Author Archives: c.colavito

Andre Derain was born in the suburbs in Paris and grew up in a middle-class family. Derain studied engineering as he grew older but found it miserable, causing him to leave the program and pursue drawing. Andre ended up excelling creatively in painting and drawing from age 15. He was known throughout his youth and early adulthood for his rebellious attitude. Derain was pulled away from his creative career when he was forced into the military for 3 years or so. Afterward, he spent time with now famous artists such as Matisse and Ambrose Vollard. Derain was convinced that Fauvism was the perfect form of art for him until after spending an awful lot of time with Picasso, he changed his style to a more gothic approach. (Fauvism is the use of vibrancy and unrealistic tones.) Toward the later years of his life Derain served in the military yet again for 5 years and upon leaving, began to work as a designer for theater sets at many ballets. In 1928 he was awarded the Carnegie Prize. After this he began to denounced modern art and return to classics. He had a huge effect on cubism, fauvism as well as many famous artists throughout his life. A famous quote from Andre Derain is, “Over-indulgence in reality spells death.” I believe this speaks additionally to his love of thinking outside the box by painting in unrealistic ways. 

The painting Fishing Boats, Collioure, was completed in 1905 and is an excellent example of Derain’s use of drama through perspective. At first glance the viewer can see two men looking out at what is going on. From a panoramic view one can see people occupied by different occupations on the shore gathering fishing tools, sailboats floating on the water and vibrantly colored mountains in the background below pink fluffy clouds. 

In this work, a multitude of attributes of modernism are utilized. To start, Andre Derain’s widespread use of fauvism is one of the prime examples of modernism in this piece. Through his use of very bright and vibrant colors, an unrealistic atmosphere is created for the viewer. The strokes in this work also develop an abstract motif in the way that the colors blend through the ocean, grass and mountains. Abstract art and fauvism are some of the key characteristics of modern art.  When I first entered the Metropolitan Museum, I went to the second floor and passed through the nineteenth century paintings and then encountered the Henry J. Heintz galleries where the Fishing Boats painting was.

What drew me to this piece was all ofthe different things going on at once in the painting. For example the small town in the far distance on the right, the mountains and blue skies on the left and the fishermen and sailors near the water closest to the viewer. 

One of the questions I have about this piece is what original inspiration for this piece was, whether it was a city that Derain visited or one he wished to, or if it was completely imagination that created the work.

In the short story Punishment By Rabindranath Tagore, Tagore makes a point to depict the very real issue of the oppression of women. Punishment takes place in west-central Bangladesh in the late 19th century. The mistreatment of women takes place all over the world, but it was extraordinarily bad in the middle east in this time period. In Tagore’s story characters Dukhiram and Chidam were returning home from the fields like any other day when Dukhiram screamed at Radha, his wife, for food. When Radha responded sarcastically about Dukhiram not bringing anything home to cook, Dukhiram stabbed her in the head, leading to her death. Throughout the entire story blame is being placed upon women. Chidam even made his wife take the blame for the murder and wanted to oust Radha as the aggressor in the incident something that Chandara could not bring herself to do. In doing so, he was shifting all of the blame off of men and onto the women who were inferior to them in his eyes. In the end of the story justice doesn’t win and Chandara loses her life because even the law would not believe the eye witness testimonies of Dukhiram and Chidam, who had finally realized what they have done and told the truth. Radha chose to take the full blame to die with her pride and to finally escape. These horrifying scenarios exemplify the struggles that women continue to go through today in these regions. One of the many pressing issues in the Middle East today is that of widespread sexual assault against women of all ages. In many of these countries’ women are subjected to arranged marriages, and older men often marry very young girls who are too young to consent. There are still plenty of stories involving brutal physical violence like those in Punishment, whether it be acid attacks, beatings or even cold blooded murder. Women in many middle eastern countries still cannot vote, enter certain establishments, leave their homes without a man and are also forced to cover almost their entire bodies. Rabinranath Tagore, being a humanist as well as a womens rights advocate uses the theme of dehumanization upon women to bring light upon it as it’s a very real issue that still occurs quite often today.  

Hi! My name is Chris Colavito and i am a junior. I am 23 years old and I transferred to Baruch this semester to pursue a degree in Finance. I live in Levittown out on Long Island, and transferred out from Nassau Community College. In my early college life i was very unsure of myself and decided to take what in my opinion was the easy way out and go for a criminal justice. After being accepted in the Department of Corrections academy i realized that the field was not for me and that i should chase my real dreams in finance and in particular Investment banking. What better more cost efficient school than Baruch’s Zicklin School of Business? Although i commute out from Nassau County it is a decision i gladly made to better my future. I definitely lived it up while i could during the school break, I traveled to Vegas a couple of times to visit a friend who moved there. I am motivated and excited to put forth my best effort here at Baruch college.