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Showing posts from July, 2023

Early Modern Anxiety

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  Les Demoiselles d'Avignon , Pablo Picasso, 1907 Oil on Canvas, The Museum of Modern Art Pablo Picasso was born on October 25, 1881 in Andalusia, Spain. Picasso learned art at a very young age as his father was an artist who mentored Picasso and allowed him to travel and study art (Art in Context). During Picasso's time, the world is coming out of the romantic and renaissance period which saw humanism and accuracy in body tones and shape. Advanced knowledge of the human body and math and science have always influenced art, from geometry to the discovery of Pompeii. Picasso received formal training, yet this piece far from represents the lessons of his predecessors. Their painting is of five women at a famous brothel in Barcelona (Art in Context). This painting represents the beginning of an Era. It was an Era where the rules of the previous societies was being thrown out. Picasso isn't representing his subjects in a 3D model with proportionate body parts. The women are fla

Romantic Era

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Romanticism   The Titan's Goblet  by Thomas Cole, 1833, Oil On Canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art Thomas Cole was born February 1, 1801 in Lancashire England but his family later immigrated to the United States (Encyclopedia Britannica). Cole painted this near the end of the Romantic Era. The romantic era artists wanted to elicit emotions steered away from Realism and painted exotic landscapes, magical scenes, and fantasies. Cole used light from the sunset to create a feeling of serenity while bringing us into a mythical scene where a Titan goblet is left to be grown over on earth. The goblet has an array of textures from the soft moss, to the smooth wood, and calm misting water which work together to bring the viewer into a moment in time. The size of the goblet in comparison to the landscape shows how large these Titans must have been and the mountains are pointing upwards as if drawing the eye up towards the light. The bottom on the painting is darker though, the edges of the mo

Classical Era

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 Morality and the Art of the Classical Era Madame de Pompadour by François Boucher 1750, Oil on Canvas, Fogg Art Museum Madame de Pompadour was the official mistress  of King Louis XV in 18th century France (Harris & Zucker). During this time period, Rococo Art was largely popular. Rococo art was defined by its light subject matter, ornate details, and luxury. In this portrait of Pompadour, there is a sense of frivolity even though she was in an important political position for the time. She is not seen as powerful or strong but represented with soft graceful lines, her skin in porcelain like as she applied her makeup, her clothing is made of expensive lace and she is ornamented with a small portrait of her lover, King Louis XV, on her wrist. Boucher brings the viewer into what could be her private chambers where Pompadour is applying lavish makeup and her table is covered in linens with silk ribbons and flowers. This painting seems to boast of the excess of wealth that was spent