Author Archives: r.tejada2

Gala Eluard,1924

Artist: Max Ernst (1891-1976)

Max Ernst was born in Germany on April 2, 1891. Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, poet, and a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism. In his early life, Ernst was raised in a Catholic family. His father was a teacher of the deaf, and was deaf himself as well. He also was an amateur painter, and both of his parents were strict disciplinarians. Despite the disability of his father, Ernst learned many painting skills from him and even used him as inspiration. In 1914, Ernst attended the University of Bonn with the goal of studying philosophy. He eventually dropped out of school because of his interest in the arts.

Gala Eluard is an oil on canvas painting. Gala Éluard was muse and lover to Ernst, who painted this work based on Man Ray’s photograph of Éluard’s eyes. With curious forms rising from her unfurling forehead, Éluard becomes an imagined embodiment of Surrealism’s wide-eyed interest in art’s power to explore the mysterious territories of the unconscious mind. The colors of this portrait are focused on browns, and it transmits calmness, mystery, silence, motionless, and autumn vibes. Even though this painting reflects an effortless beauty, it doesn’t show perfection. The audience can observe the unequaled details of each eye and eyebrow, which gives to it a sense of an authentic portrait.

Gala Eluard reflects the aesthetic preferences associated with Modernism by being part of the Surrealism movement. Surrealism, in Gala Eluard in particular, emphasizes mystery and allow the artist to express his basic drives like love and sexuality. I encountered this work in the Metropolitan Museum, gallery 901. What caught my attention was the serenity of the eyes, I couldn’t look at nothing else on this painting but the eyes. It felt like she was looking right at me, and I found it interesting. Also, what drew me to this piece of art was its authenticity, and the fact that despite being art it still shows a woman’s imperfections.

Questions I have about the work:

What is the significance of the top of the painting? What caused Gala Éluard’s eyes expression? Is she hiding something? Why did Max Ernst painted this portrait? What is the mystery? 

“Max Ernst, and His Paintings.” , www.max-ernst.com/.

“Max Ernst Biography.” www.max-ernst.com/biography.jsp.

“Gala Éluard.” The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, www.metmuseum.org/en/art/collection/search/490182.

Visual Arts : The Key Characteristics of Surrealism. jrocastro09.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-key-characteristics-of-surrealism.html.

The narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass documents the life of a slave and witness of many cruel events. This narrative is based on an actual real-life phenomenon which is slavery. Slavery was practiced in America from the 17th to the 19th century. As Douglass narrates, the slaves worked in plantations and farms, like the Great House Farm (slaves’ dreamed farm). During this time of slavery, children were separated from their mothers, some children’s fathers were white cruel masters, men and women were whipped until they were covered with blood, slave women were raped, basic necessities like soap were rare, slaves were not given bed; so they had to sleep on the cold floor. This didn’t seem to be a big problem because they didn’t sleep for long, their work kept them busy. Slaves also were not given good blankets, enough clothing and food. They had to survive with the little they were given, which was not fair for the lots of work they did every single day. Many white masters seemed to enjoy whipping a slave until death, it was something awful and inhuman. Everything described above is in the narrative of Frederick Douglass and also in slaves history. This narrative is an excellent documentary of how was the life of a slave and his surroundings.

Douglass also makes a point about knowledge and slaves. He argues that slaves were not given the right to have knowledge, to go to school, to learn how to read or write. They didn’t even know their birth dates. White supremacy seem to be threatened if they weren’t ignorants anymore and gain knowledge about human rights, for example. Any slave that was caught trying to read or write was punish, it was considered a crime.   

Frederick Douglass escaped to the North and bought his freedom. Soon he became a abolitionist by being part of the Abolitionist Movement, which also is a real-life event. The Abolitionist Movement was simply the movement with the goal to end slavery. This movement was active from 1830 to 1870, its members wanted the emancipation of slaves, and the end of segregation and discrimination.

4. The text describes Manago as”bewitchingly voluptuous.” What does the character of Manago tell us about feminine beauty?

Manago is described as ”bewitchingly voluptuous.”, which means she was a charming, fascinating and seductive woman. It was all about her physical beauty, her sensuality and flirty voice. The character of Manago tell us about feminine beauty that women are primary portrayed as a sexual symbol by society. Women are supposed to be delicate and have some sort of beauty that men can be attracted to. Even though, Manago was an old big serpent she assumed that the only way to seduce a young handsome man, or any other, was by being a woman with an exotic beauty. So, this supports my argument of women being supposed to be a beautiful portrait that men fight for or cannot resist.

Describe the character of Orgon. Why do you think he’s so vulnerable to Tartuffe?

There are many denigrating traits that can be given to Orgon. After carefully thinking about the right way to describe him I would say that Orgon is a dreamer, unexperienced, ingenious and at the same time a strict dictator to those who don’t follow his beliefs. In most parts of the play we can see Orgon falling for Tartuffe’s lies. He rejected his own family just so Tartuffe would be in peace and unbothered. Orgon was willing to arrange a marriage between Tartuffe and his daughter Mariane with the purpose of making Tartuffe family, and Orgon also kicked out his son Damis accusing him of traitor for saying that Tartuffe was in love with his wife; which was true. I think Orgon is vulnerable to Tartuffe because he seems him as his salvation, as his keys to heaven. He believes Tartuffe will guide him to God and make all his suffering vanish.

Yet, at the end Orgon could see the real man Tartuffe was and that his family was always right about him, so, now he has experience with hypocrite people and will not fall into their lies again.

My name is Rosa Tejada, I’m a sophomore at Baruch. My major is English, which might change, and my minor is Women’s and Gender Studies. I’m 19 years old but I’m turning 20 this Thursday, August 30. I’m scared of becoming a young adult because of all the responsibilities that I will need to manage. But, I’m also excited because I want to be independent and be a support for my family.

I’m from the Dominican Republic and I came to the United States five years ago. Living in my native country I was committed to school, yet immigrating to the United States did not change my commitment and my mind about education being an important key in my life. Even though my mother didn’t even go to high school she taught me to see the importance of having an education and a degree. So, being in college really means a lot to me. My goal is to make my mother and myself proud.

A fact about myself is that I love music. When I’m not having a good time I would play some songs and it would make me feel better and relaxed. Another fact about me is that my mother is an important, essential and vital part of my life. I can’t even describe the amount of love and admiration I feel for her. My mother raised my brother and I by herself, she gave us love and everything we needed. Actually, the death of my father, when I was three years old, is the only bad memory that I have of my childhood because my mother made me feel loved and happy. I’m not saying that I don’t miss my father because I do and now more than anything, but my mother is a person that I have to thank God for.

I hope being in this course will teach me more skills and techniques about critical thinking, analysis and reading between the lines. I want to be a faster reader and writer. I also want to be able to autocorrect my writings when I need to and serve as a help for my close friends as well.