Activity #11

Martin Johnson Heade's Giant Magnolias on a Blue Velvet Cloth was created in 1890 and Rio de Janeiro Bay was created in 1864. Heade, an American,learned to paint portraits from his uncle and his cousin but became fascinated by the light that the Hudson River school artists captured in their paintings. Heade changed his focus of painting after visiting different tropical areas like Jamaica and South America.Periods consist at least a hundred years (421 and powerpoint).Movements entered into art history after the french revolution (powerpoint). Giant Magnolias was created during the the symbolism movement during the romanticism period while Heade was still using the impressionistic way of capturing light and nature in his paintings.I think that period Rio de Janiero Bay was created in was the realist period. The realism period attempted to represent figures as they appear. The Luminism style of painting and The Hudson river school was influenced by impressionism.Impressionism was an attempt to create visual impressions, painted from nature and used broken color to acheive it. Luminescence, being light that can be caused by just about anything. The luminist style of painting hides the brushstrokes used in the painting and increases the detail used in the artwork. Both of these painting capture nature although one is captured in nature( Rio ) and the other is in a man made ground ( giant Magnolias)

Critical Thinking Essay redone with Dontae

If I could save a painting from the art gallery it would be Cattleya Orchid and Three Brazilian Hummingbirds, done in 1871, by Martin Johnson Heade. I would save this picture paticulary because it reminds me of my grandmother. She is a hummingbird fan, and this picture she would actually love. The foreground is dominated by the pink orchid with green sterns and pods. This is a picture where you can tell that the painter enjoys nature. The oil based canvas also brings out the background of the flower and the hummingbirds as well.
- Dontae R.






Sphere No. 6, (1963-1965)
Bronz Arnaldo Pomodoro
Italian, b. Morciano, 1926

Out of all the collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington DC,I would save these two works of art.For the Sphere No. 6, was created using bronze as a medium, although it is not clear what Pomodoro used to create this work of art. I would save this sphere because to me it represents the world and (the destructive nature that we have been treating it) how it should really look. It seems it fragmented, uneven and has craters as though it is showing the wounds we have inflicted upon it. I would save this to remind future generations that we need to do more to rebuild and care for the only world we have.
- Tamika A.

Activity #10

Martin Johnson Heade
Giant Magnolias on a Blue Velvet Cloth, c. 1890
Gift of The Circle of the National Gallery of Art in Commemoration of its 10th Anniversary
1996.14.1



Martin Johnson Heade
Rio de Janeiro Bay, 1864
Gift of the Avalon Foundation
1965.2.1

Both of my chosen paintings by the same artist use oil on canvas. Oil is a medium which can be used or mixed with spirits, turpentine and other liquids such as glaze and other (168).Oil paint on canvas can create a smooth, error free glaze(175), a thin translucent layer of color, applied usually over another color.This glaze also allows colors to blend to create the finished effect. Oil paint itself is created with a pigment(172), a coloring material made from various organic or chemical substances. When mixed with a binder(172),a substance in paint that causes particle of pigment to adhere to one another and to be a support, it creates a drawing/ painting medium. One of the benefits of oil paint is that it dries slowly which allows the paint to blended with each other. More than one layer of paint can be applied on the top of other layers without the worry of cracking or detectability and the the artist can redo the painting until he gets it the way he wants it without destroying his work(173). These two works of arts uses these techniques to their advantage creating two well blended, perfect works of art.Heade made Giant Magnolias by getting rid of all visible brushstrokes and creating a polished surface and by using aerial perspective, allows the sky and sea to be the focus of the canvas. In Rio,the paint was thin, instead of impasto, which would be paint applied in thick layers. You can see the noticeable brushstrokes in the hills, but not in the water.In the water except for the waves , Heade again removes the visible brushstrokes to give the water unity. Mediums are used as a way of painting not a way of expressing art, though they do make each work of art unique and one of a kind even if one was to copy a work or art perfectly, it will never be the same as the original.

Critical Thinking Essay ( by myself)

Antoine-Louis Barye
French, b. Paris, 1795 - 1875
Tiger Devouring An Antelope, (CA. 1830-1831)
Bronze.Sphere No. 6, (1963-1965)
Bronz Arnaldo Pomodoro
Italian, b. Morciano, 1926

Out of all the collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington DC,I would save these two works of art.For the Sphere No. 6, was created using bronze as a medium, although it is not clear what Pomodoro used to create this work of art. I would save this sphere because to me it represents the world and (the destructive nature that we have been treating it) how it should really look. It seems it fragmented, uneven and has craters as though it is showing the wounds we have inflicted upon it. I would save this to remind future generations that we need to do more to rebuild and care for the only world we have.
The Tiger Devouring An Antelope by Bayre using bronze as the medium, I would save mainly out of selfishness I loveeeeeeee tigers. I love the contour lines that the artist used to show the tigers powerfulness over the antelope, and to make it seem as though the lion is more relaxed while the antelope (of course) is writhing in pain/agony. I'm not sure if the green hue on the sculpture was put there on purpose but to me it brings the picture to life and reminds me of the old adage that "only the strong survive". It reminds me that everyone is in the rat race for themselves and they will "devour" you if you get in there way.

Collage

Activity 9

Visual art changed with the invention of the camera because the camera took a actual picture of what was once drawn, where artists used to express themselves in their art. With the camera, there was no such expression allowed the picture was just that a picture, there was no allowance for an artist's view on the painting. Paintings and portraits before were only enjoyed by the rich, the one who could afford them, the camera made portraits more widespread and allowed others to remember there history and to commemorate events. The camera, took away the need for artists to be commissioned because everyone could take a picture, not everyone afford a painting. Some artists, also painted portraits as though they were photographs making delicate,blending brush strokes to make the picture seem very realistic but people had to sit for hours to make it.Artists, not being able to express themselves anymore took on a new form of painting called impressionism. Impressionism came about because camera took away artists ability to put their perception of how the world was in their eyes, therefore they created a new type of art, on what they felt and saw or what they perceived the world to be in their "mind's eye". Artists, rather than regurgitating what they saw in the world, felt the need to be creative and give a new perspective to what people were viewing.

Art 101 Mid Term Introduction

The works of art I chose all have Political or Social Order themes.The first piece of art The Death of the Earl of Chatham uses implied contour lines to lead you eyes directly to the Earl whom you might have had a harder time finding if they were not there.The implied contour lines(83), from the people looking at the Earl and the light and shadow or the chiaroscuro(92) to make the earl the positive shape(89), (even though he doesn't really stand out) in the painting. Copley uses brown monochromatic colors(97)in this oil on canvas painting. He uses the light from the windows and the shade to lead your eyes to the world in this asymmetrical painting. The setting of the painting takes place in what looks like a meeting room .This painting looks like it has a political theme because of the meeting area where the death took place. It looks as though these are all business men or men of power of some sort.

The next painting, the Emancipation Proclamation is an oil on canvas painting. The artist, A.A. Lamb, make the lady on the chariot the positive shape(89) in the painting, or the shape we perceive as dominant. Lamb uses value(92,96) to make the horse, chariot and rider stand out, the varying from light to dark, in the painting. He used mostly cool colors(95) to paint this painting. He also incorporated an atmospheric perspective(113) in this painting obscuring the distant objects with what looks like dust clouds from the chariot. This painting has a political theme because the emancipation proclamation freed all slaves which was one of the problems which the north and the south could not agree on.

The painting Country Dance shows the Social order side of the theme. In the background there is a black "maid" that was not included in the festivities . You can tell this by the type of attire she is in . The dancers have on formal clothes while he/she has on a apron. I found this painting interesting mostly because when I looked at the fiddler, I couldn't for the life of me figure out where his legs where. The artist, Martin Ferrell uses horizontal lines in this painting and after close inspection, I couldn't figure out if this family was white or black.Ferrell uses mostly cool colors(95) except for red to create this painting.

The next painting Nonchaloir (Repose) also portrays a social order theme. The figure in the painting (89) is painted in such a way to show status, including her attire and surroundings.In the chair she appears reclined with her feet up and her hands across her lap, as though she is royalty without a care in the world. The gold hues on the furniture also follow that implied approach. The silkiness of her dress is shown by using value(92, 96) to show the light reflecting of of it. John Sargent uses cool colors(95) in the painting, which gives the painting a very relaxed feeling.

The last painting Interior by Horace Pippin also shows social order. You can see the differences between this painting and the last. First of all this family is black, in a one room home, which serve as bedroom, kitchen, living, dining and bath room all at one time.You can tell that this family doesn't have much wealth because of the cracks in the wall and attire being worn. The warm colors(95) used to create the rugs on the floor give implied warmth to the house which it otherwise might not have. The little boy holding the baby caught my attention in this picture because of their size, in comparison to the lady in Nonchaloir (Repose).Pippin used complementary cool colors to paint the rest of the house and a hue of white to create the effect of light on the walls. The painting portrays how a black family lived in the 1800s.