Nnenna Okore Courage

A review of the world’s great artists conjures familiar images: Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel; Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night; Pablo Picasso’s The Tragedy. There are many more, of course: Monet, Moya, Warhol, Rembrandt, Kandinsky. What is immediately noticeable, however, upon any brief study of art, is the significant absence of women as heralded artists—not only in our ancient pasts, but even today, amongst valiant efforts for gender equality.

All Artist are influenced by their experience of the world, their personal and cultural beginings and stories. The history and life experience of an artist flows though their work influencing their symbols, style and meaning. Frida Khalo and Gordon Bennett are rich of example this, their art is filled with strong connection to their cultural and personal backgrounds. Khalo had a troubled life of pain and loss; the story is woven through her paintings, where Bennett art is a comment on Australian cultura and the story of his people, not just himself. The art working Diego and I (1946) and Self portrait -But I always wanted to be one of the good guys (1990) are great examples of these artist drawing on their pass.

Their individual perspectives in life ultimately shaped their education, experiences and overall point of view. This essay will outline the similarities and differences in subject matter, tone and imagery of these two artists’ bodies of work.

Reisz says it takes courage to be an artist because (). I agree with her claim because it takes () to continue creating art after others criticism and negative opinions being thrown your way. Her opinion is not rooted in the time period ().

Another important element these artists have in common is their similar composition and also their points of view.

Since the beginning of time, artists have labored extensively to find innovative ways to convey sentiment, passion, and feeling. Telling stories and trying to unlock the minds of people through different avenues of artistic labors. Art touches and affects people in unique ways; it can have special or unusual meaning on the person depending on how one views it. Artists’ rendering of their art is interpreted in numerous ways by others who view it unless it is explained by the artist on its meaning giving a clear example of what they are portraying. Two people looking at the same painting, sculpture, portrait, or photo may come to different views on the arts meaning even though they are looking

The Two Fridas, by Frida Kahlo, and John Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace, both address the issue of identity. Finding identity is not an easy task. It not only makes up an individual, but builds him or her up leading to a stable place in society. Not having an identity, causes an individual to be codependent in every aspect of their life. In the painting, The Two Fridas, both portraits of Frida Kahlo are attached to each other by a single vein that runs through their bodies and ends up in the heart.

Throughout this book the three girls show their courageousness. In the beginning they all have the courage to leave their homes to seek out one another. They also have the courage to go to a mysterious town, free the citizens, and fight a border guard to get into Fairytale. The characters continue to demonstrate courage throughout the story. Two key events demonstrating courage is when the birds of prey protecting Oonagh's home use their power of fear to freeze the girls. The three girls have the courage to escape into the cave that Oonagh lives in, despite difficulties. Also all three girls have the courage to jump out a window and sacrifice themselves to save Fairytale. Joa also has the courage to call Eli Ador, her boyfriend, as she dies.

Art itself is a symbol of both freedom and failure.  In her attempt to become an artist, Edna reaches the zenith of her awakening.  She begins to truly understand pure art as a means of self-expression as well as self-assertion.  In a similar way, Mlle. Reisz sees the path to

“Art is an irreplaceable way of understanding and expressing the world. There are some truths about life that can be expressed only as

Female artists Caterina van Hemessen and Judith Leyster both composed self-portraits of themselves painting on canvases. Hemessen and Leyster, express themselves similarly through their own self portraits. Viewers can picture similarities and differences by looking at basic comparisons, what is incorporated into each of the paintings, and the significance of each painting.

Have you ever looked at a piece of art and wondered how it could be based on real life, because it was just so beautiful? Well Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun was able to paint in such new and exciting ways; people were left wondering just this. Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun was a woman of many talents. In her life time she came up with new ways of painting, revolutionized fashion in France, and overcame any prejudice thinking because she was a woman. Before dying at the age of eighty-seven, she had gained the respect of women and men all across the world. Being a female artist in the eighteenth century was not easy, especially when you had to keep a career and your life together during the

Frida Kahlo’s “The Two Fridas” is a manifestation of heartbreak, inner human pain, rejection of colonialism, and emotional journey. An oil on canvas made in 1939 in the midst of Frida Kahlo’s divorce from Diego Rivera, this painting embodied Frida Kahlo’s progression at this time in her life, dealing with what she is and what she wishes to be; as well as setting out how she wishes to do it. An ode to melancholy and overcoming adversity, “The Two Fridas” is a universal, eternal reminder of human capability.

Another issue is that the artwork lacks originality from that of Victor's work. However, the ideas are different from one another, one being social commentary or Realism while the other is more expressive in nature and is more of an emotional representation - as in the case of my work. The problem is that there is no originality separating We Are Many from that of Victor’s work, even if inspiration was drawn from Victor. Apart from the lack of originality, the artwork is very successful in portraying emotion due to the expressive mark making and technique of using smoke as a medium. The fact that Diane Victor can include so much detail adds to the emotion and “drama” of the work, whereas my own artwork lacks the detail - making it extremely difficult to portray the same high level of emotion. The artwork itself is successful in portraying emotion however, but lacks artist originality. This is due to the fact that both techniques are the same and have made use of the same medium on the same surface. This therefore effects the interpretation and ownership of my work. Victor makes it difficult for me to be original in this particular medium because she has perfected her

“Painting today is pure intuition and luck and taking advantage of what happens when you splash the stuff down. “- Francis Bacon. However when I learnt more about history of art and the way each movement and happenings in the world inspired artist to make new works, I was able to see much more than just a canvas with random paints and sketches. The interesting part about this concept is that each piece of art could be interpreted in many different ways. In contemporary art there isn’t right and wrong, each of us view and find different meanings and connections with artworks.