Casey Brayton @caseynicc - Tumblr Blog

Gothic

Learning about Gothic architecture was quite a surprise for me. Chapter thirteen was open the history and creation of Gothic architecture. Beginning in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Gothic architecture became more and more common among cathedrals. Beginning in France and eventually spreading across Europe, these Gothic cathedrals were much larger and spacious than its predecessors. I find these to be a lot more beautiful and detailed than cathedrals prior. Everything about them, the spacious inside, the hundreds of sculptors on the exterior walls, and the massively tall ceilings are all awesome.

Unlike what I thought going in, Gothic architecture does not at all resemble what we associate with the word Gothic or “goth” for short. These buildings are not dark and scary but open and beautiful. They were not meant to be intimidating but majestic and a tribute to God and the king. Gothic cathedrals were built to maximize the intake of natural light. From interior pictures in the day time you can see how bright and shiny everything is. Today there is still no reason for artificial lighting in Gothic cathedrals because of this.

Some key features of Gothic architecture are tall ceilings designed out of peaks called a “vault”, pointed doorways in place of the common rounded style, and the famous “flying buttress”. The pointed doorway which led to the tall and spacious ceiling vaults was technology borrowed from the middle east, it had been there for hundreds of years before the French began to use them. I found it pretty interesting how styles of stricture and art travel like this. Someone must’ve observed it in the east and brought it back, just a weird thought. The flying buttresses were a support system for the buildings that came off from the exterior walls giving it the thin, detailed look Gothic cathedrals are famous for. Some other consistent traits of Gothic architecture were stain glass windows, gargoyles, and fountains.

My favorite feature of them was the stone status on the outside that covered the entire frontal walls. I found them so detailed and well placed. But overall Gothic art was pretty cool to learn about, I was able to watch a bunch of videos of the indie of these cathedrals which was cool as well. The way we’ve changed the meaning of Gothic was a much-needed reminder to not judge a book by its cover. I did not go into this blog thinking I would enjoy Gothic art but after actually learning what it was, I have to say I do. I found its history and origins to be fascinating to learn about as well, to have incorporated styles from the middle east is not something I would guessed for the early mid evil period.

caseynicc

To begin I agree with your statement of the the cathedrals being spacious and detailed. I think actually seeing this in person would be an interesting experience because these cathedrals do not compare to anything I have ever been in. I also did not think of the statement you made about what we relate to gothic in western culture. I think my second favorite feature was the stone status because stained glass was my favorite.

Blog Post 15

This week the chapter is about the origins and some of the art that is considered Gothic art. Before reading this chapter I had no previous knowledge about this art. It was nice to approach this chapter with a open mind.

The first piece of architecture that is mentioned in the book is Saint-Denis. From Suger’s addition to Saint-Denis was the creation of Gothic art. I thought it was interesting to learn about the influences that Suger had. The book says that Suger studied the construction of a temple and writings of Saint-Denis. Inside this chapel the columns and arches remind of the architecture that we learned about from previous chapters like in Roman art for example. I thought the picture of the chapel bay helped at envisioning how incredible this place was because the arches have fine detail at the top of columns. This picture also includes the sun shining through the stain glass which was prominent in Gothic churches. I appreciate all the other architecture but I find the stained glass to be the most appealing. The chapter goes into more detail about stained glass and I was unaware of all the steps that go into creating these pieces of art. Pieces of fired glass are cut into individual pieces in the shape of the picture and then they are fitted into a structure made from metal. When I seen the picture of the stained glass it reminds me of the churches that I have seen. It was interesting to find out that in early time Christian churches rarely had stained glass but in Dubuque now almost much every Christian church has stained glass in their church windows. This shows that over the years periods like the Romanesque and Gothic times had influence over other periods.

It is not uncommon for the exterior of churches to have detailed sculptures that represent the beliefs of that church.The Chartres Cathedral has sculptures made of stone on the west and south sides of the cathedral. This seems to be a common thing with not only churches but any place of worship or somewhere that is spiritual. For example in Egyptian architecture outside of tombs are large sculptures that represent their culture in someway. This type of art also reminds me of Roman art because the Triumphal Arch has fine detail of figures and patterns on the outside of a large arch. The book then goes into detail about the interior of the Chartres Cathedral which in my opinion is just as interesting as the exterior. The tall ceiling with arches going across is a statement of how much time that was put into the architecture of the building. The rose window and lancets was the most appealing window because of the size. The books says that the rose windows is about 42 feed wide which seems extremely large.

The architecture from the Gothic period seemed like the most prominent art that came from this time. Each cathedral created was a reflection of how advanced these architects were in this time. The size and every little detail that was put into these buildings is mind blowing. The last thing I would like to add is according to the book the Cologne Cathedral started being built in 1248 and was completed in 1350. That means the people that started were not even alive when it was finished. Architecture like this takes over 100 years to complete.

Blog Post Week 13

This weeks blog post is about art from the Early Middle Ages. Previous to reading this chapter I had no previous knowledge of art from this time. The book says that the rise of the Early Middle ages happened following the decline of the Roman Empire which was from the 7th to the end of the 10th century. Like last week I find this weeks chapter to be interesting material because from viewing and observing the art you can tell there is a high influence of religion in their art much like the Christian art.

Islamic Art has high influence from their religion because they basically live for their religion so they must obey the rules. The Koran state that it forbids the figurative representation of Allah or his prophets so majority of all the paintings include abstract geometric and floral patterns. I found it interesting that sculptures were considered the work of Satan so sculptures in Islamic art really didn’t exist. On the other hand the monumental architecture and architecture decorations made up for not having sculptures because this art thrived in Islam. In Cordoba the Great Mosque was originally created for the first Muslim ruler of Spain and it seemed like a beautiful place to see. The design of the double arches were interesting because in the large interior space it looks like a bunch of separate walk ways. These arches where 9 feet 9 inches and the paint and details on the top of these columns add a pleasing visual. The part of the Great Mosque that really caught my eye was the mihrab bay in the mosque. The ceiling in this part of the mosque has a intense mosaic filled with abstract patterns of floral and geometric shapes. In my opinion I really liked the color choice because it has enough contrast to see the individual design but still blended together nicely. The room itself also had beautiful complicated patterns that are very intricate that I found interesting. This would be something special to see in its time because now it is a cathedral and only has some of the beauty that existed during its time.

The next topic in this chapter was the Northern European Art. During this time no monumental architecture, paintings, or sculptures were created from this time due to invasions, but another type of art was being made which was influenced by the invaders. A piece of art that is famous from this time would be the Sutton Hoo purse cover. This purse cover was made of gold and red garnets and in my opinion is a fancy looking purse cover. The figures on this piece of art are pleasing to look at because it is symmetrical. The patterns on this also are an eye catcher because the line detail in this work is clean. The last piece of art that I found to be really interesting was the Four Evangelists from a gospel book. I really do not understand what is happening in the painting but the dark blue background on the white robes of the people adds great contrast and the dark figures add to the painting seeming like they are evil in some way. In conclusion I found this chapter to be interesting because I didn’t have much knowledge of this art but after seeing some I really like the colors and patterns that were used in most of this art.

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Week 12

Christianity is a massive religion and it has had a massive impact on global history in general. Christianity has motivated the unification of people to make countries, war, culture and specifically art, which is what we will be talking about in this blog. I was a Christian ever since I was raised due to how my family was also Christian, but like most families I know, we were not a hardcore Christian family but we just believed in it. I had never read the bible as I found mythology to be a slight bit creepy. Back on topic, Christianity is a western religion and so I expect to see some of the conventions from Greek, Roman, and Etruscan artwork. We are going from 100 A.D. to about 1547 according to the timeline on page 170, so I also can expect some very different and obviously evolving art. After reading I was pretty surprised at how little art we saw that depicted God itself. A lot of Christian art featured in this chapter depicts important Christian figures such as Jesus Christ, Saint Peter, Angels, John the Baptist and more. But there doesn’t seem to be any depictions of God. I imagine this could be due to a respect thing, how would you be able to depict God anyway? Would an old white male really fit the picture and represent all of humanity? Having a human represent him would seem random and would be hard to show without flat out telling the viewers of the art piece. Some use a glowing ball but what color would it be? White? Gold? I imagine there were too many questions and it would just be more respectful to not risk humiliating whatever God is. But it does say how the most important figures are the Holy Family, saints, and martyrs, so I can see why, this sort of makes me reevaluate some commonly held beliefs I had about what Christianity really revolved around. I always thought it was about God mainly, but I suppose a lot of religions have their own gods, so the Christian God isn’t too special. Now I noticed how we got to see some conventions from previous chapters. We see an Early Christian Sarcophagus on page 155. This looks similar to ones we see in the Greek chapter, but the one featured on page 155, looks less realistic and more like a detailed cartoon compared to those on pages 116, 102 and 103. I really describe the Early Christian Sarcophagus as such just because of the proportions with heads. They look bigger than they would be naturally. Which could be due to the ratio they were working with when it comes to its size. Overall Early Christian and Byzantine art is less naturalistic and realistic than what we have seen previously from the Western side of art history. It’s more stylized and unique. It really sets itself apart and I can like the style. I always love a good mix of realism and style, the realism helps show skill at capturing the essence of what you are making, while style helps shows you understand it well enough to make it more unique yet keep it recognizable. It’s like writing a definition, you can copy it from Merriam Webster, but to really show you know it, you can make an entirely new way to phrase the definition. Art featured in this chapter shows more style rather than detail, however. And that can sometimes be for the worse, on pages 162 and 163, when you look closely at the faces of the people in the pictures, you can’t help but find them at least a little goofy, some are a bit cross-eyed, some have unfitting facial expressions, and some faces are a bit uneven. This isn’t a major issue though. I fell in love with the Hagia Sophia as well, it really is a beautiful building. It’s so Impressively built and detailed, yet also balanced and unlike anything else I’ve ever seen. It looks amazing and really impresses me, especially when considering the time period it was made in. Christianity has really changed, it may not be as influential now. It still has a massive impact on our history and world overall. And the early Christian art in the chapter is truly a marvel to look at, and only gets better from there.

caseynicc

I like the way you explained the image of The Christian God because Im sure people have a good idea what they want God to be, but there is no saying what he actually looks like. Also I would like to add that the part about copying the Merriam Webster dictionary or rephrasing it in a new way was very clever and a smooth way to put it because reflects what the Christians did with their art. Lastly I agree with you about the Hagia Sophia. The architecture of the building is laid out perfectly and the picture included in this chapter of the inside blew my mind by how tall the ceiling was.

Blog Post Week 12

The discussion topic for this week is Early Christian and Byzantine art. Right away I thought of the Christian religion and some of the early history about this. Their religion would have a major influence on their art and architecture because their religion is basically what their beliefs are based off of. The marble sarcophagus in the Church of S. Maria Antiqua in Rome is the perfect example of their religion reflecting art because on the visible side there is a visual from the Old Testament and the New Testament which includes carvings of Jonah and the Whale as well as John the Baptist baptizing a child and other carvings of religious figures. This section notes that this carved sarcophagus had influence from the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans because they would carve sculpture with religion figures. Moving onto Byzantine art previous to this chapter I did not have much knowledge of art from this time. In my opinion I was shocked at how incredible Hagia Sophia looked on the outside and the inside. From the outside it looks like a large temple with 4 towers on each corner. From the inside the ceiling looks drastically high and the pillar structures made it look high class as well as the mosaic decorations. Finally I would like to point out that this place was an imperial building and was only available for the emperor and his court so this was not available to the public. I think this is a true reflection of how important royalty was. In conclusion, the art from this chapter was pretty interesting but in my opinion I like the Hagia Sophia and the San Vitale because of how large and incredible the architecture was.

For the second part of this post I researched Japanese art from 1-500 A.D. During this time in Japan the people that lived their would practice building tombs out of large mounds and they would be buried with treasure. These large tombs were evidence of Japan developing a power with central government. Some of the treasures buried in these tombs were objects like bronze mirrors, personal belongings, and clay vessels. Advancing into a more structured art in the early 400s more advanced clay pottery was being developed like using a pottery wheel to create their art. During the Yayoi period a piece of pottery was created which was a jar and in my opinion I find it fascinating and impressive that in 100-300 A.D. a jar was created with the design Im familiar with seeing. This would bring up the point that this design has influenced pottery for thousands of years because there is a lot of pottery that looks like this and the Japanese were doing this in roughly 100-300 A.D. In my opinion the art from this period is interesting because at a glance with no prior knowledge these sculptures would seem basic but if you think of how old these piece of art actually are it will blow your mind because art existing all the way back to 300 A.D. seems almost impossible because life was not very advanced in that time. After doing a little research and seeing some of the art from this time was interesting because I really had no knowledge prior to looking at this website. But in conclusion I was impressed at how influential and advanced this art was i this time.

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/05/eaj.html

howej23-blog

I have not recently learned about Ancient Rome before this chapter. I like not really knowing what is gonna be in the chapter, so everything comes as new. While looking through the chapter there are lots of building and architecture shown in pictures and not to many sculptures or paintings. I knew right from the start they were going to be talking about the building, maybe how they were made or important pieces to them, and what happened inside of them.

Something I find interesting is that most chapters, including chapter nine, compares themselves to Greek. In my mind, this puts Greece as one of the most important times in our art history. One thing that is different is between Greek and Roman was their views on art.

Roman interest in material comfort lead to domestic architecture. Roman domestic architecture came from Etruscan and Greek past but had its own characteristics. A main feature was the atrium (open roof entrance hall), this entered from the corridor to the street. The roof slanted inward so the water would open the compluvium and collect in the impluvium (sunken part in the house). The outside or the houses were plain with no windows. Rooms facing the streets were shops. The inside were decorated and luxurious. They had wall mosaics, paintings, and sculptures. The upper-class had running water and sewage pipes. The middle and lower class lived in apartments. These buildings could be five stories high. The lower levels were full of shops and the upper levels were from families. I think it is important to get a idea of where people lived to really see where they came from and what types of things they needed or had.

One piece of architecture that grabbed my attention was the Colosseum. This is a famous piece of work. The Colosseum was built mainly for the people to view. It was an outdoor amphitheater invented by the Romans. The columns are built by in order for people to see and for the strength of the structure. The outer walls become flatter the higher you go, which carried eyes up. The Colosseum was built around a concrete core and lots of halls and stairs for easy access. The upper wall fitted with sockets that fit poles to support a canvas cover. This was used to support the people from the sun and rain. The Colosseum was made for gladiator contest and combats between men and animals. Drainage may have been added to wash out the blood.

Chapter nine talks a lot about the architecture, how it was, what is was made out of, and the purpose of it. They also had lots of sculptures of important people to Rome and the types of sculptures that were famous. Rome is one of the examples of why art history will never be lost. You can still go and visit the places and see the sculptures in this book, they will never be taken away or hidden from the public.

caseynicc

I like this post because you went into detail about the architecture in Rome and that was mainly what my post was about. I truly like the architecture in this time because like other ancient architecture it was made to impress and show the riches and power in Rome. I really liked the detail you put about the Colosseum because the way you described it gave a really detailed picture in my mind. Finally I would say I agree with the last statement because it is true that it will not be hidden from the public because this art is about the culture and the beauty of this art.

Ancient Rome

For this week we are taking a closer look into Ancient Rome and previous to reading this chapter I did not have much knowledge of art from this time. To start off the architecture in Rome was influenced by Near East, Greece and Etruria. The main material used was concrete which was a material that helped much of the structures in Rome stand regardless of size and shape. Their domestic architecture seems like nothing special but in ancient times these houses and apartments were much nicer than say living in a clay hut. The public buildings from this time are truly a reflection of how nicely constructed these buildings were. Typically they were either a forum building which was square or rectangular open space bounded on three sides, and the basilica which is a high roofed structure which is at the end of a forum. These public buildings were constructed nicely and looked high class because of the architecture. For example the Markets of Trajan looks like a fine piece of architecture because of the arched windows and the rounded layout of the building. A more familiar piece of architecture would be the Colosseum. I recognize this structure previous to reading this chapter and all I have to say is there is a reason this is highly famous because its a beautiful structure and many human and animal battles took place in the arena for the romans to watch. The other types of architecture from Rome would include commemorative architecture and religious architecture.

Moving on to different types of art from this time would include sculptures. The sculpture are made with great detail and look realistic. A Young Flavian Woman is a very beautiful bust which has great detail in the hair and looks real because of the detail in the curls and strands of hair. A popular statue from this time is the Augustus of Prima Porta. I particularly like this piece of art because of the fine detail and also because you get sense of what styles existed in Rome and the clothes they wear and the overall idea of what people looked like in this ancient time.

The last type of art that was talked about in the book was the paintings and mosaics. Some of these paintings were able to be seen because they used wax in the time of the creation of the paintings to preserve them. Many of them survived and were discovered in Pompeii and Herculaneum. I like the Soothsayer mosaic because even though the faces in the picture are blurry I think the details being pieced together are very pleasing. The next piece of art which I like the most is the Villa of Mysteries. This piece of art was painted on the walls and from the pictures seems like a large painting. I think the overall idea of what is going on in the painting is confusing but the conclusion is that a ritual is going on which seems accurate. It does not include much color but I think what was used was the right amount of color. The thing that stands out the most to me is the person in the white robe. I feel like the person was painted wearing white because they are significant in some way.

Overall I believe the art from Ancient Rome is highly influenced but in a way is its own art. I like the large concrete structures as well as the fine detail paintings that come from this time. The sculpture too were highly detailed. The art from this time is a reflection of the life in Ancient Rome.

gsydney11

Chapter 8

Chapter 8 was very interesting. I enjoy learning about different art cultures. The Etruscan civilization was fun to learn about. It was intriguing to learn that the Etruscans had elaborate burials that included iron, bronze, and ivory objects. I also learned that the Etruscan’s homeland covered the west-central part of the Italian peninsula. The Etruscans established commercial trade routes throughout the Aegean, the Near East, and North America. The Etruscans never formed a single nation but coexisted as separate city-states with their own rulers. They were never established an empire.

I found the sculpture called Capitoline Wolf very strange. I was very confused as to why in the sculpture a wolf was nursing two children. After I read more about this, I realized that it has a story behind it and it is the symbol of Rome. It also says that in Etruscan culture, the wolf was probably intended as a protective guardian.

I thought the sculpture called Wounded Chimera was very unique and fascinating. It was very creative that the artist made a lion with a goat’s head on its back, and then the lion’s tail was a serpent. The sculpture called Mater Matuta was very beautiful. It was a woman with a child laying across her lap. I just really liked this sculpture.

Tomb paintings were also a big part of Etruscan culture. Etruscans used pictures as well as architecture and sculpture in the service of the dead. Hundreds of paintings have been discovered in the underground tombs of Tarquinia, which is a site northwest of Rome. Tomb paintings were usually frescoes. I really liked looking at a couple of the different tomb paintings in the book. The tomb painting called Mourners at the Door of the Other World was fascinating. I enjoyed learning the meaning behind the painting. In the painting, a couple of the men are wearing pointed boots. In the book, it says “pointed boots are normally worn by mountain people and are another example of influence from the Greek lonian cities and Asia Minor. In the painting it also shows a couple of men who look like they are wrestling. In the book, it says “the scene at the right shows two wrestlers and the gold and bronze bowls for which they are competing. Tomb paintings are very creative and unique. It’s crazy to think how talented some of the Etruscans were.

caseynicc

After reading this post I feel we agree on some of the same things about this chapter. I like that in your post you included a piece of art for some of the forms of art that existed during this time. Much of the art work from this time seems strange or confusing but sometimes art is what you perceive. It may be different from the actual intentions of the piece of art but your opinion about something isn’t right or wrong, its your own opinion. If you think from another point of view from maybe someone in the east studying western art they would probably have the same opinion that it is strange or confusing but other cultures just have different social norms which reflect your opinion. Im glad that with each piece of art you included your opinion as well.

Blog Post 10

This week we are on chapter 8 which is the Art of the Etruscans. This era existed from 1000-100B.C and is important in western history because it is related to Greece and Rome.

To begin some of the art is lost from the Etruscan civilization was lost and it happened to be majority of all the literature and writing. What only exists is some writing in the form of religious texts. This creates a barrier because the lost literature was information that could’ve been used to better understand the art from this time. The large source of information that experts have are from the burial tombs because they left them untouched and they were built nicely because they were the tombs of people. Although much of the architecture has collapsed due to the material used to make them, many other visual arts were able to be discovered and were helpful in the act of understanding exactly what the art means.

Art of the Etruscans was highly influenced and almost a reflection of the Greek art in that time. For example, from the understanding of experts the large scale buildings that were discovered were tall and had open air sanctuaries much like buildings from Greece the only difference was some of the processes and material used to create these. I personally like the construction of the Apollo at Veii because although it looks simple the architecture is solid and not to extra. Moving on to the pottery and sculptures I find these to the be the most interesting because personally I really admire Greek art and the Etruscan art is basically there own perceptions of Greek art. What is left of the surviving art from this time shows that their economy was striving with bronze because much of their sculptures are made of bronze. I like that there sculptures were mainly bronze because when you think of bronze you think that is less value of gold and silver but these sculptures shows that sometimes its not the material that matters. For example I really appreciate there depictions of the greek mythology in the Wounded Chimera sculpture and I personally because if that sculpture was made of gold or silver I would still appreciate what it is not what its made of.

Moving onto the women in this society they had more rights and their attitudes were much different towards women in Etruscan times. Depicted from their art women actually were in public life more and were more respected than in Greek times. The art reflects that there was more emphasis on females because in their art there were more mother goddess and women would dominate men by being older and more powerful. A perfect example of this would be from the scene of the back of a mirror from Volterra which shows a Herakles being breast fed by the Goddess Uni. I feel as though this shows the importance of women in their society whereas in some cultures woman wouldn’t even get a sculpture of themselves.

The Etruscan people were very interesting people because they kind of did everything as their own like their religion and language. Although it would seem everything they did was original they still had influence from Greece which reflected a lot in their art. I think they are very interesting people because they put there own perspective on some of the Greek art.

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Week 8

Everyone has a different definition of beauty, and it was very cool to hear other definitions of it in the podcast. Personally, I have different definitions of beauty depending on what the topic is. As they were talking about kalós and kallos, they are very similar words with similar meanings, but the two words imply different things and different contexts. Art is one of the many ways we use to express our visualizations of beauty. The Greeks believed that beauty was represented by symmetry and proportions, that beauty was skin deep, which can be seen in their art pieces. The Greek’s included “beautifying” details in their sculptures, such as curled hair. Like in many other periods we’ve read about, the Greek’s sculptures represented their beauty standards. The beauty standards of the Greeks is still very relevant in our beauty standards today.

Greek pottery used a lot of geometric patterns, creating smooth flowing patterns. Their statues were made life-size and with real details and features. I think this shows just how much their ideas of beauty meant to them. Back to the podcast, the quote “There were people who were sexually attracted to statues”, really emphasizes the attention and dedication to the beauty that these statues were created with. The Greek’s architecture was also very elaborate and large. Such as the Parthenon, there were large pillars holding up the frame.

In Ancient Greece, women were viewed more as property than human beings. I was not surprised to read this, as this was much before the era of women’s rights. Women, again, were also held to a high beauty standard, as represented in statues and art. They were expected to be beautiful and just the right shape and size. Like with art, I do feel that to a certain extent, we are going back to many of the ways that the Greek’s had. Our art is very similar, and we stereotype people into categories especially where looks are concerned.

I enjoyed that chapter 7 also talked about the Greek’s democracy. The adult citizens, male only, had to take part in the government if chosen to do so. Those who were chosen would implement laws which would then be voted on by the rest of the adult citizens and the majority would rule. Sounds a lot like our government today, huh?

caseynicc

I agree with the statement that you have different definitions of beauty depending on what the topic is. For me I believe beauty can mean what ever you feel because there is no true definition of beauty. The actual definition is a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight. I found the statues from this time to be detailed like you said and it was interesting to see the shift of detail from the early times that sculptures were just being created. Finally I liked the very last comment you made to current times.

Week 8 Blog

Ancient Greece is another part of history that I have some knowledge of but that is about it. To begin I recognize some of the known epic poems that have came from this time. I remember learning and reading The Iliad attributed to Homer, and also The Odyssey. These are both important and interesting epic poems and they are a very known and still hold meaning even this many years later because I learned about them in literature. I think a lot of literature is forgotten as art and majority of people think art is creating pictures but through these epic poems a picture is painted. I believe literature is art because through the experiences in the writing it is connecting with a person and it gives pleasure to others just by words. Much like painting and drawing it is a form of expression that humans show and literature is also expression through writing

The styles that come from Ancient Greece pottery consist of The Geometric Style which has rectilinear patterns and is pleasing to the eye because of the lines forming rectangles in a smooth movement but yet has harsh corners. Next the Orientalizing style has more curvilinear patterns than the geometric style and has geometric borders around the pictures in the art. I find these more pleasing because in my eyes it looks like a more developed geometric style piece of art. Archaic Style has more of a darker feel and I find the famous piece Achilles and Ajax playing a Board Game to be very pleasing because it gives a deep contrast in the art on the vases. Moving on to the sculpture styles there is the Archaic style which seems to be influenced by Egyptian techniques. The Statue of a Kouros definetly has the Egyptian feel because in the face it reminds me of the faces in the Palette of Narmer. In the early classical style the way the human was sculpted changed and takes on a different approach. The human sculptures look more detailed and more realistic. Finally the classical style is what is considered to be the golden age of greek art and is the some of the best looking sculptures. This time reflects on the intellectual achievements and shows how much their art really matters. When talking about Greece everyone knows you cant leave out their architecture. When looking at some of the architecture still standing I see it as a message to other countries. They made huge structures with large pillars that just scream power and riches.

In the podcast I liked how they used beauty as much as they can. It gives a sense of how this art from this time actually looks and how much emotion comes from just viewing this art. It also talks about what beauty meant to people in Greece and how attractiveness played a large role in how they perceived beauty. This idea of beauty really reflects in the art from this time because most of all their art is very pleasing to look and that is what beauty is to them.

jadegamm-deactivated20190524

Week 6

Whenever I think of or hear the word ‘Egyptian’ I automatically think of tombs, mummies, temples, and pyramids. That is exactly what Chapter 5 is all about.

The purpose of the pyramids was for burials and the passage into the afterlife. They were also made out of mud-brick. This amazes me because it would have taken a lot of time and effort to build these pyramids out of mud-brick. Another major development was the design of the pyramids- a triangle. This reminds me of all of the times I learned geometry back in high school and the Egyptians were practicing the same type of math, but not knowing it.

Pyramids reflected on death, and so does mummification. The purpose of mummification is to also ensure a good afterlife. To do so they used to bury the bodies in the dry sand, and then, later on, had coffins that insulated the bodies. This reminds me of how we embalm people in today’s society to preserve their body for a visitation and funeral. Preserving the dead back then took a lot more work and they removed the organs out of the body. The outside of the body is then wrapped in bandages of linen. Mummification reminds me of breaking a bone and having a cast put on. I have a friend that recently broke her arm and they had to put stuff on the skin and then proceeded to put the cast on, which is a lot of layers of bandages.

The sculpture of Khafre represents his position as a king. He had a lot of power, therefore, there was a sculpture made of him. This sculpture reminds me of how we have the statue of liberty in New York, which represents freedom. Khafre’s statue represents his power and authority.

Temples were in the form of huts back in the Neolithic period. A sanctuary, courtyard, and hallway were also added. When I hear of temples, I think of churches. People would go to the temples to worship the gods and today people go to church to worship. So it’s kind of like the same thing.

There were also paintings created among this time, and there were major uses of pigments. There are a wide variety of colors used in their paintings. The artwork Gypsum Plaster shows a man hunting birds with his wife and daughter alongside him. There is a great majority of blue in this picture coming from the pigment from lapis lazuli. Paintings created in the New Kingdom show shading and have a more naturalistic look to them compared to those in the Old Kingdom.

Lastly, Tutankhamon’s Tomb is in memory of himself. His tomb has a pretty shiny gold mask with blue glass all around. This tomb has a great amount of detail and there was a lot of work and time put into it.

I think it would be really neat to travel to a museum to see artifacts back in the Egyptian time. I think the tombs and mummification are fascinating and knowing the importance behind them makes it even more special to specific people.

caseynicc

The first sentence of this post was spot on. I think of the same things when this topic is mentioned. I thought it was interesting to look more in depth at into this topic. I also am glad you mentioned the process of preserving the bodies because I never really thought of it in that way that we too preserve bodies in a way similar to them. Finally, with the last statement you made I agree it would be fascinating to see these in person because for me personally I have only seen videos and read about Ancient Egypt. To see in person would be interesting.

Week 6 Blog

This week in chapter 5 we are focusing on Ancient Egypt. Egyptian art to me is interesting because of how much archeologists know about this art. It is common in our culture to have some knowledge of this topic because of how much it is covered in shows and movies in entertainment. I don’t believe it is a coincidence that it is in a lot of movies because it is actually interesting stuff.

The chapter begins talking about pharaohs and how Egypt was essentially ruled by kings and queens in other words royalty. The first piece of art in the chapter is The Palette of Nermer. This was a slate of stone that was carved into and it is said to be used to project the pharaohs powers. I find this piece interesting because right from the beginning you can assess that the piece of art is spiritual and is used for more then just a decorations. I find the beliefs in this culture to be very interesting because their beliefs are more than just what is happening in the physical world. They believe in spiritual powers and believe in the gods which is fascinating. The art on this slate has a conceptual form of the human body and it also contains images of conceptual animals. Not to have a stereotype but when I think of Egyptian Art I think of this art on the slate because it has images of the Pharaoh and the gesture of the humans on the slate are how they are portrayed in entertainment.

The architecture in Ancient Egypt is also well known and is talked about to this day. This stuff is also fascinating to me because when they built these huge pyramids and sculptures they were not playing around. The Pyramids at Giza was the perfect example of how important royalty was in the culture because they were built as tombs for the pharaohs. These were also pleasing to the eye because of how large they are and how they are still able to be standing to this day. I bet it would be breathtaking to see these pyramids being built and also seeing the finished brand new architecture. The Colossal statue of Khafre was also another reflection of how the culture was in Ancient Egypt. This statue was a large sphinx which is a form of a lion to this culture. They guarded the entrances of the pyramids in a spiritual way.

The paintings from this culture were also very eye pleasing because they were much like the carvings from this time. To me what made these better was the use of color. This really made these pieces of art interesting because it gives a better sense of the what they actually wore and what color the things were that they wore. I find it fascinating that these pictures also contain symbols and give more meaning to the actual art because that means this art wasn’t just created to be created. It is interesting that I have a pendant on my necklace which is the Ankh and this symbol is actual from Egypt and is found in some carvings and paintings.

This chapter was interesting to me because it shows how art reflects much of the culture and gives us a closer look into their art perspectives.

jacobfaber-blog1

Week fwaaaa

So chapter 4 was a pretty interesting read for me. I’ve always enjoyed the Mesopotamians and Sumerians eras. I had know a little about what their art consisted of and looked like before but chapter for definitely gave me a more well rounded idea. It’s clear the the chapters are moving in chronological order according to what the authors believe and I find that somewhat interesting as well. So chapter 4 was pretty spaced out and covered a lot of different cultures and aspects of art within those cultures but I’m going to highlight some target areas that stuck out to me and how I interpreted them. It began discussing about written art and carvings the authors believe came at the begging of the Sumerian civil action and arguably helped build it. It’s under no question that a written language is vital for a more advanced civilization and. Samaria as well as Persia became such massive empires partly due to them having one. The carvings shown were clearly religious most likely some type of idol worship. The Bible discuses these civilizations in some detail and idol who ship was a large part of their lives. Another target point of chapter 4 was the Neolithic era and its effects on art. I didn’t know what the Neolithic area was on my first read. I’m always fascinated by anything do do with history so I did some outside research. The major way we can define the “Neolithic era” would be the era in which farming was developed. Before this we had dealt with last week, cave paintings, stone hedge etc. but during the Neolithic era, art took on a different form and purpose as civilizations began to develop. This totally makes sense, instead of worshiping and idolizing wildlife by painting them on walls, instead we have detailed carvings man begins to worship what he creates with his own hand. Another random thought was that farming was kind of an art. Think about the first group of people to harness the ability of controlling wheat or corn, they must’ve thought it was beautiful. Overall I really enjoyed chapter 4, I’m glad it’s going over the history of art from the very beginning, it’s good at simply explaining how art has developed especially during these mostly unknown times.

caseynicc

Hey Jacob, I would like to first say that Im glad you mentioned the importance of written language. I too mentioned the importance because without this form of art many of the things we know could have been lost in history. One thing that helped my understanding was your part about what exactly the Neolithic Era is. I did not know agriculture was developed during this era. I also liked how you connected art to farming.

Week 4 Blog

Chapter 4 was interesting to me because it talked about the history of certain art and the periods that it came from. A lot of this art was some of the original types of art like writing, carving, and even architecture. The chapter talks about the reasoning behind these forms of art. Most of the pieces of art mentioned in the chapter are very old pieces of art from B.C time. This chapter is basically a overview of the certain people from certain times and what they produced as far as art.

To begin the some of the Neolithic sites mentions were the site of Jericho and Catal Huyuk. These locations both contained buildings that held corpses and even painted walls and some areas that are said to be shrines. I find it very interesting that archeologists are able to make the assumptions of the intended purposes of these buildings even tho they are thousands of years old. For example archeologist are able to find out that the buildings in Catal Huyuk were made without streets and the holes and little windows were used as ventilation from the oven.

During the early Dynastic Period statues were created in the Abu Temple at Tell Asmar. Experts are unsure if these statues were supposed to be in a group but they all seem to share characteristics. For example some of them hold cups but the men are bare in the chest while women have robes over one shoulder. One interesting thing pointed out about these statues are the hierarchical proportions. I never thought about hierarchical proportions until reading this section but it makes complete sense that the size of the statues shows the status of the donor and how much money was donated. If a person owned a large statue this would reflect how much they paid for it. Its kind funny that back in this time a person received what they paid for. Today its unlikely to get what you pay for.

One of the big pictures that I interpreted from this chapter was art truly does have a purpose. For people like us, who enjoy the nature and meaning behind art, realize that as humans art and creation is a natural part of life. If you were to speak to someone who could care less about art they are going to say that art really serves no purpose and can’t help humans but this chapter shows that there is actually meaning behind these. For starters many people are religious and will stand behind their religion strongly. Some people may be religious but also have the opinion that art doesn’t matter. But if you look back at the history without art, religion could have been lost throughout history. Art was able to continue the religion through statues and paintings and even writings in books like The Quran or The Vedas. These are all forms of art and some people do not realize the importance of it. In the end after reading this chapter my knowledge towards periods and people who created art has grown and I have a better understanding of really how important art is.

gsydney11

Week 3

I chose to research cave painting, because I have always admired them and enjoyed their beauty. I don’t know very much about the history of cave paintings, so I thought it would be interesting for me to learn more. Cave art consists of engraved or painted works on open air rock or on the floors, walls and ceilings of caves. These paintings were created during the Upper Palaeolithic period (40,000 to 10,000 BC), and the greatest were done by the Magdalenians peoples who prospered in Europe from 18,000 to 10,000 BC. It is crazy to think how long ago some cave paintings were done. Researchers say that cave paintings portray human hands and large numbers of animals in different activities. I think that cave art is very interesting and amazing to look at.

Some theories say that cave paintings were a way of transmitting information, while other theories say they were a way of religious or ceremonial purposes. I believe the theory that they were a way of religious or ceremonial purposes. In this article, it says that men may have painted animals to catch their soul or spirit in order to hunt them more easily. I think this theory makes a lot of sense because a lot of different cave paintings are of different animals. I just like to admire the beauty of cave paintings because they are all very interesting and unique in their own way. I think it is interesting to think that some cave paintings were made so long ago.

Stone Age artists created a bunch of different paintings in prehistoric caves. Some of these paintings include: bison, horses, reindeer, cattle, aurochs, and mammoths. Other animals that they painted were, lions, wolf, fox, hyena, seals, fish, reptiles, birds, and a bunch of other creatures. It is amazing how talented and creative Stone Age artists were to create such beautiful paintings.

The Stone Age artists would work by candlelight, and they would use seashells as their paint containers. I thought it was very fascinating and creative that they used seashells as paint containers. They used pigments available in their area as their paint. These pigments were earth pigments such as minerals, limonite, and hematite, red ochre, yellow ochre, and umber. They also used charcoal from fire, burnt bones, and white from grounded calcite. Historians believe that the paint was applied by brushing, smearing, dabbing, and spraying the paint on the stone.

caseynicc

The theory that cave paintings were used for ceremonial and religious purposes was always what I believed was true. I always believed that there was a deeper meaning then just a person drawing things in a cave. I never thought of a deeper meaning but when you mentioned that they painted the animals spirits to hunt them better I found that interesting because it goes with the belief they were used for ceremonial or religious purposes.

Week 3 Blog

For this week I chose to research the Venus figurines because I actually did not have much knowledge of what they were other than the fact that they were old sculptures. Basically Venus Figurines are a bunch of these little figurines that represent the female body but in a special kind of way that I will cover in this post. Typically on these figurines they have enlarged females breasts and buttocks with no facial features as well as small counterparts. I find these figurines to be very pleasing because the woman’s body and human body itself is a work of art and these figurines show that the woman’s body has always been a work of art even dating back to B.C. times. To begin these figurines are thought to be some of the oldest art that man has uncovered after many years. The most common figurines that have been found are the female figurines but there has also been some figurines found that they were unsure of the gender and were a male. The figurines were commonly made of bones, antlers, stone, and even ivory from mammoths. One of the figurines found is said to be made of wooly mammoth tusk. This truly shows how old and prehistoric this art piece is considering it features a part of a wooly mammoth. The most known Venus Figurine is The Venus of Willendorf. This figurine was carved from limestone and in my opinion is the most interesting one of them all. I find this interesting because it is near impossible to know anything about it other than its physical properties. The experts know that it is a woman and what it is made of. Other than the approximate time it came from that is the only thing they know about it. It is impossible to figure out who made it or even why it was made. Humans want a clear understanding of everything and sometimes think they know everything but they only know what they seen in this case with the Venus of Willendorf. Another interesting fact about these figurines is many of them were found over 20,000 miles apart in other countries but yet represent each other in ways like the form of the woman body for example. I find it really neat because 20,000 miles is a long way and seems like there would be a lot of cultural differences but yet the idea of the art is the same.

To know what the actual intent of these figurines are for is nearly impossible to know but many theories exist about the Venus Figurines. One theory that I researched was that they were used for scared and religious purposes because at the time women didn’t depict what the statues form represented. Another thing to note is the small size of the figurines and how many of them do not have feet to stand up with. This would point to the idea that they were held in hand during rituals or ceremonies making this a sacred item. Another theory about these figurines is that they were used as a symbol of fertility because the shape represents with a pregnant woman. Some also had a place to put a string through to wear as a pendant and could serve as a protectant for woman during child birth. These both seem logical but I believe the religious use seems the most correct in my opinion. The fact that the size of them fit in the hand seems like a logical reason that they were held and holding things during rituals is common in religion. The main reason for my opinion on this theory is the fact they do not stand up or have no feet seems to prove they were not used as decoration, more as a hand held item. In the end I believe these figurines are very interesting and are a big part of art history and the knowledge of art. I did not know much about these until today and I am glad we did research on it.

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Casey Brayton