Man, Controller of the Universe

 

By Diego Rivera

 

Man, Controller of the Universe was a mural created by Diego Rivera in 1934 at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.  Rivera had painted another similar mural under the title Man at the Crossroads in Rockefeller Center, New York City.  The first mural was started in 1933, but was destroyed before it could be completed as a portrait of Vladimir Lenin caused controversy in the States.

Diego Rivera was born to a wealthy family and studied art at the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City.  Rivera was sponsored to continue his study in Europe and did so in places like Madrid, Spain and Paris, France.  Working with many influential artists of the time Rivera adopted the cubist form during the middle 1910′s.  In 1917 Rivera transitioned to a Post-Impressionism style that included large spaces of color and simple shapes.  At that time his works began to garner attention and he was featured at many exhibitions.  Following this success Rivera studied further in Italy before returning to Mexico.  He eventually married fellow artist Frida Kahlo.  By this time his career as a respected artist was solidified.

The mural above was one of Riveras later works and was meant to depict the state of humanity in the 1930′s.  The mural also includes examples of Rivera’s Post-Impressionist style.  Rivera was a Communist and commonly represented Communist ideals in his work.  Vladimir Lenin and Leo Trotsky are both included in Man, Controller of the Universe. I liked this mural because it is simple in style, yet incorporates so many figures.  The attention is brought to the center and radiates outwards, making the whole mural seem meaningful.  Even at the edges it doesn’t feel like any figure is overshadowed.  The designs in the center are influenced by the art forms Rivera had studied and compliment his simpler form in the surrounding mural.  I like the way he combined the different looks and used them to get across a message he felt was important.  Rivera was an artist known for painting things the way he saw them.  He wasn’t going to change his artwork for anyone else and that gives it merit.

Ming Dynasty Painting

This work was done by Lin Liang during his life from about 1416 to 1480 in China.  Liang was a court painter during the Ming dynasty and specialized in bird and flower paintings.  He was born in Nanhai in the Guangdong province and rose to become one of the leading court painters of the Ming dynasty.  His painting of birds depicted them as heroic and symbols of courage and strength.  Liang’s style was very unconstrained and featured sweeping scenes that were overlooked by the majestic figures of birds.  Usually the birds in his works are placed high above the surrounding environment, as if they are surveying their territory, but in this work the hawks seem entangled in the branches and hidden from any outside view.

I have always though these types of chinese paintings were interesting.  The foliage is detailed and realistic, but shadowed.  The lines are sharp and really add to the feeling of a clean-cut scene.  Although the hawks are not presented in their usual royal form they still seem very intense and powerful.  It seems like the picture is displaying how an animal that is so representative of sweeping views can still feel imposing in a cramped scene.  There is nothing much for the hawks to view, but the painting gives the feeling that at any moment they could break the calm and return to the sky.  I like the lack of color and focus on the details of the figures, and how the birds seem so bold, even in an environment that wouldn’t normally imply that feeling.

Simple Nature

I chose to use works of art dealing with the environment, mostly photography, but photos taken in a way that they seem almost surreal.  The environmental theme just seems to be enjoyable to me because it shows scenes that are entirely possible in our world and can remind the viewer of scenes they have experienced in the past.

These two works are both by Mariele Neudecker, the first is 400 Thousand Generations made in 2009, and the second is I Don’t Know How I Resisted the Urge to Run made in 1998.  Mariele Neudecker is a German artist who specializes in landscape sculpture.  A collection of her works were featured in a collection relating art to the issue of global warming.  400 Thousand Generations is appealing to me simple because it seems so clean and light.  The representation of icebergs in the sphere of clear glass relates to nature, but depicts it in a simple way that allows light to work with the piece.  I Don’t Know How I Resisted the Urge to Run is a great photo of a forest in a light fog.  The way the light interacts with the atmosphere and the ominous feeling are there, but at the same time it’s relaxing.  These feelings are most likely the reason one wouldn’t run from the scene.

It’s My Island by Antti Laitinen (2007) is a photograph that presents a serene environment in a dusky setting.  I like the lack of light and how it brings out the blue in every bit of the photo.  Some might think the tiny island is nothing special, but the openness of the ocean and loneliness of the picture seem to indicate that it means more.  Antti Laitinen also had works included in the exhibit relating arts to global warming.

This photo, titled Super Pit #4, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, was taken by Edward Burtynsky in 2007.  Burtynsky is a Canadian photographer/artist who focuses on human altered landscapes and tries to convey the feelings of environmental damage.  His work was also featured in global warming exhibits.  This photo fits into the environmental theme and takes to another level.  The photo is aesthetically pleasing as the different shades of brown and red create a beautiful picture.  The large scene almost looks like a picture of the Grand Canyon, yet it is a human impact.  The message is that humans can impact the earth so much, and even if this scene does not represent damage to a great extent (it’s only dirt), we are teetering on the brink of acceptable change and horrible damage.

Thank You Fog by Spencer Finch is a series of photos taken in 2009 that show fog moving into a wooded hillside.  This photo was appealing to me because it’s very similar to environments I’ve experience in Alaska during the fall.  The scene starts clear and slowly deteriorates into a cloudy outline.  I like that as the fog moves in you can still imagine exactly what is behind it, but there’s always that part of your imagination that creates things happening behind that fog that you cannot see.  The total green is darkened, adding to the feeling that something more is happening.  Spencer Finch is an American artist who works in all types of mediums but specializes in creating scenes that target perception and memory through lighting.  This approach is evident in how the scene changes as the fog rolls in.

This photo was taken to celebrate the rural environment of Wales.  Field Study was created by Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey in 2003 and is an aerial photograph.  Ackroyd and Harvey are English artists who focus on the events and processes in nature that the shape the way we view it.  Commonly their photographs and works are more complex, showing the growth in nature, but I found this photo more calming and simple.  Field patterns are always interesting, who hasn’t looked down on the landscapes from a jet, and represent an order in human altered environments, or even a lack of order.  This photo shows the oddly shaped fields bordered by trees, and the blurriness blends them into one scene of green mist.  I like how this photo could be interpreted as a microscopic view of a bland green surface.  As you get closer and closer more detail comes out and you see it might not be so ordered as it first appears.

I like all of these works because they represent the environment, but do so in a natural way.  There is not an overabundance of color in any of the photos, and the natural scene is preserved.  This pictures are relaxing and beautiful, but they still include that message that their may be much more to our environment than we see at first.  The natural light and atmosphere create scenes that can remind people of what they enjoy about nature.

Early Modern Photography

I chose to look at this photo by Henri Cartier-Bresson, a French photographer born in 1908.  Behind the Gare St. Lazare was a photo taken in 1932 in Paris, France.  Bresson’s photography was an advancement in art since it captured the action and motion in a scene.  Surrealism had a major impact on Bresson’s work, as did the technological advancements of the industrial revolution.

Cartier-Bresson began his studies in art under Andre Lhote, a Cubist painter and sculptor.  The rules of art seemed to exclusive for Cartier-Bresson, yet he did receive a solid foundation on which to base his own work.  Later he shared ideas with Surrealist artists of the time and these conventions shaped his ideas of photography.  Subconscious ideas and movement were large parts of the Surrealist movement, and these were the aspects Cartier-Bresson focused upon.

The industrial revolution created cities and bustling urban action.  Things moved faster and people moved with them.  This new world was one that Cartier-Bresson wished to capture in his photos.  Taking photos of the cities of Europe he was able to represent the bustling nature of an advancing society.  He wanted to capture the spontaneity and life in a picture.  The industrial revolution had created a society full of movement, but the human aspect and feelings seemed to be forgotten.  Photography could capture the action of the industrial revolution, but Cartier-Bresson also made sure to include the human nature of a scene.

I mainly chose this picture because of the capture of a man mid jump and his shadow cast below.  The movement is captured in an otherwise dreary city scene, and the shadow is simply a touch of artistic beauty.  While the action is presented in the foreground the background still represents the urban setting and the man standing near the fence contributes to the city feel.  The scene represents the average worker in an average setting, but suggests there is more to their actions.  I liked the subject matter of an average setting and people to create a picture that says a quite a bit about the society.

Impressionism: All About The Feeling

By Claude Monet

The painting above is by one of the founders of French Impressionism, Claude Monet.  Titled Street in Vetheuil in Winter, the work was created in 1879.  Monet painted in his home city of Paris, France.

By John Constable

This next work is titled View on the Stour near Dedham and was painted by John Constable in 1822.  Constable’s works were representative of the Romanticism Art style.  Constable is well-known for his paintings of landscape scenes surrounding his hometown of Suffolk, England.

I chose these two works for comparison because they are both of simple landscape scenes.  The feel and impact of the painting is derived from the style and not necessarily the subject matter.  The Romantic Era lead into the Impressionism style so these works represent a shift in a relatively small period of time.  I find that the painting by Monet is more meaningful and aesthetically appealing to me.  This may be since I’ve grown up in a place with snow, but the foggy sky and patchy snow cover remind me of the first snow in fall.  The broad strokes of Impressionism, as well as the unmixed colors, really give that feel of a dreary scene that is also relaxing.  I agree with the fact that Impressionism is more about the emotional feel of a setting than the technical detail (Even more so than Romanticism).

I have always been drawn to detail and realism in art, but the feelings evoked by Impressionism painting are enough to sway me to that side.  Romanticism was also a movement towards capturing feeling over scientific detail and perfection, but Impressionism took it to a whole new level.  Impressionism appeals to me because it’s very subjective.  In a Romantic Era painting the feeling is there; however the artist is responsible for adding the traits that evoke emotion.  In Constable’s painting the trees and water are drab and the work has the overall feel of a late summer evening, almost transitioning into fall.  I can relate to the environment, but it does not relate quite as much to my feelings about that scene.  The Impressionism painting leaves so much more to the human imagination.  Monet’s painting is of a village in France, yet I can picture the same feel of that scene in my hometown.

I am very impressed by the skill of creating the higher levels of detail in Romantic Era art.  Detail is appealing to me, but Impressionism lets me create my own detail, and that makes the works seem more personal.  I can imagine my own subtle details in the scene, rather than having them presented to me explicitly.  Impressionism was all about what impression the work can make on the viewer, and emotion surely makes more of an impression on me than detail.

Joseph Haydn – Emperor Quartet 2nd Movement

This piece by Joseph Haydn, the second movement of Opus 76 No. 3, is also called the Emperor’s Hymn. Opus 76 No.3 is also refered to as the Emperor Quartet.  This quartet is one of Haydn’s most famous, which is saying something as it came from a man known as the “Father of the String Quartet”.  The piece was written in Vienna, Austria, where Haydn lived and composed most of his works, in 1797.

Haydn began his career working as a court musician for the Esterhazy family, a Hungarian aristocracy.  He oversaw the composition of many works in that position until the last part of his life.  During that time he contributed greatly to the advancement of the symphony and the string quartet.  The Emperor Quartet one of Haydn’s final quartets, written after his time with the Esterhazys.  Haydn was respected as a great composer of melodic music that was accessible to the middle class.  He was also known as a friendly person.  His music was written to delight people and this was something a bit new.   Melody was a strong aspect of his works and that is what allowed the middle classes to recognize and follow his pieces.  While working for the Esterhazys Haydn was generally isolated from other musical influences and was forced to create a new form.  The middle class was drawn to the melodic works, and the avoidance of complicated Baroque stylings allowed for a greater following.  The Emperor Quartet’s second movement was written as a tribute to Francis II, the Holy Roman Emperor of the time, who later became Emperor of Austria. The second movement later became the national anthem of Austria and the melody serves as the national anthem of Germany today.  The upbeat melodies of Haydn’s works, meant to uplift, were the main selling point to a general public that craved recognizable and accessible music.  The fact that this movement became so well known adds weight to the argument that Haydn wrote to everyone.

I found the melody really representing the feelings of pride and honor that were meant for the work.  The strings do not give the feeling of sadness, but are rather very uplifting.  The fact that the work meant so much to people of the time gave it even more importance to me as well.  Meaning and intention add just as much to the music as the technical aspects.  I chose this work simply because it was composed for a reason, and by listening the mood is apparent.  Feeling through melody was important to people of that time and seems to be just as important today.

Painting The Sea

Vessels in a Strong Wind was painted by Jan Porcellis in 1630.  The painting was created during the Dutch Golden Age of painting and contains distinct characteristics of the Baroque Era.  Porcellis was born in Ghent, Belgium and spent time in Rotterdam and London.  As an artist working in the Netherlands Porcellis was intent on creating scenes related to life in that part of the world.

The painting represents several genres of the Baroque Era.  The movement away from a religious domination in the arts allowed artists to pursue genres that interested them.  Maritime paintings were a popular genre, and were especially meaningful in the Netherlands.  The painting shows a scene witnessed and experienced by the common working class individual.  Genre paintings and catering more towards the merchant and trading class were trademarks of Baroque works.  Merchants were the heart of Amsterdam and the Netherlands during the Baroque, and Porcellis created works that they could relate to.  As traders became more interested in the arts painters could afford to create scenes that were not exclusively for the rich.  Another level of the art economy was created, and artists like Porcellis, painting what they loved in the first place, were supported.

Vessels in a Strong Wind is similar to other maritime painting by Porcellis and other artists in the Dutch Golden Age.  The emphasis of the painting is the sky and sea, while vessels are simply there to imply a situation and connection to the people.  I was drawn to this painting mainly by the shape and texture of the clouds.  The stormy feeling is evident by the lighting and shadowing (another advancement in the Baroque Era).  There is a bright spot behind the center, as if the sun is up yet a storm is overpowering the light.  Shadowing and light really convey the scene of a storm turning what may have been a beautiful day into something a merchant or trader could truly relate to; a rough sea.  I also appreciated how the choppy water interacted with the smoother sky.  As the sharp lines of the water meet the smoothness of the water the eye is drawn to the horizon where ships flounder in the surf.  Detail is clouded and misty, as the painting is more about atmosphere than displaying the technicalities of drawing a ship.

Porcellis appreciated the sea and realized that there was a growing market for paintings depicting it’s feeling.  As the lower classes rose in power and wealth art became more accessible than it had been.  The genre of maritime paintings conveyed the feeling and life of the merchant and opened new doors to what was considered worthy art.

Source: Trade in The Dutch Golden Age: Commercial Success in the Netherlands, http://dutch-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/trade_in_the_dutch_golden_age

Bosch And Man’s Sin

Hieronymus Bosch created many works of art depicting the battle between good and evil as it pertains to the choices of human beings.  Death and the Miser, an oil painting on wood created in 1490, is an example of Bosch’s methods of representing human sin as a battle between good and evil in the form of demons and angels.  The work was painted in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the capital of a Dutch province named Brabant, where Bosch lived his entire life.  Death and the Miser was part of a triptych also including Ship of Fools and Allegory of Gluttony and Lust.  The triptych was a symbolic representation of the sins of men, relating to the early Reformation in Europe.

In Death and the Miser Bosch depicts an elderly man on the verge of death.  A younger version of the miser appears in the lower portion of the painting hoarding gold in a chest.  The younger version of the miser also holds a rosary in his hand.  This depiction represents the actions and stances of religion that were opposed by the Reformation.  The young miser is supposedly devoted to the church and his religion, yet hoards and gives into the sin of greed.  A major part of the Reformation was an opposition to the Church’s impure motives in terms of wealth, even as their teachings discouraged sin in the form of material greed.  Bosch provided a social commentary of his time through the painting, revealing ideals behind the Reformation.  The aged miser is not free of the temptation, even as he nears death.  He reaches for a bag of gold from a tempting gremlin as an angel attempts to discourage him from the act.  Bosch presents the issues of the Church and society as a whole (smithsbluebook.com) , but also depicts a ray of light coming down to the miser from the figure of Christ, symbolizing the chance to repent and return to nobility.  The overall message presented by Bosch in the painting is that material wealth and greed mean little when a humans life comes to an end.

Death and the Miser also contains details associated with humanism in the Northern Renaissance.  The linear perspective in the painting leads to the upper right of the work, and detail in the faces of the various figures help to reveal their feeling and stance in the Good vs. Evil story.  Bosch’s use of realsim, combined with the spiritual beings, creates a moving picture of a human in a setting that reveals much about the current feelings towards religion.

Personally I liked the way that Death and the Miser is not so cluttered as other works by Bosch.  The various gremlins and figures do not take away from the overall feel of the painting, but all do their part in revealing the message.  The perspective is realistic and pleasing to the eye, as are the colors that create a depressed feel.  The positioning of Death in the doorway is perfect.  The stance is not threatening or violent, but again alludes to temptation and the fact that a man has a choice to succumb to greed or, instead, rise above it.  I also liked how the brightest part of the painting is the window where the light shines down through Christ.  Brightening this area only added to the symbolism of redemption and the “right” path for a man to take.  Overall Bosch’s paintings are all very interesting to me, but the way in which a simpler painting such as Death and the Miser can pack such a punch is impressive.

by Hieronymus Bosch

Refrence: http://www.smithsbluebook.com/bosch.html

Brooks Range

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