Chieh Chin’s Calligraphy

A Verse in Cursive Script

Chieh Chin

Ming Dynasty

Chieh Chin was revered for his beautiful script. China had rigorous written examinations for those looking to enter the civil services during the Ming Dynasty. Chieh Chin passed the first degree exam but later resigned to become a monk. This cursive script was especially praised because of its ability to flow and reveal individuality. This particular verse is translated as follows:

The mountain’s rocky girth has endured a thousand years,

A day has never passed without dragons and oceans,

Beneath Heaven a verdant Earth awaits benevolence,

Not knowing if clouds will settle here.

Chieh Chin

I chose this piece because when I think of calligraphy I usually think of a strict structure, and this takes my idea of calligraphy and flips it upside down. It is beautiful and fitting for such poetic contents. I like that the writing itself, and not merely the contents of the writing, are so artistically significant. In an age of electronic text and mass printing this is almost like a dying art form and its beautiful to see it in some of its ancient original glory.

Art in Every Day Life

Everything done by the Chinese was skillful and artistic. They were brilliant crafstmen and their patience is undeniable. Perhaps this is because of their expansive interest in philosophy and meditation, or perhaps it is because of their concept of nature. Either way it is an understatement to say they appreciated beauty in every aspect of life.

This storage jar was created in the late Ming Dynasty. Where in present day we package things up in mass produced crates to ship them, in China this Martaban stoneware jar provided storage for overseas trade. The large jars were typically produced near port towns for the convenience of shippers. They would carry oil, wine, fruit, pickles or even delicate ceramics. The designs on such jars were made with black, brown and amber glazes and typically depicted dragons, waves, pearls and clouds, themes of the sea. This particular jar bares the design of a dragon thrashing through strong waves. It was discovered in the Philippines where it must have settled its journey of trade.

I chose this particular piece because I feel like there is more to it than just a jar. It is a piece of artwork as well as a practical tool and it has been on a journey that we can only guess. I only wish that the image was clearer so I could observe the detail that I know must exist even after so many centuries.

Progress

The 1960s and onward has been a period of great progress and development, socially and technologically. Achievements that had not been recognized gained noticed, rights that had not be granted were obtained, and the modern world has grown. There is no doubt that the Post Modern world of art focuses on the theme of progress.

The Dinner Party is a long-term installment created by Judy Chicago in 1974-1979 and is located in the Brooklyn Museum.  Judy is a scholar, feminist, artist and educator.  She was born in Chicago and has a Bachelors as well as Masters in art. She has even taught college courses focusing on feminist art and women’s history. This piece represents the achievements of women that have gone unrecognized in history. This displays the theme of progress well because it shows the contributions of women to societies all around the world. It is progress in itself just to learn that women are indeed an important part of society. I like this piece because of what it represents, and how symbolic it is. Every place mat is a tribute to an important woman in history.

 

 

 

 

The Great Wall of Los Angeles is a mural dreamed up by Judy Baca in 1976-2003 and painted by over 400 artists. It is located in the San Fernando Valley. Judy Baca was born in California of Mexican American parents. She was raised in a family of women and participated in the Chicano Movement. She strives to promote peace and equality. The Great Wall of Los Angeles deoicts the history of California. It is continually growing as a reminder that progress is constant. I love this mural because it has so much depth to it. It begins all the way back to prehistoric times and currently continues up through the 1950′s. I love that there is a visual representation of history that is so positive and always growing.

Another fantastic piece done by Judy Baca, Be Skeptical of the Spectacle, was made in 1985 in California as a public service message. In a time when the media controls our thoughts, it is of severe importance to remember to use our own minds. Progress cannot be accomplished by believing everything we hear. I find this piece to be clever and true to my personal beliefs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Civil Rights Monument was envisioned and created by Maya Lin in 1989. Maya Lin was born in Ohio where her father was the dean of the Ohio University College of Fine Arts. She is an avid environmentalist and often this is reflected in her artwork. She is most famous for her Vietnam Memorial.  This particular memorial is located in Montgomery, Alabama where much of the inspiration for the Civil Rights Movement took place. The memorial recognizes the deaths of many individuals that helped change America for the better and how their deaths connect to a reaction. Even an individual can make a difference and cause progress in this world. I love this piece because of how moving it is without being complex.

 

 

 

 

Another beautiful memorial done by Maya Lin is The Women’s Table. This memorial was made in 1993 at Yale University. It is a granite table inscribed with the number of women enrolled at Yale since the year they began to admit women. This is a clearly progressive moment in history to be memorialized. The numbers are written in a spiral to represent growth. I am glad that there is something out there to memorialize the rights of women that we so often take for granted now.

This pavement drawing done by Julian Beever is untitled and done at an unknown date (perhaps the 4th of July).  Julian Beever was born in England and has done work all over the world. There must have been something about America that he found celebratory. There is nothing more progressive than a revolution, and every 4th of July we celebrate it. I love Julian Beever because his artwork is illusory and imaginative. In this case it appears as though a girl is riding on an eagle.

Aspects of Negro Life – The Harlem Renaissance

Aspects of Negro Life: The Negro in an African Setting

Aspects of Negro Life: An Idyll of the Deep South

Aspects of Negro Life: From Slavery Through Reconstruction

Aspects of Negro Life: Song of the Towers

The paintings in the series above were painted by Aaron Douglas in New York during the Harlem Renaissance in 1934.  They were commissioned by the Public Works of Art Project, a program that employed artists during the Great Depression, as a mural for The New York Public Library’s 135th St. branch.  The paintings portray the story of black history from the beginning in Africa before the slave trade, to the time of slavery in the Deep South, to the freeing of slaves and Reconstruction, all the way up to the migration North and the Harlem Renaissance. In all four paintings there is one common element: Music. A common theme of the Harlem Renaissance was tracing African roots back to Africa. The first painting, The Negro in the African Setting, displays the community of Africans enjoying the activity of dance. As the culture evolves even overseas and in the most desperate situations, such community revolving around music and dance persists. It comforts them in a time of forced slave labor, it urges them forward in a time of celebration of freedom, and it brings them glory in the dawning of the age of jazz when their culture is shared with the rest of the world.

I find this series to be absolutely stunning. It portrays the indestructability of a culture, its history and evolution, and the perseverance of a people. The sillouhetted style creates an atmosphere of community where cultural independence is significant. Despite all of the tragedy there is strength in the community and the culture and this is so well displayed in the pictures. The slave labor portrayed in An Idyll of the Deep South is not the main focus, but a sideline, as if to say slavery did not make the slave. Also the abstract characteristics of the paintings allow for interpretation. In the final piece, Song of the Towers, the black man is finally free from the grasp of serfdom (the hand in the corner) and stands tall with the new opportunities presented in the North. There is honest work, the brief case, and above all the saxophone, not only an instrument, but a symbol of heritage.

The library in which this mural originally belonged to is now the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Impressionism

The art style of Impressionism is a mixed bag to me. I have conflicted opinions on the style because it seems to vary from artist to artist. Sometimes the painting can feel lazy and effortless, regardless of how much work was put into it. Other times the style creates a vibrant atmosphere with color and, unexpectedly, detail.

Impression, Sunrise

Claude Monet

Le Havre, France 1873

Most notable on the negative side for me is the piece after which impressionism was named: Claude Monet’s Impression, Sunrise.  When I look at this painting, all I can see is a dreary setting with little change in tone and simply slashed on marks of paint. From my perspective the painting has no aesthetic qualities. It is said that an art critic had commented on its incomplete look before it was named, and I must say that I agree and I find it distasteful. This was not an uncommon criticism for Impressionism at the time. As previous styles were elegant, realistic, and technical, the Impressionist style was more free. Where before the argument was line versus color, now light and brush stroke became the focus. I have to say I much prefer the intricate details of the Classical Era over the undefined brush strokes of the Impressionist paintings. One of the reasons this painting is so popular is its play on luminance.  Because of the lack of contrast between the sun and the gray clouds the sun appears to pulsate. I personally don’t feel this effect nor do I particularly care for its significance because I find the painting as a whole to be aesthetically displeasing.

La Moulin de La Galette

Auguste Renoir

Paris, France 1876

On the other side of the coin, my favorite Impressionist artist would have to be Auguste Renoir. Unlike Monet’s painting, La Moulin de La Galette (and other paintings done by Renoir) is a beautiful painting with a happy scene full of flickering light. This painting, like many impression paintings, contains a happy subject of middle-upper class pastime. The subject is reminescent of the Rococo style of France, an obviously continuation of the theme as the middle class continued to prosper during the Romantic era. For instance, The Pilgrimage from Cythera by Jean-Antoine Watteau depicts a frivolous outdoor gathering. I find it to be less appealing than Renoir’s  because of how serious it feels. The free brush strokes of impressionism allow the viewer to feel the liveliness of a gathering. Also a factor in this is how Renoir brings the viewer right up close to the party, rather than giving distance and focusing on the scenery. While the painting is still made blurry by the lack of defined lines characteristic of impressionism, it contains something Monet’s piece lacks: color and detail. There are lights and shadows and while it is crowded most of the image remains distinguishable.

Impressionism can be beautiful and freeing, or it can be drab and undefined. Either way it is an incredibly unique style of art and nobody can deny that.

The Death of Socrates

The Death of Socrates

Jacques-Louis David

France, 1787

The Classical Era was a time of reason, and as such a figure like Socrates became an idol again. The Death of Socrates was commissioned by the Trudaine de Montigny brothers, activists for a free market system. Socrates was given the choice of death or exile by the Athenian government for his teachings and he boldly chose death. The picture of this historical event inspired reform against unjust authority, an important theme of the Classical Era in which the middle class was growing and rising.

From this period I would have to say Jacques-Louis is my favorite painter.  His colors and lines combine to make a bold and crisp image. Also, he painted historic events which inspired reform as well as preached reason.

Abraham and Isaac

Abraham and Isaac

Rembrandt

1634 Amsterdam, Netherlands

During the Baroque period art was being used by the Catholic Church to counter the Reformation. The Council of Trent promoted the use of art to depict Biblical stories to makes them easy to understand and accessible. This would allow the messages of the Church to reach the people easily, as opposed to reading scriptures in latin and other such inconveniences that Martin Luther had complained kept the word of God from being known to the common man.

In this particular painting by Rembrandt the story of Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Isaac is depicted. As a test of faith God asked Abraham to take his son and make a sacrifice out of him. Just before he took his son’s life, an angel appeared to Abraham and stopped him from killing his son. The angel informed Abraham that he had passed a test of faith. He had been willing to give up what was most precious to him because the Lord asked it of him.

I like this piece because it has a story behind it. Also aesthetically speaking it is interesting how Isaac appears to be much brighter than the rest of the painting as if the light of Heaven is shining down on him. It also appears that he has not struggled, although I don’t recall him being aware of what was going on, as if he is entirely prepared to give his life up for God. Another interesting characteristic of the painting is that the Angel is not the classical image of an angel I think of. Feel free to discuss why Isaac is so bright and willing and why the angel is so untraditional.

La Primavera

Sandro Botticelli’s

La Primavera

c. 1482 Medici Villa in Castello

La Primavera, meaning The Spring Time in Italian, was commissioned by the great Medici family of Italy. It portrays a mythological scene of many Greek gods. While a century before its creation the mythological scenery may have been unpopular, the Renaissance brought about an interest in old Greek beliefs and the Reformation opened minds to concepts outside of religion.

The painting represents love and/or fertility. The Medici’s had an orange grove and the many oranges present in the painting imply good omens of many offspring. The gods represented are as follows: Mercury, messenger of the gods; Cupid, god of lust and destroyer of marriages; Venus, goddess of love and beauty; Flora, goddess of flowers; Chloris, Flora’s previous identity; and Zephyr, the wind god. The three characters on the left are the Three Graces, representative of the female virtues chastity, beauty and love.

Springtime is symbolic of new life and new beginnings. The characters brought together in this painting all follow this theme. Mercury is clearing the skies to make way for the transition into spring. The Three Graces appear to be under attack from Cupid, symbolic of the trials a woman must face before marriage. Venus is present in the center of the piece to create a main focus on love and marriage. On the right is an image of the “rebirth” of Flora as a new woman, a married woman, to Zephyr. Although he raped her, he married her as apology and her content appearance afterward is a representation of how marriage improves a woman’s life even though she rarely had any say in who she would marry.

I enjoy this piece because it is not simply another picture of biblical figures. Every character has a symbolic meaning which intrigues me and makes me want to find out what each one means. The background is dark but the characters are bright which I find attractive.

http://www.historylink101.com/art/Sandro_Botticelli/pages/09_Primavera_jpg.htm

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