... talks on Francis Bacon: Portrait of Isabel Rawsthorne Standing in a Street in Soho (1967)

... talks on Franz Kline: Mahoning (1956)

Rebecca talks on Mark Rothko: Number 15 (1957)

• full details of the work – artist, title, year, medium, dimensions
• an explanation of how the work fits into a broader style or movement (eg Realism) and the specific historical context (eg the mid 19^th century in France).
• A description of the work
• one key quote about the work in question
• why this work interests you/ your own opinion of the work

• names of authors, titles of articles, books or websites (and publication information) that are especially relevant to this work
• a thought-provoking question about the work for the class

Terence talks on Jackson Pollock: White Light (1954)

A good presentation will include:

• full details of the work – artist, title, year, medium, dimensions
• an explanation of how the work fits into a broader style or movement (eg Realism) and the specific historical context (eg the mid 19^th century in France).
• A description of the work
• one key quote about the work in question
• why this work interests you/ your own opinion of the work

• names of authors, titles of articles, books or websites (and publication information) that are especially relevant to this work
• a thought-provoking question about the work for the class

... talks on Georgia O’Keefe: Cow’s Skull with Calico Roses (1931)

Frieda Luk talks on Frida Kahlo: Marxism will give health to the sick (1954)

   Frida Kahlo, Marxism will give health to the sick, 1954

1.           full details of the work :

Artist: Frida Kahlo

Title: Marxism will give health to the sick

Year: 1954

Medium:  oil painting

Dimensions: 76x61cm

Gallery: Frida Kahlo

Museum :Mexico City, Mexico

2.           specific historical context:

    Frida’s work never fits into the main stream art movement/categories in the 19^th century. Her work neither considered as Abstract Expressionism or Pop art. Therefore, a category named Vernacular Modernism includes Frida’s work under their definition of modern-time artwork with strong dialectic and regional identity.

Vernacular means dialect and regional or Recognizable characteristic of a period, place etc. For Modernism, it means a self-conscious break with the past and a search for new forms of expression.

    That means Frida’s work contains a definite and recognizable local features. Frida was born in Mexico and her work had been influenced by the Mexocan Renaissance movement in 1910-1920 which remained its influences till nowadays. The movement is aim at promoting individualism and indigenous cultural identity as a Mexican. Artist then tried to trace back their roots and identity in reviving the popular in Mexco: retablos and ex-voto which could be considered as folk art.

Folk art is different from any forms of art in fine art genre since they are not pursuing pure aesthetic emotion or artistic achievement. They are sometimes utilitarian and even decorative.

Retablo and ex-votos are traditional religious art form. They both considered as a tool to re-identify Mexican

Retablo consists of:

•        vibrant color

•        decorative elements

•        traditional iconographic (that means full of icon)

Ex-voto is normally painted by normal people to document their life’s event. Under 2 circumstances may people painted ex-votos: first, tragedy happened wanting a blessing waiting for miracle. Second, miracle they have gone through.

Ex-voto actually is a pictorial documentary of the local’s daily life.

    That is why ex-votos contains the following chatacteristics:

•          specific situation

•          reveal directness of emotion

•          vivid and simplified forms

•          dramatic colors and contrasts

For Frida, she always struggling from her accident from a car crash and the revolution in conquer over the domination of capitalism. A great sense of pride being a Mexican is always shown in her painting. Retablos and ex-votos have given her great influence in collaborate her work of art.

3.           A description of the work

“Marxism will give health to the sick“ is an unfinished work. However we still can see Frida’s self expressions and folk art influence in it.

1.          Influence from folk art:

                    i.                vibrant color use :

                                   -seldom light and soft color

               -colors with string visual impact, like red expressing anger and horror symbolizes the cruelty of capitalism. The bright sky blue makes a strong announcement of peace and hope. The great area of white on the left upper corner used on the dove make a strong saying on peace.etc.

              

                - the overall use of color show less delicate and subtle statement. Always painted color in a great area, we can divide the painting into different sectors by colors. (broad&simplified color areas )Color definitely is an important emotion and aesthetic element in it. Heavy darker red used greatly on the right land, giving a sense a blood and horror. However, the bright yellow land, the bright yellow sun and the bright yellow land on the globe; the bright blue sky; the meadow tone like green skirt; the clean white hair of Marx and the dove not only give a symbolic statement but also give a sense of enthusiastic mindset of being save and the ecstatic emotion triggered by the revolution.

              

               - the color use gives sense of hope and passion also originated from Frida’s contradictory use of color. For example the red land contrasts with the green dress. The blue sky contrasts with the blue sky.  

                    

                  ii.                iconographic = full of icon :

1.       the red book on Frida’s right hand and her green and white skirt symbolize the Mexico flag: white green and red

2.      The white dove symbolizes peace

3.      Marx symbolizes Marxism

4.      The man with American’s flag hat and a eagle body symbolizes the “evil” capitalism

5.      Marx strangle the man with American’s flag hat symbolizes Marxism can save Mexican from capitalized damage.

6.      The separated walking stick symbolized Frida under Marxism protection finally get rid of physical and mental pain

7.      The mushroom-like grey boom symbolized the cold-war atomic bomb threat and damage to Japan

8.      The sun on sky symbolize hope

9.      The land on the globe in half red and yellow symbolizes places dominated by Marxism could be brighten by the sun with hope. No longer stays in darkness.

  ^àwith that much of symbols also make the painting look decorative.

                        iii.                 brushstrokes:

-overall brushstrokes are rush and rough

Seldom refined lines, mostly carry a great deal of emotion in it.

  àthere is only rough and rougher/ heavy or heavier but not soft and hard/ delicate or rough

  à comparing the American eagle body with Frida’s dress. Definitely, the dress is less heavy and rough. But we still can sense the rhythm is quick and with order: the dress is painted in pattern-like downward straight line to create the drape of the dress. On a contrary, the eagle body is with a sudden and obvious extra thick contour line. The brushstroke represent a  sense if chaotic which expressing Frida’s hater toward capitalism

-heavy brushstrokes may resulted to her illness, the unbearable pain from physical or mental

                iv.                composition:

       the composition could be mainly described into 2 main ares

-  firstly, it could be seen as an imitation of the ex-votos. Most ex-votos would put the savior above the patient/believer to promote the sense of hope/safe. Also, this help in create a saint like image for the savor. In this case, we have Marxism.

        However, Frida was in the most proportion if the work and she is in the middle and without sharing the same focal point with the “saint”. We could see that Frida’s decision in the composition reveal her emphasizes on individual and self-identity.

       A dove placed on the sky and in bigger proportion than Marx, and shared the same sky(one at the right , one at the left) is highlighting the idea of do not worship Marxism as a religious but believe in its norms with rational thinking. This is somehow diminishing the sense of “saint” being put on Marx.

      The placement of everything is giving a sense of balance. The horizontal division of land and sky and vertical division of the right land and left land create a sense of symmetrical and order.

     The proportion a land > sky sends a message of people should be more down to earth.-->to revolution instead of waiting for savior

-          Secondly, Frida place the atomic bomb, the red-blooded land and the America eagle all on the right hand side and place the Marxism dominated world the yellow land with healthy blue water and dove on the left hand side is clearly defining the political position; the right wing: capitalism and the left wing : the Marxism/Socialism.

                  v.       free use of space and volume:

-a sense of freedom.

-No sense of distance

-No rational and reasonable object placement

-Error in geometric perspective

-Color is not function in creating accurate shadow to provide sense of volume; and not function in fading in the background to create sense of distance

-Every objects in equal details, even objects in the background which details should be shaded off.

** These all elements help revealing the directness of emotion of being save and saving the others**

1.      individual > anything (Self identification affirmation)

                                                                                            i.                Mexican identity

                                                                                          ii.                Her belief in Marxism (personal political stance)

                                                                                        iii.                Her pain (relief)—physically and mentally

                This is her diary

àtraditional Mexican dress( long enough to cover her distorted right legs)

 àfrank self expression = the corset

3. personal political stance

àfrida has wrote sentences to describe the work:” "Peace on Earth so the Marxist Science may Save the Sick and Those Oppressed by Criminal Yankee Capitalism"

   This not only reveals what is the main theme of it. It actually serves a similar intention as lines written at the bottom of ex-votos.

à From the composition of the painting can show Frida’s political stance: supporting Marxism.

One half of the land represents the peaceful part of the earth. The other side with symbolic mushroom-like boom and red lands symbolize the capitalized horror world. The blue sky is attached with a white dove that protects Frida and the globe dominated by the Soviet Union. From these, we can see Frida’s political stance.

**Actually, from Influence from folk art to individual > anything (Self identification affirmation and personal political stance are huge and significance difference from mainstream modern art. These three aspects are contradict to modern art norms.**

4.           one key quote about the work in question

Frida: "They thought I was a Surrealist,

    but I wasn't.

    I never painted dreams.

    I painted my own reality."

Andre Breton who wrote the manifesto of surrealism

à admires Frida as Surrealist.

è After some explosion in Paris and Mexico’s exhibition

è Frida disgraced Surrealism as “ a decadent manifestation of bourgeois art”

She developed a violent dislike for what she called "this bunch of cuckoo lunatic sons of bitches of surrealists." She did not denounce Surrealism, but obviously disliked their ideas about the dream world and psychology.

àFrida did not view her paintings as a window into her dreams, but rather a window to her reality.  Her paintings truly displayed the link between mental and physical health.

àFrida recognized that although she was suffering from mental illness caused by her physical illnesses, she could find strength in her relationships as well as her amazing ability to paint striking art.  She became politically active and a sympathizer for the Communist party. 

5.           why this work interests you/ your own opinion of the work

Hayden Herrera has once commened on the "What the Water Gave Me" She said :

“Frida is ‘down to earth’,’having depicted ‘real images in the most literal, straightforward way.Like much of Mexican art, Frida's paintings "interweave fact and fantasy as if the two were inseparable and equally real," 

   Frida has once wrote too :"Really I do not know whether my paintings are surrealist or not, but I do know that they are the frankest expression of myself," "Since my subjects have always been my sensations, my states of mind and the profound reactions that life has been producing in me, I have frequently objectified all this in figures of myself, which were the most sincere and real thing that I could do in order to express what I felt inside and outside of myself." 

Some may say : à3levels popular /poetic/pictorial = surrealism

Linked reality and imaginary with pictorial and words

Poem = word of picture

Picture= picture of word

However I’ll ask :How you define reality?

For me, depicting the real emotion, making it seeable, is already reality and realism for me. Frida’s naked her feelings in front of the world. The pain even seemed touchable.

    That is why I would like to raise the question: Is it necessary for us to categorize every work of art into different class? And, why ?

6.            a thought-provoking question about the work for the class

Is it necessary for us to categorize every work of art into different  class? 

And, why  ?

7.           names of authors, titles of articles, books or websites (and publication information) that are especially relevant to this work

•          Paz Octavio ,”essays on Maxican Art” p.243-245

•          http://www.fridakahlofans.com/essay.html

•          http://www.fridakahlofans.com

•          http://www.scribd.com/doc/9079307/Frida-Kahlos-Spiritual-World-The-Influence-of-Mexican-Retablo-and-ExVoto-Paintings-on-Her-Art

... talks on Diego Riveira: Ancient Mexico (1929-1935)

YANG Wen (Sabrina)... talks on Dorothea Lange: Migratory Cotton Picker, Eloy, Arizona (1940)

Kai Yuen talks on René Magritte: Time Transfixed (1938)

Time Transfixed was printed by Rene Magritte in 1938, it is an oil printing. Actually, it is quite large in size, which are around 57.7/8 in. × 38.7/8 in. Edward James paid for this painting and he also paid for several surrealism artists. Magritte is one of them.

Surrealism is an art movement began in France in the 20^th century. It was developed from Dada. The name of surrealism is come from the essay published by Andre Breton, “Manifeste Du Surréalisme”, in 1924 and he forms a group of artists called Surrealists. Magritte is one of the members.

Surrealism highlights the pure creation of mind, it means that you just depict the idea come out from your mind no matter it make sense or not. It is all about imagination, just like this painting. The sense is real but strange, just like our dream. That’s why it is called surreality which means absolute reality. Surrealism aims to explore the subconscious, subconscious is something hidden in our mind but it will affect our character and attitude.

Then I would like to describe the art work in detail. It looks realistic and still. Actually, Magritte is deeply influenced by Giorgio de Chirico as he was inspired by his artwork “The song of love”. For example, the dislocation, which means put the unrelated objects together, such as the combination of clock and train, it is from Chirico’s artwork “The Philosopher’s Conquest”. The smooth brushstroke, outlines and strong shadow and the juxtaposition of train and fireplace is also in his style. Juxtaposition means putting two objects together in parallel. Besides of this, Magritte put the train in the fireplace to create the feeling that the train is just passing through the tunnel and arrive it is station-the dining room fireplace. Also, train come out form the vent of the fireplace inside the fireplace. It seems that the smoke of the train is actually produced by the fire. Putting the incompatible objects with similar features together is an interesting mixture. The scale of train is modified by Magritte to an unusual size to fit inside the fireplace. Mirror is an element often used in his paintings. The reflection of the mirror is quite strange as it doesn’t show the rest of room. The reflection of the right candlestick is also omitted. Some art critics also point out the clock symbolize time and the candlestick symbolize wisdom. But I think there may be over-interpretation.

Why I chose this work to analyze? It’s because I was immediately attracted by its strange combination of objects, which looks really different from previous work. Personally, I love fantasy since because I can step into imaginative world and I can escape from the bitter life for a second. When I study more deeply in this work, I find Magritte is a really creative artist. I love the idea of putting the fireplace and the locomotive together and make fun with the similarity of them.

There is a key Quota from Magritte on his painting. He said: “I decided to paint the image of a locomotive…. In order for its mystery to be evoked, another immediately familiar image without mystery—the image of a dining room fireplace—was joined.” (Quoted by The art institute of Chicago in May 1997)

It seems that Magritte is really good at creating mystery feeling by putting unusual and dairy objects together.

References:

•      ANDRÉ BRETON, Manifesto of Surrealism, 1924, http://www.tcf.ua.edu/Classes/Jbutler/T340/SurManifesto/ManifestoOfSurrealism.htm

•      Gombrich, E .H., The Story of Art. United Kingdom: Phaidon Press, 1995.

•      Time Art Gallery
http://www.theorderoftime.com/art/timegallery/hall1/timetransfixed.html

•      The art institute of Chicago
http://www.artic.edu/artaccess/AA_Modern/pages/MOD_6.shtml

•      School of  the art institute of Chicago  - Time Transfixed,
http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/citi/resources/Rsrc_001110.pdf

There are two Questions for you to discuss:

•      There are difference analyzes on the artwork. Some art critics even think that he criticized the development of railway in 19^th century by the artwork.

Do you think this image is serious or lighthearted?

•      Actually René simply wanted the painting to create a feeling of mystery in the viewer.

Does it necessary for the artist and viewers to have same idea on an artwork? Should we respect the artist’s original idea or insist on our own opinion?

No matter what you answer for these two questions, it is neither right nor wrong in both cases. Personally, I also think it is actually hard to say which side is better as Surrealism highlighted the unconscious. The artist could just depict the ideas they have without hidden any code in the painting. On the other hand, as it is all about unconscious (subconscious), the artist may tell some inner thought through the depicted image without notice which pointed out by the art critics. Sometimes artist’s original idea can signally different from the viewers.

Kam Wan Sze talks on Joan Miró: Dog Barking at the Moon (1926)

• Artist: Joan Miro
  Artist's Lifespan: 1893-1983
  Title: Dog Barking at Moon
  Date: 1926
  Location of Origin: France
  Medium: Oil on canvas
  Original Size: 29 x 36 1/4 in
  Style: Surrealism
  Genre: Animals
  Location: Philadelphia Museum of Art
  The style of this painting is Surrealism
  
  
  Surrealism was the beginning of the artistic trend in France, from Dada, from 1920 to 1930.Surrealist Art usually focused on the performance of the main conflicts, such as life and death, past and future. Therefore, surreal painters will show the distortion of the real world or conflict by using fine and ultra-realistic way to express the real world, or even appear humorous effect.
  
  
  The description of work
  
  
  The artist used the simple brown and black for the background.Colorful dog and moon, and a ladder passing across the skyline and meandering back to the sky. As we can see the lane is smooth and clear ,the ladder breaches realism-oriented original size.It highlight the barking dog’s desire for climbing that ladder to the moon to find it’s dream. This expression means the desire to specific objects which are out of mind. It also adds more sense of humor.
  
  
  The artist affected by surrealism,he put the pieced of colour together,show us the artist’ subconscious.So the objects are not  completely the same as real. Everything is ambiguous, for example the moon seems to have a red nose and the bird seems to have no face.  This painting combines four objects that symbolize different meaning .The dog represents the artist. The dog is barking at the moon. It means the artist wants to complain and express his desire ,but there is no one who responds him. 
  The ladder receding into the sky lends a sense of deep, vacant space to this scene of nocturnal isolation.  The ladder means the painter wants to escape from the reality and to his dream world .  Unfortunately, there isn’t any support of the ladder, it represents the artist‘s desire will not come true.
  
  
  There is the key quote
  
  
  Created shortly after Miró first included words in his art in what he called "painting-poems," its genesis lies in a sketch by the artist showing the moon rejecting a dog's plaintive yelps, saying in Catalan, "You know, I don't give a damn." The import of these words, crossed out in the drawing and then excluded from the painting, nonetheless lingers in the vacant space between the few pictorial elements that compose this stark yet whimsical image of frustrated longing.
  Twentieth Century Painting and Sculpture in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2000), p. 63.
  
  
  Reference
  Impressionism and Modern Art(2007)
  Handbook of the Collections(1995)
  Twentieth Century Painting and Sculpture in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2000)
  Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealism
  
  
  Opinion
  
  
  When I first saw this picture, I was attracted by the cartoon style of the bird ,moon, ladder and dog. I was curious about this strange combination. Although the lines and strokes are not obvious, it seems that the painter does not focus on lines and realism. It focuses on content, and expression of  work. At first I misunderstood the painter of this work wanted to express dissatisfaction. But later, I found that he wanted to express despair and frustration. When the dog wants to tell the moon, the moon and bird turn their backs to the dog. It shows us that the moon is not taking the dog seriously. The dog is being rejected. In addition, although the composition of work only includes four objects, it will not  make you feel vague. It is because the four objects are distributed in four sides of paintings. This composition creates a space for the readers’ own imagination.
  
  
  Question
  
  
  There are mainly three objects in the painting, the ladder, the dog and the moon, but the painter didn’t give a story to link  those objects, can you imagine a story between those objects when you look at the painting?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Li Kam Fung talks on Salvador Dalí: The Persistence of Memory (1931)

VIS 104: Romanticism to Modernism

The Persistence of Memory

Li Kam Fung (1177824)

The Persistence of Memory

Artist: Salvador Dali (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989)

Year: 1931

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 24 cm × 33 cm (9.5 in × 13 in)

Location: Museum of Modern Art, New York City

The Persistence of Memory is a well-known Surrealism painting done by Dali. The features of Surrealism are shown in the painting. Such as the main objects, pocket clocks appear in a non-logical way or combining different real objects in a non-logical way, the pocket clocks are soft and melting, the table and dead wood are combinedin a strange way, the wood grows on a hard table. It produced a strong contrast with the soft pocket clocks - Softness and Hardness. Also, byviolation of the basic physical principles to produce an absurdity feeling, the hard case becomes soft as cloth. The painting also covered with mystery, fantasyand unreal feeling, just like a dream and illusion. Everything in the image seen unreal and not exist, even the table and thelandscape. The image can only appear in an unreal world, but not in our real world.

The painting is just like a dream, an unreal world covered by a stressful atmosphere. The main object - the pocket clocks are soft and melting in the image. It produces a strong contrast between "softness"and "hardness", which is a specific thinking of Dali. The clocks' case should be hard, but soft as cloth in the image. And the softness clocks land on the objects, whichare hard, the table and the dead wood. It seems that clocks represent time, and time is soft,breakable and fragile. Other objects are hard,strong and eternal. But in fact, only time is eternal and stay forever. But every objects and creatures will fade one day.

It is interesting in the middle of the image, there is a grey thing. After observed, find that it seems like a human's face. The strange face, Dali had used severaltimes to represent him. There is an eye and a noise on the face. And the eye is closed,seems that the creatures(Maybe Dali) is sleeping and in a dream state. Maybe the image is what the creature dreaming.It triggers a feeling of dreaming in the dream, and repeats again and again, just like time, repeat again and again. Just like fall in an endless nightmare. Some say the image was Dali’s experience. And in the left hand bottom corner, there is a pocket clock is covered with ants.That is a say that Dali often used ants as a symbol of death. And the clock reversed, just like the clock was damaged, time stopped. Does it mean when time end, life also end. In the middle of the image, it seems that that is a dead or fading creature under the grey face. It is dark in color and without any motion and emotion. Adding with the dead wood on the table produced an atmosphere of dead and nightmare. In the background, there is a normal landscape, but because the image is so unreal, make me feel double. And the sea is strange in the right hand side. One part of sea was being folded up.

Every part in the painting is so strange and in a non-logical way. Each object has that own deep meaning, such as pocket clocks represent time, ants and dead wood represent life and dead, etc. And the color tone and background created a strong atmosphere of stress make the image like a nightmare. And the meaningful part is the sleeping face in the middle, suffering in the nightmare. In the nightmare, there is another myself suffering in nightmare, again and again. Just like time, endless.

Question: Is time really endless? Is time really repeats again and again?

Reference:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.      <!--[endif]-->Painting and Sculpture in the Europe 1880-1940

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.    <!--[endif]-->Ades, Dawn. Dali.Thames and Hudson, 1982

<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.    <!--[endif]-->The Persistence of Memory on Authentic Society

<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.      <!--[endif]-->The Persistence of Memoryin the MoMA Online Collection