Flowers, Fruit, Books, Bones Analysis

Art History is the study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts. The history of art, we feel, can sometimes be confused with art criticism. However, Art History is concerned with finding the value of the artistic piece in respect with others in the same category of art or movement, and art criticism is more of an evaluation of art. The art examined best represents the culture during the time period, visions the artist imagined, and history behind an event. It also represents society in a specific area, beliefs the people may have, writing that tells a story, the natural world and environment, conflict between people and areas, and the human body. With these representations, artwork overall represents the life in which we live (d). Each piece has its own genre, design, format and style to it. This makes each piece extremely different, yet pleasing to the eye. They also vary between paintings, sculptures and architecture. These different types also make a variety of artwork to be seen by all people. The art pieces that I chose, Jar, Bottle and Glass by Juan Gris, The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí, and Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, seemed interesting to me and I believe to best represent the context in which they were created, along with the major artistic movements of the time. I went on to research them more thoroughly to better understand the history behind them,

Apple Harvest is a painting created by a French artist named Camille Pissarro in 1888. The artwork is derived from the European culture focusing on the style of neo-impressionism or pointillism. The painting is made with the use of oil on canvas and currently located inside the Dallas Museum of Art in second floor in the section of European art. It depicts a lively image of farmers engaging in their daily activities where they are picking apples on a sunny day. The background of the landscape consists of a huge ranch with additional apple trees that gives a vibration of harvesting season. Similarly, it is a form of a representational artwork portraying physical labor by the farmers during that period. Camille Pissarro seemed to support the farmers of low social status and believed in hard work as some of his artworks are the representations of lives of these social groups (Dallas Museum of Art 2017). In the painting “Apple Harvest”, he tries to picture working peasants in an apple farm in the French Countryside (Dallas Museum of Art 2017). This paper is an integration of the analysis of formal elements and principles relevant to the art work “Apple Harvest” and my experience of observation of this piece of art at the Dallas Museum of Art including a reflection upon the visit.

Conversely, formal analysis of Cézanne’s Still Life with Pot of Flowers and Pears reveals freshness and honesty. The arrangement of objects aspires to a fair and well-ordered world and although the extrapolation from formalism to the real world seems fanciful, it has cemented Cézanne’s reputation as a progenitor of art’s avant-garde

In John Berger’s essay “Another Way of Telling,” Berger argues that photographs contain a “third meaning.” Berger claims that the third meaning is personal and relies almost completely on the individual viewer. As a result, no photograph can convey the same message to any two people and no two photographs can convey the same message to any one person. Here, the validity of Berger’s assumption crumbles. All photographs communicate one absolute truth.

Jan Van Huysum is renowned for his innate ability to capture and display realism utilizing unique methods that have long captivated art aficionados. One of his many famous paintings, Still Life of Flowers and Fruit, encompasses various examples of his unique ability and incorporates a dynamic array of live material into this beautiful still-life painting. Originally painted in early 17th century Europe, this masterpiece of oil on wood now survives in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. At 31 ¼ x 23 ¾ inches in size, this painting allows for viewers to closely examine the entirety of this life-size arrangement. Fruits erupting from the base of a terra cotta vase, and flowers wildly expanding towards the slightest glimpse of light generates a feeling of life within the work. Adding to this sense of life is various insects and distinctive postures within the flowers of the bouquet that, when illuminated with the magnificent choice of lighting, creates an energy so realistic that the human mind commands one’s eyes to confirm reality. This paper will deliver an in-depth visual analysis and deeply examine the high degree of realism and detail provided by Dutch artist, Jan Van Huysum.

Still-life has been largely viewed as a genre of painting that contemplates life and time passing through an existential lens. Although this may be true, it seems that one may be myopically viewing still-life in a way that robs it of its nuances. This is even truer of still-life that contains a self-portrait of the artist – whether a traditional self-portrait or reflected on a mirror – as seen in many 17th century Dutch still-life. I argue that still-life with the artist’s portrait embedded into the painting is not solely a two-dimensional contemplation of time passing, but rather a celebration of life, a foreboding of death, a form of self-awareness and, via that self-awareness, an illustration of the artist in a god-like state. This entanglement

The Vertical View of Jardin d’Eau (2012) by artist Mickalene Thomas is an eye catching contemporary mixed media landscape. A large work of art, this 100x 92” wooden panel is enhanced by her signature use of rhinestones, acrylic, oil and enamel. When I first walked into the exhibition room featuring her work at the Telfair Museum in Savannah, Georgia, I was immediately drawn to it. Whether it was the sparkle of the artwork or the sheer size, I don’t know what immediately drew me toward Vertical View of Jardin d’Eau in the first place. At first, although the piece is very eye catching, its inspiration and meaning or even what exactly it was depicting was not very clear. My initial interpretation was a small pond and trees, but after further review and research about both the artwork and the artist, her intention becomes well defined and her interpretation of a peaceful setting is more apparent.

Rooted within John Berger’s observations on the consumption of visual culture, in his 1972 book, Ways of Seeing, is the statement that “The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled”. Within the texts first chapter, Berger endeavours to illustrate the unique nature of perception along with its vulnerability to influence. The author further comments on the loss of independent thinking regarding artwork, instead being replaced by a state of false ‘mystification’. The enigmatic nature of the Baroque piece, ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’(c.1665), by Dutch artist Johaness Vermeer, proves to allow for unique interpretations that are free from the ‘learnt assumptions’ often implemented by the elite art society. Berger’s desire for

The Barnes Foundation’s newest exhibition, French Photography 1800-1960, is a collection of photographs that encapsulates life in France during the 19th and 20th centuries. The exhibit features photographs by artists including Ilse Bing, Brassai, and Henri Cartier Bresson. Entering into the exhibit is like taking a trip through time; depending on if you turn left or right at the entrance to the exhibit, you can travel forward through time from the early to the mid 1900s or you can travel backwards. The exhibit is organized by eight different periods and the attitudes that were most prevalent during them. The categories are: Paris and Environs, Street Life, Commerce, Labor, Leisure, Reportage, Celebrity, and Art for Art’s Sake. The exhibit is an enlightening trip through time, highlighting the glamorable life in France in the 19th and 20th centuries, bringing to life artistic movements, culminating in the final intersection of cubism and photography, Brassai’s piece Transmutation: Girl Dreaming being perhaps the brightest star in the collection.

Each of the pieces in the De Young museum have their merits, but few can, although debatable, compare in boldness and complex simplicity to Beth Lipman’s Candlesticks, Books, Flowers, & Fruits. Finished in 2010 by the American born artist, Candlesticks, Books, Flowers, & Fruits is a life-sized sculpture that, in a general way of putting it, touches upon various contemporary themes and ideas regarding opulence, indulgence, and the taints associated with such undertakings, all of which may be naturally derived from one’s perspective-based interpretation. This art piece comprises of an ovular table with an overabundance of constituents resting upon it, these constituents consisting of a medley of flowers, vases, glasses, fruits, bowls, plates, books, & candlesticks among other things, all of which are sculpted from glass, coloured of glossy pitch black. This work, being a sculpture, was unexpectedly assorted into the museum’s Still Life gallery, implying its classification as a Still Life piece.

Careful visual observations are key when distinguishing masterpieces of photography. The attention to the slightest details and uses of many various techniques are what distance Gregory Crewdson and William Eggleston from the norm. Though it is simple to discuss the contents of a photograph, it takes a trained eye to analyze the true visual art that the picture portrays. Every image by both of these photographs contains a hidden meaning, a variety of thousands of possible interpretations made by the viewers. Composition and content are both considered and involved when the photographers make the final decisions of the arrangement. Thus, the artist’s intensions of the the subject of the image are also essential to consider. All in all, the

* Accordingly, as I proceeded in my photographic pursuits, I diligently practice seeing fine pictures, to sharpen my senses to my surroundings. Thus, spontaneously beginning to notice those small detail elements, their dynamic movements, the variety of colours, not to mention the projecting highlights, mid tones, and their cast shadows. Indeed, letting the subject speak to me for revealing the best possible techniques in capturing these images, to selectively focusing on the subject, striving to isolate it from a distracting or nonessential background. Thereupon, looking uniquely for those strong shapes, spatial relationships, colour balances, striking lines, and their distinct patterns.

Artists of the Impressionist movement share a universal popularity of which other artistic groups know not of. This form of art expressed natural and simple beauty that captured life while it happened. The unique style brought out what’s worth appreciating; things we’re surrounded by every day, things that sometimes escape our gaze and go unnoticed. If one were considering to duplicate what they saw at any given time, they would have to also consider the broad range of colors the day produces. No matter the time of day or year, every moment proves unique if one were to take the time to notice the light, and what it does to the scenery.

Still life paintings are a way of elevating ordinary everyday objects to a place of prominence that tell a story of the society and culture of that time; showing that everything around us, no matter how ordinary, can be seen as beautiful. Painted with watercolors in the year 1985, End Times is a still life painting by artist Michael Beck. In true trompe-l’oeil fashion, the painting needs to be examined up close to be able to tell that it is not a photograph. The objects placed together in this piece are not necessarily objects that one would consider for a work of art. They are items that one would find in most households, but the artist placed them together in a composition, deeming them worthy enough for such artistic expression. In End Times, unlike traditional still life paintings, the artist has placed the items on a wooden floor instead of a table top. The composition is balanced with vases on one side, boxes and a plant on the other and a tall wood and rattan stool in the middle with a few items on the top of the stool. There are four vases of varying heights and widths placed on the foreground on the right of the composition. The largest vase which frames the right of the picture is yellow and white has the look of a ceramic milk jug that has some dried reeds coming out of the top. Next to this vase we see a small brown ceramic vase with more of a geometric tribal design on it, placed directly behind this vase is a tall and slender caramel colored vase. The fourth

The picture hanging on the gallery wall leaves itself wide open to scrutiny, criticism or study but ultimately invites, with visual intrigue the aesthetic pleasure and satisfaction, which the viewer derives from sensory involvement of the image before them.