce a cavelike feel and encouraging intimacy among the the tea host and guests guests enter from a garden outside by crawling through a small sliding door entrance emphasizes a guest's passage into a ceremonial space set apart from the ordinary world

Ustad Ahmad Lahori, Taj Mahal, 1632-1647, Agra

monumental tombs were influenced by islamic architecture shah jahan, jahangir's son, built the mausoleum as a memorial to his favorite wife, mumtaz mahal domeon-cube shape and made of white marble seems to float above the tree-lined reflecting pools reinforcing the illusion of the marble tomb being suspended above water is the absence of any visible means of ascent to the upper platform a stairway exists, but is hidden from the view of anyone who approaches the memorial taj mahal follows the plan of iranian garden pavilions octagonal in plan has iranian arcuated niches on each side interplay of shadowy voids with light-reflecting marble walls that seem paper thin creates an impression of translucency pointed arches lead the eye in a sweeping upward movement toward the climatic dome, shaped like a crown (taj) 4 minarets and 2 pavilions enhance and stabilize the mausoleum architect achieved balance between verticality and horizontality by applying an all-encompassing system or proportions wide = tall height of dome = height of facade abd al-hamid lahori compared its minarets to ladders reaching towards heaven and the garden to paradise inscribed on the gateway to the gardens and the walls of the mausoleum are selected excerpts from the Koran designer conceived the mausoleum as the throne of God perched above the gardens of Paradise on judgement day while the minarets hold up the canopy of the throne in islam, the most revered place of burial is beneath the throne of God

Jean-Antoine Houdon, George Washington, 1788-1792, marble

neoclassical style the column on which he leans is a bundle of rods with an ax attached symbol of a magistrate's power, & used as an emblem of authority in Fascist Italy 13 rods symbolize the 13 original states the plow behind him and the fasces allude to cincinnatus, a patrician of the early roman republic who was elected dictator during a time of war and resigned his position as soon as victory has been achieved in order to return to his family to his farm washington wears the badge of the society of the cincinnati

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, 1907, oil painting

primitivism incorporate work stylistic elements from the artifacts of africa, oceania, and the native peoples of the americas westerners perceived these colonial cultures as primitive, and referred to them as artificial curiosities fetish objects these objects depicted strange gods or objects reinforced the perception these people were barbarians who needed to be civilized picasso believed african masks were magic things mediators between humans and the forces of evil he sought to capture their power and their forms in his paintings african and ancient iberian sculpture and cezanne's late paintings influenced this pivotal work opened the door to a radically new method of representing forms in space he began the work as a symbolic picture to be titled philosophical bordello portraying male clients intermingling with women in the reception room of a brothel on avignon street, barcelona. by the time it finished, he eliminated the men and simplified the room's details to a suggestion of drapery and a schematic foreground still life he fractured their shapes and interwove them with the equally jagged planes representing drapery and empty space the space so entwined with the bodies, is virtually illegible tension between 3d design lying flat on the surface of a stretched canvas tension between representation and abstraction depict the figures inconsistently ancient iberian sculptures inspired the calm, ideal features of the 3 young women on the left energetic, violently striated features of the 2 heads to the right emerged late in the production of the work directly from his fascination with the power of african sculpture broke them into more ambiguous planes suggesting a combination of views women present the viewer simultaneously with a three-quarter back view from the left, another from the right , and a front view of the head dramatic departure from the careful presentation of a visual reality

Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917, readymade

readymade free from any consideration of either good or bad taste porcelain urinal signed r.mutt witty pseudonym derived from the mott plumbing company's name mott plumbing company's name and that of the shorter man of the then-popular mutt and jeff comic-strip duo he conferred the status of art on a urinal and forced people to see the object in a new light

Gustave Courbet, The Stone Breakers, 1849, oil painting

realism captured in a straightforward manner of 2 men in the act of breaking stones one about 70 and the other quite young traditionally the lot of the lowest members of french society by juxtaposing youth and age he suggested those born to poverty remain poor their entire lives artist neither romanticized nor idealized the men's menial labor but depicted their thankless toil with directness and accuracy used palette of dirty browns and grays further conveys the dreary and dismal nature of the task angular positioning of the older stone breaker's limbs suggests a mechanical monotony 1848 laborers rebelled against the bourgeois leaders of the newly formed 2nd republic and against the rest of the nation demanding better work conditions redistribution of property army quelled the uprising in 3 days painting was timely and populist

Master of the Symbolic Execution, Saltcellar, ca. 1490-1540, ivory

salt was a valuable commodity flavouring preservative costly saltcellars were prestige items that graced the tables of the european elite sapi sculptors carved it from elephant tusk ivory depicts an execution scene source of artist's assigned name kneeling figure with a shield in one hand holds an ax over another seated figure about to lose his head on the ground, severed heads grimly testify to the executioner's power a double zig-zag line separates the lid of the globular container from the rest of the vessel vessel rests on a circular platform held up by slender rods adorned with crocodile images 2 male and 2 female figures sit between the rods, grasping them the men wear european style pants and have long straight hair women wear skirts, and the elaborate raised patterns on their upper chests represent decorative scars european components design of spherical container on a pedestal geometric patternings on the base and sphere elements of dress → shirts and hats african are the style of the human heads, figures and proportions identical large noses with large nostrils