Analyzing Historical Art

Art has always been used to voice emotions or stories in a way that can easily be understood. Conquering nations used art to immortalize their leaders, warriors and conquests. Similarly, conquered nations used art to keep their cultures alive. This pattern of dueling voices, those in power versus the oppressed, is shown throughout American art. From slavery and the Civil War to World War II to the modern day, art has been there to stand up to oppressors and keep faith alive for the oppressed. No era better shows a revolution against oppression and cruelty through art than the Harlem Renaissance of the early 1920s.

This painting is done with oil on canvas. The painting itself holds visual texture and substance. The repetition and sorting is well executed. With some other works, subject matter which is so simple can come off as bland and boring. Yet Thiebaud was able to turn something so simple into a beautiful piece of art. Wayne Thiebaud uses heavy pigment and defined shadowing. All while the attention to detail is divine. With the well defines brushstrokes to luscious look of the frosting that coats the pieces of cakes. The color is vivid and imminently captures your eye; with intensity and he uses his shading properly while also using proper proportions as the pieces of pie

In the contemplation of art, or rather the conceptually intangible definition it currently possess, it is imperative to be mindful that “art” has been utilized as a promotional device, ceremonial item, aesthetically purposed article or perhaps none of these or all. It is because of this vague term that Carolyn Dean, in her text, “The Trouble with (The Term) Art”, makes a case for the consequences of applying the term “art” in societies that lacked such a notion which also accounts for the Western-centric lens the field intrinsically utilizes when viewing non-Western art. The claim is deftly supported by the utilization of expert accounts in the subject, alternative perspectives for what is considered the current norm, and self-examining questions,

For example, photographers could have documented buildings that existed but have been destroyed, like the World Trade Center. The World Trade Center was built in 1973 but was sadly destroyed in 2001. Many images have been taken of those buildings and civilians can look back on those pictures to remember how the buildings looked before the attacks, as well as during the attacks. In this case, the pictures from the devastating day in September of 2001 represents a horrid historical event that people still pay their respects to, to this day.

Kehinde Wiley is a New York based artist whose paintings focus on the themes of empowering black men and combining classical and contemporary styles.

The next pieces of art were made with commemorative intentions, so that we not only fail to forget our history for better or for worst, but also to give thanks to those who have sacrificed themselves in the name of what they were fighting for. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial constructed in 1980-1982 and made out of Black granite, was designed by a student name Maya Lin. This controversial wall Bears the names of 60,000 American servicemen and women who died or are missing from the time of the war. These names were cleverly engraved down chronological order by year of death/missing. The memorial has influenced many other public memorials, despite the fact many were against it in the beginning. Death of General Wolfe by Benjamin West depicts the military battle of 1759 in which the British Army defeated the French in a struggle for control of the Canadian portion of North America. The general, James Wolfe died on the battlefield just as his troop’s secured victory. His death represented the idea of patriotic self-sacrifice. This painting was also a controversial piece because of the wardrobe choice the artist decided to depict the “heroes” in. What really strikes me those most in this painting is the background. There is a billowing of smoke that seems to encompass almost half of the canvas, however the light from the midday sun looks as if it is starting to shine through. This could represent the victory of the battle or the Gods coming to lay General Wolfe to rest. You can also see that all the men surrounding General Wolfe are turned his way or even blatantly pointing. This draws the viewer to Wolfe’s fallen form even despite the fact that there is so much more surrounding him. Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware honors George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River in 1776 during the American Revolutionary War. This act was the first move in a surprise attack against the Hessian forces

Man Ray like many other artists did not care to have his personal life shown in his art. He wanted to be viewed and recognized for his work which included sculptures, paintings, and photography. Man Ray was mostly influenced by Stieglitz's photographs. Man Ray used a similar style to Stieglitz. He captured images that created an unvarnished look at the photos' subject. Man Ray discovered a new way to create his photos; by accident in his work room he discovered how to manipulate objects in his photos on pieces of photosensitive paper.

Understanding how important art is to a culture can help people better comprehend the effects it has on the preservation of a society. Learning that art is a form of history can open a whole new world of opportunities for people to more deeply understand how people in history lived. People are always going to try to destroy art and to keep it all for themselves, this is where the age long question comes into play. Is art worth a life? Art is in a section all its own it is not as important as gold or silver the eyes of most people but in the eyes of some it is more precious than the most valuable of diamonds.

Form of "afterlife insurance" in order to trick the soul into staying alive in the event of the body's destruction

Art history: a useless pondering over sketches that have little significance to life, at least this is the notion held by many. Delving into art history is a slippery slope that requires more than any one person knows. James F. Cooper and Alan Wallach explore the considerations art historians go through to decipher the relevancy of artworks. However, James F. Cooper’s arguments retro and one-track minded, while Alan Wallach’s arguments on which artworks to pick apart, the methods to attack them, and the reasons people spend so long analyzing a piece of paper are far more relevant to today’s emerging standards.

The two works of art that I have chosen to analyze are 1) Jordan Casteel. Miles and JoJo. 2014. Oil on canvas, 54” x 72” and 2) Aaron Fowler. He Was. 2015. Mixed media, 134” x 165” x 108”. The themes that these works of art represent in regards to the exhibit are love, family, and pain. However, they also fall into other thematic categories. The main theme that seems to apply to both “Miles and JoJo” and “He Was” is Human Experience. Additionally, these arts differ in some ways.

The first two art pieces shown for this course were very interesting, The Royal Acquaintances Memi and Sabu and the Statue of Gudea. They are very interesting to observe at the very least, because they have such a rich history from a time period that not many artifacts survived from. Looking at the dates of the objects they are actually about 500 years in difference, but the common person probably wouldn't have guessed that just by looking at them.

Shepard Fairey’s piece titled Pay Up or Shut Up is a representation of the role that money or your role in society dictate the power of your speech. This piece of art by Fairey was released in May of 2015. It is a screen print on cream speckletone paper.

The beginnings of Abstract art can be traced back to Paul Cezanne (1839 - 1906) who reduced his forms down to geometric shapes - cylinders, spheres and cones - with the Cubists, led by Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973), taking this concept even further. Wassily Kandinsky (1866 - 1944) is considered the first truly abstract artist as he did not believe that his paintings needed a subject and expressed emotion through different shapes and colours; Green for example gave a feeling of peace while red promoted aggression. (Stevens, 2015) However I believe it is with the art of Piet Mondrian that ‘Simplicity as the essence of beauty’ in art really came into its own.

n this paper, I will be analyzing the following piece of digital art. Now the first thing I notice when I look at this picture is the color, it's mostly calm or cool colors mostly shades of blue or white. Which can mean many things that this person was feeling calm or was in a relaxed state while making this piece of digital art . or that he was depressed . The open theme of this picture brings a sense of calm and peace to me. The what look to be planets surrounding the tower in the middle also could have multiple meanings for instance they could represent the multiple possibilities of life or metaphorical worlds such as love life or social world etc... everything in this picture is taking place above the clouds possibly stating that this individual is above said problem. Or he has reached a mental state where this doesn't affect him. The architecture gives a fantasy/historical feeling that swallows you in a calmness. Each individual planet is rotating on a different axis suggesting different time or different place in the universe.