Chris Hodges: Art History Student at Large @chrishodges - Tumblr Blog

Week 15

Here we are week 15 and our last blog post…..Chapter 13 Gothic Art, I expected this chapter to be about dark art but boy was I wrong. Learning that the reason it was called Gothic art was because Gothic refers to the German tribes who took over Greece and Italy. Will have to admit though that these cathedrals are amazingly beautiful. Another thing I learned this chapter is that cathedral mean seat or throne.

It was interesting to learn about the 5 elements of Gothic Architecture. Rib vaults were used instead of barrel vaults because since most of the weight was held in the corners it was easier for them to use intervals which made the designers about to put in more windows. The second element was the piers, the piers were what was holding up the rib vaults and somewhat symbolize the upward growth of a tree. The third element was flying buttresses. Flying buttresses were used to support the walls were they met with the arch or vault. The 4th element was the pointed arches, which I guess was something that Gothics architects used a lot and it helped the structure by making it more flexible and could potentially increase the height. Last but not least we have the skeleton element, which is the buttresses, piers and ribs that come together to form a skeleton per say.

I personally did not find much interest in the stained-glass picture at the beginning of the chapter just for the simple fact that I think that stained glass in churches and cathedrals today are full of detail and amazing. So, with that being said I think that the stain glass was well done for the time period and enjoyed looking at the stain glass on page 213 in the book there is so much color that my eyes kept wondering..

Next I move forward with talking about the Abby church which is breath taking. Not only is it breath taking but it is massive. The column’s are beautiful, the vaulted ceilings. But another church that caught my eye this chapter was the Chartres cathedral. The exterior sculptures on this building were amazing and so much detail. I not only like the sculptures under the vaults but I also really enjoy looking at the sculptures on the collumns on the outside as well. This cathedral was massive and I wish that some day I am able to travel here and go through along with the Reims cathedral in France.

The Reims Cathedral caught my eye more than the other 2 just for the simple fact that there are sculptures all the was up the cathedral. What a beautiful place and this cathedral looks even bigger than the rest of them.

Hope everyone had a wonderful semester and enjoyed reading some of my blogs. GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL!!

chrishodges

Isn’t it funny how we have this image of “gothic” art automatically being dark and moody? Blame goth kids and Gotham City, I guess! One of the things I really loved about this class is clearing up misconceptions like that. I find it so fascinating how “goth” culture is so often associated with people who are anti-religion, but Gothic art is anything but that, at least in terms of what we saw in this chapter. You learn something new every day/chapter/semester!

Chapter 13 - Gothic Art

There is no question what the standout element of this chapter was for me: stained-glass windows. I have always loved stained glass windows. They seem so technologically advanced, like something that requires being laid out on a computer and created using lasers—the fact that they were made with elements available in the 13th century, created by hand, is astounding to me. I mentioned during the blog post I reblogged last chapter how I am so impressed by rock carvings, and how easy it must’ve been to make a mistake and chip too far and ruin an entire piece. Well this is glass we’re talking about here. People would build these incredibly intricate mosaics using the most fragile medium on earth. I just can’t help but to fixate on how delicately everything had to be treated in order to be assembled, and to that end, that something so fragile could be assembled in such a way that they have lasted for centuries. People are impressed that the pyramids are still around—I mean, this is art made out of glass that is still around 700+ years later. Absolutely incredible.

Most of the rest of this chapter focused on architecture, which is to be expected as that is basically what Gothic are is. I’ve mentioned several times than I’m fairly ambivalent about architecture, and I definitely found some of this chapter a bit difficult to get through. But I still can’t help but to be blown away by some of the cathedrals shown in this chapter. The picture of the Reims Cathedral in France on page 214 is absolutely mesmerizing. You look at how many tiny, intricate details they are, which would’ve already been impressive if it was just a normal-sized church. To have a structure with that much form and detail and embellishment and be as massive as it is is just breathtaking. The fact that there are people who just pass something like that every day on their way to work is so crazy to me. You hope they don’t take it for granted, but we know how stuff like that goes. You don’t appreciate stuff like that when it’s in your backyard.

I’ll close out this week’s blog post by talking about the two pictures on page 204. I’ve talked before about pictures that look too beautiful and too perfect to be photographs, and both of those shots apply. The ceilings in particular look like optical illusions. I had to look at the picture on the left in particular for a solid minute before I could even wrap my brain around exactly what I was looking at. I am completely infatuated with things like that. Part of me almost wouldn’t want to see such places in real life as I’d be afraid it would ruin the illusion (I was the kid who never wanted to know how magicians did their tricks and preferred to just enjoy the gimmick).

enchantingcollectorturtle-blog

Art History

This week we read chapter 12. It was over Romanesque Art. At first glance I was a little confused, but then I realized that it had “Roman” in its name so I just figured it had something to do with Rome and Roman times. Well I was half right. Chapter twelve was a lot like my world civilization text. Hard to swollow. To me it was a lot to take in even though there wasn’t many pages that we had to read. Like in every chapter I fall in love with the architecture that it talks about. Before I go into talking about the architecture I want to talk about the subcategory Pilgrimage Roads. I found it really interesting that the chapters we covered before like Christianity and the Early Middle Ages play a role in this chapter. I know you need old history to learn about the new but it was interesting to see it talk about Jerusalem. Okay so one thing you guys could have probably learned about me so far is I talk a lot about the architect when it comes to that part of the book. The Last Judgment really caught my eye. The detail in it is so great you would think that it would take years to make something so great. Now this is where I start to stray due to my whole non-religion belief. I do not care so much for the symbolism, I do care however for the detail and amazing the artwork looks. On the next page its the Last Judgment “weighing of souls” it looks really messed up, but it does have a lot of detail too. I might have said this before but to me detail is what really stands out to me. When I read the book the information is what stands out to me. All the art in this chapter has really turned my head. It is so beautiful and a lot of it I have never even seen before. To end for this week I just want to say that the history is interesting but I think I find the art that comes from these times are more interesting. The history following some of it blows my mind, but I see the art and I can’t take my eyes off of it.

chrishodges

I see we both had the same piece catch out eye this chapter. I mostly focused on the symbolism of The Last Judgment, but I’m glad you covered the artistry. Any kind of work that involves chiseling stone or some other material is amazing to me because it seems like there is ZERO room for error. You hammer a little too hard, and you chip off a guy’s nose. How do you fix a mistake like that? I can’t even wrap my head around having to have that kind of precision, especially in a piece THAT intricate. I can’t even draw that well, and there are people who can chip away at a stone and make that. It boggles the mind.

Week 14 - Romanesque Art

Anyone who has been following my art history blog thus far can probably already guess what my favorite part of chapter 12 is: the illuminated manuscripts. But rather than reiterate for the umpteenth time how fascinating I am by the history of written record and the evolution of what we know as books and pictures on pages, I decided to focus on a different aspect of the Romanesque period.

There always seems to be one particular image in each chapter that strikes me more than any of the others, and chapter 12 was no exception. This time, it was Last Judgement, shown on page 191. In particular, I was moved by the figure toward the middle of the piece, one of the two main “devils” (the one holding the smaller devil in a scale). There tends to be this sense of Hell, demons, and the devil delighting in the suffering they cause. We often see depictions of the devil cackling as he inflicts torment on the sinners that are sent to hell for him to punish for eternity. In this piece, however, the devil figure that I am referring to isn’t showing glee in what he is being charged to do. To me, his face shows a deep, profound sadness. I like the idea of a demon who is doing his job of weighing the sins of sinners and taking on the worst offenders because that’s what his purpose is, but not automatically enjoying the reason for his existence. I could be completely misreading the demon’s face as sadness, but that’s how I saw it, and as such it made the piece a very powerful one for me.

Of course, I couldn’t dive into this chapter without talking about the Bayeux Tapestry. The piece comes in at a staggering 230 feet long, which is impossible to fathom. Even more humbling is the fact that it was embroidered! Just drawing something that long would be impressive in its own right, but to think of the time it must have took to embroider something of that scale—and the intricate planning that had to go into even getting to the embroidery stage in the first place. I am always impressed by any form of art that requires copious amounts of pre-planning. One of the reasons I favor writing as my primary form of “art” is that it doesn’t require as much planning—and the planning it does require is often just mental brainstorming. At least, that’s how I tend to write. I’m no good at sitting down and planning—I’m better at just sitting down and winging it. It’s a skill I wish I possessed, and when I see it put to action in such a way as a 230-feet-long tapestry, all I can do is be in awe and appreciate people who have the ability to do something that I don’t think I ever could.

r0b0k0pp-blog

Week 13: The Early Middle Ages

Hello fellow bloggers and welcome back from week 13! This week for Art History class we were tasked with reading chapter 11 from A History of Western Art. This chapter focused on the early middle ages. Although it was a shorter chapter, it was still packed full of information.Let’s jump right into the discussion!

Chapter 11 begins by talking a little bit about the middle ages and it explains exactly what the middle ages were. The middle ages were the times following the fall of the Roman empire. The chapter focuses on a few different types of art. These types were Islamic, Northern European, and Ottonian.

I found the Islamic part of this chapter to be very interesting. The art from this time focused more on patterns and floral designs. The reason behind this is because the religion of Islam believed that people shouldn’t have idols. This meant that there were no sculptures, and the artwork didn’t focus on people. I find this interesting because the artwork is still very beautiful. The red and white stripes on the arches in image 11.2 make for a very interesting design.

The Northern European artwork focused mostly on metalwork and manuscripts. I really enjoyed the details that were put into the Sutton Hoo purse cover. To me, the cover looks like something we would find in today’s world. The images on the cover are symmetrical, and contain many little details. They are placed over cloisonne enamel, which make the images really stand out.

The last section that this chapter covered was the Ottonian Period. The book only shows one piece of art from this period, the bronze doors. These doors were cast as one piece, and they depict stories from the old and new testaments of the bible. I can only imagine seeing these doors in person! I would probably look like a goof ball, standing in front of the doors admiring all of the different images!

My favorite part of this chapter was learning that Charlemagne, the Roman emperor, valued education. Since manuscripts were portable, Charlemagne used them to teach people. To me, this is huge. In previous chapters, we learned about rulers that seemed to only care about themselves. However, here, we see a leader that was concerned about his people. This era was a huge step forward in my opinion.

Well folks, that about wraps it up for this week. We learned a little bit about the Early Middle Ages this week. We covered Islamic, Northern European, and the Ottonian art. Of the three, my favorite would have to be the Islamic art. Those red and white arches were really stunning! We also learned about Charlemagne, and his value of education. Hopefully, we continue to see steps forward like this in the upcoming chapters! Looking forward, it looks like we will be learning about Romanesque art next week, so be sure to check back for that! As always, let me know what you enjoyed from this chapter! Until next time bloggers!

chrishodges

Isn’t that interesting, how so many “leaders” didn’t really follow the literal definition of what it means to lead? I too found it interesting to read about Charlemagne and how much he focused his efforts on educating his people. We’ve been learning about so many rulers who were basically just rich people who would occasionally be like “Oh, right, I’m in charge. Eh, do this.” There seemed to be little to no day-to-day involvement. I find it fascinating that the power and class structures were such that people couldn’t even really do much about that, either. Not that we have much control over who rules us now, obviously...

Week 13

The first thing that stuck me about this chapter is the picture of the Arches of the Great Mosque on page 172. It almost looks like an M.C. Escher painting, like there is some type of optical illusion or some impossible element to the picture that we should be looking for. I stared at that picture for a good 10 minutes, completely fascinated by it. I would love to visit it in person.

As it happens, a lot of the art from this period is so striking and flawless-looking that it’s hard to believe those are just photos and not paintings. The Odo of Metz from the interior of Charlemange’s chapel on page 179 is so beautiful, that, again, I couldn’t believe I was looking at a photograph.

I tend to have conflicted feelings about religion, but there’s no denying the beauty of ancient chapels. The ones in this chapter are some of the most gorgeous I have ever seen. If faith drives people to create such breathtaking art, it’s hard to find total fault with it.

Continuing with a topic I brought up last week, I’ve loved following the evolution of written records in this course, and it takes another interesting step in the middle ages. This chapter talks of manuscript illumination, which takes a segment of text and builds a piece of intricate art around it. The example the book shows is from the Book of Kells. The translated sentence, “Then they crucified Christ and, with him, two thieves” is turned into a beautiful mosaic where the words wrap around and form an image of their own, and the words are complemented by various artistic flourishes, dragons breathing fire, and people who look to be looking on a tragic event (in this case, a crucifixion). It is a powerful way to make a sentiment come to life.

We tend to scoff at images within “serious” books these days. The concept of a picture book is something we typically associate with children’s books. But as this chapter proves, when done well, images can enhance and deepen the written word. It makes me wonder if there is a way that there can be “adult picture books” in the style of these illuminated manuscripts, where the book itself might only have ten or so lines of text, but each line is accompanied by a beautiful piece of art, and the text itself is presented in an artistic way. Something like that might already exist, I don’t know, but if it doesn’t, I think it could be a really interesting thing to see.

enchantingcollectorturtle-blog

Art History

The Early Christianity part of this week’s reading was a bit of a turn off for me. I use to practice until I lost my sister then all of that turned into a belief that I don’t believe in. Not to start a stir of religion, just what I believe. From what I have correlated between the reading in Chapter 10 and my own individual research Byzantine art is devoted to Christian art and revolves around the church. Typically, you would see small panel paintings done in encaustic paint - Byzantine-era artists excelled at fresco mural painting, as well as the illustration of gospel texts and other devotional manuscripts. Before Christianity could grow to be better and stronger a known artistic language of its own it was necessary that the pagan language of art, so carefully perfected by the Greeks, should disintegrate. In the Roman catacombs, a few tentative experiments in creating the new symbolism were made, but they are of little principle interest. This chapter was so in-depth about what early Christianity was. I realize that when you learn about art you should really get the back story and the whole reason it came to be. That is one of the reasons that I like Art History not only because of that but you get a little taste of the history around the world at the time too, if you haven’t noticed I am really about learning history. On page 159 in our book there is a design of a Dome, while looking at it, it made me think about where I have seen the style before. Just a little background I have never left the US so while I was thinking about it I remembered I was in a hotel type thing while I was in New Orleans and it looked exactly, if not to a T, like this design. This design is under the Justinian and Byzantine Style title heading in the book. I then remembered how I learned in a history class that later when the first settlers settled here they were very big into Christianity. Which made it all click as to why a style building like this would be smack dab in the middle of New Orleans. I know I have referenced this before in my post but although I am not big on being a believe I do think that this chapter was full of knowledge and did a good job going into depth on the Christianity and Byzantine Style. It really did grab my attention surprisingly. Finally, I want to comment on where I have seen the picture on page 161. Back when I was in High School and I took a class on older world history, this picture came up in the text when we were learning about Jerusalem. Never ever did I think I would see this image again so when I came across it in the reading my jaw dropped and it reminded me about the day in class when I had very first seen it.

chrishodges

On a personal note, I just wanted to say that you aren’t the only one who isn’t a big “believer.” I know it can feel isolating sometimes, especially in this area as this a very Catholic region, but for what it’s worth, you aren’t the only one around who either struggles with faith or doesn’t have any religious faith at all. I know that I always find it comforting when I find someone else in this area who isn’t all-in on Christianity and Catholicism, as it’s easy to feel like the oddball for not being a Catholic especially, so I thought maybe you’d feel the same way.

In relation to that, I also agree that it can be tough to study Christianity, in any form. Sometimes it’s difficult to look past it on a surface level and just focus on its place in history and the positive contributions that it has made on a more objective level--the art, the music, etc. Despite anyone’s feelings on Christianity, there’s no denying that some beautiful art and music has come from it that wouldn’t have existed otherwise, so if nothing else, it can be appreciated on that level. You just have to look at it like studying Greek mythology--you don’t have to believe that any of that actually happened in order to appreciate it on an artistic or literary level.

Week 12

One of the things I’ve been enjoying about this class is the progression of slowly inventing the concept of a book. We take it for granted today because it just seems like a no-brainer: You have something to say or record, you put it in a book. But it took some time for us to arrive at that idea as a people, and to come up with a feasible way to do so. Obviously, recording events as cave paintings wasn’t going to be realistic long-term—there is only so much cave in the world. Sooner or later, we were going to have to come up with some compact, sustainable way to record stories and such. While things had already been recording on scrolls at this point, it seems like the period we are currently studying—early Christian art—is when we first arrived at what would become what we know of as the concept of a book. As we sit here and easily pound out words on our computers that potentially billions of people can see in a matter of minutes, it’s so humbling to think of how much effort and artistry it used to take to record even the slightest amount of information.

Another interesting thing about this era was the move to monotheism as a source for artistic inspiration. Gone were the days of fantastical gods that attacked creatures with lightning bolts. In fact, much Christian art doesn’t even attempt to depict God “himself” at all, instead using Jesus as his most frequent stand-in. There was some magical elements to early Christian art and the depicting of figures that weren’t just regular humans, like the Muse shown in the sarcophagus on page 155. So at least it wasn’t all grounded in boring realism even as religion tended away from the sorts of tales that we associate with Greek and Roman mythology.

For the additional research, I chose to look into the Kofun period of Japanese art. I’ve always loved Japanese culture, both modern day and in the past, particularly the feudal period and samurai and the like. I had never really dove back quite this far into Japanese history. The Kofun period comprises the first half of what is collectively known as the Yamato period, which begins with Kofun and ends with the Asuka period, which takes us all the way to about 700 A.D. But we’re just going to focus on the Kofun. A kofun is a type of burial mound, which is the centerpiece for this era of art and why the period is named as such. Keeping in the theme of religion, this period of Japanese history sees Japan still largely practicing the Shinto religion, before Buddhism was introduced to the region.

Kofun burial mounds where made for people of the ruling class, and the most interesting thing about them is probably their shape. While many were of a basic shape—circular or square—some were shaped like keyholes (which is what the above picture is of). What’s astounding about it is that you’d only even be able to appreciate their shape when the Kofun were viewed from miles above, which basically meant that there was no way for people to see them at that time (no airplanes or satellite photos in 200 A.D.). It was assumed, of course, that the spirits of the dead would be able to see the shape when looking down at them from above, and no matter you’re view on religion or the afterlife, it’s hard to deny how neat it is that the people of that time would go through so much work to create something that would only be truly appreciated by gods and spirits. Compared to the artistic burial areas of most other cultures, where anyone can see and appreciate them, it was a nice change to have a people truly go for a tribute with the assumption that only upon death and the entrance to the spirit would could someone see the full artistry that went into creating the Kofun burial mounds.

r0b0k0pp-blog

Week 11: Ancient Rome

Hello fellow bloggers and welcome back for week 11! This week for Art History we were tasked with reading chapter 9 from A History of Western Art. The chapter focuses on Ancient Rome and the different forms or art they created. I’ve always loved Roman architecture, so let’s dive into the chapter!

About 17 years ago, the movie Gladiator was released. I remember when I saw it for the first time. The Colosseum and all of the Roman architecture were amazing! Ever since then, I’ve wanted to learn more about the Romans, and this chapter gave me that chance.

The chapter begins by explaining a little bit about the Romans. The story is that two brothers founded the city, and one ended up killing the other and became Romes first king. I found this story to be a bit far fetched, but who knows, maybe it happened. The Romans were inspired by civilizations that we’ve previously discussed, like the Greeks and Etruscans.

As stated above, I found the architecture from Rome to be the most interesting. To me, it’s like they saw what the Greeks and Etruscans created, and then made those structures even better. An example of this would be the Roman temples and the Colosseum. Many of these structures are still present in Rome today. The reason for this is because the Romans started using concrete for their structures. My favorite architectural piece from Rome is the Colosseum. This work of art is very pleasing to my eye. The symmetry found within all of the columns is amazing! This is a place that I’d love to see in my lifetime.

The sculptures from Ancient Rome are also very beautiful. Image 9.31 on page 146 shows a bust of young woman. The details in the woman’s hair are so strong that it almost looks like real hair. The hair has depth to it which creates really good contrasts to make it look realistic.

Another thing that I found interesting from the chapter was that the Romans used wax to cover their paintings. This method added a bit of shine to the paintings, but it also helped to preserve them. This is very innovative, because a lot of the paintings from Ancient Rome were affected by a volcanic eruption. The thin layer of wax helped to protect these paintings from the volcanic ash, allowing us to still see them today.

Well folks, that about wraps up week 11! This week we learned about Ancient Rome and all of the wonderful works of art that they created. My favorite piece was the Colosseum, but I want to know what your favorite work was! What did you enjoy about this chapter? Let me know, and I’ll see ya back here next week!

keatonhermsen-blog

Hello, I really enjoyed reading your post. The picture you chose to put with it is priceless. The architecture of this time period and the Romans really caught my eye. I agree with you and think the sculptures of the Romans were very beautiful. In my post, I also said my favorite piece was the Colosseum. I loved the post and keep up the good work.

chrishodges

I personally wasn’t a big Gladiator fan, but your anecdote got me thinking of some other Ancient Rome fiction that I enjoyed for the setting and architecture. I really enjoyed a short-lived HBO show called Rome, which was a fictionalized slice of history that focused on two fictional main characters but with the backdrop of Julius Caesar and leading up to his assassination. It was the channel’s first crack at something like Game of Thrones in terms of theme and scope, I suppose. But I do remember that one of the things I really liked about it was its setting, the great costumes, the jars and vases that lined the walls of people’s homes, and the fascinating architecture. My memory of it is hazy and I don’t remember if it was actually filmed in Italy at all or if it was all sets and computer effects, but nonetheless it did a good job of capturing what it must have been like to live in that time and be surrounded by such grand, magnificent structures and statues.

Chapter 9

If I’m being honest, I’m not the biggest appreciator (is that a word?) of architecture. Growing up in Chicago, people always told me to take the famous architectural boat tour downtown, assuring me I’d love it despite my indifference for architecture. Did I love it? Not really. Was it a terrible way to spend an hour? Nah.

All that said, I didn’t mind having a chapter that focused on architecture as a nice change of pace. Ancient Rome was a great excuse to do this, of course, as there are so many iconic structures from that period that we all know and recognize. The Colosseum is breathtaking and I would love to visit it some day. I am never not humbled by how difficult it must have been to build such huge, towering structures out of stone that long ago without cranes and such.

One of the ancient Romans most important contributions to the world was the invention of the arch for use in architecture. The Romans figured out how structurally sound arches were in supporting tall structures. Other than large buildings like the Colosseum, arches are best demonstrated in the aqueducts, another major innovation that the people of ancient Rome came up with that would forever change the world.

The entire chapter wasn’t strictly about architecture, though. The chapter also dove into the sculptures and paintings of the era. Like some of the other chapters we studied, many of the sculptures of this time focused on demonstrating the power and influence of its subjects.

It was interesting to me to learn that the eruption of Mount Vesuvius may have actually helped to preserve some of the art that was caught in its aftermath, as the ash actually served as something of protective coating over paintings (in addition to the wax that artists added to make the paintings shinier). I’m all about learning some little tidbit of trivia about a subject I am studying, and that’s the one that most stuck with me from this particular chapter.

the-caffeinatedmom-love-blog

Chapter 8: The Etruscans

So, what I got out of this chapter is a little interesting on a personal level and not what I was expecting. Before I state it, I would like to say that I honestly had not heard about the Etruscans before Any who, my realization and understanding is that the Etruscans are the better less known or less public Greeks in almost every way. My problems that I became aware of last week with the Greeks have been resolved by the Etruscans. This intrigues me since the cultures are so closely related geometrically and in the measurement of time.

I wasn’t exactly a fan of the depiction of women and how they were treated in their cultures of the previous chapters. The Etruscan culture and how it is shows how women were treated is much more in line with how I believe women should be treated. This week we learned that the Etruscans respected their women and they were not held in a sort of servitude that the Greeks and Egyptians had. In their art, the Etruscans showed that women were closer to equals to men than any of the other cultures we had experienced up to this point. They were able to go out in public and partake in events like banquets that were seen as male-centric in the Greek culture.

I love seeing that women were also given their own art pieces that were probably used on a daily basis. I speak of the mirrors with the mythological scenes of empowerment that also have inscriptions on them, thus showing that not only women were more equal, but also literate

adding a layer of equality. Continuing with the message of strong women, I loved that the majority of Etruscan art that was of mythological scenes shows mainly the goddesses and that these goddesses weren’t just pretty but had strong and sometimes higher purposes and titles than the gods.

The Etruscan funerary art and culture is treated much like I believe should be for anyone, especially for myself when the day comes. Instead of completely mourning and being sad for the life lost, the Etruscans also celebrate the life of the deceased. In doing this, they have urns that show the likeness of the deceased as well as where they lived. Then, there are the sarcophagi that continue to celebrate the deceased by showing their likeness and even the relationships between husband and wife. The fact the the closeness of husband and wife was not something to be ashamed of or even looked down on, but celebrated just makes me smile. The tomb paintings also continued this idea of celebration with the occasional mourner of the deceased. Even this, I appreciate. I think that this is a much better way to go about the rituals of previous cultures. Close to how the Egyptians in the way that they are the same styles of doing things, but way different in how they were completed. The Egyptians were much more of a reverence for only the nobility, where these tombs were for the individual as well and they showed who they were as people instead of how they wanted to be seen by the public.

chrishodges

I too was struck by how well women seemed to be treated/respected during this time. Especially following the chapter on Ancient Greece, where it seems that women were only good for keeping the house and having children, it was a nice 180 to see women have a much better role in Etruscan society. What is sad is that, even with this being thousands of years ago, it wasn’t necessarily the start of a continuous upward trend of the treatment of women in the world.

I also found it heartwarming to see how that couple was portrayed on that sarcophagus. We just see a very intimate snapshot of their lives, nothing grandiose or bombastic. And the two are shown as equals, rather than the women kneeling at the man’s feet or anything along those lines. It is just two equal parts of a partnership, portrayed as equals, and shown in a realistic, subdued manner. It’s almost the ancient equivalent of a wedding photo to immortalize their love.

Chapter 8 - The Etruscans

It’s impossible to discuss this chapter without talking about the initially unsettling image on page 188 of the wolf nursing two human babies. It’s just a jarring thing to see when you turn a page in a textbook. But the more I read, I came to realize that so much of the art of the Etruscans, at least what the book covers, is refreshingly focus on family. Especially in contrast to the Greeks, the Hellenestic period in particular, that was all about the beauty and grandeur of the gods and of godlike people in evocative poses, the rather humble nature of Etruscan art is a nice change. The only bare breasts you see are being used for their original biological function, to feed children. And the sarcophagus on page 123 shows a beautifully subdued depiction of a couple lying together, as if to just be doing whatever the 500 B.C. equivalent of spending an evening watching TV together would be. It’s more like a snapshot of the quaint, realer moments of their life, rather than an exaggerated depiction of it.

As the textbook points out, women seemed to have a less subservient role in Etruscan culture than they did in ancient Greece. I always love to hear about such old cultures where women were treated relatively fairly and equally, and didn’t just exist to have children and serve men. It’s unfortunate that we had to take so many steps backward as a species in the ensuing centuries knowing that women had gained so much respect so long ago, though.

One other thing I liked about this chapter is the urn on page 121. So much of the art we’ve studied up until now has depicted humans in a fairly literal sense. Exaggerated, sure, but artists tended not to “play” too much with the human figure and made sure all of the parts were clearly recognizable, as if trying to create a photograph of the subject. That urn takes some fun artistic liberties, such as having the handles loosely represent arms. Well, as fun as an urn can be, I suppose. The point is, it’s nice to see that artists are beginning to realize that art doesn’t just have to be a reflection of real life when it comes to human figures, and it’ll be interesting to see where that goes from here on out.

blogalainajoy-blog

Week 8: Ancient Greece and Podcast

This chapter was very interesting to me, I have always found Greece to be fantasizing and this chapter widened my knowledge on the Greece people and their culture. After reading about many cultures that preserved the bodies of the deceased I was relieved to read that the Greek people did not preserve the bodies, instead they used grave markers. The art throughout this time is different then those we have studied before, the pottery is very elaborate and detailed. The Greek people also incorporated the Gods into their art, such as Cyclopes or Odysseus.

During this time artists began painting more realistic paintings, such as the Battle of Issos. I found it interesting that the sculptures the Greeks created were of normal proportion and the males were nude but the females were clothed. In the text book it says that the females were clothed for reasons of propriety. In the previous chapters we read the females were nude also, such as the Venus of Willendorf. I wonder why this changed. Another sculpture that surprised me was the Kritios Boy, it is unknown whether the sculpture was created before or after the Persian Wars but the sculptures arms and right leg is missing. This leads me to believe that maybe it was created after the war and resembles an injured man that lost his arms and a leg.

The Greek Theater was used for rituals, it is amazing how large the theater is! I wonder how long it took the people to create such a large area. The Praxiteles sculpture puts a stop to my comment above about not featuring nude females, although the females genitalia is covered with her hand.

The Podcast we were assigned “The Ancient Origins of Modern Beauty,“ really opened my eyes about what exactly beauty is. They said the Greek beauty is calus. Calus means physical attractiveness. People think different types of things are beautiful, such as a tall or short person. In the podcast they say that people were physically attracted to statues, they fit our image of attractiveness today. After listening to the full podcast I believe us today are actually quite similar to the Greek people in relation to what we think are beautiful. Although something might have beauty to one person does not mean it is beautiful to another, everyone has the opportunity to decide what beauty is to them. If I had to come up with a definition of beauty it would be similar to the Greeks, something that you are physically attracted too, or even emotionally. I believe it could go either way, love is an example of this. The love between a mother and a child is beautiful, not because of a physical attraction but because of an emotional relationship.

Overall, I enjoyed this weeks reading about the Greeks, I like how realistic art has become in this period, it is truly amazing how they were able to create such stulptures and paintings.

chrishodges

You mentioning how the female statues were typically clothed and the male ones naked made me think of something interesting. Most of the fiction that is made based on that era, be it video games, TV shows, movies, whatever, is often the complete opposite: We see plenty of naked women, often gratuitously so. If there was an air of modesty surrounding the female body in those times, then the fiction made around it certainly doesn’t reflect that. It’s definitely an odd inconsistency that whenever people create something based in ancient Greece and/or around Greek mythology, they often depict the women and the goddesses just being topless all the time for no reason, when the art of that time didn’t really show that. I wonder when that disconnect happened.

Chapter 7 - Ancient Greece

Whenever I think about ancient Greece, Greek mythology is typically the first thing that comes to mind. As a kid who grew up reading comic books and watching fantasy movies based around super heroes and the like, it’s easy to see how so much of that has its roots in the tales of the gods and myths of ancient Greece. It’s fascinating to me to have such tales serve not as stories for a movie or video game, but to be seen as real characters and events that occurred. It’s also interesting the way the ancient Greeks had these gods have such direct influence on events, such as participating in the Trojan War, unlike so many other cultures’ “religion” that only had these untouchable, ancient figures that were often more symbolic than anything. It almost makes Greek mythology more believable than other religions, even ones with less fantastical stories. Or maybe it’s just the type of religion I personally find more interesting.

The effect that this has on the art of ancient Greece is very interesting. Sculptures and drawings of Greek gods and goddesses often just look like sculptures and drawings of real--albeit perfect--people, rather than elaborate creatures. There is certainly some of the latter, but even when there was, it typically had a more humanoid base than, say, the art of Indian gods. In a way, it takes more imagination and creativity to come up with a fictional character that still looks human than to just invent some fantastical creature. The fact that it’s fairly easy to identify Zeus even though he’s just a man is a testament to the power of these images and the visual identity that was crafted for him. It’s a lot more impressive than we can identify a sculpture of Zeus than a sculpture of some mythical, non-human creature.

Outside of art, I found it interesting to see just how much of ancient Greek society was later used in the formation of ours. The ancient Greeks were some of the earliest to use a form of government that can be identified as a form of democracy, for instance. That era was one of the first to have a more people-led rule rather than the autocratic nature of many earlier eras of human history, including earlier periods of Greece. Of course, it’s impossible to draw comparisons to ancient Greek culture and our own modern culture without also noting the Greeks attitude toward people of other nations and cultures, inferring that everyone else who weren’t them were inherently uncivilized, especially if they didn’t speak the language. It all sounds uncomfortably familiar...

As far as the podcast we listened to, it reminded me of a conversation I had with someone once that always stuck with me. We were discussing various physical traits that we found attractive in other people, and when I said some of mine, I was told that I was just conforming to what society told me I’m supposed to find attractive. I was initially extremely offended, refusing to believe that I don’t have enough free thought to decide entirely on my own what physical traits I am attracted to in a woman and was being led that way by society. But I realize that there is a reason why so many of us have such stereotypical ideals of beauty. Much of what we currently consider to be beautiful in other people can be traced back to ancient Greek art, so much so that there was a mathematical formula figured out that dictates the exact symmetry and proportions of a beautiful person, and that the formula can be applied to many Greek sculptures and paintings as well as what modern society deems beautiful. It’s impossible to know whether we agree with the ancient Greeks because the foundation they laid is just so ingrained that it’s impossible to not let that inform our personal taste, or whether the ancient Greeks just figured out the formula for stereotypical beauty, and the base foundation for physical beauty in a person is more or less a set formula that just is what it is.

There are times when beauty is subjective, and times when it isn’t. Flowers, for instance, or a sunset, are things that are objectively beautiful. It’s not even really a matter of opinion, they just are. So with that in mind, I guess it isn’t so hard to believe that they are physical attributes of a person that are just universally considered beautiful. We may all have variations on that dependent on our personal taste, and we may find someone beautiful that nobody else does or not feel strongly attracted to someone that many other people do find beautiful. But it isn’t about who we want to date or who turns us on or who we fall in love with. It’s about physical beauty in an artistic sense, and to that end, there isn’t anything wrong with there being a fairly universal standard of beauty. And we don’t need to feel like we don’t have any personal autonomy just because we recognize it when we see it.

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Chapter 6 and Essays

So, basically what I got from the two essays had everything to do with the differences between the views of the West versus the views of the East. Granted, it makes sense to me. The Eastern countries are more open to showing their history no matter how graphic that may be, because they do not see it as being graphic. While the Western countries have been disciplined to not show things they would see as vulgar. This has a lot to do with the difference of religions between the two areas. Western tends to be monotheistic whereas the Eastern is open to polytheistic religions. Back in the day of Mark Twain, this was especially true. Nowadays, this has ceased to be as much of a problem, but still remains the stance between the two sides comparatively. Granted the West has started to be more open to polytheism, most of the West is still monotheistic.

Because of this, even the study of such worldviews is highly unusual and practically frowned down upon. I am actually appalled when realizing it is actually the museums and universities making the decision not to include Eastern art in their exhibits and studies. The universities that could pull off the study of these cultures’ art are being extremely prejudice because of the difference of beliefs. Shouldn’t the difference of beliefs be the reason to research and study and try to further understand the other viewpoint?

I guess I hadn’t realized the difficulty there was for the museums to get art in their facilities and what a controversy it would be for them to try and get different pieces from not just traditional art, but also historical ancient art. Besides that, I hadn’t realized the scholastic side of the conversation. Sure, there are art history majors and scholars, but are there modern archeologists still out there? Does no one want to be like Indiana Jones or even Tomb Raider for that matter? Those are a little out there, but those are the examples of the profession in entertainment and even those are dated.

The way it will affect my museum visiting in the future is I will take more notice of the variety of the pieces featured. Will they be all the same ones that we’ve heard so much about? Or will they include a variety across the world showing all cultures, not just those that are pretty and in the Western view of what art is?

As for my responsibility of the study of art history, I am the observer. I will continue to try and experience any art that is presented for me to study and appreciate it for what is. Art history is not just about the beautiful pieces, but also the pieces that show the cultural aspects of our world. In viewing, I will try to continue the discussion and share with others to continue to get the word out and maybe because of this more variety of art will be brought to Western museums because with popularity would grow interest in the unknown and thus more research and studies to be done.

With that being said, I loved this chapter. I love that this chapter continues to show us the similarities and differences between the art we are currently studying to those we had just studied. The Minoan and the Mycenaean cultures and art are o similar to each other with how they present themselves with the curvilinear contours and the vibrancy of the frescos with the illusion of movement in the way they portrayed their figures. At the same time they shared similarities with Egyptian art with the non-natural stances and the frontal eyes in the profile faces.

chrishodges

“Art history is not just about the beautiful pieces, but also the pieces that show the cultural aspects of our world.” This is a great sentiment. I feel we are all guilty of gravitating more toward visually-pleasing art than art that is more challenging or complex. I mean, we’re like that with most things, actually. We prefer attractive people, we prefer cute animals, and so on. There’s certainly nothing wrong with appreciating beauty, but we miss out on a lot of important and meaningful things when that is all we appreciate. It’s very easy to walk through a museum or art gallery and walk right past the “ugly” pieces on our way to some lush, colorful painting straight ahead. But when we do that, we are missing out on the chance to learn something about the people and the cultures that created those less “beautiful” pieces. I think all of us could be a lot better about that, and hopefully those of us taking this class will be in the future.

Week 7

So far, the Aegean period has been the era I’ve had the least amount of existing knowledge of prior to learning about it in this course. That makes sense, as our book tells us that a lot of Minoan language still hasn’t been translated, and also that the discovery of concrete artifacts from that era were only just discovered near the end of the 19th century. We are living in a time when so much of history has already been discovered and studied, so whenever there is something that is still actively being researched in our lifetime and something we still don’t know all there is to know about, it’s always very exciting to me.

One of the things that stood out to me in this relatively short chapter was the similarity in a lot of the art to the ancient Egyptian art we just looked at last chapter, which makes sense as part of this era overlapped with that one. But you can also see some more middle eastern/Indian flavor to the art, as well as the beginnings of ancient Greek art, which makes the Aegean period an interesting cross-section of all of those different elements. One piece that stood out to me was the octopus vase on page 74. The eyes on the octopus almost gave it a cartoon-like quality to me, looking like an octopus you’d see in a cartoon.

As far as the essays that we read, they definitely painting a very interesting picture of the study of art history. It probably shouldn’t surprise me that us Westerners struggle with art that we find too challenging, less familiar, or less aesthetically pleasing. Especially when our religious beliefs are challenged, as the polytheistic nature of art from India does. While Mark Twain’s words were harsh, I can’t say I haven’t had similar reactions to some Indian art. A lot of it does seem intimidating and scary. But as the essay pointed out, and I never noticed, much of the Indian paintings of their deities aren’t meant to be scary as much as they are meant to evoke the power of said beings. Compared with our most common religious art image, that of either a warm, smiling Jesus or a Jesus hanging from a cross, it’s just jarring to see gods depicted in such a bombastic manner. But when you realize the intent behind it, it’s much easier to appreciate the art rather than feel confused by it.

It’s also disappointing to hear how so many museums and so many of the young people moving into the art field so heavily favor new, hipper art over the classic and ancient art. Again, it’s not surprising, as new is always more exciting. But it’s also sad to think about the fact that there’s a very real possibility that we’ll come to a point when basically nobody is studying or pushing for classic art anymore. To have all of that stuff relegated to history books and dusty, under-visited corners of less-traveled-to-museums would be a major tragedy and would be a loss to all of us. Art history is as important and as valuable as history itself, and the two shouldn’t really even be considered separate things. As art history students, it’s our job to make sure we do our part in carrying the torch for the under-valued segments of art, be it Indian art, African art, or whatever else. We can’t just let ourselves be wooed exclusively by the new, the hip, the easier to digest. Because if we don’t, who will?

Chapter 5 - Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt has always been one of my favorite historical periods. I can pinpoint when it first took hold, which is from visiting the Field Museum in Chicago and going to there famous permanent exhibit about the period. Going through a loose approximation of a period and seeing all of that colorful, gold-heavy art and artifacts captured by young imagination immediately. Of course, being raised in a household where cats were always the primary pet, and then finding out how revered the felines were in ancient Egyptian culture definitely helped to further endear me to the period. I was also fortunate enough to still be living in Chicago when the “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs“ exhibit had a stay in Chicago for about a year in 2006. The touring exhibit had over 100 pieces that were leaving Egypt for the first time, and it was exciting to feel like I was part of something special that only a select few people got to see.

What fascinating my young mind the most about this period of history was the mystique and intrigue around it. Pyramids were often laid out in a maze-like pattern, including deliberate dead-ends designed to confuse potential grave robbers. Images like the one on page 55 of our book that show a diagram of a cross section of a pyramid look more like a map that Indiana Jones would study than an actual real-life structure. I doubt that traversing the inner sanctums of pyramids were as exciting as the trap-filled adventures that Indy took us on, but it still represents something much closer to that kind of fiction than most real life places tend to get.

Beyond the pyramids and the Sphinx, what is likely the most iconic piece of art from the Ancient Egyptian era is the Mask of Tutankhamon. Even if you aren’t sure if you’ve seen it or don’t think you can identify it, chances are you can. It is by far one of the most recognizable images of ancient history as a whole. We’ve seen it so much that we often take for granted just what a beautiful and complex piece it really is, especially with the thousands of tiny stones inlaid around not only the entire coffinette, but just the mask itself. All to honor a king that only lived for 18 years. It is humbling, to say the least. And to hear stories like the one told on page 66, about how Lord Carnarvon died of a mysterious infection and didn’t live to see how popular widely-traveled the King Tut pieces became, which people claimed the result of a mummy curse, brings it all back around to that mystique and intrigue I was talking about before.

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Chris Hodges: Art History Student at Large