Two painters in history are known for their abilities to depict scenes in such realistic manners that you would never know they are actually producing paintings. These painters are named Johannes Vermeer and Albert Bierstadt. Both men came from different times and ethnic backgrounds. Dutchman, Johannes Vermeer was born in the year 1632 and passed away in 1675. Over his lifetime Vermeer used a style of painting that causing modern day historians and art lovers to struggle to figure out how he painted such realistic scenes that mimicked photographs. His style combined many pictorial depth cues while maintaining a strong sense of realism throughout the relatively few paintings he produced. Next is Prussian artist Albert Bierstadt, who was born in the year 1830 and passed away in 1903. Bierstadt is widely known for his highly realistic paintings of the American West landscape. Combining pictorial depth cues and visual realism were his specialties, while raising a large degree of ‘illusionism’ in his paintings. In his lifetime Bierstadt produced over 500 paintings, most of which pertained to the places he visited on his journey across the United States. While Bierstadt and Vermeer were two very different men, their works shared common elements. Vermeer’s The Music Lesson and The Concert and Bierstadt’s Yosemite Valley share many of the same pictorial depth cues, realism, and even a sense of illusionism. In order to analyze how these works of art are alike, three questions must be
In painting his work, Tillers dramatically enlarged the scale of von Guérard’s colonial image, creating a new work in its place. It is of a monumental scale when compared to the original. The new sizing meant that the image was at once more present to the viewer, giving the impression that one can enter the landscape, but also more abstract, due to the grid left by the canvas-boards. Tillers’ painterly surface jar with the parts of the boards that don’t quite match, forcing the viewer to see this as appropriation, the illusion of space, the changes in perspectives.
In Iris H. W. Engstrand article, “Perception and Perfection: Picturing the Spanish and Mexican Coastal West,” I initially did not know what to expect of the article. I figured Engstrand would discuss multiple views and perspectives when moving to the Spanish and Mexican Coastal front. I found the thesis, after reading through the article as it was not outrightly stated, to be: “Artists and illustrators depicted the past -- or the observable present -- in pictorial documents that became the records of current events, journalism, of reportage, and of scientific exploration, discovery, and adventure.” I believe Engstrand’s purpose is to reveal to her readers the predominant primary sources of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century and how the art could be manipulated to please specific cultures or people.
In this selection of the book, Gitlin discusses a seventeenth-century Dutch painter by the name of Vermeer. Vermeer was known for being able to”fr[ee]ze instants, but instants that spoke of the relative constancy of the world in which his subjects lived” (Gitlin 558). People collected Vermeer’s paintings for display throughout their homes. Gitlin sees Vermeer as the seventeenth-century version of the media. In that time, the images painted were relative to the people’s era and private world. In today’s world Vermeer would be the equivalent to a celebrity photographer or movie director. If Vermeer, or any other artist of his time, were to see today’s households, they would find that the once private space inside the home is now much more dominated by images of the outside world than what would have been possible in the 1600’s.
mission of proving Johannes Vermeer painted using optical tools. For most of the duration of this film, I felt disgusted with Jenison and his attempt to lesson the genius of Vermeer. It wasn’t until I saw the painting in person that I became interested in what he was trying to do. I needed to know that he appreciate the artistry of Vermeer. After that point, I felt less offended by his mission.
He was brimming with excitement as he dusted off a blank canvas and set it on a stand. He turned the lights up to their brightest. Carl worked with precision late into the night, listening to music and the rain pattering outside the whole time. He painted a park at sundown. The trees, lamps, and the ground were all standard colors easily perceived by the human eye, but the sky was bursting with multicolored cubes; a fantastical glimpse of Carl’s unique perspective. When he was finished he took a few steps back, scanned his work like any good artist, and finally nodded, pleased with his outrageously colored
On Saturday, November 4th, I visited the Denver Art Museum in Denver, Colorado. The piece of art I decided to write about is called “A Mountain Symphony (Longs Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado)” This two-dimensional oil on canvas painting was completed in America in 1927 by Sven Birger Sandzén. This painting has not been on public view since 1927 and is located in the Denver Art Museum in Denver, Colorado. It was a “Free Day” at the museum, so I decided to attend by myself. I was unable to get a picture of myself in front of the work of art I decided to write about, but I did get several pictures of the artwork and a picture of myself with the “Free Day” sticker. I decided to write about this work of art because it was the only piece in the museum that really stood out to me and really caught my attention. A Mountain Symphony is a lively, beautiful landscape painting with a vibrant pallet filled with luminosity and broad brushstrokes. The sculptural quality of the paint surface reflect the influence of turn-of-the century modernist techniques. The balance of color and light brings happiness and joy to the viewer.
Art by its nature is a subject of the philosophical, social, economic, political or religious context surrounding its creator. More often than not, a work of art addresses a specific topic or somewhat revolves around a particular person. Therefore, it is impossible to separate the context of a piece of painting, either historical or cultural, to its intrinsic value or the artwork's meaning. On the other hand, different cultures and time utilized specific conventions that govern the representation of objects of creativity. This essay highlights various pieces of art and their relationship to particular cultural, political, economic, or social settings. Moreover, it pinpoints how different times influence art presentation.
In the 17th century, Holland, with its tiny population of c. 2million people, was ranked among the leading countries for trade and science, in the world. During this period, known as the “Dutch Golden Age” the art world flourished as the Dutch bourgeois with their wealth and appreciation of art commissioned paintings of themselves, family and country. Painters also began exploring new forms and content with new treatments of architectural volumes, interplay of light and perspective, elegant worlds, traditional portraiture and still life painting.
1. How would you define the use of artistic imagination in the works of Hieronymus Bosch and Martin Schongauer? Use specific examples to support your essay. Studying the art pieces from both Hieronymus Bosch and Marin Schongauer you can see similarities in theme and their artistic imagination. Bosch and Schongauer pieces both take something that is a common strict narrative into an interpretation art piece; One example of this would figure 14.22 from Bosch titled The Garden of Earthly Delights, this particular painting has been said to represent a group of unorthodox people who promote the thought of free love for all, with the right-side wing displaying a place of condemnation for sins or having it signify the days of Noah when the Earth
“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.
One of Vincent Van Gogh’s most world renowned paintings is his landscape oil painting Starry Night. The painting displays a small town underneath an unusual yet still extremely beautiful night sky. In this night sky, Van Gogh utilizes an array of colors that blend well together in order to enhance the sky as a whole. The town is clearly a small one due to the amount of buildings that are present in the painting itself. In this small town most of the buildings have lights on which symbolize life in a community. Another visual in Starry Night is the mountain like figures that appear in the background of the illustrious painting. Several things contribute to the beauty of Van Gogh’s painting which are the painting’s function, context, style, and design. Van Gogh’s utilization of these elements help bring further emphasis to his work in Starry Night.
In order to compare the poetry of Charles Baudelaire and John Wieners within the context of modernity, one must recognize the discrepancy between their time periods. Baudelaire was born in Paris in 1821, and much of his work was published after the February Revolution of 1848. John Wieners, on the other hand, was born in 1934 –67 years after Baudelaire’s death—near Boston, Massachusetts. Both poets explored sexual and drug-related themes that opposed the conventions of their society. However, poets played a larger role in Baudelaire’s modern society than in Wieners’s. People in Baudelaire’s modern society read for entertainment as well as instruction, so therefore, as a source of this entertainment, the poet and his contemporaries would naturally inhabit the mainstream, insofar as their occupation if not their fame. John Wieners, on the other hand, was pushed into the fringe of his society’s consciousness. Part of this push likely had to do with new and less demanding forms of entertainment such as television and record players. However, the much more likely caused by the subject matter of his poems. It is true that like Baudelaire, John Wieners challenged societal norms, but unlike Baudelaire, his occupation as a poet drew little attention to the skill so clearly evident within his poems.
Other strong similarity between Vincent Van Gogh and Gabriel Garcia Marquez is that both are influenced for the society which plays an important role in their work by giving them experience and a clear understanding of how the life is and eventually help them to success. For Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the society plays an important role in terms of his work given the fact that Aracataca his hometown appears in his work as a main subject. In fact, this society represents his nostalgic childhood of the time he spends with his grandparents, the social life and customs by that time. As result this society becomes a crucial element that represent his works. According to Adams (2005)," If Gabriel Garcia Marquez was not born in Aracataca, he would not
Two of the most extensively analyzed works of art are Diego Velasquez's Las Meninas and Jan Van Eyck's Arnolfini Double Portrait. Both of these artist's talent won them recognition not only during their lifetime but after as well. Both Velasquez and Van Eyck have a justly earned title as the most talented artists of their respective times. A detailed examination of the details and intricacies of these artist's respective masterpieces, their similarities, and what sets them apart not just from each other but from other paintings from their time period and style, will lead the viewer to a better understanding of the mentalities of these gifted artists and how they transcend their respective genres and contemporaries to create their own
Throughout the vast history of art, historians can find connections throughout the centuries. Artists from the beginning of humankind have been inspired by the world around them. From the Apollo 11 stones to present day, history and culture have provided inspiration and have been the focus of various pieces. Examining artwork from the 15th-18th century, viewers can be shown a whole world that would be unknown to us without these artist’s contributions. History, religion, and cultural events have sculpted the art world, and we can observe this through many pieces during the 15th-18th centuries.