Blog Post #4 - Met

Egypt is one of the most famous early river valley civilizations of all time. Its history has fascinated people all over the world, and there still enigmas that historians are trying to decipher. We can not talk about Egypt without talking about the pharaohs. They were the kings that ruled Egypt, also considered as gods. My report is focus on the fifth pharaoh of the 18^th dynasty, Hatshepsut.

This is a portrait of the queen Hatshepsut, ruler of the 18thdynasty (New Kingdom). This 76 3/4in. free-standing sculpture shows a feminine style of the pharaoh even though in most of her statues she dresses like a man. Emphasizing on the steady position of Hatshepsut the artist subordinate the writing around her legs, which says “Daughter of Re” and “Lady of the Two Lands”. The sculpture shows a frontal position of Hatshepsut with her hands on her lags seated on a “chair”. This closed form artwork carved from limestone rock is well damaged, not because limestone is a sedimentary rock, but because when she died and TuthmosisIII reassumed power “her name and image were widely erased as being too gender-aberrant to remember”. The sculpture is an asymmetrical well balanced with both a combination of geometric and organic shapes. The unique medium the sculptor used to carve this steady position of Hatshepsut give the artwork unity.

I really like this statue of Hatshepsut. The reason why I choose it was the history of her background. It is amazing how she brought wealth to Egypt. And what makes the story

more exciting is the fact that she was a female ruler. This sculpture makes you contemplate about how she would be, and why she is posing like that? I get the feeling of respect by her serious face and also of sadness, because she looks unhappy. It is weird that you do not see her breast.

Second the article about Hatshepsut on the web page Wikipedia, “Hatshepsut was the fifth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt”. She ruled from 1479 BC to 1458 BC. Egypt ruled by woman was an unfamiliar fact, but not unprecedented. There were already lots of female rulers before Hatshepsut became a pharaoh. But comparing her reign with the other females’ pharaohs, her reign was much longer and prosperous than the others. She is recognized to be the pharaoh who inaugurated a peaceful era, and she also succeeded in warfare early in her reign. She brought great wealth to Egypt by re-establishing lost trading relationships. The benefits from her policies and administration enable her to initiate building projects which would raise the caliber of Ancient Egyptian architecture. Later pharaohs attempted to have their names on Hatshepsut’s accomplishments.

The sculptor of this piece of art is unknown. The sculptor wanted us to evoke the image of a big leader, and of a wonderful woman. The sculptor also depicted the words “Daughter of Re” and “Lady of the Two Lands” so we can understand better the artwork. Though the sculptor did this artwork for the “king” on her commandments, the sculptor might have his own subjectivity on it.

Here is a sculpture of Hatshepsut on a "male" style.

Citations:

    "Hatshepsut." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatshepsut>.

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatshepsut#Comparison_with_other_female_rulers

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatshepsut#Building_projects

    "Hatshepsut [Egyptian; From Deir el-Bahri, western Thebes] (29.3.2)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/29.3.2 (October 2006)

     Lewis, Jon E. "Part Three: Empire." The Mammoth Book of Eyewitness Ancient Egypt. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2003. 115-16. Print.

Blog Post #5

I agree with the author that art can create empathy. In my opinion, empathy refers to the three tips of art criticism and the additional of your own opinion. I added own opinion because it is difficult to evaluate art with out subjectivity.By the contextual theory, you can decipher why the artists chose to do that artwork and what he/she wanted to show. The formal theory makes you emphasis on the artwork style (you understand the artist style). The expressive theory and the contextual theory are the one's that I consider more informal in an artwork. From this twos, you get enough information to interpret the artist expression and make your own  opinion about the artwork. With all this information, you can relate them to your experience and from your point of view try to understand the artist/artwork or both. This is the fount of my opinion.
I agree with her citation "art communicates on a much deeper level than the written word and can challenge and encourage critical thinking". She just spelled "a picture worth a thousand words" in her own words. This is a true fact; you can never fully describe a picture. There is always an unexplained feeling inside that we don't know the exact word to describe it. It is like someone covered your mouth and won't let the word go out.

Practise Post #5 - Citing others source

The "Three female figures" from the late Helladic period (IIIA) of the Mycenaean culture, are a very interesting clay artwork. This picture funny, because when you look at these picture you don't see no hands but if you look at it at the side-side you can see the hands. These pictures look like bird heads on humans body with two of the artworks on circular bodys. The other one has a normal body but it has a hat/crown on his head.  According to these picture "These terracotta female figurines are referred to as phi , tau, or psi figurines, for their resemblance in shape to those Greek letters", where the phi are 10.8cm and the tau is 10.5cm. The information also tells you that most of the artworks at that time were female, and that they represent goddesses.

For better information about the these figures you can look at these web site:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/35.11.16-.18

AMNH Paper

Oceanic art usually makes reference to the creative work made by the native people of the Pacific Islands and Australia, involving areas as far apart as Hawaii and Easter Island. The Easter Island makes part of Polynesia, which is one of the four separate regions of Oceania. Many artworks from Polynesia usually meant to contain supernatural power and the Moai is one of those, which is one of the most famous art forms of Rapa Nui/Easter Island. My research is focused on the non-writing oceanic culture and especially on the Moai statues.

The Moia are statues of Easter Island from Oceania made by volcanic rocks. They are abstract statues of torso and head, were the head is three fifth (3/5) of the statue. Normally they have a truncated neck connecting the torso and the head but its not the case of this replica. By making the head three fifth of the statue, the craftsman makes us emphasized on the big head with the elongated nose subordinating the body; the ears and the arms are elongated too. The Moia is an abstract 12 feet freestanding carved sculpture made of rock from the native area. The variety of the geometric shapes, the head proportion, and the natural hue of the rock gives the artwork unity. The ears and the hands are attached to the sculpture in bas relief. 

This sculpture makes me feel small and skinny by its huge size and voluminous mass; and it also makes me feel strong by the medium the craftsmen used. The artwork evokes a feeling of respect from its serious face made by the deep socket eyes and his mouth closed. As I look to the sculpture from the bottom to the top I also evoke the leader feeling, it look like a superior counselor.

Trough the belief that the world was created by the union of Earth Mother and Sky Father, oceanic cultures view ancestors as the emissary between people and the gods; so, they created many objects to honor or pacify them because they thought ancestors could intercede and influence future events. The Moai are huge human carved statues from volcanic rocks on the Polynesia Island of Easter Island between the years 1250 1500. The Moai were representation of the living faces of the deified ancestors known as the Easter Island Heads. Also, they were placed on raised platforms overlooking small settlements along the cost line, as of protecting and overseeing the activities below. These statues were carved either by a separated class of professional carvers, or by member of each clan.

Many Polynesian cultures accorded similar homage to ancestors, but none on these statues scales. Like in Melanesian cultures, birds appear with human figures to act as the emissary between the physical world of the living and the spiritual world of deceased ancestors. And a broadly shared concept of oceanic art is mana. Many art forms of Oceania were intended to posses the mana power, which can keep adversity at bay, promote community well-being, and amplify personal power and wisdom. In other words, each oceanic cultures had different artworks but all with the same purpose.

The artist was trying to establish a connection between the gods and the native people by worship statues which represent the deceased ancestors. I could not decipher the artist message before I investigate about the artwork and it culture. The name of the artwork and the artwork by it self give you insufficient information to decipher the artist message. But when I read information about the artwork on the internet and the background of the culture, I could understand clearly what the artist wanted to express. It was an interesting art form to represent as homage for the ancestors and a protection for the island.

In conclusion, the Moai were made for worship, to establish a connection between the gods, the deceased ancestors, and the native people, and also as guardians of the island at the bay. Though these statues are commonly referred to as Easter Islands Heads, the Moai are whole-body statues. Oceanic people did not see their work in the concept of art; on the contrary, they created objects for the practical purpose of use in religious or social ceremonies, or for use in every day life.

Moai at the bay

For a better knowledge about the culture and the artwork, you can use this links (resources):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moai 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanic_art
or look at "Prebles' Artforms" (10th Edition) by Patrick Frank on chapter 19

Roel Caboverde Yacer - Pescador #2

From a formal perspective, "Pescador #2" is an abstarct painting from the twentieth century with some influence of the cubism style. The artist has an innovative style by emphasizing on the draw-out faces and hands not proportional to the body scale. The exaggerated hands express the hard work. The artist was influenced by Oswaldo Guayasamin, where most of his paintings had exaggerated hands on them.

Contextual Theories: The painting doesn't says anything about the government and the culture.

Expressive evaluation:  Roel wanted to express his passion to fishing. He exaggerated with the hands because he said the hands were the symbol of Cuba and that the hands has given them freedom. The warm colors makes you emphasis on the fish as a contrast with the cold colors, and also to show his passion for fishing.