There were many influences on the arts during the Early Modern ages. War was the main influence that jump started the rest of them. World War 2 was known as the industrial war, this was the time that technology came in to play with war. Machine guns, planes and poison gas were all introduced during this era. With the war though came poverty and depression. Within a few months the Great Depression took hold leaving cities devastated. Homes and lives were destroyed. No longer able to pay bills many people were forced into the streets. However it wasn’t all bad. The industrial revolution lead people to search elsewhere for a better life. Out of this came the Christian movement.  With these influences however art flourished and adapted into a whole new aspect.

Dada movement was focused on the cynical attitude towards the social views in a funny light. It was created to bring problems going on after the Great Depression to light.

This piece was done by Hannah Hoch. She named it Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife through the Last Weirmar Beer- Belly Culture Epoch in Germany in 1919. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6b/Hoch-Cut_With_the_Kitchen_Knife.jpg/476px-Hoch-Cut_With_the_Kitchen_Knife.jpg.

             If you take a look above you see alot going on in the painting. The first thing that came view would be the public figure faces at the time. Also if you look you can see quite a bit of industrial objects pasted on top of words and newspaper clippings.

 

Duchamp’s fountain was something that turned the art world upside down. It was premiered in 1917 as a practical joke. At depressing time with little money available this was a key aspect in the world of art. I would also say that this was the foundation to the Modern Art’s found art movement. Which is the process of taking on thing and using it for the purpose of another. 

Collective Invention by Rene Magritte which was premiered in 1934. This was a different look on Surrealism. So taking the natural word and inverting it instead. This movement was going on at the same time as the Dada movement. Surrealism was a post war effect too. A way to escape the world and enter another dimension. Creative and a little out there it was a movement I instantly fell in love with.

Impressionism

Impressionism is based on impression, “here and now”. Before the period of impression art was based on stories and religion. Canvas was used to document history and memories. Recall that bible stories were a huge hit up until the the romantic era. Impressionism appeals to my taste for a few reasons. First is that art for me in a sense, should never be easy to interrupt. To me art is a way to  decipher something even greater. For example, look at the painting below.

Claude Monet’s  Impression Sunrise , which was completed in 1872  was considered the first painting to give the name impressionism. Taking a detailed look you can see why. While it is called Sunrise, can you really tell if that is indeed what is going on? To me, it looks as if there is a storm brewing in the mist, or maybe a sunset after a long days of work. Whatever the case, the painting can be interpreted many ways. The main reason however that this painting was given the name as the first impressionism would be due to the fact that it looks incomplete. Almost as if it  is just a draft waiting to be completed.  Before this period, lines and symmetry was the main key to successful art. Recall the French Art Academy line vs. color debate.  How can art truly be art with guidelines restrictions on it though? I believe it can’t, or everyone’s art work would be the same. For instance, in a basic case when art is being taught in a class , 90% of the students that enter at the beginning of the semester have their own unique style. By the end of the semester their unique style has turned in to that of their teachers. That is why the impressionism art draws me in. No artist paints alike. Look at August Renoir’s The Theater Box, which was put on display in 1874 in Paris.

This is a completely different kind of impressionism. He was famous for painting people, but the catch was he painted them as what he saw. If another painter of this period was to paint the same portrait as him no two pieces would like alike. It’s almost like photography today for nature. No picture will ever be captured the same twice, so whats not to love. Everyone’s art turns out unique and no one will ever completely see the same thing as on the canvas.

Classical

I’m not quite able to choose exacalty what I want to center my blog around so I going to tie in a few places to a few subjects. The First type of discoveries I would like to point out would be the scientific inventions of this era.

Denis Diderot invented the idea of the encyclopedia. This was what I believe to be the biggest push for the middle class. Before the encyclopedia the middle class was at the mercy and control of the upper class. Once the encyclopedias hit the shelf middle class started to gain a upper had. The higher classes could no longer hold education over their heads. This created a huge up roar and encyclopedias were banned. However by the point the damage had been done curiosity was rolling.

en.wikipedia.org 

bruicarney.wordpress.com 

The Discovery of Pompeii, was another great leap in the name of science. After this city was discovered citizens started to model their buildings after it. Why? They saw that even after a giant volcano torn the city apart a lot of the government buildings were still standing. Meaning their buildings could last too. With the revolution taking place citizen were rebuilding their economy, lifestyles, government, and architecture. Pompeii was just a push into the Rococo style, with pastel, shells, symmetry, archs  and colors. Discovering the great lost city was also happening because citizen were starting to learn not everything was explained by god. If you look at the pictures below you may see some of the things I described.

www.dogsofpompeii.com

www.jenniferlynking.com

Art work was also influenced by all that was going on during the classical era. With the revolution the church no longer put fear into the the viewers of art works  heart. Instead art work shifted to a more sensuous theme. Love, romance, fun care free life styles, and Greek mythology was the themes focused in this era’s art work. In some of the pictures posted below I you can see the things I have listed above. Each picture has activities going on the church would not approve of.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%AAtes_galantes

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/his/CoreArt/art/anc_bou_di-ba.html

The last thing that I would like to point out would be the music aspect. With the citizens of the lower class starting to make money on their own, theater and music started to grow. A four part symphony was created to tell a story, without any words being said. Mozart, Beethoven, and many more. I posted a few songs below to listen to so you can hear the tempo changes and upbeat dramatic music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tr0otuiQuU&noredirect=1.….click here to listen to my favorite composition from him. It has dark underlying tones, with an upbeat melody to it. It always puts me in a very relaxing mood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Rb0UmrCXxVA.. This would be a Mozart one. I’m not to fimillar with his work. SO here is all of his best works.

Non-Western Part One

This piece of art shown below stood out to me because of where I am from.  My home roots are located in Memphis Tn, home of the blues.  All along Beale Street art work thrives on the walls.  It’s not just artwork though.  Each piece tells a story.  A piece of history for the town of blues.  Looking at the piece shown below you can see great resembles in the artwork. After all they are from the same ancestors.  In a previous art assignment we learned that jazz and blues music gets its roots from African tradition, it only makes sense that art work did too.

If you look at the painting you notice lots of reds, dark greens, yellows, browns and blacks.  You notice a guitar and newspaper clippings.  It looks almost if their are colleges of a mixture of history stories. 

The art work piece I selected was created as a tribute to a man named Stephen Bantu Biko. He was a activist in South Africa during the 60’s and 70’s.  “Black is Beautiful” was his famous slogan.  After being brutally beat to death by the police he was named the martyr of the anti-apartheid movement.  He founded the Black Consciousness movement, which caused empowered the majority of urban’s black population.

Willie Bester

Tribute to Biko (1992)

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Biko

Commented Blogs

http://jhausner.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/china/#comment-28

http://gloriaprince.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/non-western-noh/comment-page-1/#comment-15

Classical Era

Classical Era

The age of enlightenment was a time when the balance of power shifts.  Recall that before the enlightenment period most of the time the church had all the power.  Art ,,

music, theater was all controlled.  They all focused on simple, moral issues which were ordered by the Council of Trent to stop the reformation.  However, this all changed when the enlightenment period began. The period of enlightenment showed the common people that knowledge can obtained by anyone, it can be taught. It is not just given by god.  It also caused people to question the way things have always been.  Newton’s laws of gravity put a huge wedge in the church stranglehold preaching that god controls everything.  As this started to occur; artists, composers and writers moved away from following the churches orders.  Instead they started to create color and carefree atmosphere.  It reminds me of the relief after a storm and the celebration after surviving it.

Jean-Antoine Watteau show’s us just that.  This artist has a famous painting called, “Pilgrimage from Cythera”.  It is a scene taking place outside.  Painted is a lavish party and romance in the air.  There was no shading of dark colors, single objects that were illuminated or a focus on a moral story.  Instead pinks and pastel colors are used along with flying cupids.  This is the opposite of what churches at the time would approve of.  This painting was submitted by him to the Royal Academy as his reception piece in 1717.  Today it is viewed in the Louvre in Paris.

Music during this period was also a great time of change.  The enlightenment period brought new inventions along with separation. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 40^th Symphony was a prime example. Music was becoming less complex during this era and the form symphony was born along with the invention of the piano.  If you listen closely you can hear his music change to follow the formula of the symphony.  Due to light era its tone and texture is homophonic.  The main instrument that was featured during a symphony would be the new piano.  This could change tempo and tone more easily and become light or heavy.  It was easy to control and easy to compose on.  His work was completed in 1788.

Theater did not have as much of a change as did the rest of the arts; however the carefree mood brought on a new type of opera. John Gay wrote what was called a Ballad Opera.  This kind of opera was known famous not for its lesson or old stories by the church being retold.  It was known for having no reason other than to make people laugh.  Being a comic opera was not only what set it apart but the fact that there was little singing and more role play. This could have led to political statements had the government not stepped in to censor.  However for Gay’s play, “The Beggar’s Opera” it was just a comical romance opera.  His opera was completed and premiered in the same year; 1728, at the Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theater.

Sources:

http://amtf200.community.uaf.edu/2009/04/24/03-visual-arts/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_de_La_Tour

Photos:

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/watteau/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_de_La_Tour

Video:

http://amtf200.community.uaf.edu/2009/04/24/04-music-3/

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ql_9F6pEJw0&gt;

The Baroque Era

Baroque Era

Of the many notable paintings done during the Baroque Era, my three favorite were the paintings done by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio on the sole subject of St. Matthew.  The three paintings were called; “The Calling of St. Matthew”

,

“The Inspiration of St. Matthew”,

and “The Martyrdom of St. Matthew”

and are described wonderfully by the Khan Academy .  All three paintings were completed during the Counter Reformation, (1599-1600).  These paintings were completed and can now be found in San Luigi Francesi at the Contarelli Chapel.  These paintings show physical, actual and spiritual attributes.  During the Baroque era when the Council of Trent was called to order, recall that they were charged with stopping the protestant reformation.  The three paintings listed above are a product of this.  They contain Matthew simple but lit up in each canvas.  The objects around Matthew are darker but have more detail, showing greed and self-absorption. You can also see in each the triangle composition, given to us by still life standards.  These paintings also were simple in the case for lower class.  For example, during the renaissance most paintings were done for wealthy people and they contained stories only the wealthy would be privileged to know.  In the Baroque era lower class was involved in art too, and the church wanted to draw followers back to them by art.  Making it simple and laced with morals was easy to understand.  Some pictures showed sexual pleasure as an invitation to come back to faith, as if it gave followers sexual pleasure. You can see the paintings development due to the baroque and the influences in it. That is why these three paintings are not only representative of the Baroque Movement as a whole but were also the most profound to me.

Sources:

Harris, Beth, and Steven Zucker. “Caravaggio’s Calling of Saint Matthew.” Calling of Saint Matthew. Khan Academy, n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2013. <http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/caravaggio-matthew.html&gt;.

“Art Music Theater F200.” Art Music Theater F200 RSS. UAF, 24 Apr. 2009. Web. 15 Mar. 2013.

Photos:

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/caravaggio-matthew.html

Pebble Mine

My whole life I have prided myself on being someone who wants to save the enviornment.  Someone who wants to make a difference in the world..The pebble mine is things like this I wanna stop.  Humans pride themselves on what they can conqure and take.. They tend to take things that do not belong to them.  They tend to kill off things that they do not understand.  Humans think everything is theres to take.  Nature owns it’s self.  Its where we come from and part of who we are.. Its us who create problems we are claming now is just natural happening.  God dosen’t need to end the world we are well on our way to doing it ourseleves.. The pebble mine is a good example ..they claim that it is just for research and for natural use ..However its just a con to get a bussiness going there.  Do we really need to have more resources used to where it could destory what is already there? NO Chena Hotsprings is a example everything there is recycled and used or peices bought used.. If they can do that in the middle of no where why can’t we?

No Child Left Behind

Memphis is famous for this saying.  For years it was drilled into my head at Germantown High. However what excalty does it mean when no child left behind? Does it mean that everyone graduates regaurdless if their ready or not? Over 25% of my graduating class of 2009 could not read effectivly.  15% ish could not public speak effectivly.  Yet still they graduated?  Was this fair for the students that put hard work into their classes? No why should students get free grades basicly. They are sent into the world not ready to coompete with the competition, and umtilly fail.  So I ask this is it right to sent them out in the world to fail or keep them in school till there ready for college and jobs beyond high school.?

November 29

Theme for English B….It opens up by letting the audience know that the person narrotating is a colored man, it then goes on to state a bunch of random facts and things that intrest him.  Towards the end he states that I learn from you as you learn from me and we are the same, or some where along the lines that is what he said..This means that people like the same things and grow towards the same habits.  Everyone learns something from someone and inherits that knowledge.  There for everyone has a peice of everyone in them. So in return we are all the same and all one.

Picture for War now

So in this picture you have a man and a woman..or one sex you can’t really tell..However they are dressed like cowboys very bright cowboys.. and it looks like they are for america however at they same time they are making fun of the war.. with space  ships for pennis and like bomb covers for bras..I know for a fact in th picture they are covering up their idenity which mean they don’t want people to see excalty what they are or who they are..But i think it is a protest to stop war by saying we look silly war is too ..or celberating the war with stating  we are winning in parade like dressed up gear..