Monthly Archives: December 2023

The artwork I chose is called “Self Portrait with a Straw Hat”.This art work is made by Van Gogh. Van Gogh was born in 1853 at the Netherlands, some of his most famous works are “Starry Night”, “Sunflowers”, and “Bedroom”, and he is known for his works of special use of colors and abstract paintings. After he die, his works gained increasing recognition and popularity. His contribution to art and his unique artworks sytles made him a legendary in the history of art.

When I walking through the gallery this painting just hooked my attention.The strong mix of light and dark colors in his art and his expressive eyes deeply attracted me and made me walk over and take a closer look. At the time I got close I notice that is from Van Gogh, then I had more interest to want to study and write about it, the dark color of farmer looking dress up with a bright eye catching hat is easy for people to get attention to it when going through that many artworks in the gallery.

This artwork is a self portrait of him self wearing a straw hat. In this artwork he was wearing a kind of farmer cloths and is light, means that when he draw this is not in winter season. From what I see this painting is that he use a dark color as a background color and with that he using a eye catching bright color for the hat to make a strong visual contrast. When drawing this art work it was at the year 1886 to 1888 in Paris, at that time he was lacking of money, so he can’t pay for a model for him self to draw, and he decided to buy him self a mirror and start drawing about 20 self portrait art work with different use of color and style.

From the description for this art work “This picture, which shows the artist’s awareness of Neo-Impressionist technique and color theory, is one of several that are painted on the reverse of an earlier peasant study.” At that time Van Gogh is trying to draw something new from traditional artwork, he was trying to use a new technique of drawing and new way use of color to establish an abstract painting, which at that time not many artist thought about it, is like he create a new road for abstract painting that still leads artist from today. He use those abstract painting leading people from old time aesthetic to modern aesthetic to lead more art lovers to have a higher level of understanding of arts an ways to look at it.

Resource:

https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0164V1962#details

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh

–The narrator tells us that “every new generation finds the doum tree as though it had been born at the time of their birth and would grow up with them.” What do you make of this?

–What seems to be the story’s perspective on the government in newly independent Sudan? What’s the relationship between the government and the villagers?

–Explain the shift in narratorial perspective in the final passages of the story? How does it change our own view of the text

–At the end of the story, the old man refers to his own son and says, “it is my hope that he will stay where his is and not return.” How do you explain this?

–What do you think this story’s ultimate perspective is on the issue of tradition vs. modernity?

The painting I chose is “A Girl before a Mirror” by Pablo Picasso. Picasso is one of the most famous artists of all time, as many people feel like he revolutionized the art industry during the 20th century. He is most recognized for helping invent Cubism and Collage. He pioneered the concept of constructed sculpture, while bringing new techniques of his work to the art world. Picasso was born on October 25, 1881, and died on April 8, 1973, at the age of 91. Not only was he a artist, he was also a sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and theatre designer in France, where he spent majority of his livelihood.

A Girl before a Mirror is a oil painting made by Pablo Picasso in 1932. It is a image of a young woman and her mirror reflection in vibrant colors and cubed-like shapes on the outside. It is one of the last paintings Picasso did in a major series of art during 1931 and 1932. Picasso preferred this painting as opposed to any others he did during this timeframe, which shows how unique this painting is and how much it means to him. The girl in this painting is reaching out to embrace the mirror that is in front of her. The picture that is in the mirror curves the girl’s head and body symmetrically, showing the unique style of Picasso and why people gravitate towards him. The shapes along with the loud vibrant colors, it is not a surprise to me why his would be his favorite from the multiple different art pieces Picasso made in a two year span.

This work reflects the aesthetic preferences associated with Modernism because of the eye popping color choices as well as the shapes throughout this painting, with its second to none pattern. On one side of the painting, more neutral tone colors are shown, as it is more calm on this side. On the other side, the colors chosen are much more vibrant , and even show a face as well. A person can interpret this in different ways, it can be an example of light vs darkness, yin vs yang, or the angel vs devil. The “good” side is usually always mentioned first, which is why it is shown first, and the “bad” is on the other side, showing a alter ago. I think these are very modernistic approaches, as many people deal with temptations on a daily basis for various different decisions, and I think Picasso is showing how the same person can have a different side to them.

What struck my attention to this art piece was how vibrant it was. As soon as I turned the corner, my friend pointed out this art piece, and I instantly knew this was the one I was going to write about. At first, I had no idea what I was looking at aside from loud colors, but that’s what struck me to it. The more I stared at it, the more it made sense to me, to a point where I was comfortable making this the art piece for this assignment. I still looked around for any other backup plan, but deep down I had already found what I was looking for. It felt good using my own critical thinking skills in trying to figure out what I was looking at, and after doing some research on itm my initial interpretation of this artwork wasn’t all the way wrong, which made me realize I understood what I was talking about enough to write about it.

• MoMA, Floor 5, 517The Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Gallerieshttps://www.moma.org/collection/works/78311

The Artist I chose is a French artist named Paul Gaugin, who was born in 1848 and passed away in 1903. He expressed himself through painting, printmaking, and sculpting. As mentioned in an article titled “Paul Gaugin French Painter” his main idea in art was to achieve a “primitive expression of spiritual and emotional states in his work. This work in 1892, two years after the modernism movement took place in visual arts. Gauguin participated in eight impressionist exhibitions by 1886, in which he showed 19 of his works. Gaugin made a term popular during his time titled: “Synthetism,” meaning formal ideas or emotions conveyed in his primitive art.

The Work I selected is titled “The Seed of the Areoi,” Painted in 1892, and shows women of what seems to be of indigenous background sitting down gracefully on a blue matted quilt with symbols laid all across its perimeters. The beautiful lady is completely nude with what appears to be some sort of flowers or beads on the right side of her face, sitting in an upfront manner, holding a sort of fruit in the palm of her hand. This fruit in her hand seems to be holding a healthy stem above it, which is still bright green, with the rest of her surroundings showing its vibrant colors with blue skies in the background and mountains of great dark color cascading behind the almost lime green tree tops. Beautiful pink flowers appear all behind this beautiful women. In the front of the painting, a tray of natural fruits can also be observed in the bottom right corner, showing seven different fruits potentially native to the land, with the eighth fruit seed being on the woman’s hand.

This work reflects the aesthetic preferences associated with modernism by painting the natural beauty of the world the way it was originally intended to be. This means painting a world untouched by the influences of modern man in deemed advanced societies. This rejects technological advancements and current values held by first-world countries and shines a light on a world that is beautiful, free, and unrestrained by society. You can see some symbolism in his work. Perhaps the woman holding the fresh fruit seed in her hand implies a deeper meaning potentially of a caregiving role or protecting figure. You can also see the natural fruits lying undisturbed on their serving plates, ready for consumption, probably implying the abundance of natural goods awaiting in this dreamy world of natural terrain. Also, it can be implied the beauty women could naturally hold when they free with nature.

As I was about to leave the Museum of Modern Art, I stumbled on the unknown section of the museum where I saw more paintings being displayed, and to the far end of the wall, I saw “The Seed of the Areoi” The colors were the first thing I noticed and upon closer inspection, I noticed the beautiful features of the woman, the flowers and seed the lady was holding in her hand I knew there would be a deep meaning to this painting due to how the piece was painted with bright color almost feeling dreamlike and unrealistic.