This freestanding, subtractive sculpture depicts a young mother comfortably kneeling and cradling her breastfeeding baby. The young mother’s features are very delicate and fair; her gaze falls lovingly upon the infant who gazes back at her. Both figures are unclothed with minimal space between them. The scale is similar to that of a real mother and baby, but perhaps a little bit smaller. The sculpture is carved from a pure white piece of marble without natural flecks of color or coloring additions. The element of light and shadow helps to make the figures appear very realistic. For instance, gradual, minute depressions made in the sculpture are affected by shadow and suggest anatomical structure beneath the figures’ skin. The …show more content…
Indeed, using perfectly white marble reflects the innocence and purity possessed by the mother and baby. This quality is also maintained by the texture; there are no impurities or roughness to be found. In addition to reflecting purity, the smooth texture provides the work with an aura of calming softness that helps to highlight the serenity of the scene. As mentioned in the description, the use of line is also very delicate. The artist might have made them sharp and angular, but instead, he used lines that are curved, gradual, and smooth. This contributes to the loving, gentle quality of the artwork. Another way that the artist has achieved a peaceful scene is by limiting the principle of movement. One can imagine the baby wiggling its toes or the young mother slightly readjusting her position, but that is the extent of the movement suggested. As has been described, the harmonious result of the art elements is a pure, peaceful, and tender scene. As a young girl, I remember going to the Springville Museum of Art on a field trip and seeing this work of art. At first, I was a bit shocked due to the mother’s lack of clothing; however, I noticed that her nakedness was not portrayed in a disrespectful way. Despite being a bit disturbed, I was able to recognize something pure and genuinely sweet about the statue. As I have revisited this artwork, I’ve become less troubled by it and more aware of its tender and even divine
I think about how the world had betrayed this women. They made this woman plump and empty, she does not even have a face. This statue is nude showing everything to the naked eye, she does not have a desirable body. This sculpture shows how much a woman was respected back in the day, which was very little.
I can only tell by body language that they want to spread heroism between men and women. The use of marble links the sculpture to the glow and smoothness of the male skin. In this sculpture, it appears to be characterized by imagery aimed at the sense of the marble statue. The standing sculpture appears to be relaxed, while the median line makes an angle. While standing upright, the figure’s feet are place in a certain way that brings a shifting effect or movement and a stable poise.
MacMonnies captivating exhibit at the Museum is a must see item, especially for the female visitor. Being a person that loves art, I felt that this sculpture gave me a sense of pride seeing that women can go on the hunt just as the men, some even better. This sculpture also shows the beauty of the female body in the nude. If you compare this to modern art it can be seen as depicting the same styles,
“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.” -Oscar Wilde. Women are wild, sensitive, magnificent, mysterious, and above all: individual. Art’s many different medias allowed artist throughout the ages to capture women at both their strongest and most vulnerable points. It has the power to capture a woman: as a naïve, young girl clutching her brother as they are painted into a lasting portrait, a golden statue of an angel sent down to Earth to help a saved man take his first steps into an eternal life with God, to the powerful goddess, Artemis, transforming a hunter into a deer and having his hunting dogs tragically attack him. The six pieces of art chosen express the individuality of each women who has walked, walks, and will walk the earth.
“People can take what they like out of the work”-Saville (YouTube, 2017). The female nude is one of the most prominent themes in the history of art and has been subject for many masterpieces such as botticelli's The Birth of Venus and Manet’s Le Dejeuner sur I’herbe. Saville's treatment of the female nude is undeniably like no other from the centuries before her.
With the sculpture straight ahead, the audience sees a profile view of the scene; however, the artist created the sculpture with enough space and depth to be able to view the front of the woman’s face from a side angle. The artist created the seated woman with much detail; her nose, chin, slightly opened mouth, pronounced brow line and inset eyes show this. She reaches for the chest with her right arm in a very delicate manner as her left arm lays on the throne for support.
The statues, Heyl Aphrodite and Capitoline Gaul, both contain human-like features, but only one shows the ideal woman figure. By observing Heyl Aphrodite, viewers notice her soft, curvaceous figure. Her body is proportional creating balance and harmony. Fabric hugs the goddess’s body, draping over her right breast, while exposing the left, conveying a sense of sexuality. Her lack of eye contact expresses weakness, while her body posture, with the aid of the fabric, shows movement. Merker compares the artwork in her book, when she writes, “The raised right shoulder gives a sense of movement; although there is no torsion, one feels there ought to be and is reminded of the unstable, twisting movement of the Heyl Aphrodite in
This sculpture is comprised of marble, and due to its large size it was easier for me to develop an impression about the piece because I can focus on specific parts in more detail. To understand the piece, a very visual and detailed perspective is needed. Judging by the way the thighs are represented, it appears as though she is striking a contrapposto pose, which makes her appear static. She has most of her weight shifted on her left leg, but not all of it The focal point of this piece I believe is her robe. It skillfully falls down her left side, while leaving other parts exposed, drawing the main attention of this piece. Few different types of shapes are displayed, except the shape of her legs and the form of the robe. The physical texture was smooth throughout the entire piece, partly due to the material it is made of. There is only this one texture, as her robe and body parts all feel the same.
The marble used to create the sculpture brings out the fine quality of such material. It also adds elegance and sensuous grace to the whole sculpture. The use of marble links the sculpture to the radiance and softness of the female skin. The hips of the
An example of perfectly malleable woman is The Lady with the Primroses, a marble statue attributed to Andrea del Verrochio and kept in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence (Fig. 2).1 Quite unusually for a Quattrocento bust, the statue represents an anonymous young woman from the head to the navel, and it is about sixty centimeters high (explain why it is unusual). By being presented with an entire life-sized torso, the viewer would have been particularly struck by the life-like qualities of the statue, which, if skillfully displayed, would have emanated a real presence. The woman's round face and youthful look give her a chaste appearance, heightened by the whiteness of the marble and the posy of primroses, which are usually white, that she holds close to her chest, which evoke virtue and virginity.
Throughout history, people have used paintings and art as a tool to express their religious beliefs and values. Illustrations depicting the Virgin Mary and child, often referred to as Madonna and Child, are one of the most recurring images in Christian and European Art through the ages. Though these paintings and sculptures may have similarities in their iconography and style each work of art varies based on the different artists’ and time periods. Two paintings that portray these features currently reside in the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. The first, Virgin and Child by Rogier van der Wyden, was originally painted after 1454. In the painting, the Virgin Mary is holding Christ against her shoulder as he twists around to face toward the viewers. The second painting is Virgin and Child with a Donor, painted by Antoniazzo Romano and originally painted c. 1480. In this painting, Virgin Mary is supporting Christ who seems to be standing and includes a figure of a man with his hands crossed in prayer. While both paintings depict the mother and child, there are both similarities and differences in style and portrayal. In this paper, I will thoroughly examine these traits, as well as address the similarities and differences associated with the two paintings. This analysis will be done by using information gained from reading Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, in class lectures from ARTH 1381 Art and Society Renaissance to Modern and ARTH 1300 Ways of Seeing Art, and close visual
The sculptures and paint show details how society viewed and interpreted women body, sexuality, and maternity. In addition, revealed that these women were protected from threats around them with ornaments. Civilizations since early times, believed that we were in permanent threat from forces we do not see or cannot explain and because of it, we protected ourselves with artificial elements in a form of jewelry, crowns or caps. This idea has been continue from one generation to the next to the point that in modern societies some of us still use this type of protection in our bodies (e.g., small cross, divine images, tattoos, etc.).These pieces of art also indicate that humans believed in gods with superpowers and they are looking over us constantly. Humanity also believes in dark forces or demons trying to makes us do things that would upset the good gods. Some of the differences between these sculptures and paint are the material in which each one of them were created. The first figure, the Woman of Willendorf was carved in limestone, the second piece, the portrait of Queen Tiye was carved in wood and the last piece, the Virgin and Child Icon was created of tempera on a wood. You can also notice how the details on their faces and bodies changes throughout the time and years. The woman of Willendorf figurine offers details of a voluptuous nude women’s body but there is not face, or feet. Queen Tiye statue shows the face of a woman in detail closed to the gods but without any body parts and lastly The Virgin and Child Icon, is an expression of divinity of the views, reflections and beliefs from the gospel. Because communities started to innovate on the art of carving and painting, populations began to discover and/or create art with the objective of expressing different purposes of our daily lives, such as the beauty of a woman’s body, or to commemorate an ancient
This essay will compare and contrast the work of two sculptors who use the human form as a basis of their artwork. The first sculpture “Apollo and Daphne” by Gian Lorenzo Bernini was created in 1622 and portrays a Romanian story. Where as “Two Women” by Ron Mueck is a hyper realistic sculpture made by an Australian contemporary artist.
Artist and people viewing the art work have always had a fascination with the female nude. Even when I was a child my attention was captured by the nude art not because I was a kid and I saw a nude lady , but it forced me to wonder more about why the female nude was so amazing as a tool for art and why this is repeated so many times throughout the centuries. One female nude painting in particular was the subject of controversy and exposed the syncretism and or the power of the female nude painting.
In 1794, Sir Thomas Lawrence painted the masterpiece called Pinkie. The canvas is currently hanging in the permanent collection of The Huntington in San Marino, California. In 1943 my grandmother, who was in her final year of high school, created a replica chalk drawing of Pinkie. She attended the Immaculate Conception Academy, or ICA, in Oldenburg, Indiana, which was a Roman Catholic all girls’ boarding school. It was her 6th year at the ICA when it was custom to attend for only 4 years. Because of her artistic abilities and dedication to the school, they asked her to create a painting to be hung in the school.