Art Historian And Anthropologist: A Comparative Analysis

Two sculptures, among others, lie in the outskirts of the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden at UCLA. One of them, The Walking Man, is a bronze sculpture created by French sculptor Auguste Rodin in 1905. The other, made more than 100 years later, is T.E.U.C.L.A., a large scale steel sculpture made by minimalist sculptor Richard Serra. Although it may seem like these works have more differences than similarities, both emphasize the processes of their creation and are major movements away from the classical tradition of sculpture. However, The Walking Man and T.E.U.C.L.A. also differ in several aspects that reflect their respective artists’ personal portrayals of modern sculpture. These aspects include: mode of production, composition and the arrangement of volumes, the play of light and shadow, and visual experience. Together these elements of formal organization work together to convey meaning in both of these works. Rodin’s deliberate rejection of refinement and disregard for the direct translation of the unformed to formed in The Walking Man represent the process and spontaneity of reality, while Serra’s use of curvature and aperture in T.E.U.C.L.A. models the spaces people move through and the perceptive skills they use in life and nature.

The study of history not only provides information about the past, but gives people knowledge and details that help shape lives, in the present and future. For the longest time it has been said that history is bound to repeat itself if it is not understood. Although the repetition of previous tragic historical events is an important reason to study the past, there are many others. As American playwright James Baldwin said, people are a part of history, but history is just as much part of them. This is one of the more fundamental reasons why the exploration of the past is vital to human beings. The study of history gives humans a sense of belonging, a feeling that

The Landscape of History by John Lewis Gaddis, is an educational series of lectures that effectively advances the theories of famous historiographers. He specifically focuses on historians like E.H. Carr and Marc Bloch and tries to encourage historians and students to not only reevaluate the concepts of Carr and Bloch but to dissect the system that historiographers use. Gaddis, in an indirect approach does contest particular assumptions of postmodernism, mainly the radical interpretation that historiographers remain incapable of creating deductions about the past. Gaddis's flair rests in his handling of the historian's occupation and how he considers them both a science and an art. Through the examination of The Landscape of History, the reader, gets a sense that Gaddis is combining the techniques of an artist and the methods of scientists. He describes throughout the whole book what a historian does and what he must do with a mixture of inundating metaphors.

In The Fifth Beginning: What Six Million Years of Human History Can Tell Us About Our Future, author Robert Kelly brings up interesting points to consider about the beginnings of change in humanity’s past and how this may affect the future. By explaining how archaeologists think and how the field works is critical in understanding the rest of the book. He tries to debunk to common misconception that archeology is about digging up things and putting them on display right from the start. By dividing human history into so-called beginnings helps to explain how archaeologists have taken every speck of dirt and rock that seems meaningful to answer our favorite question: where do we come from?

Art has been a major outlet for many artist around the world making masterpieces to represent what they see in the world. As generations pass, and we don’t talk about the past art is the connection to remind us of what once was. Visual art helps us connect to the past by using different art forms to show historical events and cultural beliefs/ trends.

In Grandview Boulevard, completed in 1974 CE, the artist utilizes painterly brushstrokes. The shadows of the trees that are painted dark purple appear to have more painterly aspects than the rest of the composition. From far away, the painting seems smooth and sleek, but up close, the individual thick brushstrokes can be seen. The implied texture of the leaves in the painting is sturdy and prickly, and the texture of the yellowed grass appears to be dry and coarse, however, the actual texture of the painting itself is smooth. The artist also uses both curvilinear and geometric lines. In looking at the trees in the painting, they are composed of primarily geometric lines (excluding the leafy top) that run in a

History has had an inarguable and behemoth impact on the trajectory of art and literature that it surrounds. Quite often, these mediums are a mere reflection of the artist's or author’s existence, and can be viewed as heavily autobiographical, regardless if the artist acknowledges this or not. In fact, many artists and authors will deny that their work is influenced by outside events, and wish to attest that their productions are sporadically born out of the creative abyss of their minds. However, this is absolutely false, since that mind is undoubtedly affected by external stimuli. Consequently, it is an undeniable premise that history changes the course of literature.

During the course I realized how large of a role art plays in helping create cultures and developing and preserving the history of civilizations. I find it interesting that when there’s no written history or any historical buildings, cultures will always make their own ancient past grander than what it really is. The Israelites, the Greeks and Romans all tell stories of their history that has no written proof. It seems that we as people want to have a connection to our roots and to understand where we come from. This is why I believe that most people want to believe in a higher power.

As Virgil stated so many years ago, history is a cyclical phenomenon. The experiences of one age tend to be repeated in future generations. Knowing that, we should not be surprised to find the seeds of modern styles and philosophies sprouting in earlier ages.

6    Every important historical moment is marked by these sorts of shifts to new models of living, which expand in velocity and complexity well past what the current ways of thinking can handle. Our moment is no exception. And usually the source of the greatest historical disasters is that so few people at the time either recognize or understand the shift. Artists, with their tuned instincts for the new, often do.

Art can be used in several ways so therefore there are many ways to memorialize a historical event. Sculptures are one of the more common ways that historical events are preserved for example many Greek sculptures usually constructed from marble or bronze, like the statue of David which is very well known. Photography is another method of preserving the past, although taking less skill it still retains much of the impact as it literally brings past events to the present a good example being the photo of the falling man during the 9/11 attacks. The photo was very controversial as it captured a man falling from the twin towers to his death many consider this picture an intimate moment that should

Our knowledge of the art of ancient societies comes largely from the archeological analysis that has been done on the ancient societies. The greater amount of remains and runs helps us to piece together the function and meaning of some pieces of art. Our knowledge

For the past few weeks I have been sorting through the collection of postcards. I selected the ones that had to with people on the street of India. I find it interesting that this collection has large potion of people represented from lower classes. My curiosity also orientates around the way in which India was being portrayed to the West.

The future will know the socially, politically, economically, and personally stories of today because of contemporary art. It will share even the minimal detail about the experiences that drove artists and their desires to push society to the extreme in order to prove their point as an attempt to deconstruct the conformity within society. Contemporary art will share the evident paradigm and gradual metamorphism of society between the future and the past. Ordinarily, It will offer a visual glimpse into the surreal reality of this era, and all that surrounds it, and the influences of our

From this we acquire the first realization that history, as an academic study, does not exist in a vacuum, nor does it rely solely on its own vices. In contrast, we see that in the interminable quest to find the answer to the question of “what-really-happened-in-the-past” often we rely on things that were not necessarily originally designed to be works of history and people that do not consider themselves historians to provide an accurate picture of life at the time. (Note: looking at the historical qualities of architecture and buildings shows another example of this idea; they can show a lot about a culture, such as lifestyle, artistic sensibilities and social structure)