HW #3- Renaissance & Baroque Art

1.     Describe the portrait of the fur merchant. Why is he “the business man’s hero”?  The portrait of the fur merchant is that of a man named Nicholas, his business was fur trade therefore it made sense that he’d be depicted in fur. however each hair in the painting whether it be his facial hair or the hair he’s wearing, looks so real and detailed as if someone had just stroked it all. 

2.     What is the mood of the portrait of the 83 yr old woman? How does Rembrandt create that mood?the 83 year old woman looks tired and sad. Rembrandt creates this by focusing on her facial features suck as her eye brows, her wrinkles, the wateriness of her eyes, oiliness of her nose, etc. 

3.     What is Rembrandt communicating in his painting of Sampson

          & Delilah? makes samson seem more vulnerable by having him clothed and the knot., he communicates treachery, and tenderness. 

Design Principles

1. Describe several ways that artists unify their artwork. Find an example and describe how it is unified. Some ways that artists demonstrate unity in their work is through the repetition of warm colors and geometric shapes as well as lines. This creates the appearance or condition of oneness. An example of this is the art work titled "1-9"by Jasper Johns. The two main factors that unify this art work are the use of the colors red yellow and blue as well as the numbers. 


2. Describe how an artist creates asymmetrical balance- post an artwork of your choice and explain how it is balance. When an artist creates asymmetrical balance it means that they are able to achieve equilibrium by using opposing forces. It also means that the left and right of the piece aren't the same but the elements are balanced in their visual weight. "The Rehearsal by Edgar Degas made in the year 1877 creates a balance by using the colors beige for the room and white-ish/ light blue for the skirts creating a color contrast. we also see dancers in the back and front of the painting. 

3. How can scale change the meaning of an artwork? Use a visual example of your choice and explain how the meaning is changed through scale. Size is the relation of one thing to another. When the artist makes a simple decision such as how big it will be he is ultimately deciding how the viewer will look and feel about his art work. An example of this is the piece by Claes Oldenburg called "Floor Cake". This is ultimately a giant version of a chocolate cake. By making the art work this size the artist causes a switch in the relationship between food and people. Meaning that normally it is small enough to eat but this time the cake is big enough to eat the person viewing it, making it a little amusing and intimidating. 

HW 1: Ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Roman Art

 

Parthenon Frieze 

443 and 437 BC

Of the 160 meters (524 ft) of the original frieze, 128 meters (420 ft) survives—some 80 percent.

 Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus 

 1.53m in height

Proconnesian marble 

 AD 250–260 from a tomb near the Porta Tiburtina

Dynasty 18, 1479-1458 BC

Limestone
Thebes

33 x 58,5 cm

Ancient civilizations such as the Roman, Greeks and Egyptians are known for their contributions to society today. Some of these contributions are seen through different types of government for example the Greeks founded the concept of democracy where as the Egyptians ran their government as a hierarchy. Examples of their different cultures can also be seen in their architecture for example the greeks had structures such as the parthenon, the egyptians had the pyramids and the romans had the colosseum. These cultural ideals are also depicted in their art. The three works of art that I chose to analyze from each ancient civilization are the following: Parthenon Frieze (ancient greeks), Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus (ancient rome), and a relief from the temple of Hatshepsut depicting soldiers during the “Beautiful feast of the Valley”. 

By looking at these three works of art one can tell that the major similarity they have in common is that they are relief sculptures. This means that it’s any work that projects from yet belongs to a wall. Because they are all ‘part of a wall’ we know that the material are from rocks/stone. However the types of stone vary because of the region in which the art works were created. For example the roman art work was made from Proconnesian marble where as the Egyptian art work was made from Limestone. Also when one looks at the years in which the art work was created we can visually see the evolution of how the relief sculptures appear as if they are coming out of the wall versus being a part of it. The last similarity that we see is that all three art works depict soldiers however what sets the greek and roman sculptures apart from the egyptians is that the soldiers appear more realistic however the greek and egyptian soldiers give the humans an image of divinity and superiority in contrast to the roman soldiers depicted in battle making them appear more flawed. 

1st Entry

Hello,

My name is Rocio Abigail Torrico. The reason I am including my middle name is because that is what I've been called my whole life. I'm used to being called by my first name only in class since I was 8 years old, but prior to that and outside of school I respond to Abigail or Abby. I'm currently finishing up at LaGuardia Community College as a Speech Pathology major and I plan to transfer to Queens College. I'm 21 years old though I often get that I look about 13-15 years old. I don't have a lot of experience with art other than taking a course in high school where we learned about different techniques such as shading, one point perspective, and 2 point perspective etc. I really enjoyed these three techniques in particular but I can no longer do them well since it's been about 4 years since I practiced them. My other interests or my main interest rather is dancing. Ive been doing Bolivian Folkloric Dances since I was 3-4 years I love any rhythm and I love to teach and create choreographies. I hope to get a greater understanding of different works of art, be able to identify artists' styles and time periods as well as the different styles of art when I am done with this course.