Author: r.zakin

As part of our Art History class project, I took a quick visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While walking around the European Paintings exhibit, I was taken aback immediately by this painting, The Triumph of Aemilius Paulus. While we had viewed  alot of Renaissance-era, Reformation, and Islamic art in our class, I had not yet seen Salon-era French paintings. Because I knew little about this particular time in art history, I took a deep interest in the style, and paid close attention to the many facts that make up this piece. Because it was visually similar to some of the other paintings we had looked at in class, I believed that I could connect to it more, even with just a brief introduction.

Admittedly, it stood out to me at first because of its immensity. While a few paintings in the exhibit stood tall, I had not seen any that were quite as long as this piece. While I could not find the exact dimensions of the painting, it was certainly long enough to create an expansive panorama-like image of the event that was taking place. The whole scene is on one large piece of canvas, and created with an oil-based paint, bordered in a wooden frame painted gold.

There were a variety of aspects to the painting that I would go on to discover about it. For example, the usage of a linear perspective was quite impressive for a piece of this magnitude. With the vanishing point being on the top of the mountain in the distance, you can see the sense of depth within the piece. People who are walking through the arc, for example, are seen as much smaller than those in the forefront of the painting, allowing for not only a sense of distance for the naked eye but also a sense of the magnitude of the event, as there are too many people in the procession to document from the artist’s view. Those who are walking up the steps to the large white building in the distance are proportionately minuscule as well. These are also examples of how the artist utilized scale and proportion to make sure that things that were far away were smaller than objects that were closer.

I would go on to visit the American History Wing, the Egyptian Wing, the Furniture Wing, and the Musical Instruments Wing in my visit. I certainly left the MET knowing more that I could have possibly imagined.

During my first two weeks here at Baruch, I decided to become more involved in clubs and organizations as a way in which to meet new people and learn new things. While I signed up for a variety of different groups this last week, the one that I’ve visited the most frequently is Hillel, a Jewish-based organization that meets on the 3rd floor of the Vertical Campus. While I was admittedly skeptical at first to join a faith-based organization, I was very immediately surprised by the kindness and camaraderie I saw, in addition to how welcome their group is to new members. Everyone that I was able to meet were not only hilarious but caring and respectful to all that was around them. Throughout the two weeks, I was invited to an abundance of events that they had put on. With activities ranging from simple discussions, to evenings out in the city, to large luncheons in their headquarters, there was never a shortages of good times to be found. Highlights of my experience with Hillel thus far have simply been coming in between classes to talk to people over a cup of coffee, as pictured in one of the images above. Also shown is a screenshot of a text exchange between the leader of the group and I starting a discussion on hosting a religious dinner on an upcoming Friday evening in the dormitory. Within the Hillel, there are a variety of clubs that I also developed an interest in, including AEPi (a service-based fraternity), First Lex Capital (an investment agency run by students), Tamid (a business club that works with Israeli-based startups), etc. It’s my intention, in conclusion, to participate actively in all of these clubs available to me, in addition to being a part of Hillel as a whole.