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[hannahmtrimble]

Blog Post Week 12

          This is “The Nightmare”, which is an oil painting finished in 1781, done by Henry Fuseli. This is a very popular and beautiful work, which is perhaps why it ended up catching my eye. It features a dimly lit room, with few inanimate objects around the main subjects.           The main thing that catches our eye, is the beautiful, yet quite distressed, woman stretching across the width of the painting. Her arm, in the true fashion of the era, brings this feeling of desolation off the bed, passing her discarded blankets, coming further into the foreground and into our space. It is obvious that she is sleeping, but there is a great amount of suffering shown in her facial features- indicating to us that her nightmare is ongoing and very real. Her mouth is slightly open, her eyebrows are furrowed greatly, and her hair is in falling tendrils as her head leaves the security of the bed. On top of the girl sits what looks to be a small demon-like creature, his body positioned to be facing away from us, only for his neck to crane around to reveal to us his face. We see his eyes bulging out of his head, showing his own crazed nature and expression, perhaps promoting the idea that emotion and fear are what drive this painting. He sits on top of her lungs with a great frown, shortening her breath and almost crushing her and her chances to escape. His shadow shows that he possesses horns, further perpetuating its devilish nature. To the left, we see a demented black horse that follows the theme of bulging eyes. It’s almost disturbing to look at, but only gives us a glimpse of what might be going on behind the woman’s eyelids. The blankets laying under the women are red, detailed intricately with gold. They appear to be scratched at, ripped probably from the lady or the demon within her dreams clawing himself into reality. As a whole, we find the structure of the main figures in the painting, made up of the woman and hermit-like man, form a triangle to create a sense of balance and order within the painting that counters the chaos within the girl’s mind.           This painting does not have a significant historical context that comes with it, other than the fact that it was very popular and inspired a great amount of literature in the time. This, I can understand. The painting is something you can look at seemingly forever, and inspires a lot of wonder and ideas. What is she dreaming about? Where do these fears originate? What does it say about the woman? This is probably one of the main reasons why I love the work so much. I have also mentioned in previous posts, I enjoy the darker themes of art quite a bit, and nightmares are included in that. The position of all the figures, the mixture of beauty and ugliness, terror and serenity, et cetera are stark but they compliment each other and work so well together to make such a great work.

[ajohnboyuniverse-blog]

The horse looks like it is in a trance like it’s being controlled by something. The demon sitting on her chest makes me think like something is holding her back. The way the demon doesn’t look at the lady but at myself, the viewer, it makes me think that he is behind everything. 

[jayemgeexx]

Week 4

When Abby Chen quoted “This is about being human,” She is referring to what is going on in hong kong and how everyone wants to make hong kong a better place because they are experiencing traumatic situations so they express themselves through art.  The art helps give a visual of these moments and helps express the emotions of this war zone. The power of art is truly an amazing thing. You could be looking at the same artwork as someone else and you both could see two different perspectives from it and that’s what makes artwork so beautiful. Art can educate people and even create awareness because of the artwork of these hard times in Hong Kong it could create awareness in the future and the artwork will always be around to look back on. Looking at that artwork you may feel the same emotions as the people did living through it and that is powerful. 

[ajohnboyuniverse-blog]

Art is a great way to bring awareness to people. Art shows you something that you can not see in person because it is captured in the art work. The artwork definitely brings out their emotions about what’s going on and shows the world. 

[craftyrockermom]

The Northern European Renaissance began around 1430 when artist Jan van Eyck began to use similar techniques that the Italian Renaissance used. Some of the techniques van Eyck used were linear perspective, naturalistic, and a realistic approach for his pieces of work. The Northern Renaissance also wanted to express the importance of humanism and it’s values.  Some other pieces of artwork that were well known during this time were paintings on wooden panels or other forms of printmaking.

There were many famous artists who helped make the Northern Renaissance important, and one of those artists were Jan van Eyck. Jan van Eyck was very important during this Renaissance because he helped create a new way of art form. Van Eyck helped in the technique of the oil-glaze. This was very important because many of the artists were using a much different technique previously before van Eyck started to use his oil glaze technique.

Jan van Eyck is known for many of his pieces of artwork, but one of his most famous is called the Arnolfini Wedding. Another one he is famously known for is the “Adoration of the Lamb,” which was created in 1432. Van Eyck’s brother also helped created this piece of artwork, but little artwork is known from his brother. Both of these pieces of artwork done in an oil painting technique. Jan van Eyck has been known as the “father of oil paintings”.

The painting I chose was the, “Adoration of the Lamb” which was created in 1432. I choose this painting because it was one of van Eyck’s paintings that he was known most for. This painting was created by using Northern European Renaissance style by using wooden panels, held by glue, as the canvas. Van Eyck then created the painting by using layers of oil paintings. The eighteen pieces of wood paneling this painting was created on was made of solid oak, causing it to weigh a significant amount of weight. He was able to use balance and contrast with his technique of oil painting, but the painting still holds more or a darker hue. He captures the city of Ghent, in which some of the pillars/towers are still standing today. The lamb is surrounded by angels, and the animal shows signs of injuries. Many believe this could be a sign and remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice. The fountain is the main center point of the painting, and many believe it to be signifying life itself. The amount of detail in this painting is breathtaking. Van Eyck painted all of his pieces of artwork with such realism and detail. He wanted to ensure that his paintings provided the importance of humanism, realism, but also Christianity.

http://www.jan-van-eyck.com/adoration-of-the-lamb/

[ajohnboyuniverse-blog]

I thought this painting was very interesting. The fountain and the goat are centered in the painting which seem like the main focus points in the painting. The long rays of light from the sun made my eyes focus more on the fact that the whole painting surrounds the fountain. 

[ajohnboyuniverse-blog]

Week 3: Northern Renaissance painting

For this weeks study I am choosing to discuss “Lady with an Ermine.”  I picked this because i was curious as to what the meaning behind it was. This women looked like she was holding a ferret first glance, I now know it is an Ermine after looking up background on the painting.  The use of darkened colors and hues also intrigued me.

This beautiful oil painting was made by Leonardo da Vinci on a wooden panel from around 1489-1490. It uses darker versions of color creating a warm feeling within the painting. Her body is turned to the left but her face turned to the right. It makes you question what shes looking at. Da Vinci liked to incorporate movement into his paintings and the ermine in this picture represents it. 

Cecilia Gallerani is the one painted, she was 16 at the time. Experts say that the ermine was to represent her lover Lodovico Sforza. Lodivco had a planned wedding with someone else. Experts think that Cecilia was pregnant at the time because shortly after this was painted she gave birth to her son. 

[ajohnboyuniverse-blog]

Week 12: Romantic Era

I picked the Chalk Cliffs on Rugen because it reminded me of a part of Pikes Peak near MacGregor, Iowa. When I went there I kept looking through the V shape in the giant hills to look at the river. I saw this island that had a bunch houses on it that all had docks in their backyard. I saw a bunch of boats parked and I thought it was so interesting to life that way on the water. To have the freedom to kayak on the river whenever. When I noticed the boats in the painting it reminded me of the island near MacGregor. 

Chalk Cliffs was painted by Caspar David Friedrich around 1818. The painting symbolizes the artist honeymoon, The painting depicts him, his wife, and his brother on their adventure. It inspires awe because of the endless sea in the background. 

[ajohnboyuniverse-blog]

Week 4: Conflict in Hong Kong

I think the quote, “This is about being human, and the kind of resistance and resilience that we are seeing … Hong Kong artists are at the forefront in terms of thinking about their global identity in this rapidly shifting world,” means that the people of Hong Kong have a lot going on that they would want to express. They could express themselves in music, art, graffiti, etc. to get the message across. I thought it was really interesting that the interviewer had to take journalist classes from an old Australian military officer and wear a vest with a giant reflective font. Shows that there is a lot of danger in the area because people are fighting for their rights.