The Creation Of Auguste Rodin

In this essay, I will compare and contrast two different sculptures from two different contexts of art. The first being an Olmec Colossal head (monument 1), from the context of “Art of the Americas,” and the second sculpture being ahead from Rafin Kura. The head from Rafin Kura comes from the context of “Art of Africa.” Both sculptures come from two different time periods and parts of the world. They also are both made with natural materials and have their own symbolic meaning.

On October 22, 2017, I had the opportunity to learn about the works of Renaissance art while observing the painting The Annunciation and Expulsion from Paradise, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. completed by Giovanni Di Paolo in the fourteenth century A.D. The painting is located in the West Building of the National Gallery, designed by American architect John Russell Pope. We entered through the Madison Dr. entrance and walked through the Roman-inspired columns of the rotunda, and proceeded to the left into the “barrel-vaulted sculpture hall” (National Gallery of Art) and entered Gallery 3, where my painting rested. This West Building of the National Gallery focuses on European artworks completed between the thirteenth through sixteenth centuries.

Whether pride, fear, or peace, art is intended to make the viewer feel an emotion. The visit to the St. Louis Art Museum had me excited to discover a new revelation. Being the second time that I had visited in two semesters, I was looking forward to a new angle to take, writing about some of my favorite pieces I was unable to include in my last paper. This semester we have been focusing on the Renaissance era (1300-1700), also known as the Rebirth. During this time, scholars and artists looked back towards the classical learning. Purposefully looking past the middle-ages, they focused on the classical past of Rome and Greece. During this time period many works of art were created, however, throughout this semester every major artist we studied

Throughout different time periods and civilizations come many different types of art that would never be comparable to those of another time or place. There are also the pieces that come from a completely different time and place, but yet they can still be compared to one another. The Torso of a God (Egyptian, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, last decade of the reign of Amenhotep III, Granodiorite, 1359-1349 B.C.) and the Statue of Asklepios (Greek, Hellenistic period, Pentelic Marble, 2nd century B.C.) are two sculptures made hundreds of years apart, yet they both display many similarities and show how art is constantly changing whilst keeping the same core ideas.

The great thing about art, is that there are multiple portrayals of one idea but, the artist’s own personal style allows one to feel something that another may not. Early Renaissance painters, Giotto di Bondone and Duccio di Buoninsegna established their own unique style to depict a biblical scene known as, The Betrayal of Christ. Through a close analysis of each artist’s representation of, The Betrayal of Christ, one is able to compare and contrast the artists own understanding of the scene through their attention to detail, character, and space throughout the painting. When examining these two works, one will have a stronger emotional response towards Giotto’s interpretation rather Duccio’s, due to his methods of handling organization, figures, and space.

This essay will compare and contrast the work of two sculptors who use the human form as a basis of their artwork. The first sculpture “Apollo and Daphne” by Gian Lorenzo Bernini was created in 1622 and portrays a Romanian story. Where as “Two Women” by Ron Mueck is a hyper realistic sculpture made by an Australian contemporary artist.

In 2008 a group of archaeologist unearthed what could now be the world’s oldest statue. This larger than life statuette stands at whopping 2 ½ inches tall with an estimated carving date from 35,000 to 40,000 years ago from a mammoth tusk. The form of the statuette is that of female figure missing her head and feet with a primary focus on reproductive organs. Due to the pornographic nature of the statue archaeologist believe that the statue’s purpose and function is to represent longevity and fertility. No matter if you believe man crawled from primordial ooze or if a being of higher authority created man, humans have continued to express emotion, experiences and values through the artistic expression

“The Thinker” by Auguste Robin is set to represent the Human man. It’s very positioning symbolizes the very embodiment of a simple thought. In his lifetime, Rodin made at least 10 castings of “The Thinker”. However, that number has grown to over 21. You can find them all over the world, from the Rodin Museum in Paris to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, Calif., to the Rodin Museum at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Many of the bronze copies, as well as the original plasters for this piece, have been displayed in a central position so that visitors can see it from every conceivable angle. A marvel of the creative world. The style which Auguste Rodin developed throughout his professional life can in part be attributed to his artistic education or the lack of it in any formal capacity. “The Thinker" by Auguste Rodin is set to represent the Human man.

Throughout the history, the terms idealism and realism have evolved, starting from the Greek’s sculptures and influencing different regions. Idealism in art means conveying the ideal and artistic side of the subject, and it tends to depict “what should be” more than “what it really is”. On the other hand, realism tends to care more about the true representation of the subject without idealizing it and giving it extra features that makes it close to the viewers. In this paper, I will be addressing the theme of realism using the Vesperbild sculpture from the Middle Rhine Region in Germany as an example, discussing the “Pieta”, its cultural context, and its impact on the Christians back then.

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) was born on November 12th 1840 in Paris, France. Very few would dispute the statement that Rodin was the greatest genius in the world of sculpture in the late 19th century. There were very few artists who faced the criticism; slander and personal insults during their lifetimes as was given to Rodin likewise there are few artists who have known such personal glory during their carriers. Rodin's sculpture was so powerful and original that those in control of the art world did not understand him in his day. He was refused admittance into the Ecole des Beaux-Arts three times and was the brunt of many articles criticizing his works. His talent and art was so powerful that despite all of the official disdain he

Giovanni di Paolo’s The Annunciation and Expulsion from Paradise is currently in the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, was finished in 1435 CE, and is made of tempera on panel. This Sienese panel from the start of the Italian Renaissance is believed to be one of five from the lower part of the altarpiece. Giovanni di Paolo uses golden texture to display divinity, line to illustrate architectural perspective, and a strategic use of scale throughout the composition in order to portray the importance of the religious context. His personal artistic stylization, the experimentation of the Italian Renaissance but still firmly painting with Medieval Pictorial Tradition, and the use of symbolism can also demonstrate the religious meaning of the piece. Furthermore, in the context of Giovanni di Paolo’s The Annunciation and Expulsion from Paradise, the conversation between monetary and cultural value and the controversy of art being exhibited in its country of origin will be discussed.

Initially, when I walked up to this sculpture my thoughts were the name of the piece pretty much sums it up. Approaching the statues, they seem to just be large bronze masses on the corner of McCaul street but, as any art should be looked at, I decided to dig deeper than the superficial. The location is odd to me, mainly because the bronze forms are not alone in the corner of the building, but are not really impacted by its surroundings. The trees behind the statue are dead giving a desolate atmosphere invoking a sense of loneliness. Moreover, almost the entire area surrounding the piece is solid concrete, giving a very penitential outlook. I’m not sure if the sculpture’s initial approach is supposed to invoke miserable emotions but if so it does its job

The definition of artworks and the labelling of them as objects of a distinguished style of their time can be helpful to maintain an organised view of the history of art. However, defining a piece, or an artist, as belonging uniquely to a certain style reduce the possibilities of a different reading of them. To illustrate this point, I will comment the Blessed Lodovica Albertoni (fig.1), a sculpture of the 17th Century by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, focusing on the approach of Rudolf Wittkower (1901-71) in his book Gian Lorenzo Bernini: the sculptor of the Roman baroque. Although the addition of the subtitle clearly defines the sculpture as part of the Italian baroque, it is interesting how at the same time Wittkower includes a view on Bernini’s

Throughout the ages art has been subject to selective destruction and spoliation. It has been taken by conquering peoples as spoils of war, put to material re-use, and been subject to iconoclasm. Iconoclasm has been used as a means of not only purposeful forgetting, but, also the preservation of memory as a warning to others motivated diversely by ideology, religion, and politics. One artifact subject to iconoclasm is the painted portrait of Septimius Severus and his family in which one face was scraped out leaving the other three members untouched for political reasons and a demonstration of power. Another artifact affected by iconoclasm is a famous Byzantine icon, the Virgin Hodegetria, which was taken to be the Virgin and Christ Child by western Europe for religious purposes. “Breaking” the image in this figurative manner gave little to no meaning to the original icon and stole its value in history. Another “victim” of iconoclasm is a panel that once belonged to an arch of Marcus Aurelius that now adorns the arch of Constantine (Elsner, p. 212). These three artifacts have all been purposefully altered in diverse ways for different reasons, however, the fact remains that they have all faced damnatio memoriae, spolia, and/or iconoclasm.

The Creation of Adam, painted by Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, is a fresco consisting of watercolor and plaster that resides on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. A short analysis of his fresco shows the two focal points of Adam and God, as well as a mass of jumbled angels and green fabric that turned up controversially in the years to follow. Looking on the opposite end of the spectrum lives my parody, The Degradation of Adam. My painting was a rushed, poorly created rendition of what rests on the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling; the reason I chose to compare it to the original is the symbolism behind my parody. Regardless, The Creation of Adam has a customarily approved meaning to many spectators, The Degradation of Adam has an intense