Devotional • Idealized version, not accurate • Becoming nude was a costume men put on • Elegant simplicity, symmetrical, curves, open/negative space between legs and arms • taking a step forward, the human form in motion but not naturalistic, no arm movement • female counterpart (kore) is always depicted with clothing. Gallery 154
Fragments of a marble statue of the Diadoumenos (youth tying a fillet around his head) | Only 150 years later, the presentation of the human form is significantly more evolved (posture/leaning on the leg). The tree is used for support. Gallery 153
Reliquary Bust of Saint Yrieix | Medieval France’s “dark ages” generated beautiful art. The bust was created with mold, the gilded silver bust originally covered a wooden core. Though carefully carved, the wooden version, not originally intended to be seen, was stored inside the gilded piece via a “portal” door on top of the head. Saint Yrieix was considered to be divine (dove on his head) – the use of gold illustrates this divinity. A piece of beauty and function (door). A sacred item from France: a duplication was created for the church that donated the piece. Gallery 304
Portrait of a German Officer | Portraits are not always standard; they can be representational. Art can help us understand who someone was, what was important to them, and how this person might have been important to the artist. Marsden Hartley was an American painter from New England, who spent time studying in France, where he fell in love with Karl von Freyburg, a young soldier, killed in WWI combat at age 24. Marsden’s use of impasto painting, where artists apply thick layers of paint to their canvases to produce a heavy texture that makes brush strokes and knife strokes more visible, is symbolic of the heavy outpouring of his heart. Gallery 910
Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (Umberto Boccioni) | In motion/humanistic • different perspectives (where is his nose?) • Foward motion, in flight, movement, speed, mechanical power • Futurists celebrated change and innovation, out with the old, welcomed war as they believed it would shatter the past. Ironically, Boccioni was killed in service during WWI. Gallery 908
America Today (Thomas Hart Benton, 1930-31), commissioned by New School for boardroom artwork | Standing inside art • realistic (instruments of power: trains/planes, motion, and speed | materials that enable modernization: steel, iron worker, coal and also express a sense of caution | rattlesnakes: be careful of strike-back, entertainment in cities, taxi girls) over the door: hands reaching: for money and bread. Gallery 909
Rosa Bonheur | The Horse Fair
The red in this massive horizontal installation (8′ x x 16′ | 2.5 m x 5 m) helps your eye travel horizontally. Although French society was not accepting of female artists, Rosa’s father saw her talent and tenacity and encouraged her to learn from his friends in the art world. Forbidden to wear pants as a woman, Rosa applied for a permit so she might wear pants to interact with and study animals. Armed with this permit and cropped hair, Rosa was also to blend in (self-portrait, center in blue). Gallery 812
Arhat (Luohan) Gallery 208 | Buddhism | Lumens (Luminous Minds), hard-nosed, teachers and disciplinarians | Bodhisattvas (Enlightened Beings) put off entering paradise to help others attain enlightenment, calm/serene
Tourguide Steve: Everything has a story…
