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The Menanced Assassin (1927) by Rene Magritte

Rene Magritte was born in Belgium in 1898. Magritte is known as a famous Surrealist artist. He originally worked as a graphic artist, but in 1926 he changed his work to become a figurative artist. His work is famous for being very strange, making common things unfamiliar or uncanny. In his art, every day objects become strange displays.

I came across this work while at the Museum of Modern Art. It is called The Menanced Assassin, painted in 1927. It is an oil on canvas painting, and considered Magritte’s largest and most theatric paintings. The work displays a bloodied, nude women (who as the title of the work suggests has probably been murdered) laying on a bed. In the background are three men looking at the scene, while in the foreground a man is calmly looking at a gramophone. In front of him are two men, one wielding a club and the other, a net. Both them appear to be hiding. There is so much going on in the painting, but the specifics of what has actually happened seems to be for the audience to interpret.

The Menanced Assassin reflects the aesthetic preferences associated with modernism as it is part of the surrealist movement, which is part of modernism. Surrealism aims to depict unnerving, illogical scenes. Surrealism aims to express our unconsciouness. It guides us to create our own stories and interpretations. As shown in the painting, the three men in the background are clearly visible to the man by the gramophone and who I assume has murdered the woman. However, he seems to not care or worried by the three men who have witnessed the crime in the scene. That is what I perceive is what is happening in the scene. Others might view the scene differently because of the three men in the background.

What drew me to this work was because of how chaotic and messy the painting was. I noticed the dead body in the scene.  There were so many subjects in the painting, and it was so different from the other works around it. That easily caught my attention right away. As I started to analyze the painting more, I noticed the three men in the background as well as the actions of the two men wielding a club and net. This made the painting so much more eerie, and gave me goosebumps at the unusualness of it.

My question for Magritte would be why the figures in the painting have such blank, dull expressions on their faces, even though so much chaos is happening in the scene.

Pablo Picasso was born on 1881 in Spain. Over the course of his lifetime, he created more than 20,000 individual sculptures, paintings, drawings, and ceramics. He is regarded as one of the most influential and celebrated modernistic artists of the twenty first century. He is responsible for the Cubism movement founded alongside with Georges Braque.

Woman with Pears(Summer 1909) was a portrait of Picasso’s companion, Fernande Olivier during the summer of 1909. In this portrait, she is depicted with a large elongated neck and is holding up a pear, which is circular in shape. Her neck and head are comprised of geometric shapes, such as triangles, rectangles, and odd shapes with a mixture of sharp and round edges. This portrait, although done with 2-dimentional shapes, gives a sense of depth and 3-dimentional qualities.

Woman with Pearsreflects aesthetic preferences associated with Modernism because Picasso’s particular style with Cubism use the appeal of geometric shapes to define his paintings instead of the orthodox style of painting. His portrait of a woman is drastically different from what a normal person would be painted at the turn of the century. Pablo’s idea of painting supersedes the societal standards when it comes to painting. I can see how some people at the time period may criticize him for painting “childish” shapes, but we can see now that the success of his Cubism movement proved him to be more forward thinking than those of his time.

The fourth floor of the MoMA had the exact specifications for the time period, and so I went with my classmate to explore the options. In the main exhibit, there was a painting of the Starry Night by Van Gogh, to the right was an exhibit by Pablo Picasso. Because I was familiar with this artist because the sound of his name was very familiar to my ear, I wanted to see what I can learn from his paintings. This was a portrait straight across the entrance to an adjacent room.

This painting was mind-boggling because geometric shapes made a portrait of a woman. The positioning of rectangles and triangles made it seem impossible, but my brain processed it so that I only see a woman. In addition, if I squint my eyes, the portrait seems to be even more detailed to me; I can see a woman more clearly and I can see a pear in the palm of her hands.

https://www.pablopicasso.org/

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/80394

On my visit to Met Mesuem I have great experience but too choose  anything it was hard for me because there are too many paintings but the modern art that I choosed was The “Kearsage” at Boulange,1864 . This art was created by ‘Edouad Manet’. He was born in 1832 into a bourgenoisie household in Paris,France. He started painting at very early age but his parents don’t like his interest. But his uncle supported him and arranged everything that he need to do art and later he father boarded a  naval vessel for Brazil because he hoped that he might have good life but he failed his naval examinations. He repeatedly failing the course and then finally his parents gave up and supported his dream of going to art school.

When I first saw this painting the first thing came into my was fight because when we have a look at the view of painting like how the boats were sinking and also the water waves looks scary. And also it looks like the big ship is destroying everything but when I looked up for this painting I  found that this was the during American civil war , the United States was warship Kearsage made heading after the sinking confederate raiders Alabama off the coast of the France. The Alabama group of people were attacking the merchant vessel for blockad the imposed on ports of North Carolina and they were waiting for it but on Sunday the two ships were met and clashed and sink in a half an hour. Eduard Manet did not see the actual batttle  but he want to make a imaginary panting and i think he did this because he wants to connect people with their history and wants to show the importance of civil war. If we look at the weather of the painting it was clear because there is no cloud in the sky and we can assume that it as summer time But if we look at water it looks waves are going to rise.

I think he has a great talent because he did not see the battle but with his imagination he create this painting  very quickly which grabs people attention and forced them them to think about that time and what will you do to save your life because in the painting  on the boat we can there are many people who were going to sink in the water and will lose their life. But the one question that I have about this painting is that why the painter choose to create small boats instead of big one because  if we looks at water its look like it will sinks easily?

Source : http://www.manet.org/the-kearsarge-at-boulogne.jsp

https://www.biography.com/people/edouard-manet-9397188

I have been to Moma many times prior to this assignment for other classes, and felt like I needed to look more closely at some of the pieces that were displayed. One painting that hit me was a small painting in the corner of the room, which was The Lovers, by Rene Magritte. I felt as if this piece didn’t receive much attention as it was nearby Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Regardless, I looked at the piece for a few good minutes without reading the description, because it felt like there really wasn’t much going on in the painting. Well, obviously besides the couple kissing in the middle of a very plain room with bags over their heads.

Rene Magritte was a Belgian artist who was born in 1898 and died in 1967 at the age of 68. Magritte is extremely popular and even has a museum dedicated to his work in Brussels. One of Magritte’s strengths as a painter is that he was able to always display normal things in an unusual manner which made his audience think deeply. I had the same response when looking at “The Lovers” I felt a sense of discomfort, which was strange because the painting seemed to be simple. I think Rene’s choices as an artist, such as the dull colours and how they play off of each other is incredible, as it is able to evoke a response that is unique to each person’s perspective.

In my personal opinion, because of the mysteriousness of the bags over the subjects head and the overall colour tone, I felt a little frustrated and depressed. Such a little and thin object such as a piece of cloth can block emotions and affection. Apparently, while looking at the results of my research, this was the intended reaction. Rene wanted to show frustration but at the same time he wanted the audience to react however they felt, instead of him telling what to feel. I respect this decision as an artist, and this is the true meaning of Modernism, where artists push boundaries and norms. Rene is known to make artworks similar to this, where the art made could be considered to some as “weird” or unconventional.

After reading Rene’s bio, it was suggested that his past and history(death of mother) could have impacted his work. This made me think of the question: How much of “The Lovers” was inspired by his past, and how does he manage to expose his emotions into paintings? Another question is why did he choose out of all things that could represent distance and frustration, two simple cloth bags?

This was the second time when I went to the Metropolitan Museum for my Assignment. First time when I went to Metropolitan Museum I choose the Statue of Lord Ganesha for my presentation but this time, the modern art which I found interesting and suitable for my assignment is painting named as Morning, An Overcast Day, Rouen created during the period of impressionism in 1896 by Camille Pissarro. Camille Pissarro was a French Impressionist painter born in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, in 1830 and and died in 1903. Camille Pissarro is also known as the “Father of Impressionism” because he is the only artist who showed his work at all eight Paris Impressionist exhibitions from 1874 to 1886. Most of his paintings were related to the urban and rural life of French people.

When I looked at this painting in the Metropolitan Museum for the first time, the first thing that came to my mind was about the poem that we read in class which was “Composed upon the Westminster bridge” written by William Wordsworth. William Wordsworth tell us about the view and the environment of the Westminster Bridge and in this painting, Camille Pissarro is also giving us a lot of information about the view of iron bridge named as Boieldieu Bridge, or Grand pont surrounded by big buildings. Some of the observations that I made about this painting and I am sure that my observations for this painting are correct because anyone can make observations which are going to same as my observations. Some of the observations that I made about this area is that this city or area near this bridge is very busy and it is very wide; this area might be good in importing and exporting goods because the ship is standing for loading or unloading goods; the bridge that we see in this painting is very beautiful and famous because we can see a lot of people standing on the bridge and it might be one of the place where lot of tourists come. If we see the atmosphere or sky in this painting we can tell that it is going to rain or the reason why sky looks like cloudy is because of the gases that are coming out of the industries. Camille Pissaro made this painting when he was staying in the Hotel d’Angleterre when he visited Rouen in Spring and fall 1896. On the right side of this painting, important information was written about Pissarro. Pissarro wrote of his interest in the “motif of the iron bridge on a rainy day, with much traffic, carriages, pedestrians, workers on the Quays, boats, smoke, mist in the distance, the whole scene fraught with animation and life.”

While I was looking at this painting, a group of tourists came and they have one tourist guide with them who was giving them important information about the painting and I also started listening to him, which helped me in getting important information about this painting. That’s the reason why I choose this painting. The only question that I have about this painting is that- How long does Camille Pissaro take to make this painting?

Sources: “Camille Pissarro.” Camille Pissarro – The Complete Works – Biography, www.camille-pissarro.org/.

The MoMa is quite an interesting place. Although many art museums focus upon the distant past, MoMA only focuses upon modern art, architecture and modernism. MoMa has many exhibits ranging from African American art to Eastern European architecture. As I walked through the exhibits, I found it difficult to choose an art piece to discuss about because all of them seemed interest and fascinate me. I was stuck with a dilemma on which art piece to choose. However, the dilemma was soon resolved when I noticed a peculiarly large painting on the third floor.

The painting “The Last Supper” by Andy Warhol may seem like a non-genuine version of Da Vinci’s painting of the same name but a not-so-closer look will prove the viewer wrong. It is watermarked with three huge Logos. Warhol’s “Last Supper” was created in 1986, one year before Warhol’s death. Warhol is famous for mass producing well known images or paintings with advertisements on them. Warhol was one of the pioneers of this genre of art known as “Pop Art”.

“The Last Supper” is no different from Warhol’s other paintings. He uses the same techniques and principles of Pop Art into this painting. The canvas is a traced image of the original Last Supper from Leonardo Da Vinci’s work. However, Warhol then added in the Logos of two major companies: Dove and General Electric. The third logo is the iconic price tag seen in many advertisements during that time. However, this is one of many variations of this painting that Warhol has created. However, this one was the only one put on display at MoMA

Although the painting may seem banal to some or even inappropriate towards religion, Warhol’s painting expresses a real and vital theme to the viewers. Warhol is famously known for making significant and original paintings, banal and shocking using advertisements or painting over them. However, all of this is just a product of Warhol’s modernist ideology. Warhol purposely adds these colorful logos into this black in white painting to convey a message of Capitalism watermarking itself into religion. This painting shows how our society has “evolved” to the point in which we seem to celebrate religious events and holidays through a capitalist point of view. Warhol’s utilization of logos and price tags within the painting displays our consumerist ideals to buy and stock up on gifts for the holidays. For example, Christmas in the United States has turned from a religious holiday of celebrating Christ’s birth to a commercially sponsored day of sales, gifts and product placements. Warhol carefully conducts a professional criticism of our current society using his ideas of modernism and Pop Art.

Warhol’s painting may seem peculiar at first but if closely analyzed, it has a clear and concise message of Capitalism’s prominence in every religion. However, the painting still rises many questions in my head. One of these questions is, why did Warhol make the Last Supper drawing black and white but the logos colorful? Was it an aesthetic design? Or was it more of budget/economic decision? It can also possibly be another comment on capitalism and religion.

-Sadat Tashin

Umberto Boccioni- The City Rises (1910)

On my visit to the Museum of Modern Art, it was something new and modernize experience. I saw a lot of paintings that are indescribable and world-known. One particular artwork I found that caught my attention was Umberto Boccioni’s painting, “The City Rises” painted in 1910. It was considered as Boccioni’s first major Futurist work. Umberto Boccioni(1882-1916) was an Italian painter and sculptor who was born in Reggio Calabria, Southern Italy and died in Verona. He was an outstanding representative of futurism and considered as the most thoughtful person in the futurist movement. Boccioni was a student in the Barra studio, after accepting the futuristic theory of the futurist poet, Marinetti, and determined visual arts could express the theory. He met Marinetti after the first futuristic declaration in the Figaro newspaper and became a futurist theorist. The main concern that he’s trying to express throughout his artworks is to give life and the feeling of movements to substances.

“The City Rises” is an oil on canvas painting. The foreground in the art is a vast red running horse, which is full of vitality and hooves forward. In front of it, the people fall like paper cards. The background is the emerging industrial construction. According to what Boccioni have created in the painting, the symbolic meaning is one giant horse implies the modern industrial civilization that the futurist is obsessed with in that period of time. It is developing rapidly in an unstoppable state, and the crowd hints at the vitality of labor. Therefore, the painting portrays the construction of a new city, with developments and technology. The picture expresses the futuristic creed of bright, high-purity colors, sparkling light, intense, exaggerated dynamics, and swirling strokes: the worship of speed, movement, power, and industry.

This work also reflects the aesthetic preferences associated with Modernism by Boccioni’s believe in Futurism. The movement of futurism in modernism was all about speed and the advancements that were being made in technology at the time. Therefore, the modernist form of this painting was involved with the depiction of images which look as if they are in motion. In the art, people were struck by the rapid industrial production speed. Some can’t support this powerful rhythm and fall. As an example of futuristic painting, this painting contains some horror to the industrialization of modern society.

The painting was right next to where the Museum had a little board for the author’s name, Umberto Boccioni. It took up about one entire side of the wall. I didn’t realize the figures that the painting used in the first glaze, and then I noticed there is a giant horse in the artwork. People were standing in the middle of the walkway right in front of the painting to appreciate the artwork that Boccioni have done. What drew me to this painting was how people stop there and whispering to each other by just talking about what they thought on the meaning behind this artwork. The painting got me so interested when I didn’t know what it was in the art in the first glaze. I wanted to know the story behind this artwork and get to know the painter.

Questions about the work:

Why did Umberto Boccioni use the figure of a horse in this painting? Why did he believe in Futurism? What comes to his mind when he created this painting?

After visiting the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the work that I decided to analyze is called, “The Lovers” painted by Rene Magritte in 1928.  Magritte was born in late 19th century and after finishing his career as a graphic artist, in 1920s, he launched his successful career as a Surrealist painter. His paintings are famous for depicting strange scenes that question human nature and representation of reality. Magritte often incorporates everyday objects such as apples and hats, with figures of humans who are placed into these unusual scenes.

In “The Lovers,” Rene Magritte painted a close up kissing scene of two lovers, each of whose faces is covered in cloth. Behind the lovers, there is a blueish background and a hint of a brown wall on the right side, which ads on to the feeling of mystery to the painting. As to the context of this painting, I read on MoMA’s website that when Magritte was fourteen, his mother “committed suicide by drowning” and he witnessed how her face was covered in the fabric of her gown as her body was taken from the water. This experience may have somehow influenced the painter to use a face covered in cloth as a symbol in his work.

“The Lovers” reflects the aesthetic preferences associated with Modernism because it falls into the genre of Surrealism and depicts an imaginary situation with a mysterious and unnatural depiction of a couple in a relationship. Although the lovers are kissing, it is unclear whether they truly love each other because they cannot see each other’s true identities. This ties to the Modernist movement’s theme of alienation, skepticism, and the stream of consciousness. “The Lovers” depicts how people can be intimate with others yet still be alienated from each other. It also shows that people can have a subjective perspective of their relationship in which they are skeptical or unsure of each other’s feelings.

What drew my attention to this painting is how contradictory this painting seems compared to typical depictions of lovers as well as how differently this painting can be interpreted. On one hand,  this art shows the dark side of a relationship where two people are hiding something from each other despite of their intimacy. This can be tied to the phrase “so close yet so far” because both people are physically close, yet consciously or subconsciously very far from each other. On the other hand,  when I look at this painting, I also think of the phrase, “love is blind,” which means that people oftentimes choose not to see each other’s flaws when they are in love.

The question that I have about the work is: was Magritte inspired to cover the faces of the lovers with fabric because it  somehow ties to his mother’s death? Or is this unrelated and his surrealistic painting was a depiction of the conflict he observed (or experienced) in love relationships?

Source:

MoMa’s website: https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/rene-magritte-the-lovers-le-perreux-sur-marne-1928/

While I was visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since I am African, and I am bias by habit I was looking for a specific paint by Pablo Picasso who was inspired by African sculpture. In his early experiment of cubism Picasso incorporated African’s art in his work. Therefore, my mission was to find the paint “Bust of a Man”. However, another paint caught my attention “I saw the Figure 5 in Gold” a 1928 painting from Charles Demuth.

Charles Demuth was an American painter known as an adept of the precisionism. The precisionism was a form of painting on canvas used by many American artists which was influenced by cubism. In fact, Charles Demuth in his early years travelled regularly to Europe to study. While in Paris he was influenced by cubist artists such as Marcel Duchamp and Pablo Picasso.

“I saw the Figure 5 in Gold” was Demuth’s tribute to his longtime friend the poet William Carlos Williams. Demuth created a visual representation of William Carlos Williams’s poem “The great Figure”. To be able to understand the paint viewers need to be familiar with the poem. Authors of the modernism used the abstract as a style in their works, meaning it was difficult to identify the plot of their texts. Nonetheless, William Carlos’s poem was a straightforward and appeared more like a description of a scene he witnessed. According to Dr Laura Kuykendall’s article on Precisionism “Williams’ poem recalls a night when he was walking down Ninth Avenue in New York City on his way to painter Marsden Hartley’s studio. He heard noises of a fire truck….”.

The MET make sure that the visitor has the opportunity to read the poem as well and see how the two pieces of art are related to each other. For me this is a masterpiece and surely one of the best piece of the MET. After looking at the poem I started paying attention to the details of the paint. I notice that the paint is made entirely with geometrical figure, the curved lines next to the bell remind the viewers that they are ringing. The grey in the background gives a precision of time t it was. Demuth even incorporated the letters CARLO referring to Williams Carlos. The repetitive 5 in the paint represents the firetruck approaching the position of the author in the poem.

I really liked this paint for many reasons mainly for the story behind it. This is a piece of history that is illustrating a genuine friendship between two genius. I am confused on one particular point. What was the message that Charles Demuth wanted to convey by giving a visual to Williams Carlos’ poem?

Here is the poem from William Carlos Williams.

I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold was inspired by the poem, “The Great Figure,” written by Demuth’s friend, William Carlos Williams:

Among the rain

and lights

I saw the figure 5

in gold

on a red

firetruck

moving

tense

unheeded

to gong clangs

siren howls

and wheels rumbling

through the dark city.

Max Ernst – Gala Éluard (1924)

Max Ernst was born in Bruhl, a place near Cologne, in Germany on April 2, 1891.  He was raised in a strict Catholic family, with both of his parents dedicated to training their children into God-fearing and talented individuals.  Ernst’s father, who was also deaf, inspired Ernst as well as introduced him to painting from a young age. Ernst studied philosophy at the University of Bonn in 1914; however, he later dropped out due to his keen interest in the arts.   

On Wednesday, I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  While looking through the various artworks in the Modern and Contemporary Art Department, one piece, in particular, caught my eye and that was Max Ernst’s Gala Éluard (1924) in gallery 901.  I went through the whole department twice looking for a piece that called to me and on both occasions, Max Ernst’s piece made me do a double take.  The eyes are what made me stop and stare due to the large brown eyes seemed to be following wherever I went which was pretty creepy. The longer I stared, the more I realized that there is no emotion given off from the eyes, the eyes seem dead, daydreaming, or staring off in a distance.  

Gala Éluard is an oil on a canvas painting.  The painting is a portrait of Gala Éluard, who was a lover to three members of the Surrealist movement: her two husbands, poet Paul Éluard and artist Salvador Dalí, and Max Ernst.  The portrait was 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” (“Gala Éluard”).  

Modernism is a movement in the arts that strives to break with classical and traditional forms.  Examples of this modernism are impressionism, expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Max Ernst is an example of a surrealist artist.  Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the late 1910s, early 1920s which sought to release the imagination of the subconscious.  This can be seen in Gala Éluard considering that in the painting, it’s as if her mind is being unfolded (her forehead is not shown).  

Questions about the work:  

What made Ernst paint Gala Éluard in such a way?  The top half of the painting probably depicts what’s on Éluard’s mind so, why is there minimal activity? Shouldn’t the mind be filled with thoughts?

Sources:

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

“Max Ernst, and His Paintings.” Ubu Imperator, 1923 – by Max Ernst, www.max-ernst.com/.

Voorhies, James. “Surrealism.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/surr/hd_surr.htm (October 2004)