Simon Schama begins with rhetorical questions to make the readers thinking about the power of art and give a statement of how most of art’s history being assumed. He moves on to give detailed description of Mark Rothko and his arts. Schama then uses his personal experience of not being interested in Rothko’s arts to illustrate the process of the change of his perspective. Schama purposely writes, “The longer I started, the more powerful was the magnetic pull through the block columnar forms towards the interior of Rothko’s world” to make a transition of his point of views towards Rothko’s arts (401). He continues to develop the point of what makes Rothko’s arts so powerful. Schama organizes his writing in this particular order to better show…
My recent visit to the Norton Simon Museum was very different than any previous experience I have had with modern art. With only a semester's worth of knowledge under my belt, I was most definitely in awe, and thoroughly entertained, to say the least. Although inspired by many, I chose to analyze two works with very similar subject matter, by two German Expressionist artists. I compared a piece entitled, "Bathing Girls", painted by Franz Marc, to the similarly titled "Bathers Beneath Trees"; a work by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.…
The Melbourne Theatre Production ‘Red’ by John Logan, provides a potent dramatization into the life of the famous painter Mark Rothko and his notorious withdrawal of his last commission. The play gives insight into a hubristic and didactic man who “wants to be heard” and his art “to be understood” by the world. Through Friels’ clever acting choices; the manipulation of space and lighting; and the revealing ending scene, the production effectively engages the audience in the telling of his story. This production grippingly explores Rothko’s emotional struggle with the value of his work in the rapidly contemporizing world around him.…
An artist can create art work through a creative process. An element of this process is critical thinking. Artists’ creativity process begins with seeing. It then goes from seeing to imagining and from imagining to making (Sayre, 2009). This essay will provide an explanation of artists’ roles. The essay will also include two chosen works of art, one of which embodies the role of the artist and the other holds symbolic significance requiring the application of iconography.…
The second half of Leo Steinberg’s Other Criteria focuses on the differences between past artists and modern artists. Steinberg introduces the reader to the idea of having many objects merge into each other, instead of having many distinct objects in the piece with distinct lines and colors. He also brings up the idea of the flatbed picture plane. Instead of composing a piece with the idea of human posture in mind, these “flatbed” pieces are composed more like a worktable or a bulletin board.…
Through the use of bright “modern” neon colors, the character's physique and posture, and adaptation of modern “pop-art” style, the artist portrays the message of rebelling against the classical American society's norms and promotes the importance of trying new things. The painting oozes with bright colors and happiness, but behind all that sends one important message. The message of not being afraid to stand out. Berger, a world-known art critic, had this belief that pictures help us jump to conclusions before words can. We tend to believe what our eyes see, more than what our mind reads.…
Wassily Kandinsky became a painter rather late in life. It is only after finishing his studies at the University of Moscow, in his early thirties and completely mature that he decides to fully commit to art. This important decision would change his life. However, neither himself nor his social and artistic circle, could then assume he would encounter a decisive step fifteen years later. The transition to the non-figurative art where he would create his famous Improvisations and Compositions that created his fame.…
The author suggest that we ask ourselves: “What is the purpose of this work of art (and what is the purpose of art in general)? What does it mean? What is my reaction to the work and why do I feel this way? How do the formal qualities of the work-such as color, its organization, its size and scale-affect my reaction? What do I value in works of art?”…
This article is written by author Tom Folland. Folland talks about the history of modernists artist Robert Rauschenberg and his impact on Modernism. He talks about Rauschenbergs "Queer Modernism" and how he was different than other modernist artists. He also talks about Rauschenberg's upbringings as an artists and the start of Modernism. This is a more scholarly paper and a much harder read. It was for a much older and experienced reader. This paper goes in detail and expects its reader to have a basic understanding of art, modernism, and who Robert Rauschenberg was. It read a little like a book with a lot of descriptive words and character. I will use this article as a way to include what I know about Rauschenberg in my paper to have more…
“When the artist is alive in any person... he becomes an inventive, searching, daring, self-expressing creature. He becomes interesting to other people. He disturbs, upsets, enlightens, and he opens ways for better understanding and seeing.” Robert Henri, an American painter and teacher, expresses this statement in his book, ‘The Art Spirit’ (1939). He provides us with a subjective context that requires thoughtful reflection. In his statement, the person does not have to be a painter or sculptor to be an artist; they look beyond this simplicity and embrace the creature inside by becoming inventive, searching, daring and self-expressing in the way they use media. Viewers are lured towards their works and their attention is captured. Gordon Bennett, an Australian Aboriginal artist, demonstrates this theory through his work. Possession Island (Appendix 1), 1991 and Notes to Basquiat (Jackson Pollock and his Other) (Appendix 2), 2001, will be discussed in relation to Henri’s statement.…
quilted and pieced cloth, 741/4 x 681/2”. The subject of the story quilt illustrates a…
In this books the author takes a more closely approach towards Wagner’s work by understanding the idea of expressionist of his work. Also he goes in depth about his work and Wagner’s character himself.…
Johnston, T., De Paola, T. (1995). The Quilt Story. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, Inc.…
I went to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena to visit the “Duchamp to Pop” exhibition. The theme of this exhibit was to demonstrate Marcel Duchamp’s influence and sway over the development and emergence of Pop Art and its artists. Besides many pieces by Marcel Duchamp, there was a variety of other artworks on view by artists such as George Herms, Claes Oldenburg, Tom Wesselmann, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jim Dine. This exhibit was displayed in a space of three rooms, where the first room was greatly focused on Marcel Duchamp but also featured a few pieces from local artists from Southern California. The following two rooms featured the pieces by the artists more associated with the Pop Art movement and greatly ranged from smaller…
Illustrations are an essential component of graphic novels in expressing the importance of scenes and qualities of characters within the author and illustrator’s work. Throughout the graphic novel, Maus I, the author and illustrator, Art Spiegelman, exhibits differentiating tactics in pursuance of the audience gathering visual information to determine whether or not a scene is really one of importance. For example, throughout the novel Art and his father, Vladek, are conducting interviews based on Vladek’s holocaust experience. In each of the interviews illustrated one would consider the graphics to be portrayed as mundane compared to those of key moments in the novel. For instance, in chapter 6, Vladek, Art, and Mala, Vladek’s second wife, are having a casual discussion (Spiegelman 132). The walls in this scene are plain and other than the outlining of the house, the only descriptive details are focused on the characters. Unlike the scenes that Art shares with Vladek, the key moments of Vladek’s experiences during the Holocaust are more detailed and contains what seems to be even more thought in the illustrations. By providing more intricate images of important events and characters, Art Spiegelman, allows…