While in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, I traveled through the different galleries and their various cultures; discovering all sorts of arts from Contemporary art, to American art, Japanese art, and even the Egyptian art where I could appreciate the complexity of mummies. Throughout all these diverse cultures of art, I was questioning myself and started to wonder how I could understand art beyond others’ opinion about them. Moreover, I realized that it was a question John Berger, critic of art and author of the Ways of Seeing, raised in his essay, and it is a question that will always be raised while demanding how to understand a certain art. Walking through a room where various French artists had their paintings exposed, I fell in …show more content…
Indeed, mystification appeared while I was looking at the painting. I could sense a certain limit of my understanding due to the previous art classes I had. In other terms, it meant for me that words were coming before seeing whereas seeing should come before words as Berger deciphered in his essay. My mind was already set for a certain critic about the painting based on the knowledge I had; Consequently, I could not have another point of view vis-à-vis the painting I was staring at. Although I learned a lot from my art classes, especially how to describe an artwork contextually, the observations and point of view of Berger about art gave me enough elements to have a complete analysis of an image, both contextually and historically. Using Berger as a guide for art description helped me to learn more about the painting historically, and much more about the painter himself to have a complete understanding of the artwork. Prior to this assignment, it had never occurred to me to use the biography and the background of the painter in order to facilitate my understanding of the painting. When Berger quoted “When we see a landscape, we situate ourselves in the it. If we saw the art of the past, we would situate ourselves in history.” (100) in the essay led me to start the analysis of Gauguin’s painting in a very different way. Actually, when I focused more on the
In this section Reid make emphasis in the idea of “when the audience changes, your message has to change, sometimes drastically” . Considering that statement at Ringling it would be the level of explanation needed in order to present art work in the best way possible. For example there is a difference between academic work and informative work, the first one applies a technical vocabulary, but for the second it is necessary to present a concrete idea of the artwork. Although academic and informative essays are different in some aspects, both of them share the need of very detailed
The first thing to note is the overall composition of the painting. First and foremost it is a landscape painting. The colors are very monochrome; the space is stretched to reveal a depth to the painting that the eye cannot capture; and there is stillness to the art that embraces nature and serenity of life. In the right-hand corner of the painting there is calligraphy. The calligraphy lacks the precision, but is very clear in its form, much like the depiction within the painting
I was fortuned to have had parents who had a respect for all kinds of art and approached life with an open mind. Thus being furthered blessed to grow up near a metropolis which possesses a major art museum and galleries showcasing new talent, filling young eyes with wonderment. An art appreciation study early own in life would have been beneficial but alas, I burn with shame as one who falls in the class of “I know what I like” when asked about art. I am all agog for semester’s end to be better equipped to articulate on why I am moved by a particular piece. After listening to the first week lecture and reading the first two chapters of the course text, it was difficult to narrow the subject of my essay to one subject. But, Chapter Ones quotes
Maggie Saldivar starts off with a description of her own experience with defining Art. She recounts the beginning of her class when the teacher declares that everyone should assemble their own definition
I think what we are looking for in this question is the procedures used to formally analyze art work. The first step is to describe the work. This process should include The title of the work as well as who created it and when and the medium used to create the work. Our course description calls for information regarding who currently owns the artwork and its current location. Other information that can be included in the description is what kind of art it is and some history of the artist as well as history on the subject.
The painting shows man and nature in harmony. A clear sign that he focused mostly on drawing is the geometric forms used in the painting. He used very calm tonality to give it the calmness. His artwork and brushwork are very fluid and focused. This painting has no historical meaning because this painting was after his transition from historical to landscape. Instead of telling a story it is supposed to evoke a calm mood. The golden light contributes to its peacefulness. Now that I have explained both paintings individually, in the following paragraph I will talk about their differences and what makes them different.
When examining and judging a work of art from an art historian’s point of view the historical operations:
analysis of a work of art it is possible for one to more deeply understand the ideas that the
While observing this painting, I saw many attributes throughout the work that all contributed to the content. First,
I learned that the earliest form of art began in Africa approximately two million years ago. It was interesting to find out that the work of art was an engraved ochre that had lines as if it was crossed hatches (Page 241). I also found out that other pieces of art were discovered from cave paintings to human like figurines either carved or molded by clay. Egypt had similar views their art was many of humans most higher ranking. Later, Greece began creating work of art that honored an individual’s achievements that consisted of a life-sized, freestanding either nude male or clothed woman. Most of their art involved classical art which meant it restrained emotion (256-257). Then along came the Romans which their art was tied into architecture and the engineering. They created structure such as, The Colosseum and Pantheon these structures both had similar things they had arches and columns yet, the Pantheon had a high
Berger, the author of Ways of Seeing, offers a new perspective on how to analyze art while reading the image for what the artist is trying to convey. Berger strongly believes that every person interprets art differently, which means there are infinite possibilities when it comes to describing arts effect on not only a person, but on society as a whole. Your perspective is influenced by your upbringing, education, beliefs, and the generation you belong to. Berger also believes that we can not only gaze at a painting, in order to fully grasp the meaning of the events that are taking place, one must situate themselves in that place and time. The person viewing the painting must examine it for clues and try to dig beyond the surface due to the
In today's discussion class, Jingyi tells a lot about the history of the world art and the appreciation of art history, which makes me feel the great content of the history of the world. In the summer of AH-2130 class I feel the charm of the history of the world art, in this semester I still feel the infinite charm of art. At the beginning of the discussion class, she told the French Ambassadors The case, which was the beginning of a discussion, and I also recorded information about the work, like the French Ambassadors by Hans Holbein. The younger. 1533/ Oil on wood panel. National Geally. After a detailed introduction, she told us how to look at art. I think this is a very good convergence process, and then she told about the formal analysis
Many works of art such as paintings, sculptures, and architecture show a different subject matter. When looking at a piece of artwork, we might find a piece of artwork to be eye catching and interesting to us. There are times when we can understand a piece of artwork and there are times when it can be misunderstood, if you don’t understand the meaning behind it, especially if the artwork is not a common thing that we are use to seeing. There are different cultures that express themselves differently when it comes to artwork. Some might make artwork of the living and others might make artwork of the dead. Paying close attention to smaller details of the artwork can give the viewer a better understanding of the overall artwork that was created. There is always some type of history behind a painting,
Did I yearn to feel enlightened? Did I wish to experience some divine revelation? Maybe it was unfair of me to hold the piece to such high standards, but, then again, the whole world awarded it such high esteem. Now, having seen the painting, I continued with the assignment by searching the work on google images, and this time I was not at a loss for words. I saw the meticulous, painstaking detail. I analyzed the dynamics of the piece with skills learned from A History of Art and Music. I identified the characteristics of the Renaissance. I witnessed the subjects illustrious ability to follow any and all onlookers. I saw what made the painting great. In this instance, I think I found a prime example of how humans tend to idolize things or, rather, are conditioned to idolize things before we can discern our own appreciation for them. Now, I’m not saying that it’s not justified because it is; the Mona Lisa is a special painting, enshrouded in mystery. However, standing amongst the crowd of spectators jostling one another for a better view, I only saw the meager face of a
throughout the book clearly presents the idea that art itself is a major component of life. It effects