Still Life with Apples
This was a piece of art created by French painter Paul Cezanne in the late 19th century around 1893-94. The painting consists of apples at the center of what appears to be a milk-colored bowl. On the upper left quadrant, there is a green colored cylindrical vase that borders a wine bottle sandwiched between it and a ginger pot with earthly straps engulfing it in a crisscrossing geometric pattern. Two elements are conspicuous in the piece of art. One is the background color that is horizontally split into two at the center. There are the upper light sky blue and the lower light slate gray. Secondly is the nature in which the edges of the various elements in the painting meet-they run into each other forming natural like continuity in an artificial setup.
Believing painting from nature not to be synonymous with copying, it is evident the artist perfected the visual and physical aspects of his drawings as they may occur in nature as aided by the color of the respective elements. The artist believed in reality rather than mere illusion. This is why the painting aimed to enable viewers to appreciate what their eyes viewed truly. Besides, the use of geometric elements in object drawings and different color shades developed his mastery of perspectives later evident in the works of Pablo Picasso. This last aspect makes the artwork valuable as it is an almost perfect account of how one views their immediate environmental setup (MoMA Learning, 2020) .
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Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
The 1907 oil painting was one of Pablo Picasso's revolutionary pieces of art that, together with Georges Braque works ushered in the cubism movement characterized by the use of geometric planes and shapes to allow viewing from multiple angles. The painting depicts a brothel scene where five ladies of the night are presented in uncomfortable total nudity. The ladies' brown color blends with the surrounding color due to the flat nature utilized in the planes of the painting in opposition to Henri Matisse's La Joie de Vivre's fluid shapes. At the lower center of the picture, there appears to be a bowl that has tilted over, letting the fruits inside it to pour out. Although the two women on the right end appear to have facial masks characteristic of African Art, what the viewer cannot miss is the nature in which the five ladies stare at the viewer (directly), all of which could be considered a taboo in the Iberian Art at the time the painting was done in the early 20th century. The two women at the center who appear to be lying on their backs on a white background consisting of a piece of cloth are even more provocative when they raise their arms thus propping up their breasts daringly and seductively giving the whole piece of work sense of sexual power even if one may argue the images are unrealistic.
The picture, in a way, represented Picasso's confrontational nature. A fiercely competitive artist dreaded for stealing ideas, Picasso was a frequent visitor of brothels hence considered patriarchal and in the contemporary world, misogynistic (Lloyd, 2019) .
Largely presented in 2-D forms, the simplified abstract art value is seen in how it presented its key message, explicit nudity, and by extension expression of what was at the intellect rather than impression movement that emphasized the art more than the message.
Migrant Mother of Nipomo, California
Taken in 1936 by Dorothea Lange, the photograph is a black and white picture that has become an emblem of the challenges faced during the Great Depression, namely starvation. Capturing a worried mother in a deep and glaring meditative form, the seated mother is nursing an infant in her lap while two of her elder kids lean on her shoulder, facing away from the photographer. The mother's face shows anxiety, while the turned away faces of her kids may signify hopelessness. What cannot be missed in the picture is her right arm touching the angle of her mouth. This serves as a guide to the woman's face for one to see the emotions demonstrated in her face (Kennicott, 2020) .
The picture appears to have been taken as a close shot. Besides, the fact that the two children face away from the camera simultaneously depict that it was stage-managed rather than natural as children have a tendency to shyly glance at strangers or even be interested in what the stranger is doing.
Although the authenticity of the photograph lady being poor and the kids being hers has been questioned, the photographer managed to get her message across-people suffering in pea picking camps owing to the great depression. The mother's image leaves the two children facing away from the camera single-handedly manage to evoke sympathy to the anxious mother.
The Pieta
T he Pietà or The Pity by Michelangelo Buonarroti is a 1498-99 work of Italian Renaissance sculpture that depicts the body of Jesus Christ on the lap of his mother Mary after his crucifixion before he was taken to the tomb. Currently housed in St Peters Basilica in Vatican City, it is carved out of the relatively soft metamorphic Carrara marble that gives it its whitish reflection. The two separate figures are curved to give a generally pyramidal shape as it was favored by most of the renaissance artists, including Leonardo. What also stands out is the unnatural exaggeration of Mary's size in proportion to her son. This is made possible by collecting Mary's garments on her lap in the seating position, thus enabling her to carry him comfortably. The numerous folding and curves on the clothing make the artwork appear more of a garment than stone. What stands out are the different textures chiseled out for the skin, hair, and fabric.
During the renaissance period of 1400-1600, Europe saw economic prosperity, religious fervor, and a passionate expansion of learning, science, and the arts. For those professing Christianity as a religion, Mary's down-facing face in the statue that appears young reflects her emotional, tragic loss and resignation to grief and fate. But what seems to be of great hope is the fact that the body of Christ is not scared, and there is no evidence of blood or flesh, thus giving an impression of grace and peace. Besides, Mary's hand avoids direct contact with the body of Christ, reminding his followers of his sacred nature (ItalianRenaissance, 2020) .
Judith and Holofernes
The painting in a 1598 Baroque style art by Caravaggio and later Artemisia Gentileschi (1620), where Judith decapitates Holofernes. As the period generally reflects growth in genius in endeavor, colorfulness, dynamism, and space were highly appreciated. The setting is at a time when Assyrian generals are destroying Bethulia. The young lady decides to befriend the army general, makes him drunk, and plans to execute him.
The picture shows two women, Judith in white garments and her maidservant standing beside a besieged man. The elderly maidservant watches in disbelief while holding a chocolate cloth bag as the lady tries to slay the muscular general whose naked body lies supine in the bed with his head flung sideways depicting a terrified general. However, the lady posture is that of reclining, meaning she appears reluctant to carry out the execution giving an overall contemplative tone (Camara, 2015) .
The use of different colors, especially the primary color red, aids in adding contrast among the three figures. A depiction of their faces expresses a triad of emotions. The terrified Holofernes, the fearful maidservant disbelief but the loyal pose and the contemplative, gentle Judith face, gives the impression that she will stop the slaying act midway due to a delicate forgiving heart as the blood spill in the picture is little.
This is in complete contrast to a similar picture by Artemesia, a female artist, where two valiant ladies acting as church militants slay the villain man in a vengeful energetic atmosphere that has been attributed to the post-traumatic stress secondary to a raping incidence during her painting apprenticeship.
This expansion era also was generally regarded as a reaction to Protestants' Reformation by Catholics and Jews. The art depicts religious history as found in Judith, part of the Septuagint discarded by Protestants.
A Bar at the Folies Bergère
Painted in 1882 by Edouard Manet, the oil on canvas painting depicts a scene in the Folies Bergere nightclub. Men have come to indulge-alcohol, barmaids, prostitutes, music, and other social forms of entertainment that the Paris club offered. What stands out is the central figure in the picture. A barmaid with a detached facial expression as if in deep melancholy. However, a second glimpse at the painting depicts the back of the alleged central figure appearing to be in conversation with a male client clad in a black coat with a dark mustache donning a black hat. This reveals one important aspect; there is a large mirror giving the mirror images behind her. There is a lady in yellow gloves white a white upper dressing on the mirror image on the left and other harshly reflected faces that she appears to be looking at, thus challenging the initial notion that she is conversing with the man as depicted before. This sets up the visual debate. The use of primary colors such as yellow gloves, the blue dress that the lady wears, and the orange oranges helps give a clear contrast (Grovier, 2019) .
Surrounded by glasses of beer and wine, one also notes the elements hanging at her cleavage from her neck. They contain a red triangular symbol. Even her arm has a bracelet with the triangular trademark symbol. This signifies the industrialization that was happening and thus corporates using trademarks to protect and identify their products. Perhaps the artist was forecasting the coming up of corporations and trademarks and association between corporates and pop artists. But considering the trademark is of a company originating from Britain, on may be quick also to note that the Franco-Prussian relations were at their lowest at this time following wars between the two countries in the previous decades.
The impression made by the weirdly placed image of the barmaid on the right remains an artistic mystery yet to be agreed upon. This visual ambiguity adds to the already existing psychological ambiguity posed by the barmaid, disinterestedness amid all merrymaking.
References
Camara, E. (2015). Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes . Retrieved from smarthistory.org: https://smarthistory.org/gentileschi-judith-slaying-holofernes/
Grovier, K. (2019). A Bar at the Folies-Bergere: A symbol planted in the cleavage. BBC . Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20190311-a-bar-at-the-folies-bergere-a-symbol-planted-in-cleavage
Italian renaissance. (2020). Michelangelo’s Pieta . Retrieved from http://www.italianrenaissance.org/michelangelos-pieta/
Kennicott, P. (2020). Dorothea Lange used photography to make an ugly world beautiful. She used words to give that beauty meaning. The Washington Post . Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/dorothea-lange-used-photography-to-make-an-ugly-world-beautiful-she-used-words-to-give-that-beauty-meaning/2020/02/19/d398f31c-5326-11ea-9e47-59804be1dcfb_story.html
Lloyd, T. (2019). The Controversy Behind Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Pablo Picasso. Singulart Magazine . Retrieved from https://blog.singulart.com/en/2019/12/03/the-controversy-behind-les-demoiselles-davignon-by-pablo-picasso/
MoMA Learning. (2020). Still Life with Apples . Retrieved from MoMA Learning: https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/paul-cezanne-still-life-with-apples-1895-98/
