Final Blog !

Adelaide Labille-Guiard's self portrait with two pupils, immediately caught my eye as a beautiful art piece. I was especially attracted to the beautiful blue of her extravagant dress, and the use of lighting to enhance the figures in the overall painting.

Adelaide was Queen Marie Antoinette's favorite painter in a time when women were not eagerly accepted as painters or for their talents. In 1783 she was elected one of the four places in the French Academy available to women, also that year she petitioned to end the restriction on women. In 1790 she was successful in ending the restriction on women. Adelaide was a strong proponent of the education of women artists and was awarded an annual stipend from the king, however, was she was denied the usual studio at court that normally accompanied the stipend because of the presence of her female pupils. But this did not stop her from receiving major commissions from the royal family.

Directed Blog #5 NeoClassical and NeoRomanticism

NeoClassical



Neoclassicism began after 1765 A.D., as a reaction against both the surviving Baroque and Rococo styles, and as a desire to return to the perceived "purity" of the arts of Rome, the more vague perception ("ideal") of Ancient Greek art and to a lesser extent 16th century Renaissance Classicism.
Contrasting with the Baroque and the Rococo, NeoClassical paintings are devoid of pastel colors and haziness; instead, they have sharp colors with Chiaroscuro.
The Maitland Robinson Library at Downing College (pictured above) was designed by Quinlan Terry won the Building of the Year Award in 1994. this is an example of NeoClassical style architecture.

NeoRomanticism

What is NeoRomanticism? It was partly a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature, and was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature. It is considered in opposition to naturalism. The naturalist in art stresses external observation, whereas the NeoRomantic adds feeling and internal observation. It is depicting the ideal beauty in the word in which we live in. Feelings of perfection. The perfect love, landscape and the idealist heroic death.
The Pena National Palace (shown in the top picture) was rebuilt is 1847after almost complete destruction by lightning and The Great Lisbon Earthquake. King Ferdinand of Portugal set out to transform the remains of the monastery into a romantic style palace that would serve as a summer residence for the Portuguese royal family.

Blog #5 Undirected Palace of Versaille Gardens

Starting out as a small chateau build by Louis the 13th, Louis the 16th in 1668 decided to enlarge the chateau making it into the incredible Palace of Versailles. The palace was large enough to accommodate the 5,000 aristocrats, 14,000 servants and military staff members.

Andre Le Nortre planned the gardens with the formal gardens nearest to the palace. There are at least seventy sculptors in the garden and a mile long canal supplies the gardens 1,400 water falls. In 2001 I visited the Palace. I was overwhelmed by the grandeur of the facilities. I felt like I was a tiny ant in a maze of greenery, flowers and waterfalls. It was quite an experience!

Directed Blog #4 MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!

U.S. One hundred dollar bill.

1614 Low German bible. Illustrations in the bible are woodcuts from the Hans Stern publishing family in early Lüneburg, Germany.



Bible production is an example of the mass reproduction of an article of faith to educate the masses. However, it was not always this way. In 331, Emperor Constantine requested Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, to provide him with fifty copies of the Old and New Testaments for use in the principal churches in Constantinople. Poor old Eusebius had to hand write each and every one of these bibles because there was at that time no way to mass reproduce printings on paper.
As time went on and with the advent of woodcut printing, mass reproduction of the bible started to occur. The bible spread to various cities and states, and now was able to be translated from language to language.

In contrast to the bibles mass reproduction for the purpose of educating the masses, I have chosen to compare paper currency (money) as an object that society values because of its ability to reach or appeal to the masses.

So what is it about paper currency (Money) that makes it so fabulous? Well that's a stupid question! I think we all know. It is the power, status, and comfort that is associated with money that has us all killing our selves to acquire as much wealth as possible. But, we also need money to survive and this is simply because we have no other way to secure our livelihoods without money to barter with. So how did the notion of paper currency (money) begin?

Some of the earliest known paper money dates back to China, where the issue of paper money became common from about AD 960 onwards. Printed paper currency replace the old barter and trade system however there was a problem with this system. There was no set value of what an item was worth. After trial and error humans introduced metal objects as money around 5000 B.C. By 700 BC, the Lydians became the first in the Western world to make coins. Countries were soon minting their own series of coins with specific values.
After coins had been used for some time it was determined that a median could be used that in its self was less valuable however worth just as much " Paper Currency".

So there you have it, two examples of two subjects which appeal to the masses because of two completely different reasons. Faith & Survival.

Directed Blog #3 Notion of Genius "Plastination"

When I initially read the topic of this weeks blog assignment I was completely lost. So I sat and thought, and after a while and a little help from my husband I came up with the topic of what I consider an example of Modern Day Creative Genius!

In February my husband and I (who are both nursing students) decided to visit the Body Worlds display at the San Jose Convention Center. It was extremely interesting. I learned that the Body Worlds displays are composed of people who have donated themselves to the Science of Plastination with the intention of being displayed in the Body Worlds exhibits.
What is Plastination? Well I also learned that Plastination is a unique method of permanently preserving tissue in a lifelike state. It is a process by which organic tissues are saturated with a reactive polymer and therefore retain their original features, even into the cellular level. Now, I think that's enough of the nerdy science talk, how does this relate to art? Well as you can see from some of the pictures I have posted above, not only is this process scientific it is also extremely artistic. For example; the picture I have posted above of the rider on the horse sort of reminds me of the equestrian monument of Bartolommeo Colleoni by Andrea del Verrochio. The art pieces include the same muscular horse and stoic looking rider as if they were either on their way to war, or just returning. I have arranged these images extra large to give the viewer a more detailed view of the images I have chosen.

Blog #4 Undirected Properzia de Rossi

Properzia de Rossi was a successful female Italian Renaissance sculptor. This daughter of a notary studied under the Bolognese artist and master engraver Marcantonio Raimondi, who is best known today for his engravings of the paintings by Raphael. Properzia was most renown for her complex but tiny sculptures made out of stone-fruit pits, such as from apricots, peaches and cherries. The subject of these small "friezes" was often religious, with one of the most famous being a Crucifixion in a peach pit. Rossi was one of about 30 woman artists, who were mostly painters, in Renaissance Italy. Female sculptor were rare. She was included in the Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists, collecting biographies of those he viewed as the most prominent artists of the recent centuries. I chose write about de Rossi because she was one of the great artists of her time, even though her craft was completely dominated by men. She is the perfect example of determination.

Directed Blog entry # 2 Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene the penitent prostitute.
She is clothed in her own hair, with ruff, sharp facial features giving the appearance of living out her life (post Christ) in a manner of self neglect and repentance for the sins which she had committed. This is how Donatello depicts Mary Magdalene. He depicts her as the essence of self denial.
At first glance I can't lie, I thought this was a sculpture of the mythical Medusa. However, when I found out that this was actually a sculpture of Mary Magdalene and the psychological reasons for which Donatello had sculpted this piece I was amazed! What a twist.
This sculpture portrays a woman who is so mortified for the offences in which she has committed against God that she is showing her love of God through her self mortification in an attempt to redeem herself for her past life style. In my opinion I do not think this piece represents hopelessness, I think Mary Magdalene represents hope. I think she looks content living her life this way in order to please God whom she loves so much.