Bell-krater

This bell-krater, used for mixing wine and water at the Greek symposium, displays the story of Persephone's return to her mother, Demeter. Persephone steps up from Hades on the left, with Hermes standing back nearby. Hekate is in the center of the vase, lighting the journey with her two torches. Demeter stands at the far right, waiting for her daughter. The art on this vase is red figure, and the black background is identified as night-time by Hekate's large torches. Persephone's return from the underworld meant the return of spring and the growing season, so the story on this krater is rather important. 

An ornate border is above the figures, filled with what looks like leaves. Another more geometric border is below them, and it reminds me of a stone road or path on which the deities are standing. The figures' clothing is very detailed, with precise lines representing the folds. They are not stiff and regular like Archaic figures, the clothing falls more naturally, and Persephone and Hekate are caught mid-movement. The faces and anatomy of the figures have a much more Classical feel, and the krater dates back to 440B.C. It is simply attributed to "the Persephone Painter." I could find no actual artist name.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/28.57.23

Egypt Presentation

The presentation!

Pompeii

Call it morbid, but I've had a fascination with the disaster at the city of Pompeii ever since reading about it in a DK kids book about natural disasters at the age of seven. The fact that so many people were encased in ash, their last moments preserved in a mold, is so darkly poetic to me, I've always found it very interesting. That's why this article stood out to me so much. The article talks about an exhibit in the National Museum of Singapore that displays many artifacts from Pompeii and details life in the city before its ruin. The thing that caught my attention was the picture of the cast of a man's final moments. It's frightening, but something that sparks my interest, and if this exhibit comes to Nashville anytime soon, I WILL be seeing it. 

Pompeii on ArtDaily

The East Pediment

I chose to talk about a relatively small part of the Parthenon, the east pediment figures. There are nine surviving figures on the east pediment, including the two horses. The first horse is that of Helios, the sun god, while the horse on the right side is Selene's, the moon goddess. The central figures are missing, but were likely Zeus with his daughter Athena. The reclining male on the left side is either Herakles or Dionysos, the two seated women next to him are possible Demeter and Persephone, the earth and grain goddesses respectively. The next figure is Iris, a messenger of the gods. To the right of the missing central figures are likely Hestia, Dione, and Aphrodite, the goddess of love. 

The figures of the reclining Dione and Aphrodite are stunning to me. The folds of their dresses are so complicated and natural, clinging to the bodies of the two goddesses with surprising lightness. Their heads are missing, but you can still see that they look like they are just waking up and are very relaxed. These, like the other statues in the pediment, were once painted, which must have added to their lifelike nature. Though, at the height where they were situated, I wonder how much of the detail in these statues would have been visible. 

The Downtown Presbyterian Church

The best way I could describe my reaction to the interior of the Downtown Presbyterian Church is that I was completely shocked. I expected something subtle, some kind of similarity in columns, or maybe a similar floral pattern in the carpet. What I saw was a full representation of a barge going down the Nile to an Egyptian temple, with blues to represent the river and clouds on the ceiling above. Stained glass windows lined the walls, depicting palm trees and papyrus on a sandy shore, and ahead of us were massive  colorful columns with more columns painted in the "distance" behind them. 

The site of the church was very central, right in the middle of downtown. The man showing us around told me that it was the highest point in the city, which is why the North used it as a base and a hospital during the Civil War, it was a prime location. The space inside the sanctuary was enormous. Or at least it felt enormous. The painted sky on the high ceiling and the vertical columns made the room feel much bigger than it was. The stained glass windows played with the lighting in the room, giving the area a surreal kind of feeling. Every part of the room was decorated with bright colors representing the Nile, Egyptian motifs, etc. The false painted columns painted on the walls helped the room feel bigger as well. As far as materials, the dark wood was beautiful. Most of the decoration was painted, but there was the stained glass as well (which is one of the few things that made the place feel like a traditional church at all). The bright colors were striking, the blues and oranges, and they represented the Egyptian style well. The repeated columns and wood paneling created rhythm throughout the room. The most distinctive features were the columns, the motif with the sun and snakes and wings, the bright colors, the stained glass windows, and the organ in the front of the room.

Individual Blog Assignment 9-16-10 #2

This article is all about a local artist named Cindy Wunsch. She creates whimsical, colorful paintings, layered deep with subtle emotions. A lot of her paintings have to do with birds and women, and the emotion and thought she puts into each one touches people in very versatile ways. She talks about how one of her paintings, I Wonder if He Knows How Much I Miss Him, makes one woman think of her husband who passed away, another of her son that committed suicide, and yet another of her husband away in Iraq. Her paintings seem to resonate with people at a deep level, and they have a very unique appearance on top of that. She uses layers of paint to create personality and feeling, and incorporates paper and cloth and other media as well. While I don't personally like all of her work, a lot of it has a very unique beauty to it, and it is definitely worth taking a look. 

Original Article

Individual Blog Assignment 9-16-10 #1

The first thing I notice about the Stele of Naram-Sin is the detail. I'm a very detail-oriented sort of person, so I notice the obscure things very quickly, namely the tree. It's surprisingly delicate compared to the rest of the piece, forming an interesting contrast. It also gives us an idea of where this battle happened, and that it was probably a real battle, since the trees are identifiable (as stated in the Stokstad textbook). The tree might seem more delicate in the picture, since it is so scaled down. The stele must be stunning in person, at six and a half feet tall. It stands as a formidable tribute to the Akkadian king's reign. 

Even though the rules we know for art could not have been in place, we can tell that the person in charge of sculpting this piece had a good eye. The repetition of the king's soldiers toward the bottom of the stele is visually pleasing, as well as a means of conveying the perhaps idealized order and fearlessness of the Akkadian army. Scale and placement are big factors in the stele as well. The king is much larger than all the rest of the figures, and he is placed at the very top of the crowd, emphasizing his importance and authority. He is also given a sign of divinity: the horns on his head, which were a sign of the gods to that culture. This whole piece serves as a representation of Naram-sin's authority, both in war and the religion of the time.