The Museum Of Fine Art

One pleasant afternoon, my classmates and I decided to visit the Houston Museum of Fine Arts to begin on our museum assignment in world literature class. According to Houston Museum of Fine Art’s staff, MFAH considers as one of the largest museums in the nation and it contains many variety forms of art with more than several thousand years of unique history. Also, I have never been in a museum in a very long time especially as big as MFAH, and my experience about the museum was unique and pleasant. Although I have observed many great types and forms of art in the museum, there were few that interested me the most.

The Harvester’s Vase was rediscovered in the ruins of the Hagia Triada, (a Minoan settlement near Knossos) by British Archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans in 1902, the Harvester’s Vase, is a beautiful and rare artifact of Minoan culture, the artist is unknown, but it is believed to have been created around 1500 BCE at the apex of Minoan civilization. But this isn’t any old vase, in fact, it is not a vase at all, according the art historian John Forskyse, but a stone sculpture made up of steatite or soapstone, (a metamorphic rock made up talc and magnesium) a very common medium for carving during this

This jar have yei’ii design and is at 8 ¾ tall and 8” wide at the handle. This is one of the Faye Tso’s pottery that have won the Second Prize in 1993 during the Museum of Northern Arizona Navajo Artiests Exhibition. This pieces and with other large pieces of pottery like the vase with yei’iis and human figure and the water jar with horned toads. These clay sculpture were made by Myra Tso, Faye’s daughter and it was to honor her grandfather, who sang and prayed for her. The design of horned toads on the pottery are very special because the toads was use in a ritual for praying. All ritual and ceremonies are essential parts of the Navajo way as well as sand painting art that was inspired by those that created ceremony. The dust from gold, diamonds,

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond at a glance is a modern metropolitan building that displays a vibrant exhibition of Byzantine art found in the Medieval and Byzantine wing. They are grouped together because they share a progression of time occurring in the heart of Europe roughly from the 1300s until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The exhibit begins with displays of medieval art of Western Europe. It further progresses to Byzantine art arranged in broad categories ranging from pre-Christian art, liturgical material, secular material and a display of coptic textiles. Although small scale, a few art pieces prominently featuring the human figure stood out in particular.

On November 7, 1883, an exhibition organized by “May Wright Sewell, her husband Theodore, and a small group of art-minded citizens” (History, 2017) began what would one day become the establishment now known as the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Since that first exhibition, the IMA has gone through several identity changes. They were first named, the Art Association of Indianapolis. Their next identity was as the John Herron Art Institute, which opened a whole new chapter, as they became “a campus featuring both a museum and an art school.” (History, 2017) Today, the IMA is one of the largest encyclopedic art museums in the nation. The IMA has had various leadership and staff over the years that have lent to how the museum operates today.

The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) holds many works of art from all types of cultures from around the world. The Torso of an Emperor in the Guise of Jupiter from Roman culture and the Torso of Aphrodite from Greek culture, are but two of them. It is unknown who the artist was for either of them, but the work has lived on for centuries. During the time period the gods were known for their perfection- like body and extraordinary looks. Since the sculptures highlight only the torso of the body it represents that only image matters and the brain does not.

Positioned alongside Central Park in the heart of New York City, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the largest and most influential art museums in the world. The Met houses an extensive collection of curated works that spans throughout various time periods and different cultures. The context of museum, especially one as influential as the Met, inherently predisposes its visitors to a certain set of understandings that subtly influence how they interpret and ultimately construct meanings about each individual object within the museum. Brent Plate in Religion, Art, and Visual Culture argues that “objects obtain different meanings in different locations and historical settings.”An object placed on display behind a glass case inside a museum would hold a vastly different meaning if it was put on sale by a street vendor, like the ones who set up their tables in close proximity to the Met. The different meanings that objects are able to obtain is attributed to the relationships that are established between the object itself and the environment that surrounds it. These relationships often involve the kind of audience that a museum attracts, where the work is exhibited, and how the exhibits within a museum is planned out. Museums subsequently have the ability to control how these relationships are established which influences the way a viewer is able to construct meaning. When a visitor observes an object on display at the Met, they instinctively construct a certain set of

The sculpture portrays the God of Harvest, Dionysus, with his loyal satyr follower, Pan. A considerable amount of detail when into the carving of Dionysus; the multiple grapevines in his hair, his ceremonial staff Thyrsus, the goatskins and the cup of wine he’s holding are all symbols of Dionysus. The composition is very asymmetrical, and creates a contrapposto arrangement, which is distinctly Grecian (Gardner). It was carved out of beautiful fine marble, which also had another purpose in the way of making this piece of art last for many years. Along with the tree trunk between the two men providing support at the base, and the elongated arms providing more structural stability. The God’s head is even reinforced by his hair to make sure the head doesn’t break off. This sculpture is visually and aesthetically pleasing, but doesn’t serve a useful function, like textiles or furniture. Therefore, it is considered a figurative piece of art, which art that is very clearly modeled after real object or person(s), and is therefore representational

Coffin of Horankh is an example of a classical art and it was created around 700 B.C.E. In order to make this container different materials were used wood, gesso, paint, obsidian, calcite and bronze. The coffin is of three dimensions with 1m 94.95 cm in length, 45.72 cm in breadth and 41.91cm in height. As of now the Coffin of Horankh is located in 302 Egyptian Gallery of DMA.

Making these jugs were a way for the African slaves to express themselves. They were used for religious reasons and held burial significance. Ceramics class was effective in exposing a completely new form of art to me that I had no previous knowledge about. From this assignment I was able to learn more about African-American culture, the significance of pottery in the lives of different people and how the meaning of face jugs have shifted. As a result of what I have learned I am more curious of the history behind the things that I see and use in everyday

There are three different colors on the jar: the natural color of the terracotta, the brown paint and the black paint. Since terracotta is a neutral color it provides an excellent background for the painting. Black is a very dark color and it makes the people and the designs stick out. People use black paint when they want their design to be important. Brown is a neutral color and it is used to show the not so prominent part of the image. The little bit of brown paint shows the ground the people are standing on. It also unifies the other places where it appears. Looking at the top there is a pattern painted with both the black and brown paint to show contrast. After contrast is seen unity is also seen with lines.

The apothecary jars were used during the italian renaissance, specifically during the years 1478-1550, the main use for these jars was to hold medication and spices that were used as herbal remedies. For instance,the earliest jars had no labels, so they would be used and reused for a variety of medicines, sometimes the labels would be attached to the jar to show what was inside, the practice of firing the name of the medications inside was not started until 1500. These jars have been replaced by containers of pills as well as jars to hold the spices, there are also bottles to hold the liquid medications and paper labels to show who the belong to and what the bottles contain. Naturally, the tops of the jars were decorated with colorful borders

Before going to the San Antonio Museum of Art I searched their website to get an idea of the paintings displayed. One stood out to me online however, it wasn’t until I saw it in person the magnitude of the true beauty of the painting. Martin Johnson Heade’s, Passion Flowers with Three Hummingbirds, exudes something special to vis ualize not only for its bright floral colors, but the heart of the painting is the three hummingbirds in their natural element. I’ve always loved nature, and have enjoyed some bird watching in my time. This would be a type of painting I would hang in my home, as the birds symbolize tranquility and peace in nature; doing what they do naturally. They equate the miracle of life in not only the birds, but the flora and fauna around them; with the sky illuminating in the background. Heade was heavily influenced by his surroundings. He was vastly interested from a very early age in hummingbirds and their effect on natural selection and their environment (St. Rosemary Educational Institution). His aspirations from Charles Darwin led him to the tropics where he painted several humming bird and orchid paintings as his subject matter, including Passion Flower with Three Hummingbirds. This set of genre paintings of tropical subjects depicted his interest in mood and light instead of topographically accurate views ("Martin Johnson Heade Biography”).

The vase presents a male figure with a helmet that is custom to military members. He is shown carrying an item with two heavy ends drooping and is shown hunched in order to carry a large barrel of items. The figure is most likely shown carrying military equipment. The figure’s body is also defined with toned and muscular arms highlighting body ideals. Beside the figure there is also another helmet, identical to the one on the figures head, a headgear with a large hook like shape on the top with small patterns decorating it. Right beside the figure, there is armor laying on the ground, angled towards the right causing our eyes to move towards that side. On the far right, another figure is shown, similar to the other figure. However according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this vase is in a fragmentary state, thus much of the paint has peeled off. This is reflected on that figure as only half of a body is displayed. To add on this lower half of the body is decorated with armor and long toned legs. This depicts the strength and power of the figures through the state of their bodies. Behind the figure there is a small feminine figure on the back of an animal, emphasized by the use of the black figure technique in comparison to the rest being painted through the red figure technique. This may represent an Amazonian since they were known for fighting and according to Greek Art: Pottery page 7, “vase shapes

Positioned alongside Central Park within the heart of New York City, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the largest and most influential art museums in the world. The Met houses an extensive collection of curated works that spans throughout various time periods and different cultures. The context of museums, especially one as influential as the Met, inherently predisposes its visitors to a set of understandings that subtly influence how they interpret and ultimately construct meanings about each individual object within a museum. By analyzing two separate works on exhibit at the Met, I will pose the argument that museums offer a unique expression of a world view that is dictated through every element of its construction.