Assignment #4

RENAISSANCE ART 

Renaissance art was the first to use perspective in their work. Throughout the 15th century, artists studied the natural world in order to perfect their understanding of such subjects as anatomy and perspective such as artist Fillippino Lippi. This painting is labeled "Madonna and Child"  which was painted by Lippi during 1457-1504. The idea of "Madonna and Child" was actually a very common theme during this time. However some qualities we can get from this painting would first be the perspective. We see a sense of horizontal perspective. Even with the baby, we see more humanistic features. As well as the form we see a balance between vertical and horizontal. We witness a very simple, yet flat background, nothing too dynamic. As for the clarity comparing to Pre-Renassiance, we visualize more vibrant sharp colors. The Renaissance era allowed art to develop and mature far beyond the traditional and conventional religious subject matter to replicate human emotion and realism in art. As well as praise of the human figure and nature, realistic linear perspective and the association of light and shadow.

BAROQUE ART

During the 17th century Baroque artist made a whole new different style of art. Baroque artist started to create more intense and dramatic artworks that sought to draw the viewer into the image such as one of the most brilliant artist Michelangelo Merisi Carvaggio. Although he is usually known as the best, he really is one of my favorite artist that really intrigues me the most. This painting is labeled The Denial of Saint Peter which was painted by Carvaggio during 1610 ca.  From analyzing this painting some of the qualities of Baroque art was their dynamics.  progression, and apprehension. The technique of powerfully using distinction of light and shadow and a never-ending quantity of space. This painting is a perfect example. Carvaggio perfectly captures a beautiful stillness here.  Baroque art qualities consisted to be more dramatic and emotional. Artists were famous for showing an individual's personalities, passion, emotions and thought merely through their facial expressions. We can get a sense of a story going on here through peter's gesture with his hands. We can really visualize how intense the situation is by his facial expression, if you look closely, even his tears.  Baroque art I believe was a form of exaggerated Renaissance style art.

Renaissance & Baroque Art

1) WHAT IS HUMANISM ?  

One of the big changes in the Renaissance was in the basic way people thought about things. As you can see above this painting is Venus and the Lute Player by artist Titian and Workshop. 1565–70 Figures became more life like, scenes from common life were more often portrayed, and the themes portrayed became more liberal, a bit more humanistic. Artist Titian reveals the true nature of humanism.here. Actually during this time, men desired more heavy women. The bigger you were meant the richer you were. From this painting we can get a visual sense of humanism from the way her body was painted. 

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2) WHAT ARE SOME QUALITIES OF JAN VAN EYCK PAINTINGS?
 

     Jan Van Eyck is known to be one of the most significant Northern Renaissance artist of the 15th century and I can see why! Nevertheless this portrait "Jan de Leeuw" painted by Eyck during 1436 reveals some of the amazing qualities that he had. Van Eyck exploited the qualities of oil as never before and completely took it to another level. By looking at this portrait, we can see a sense of pure glazed colors which in some ways it feels kinda modern in a way. It's very detailed and it's super realism. His beautiful form of light and shadows create a really extraordinary atmosphere and  exudes their presence in a holy and earthly environment. Van Eyck really  allows us  to really get absorbed into the individual personality. 

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3) DESCRIBE THE QUALITIES OF BAROQUE ART IN AN ARTWORK OF YOUR CHOICE!

          Renaissance painters and sculptors were among the first to use perspective in their work. This allowed them to give more realism to their creations. However, this focus on adding depth to their work has made paintings and sculptures seem to lack emotions and failed to capture the emotions that it should depict. That wasn't until the 17th hundreds Baroque artist such as Caravaggio took art to a whole new level. This painting is "Medusa" which was painted by Caravaggio 1598. What's unique about this is he painted it on canvas that was applied to a wooden shield. Now you can definitely see a major difference on the dynamics compared to the qualities of Renaissance art. For example Caravaggio heightens this combination of life and death through Medusa’s intense expression. We see her wide-open mouth exudes a silent but dramatic scream and her shocked eyes which makes one really visualize, see more of an perspective. Caravaggio's Medusa comes across as very human, which is very interesting. From this painting we can get a sense of how Baroque art is compared to  Renaissance art was more dynamic, dark, and dramatic. More humanistic. 

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

Artist / Origin	Gustave Caillebotte (French, 1848–1894) Region: Europe

1. HOW DOES AN ARTIST CREATE ASYMMETRICAL BALANCE? 

What is asymmetrical? A Symmetrical balance is when everything is perfectly and evenly balanced out. For example if you were to fold a picture in half you'll see that the other side is exactly the same. However what is interesting is that a asymmetrical balance refers to a design that has dissimilar elements but still appears balanced. Now dividing a picture in half won't have the exact same elements however the elements they do have are varied and seem to balance one another out.  As you can from this painting, "Paris Street, Rainy Day 1877" by Gustave Caillebotte. Caillebotte brings the photo to life by careful manipulation of angles, cropping of figures, and placement of objects. Following the asymmetric rhythm of the umbrellas Caillebotte has scattered throughout the scene. Although we don't see a symmetrical balance within the painting, the colors, the geometric order, monumental figures and the dramatic perspective employed by Caillebotte seem to offer a very unique image, as if we can easily step right into the photo. 

2. DESCRIBE SEVERAL WAYS USED TO UNIFY AN ARTWORK?

Unity is when elements of a piece is combined with an overall texture, pattern, repeated theme, shapes and contrast. Unity occurs when all of the elements of a piece combine to make a balanced, harmonious, complete whole.  This painting "Going Home" by Jacob Lawrence balanced the quality of unity and variety. If you look closely Lawrence established visual themes with the lines, shapes, and colors of the train seats, figures, and luggage, and then he repeated and varied those themes. You can notice a varied repetition in the green chair seats and window shades. This piece uses the quality of unity and completes a whole  through the effective use of the elements and principles of design.

3. HOW DOES SCALE CHANGE THE MEANING OF AN ARTWORK?

The Scale size of an artwork can change the dynamic's and intensify the meaning behind it. Scale art is an art form in which artists actually can create artistic pieces that are either miniature in size or larger than life. Just like this recent new amazing artwork called "EYE" in Chicago, Milwaukee  done  by artist  Tony Tasset. It is about 25-feet foot tall! Large pieces of public art like this artwork EYE are a breath of fresh air in large cities. They’re often capable of evoking a sense of place on their own which is pretty awesome. Size always matters! When scale is used in an artwork, it can greatly influence the meaning of the work. 

EGYPTIAN ART

332-30 B.C

An important quality in Egyptian Art as you can see from the "Statuette of the God Anubis" was anthropomorphism . Which is where we can see a combination of human and animal characteristic features. As well as symbolism. This wooden figure symbolizes the god Anubis with a canid head on a human body. Anubis represented the patron god of embalming, guide of the Underworld. Which seems to be wearing a certain feathered costume of Egyptian deities. As you can see his body is very formal and can see a common gesture which would be the left foot forward. What I found very intriguing was how many works of  Egyptian art consisted of gods, goddesses, and Pharaohs, who were also considered divine.

 (480 - 323 BC)

This is one of the most famous statues in Greek Art which is  called "The Discus Thrower" by Myron.  This statue is a perfect example of how Greek art was more fascinated with the aesthetics of the human body.  The Greeks analyzed the anatomy of their male "hero" figures, teaching us how to portray muscles, bones, natural stance and athletic poses both in sculpture and 3-like demensional art. As you can see here the Greeks wore no clothing when they practiced sports, and the sculptor could observe their 

beautiful, strong bodies in every pose.

 When comparing Greek Art and Roman Art, The Greeks often represented the gods in their art, in an effort to express the ideal form of beauty, physical strength and power. For the Romans, however, art had a more practical function. Artwork was primarily used for ornamentation and decoration. As you really anaylze Roman Art they preferred to sculpt historical events and important people.If a Roman statue is idealized, it is probably a statue of one of the many Roman emperors, who were considered to be divinities. A perfect example would be this statue which is "Augustus of Prima Porta" which was constructed to symbolize the Roman victory over the Parthians in 20 B.C.  As we can see here we see more of a formal position.  Looking from this statue we can sense how he was a symbolic leader and powerful.