English 2850 Fall 2021: Great Works II

Käthe Kollwitz is a German artist that is born in Königsberg, Russia, now known as Kaliningrad, Russia. She was the first woman to be elected to the Prussian Academy of Arts and receive honorary professor status. Her early works are known for realism, but it shifts to Expressionism. They depict an aesthetic vision centering on women and the working class, portraying human suffering and deaths. In addition, Kollwitz has strong feelings about World War I due to the loss of her son. Influenced by Max Klinger, Kollwitz also went to learn sculpturing and printmaking. With these skills she has, Kollwitz likes mixing different techniques to achieve the desired image.

This artwork, which is a mix of painting and printing, is called Death, Woman, and Child (1910). It was published in 1931 or later, but Kollwitz completed this piece in 1910. The artwork depicts a disturbing image of a mother hugging her child with death. As many would think of death as a painful image, this artwork makes death looks peaceful. The mother and child seem to be resting and dying in pleasure; that they are thankful they died next to each other.

This artwork reflects the aesthetic preferences of Modernism because it depicts emotional experience to the audiences. Just based on the two colors Kollwitz used, we could tell that something negative occurred and we can feel how dark the moment was. Furthermore, I think this work expressed the power of a mother. She is embracing her child even till the last moment before she dies as if no one can take away the child from her. In my opinion, this artwork has the possibility of talking about Kollwitz’s young son who passed away during WWI. Although Kollwitz did not die with the child like how it was in the artwork, we can imagine how mournful she was when she learned her son passed away.

I was simply walking around on the 6th floor in the MOMA museum with my sister and my friend. Without noticing, all three of us went different ways in the gallery. I do not remember how I encounter this artwork, but the first impression I had was that I got scared. I did not notice the work was quite close to me on my left side and I was looking straight at another painting; I jumped a little because of the child’s face. It stood out to me because it was the only work in that section of the gallery that was black and white. Since it was in black and white, it gives me this dark feeling and something mysterious about it.

Sources:

https://www.moma.org/artists/3201#works

https://nmwa.org/art/artists/kathe-kollwitz/

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Street, Dresden (1908 (reworked 1919; dated on painting 1907))

Ernet Ludwig Kirchner is a German painter and printmaker born in 1880. He co-founded the artist group Die Brücke which means The Bridge. The group helped bring up German expressionism. The group’s goal was to bring out the natural emotions and way of living; however, the group disbanded in 1913. In 1911, Kirchner moved to Berlin to which he found inspiration for his art in the streets. He painted 11 paintings of what he saw happening, known as Berlin Street Scenes. At some point, he joined WWI as a soldier but suffered mentally and was discharged. He settled down in a medical facility near Davos which he started painting again with a more modern art style. However, in 1937, Germany’s Degenerate Art campaign seized works related to modern art, including hundreds of Kirchner’s works in his public collection.

The work I chose is Street, Dresden (1908). The work is a painting of a crowded street. There are many people walking on the sides of the painting. There is a woman in green holding her purse walking alone near the center of the painting and a little green girl in the middle back of the streets. There is also a lady with a red coat walking in the opposite direction of everyone. There is also a pink train in the background that seems to be packed with people. The street floor color is pastel pink with brighter pink and lighter green spots. Many of the people are colored blue, green, and yellow. None of the colors in the painting seem to mix; rather, the colors are clashing, and the same goes for the people.

This work reflects the aesthetic preferences associated with Modernism because the painting depicts the emotional experience he had on the street of Berlin. In expressionism, it’s not about painting what you see rather painting the emotions behind the experience. It views everyday life from a different perspective in the painting. It can be seen in the colors Kirchner chooses and how he paints the people. Especially the clashing of colors with the pink, green, yellow, blue, and red helps depict his emotion at that time on the street. It wasn’t one big harmonious picture; rather, each part of the painting felt independent, creating a foreign vibe. Which was the emotion he felt when he was painting it.

I encountered this work on the 5th floor of the Museum of Modern Art in gallery 504 as I was walking around. It was the biggest piece in that part of the gallery. I was especially drawn to the colors in the painting. When I first saw the piece, I saw the colors pink, yellow, blue, and green. I thought about how aliens are associated with those colors, which made me further think about how aliens are associated with being foreign, like not part of this world. Just the thought of the color association with aliens drew me into the painting and made me think deeper. Questions I have about the artwork: Did Kirchner purposely paint in those specific colors? How did he openly paint in Germany during a strict time? Does the one red lady walking in the other direction have significance?

https://www.moma.org/artists/3115

Claude Monet was born on November 14th, 1840 in Paris, France. Monet, along with several of his friends, was one of the founders of the impressionism movement. At a young age, Monet developed an interest for the outdoors and it is evident that this interest greatly influenced what type of paintings he would create throughout his artistic career. Monet focused on painting the leisure activities of Parisian lifestyles, the landscapes of the Normandy Coast, and his home located in Giverny, France.

The work I selected is called Water Lilies, 1919. The flowers are a deep red with hints of scarlet orange and pinkish magenta. The lily pads are a brighter green in comparison to the leaves/grass surrounding the water and it’s almost as if they’re light yellow or gold. The lily pads are this bright because of how the light from the sky/sunset reflects off of them. It’s also easy to see where most of the light in this scene is focused on because of the different gradients on the lily pads. The water isn’t just a solid blue color; there are hints of purple, lavender and even white.

This work reflects the aesthetic preferences associated with modernism because of  Monet’s painting style and how it was considered a rejection of the traditional art teachings of his time. Instead of following the traditional approaches to landscape painting, that included clear and distinctive lines and colors, Monet painted with rapid brushstrokes and fusions of color that blend into one another. This blending of color and short brushstrokes gives the illusion of a softer look with the lily pads, the flowers, and even the water looking as if they were fuzzy like.

I encountered this work at the MET with the intention of picking a piece that was done by Monet because he is one of my favorite artists. I’ve seen several of Monet’s paintings at the MOMA beforehand and because I went to the MET for this assignment, I wanted to see if there were any pieces that I haven’t seen yet. Even though Monet has painted lots of paintings in his life time of various landscapes and people, I always find myself revisiting any one of his water lily paintings. He has a huge collection dedicated to painting water lilies and I find them interesting because even though he has painted the same flowers over and over again, he manages to invoke different feelings when looking at each piece. Some of them are presented as being more serene, some gloomy, and some bright and full of life.

sources: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cmon/hd_cmon.htm

Charles N, Dour

English Assignment

Charles Henry Alston. American, 1907- 1977

Girl in a Red Dress, 1934.

Art history Richard Powell describes Girl in a Red Dress as an exemplary portrayal of the “New Negro” Woman who is “defiantly black, beautiful, and feminine, yet also unsettled, mysterious and utterly modern.” Alston, a foundational figure of the Harlem Renaissance, depicts the young woman in a way that embodies the artist’s synthesis of African aesthetic (in this case resonant with Fang reliquary busts) and modernist pictorial flatness in portrayals of African American subjects. Her graceful, elongated neck and sculpturally rendered face, combined with stylized modern attire and a contemplative gaze to side, convey an enigmatic affect in which the unnamed sitter is seemingly oblivious to the viewer. Representations such as this one manifest the Harlem Renaissance philosopher Alain Locke’s exhortation that “art must discover and reveal the beauty which prejudice and caricature have overlaid.”

What draws my attention to this painting is more of a Cubism view. Firstly, what I see by looking at this picture is a beautiful young lady who is free and respected in society. This painting can be viewed as a direct representation of a female activist, in addition, this painting draws my attention to some of the reading we have covered this semester which is “Vindication of the right of Woman” and “The Right of Woman.” These readings focus on the importance of females having rights in society and not being discriminated by anyone.

Secondly, looking at the symbolic meaning of Red which stands for Love, and in my understanding, the painting of Girl in the red dress tells us how a lady should be loved and respected in society.

 Kyle Vodatinsky 

Girl Before A Mirror, 1932

Painter: Pablo Picasso             Pablo Picasso is known and well recognized with his artwork. He was born in the year of 1881 in Malaga,Spain and later passed away in the year of 1973. He had numerous talents and was sought out to be an astonishing artist. Picasso’s devotion and artistic skills came about in his early adulthood for his accomplishments during his time in France. Picasso did a nice job relating the painting to beauty and of life.It provides greatness. His painting illustrates and influences what modern day art looks like. Pablo Picasso portrays modernism through his work under cubism and surrealism.The bright colors and extravagant designs definitely differ from realistic and postmodernism art. He reflects this to modernism through many different symbols and different reactions.    

This work lured me in due to its stunning display of emotion, hardwork and can be interesting because it includes his creative talent. The portrait shares a deeper meaning that is so riveting that it still makes a huge impact on people viewing this in today’s world. It is crazy to me how people can view this image in multiple ways. When I view this, the woman in this painting looks at herself in this mirror, she sees a darker and sinister version of herself. The observed world faced a relationship to this particular artwork. One way of interpreting this artwork is a womans imagined insecurity that others wouldn’t see. Another way of interpreting is the aging of a woman and how time passes by. Both sides in the image combine the same woman as she ages. In addition this portrait is describing his ability to paint his mistress, muse as she is looking in front of the mirror and sees a reflection of herself. The reflection seems to be distorted. Almost as if the woman sees herself as a monster. The rough texture of charcoal represents a sense of grittiness. By Looking at this, we can see her profile. Marie-Therese Walter was not only a french model but was the lover of Pablo Picasso.  

Girl Before A Mirror was painted in the year of 1932 and foreshadowed by cubism, many different artistic styles, and aesthetic responses. Beginning of the twentieth century, modernism was referred to as many literary and artistic trends. Modernism demonstrates abstractness. Girl Before A Mirror was painted through a mixture of many colors through the visual language and it ranged from pink, yellow, red, green, orange, purple and blue. He chose these bright colors to form a design that represents how people perceive her than how she perceives herself. Although this artwork is extremely busy and intricate, Picasso manages to depict depth and symmetry perfectly.  

https://www.pablopicasso.org/girl-before-mirror.jsp

Pablo Picasso was born in 1881 in Malaga, Spain and died in 1973. He first started studying art in 1897 in Madrid, and later continued his art studies in 1899 in Barcelona. In Barcelona, he met a group of modernist artists including poets and writers at the Els Quatre Gats (The Four Cats) cafe. Picasso is known for his art that falls under Cubism and Surrealism. Picasso’s Blue Period of art was influenced by his dark feelings that arose when one of his close friends passed away. Thus, subject matter was often loneliness and despair and the colors were different shades of blue. In 1904, Picasso moved to Paris and his art works from there on and forward held more positive subject matters such as carnivals and harlequins with much more vivid and lively color schemes. 

The painting that I selected is Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907). The painting depicts 5 naked women in different open poses. The painting has a mixture of red, blue, pink, and nude colored tones. The women’s bodies are made up of different cubic shapes in a two dimensional surface. Three of the women’s faces appear to be made up of colorful masks. All five of the women’s eyes seem to be staring at the audience member that is viewing the painting, as if the women can not keep their eyes off of the viewers.

One way in which Les Demoiselles d’Avignon reflects the aesthetics preferences associated with Modernism is its abstractness. In the painting, the women are depicted from multiple different shapes, with odd faces and poses. This reflects Modernism, because it rejects realism and embraces innovation. Furthermore, in the painting the women’s skin colors are depicted as a mix of pink and red, further demonstrating the abstractness of the piece, since that is not true to life. Another way in which this painting reflects the aesthetic preferences associated with Modernism is its rejection of traditional and conservative values. I say this, because the women depicted in this painting are meant to represent the prostitutes in of Barcelona’s famed brothels. Modernism rejected conservative values and encouraged unconventional subject matters such as “immoral” ideas like prostitution. What is interesting to me is how Picasso chose to depict the prostitutes as naked, thus making his artwork bolder in terms of its promiscuity towards his contemporary audiences.

I saw this artwork in person for the first time ever in 2017 when I was a junior in high school visiting the Modern Museum of Art. In fact, the picture posted to this blog post is me during that visit in 2017! What drew me to this piece was the vivid color scheme. Additionally, the African inspired masks that three of these women in the painting had drew me to this piece. This interested me, because it reminded me of how in my Puerto Rican culture, the indigenous Tainos would draw similar art. Thus, I found it interesting how similar art from different places of the world of different time periods could be so similar. One question I have is: why did Picasso only choose for three out of the five women to wear masks? Another question I have is why did Picasso use red and pink colors as the women’s skin tones? My last question is why did he choose to omit men from the painting when they play an important role in prostitution brothels?

René Magritte was born on November 21, 1898 in Belgium. He studied at the Brussels Academy of Fine Arts and went on to become one of the most famous Surrealist painters and an important figure during the Belgian Surrealist movement. Much of Magritte’s works involve the inclusion of apples, a man in a bowler hat, and the sky, all of which are painted in unordinary ways. His paintings challenges the audience’s perception of ordinary objects and examines the relationship between image and text. 

The painting that I selected is called The False Mirror (1928) and it is a painting of a single eye without eyelashes that takes up the entire canvas. A blue sky with clouds is painted in the iris of the eye while the pupil of the eye is painted fully black. I encountered this painting by walking around on the fifth floor of the Museum of Modern Art. I saw this painting in Gallery 517 and what drew me to it was that it was placed really high up on the wall, above all the other paintings in the gallery, as if it was looking amongst the people. What also drew me to the painting was its vibrant blue sky that juxtaposed the eye’s flat black pupil, making the unblinking eye seem lively and lifeless at the same time. 

The False Mirror reflects the aesthetic preferences associated with Modernism because it’s drawn in a way that doesn’t make sense and it doesn’t have to make sense. It doesn’t make sense as to why there’s a sky painted within the iris or why there’s only one single eye on the canvas. The painting also embraces the skepticism that is seen within Modernist works as well by challenging what we already know about the eye. From a technical standpoint, we use our eyes to observe the environment around us. In the painting however, the view of the sky makes the role of our eyes more complicated. The eye seems like a mirror, reflecting what it sees, but it also seems like a window in which we see the sky through. Thus, the painting seems to suggest that our eyes aren’t just a mirror, but perhaps, it’s also a window into our consciousness. When we look at our environment, we don’t just look at them. Everything we see forms some kind of thought in our minds, whether it’s consciously or unconsciously. So, like the title of the painting, the eye is a false mirror because it’s more than that. 

A question I have about the work is: Why did Magritte specifically choose to paint the sky in the irises? Some of his other works also include depictions of the sky so why is Magritte so fascinated by the sky? 

Sources: 

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “René Magritte”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Nov. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rene-Magritte. Accessed 25 Nov. 2021.