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[thesafetystudent-blog]

Gothic Week 15- Ch 13 Blog Post

Gothic art/cathedrals are most pronounced across Europe, constructed from the mid-twelfth century through the sixteenth. Gothic cathedrals are recognized as some of the most elaborate stone monuments. Abbot Suger is to credit for the creation of the Gothic style, he was appointed to work on the change and enlarge of the church of Saint-Denis. His intense studying lead him to the style known as Gothic, he wanted to harmonize the parts of a building and the “mystical effect of light” to represent the relationship between God’s presence and light in a “distinctive way”.  

Some of the main features of the Gothic architecture are the rib vaults, piers, pointed arches and the “skeleton” as well as stained-glass windows. All of these elements added to the iconic and pointed structures involved in Gothic architecture. Many of these elements combined create art on their own, stained glass especially, with many ornated pieces of colored glass held together to create images and display light and colors.  

During the late 1100’s building cathedrals became a huge economic enterprise during the Gothic era, seating for the Bishop by definition and is aesthetically pleasing, the cathedral was of educational and religious importance. For the towns they were built in and their surroundings, their construction created many jobs and instilled much pride in the trades people who invested their time and skill within the construction of the symbolic cathedrals. Personally, I feel that the detail and mass construction has lost its relationship with a sense of community like it did during these times. I feel like there is only one thing driving the economy now, money. Rather than the religious and community focused efforts during the Gothic era.  

In the late 1300s the construction of the cathedral in Chartres began, many wealthy families contributed to the construction which took place from 1134-1220. The construction of the church had social and economic impact on the French society. The cathedral was constructed to be highly visible and was in line with Suger’s attraction to height and light, which he related to the presence of God. I feel that the attraction to sunlight and natural lighting and its relation to God is definitely something that is still found in today’s society, I can recall times when my son would see rays of sunlight coming through the clouds and say, “God is shining his light again”.  

A lot of the intricate windows and designs within the Chartres chapel can be associated with and referenced to Christ. For example, in the text some of the arrangements of geometric shapes there are three groups of twelve elements that surround the small central circle, referring to Christ and his twelve apostles.  

The construction and preservation of these chapels is historically and religiously important, it offers a view of religion in a prior century, the many facades are adorned with other religious statues of importance.  

The Gothic style spread throughout Europe and many epic cathedrals were erected. This time period was relatively short, however, left a dramatic impact on its societies for generations to come and the beauty of the art and construction are still observed today.  

[natebstudent-blog]

I agree with you so much on how the cathedrals are epic, but I never thought of the impact of these cathedrals, I imagine they were inspirations for other architecture and designs for buildings. As these were clearly the best of the best when it came to cathedrals. Cathedrals were very important for organizing a group of people. It’s really a shame how people overlook religion’s importance in world history. Overall, wonderful job on this blog! But I feel you should have more opinions rather than facts and such.

[natebstudent-blog]

Week 15 Blog

The Gothic chapter was a very interesting chapter to read. Unlike ones before it, this chapter almost entirely had architectural art, and they’re all Cathedrals. After reading, I wondered why did this chapter almost exclusively discuss and show cathedrals? Well, I found out how they’re mainly known for their cathedrals and even then the cathedrals produced during the time period were “among the greatest and most elaborate monuments in stone.”, and I can see why and I’ll get into later in this blog. But looking at the more 2 dimensional artwork such as the stained glass works and the King David Looks Down at Bathsheba Bathing and Up to God (Boy that title really doesn’t leave much for the imagination), I see a lot of similarities with those pieces and those from the Romanesque, The Early Middle Ages, and Early Christian and Byzantine Art. I see this in the way they are drawn, their proportions, the looser and less realistic anatomy, the facial expressions also look similar with their silliness and imperfections. Which I feel is pretty poetic when thinking back to the Roman and Greek chapters being focused on anatomy, beauty, and perfection, but when Rome fell, art history seemed to move onto other focuses in art, such as color, and more storytelling. Perhaps humans were drawn like this to illustrate how they really aren’t perfect. I like the idea of different approaches and how styles are used to tell a message or moral. But I don’t know if this is truly the case. Now let’s get to the meat and potatoes of the chapter, and that’s the Cathedrals. As said before I’m no expert on architecture. I’m really impressed by detailed drawings of buildings and buildings in general. It’s marveling, I can’t even imagine the process of building these cathedrals especially back then. Seeing the process is incredible too, and I love the techniques and processes that built up and develop throughout the book. It’s impressive how humanity is so intuitive and creative. I saw the interior of Saint-Denis, and I really liked it, The rib vaults, look amazing and very unique. I’ve never seen anything like them, but I don’t think they’re my favorite. The Chartres Cathedral is definitely my favorite. It’s very balanced building looking at the West façade, but the building, in general, isn’t too balanced formally or informally, and I feel that is my only criticism with the building. It’s a marvelous piece of architecture and probably my favorite of all time out of what I have seen in my lifetime. The sculptures on this mix the style and emotion of the art seen in the most recent chapters with the detail and skill of Roman statues. I LOVE how there is just so much crammed into this one building. The patterns, the people, the symbolism, all the attention to detail on their positions, poses, gestures are all so beautiful and inspiring. It’s so disheartening as well to see how some minor details in the sculptures have been broken or worn away. But nothing truly lasts forever. The Chartres uses some of the Rib Vaults seen before. And I really love how they look here, it’s so impressive yet symmetrical and balanced. Also, it’s not too distracting as it’s not that low. Looking at the colored glass rose on page 213, It’s so beautiful! The shape, the color, the composition is just all so perfect and amazing! I feel truly enchanted by this image, It’s something I now wish that I could see myself to absorb its beauty.    The Gothic style makes more developments and only improves what I have stated before, all of the architecture here really lives up to its name. I am just so impressed and happy to see all of this. I still can’t believe how these were made, even with all the information on their techniques. Art history is so wonderful and has inspired me so much. Seeing the developments of civilizations, the styles and different ideas they had. It was just all so interesting and mind opening. I hope to continue studying art history even once this course ends. I feel it has helped me improve my art a lot.

[jacobfaber-blog1]

week 13

The middle ages or the dark ages are such a cool and mysterious era. We don’t know a whole lot about this time period which is the reason it’s referred to as the dark ages. Alot was happening politically and culturally during this time. Some of the most tragic events in human history such as the black death took place in this slot of history. We learn about this time period mainly through artifacts and legend. Not a whole lot of written records exist from this time period (with the exception of monks) because not a whole lot of people knew how to write. The glory and great minds of ancient Rome and ancient Greece were lost and there scroll containing all there precious knowledge either hidden away or destroyed. Im drawn to this era because of these things, its mystery, great wars, kings and kingdoms all captivate me.

Chapter eleven covered such a variety of cultures during the middle ages, from ancient France under the rule of charlemagne to Islam and the middle east. The art work of all these cultures was interesting to look as you try to picture the time frame and why someones was painting, sculpting ect. It. One thing I found consistent in almost all the art in chapter eleven was its lack of detail. I’m not saying the art was worse than its predecessors ( greeks and romans presay) but The painting especially were all a little less human, the figures took on a more cartoon shape and picture like portraits were not really around. I have a theory for explaining this. I believe a culture’s art reflects itself on a deeper level than just what people acted or dressed like. I think that a chaotic culture (such as many mentioned in chapter eleven) will have chaotic art. Hear me out, I would say that today’s western culture is quite fast pace, chaotic, and confusing. Because of that we’ve seen a shift in the art world from (if we’re still talking paintings) still portraits and landscapes to “modern art” shapes and symbols with a supposed deeper meaning that isn’t always clear to the onlooker. When looking at Middle age art we can see this as well. People were less educated and had little to no knowledge of the world around them, there art showed this by basic forms and little evidence of any outside cultural influence.

By far, my favorite work mentioned in the chapter was charlemagne’s throne room, this was one of the few medieval works that i found intricate, detailed and just really beautiful. The colors and designs really make me wonder of the majesty and power charleman must’ve held. I also enjoyed the section on islamic art and its ties to religion, especially when it comes to muhammad. To me, middle eastern cultures and religions is still a bit of a mystery, I try my best to learn more about what it means to be muslim but unless you know someone in that culture, it really hard to truly understand. Islamic art kind of seemed restricted to me, I believe if their religion allowed more freedom in art, they could have a lot more and beautiful works that we could admire today.

[natebstudent-blog]

The Middle Ages are dubbed the Dark Ages because there were little cultural advancements. It was the middle child between the Roman Empire and the Renaissance, and so it isn’t looked upon as highly. The art featured in the chapter was amazing, so maybe they were exaggerating a little, but I feel it wasn’t anything too new. The Charlemagne’s throne definitely makes me reconsider though. I agree with you about how amazing it is exactly for the reasons described. It truly is a wonder considering the period it came from. At our worst, humanity still creates amazing works of art

[natebstudent-blog]

Week 13- The Early Middle Ages

What happens when a country that controlled nearly all of Europe goes away? Well, we get the Middle Ages. This chapter is a collection of many different segments and smaller parts. We have Islamic art, northern European art which includes Anglo-Saxon metalworks and Hiberno-Saxon art and ends the chapter with the Ottonian period. Now my take on the art from this period is that this seems like it’s a little bit of a soft reboot of western art A lot of the perfection from Greek and Roman art seems to be missing, there’s no longer the beautiful marble sculptures and such. But they seem to have been replaced by intricate patterns and designs. It’s more stylish and abstract than realistic and natural.

           Starting with Islamic art. The Great Mosque in Córdoba, Spain is “Islamic architecture in the Western Style.”. (Adams, 2010 pg. 172). Based on the image in page 172, this mix of elements creates a very unique and visually interesting piece of architecture. I love the repetition of the piece and its consistency. Maybe this is because I’m an artist who struggles to create perfectly consistent parts that are constantly repeated without cutting corners. But I also do love the color scheme as well. The red adds more color to make it less boring while the cream color and blueish gray create a more grounded scene. The intricate detail on the pillars is incredible as well. The thing I love about historical architecture is how impossible they seem to make. But then you remember they can’t be impossible because you’re looking right at them. Speaking of seemingly impossible, the pictures on page 172 took my breath away with how awe-inspiring the patterns and designs are. While they are very beautiful, I feel the designs and intricate patterns may make it a tad overcomplicated. Nonetheless, that doesn’t make this mosque any less incredible and certainly a feat given the time period.

           Metalwork is a bit of a new or at least “Not as touched upon” medium that we haven’t gotten to in this book, The Sutton Hoo purse cover is certainly an amazing piece of art. I like the color palette and formal balance, the unique shape, and pattern creates a fresh piece and makes for a very well-constructed and amazing artwork. Moving onto Hiberno-Saxon artwork on page 175 is like the last piece we looked at, in terms of it containing a color scheme with gold, and red, but also in terms of it being more abstract. I’m not as big of a fan of the borders, but I do love the style, it’s very unique and visually interesting and nice.

           The Carolingian period is more varied. With 2D art, sculptures, and architecture. Overall while the first work on page 177 is new, it contains elements and conventions we’ve seen before, with the intricate patterns and abstract style. I do like the mix of stippling with the background patterns and creative use of lines to construct a beautiful composition that flows pretty well. The equestrian statuette of Charlemagne is very amazing with its form and attention to detail, I love the simplicity but attention to detail with the cloth’s wrinkles. It all looks stylized but yet natural and logical.

           The Christian artwork from the Carolingian period was also nice, shading and color have gotten better and it all looks very fleshed out and nice. But like from the previous chapters some of the faces appear a bit uneven and look a little odd. But I think the odder faces add more style and character to the artworks on pages 180 and 181.

           Finally, the Ottonian period is the last part of this chapter, and I like it’s aesthetic, I love the mix of red, green and orange. The colors really have charmed me. The metal door seems to tell a story as well, which is interesting and impressively creative.

           The art in this period is very great to look at. I love a lot of what I’ve seen and I wonder what comes next in groundbreaking art from older cultures in the past. I’m hoping to see something unique but yet can be linked to this chapter. Knowing the book, I have a feeling that’s what comes next.

References

 Adams, L. S. (2010). A history of western art (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

[gsydney11]

Chapter 10

I enjoyed reading chapter 10. It was interesting to learn about Early Christian and Byzantine Art.  I liked this chapter because it was around the time when Jesus was alive. I feel that I can relate to this chapter because I go to church every weekend and I consider myself a religious person. The chapter talks about how the teaching of Jesus and his followers led to the establishment of the Christian religion, whose impact on Western art after the fall of Rome cannot be overestimated.

 I thought the fresco of Christ as the Good Shepherd was very beautiful. I think this has a lot of meaning behind it and shows how kind and caring Jesus was. I also thought the Apse mosaic showing Christ with San Vitale, Bishop Ecclesius, and two angels was stunning. In the mosaic, Jesus’s halo has the image of a cross in it, I think this represents all the pain and suffering that he had to go through to save our sins.

 The Hagia Sophia was amazing to look at. This church looks like it would be breathtaking to see in person. It is incredible that the inside ceiling was made of gold. I thought it was meaningful to learn that this church was dedicated to Christ.

 The painting of Saint Peter, Church of Saint Catherine’s monastery was intriguing to learn about. In the painting it shows a man with a beard and a halo behind him. The man looks like he is holding a long cross in his hand.

 I did some research on Ancient Greece 1-500 A.D. The overview of this time era says that roman lifestyle architectural achievements, and propagandistic endeavors influence art and architecture across the peninsula. I thought this time period had very beautiful artwork. The marble statuette of tripled bodied Hekate and the three Graces was very interesting. The description of this artwork says that Hekate was the goddess of the moon and of nocturnal sorcery. The Brooch in the Form of a Panther was a very unique sculpture. I thought this was very creatively made. I didn’t realize that it was made out of metal until I read more about it. The sculpture of the Head of Emperor Constans was very beautiful. I thought this sculpture had a lot of meaning behind it since Constantine was the first Christian Roman emperor. Christian Constans became ruler of part of the Western Roman Empire including Italy, Africa, and much of Greece in 337, at about age 17.

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/67.107/

[natebstudent-blog]

I’m not religious personally but when I identified as a Christian I never went to Church or read the bible. While reading the chapter I wondered what a more devoted Christian’s opinion would be on this chapter of the story. I agree heavily with the impact Christianity had with western art, but I’d go a step further and say it impacted world history majorly. The artwork in the chapter was very beautiful and I liked the style of it. I agree with how breathtaking it is.

[natebstudent-blog]

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.

[jesuscamprocksstuff-blog]

Ancient Rome

    I’ve always been interested in this era it just is so cool to learn and read about. I remember some of this art work from when I was in middle school learning about them. I never really thought of artwork ever being interesting but after reading and learning more about this it has made me change my mind.

One thing that really caught my eye was the public baths. At first I was like a public place to take a bath but then after reading it, I understood it is just a hang out place. In our time it would be like a YMCA. Its were people could socialize, they can play sports and can be with people and get energy out. Something interesting I found out is that their are public baths in every roman city. It would be very interesting if we had YMCA’s in every city. I feel like it would be a good thing to have as well because people need to get out more.

Another thing that caught my eye was that they built the colosseum. It would have taken a long time to do that. It was known as the outdoor theater. It surprises me that when they built things they used a lot of marble. They used marble when they had the resources. When they did not have that they used yellow Lyme stone. Which is interesting to me because when looking at that I totally thought it was bricks of some sort. This was built for one main reason it was built for  men and animals to fight it out. It would be an easy clean for the blood and everything. To me it sounds really gross and unappealing to see men and animals fight. After looking at this for a little while the inside looks like what Wells Fargo Arena looks like in Des Monies. The reason for this is because when you look it cover the floor up with another floor and that is what the arena does. The bottom is actually a cold ground which is weird to me but makes sense.

When reading about the sculpture types the one that stuck out to me most was the bust ones, also known as portraits. They are usually of famous women and are only from the shoulders up. It is remembrance of the famous who have died. When looking at them you can tell they are made out of marable. When carving these statues they have to work hard and know what they are doing. It would take a lot of patience make one of these. I do not think I could make one of these because i’m  not patient enough.

After reading this chapter I learned that there is a lot about their history and culture that helps them live the way they do. The things that stuck out to me were public baths, the Colosseum, and the busts. They all show a different side of this culture and how beautiful it is and looks.

[natebstudent-blog]

Awesome blog! I really love the marble look of the statues and sculptures. It really helps solidify and make the Roman art style recognizable, not to mention it really makes them all look beautiful and pure. Which I imagine was the goal of using marble for those projects. So the patience with carving really, really pays off. Roman culture is very interesting, it’s like looking at a mirror but something’s different. It's like looking at a parallel universe version of the United States, or maybe a more ancient U.S.

[natebstudent-blog]

Week 11 Blog

Roman artwork is not the most famous in art history, I think that would go to Egypt due to its prevalence in media with the pyramids and mummies. But Rome is certainly one of the most famous ones, at least in our western world. Despite people being aware of Rome, a lot of people can mix up their Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art. When I wrote the blog for Greek art, one of my friends who doesn’t care all too much for art mistook some Greek art for Roman art. I believe this occurs due to how close the areas are and how similar in style they are. I’ve found myself believing that Roman art was Greek, or Greek art was Roman. They all share a similar style, but while I did find Etruscan art to be slightly less detailed and polished as later Greek artwork, Roman artwork feels like an evolution of both. They’re all so beautifully crafted and detailed. I absolutely am mesmerized by the portraits done by Romans, the detail and just overall beauty has me entranced and in love with their works. I love how the 3 chapters are back to back, it really is a trilogy when you read them all together. But however, I was put off by how the passage on color symbolism discussed the Unknown Barbarian sculpture on page 145. I’m not mad at the book, but I’m a bit disappointed to see racist implications. With Romans being painted as white and barbarians as black. This may not have been as much of an issue back then, as It could’ve been a message as to how white is the opposite of black and Romans want to really distance themselves from barbarians, almost like they thought of themselves as heroes while the Barbarians were the villains, but of course it didn’t work that way (And ironically when Rome neared its fall, some Romans living in cities captured by Barbarians would talk about how better life was with the barbarians.). But when you consider how the Romans considered themselves superior to Barbarians, then you look at the colors and remember the belief of white supremacy in our modern history, it certainly doesn’t stay timeless. I imagine that they weren’t trying to say something like that, but rather they used the colors to portray barbarians as different from Romans since some of the groups they considered “barbarians” were also white and Asian, so black wouldn’t describe their skin tone as well. But I don’t know any artists at the time, so we can’t ask. But it’s interesting to see how the context of art can be perceived when looking at history as a whole. It shows how some pieces can be timeless while others like what we just discussed, were not timeless. Now as I have shown and stated, I’m not too knowledgeable about architecture or buildings in general. But architecture was a major aspect of the chapter, right off the bat, when I look at all the buildings, I can really compare them to a lot of buildings and famous landmarks in the United States. Such as how colosseums can be compared to Sport stadiums such as ones from Hockey, American Football, and more. Of course, they aren’t carbon copies, as each sport is very different and must be adapted slightly, but the general design still can be seen as similar. Then there’s the Pantheon which is definitely my favorite, I love how detailed and well-constructed it is. The Pantheon has simplicity and memorability, but smaller detail as well. And that is very amazing for a design, it gives people something to remember but also analyze. Rome, Greek and even Etruria were all major inspirations and role models when it came to creating the Western World, so many of the ideas and beliefs that originated in Rome, Greece and Etruria were carried over to our side of the world, those can be good and bad ideas. But while the civilizations weren’t perfect as they wanted to be, they did achieve greatness and crafted our future.

[caseynicc]

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. 

[natebstudent-blog]

Amazing post, I agree heavily with you when you said art made by the Estrucans was very similar with Greek art and a bit of Roman art, this was because of how the countries would exchange information. I really enjoy looking at the similarities between the two chapters, you can see the conventions, techniques, and styles they somewhat shared. Some artworks parallel each other and act as separate versions. It’s quite interesting and makes you think.

[natebstudent-blog]

Week 10 Blog Post

You have Greece and Rome, but then you have the middle child, Etruria. Etruria does not get the wider coverage and following from artists and historians that Greece and Rome get. Honestly, however, Etruscan art is a hidden gem in art history and acts as the bridge between Greece and Rome. I was initially going to criticize Etruscan art for being a step down from Greek art, but then I looked at time periods after reading and I noticed how Etruria only lasted from around 1000 to 100 B.C., while a lot of the Hellenistic period of Greek Art was 323-31 B.C. So Greek art had more time to develop and perfect. But looking at the art of similar time periods, such as Spear Bearer on page 96 which was made in 440 B.C., while the Mater Matuta on page 121 which was made sometime between 460-440 B.C. looks very similar to it when looking at the faces. This makes sense however when reading how the civilization was contemporary with Greek culture and even helped spread the influence of Greece through trade routes. So I imagine that they would share artistic breakthroughs and follow similar trends. But they are not the same, and I wouldn’t say that Etruscan art is a pale imitator of Greek art. It’s like Mario and Luigi’s interpretations in Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. franchise, While at first, Luigi (Etruria) looks like Mario (Greece), they are very different when looking at them in depth. While Greece was more focused on Human appearances and beauty, I feel like Etruscan art was more experimental and unique. Etruscan art to me is like an abstraction of Greece’s mythology and beauty standards. I like how they had art depicting animals as well, such as the Wounded Chimera on page 119 and the Capitoline Wolf on page 118. Now the Capitoline Wolf is based on Roman myths, and I have heard of the story of it. With two babies being adopted by a wolf. Now, this is a really well-made sculpture, and I would agree with the book’s description except for one glaring issue. I first saw the sculpture and wondered why the wolf was in pain. The wolf looks like she’s in pain and that is entirely based off of her eyes, her eyebrows look like those to express worry or pain. I do not see anger at all and I’m really confused as to where the book gets this from. If I made this, I would want to have more extreme emotion, such as angrier eyebrows, a more disgusted and angry face and a growling mouth. When looking at the piece I find it somewhat odd due to the facial expression of the wolf. And that’s a real shame. Perhaps this is a parody of Roman folklore due to the pained expression on the wolf’s face, which could show how odd and ridiculous the story is. But that is again hard to say, like a lot of chapters that came before, we do not personally know the artist to ask him due to time. As for their 2D creations, while they are very 2 dimensional and aren’t anything too groundbreaking for the time. I really like the figure 8.5 on page 120. I love the intricate linework and the amazing balance of detail and symmetry. It’s just a nice style overall, and each person depicted has their own personality in a way. But one massive theme is the chapter is the relation of Etruscan culture with death. Etruscans believed in an afterlife that was more similar to Egyptian ones. So they did do a lot with tombs, and let others have personal items to take with them in death. I find a lot of their tributes to the dead to be nice gestures and help keep the spirit of them alive with heads on the urns. I enjoy the urns that take the shape of buildings. It’s a nice tribute and while they’re simple, I think they’re really well detailed as well. While I did critique the Mater Matuta, it’s meaning is really well-intentioned. Overall Etruscan art is really something else, it is unique, and able to set itself apart. But it doesn’t do anything really all too new or groundbreaking for art history. But Etruria is still important and has a place in art history.

Bibliography

Adams, L. S. (2010). A history of western art (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

[jadegamm-deactivated20190524]

Week 8

What is beauty? The podcast started off with a lovely melody and then stated that it was a beauty. The Greeks thought that we owe all of our beauty to Athens. The word “kallos” means an attractiveness and it beautiful. Whereas kalós just means good or a fine piece of work. Konstan goes on to talk about the two questions about beauty. What does beauty do and what are things that people find beauty in? In other words, does beauty make us admire something or does it make us attracted to something?

 According to Konstan, Greek put emphasis on attractiveness rather than admiration. I would have to agree with this as well. Reading through chapter 7 and looking at all of the different art, I felt a sense of their artwork gearing towards more of looks than meaning. The pottery and vases had many detailed marks and colors. Two of the vases had people painted on them and they appear to be hunting. There is detailed work on the tops and bottoms of the vases as well. 

The sculptures designed by the Greek have lots of details as well. All the sculptures have hair that is detailed with curls or braids. The one sculpture that stood out to me was the Spear Bearer. The reason that this particular sculpture stood out to me because of an episode of Spongebob. I used to watch Spongebob all the time and one episode contained a sculpture that was supposed to look the Michelangelo’s David sculpture. Even though Michelangelo was Italian and we are learning about Greek in this chapter, I can see some resemblance between the two pieces. 

The Greek Theatre caught my eye for many different reasons. The purpose of this theatre was for entertainment such as music and drama. It is designed based on scientific knowledge on how sound travels. This has a lot of resemblance of stadiums and concert halls today. Almost every concert I have been to the seating arrangements looks exactly like this Greek Theatre, which was built after the 5th century. This goes to show that the Greeks were very smart and that we still today, build stadiums and seating like they did back then. 

In the podcast, Konstan also stated that the word beauty was aimed towards women and younger individuals. You would never hear it being used to talk about an adult male. This is still true in our society and I don’t think it will ever change. It’s common for people to call women beautiful and to acknowledge their beauty. However, nobody really talks about men that way. Society rarely calls men beautiful. In the podcast, Konstan gave the example of the god Hercules being a hero. You wouldn’t want to call your hero pretty. Rather, you’d want to admire his strength and ability. That is something we have carried throughout the years and will continue to do so in the future. 

The Greeks also created beauty through symmetry and proportions. This makes sense because when things are evenly symmetric, they are thought to be perfect. The artwork in the book supports this fact, especially on the sculpture Lysippos Apoxyomenos. This sculpture contains a man with a lot of muscles. The muscles and the same on each side of the body and is evenly proportioned. If you were to cut the sculpture in half the two halves would look identical regarding the muscle shape and tone. 

People perceive beauty differently, and reading through chapter 7 and listening to the podcast gave me a different perspective on beauty through Greek’s eyes. 

[natebstudent-blog]

First I want to say that the SpongeBob picture at the end was a very nice and appropriate touch, it’s the cherry on top.

But on topic, beauty is a very loose word. What does it mean to be beautiful? It mostly means a good appearance but what defines a good appearance? While a lot of our civilizations have a general beauty standard, civilizations differ when you go deeper. And so I really agree with you on looking back at the past and seeing what made different cultures become charmed.

[natebstudent-blog]

Week 8 Blog

 The previous chapter about Egypt, was, to me, an evolution of the Ancient Near East chapter, The Aegean and Ancient Greek chapters feel like opposite sides of a coin. Aegean art was way more stylized and abstract, while ancient Greek art had style, but the style was way more focused on realism. I enjoy Greek art and it is pretty interesting, Greek art employs a lot of what we have seen in previous chapters. In the Greek vases on pages 88-89, you can see similarities to art like this and the steles from Egyptian and Near East art. Such as the 2-dimensional perspective the artworks preside in. But I really like the ‘Warrior by a Grave’ piece on page 89 due to how this piece really breaks the mold set by previous chapters. This one is a way more natural 3D perspective, and this is a breath of fresh air and is really impressive when looking back. I enjoy that piece and 'Battle of Issos' on page 90. Another impressive aspect of Greek art is the sculptures, these are an extremely iconic part of Greek art as well. I really am impressed by the amount of detail and realism that the pieces have. The sculptures of this time and place are truly beautiful, and that’s what the point of these works seem to be. As said in the Ancient Origins of Modern Beauty podcast, Greek civilization seemed to be obsessed with beauty and natural human form, in fact, these statues captured beauty standards so well, that many people were in love with the statues. This is somewhat believable as even in our modern day there are some people who fall in love with drawings and artwork. History always seems to repeat itself. But my favorite part of Greek art is definitely the statues, in my opinion, they’re more dynamic and lifelike. But some do reuse the same general pose, such as Polykleitos, Doryphoros, on page 96 and Warrior from Riace on page 95. I still really enjoy how accurate and well detailed they are, how they did the hair is really creative and stylish.

I’ve heard about the Golden Ratio, which is a ratio for a good composition and design, but I’ve never properly understood it or actually learned how to really implement it in my own works. I was hoping that maybe this chapter would have a section dedicated to talking about it, but unfortunately, it does not dive into it with a lot of depth or even really mention it. It’s a shame. The chapter is similar to others, as some of the art depicts religious figures. It isn’t as focused on them as other chapters seemed to be, but granted chances are the religious art was more heavily preserved due to religion’s importance to the civilizations. Religion would act as a unifier for people to work together which practically built all of the early civilizations in some way. A lot of the art from Greece has religious, intrinsic, and nationalistic value. I believe it has intrinsic value due to the distinct style Greek art has and its beautiful naturalism. The beginning Greek art started as more stylized and somewhat inspired from Egyptian art, this is visible when comparing the Statue of a Kouros on page 91, and Akhenaten from Karnak, Egypt on page 64. but moved to more naturalism, personally I prefer the naturalism. It feels so much more impressive and beautiful when looking at the context of it. Maybe it’s due to how I’m a beginner artist, but I just see more appeal in it.

   Greek architecture is also beautifully crafted and designed. My favorite structure that the Greeks have built was the Parthenon. It’s just so well balanced and so detailed. I just really love how simple yet complicated it truly is.

   Thinking about it now, Greek society is the root of our contemporary western society in culture as well. In our society, our own beauty standards can be seen as evolutions of the Greek standards of beauty. But I did mention how Greek art is somewhat like an evolution of the Egyptian chapter and then in turn the Ancient Near East chapter and so on, so I believe that this all ties us together. We all the same roots deep down.

 Bibliography 

Adams, L. S. (2010). A history of western art (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Konstan D. (Classist). (2015, February 5) The ancient origins of modern beauty [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from https://www.wnyc.org/story/ancient-origins-modern-beauty/

Mize, D. (2009, January 22). A Guide to the Golden Ratio (AKA Golden Section or Golden Mean) for Artists. Retrieved March 6, 2019, from https://emptyeasel.com/2009/01/20/a-guide-to-the-golden-ratio-aka-golden-section-or-golden-mean-for-artists/

[cyberstudentsoul-fan-blog]

Week 6-(Ch.5)

I would say I had a love for the study of the Egyptian world when I was a 7th grader. I had a friend named Madison who just adored this time and the art I guess of how they lived, where they came from, what they used in there everyday life but I think the one thing she loved the most was their art and what meant something to them. Nowadays we have pictures to capture and remember memories that are important to us or a keepsake/souvenir we keep to remember a good time. And I think that’s what a lot of the Egyptians did. And because they knew that we would love to study them, I think it was a remembrance of them and so they won’t be forgotten.

Besides desperately wanting to go to Africa, I think Egypt is another place on my list to go to. Their tombs just from pictures in our textbook and from sources online just go to show how big their imaginations were and how creative they might have been. It’s just so amazing to see their art, but I don’t think they just randomly drew images or stories about their life…there had to be some inspiration. I honestly believe their art came from the God’s they worshiped. If they followed the ways the God’s lived and forever worshiped them, the God’s would show them what to draw and knew what to keep as a keepsake for our discovery about them one day. I believe they kept these keepsakes because they were important to the God’s as well. 

As a 7th grader 6 years ago, I remember in my History class learning about the pyramids and what it looked like inside from diagrams and how every question our teacher asked us, I was more than likely ready to answer or give insight about the topic we were on. Most of the time I was on the right track, but no one else said anything, so I kinda just went for it. But I was so intrigued about them and remember doing so many projects on Egypt in general and how cool it was with our discussions. My teacher also had a dry sense of humor which made it even more funnier. I believe there is so much more than what we’ve learned and like I’ve said in my other posts, we can learn off of them and build new things. Maybe all these cultures and art are tied together. Do you know how cool that would be?

[natebstudent-blog]

Egypt is a very famous civilization due to the advancements, culture, and questions that came from it. I’m sure many of us have heard of it as children or when we were young. Your interpretations are also pretty correct too! A lot of the art did have a connection to the deities they worshipped. But I feel like this blog maybe could have tied into the reading more. But personal connections are always extremely important too. And I learned a lot from this blog. Thank you!

[natebstudent-blog]

Week 6

Starting from the beginning of the chapter, we have the Palette of Narmer, which is a stele depicting the ancient Egyptian king and his power. The stele is definitely flatter than others, making it less interesting and harder to become immersed in. And while this was an ancient artwork, it does not have a timeless quality, as with me just looking at it I do not feel in fear of this ruler or awestruck at his power. This is a very flat stele and does not have much energy or motion in it. I may be criticizing unfairly due to this being, of course, an ancient artwork. But by scrutinizing these details I can be more impressed at other artworks as their civilization progresses. But these were first impressions, after reading the section, I can appreciate and see how there is symbolism with the size of Narmer and the position of him, which displays him as a giant, and has him looking down onto others. Also since he is in the center, it is like everything else is revolving around him.

Now I am primarily a drawer so I may have been unfairly overlooking the structures built by ancient civilizations. Now almost everyone in our modern age knows about the pyramids. They’re really memorable due to how amazing it was that it could be built in the first place, with primitive resources compared to today, as well as having a very basic and geometric design that we know. It makes sense as to why they do this, it’s good to have a strong base, and by having the four triangular sides it sets itself apart and is easier to construct. But it does require a lot of calculations to make sure it all meets nicely at the tip. But there are other Egyptian structures besides the pyramids, and one I found really appealing was the pylon façade. Perhaps it is the simplistic and formally balanced design of it that has caught my attention.

Painting in Egyptian artwork is pretty flat, there isn’t any noticeable shading or depth in this works, which honestly hurts them and their message, as they try to tell these stories as if they were true, but by taking out shading and depth, they lose a bit of their realistic factor, along with their more stiff poses and appearances. But these works of art did do well at their basic premise, which was to tell a story, while at face value, I struggle to understand the meanings. After reading the pages I have found out that this was revolutionary for more historic art. With synthetic pigments, that gave more color options and there is very minor use of shading as well. After relooking at the paintings, I do like the smooth outlines and there are very small details that I can really appreciate in the wildlife and clothing.

Egyptian art is an evolution of a lot of the themes we have seen in ancient near eastern art. A lot of it has the mission to project the power of rulers and deities through art like sculptures and steles. The sculptures of heads, people, and faces in Egypt appear way more realistic, and to me are much more enjoyable to look at. I love the depth and realism of them. In Senusret III, which is found on page 59 of our textbook, you can really see and appreciate the smaller details. Like the ends of the lips, and lines under its eyes. It truly is marvelous how they were able to accomplish such detail into these sculptures. Although these are pretty plain in style, I would say that the more stylized sculptures were made in the Amarna period. Which make things curvy and angular in my point of view. I really love the “Bust of Nefertiti” found on page 65 of our textbook which incorporates a thin outline on the eyes and lips, which makes it feel really stylish.

I do find Egyptian art very charming, it is brilliantly made for its time, the criticisms I made before are only me looking at it through our modern lenses, with our current evolutions and advancements in art and culture. The chapter starts by showing Egyptian art and how similar it can be perceived to other art from the previous chapter,  and ends with showing how it has differentiated itself and evolved in technique and style. This chapter has really opened up my mind as well.

 Bibliography

 Adams, L. S. (2010). A history of western art (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

[gsydney11]

Chapter 4

I really enjoyed reading chapter 4. There were a lot of different unique sculptures that were mentioned in this chapter. I thought that a lot of these sculptures in this chapter were amazing to look at. Someday, I would like to go see some of these sculptures at an art museum. I think they would be breathtaking to look at in real life. I have always admired sculptures, and I like learning about the history of them and when they were built. I thought the Neolithic plastered skull from Jericho was very interesting. I thought it was crazy to learn that it was built c. 8000-7000 B.C. In the book, it says “skulls such as this reflect an attempt to reconstitute the image of the dead person by modeling features in plaster.” I thought this was very fascinating to learn. The Head of Gudea sculpture and the seated Gudea sculpture were also interesting. I enjoyed learning more about Gudea. I learned that he was the king of Lagash, and that he embodied the transition between gods and humans. I also learned that Gudea either stands or sits, usually with hands folded in an attitude of prayer. The Hittites were interesting to read about. I didn’t know anything about those people, so it was fun to read about them. It was fascinating to learn that they kept records in cuneiform on clay tablets. I thought the Lion Gate Stone was very unique and creative. I was intrigued when the book said, “the guardian lions are a traditional motif in ancient art because of the belief that lions never sleep.” The Hittite war god sculpture was amazing to look at. I just thought that it looked very beautifully made, and it looked like it took a lot of time and effort to create it. The Achaemenid artists also have some very amazing and beautiful artwork. My favorite was the Achaemenid drinking vessel, because I thought it was very unique and creatively made. I thought it was amazing that it was made from gold. It is very fascinating how the metalwork is a lion on one end, and a drinking vessel on the other end. I loved reading through this whole chapter. I enjoyed learning about some different ancient artists and their artwork. Art is very interesting to look at and learn about, so it is fun to look back on artwork that was made such a long time ago by incredible artists.

[natebstudent-blog]

I agree with how interesting historic art is, it allows for open-ended interpretation, and that’s really fun. Historic art shows the root of humanity’s art over time. It is fun to see how styles change in subtle ways over time when breakthroughs in art and culture come around, some pieces of art will revolve around that as well. One massive art trend I saw was with the steles in chapter 4, a lot of them would have a 2.5D style, I thought they did it as a way of preserving art, and as well as producing natural shading without color.

[natebstudent-blog]

Week 4

Prehistoric art is always a mystery, no one truly knows what it means or why it’s there. They can have theories or beliefs but that’s just it. There is no exact answer due to the lack of language which prevented the writing of records. But now we enter history in Chapter 4, and now we have a better idea as to what it means. But that doesn’t mean there can’t be interpretation from ourselves.

   The chapter starts off going over the architecture of the Jericho. And I am really intrigued by these designs. They are simple rectangular designs and it makes me wonder whether they were truly planned out, or maybe were designed this way to keep renovating and adding onto structures. While the book does say on page 34. “Archaeologists have also excavated mud-brick fortification walls and found evidence of town planning.” (Adams, (2010)) It does not show any of the town plans. I believe they were rectangular as to make the building process similar, and it is a basic sturdy design that allows for other buildings to be added on. Some of the buildings would also house the dead, which makes believe that theory even more. It also goes to show how similar our contemporary society is to this Neolithic one. In our society, we still do bury the dead like they do, and dedicate land from our cities and towns to the burial sites. But one difference between how we remember our dead loved ones is we do not keep their skulls. The Jericho skulls are truly haunting in the eyes of our general public. Mostly due to our superstitions on the dead and skulls. But we do keep traces of loved ones in the form of ashes. The Jericho skulls to me fit in the uncanny valley, since they tried to look human, but they lack the natural and organic look of real humans. Creating something our minds would consider off-putting. Ashes for us work due to how we are always surrounded by ash, it's just become natural for us.

   One thing I would notice about the art in this time was how 2.5D steles were, it had thickness, thus a 3rd dimension, but steles was constricted in a purely 2D plane. This is really interesting however, and makes me wonder why they did it, the steles were made with carving tools, but rather than make it easier and indent the outlines. The style they used allowed for a more 3D art style, this gave them more natural shading without color, maybe this was a way to produce a shading effect for the artwork, to make the stories feel more alive and realistic. These steles were in a way, like ancient comic books, but rather than superheroes like Spider-Man, or Superman, they would use to tell stories with gods, soldiers and more. they were images that could tell a thousand words. Except in some civilizations, art was used as a tool of propaganda to show and highlight a ruler’s accomplishments or to highlight one of their gods' glory. This can be seen from the Victory stele of Naram-Sin from page 40, as well as the stele depicting a Hittite war god on page 44. Steles like this were possibly commissioned by the rulers, whether it was propaganda, historical records, or just patriotic art. We live in the digital age, where information is plentiful and there seem to be no secrets. So many people may have been blind supporters of the country they lived in. But from what I’ve seen, I imagine that these were commissioned by the ruler. Like a lot of the stele art we see shows the glory and bright side of a country, but there aren’t any failures or mistakes.

   Perhaps the empires of that time knew how durable the material they used would be, and wanted these artworks to last in the future, as a sign of their civilization and empire. Which stayed alive through what they wanted it to be remembered as. I believe that the steles were intentionally made with stone as well, to last as long as possible. The Ancient Near East was developing quickly, and it shows in its beautiful art. It is simple, but even then we never truly know. A lot of people fear death, they fear being forgotten, but civilizations in the Near East have overcome death, living for as long as humanity exists, in their art.

Bibliography

Adams, L. S. (2010). A history of western art (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

[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.

[natebstudent-blog]

While I don’t really believe the theory of it being motivated for religious or spiritual meanings, I can see where you’re coming from. Humans had to try to make sense of the world they live in, but I don’t know if they had a concept of spirits and souls just because they barely had language at that time. I could see it as a good luck charm. But we never really know. But I found the final paragraph really interesting, it’s incredible how crafty early humans were.