Other Art

Luzern, Switzerland

Art found in Lucerne, Switzerland

Assignment 6

The City of Paris has one of the most recognizable towers throughout the entire world. The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 celebrating the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Contractor/artist of the Tower, Gustave Eiffel, led the construction which took 2 years, 2 months, and 5 days. The shape of the tower caused controversy in the beginning of its construction. Eiffel defended his project by proclaiming his mathematical calculation that promised wind resistance. 

Another great structure, St. Peter’s Basilica, was completed in 1615. It is perhaps the largest church in the world. Located in Vatican City, the Basilica was built at the location where Peter, the first pope, was crucified and buried. Not only is this grand church acknowledged as one of the holiest sites, it is also the greatest of all churches in Christendom. The architect of the famous church was Donato Bramante and artists such as Michelangelo and Bernin helped in designing the dome and St. Peter’s Square.

The Eiffel Towers has undergone many architectural developments throughout history. Many developments have been added to the different levels on the first and second floors, such as pavilions and other constructions. Other expansions include the elevator and staircases. During the time of building, the use of iron and steel in bridges and building frameworks had become very popular. The tower was built using wooden scaffolding and small steam cranes mounted onto the tower itself. Rivets hold the metal pieces of the tower together.

St. Peter’s Basilica had a beautiful architectural design that has drawn in visitors from around the world. At 53 meters high and 116 meters wide stands the glorious facade designed by Carolo Modeno. Interestingly, the balcony known as the Loggio of the Blessings is where the announcements for each new pope is made. The magnificence of the facade is enhanced by the 13 statues representing, Bartholomew, James the Younger, John the Evangelist, Andrew, Christ the Redeemer, John the Baptist, James the Elder, Thomas, Philip, Matthew, Thaddeus, Simon and Matthias. The double dome is constructed of brick and reaches a height of 42.3 meters in interior diameter. Michelangelo, the architect of the dome, made the dome more of a parabola rather than a hemisphere. Corinthian columns were placed in to support the dome’s weight. The inner surface of the dome is coffered, creating the artistic effect of vertical and horizontal ribs that lighten the room. At the top is an ocular opening prividing light to the inside. The interior of St. Peter’s is magnificent and is considered to be one of the largest churches in the world. Over 60,000 poeople can be held in the church that covers an area of 5.7 acres. 

The Eiffel Tower is also known for its breathtaking sight, all due to the creative architectural design of the building. The Eiffel Tower’s height reaches 324 m including the antenna. It held the position of the world’s tallest building until 1930. An interesting aspect of the Eiffel Tower is its movement; the force of wind causes the top of the Tower to sway 6 to 7 cm; heat also causes the top to move with a curve of 18 cm. The Tower weighs a total of 10,100 tons and has 1665 steps. 

Both of these structures of history offer beauty to the world in a different way. Upon glazing at St. Peter’s Basilica one can understand its majesty by the beautiful designs, shapes, statues, etc. The Eiffel Towers, however, offers beauty that was at first hard to believe. At the time, people considered the great cathedrals and palaces to be built of stone with great ornamentation. But, iron being beautiful and spectacular on it’s own? The Eiffel Tower took iron from being being an underlying structure to a work of art.

St. Peter's Basilica, Rome

Eiffel Tower, France

Assignment 4

Theodore Gericault painted masterpieces that demonstrated the romantic style and expressed his own passion for immense realism. Born into a wealth Rouen family in 1791, Gericault studied art in Paris, eventually moving to Italy where he was greatly influenced by artists such as Michelangelo and Rubens. Caught between the two period of neo-classicism and romanticism, Gericault demonstrated great talent in displaying bold design, dramatic color and violent action, and expressing extreme emotions. One of his masterpieces is “The Raft of the Medusa” was exhibited at the 1819 Salon and caused a scandal politically concerning the corrupt government. If it were possible to speak with Gericault, I would want to go back in time when his painting was released and get all the details about his artwork and feelings during this time of a artist during this movement. 

I imagine that I would be walking through the Musée du Louvre in Paris. The year is 1819, the year in which Gericault would have his painting on display at the Salon. However, in present time, The Raft of Medusa will be held at the Louvre, so I have chosen this location for my meeting with the famous artist. In 1806, the Louvre had a small triumphal arc built by Percier and Fontaine and aligned with the Pavillon de l’Horloge and the central pavilion of the Tuileries. Later in 1808, it was decorated with reliefs and statues by Denon celebrating French military victories. On the top, Denon had four celebrated antique bronze horses from the facade of Saint Mark's Basilica in Venice added. Knowing that Gericault’s passion was horses, I thought this would be an appropriate meeting place. As Theodore approached, I studied the twenty eight year old man walking toward me, in awe of his the talent that had created the paintings so powerful and influential not only in his lifetime, but mine as well. 

After introductions, my first question for Gericault would be regarding the Raft of the Medusa. Why did he choose to paint about this topic? Of course it was a horrific event during the past few years, but had he known someone on the ship or did he relate to their tragedy in some way? It would be interesting to hear his response because if would enable me to gain a better understanding of him and his motives in art. 

Next, I would ask him about his studies leading up to the painting. Was it scary studying the corpses and dying in the hospitals and morgues? Gericault would probably respond with the wisdom of an artist with the determination to better understand his subject matter. He would explain how his portraits of dying patients at the Hospital Beaujon helped enhance the realism in his portrayal of humanity with all it terror, anguish, tension, and hope. I would be impressed (and slightly grossed out) by his dedication to his art as he continues to explain how he kept the dissected limbs and severed heads to observe and record their gradual decay. Today, one doesn’t have the opportunity or means of studying the decomposition of the human body as easily as the did in the 1800s so to hear his experience to the exposure of death first hand would be enlightening. In a way this behavior adds to his probable morbid personality, but it also shows the genuine aspect of his soul, the need to experience himself the sight and smell of death and live with it in order to truly portray the truth of the death on the ship. 

I would also want to know if the controversy surrounding his painting effected him personally. When the Raft of Medusa was released it exposed the corruption and negligence of French government, leading the French government to force Gericault to move the painting to England. Gericault would most likely smile and say he had hoped for such a reaction because in some way he helped in the recognition of the flaws of his government, a hero in his own portrayals. 

Lastly, I’d spend my time with Theodore Gericault conversing about his artistic techniques. How did he plan the composition of the painting? Observing it now, one notices the extreme diagonals that bring out the essence of terror and aguish, but how much of this linear structure and lighting contrast is planned and how much is just luck or talent? I’d tell him that is 200 years his name will still be spoken of and his art still admired at the Louvre in Paris. I expect that he would be humble and glad his artwork had done so well, to say the least. Gericault died at the young age of 33 after falling from a horse in 1824. I can’t help but wonder the greatest question of all...what great masterpieces could have been, what had he planned to paint, and what greatness could he still have produced if he hadn’t have died at the peak of his artistic career. 

Assignment 5

Architecture 

Post and lintel -The simplest illustration of load and support in construction; in which two upright members (posts, columns, piers) hold up a third member (lintel, beam, girder, rafter) laid horizontally across their top surfaces. This is the basis for the evolution of all openings. But, in its pure form, the post-and-lintel is seen only in colonnades and in framed structures, since the posts of doors, windows, ceilings, and roofs are part of the wall. 

Coliseum, Rome

Coffers - a sunken panel in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling or vault. A series of these sunken panels were used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also called caissons, or lacunaria, while a coffered ceiling was sometime called a lacunar. 

Pantheon, Rome

Arch (round and pointed) - a curved structure that supports the weight of material over an open space, as in a bridge or doorway. 

Notre Dame, Paris

Pediment - a element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure, typically supported by columns. 

Louvre, Paris

 Baroque facade - exterior face of a building; new emphasis was placed on bold massing, collanades, domes, light-and-shade, 'painterly' color effects, and the bold play of volume and void. 

  

St. Peter’s Bascilica, Rome

Dome - a roof form which is usually hemispherical and constructed over a circular, square, or octagonal space in a building.

Duomo, Florence

Oculus - “eye” name of the round opening in the top of the dome and in reference to other round windows and openings.

Pantheon, Rome

Barrel vault - a tunnel vault or a wagon vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are typically circular in shape, lending a semi-cylindrical appearance to the total design. 

Notre Dame, Paris

Stained Glass Windows

Notre Dame, Paris

Steel Construction

Eiffel Tower, Paris

Three Orders of Column

o   Doric -  It is the simplest of the orders, characterized by short, faceted, heavy columns with plain, round capitols (tops) and no base.

o   Ionic - It is distinguished by slender, fluted pillars with a large base and two opposed volutes (also called scrolls) in the echinus of the capital

o   Coninthian - the most ornate of the Greek orders, characterized by a slender fluted column having an ornate capital decorated with two rows of acanthus leaves and four scrolls. It is commonly regarded as the most elegant of the three orders

St. Paul's Cathedral, London

Assignment 3

Louvre Museum in Paris

Once a royal fortress, the Louvre Museum in Paris has been successful since its establishment in 1793. The Louvre has been  influenced by powers such as Louis CIII, Louis XIV and Charles X, all which have developed and transformed the architectural art museum into what it has become today. The Louvre’s responsibility is to conserve, protect, restore, and develop France’s national art treasures, from the early royal collections to the most recent additions. It is a magnificent and world renown museum dedicated to art and helping people from around the globe understand and appreciate the art.

The Mona Lisa

- Florence between 1503 and 1506- thought to be Lisa Gherardini

The "Sarcophagus of the Spouses"

- a sarcophagus or cinerary urn - comes from Caere (modern Cerveteri), a city famous in the Archaic period for its clay sculpture. - deceased entwined in a loving manner

Aphrodite - statue of a goddess discovered on the island of Melos in 1820 The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin - Nicolas Rolin, who was chancellor to Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, is worshiping the Infant Jesus The Raft of the Medusa The Raft of Medusa by Theodore Gericault: Analysis Theodore Gericault created a political painting based upon the sinking of “Medusa” in 1816. It is said that 149 people drifted on a raft for 12 days, only to end with a survival rate of 15 people due to slaughter, madness, and cannibalism. Gericault had a great composition for the painting, emphasizing two main diagonals to the viewer that form the shape of  a “V” in the painting. The symmetry of the “V” creates dramatic tension and leads to two options; to the left the haunting diagonal of the ship’s mast points to the dangerous, threatening wave approaching the raft; on the right side the diagonal is pointing towards a hope for better weather and rescue.                                                                                            The artist had a good sense of linear arrangements; notice how there are no horizontal or vertical lines. Majority of the lines, shapes, and figures are on a diagonal, giving the painting a sense of instability, danger, and tragedy. The light contrast is important is presenting the body volume of each individual’s anatomy. Also, Gericault uses light (contrast) and color together to give the message of pain versus hope. The left side is dark and in shadow showing the suffering and gloom of defeat, whereas the right side points to a warmer color tone that gives hope to a better outcome or rescue and salvation. The positive and negative space truly captures the essence of the painting by offering the tension needed to match the sorrow, dejection, and hope in the faces of the figures.                      This artwork is romantic in the sense that Gericault chose to portray the moment of awareness of the members that they may be saved, instead of painting the horrific cannibalism and slaughter. He paints hanging limbs and lifeless bodies to depict the strong emotion of tragedy, but also contrasts the despair by the people crying out towards the brighter light to be rescued giving a sense of hope after the dreadful incident.

Assignment 2

Composition

Leonardo da Vinci - The Last Supper

Volume (mass, weight)

Titian - The Miracle of the Jealous Husband

Light (contrast)

Caravaggio - St. Jerome 

Color

Monet, The Path among the Irises

Space

Manet -Bar at the Folies Bergères

Line

Michelangelo - Satyr's Head

Shape

Bernini - Ecstasy of St. Theresa

Positive/ Negative Space

Michelangelo - The Creation of Adam

 Composition

Leonardo da Vinci - The Last Supper

Volume (mass, weight)

Titian - The Miracle of the Jealous Husband

Light (contrast)

Caravaggio - St. Jerome 

Color

Monet, The Path among the Irises

Space

Manet -Bar at the Folies Bergères

 Line

Michelangelo - Satyr's Head

Shape

Bernini - Ecstasy of St. Theresa

                   

 Positive/ Negative Space

Michelangelo - The Creation of Adam