Guernica And Rape Of Europa

The artistic creation is a fine and massive French Nineteenth Century Oil on Canvas painting that has been done within a baroque gild woodcut casing, delineating Jupiter (a god) and there is also an image of a bull with tends to show the winning conviction of Europa. Europa, on the other hand, is seen to wrap the horns of the bull with a crown of flowery branches and mounts the bull who is seen to take her off to the waters. The painting demonstrates Europa kidnapped as the lady of the hour. Around: Paris, Mid 1800's. The first, which measures more than 9 feet wide, is currently in the Dallas Museum of Art.

The piece introduces a moment of ecstasy created through an event of sexual tension. The strong presence in the figure begins to depict the emotions of the facial features in which is expressed through painted textures committing a exotic tension in the structure of Europa’s appearance. Emphasizing the emotion in the figure, Titian begins to express the sentiment through the creation of a dramatic presence. First with the colour scheme, he draw the attention to the figure with a light foreshadowing directly to Europa’s body accentuating the dramatization in the expression of the face. The appearance of the tense emotion conveys the illusion of fear, pain and distress causing a confusion of what seems to appear as sexual violence. According to A.W.Eaton the facial expression consists of exotic pleasure rather than an appearance devoted to despair and I quote “First, the painting eroticizes Europa’s rape by representing her as complicit and taking pleasure in the act. For instance, Europa’s facial expression does not obviously betray distress, fear, or pain, and is often interpreted as a look of ecstasy”(Eaton, P.162). Furthermore this quote explains that rather the expression interpreted from Europa was a moment of rapture or moreover an execution of enjoyment towards

Joan informed the audience of her position on morality by giving examples of when other people were presented with the opportunity to show their own positions on morality. She is able to bring up how people say “It is immoral,” but in the position of making the so called moral choice, they make the choice they were supposedly opposed to. Her use of imagery is very resourceful when she says, “At least some of the time, the world appears to me as a painting by Hieronymous Bosch; were I to follow my conscience then, it would lead me out onto the desert with Marion Faye...”(Didion 3). She mentions the Hieronymous Bosch painting because it is a bizarre painting with obscure images and ties it in with morality by saying that if you follow your conscience the wrong way, you will end up somewhere

The inclusion and value of ‘external evidence’, information concerning the artist and his interpretation and reasoning of his piece, has frequently been debated by philosophers. Many argue that external evidence should not be considered in the interpretation of a piece of art; better yet, the audience would seemingly benefit from not having any prior knowledge of the artist or his implications. Other theorists counter that while we should not judge a piece with the artist in mind, having some general knowledge does give important insight into the culture that is expressed through the piece.

The reading claims that nudes throughout artistic history have been an important source of beauty and controversy. Nudes began to spike during the Baroque period as they were used for the more expressive and emotional arts of the time. In the nineteenth century, nudes became more common, yet became more sensitive. Artists would train by drawing nudes of ancient Greek statues and figures from myth. However, many artists would then move on to create works depicting prostitutes or peasant naked women. This would not please patrons as they were extremely societally taboo. However, this did not start artists from making them, as they moved into the twentieth and twenty-first century. This shows the importance of artistic nudes and their impact

The main focus of the painting intended by Titian is a nude woman, Venus, looking straightforwardly at the audience. The young woman’s nipples are erect; with her left hand covers her pubic area, the sexuality of this painting is unquestionable. She is completely naked except for the ring on her little finger and the bracelet around her wrist. It is clear that the intention of this painting is to evoke sensual feelings in its audience.

The time is the sixth century, the place is Rome and the person is Lucretia, a woman who contributed to one of the biggest parts of Roman history: the creation of the Roman republic. The rape of the virtuous Lucretia by Sextus Tarquinius, the son of Tarquinius Superbus' (an Etruscan king) was the final straw for the Roman people and pushed them to want to change from a monarchy to a republic. From the accounts of the rape of Lucretia from ancient historians like Livy, Cicero and Dionysius, it is clear that Lucretias rape not only spurred the roman people to want to get rid of the Etruscan King and his family, but also revealed the important role of virtue in women in roman society.

“Primitivism” was a cultural attitude that arose in Europe during the late 19th and 20th century in opposition to the increasingly decadent and materialistic European culture. Rather than an artistic movement, “primitivism” is a European conception of foreign civilizations and lands as “simple”, less developed, and naive. This is an important distinction to make, because “primitivism” was defined in the eyes of the Europeans who saw foreign civilizations as unsophisticated, indicating that the concept of “primitivism” is heavily biased in the view of the Europeans. Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse were two artists that were highly influenced by the concept of “primitivism,” and some similarity can be depicted in their works such as the use of female nudes, vivid colors, and artistic techniques. However, their definition and methods of achieving “primitivism” differ heavily, due to the fact that the vagueness of “primitivism” allows it to be a self-defined concept. These similarities and differences can be seen through the two works of art The Spirit of the Dead Watching by Paul Gauguin, and The Blue Nude by Henri Matisse, and the way they depict women in each of the pieces.

In this essay, I will be comparing and contrasting artists Pablo Picasso and Van Gogh, considering their intentions with their artwork. Van Gogh and Picasso two of the most famous artists out there and still are to this day. Uncountable books have been published and dedicated to them and their lives and careers of being true artist. Their art has changed the way people view things and the world around them.

By analyzing ancient artwork, one can better understand humanities morals and beliefs during different time periods. Paris, a sculpture residing in The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California, not only depicts a famous character named Paris from Greek mythology but also symbolizes Ancient Greeks’ beliefs and moral values. While the story behind the character in this sculpture is well documented in a Greek mythological narrative titled “The Judgement of Paris”, the symbolism behind the design and features of the sculpture are up for interpretation. The artist uses this sculpture and character as a visual way to teach moral lessons just like Ancient Greeks used Greek mythology and written stories to do the same. Through careful analysis

The intention of the artist was fully honourable, however, what he intended to come across did not come across to these people.

But, in this way, is it helpful to think of Europa as more pornography than art? According to Lynda Nead "the most commonplace opposition to pornography is art." Because "pornography symbolizes filth and the illicit" For Eaton, The Rape of Europa is an illicit piece of art for what it symbolizes: the sexualizing of a body about to be violated. In this way the nude figure is always at risk of being more pornographic than artistic.

The painting this paper will focus on is titled The Abduction of Europa by Noël-Nicolas Coypel. In this painting, the artist uses composition, light, color, and expressive qualities to achieve the mood of romance and playfulness in a mythological scene. The huge painting is representing a known myth that involves the Roman equivalent of a Greek myth of a powerful god being so infatuated with a nymph that he kidnapped her. In the this painted visual, we are specifically witnessing the moment Jupiter is swimming away with Europa and taking her far from her home.

Throughout history, specifically in ancient Rome and Greece, people admired painting to the point where it was taught to every son of respectable families, yet forbidden to the slaves. This goes to show how this form of art in particular was considered fit only to those of high social class. Although it was reserved for the educated and cultured, painting attracted everyone and pleased them equally. In particular, “[n]ature herself delights in painting.”(Alberti 64) Alberti persists in showing us how painting is of nature; he first references nature by saying that Narcissus was the inventor of painting. In the myth of Narcissus, nature plays the role of the artist who paints a portrait so beautiful that Narcissus cannot take his eyes off of it. To further convince the reader of the pleasures painting gives, the author recounts a personal anecdote of how gratifying and relaxing painting can be.

The skull is a symbol of our mortality and was often used in the vanities of 17th century oil paintings such as in the painting The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein. It is a reminder of the transience of life and the futility of pleasure. Dali plays with these psychological concepts in this work by using this symbol from vanitas and incorporating the object of man’s desires into the skull. The photograph is meant to provoke the viewer by blending our fear of death and our earthly cravings. Dali’s uneasy expression mirrors the viewer’s troubled reaction at being confronted with the reminder of mortality and the temptations of pleasure.