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Yemeni Art Showcase

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      For this blog I have gone over primarily Western art history. With this entry I would like to take time to talk about non-western artists and their works, as their contributions to the art world are just as significant. With that, I would like to present contemporary art from the country of Yemen.     Entry in The Walls Remember Their Faces   Murad Subay (2012-2013)     The past thirty years have seen great political and civil strife in multiple middle eastern countries, including Yemen. In 2011 the acting president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, resigned as the leader of the country following widespread civil outcry against his autocratic leadership. Following this peaceful revolution, the country was led to a constitutional convention by his vice president, backed by the United States government.  However, no agreement was reached in the delegations. Multiple groups vying for power were unable to reach acceptable terms and have been jockeying for control in Yemen since.     Step
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Mid-Modernism

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       Marriage of Reason and Squalor II Frank Stella (1953)      The mid-modern age was one of constant change, which is shown in the many styles of the time. One of the styles to come out of this period is Minimalism, a form focusing on straightforward visuals where the art simply represents exactly what it is physically. Shown above is the Marriage of Reason and Squalor II by Frank Stella. It is one of the most famous Minimalist works, purposefully shying away from using line to create any kind of three-dimensional form and instead retreating into what it is, a matched set of lines on black. Stella was one of the mos influential Minimalist artists at the time and is known for describing the style with, "What you see is what you see" (moma.org). The Musket Frank Stella (1990)       Another work from Stella is shown above. The Musket is a sculpture meant to demonstrate Stella's dissatisfaction and confusion towards the mid-modern art world. In a time dominated by Cubism
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Dadaism

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    Here I would like to talk about the style that interested me most when learning about the early modern era: Dadaism. The style exploded following World War I with artists such as Duchamp and Picabia being some prolific names of the scene. In ways, Dada works served as "anti-art", forsaking aesthetics and idealisms to instead present work that shocked the viewer into looking inwards at their own beliefs and societies. This attitude prevailed during the time after the war, with the conflict serving as a point of introspection as to the modernization and brutality of mankind. Mechanical Head Raoul Haussman (1919)       Shown above is the sculpture Mechanical Head by Raoul Haussman. He created this piece in 1919 in Berlin. The sculpture consists of a dummy head adorned with multiple accessories, such as a measuring tape, and a tin cup. This piece is meant to critique modernization and industrialization by letting the head represent man. While capable of performing these funct
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Romanticism

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      I would like to share what I have learned about what I feel to be the two main art styles of the Romantic Era: Romanticism and Realism.     The Raft of Medusa Theodore Gericault (1819)     Depicted above are two Romantic paintings. The first is The Raft of the Medusa by Theodore Gericault. This was painted in 1819 in France three years after a devastating naval disaster that serves as the subject of the painting. This painting demonstrates several key Romantic motifs in its image, one being its grim portrayal of tragedy, not putting on airs to cover up a dark moment in history. Its subjectivity is also a commonly seen trait in Romantic paintings, with the only thing objectively being shown being human suffering, leaving the viewer to create their own narrative, who was to blame for this?      The use of tone is extremely dramatic, holding onto techniques of the neoclassical era while advancing the message of the painting in a manner nearly antithetical to that of Neoclassicism. 
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Classical Showcase

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Happy Lovers Jean-Honor é  Fragonard (1751)       The Classical Era was mainly characterized by two art styles of the time, being the Rococo and Neoclassical styles. Depicted above is Happy Lovers, a Rococo piece by Jean-Honor é Fragonard painted in London under a commission. This style of art was often put to use in depicting lavish pastimes of the nobility, as well as demonstrating a level of indulgence and comfort. As shown in the above painting, a woman dangles a birdcage above her absolutely transfixed lover, illustrating how captivated he is by her beauty. This kind of painting, with its garden setting, vibrant colors, and curving lines, is unmistakably Rococo. These paintings were often commissioned by aristocrats for display in more intimate areas of homes and properties. The general moral consciousness of the time would find something like this hung in the open for guests to see to be risqué or indecent. Despite this, works such as these flourished and were not only commission
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Baroque Art: The Denial of St. Peter

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  The Denial of St. Peter Caravaggio (1610)     This piece was painted by Caravaggio in 1610 towards the end of his artistic career while living in Naples. The painting depicts St. Peter, bathed in light, being accused of being a disciple of Christ by a woman and a Roman soldier. This piece was made by Caravaggio solely for his own desire, not because of a commission from any religious or noble figure.     The Baroque era came with certain changes in religious imagery. Whereas the Renaissance may have shown grandiose scenes of heavenly bounties or celebrated the achievements of humanity, religious art during the Baroque period took a far more realistic and dramatic approach as shown above. With the Counter Reformation in full swing following the Council of Trent, works like these became the norm, as a way to convey intended spiritual emotions. With the piece above, St. Peter is not portrayed as a virtuous, angelic follower of Christ, but merely a man, just as Caravaggio saw him.     Th
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Renaissance Spotlight: Hieronymus Bosch

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The Last Judgement Hieronymus Bosch (1504-1508)       The triptych above is The Last Judgement, one of Bosche's most famous paintings. Art historians believe that Bosch painted this piece in Bruges as a commission for Philip the Fair around 1505. The triptych depicts the fall of humanity across its panels, beginning with the original sin in the Garden of Eden.     The Triptych      Along the first third of the piece, God is depicted casting out Lucifer and the fallen angels from Heaven. Adam and Eve are also shown succumbing to the temptation of the serpent and being cast from the Garden in a similar fashion to the angels falling from grace.      The second third of the triptych is gruesome and appalling with a fantastically horrifying depiction of Limbo. Within, humans are tormented by the sins they commit and numerous demons.     The third panel descends further into the depravity of the second, with its display of hellfire and Lucifer sitting as the lord of a land of suffering
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