Baletka (The Ballet Dancer), painted by Josef Loukota in early 1990’s was a gift from this Czech artist to my great-granddad and has been hanging on my grandparents’ wall since I can remember. The issue about having artworks at home is that they do not get appreciated enough: they are just always there and there seems to be nothing special about that one particular part of room. However, two features of this painting had always caught my eye. It was the shiny satin ribbon on the dancer’s ballet slippers and the soft, white ballet dress she is wearing. All my focus is on the soft and warm texture of the fabric that creates contrast to the dark and heavy background. The artwork evokes feelings of harmony, curiosity and sympathy and inspired me
Her student dance company was founded in 1931, “Ballet Negre” and awarded a Rosenwald Travel Fellowship in 1936 for her combined expertise in dance and anthropology. While studying with Ludmilla Speranzeva and Mark
As world has changed over the last century or so, the ballet world has been changing with it. There are many people who have helped shape that change. The changes in style were mainly influenced by George Balanchine. George Balanchine, a Russian choreographer and ballet dancer, also known as the father of American ballet, was the man who was said to have changed the style of ballet forever. Along with these changes in style came changes in visual design elements, inspirational figures, and changes in what the ballets themselves tend to rely on. Many of the features given to ballet in Russia in the 15th and 16th century still remain to this day, but many features have been altered to fit . Let’s take a closer look at what features truly
All six dances in the ‘black and white’ ballets are based on sexuality. The male
Mats Ek’s family would play no small part in the development of his influential style of dance. His father Ander Ek was an acclaimed Swedish actor and this had a strong impact on his work in the theatre, Ander ek gave Mats Ek a chance to do drama classes and this is shown through his use of emotion, drama and abstract expressions in his choreography. His mother Brigit Cullberg, choreographer and dancer of the Cullberg ballet who funded the Cullberg ballet in the 1960’s. The artistic background that Mats Ek was brought up in has profoundly influenced his work and it is obvious that both acting and dancing complement the other in his choreography. Without his strong artistic family Mats Ek would not bee the renowned choreographer he is today.
Balko also points the brightside of having private insurer’s handeling our healthcare. Balko believes that we should all have more access to our health savings accounts. If we have more access to our accounts we may have the option of carrying over some money for our retirement. When we aren’t spending the money given to us by government and using our own instead, we can be more wary of how we spend our money. This again gives us incentive to live a better lifestyle. He uses Margo Wootan’s book as evidence as to why we need this more than ever. Wootan claims that, “We’ve got to move beyond ‘personal responsibility bias.’” Wootan basically says that it is not entirely our fault and practically begs the government to take control of healthcare.
The art world has been host to a vast menagerie of talent, intellect, and creativity for about as long as human culture has existed. It has grown, developed, and changed just as humanity has. Naturally, with such an impressively expansive history, various avenues of art are visited time and time again by new artists. Artists seek not only to bring their own personal flavor and meaning to timeless concepts, but to find new ways to approach them. While not every single creator and craftsman can make such a great impact on art or the world, their efforts have given birth to some truly magnificent and unique works. In an effort to create a more meaningful understanding, as well a deeper appreciation, of the nuances, techniques, and design choices employed in these attempts, a comparison will be made between Edouard Vuillard’s Interior With a Screen (1909-1910) and Henri Matisse’s Blue Nude (Souvenir of Biskra) (1907). In this essay, each artist’s approach to the subject of the female nude will be closely analyzed, compared, and contrasted, as will their styles of painting, handling of visual elements, and their use of the principles of design. An interpretation of each work and what the artist intended when creating it will also be provided.
Whether we look at a romantic ballet like La Sylphide or a classical ballet such as Sleeping Beauty, audiences are constantly mesmerized by the gracefulness and weightlessness of the ballet dancers. They seem to defy the laws of physics, which is greatly possible due to the use of the pointe shoe. However, many masterworks that were created in the Romantic era did not solely rely on the pointe shoe to help convey messages. Instead, the choreography, dancers, scenic elements, subject matter, and music all helped shaped masterworks such as La Sylphide, Napoli, and Giselle. Similarly, in the Classical era, these elements all played a role in shaping famous ballets like La Bayadere, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake. But once we take a closer look at these ballets from the Classical era, we can see how much ballet evolved. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the Romantic era was the stepping stone for this pure art form that we have been able to preserve for more than 160 years.
Berthe Morisot was born in 1841, a time when it was still quite difficult for women to become professional artists as the art world was predominantly male. She continually faced criticism and encountered difficulties due to her sex. Despite this, Morisot was able to establish herself as a respected artist whose work only continues to become more highly regarded with time. Her place in art history alongside such Impressionist artists as Claude Monet, Marie Bracquemond, Mary Cassatt, and Edgar Degas, is a testament to her ambition. She was an artist who “aspired to greatness” who “was not content to take second place.” Her painting Young Woman Knitting of 1883 is a excellent example of her style and technique. To fully comprehend how this painting is typical of her work, it is helpful to study her life, as well as her artistic development, especially in her paintings.
The sculptures “Apollo and Daphne” and “Two Women” share elements and principles with one another, such as shape, size and texture. Bernini’s work is a life size piece that complements the figure of the two characters. The facial expressions, hands, feet and hair of “Apollo and Daphne” are in reasonable detail; however there are no lines on the bodies to create depth and texture. On the other hand, Mueck challenge’s the viewer by changing the scale of his work, with “Two Women” minute and in incredible proportion with the features and figure of the women.
The music of Stravinsky has always been “ahead of time” in the way of using new and different ways of presenting music. His early ballets such as Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring being a great example of his modernism and will to compose music which is both innovative and shocking. For this essay I have chosen to write about The Firebird (1910) and The Rite of Spring (1913). Firebird was Stravinsky’s first Ballet and his first composition that reached many people because of its modernism and exoticism. The Rite of Spring is still renowned for its portrayal of primitivism, a concept that was accentuated by the riot that happened at its premiere.
'It seems to me, my dear friend, that the music of this ballet will be one of my best creations. The subject is so poetic, so grateful for music, that 1 have worked on it with enthusiasm and written it with the warmth and enthusiasm upon which the worth of a composition always depends." - Tchaikovsky, to Nadia von Meck.
On September 4, 2016, I visited the Matisse in His Time exhibit at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. This exhibit is home to a plethora of pieces by many different European artists from the 19th and 20th centuries. While it is focused on Matisse and his extensive works, containing more than 50 of his pieces, there are many portraits and sculptures by other influential artists from that time period including Renoir, Picasso, and Georges Braque. Three of the most appealing works that I encountered in this exhibit are Maurice de Vlaminck’s Portrait of Père Bouju, Pablo Picasso’s Reclining Woman on a Blue Divan, and Henri Matisse’s sculpture series Henriette I, Henriette II, and Henriette III.
While watching the video “Ballet, Sweat, and Tears,” I noticed that the Ballet teachers in Russia are more strict and severe than the ones in America. The teachers at the Russia academy yelled a lot and physically touched the students, while here I America that is not allowed. In my opinion a difference that I saw was that the students over at the Vaganova Ballet were not lazy at all. The students from the Russian academy were more focused and traditional. Russian ballet also focuses on moving the body as a “whole,” their moves are more controlled and precise. They also tend to focus on flexibility and endurance as well as the positions of the arms. I also noticed that the students attending the Vaganova academy were more willing to make sacrifices. And example, would be the little girl that stated that she has not been able to watch television for over two months now. Now, the typical student here in the United States tends to be lazy and usually has a careless attitude. I know the students over here in America would not wake up at six in the morning just to keep practicing, especially in today’s generation. While, I also watched some ballet videos from the school of American Ballet I saw that the diet is not as firm as the one from the Vaganova Ballet Academy. Many people have also stated that compared to the Vaganova Ballet Academy the school of American ballet is a breeze. A major difference that I saw was the performance while the Russian ballet performance was precise
Rudolf Laban was first recognised for his dedication to supporting the movement of expressionist dance (also known as Ausdruckstanz), which had a big effect on the culture of movement as it changed the artistic stagnation of classical ballet and the maturity within the future of art. This movement arose in the 1900’s and was a protest against classical ballet which was perceived as tightly held and mechanical in fixed and conventional forms. This changed movement to become free and natural, allowing more flow and openness to arise. Rudolf Laban was considered a significant figure within this movement as he influenced the younger youth, teaching at a creative art school called Monte Verita situated in Switzerland. Laban became a key figure based off of his metaphysical ideas regarding his exploration of time and space within movement which further developed later in his career. Without Laban’s teaching skills and inspiring the next generations, classical ballet wouldn’t have as much meaning
Although examining art requires a huge knowledge, my intention in this essay is to analyze a piece of art, besides lyrics and the context, I’m going to examine it by following the steps presented by Alain de Botton.