Artemisia Gentileschi

This is the picture that is seen in art history books...



This is a picture, of the violence....


Both are the same scene from the story of Judith and Holofernes. Although very different in intensity, they are both done by the woman artist, Artemisia Gentileschi. A woman who is probably just as famous for her art as she is for her public rape trial in which she was actually tortured because no one believed her story to be true.

There are so many things I want to say about Artemsia's work, so many thoughts and emotions that run through my mind but I can't be put into words. Many times I wish I had that skill, the skill that allows some to clearly articulate their thoughts...but if I can't make words of my thoughts I hope the pictures I present and show a glimpse or slice of what is in my head.

Just something I thought I would share...

I was recently browsing some slide shows on NYtimes.com and found a few that are related to the class.

One (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/07/03/arts/0704-TURN_index.html) covered the JMW Turner exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum. and the second one is the Goya exhibit at the Prado (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/07/02/arts/20080702_GOYA_SLIDESHOW_index.html) both had some really amazing images so check it out.

The Power of Nature

I was really impressed by the landscape painter JMW Turner. What interested me was the fact that his pieces, which are extremely colorful, have a modern feel, they aren't idealized versions of the countryside (which I find kind of boring) but the show the feeling, the emotions of nature. When I look at his piece “The Deluge” there is a sense of movement and I actually get the feeling that I am in the middle of a storm. Also what impresses me timeless theme of nature. The reminder that nature wipes everything clean, nature is the ultimate decider. In his piece “Snowstorm/Hannibal Crossing the Alps” Turner shows Hannibal as a speck in the background, almost invisible. This only shows that human beings are nothing when compared to the power of nature, and nothing can conquer the power of nature.

What I find interesting is that idea of an "all powerful nature" always seems to be forgotten by people. In today’s society it is expected that human inventions can sustain the wraths of nature. Even after natural disasters, there always seems to be something the critics or politicians argue could have been done better....could have prevented so much disaster, when in reality what people fail to remember is the fact that nature truly is all powerful. Not only in the sense that it can destroy all, but it is also unexpected.

Because I live in San Francisco, and have lived in Northern California for most of my life, I understand the fear of earthquakes. The fact that everything can come crashing down at any second is something we, as humans can’t control. Yes we can build earthquake safe buildings but we can’t stop an earthquake from happening, just as we can’t stop fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes, or tsunamis. But this does not stop us from trying.

On a side note, the power of nature is a theme that has recently shown up in movies. In the unfortunately bad film “The Happening” nature, or plants strike back at the people. Although I admit it was a bad movie the idea says something about how people ignore the power of nature and it brings up the question could nature strike back and terrorize the people, like the people terrorize nature?

The Imaginary Orient

It is very interesting to read Imaginary Orient and see how it relates to Gerome's, Delacroix's and Ingres work because although their "imaginary orient" is a place that exists only in their minds, it was assumed by the vast public to be a real place. I actually find this quite ironic because in many ways, the "imaginary orient" still exists in today's world. It is a place that as Said philosophizes is a Western representation of a Orient created by the West, for the West. It is a construction of an imaginary place that is the West's projection of the "Other" a place where things such as female sexuality and idleness are part of everyday life.

I found this to relate to a passage of Chinua Achebe's "Thing's Fall Apart" where, Achebe is representing again a Western viewpoint, of an imagined Africa. This passage is taken from the last paragraph of the book, right after the District Commissioner has been taken to the body of Okonkwo, who has hung himself in a tree. The District Commissioner goes on to describe the many things he has learned as a white man in Africa, he writes,

"One of them that a District Commissioner must never attend to undignified details as cutting a hanged man from the tree. Such a attention would give natives a poor opinion of him. In the book which he planned to write he would stress this point. As he walked back to the court he thought about that book. Everyday brought some new material. The story of this man who killed a messenger and hanged himself would make interesting reading. One could almost write a whole chapter on him. Perhaps not a whole chapter but a reasonable paragraph at any rate. There was so much to include, and one must be firm in cutting out details. He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger."

The West, throughout the decade has "imagined" many cultures to be less than their own, inferior or backwards. And today when you look at the media, you see it extremely prevalatnt. For example, remembering back to the days after September 11th, anything or anyone who looked Middle Eastern seemed to pose a threat to all things American. And in many ways, I think the way people reacted was because of fear, not only did the events of September 11th seem to come out of nowhere, but to the majority of Americans, the people, the land, the culture, the history, was unknown. I think I remember some article saying that the majority of Americans could not place Afghanistan on a map. And that all changed in one day, a place that was relatively unknown to many people became an instant enemy. And a lot of what we saw and what we see now has to do with the media and I feel like, people as a whole, including myself, were generally uneducated on the whole issue. It was not till a year after September 11th, my first year in college, that I learned the background, the history and reasons September 11th. And I never even realized the effect of the media, and how bias it is until I took a mass media class, where we watched a movie about Al Jazeera. And seeing how Al Jazeera showed the same events the West covered but looking at it from the "other side" it became clear how much was either strategically or unconsciouncely edited from Western News. And things today have not changed much. And in many ways, have not changed much since the 1800's, the imagined orient of Gerome's mind is just as imagined as the Middle East is today, and like Gerome, whose photo like paintings were so real people took them to be truth, the photographs of today are the truth, because even with Photoshop and selective cropping what is seen, is taken to be true.

Portrait of an insane woman...or just woman

Gericault, a wealthy man in his own right, is known for presenting people, whether they are black, white, poor, rich, crazy, or sane… as people. Compared with other artists of the time, Gericault presents the human aspects of the people who are looked down upon, the people that are deemed by society as “less than human”. In the “Portrait of an Insane Woman” the woman seen does not seem insane, but she looks like a human…she looks like someone who is loved. This attention to the way things truly look, despite how society sees them, reminds me of the photographer Diane Arbus who took pictures of people who seemed abnormal to society, some of her most famous subjects include transvestites, dwarfs, prostitutes, giants and twins, these people who were never given a chance because of the way they looked. Like Gericault, Arbus portrayed these people who were considered abnormal just like normal people, telling the world that these people are humans too, and in that sense should be treated like humans.

Beloved Mother

"In the 'Beloved Mother', Greuze represents a new reality, give me an example of art from the 20th century that represents this. What do you think this implies about the power of art in society.

In Greuze's the "Beloved Mother", the woman is represented in a elevated status. She is heavenly and loving, she represents a new kind of mother at the time. The mother, with all the kids playing around her, represents a new kind of family, a family that is focused on making sure the children are taught the right lessons and morals rather than being considered pests, and being sent off. What Greuze is showing is how he thinks mothers should be. So rather than making art that represents the life around him, coping what he sees, Greuze is making his own reality, he is creating social values that he believes are important. So in this sense, art becomes the creator of social values, and the woman becomes a mother, or in this sense, synonymous with mother Mary.

What does it mean when art can be the example by which we change ourselves to correspond? Does this give art unlimited power, because it makes us change ourselves, our values and beliefs without even our direct knowledge. I think Greuze's art would therefor directly correspond to propaganda art of the 20th century. Propaganda art, is especially that which is created during a war, becomes advertisements that represent a single person's or even a government's belief that turns in to art to sway the publics decision on a subject. The propaganda art of World War 11, was created for several purposes including, to convince the American people: to support the way, to join the war effects, and to continue to support the government. In the case of women, it actually created a new vision of the woman, the "Rosie the Riveter." A new woman, that was strong, and masculine. A woman that could work, while the men were at home.

The Sabine Women

In the early history of Rome, the young city was overpopulated with men. And without a significant amount of women, the future of Rome, would die out. To fix this, the Romans invited all of their neighbors, the Sabines, to a party to honor the God Neptune. During the celebration, all of the women were snatched from their families and taken as a wives by Roman men. The Sabine males, were extremely angry and went back home to plan their revenge. Time passed, and the Sabine women "gave their hearts" to the Roman men and created families of their own, half Roman and half Sabine. But the Sabine men had not forgot and one day they returned to reclaim their women and a war began.

In the end, it was the Sabine women who were the ones to bring peace to Rome, they convinced there fathers to stop the fighting because in fact it, was the future of there grandchildren, who were half Roman and half Sabine that were put in danger by the war.

At the time that David, painted this piece, the French Revolution was over and France was full of chaos and confusion. David is using a classic Roman story, to question the importance of war, and whether it actually creates a better life for the people or not. What I think comes across, is that war does not create a better future and it is the peaceful and loving qualities of women, that states should run upon.

This painting, because it is a classical representation can be used not only to represent the French Revolution, but it can be used to represent all wars and violence because it asks for peace, not war, to create a better future.