Good Blog Post

I really enjoyed reading a blog from The Abbeville Manual of Style, entitled Marlene Dumas at MoMA. The blog really captures the psychological aspects of the painting and explores the artists motives and choices in creating it. Dumas' art, specifically Measuring Your Own Grave, probes deeply into the meaning of a painting and its effects. The blog describes how an epitaph that begins the exhibit epitomizes the artist's belief that painting something entombs it to a degree. Different from most blogs I have read, the blog offers an insightful look into the cognitive ambitions of the artist and her opinion of art as a whole.

The blog entry can be found here: http://www.abbeville.com/blog/?p=2702

Loves of the Gods

Loves of the Gods, one of Carracci's most famous pieces, adorns the ceiling of the Palazzo Farnese. In essence, the piece is a visual display of love in Greek mythology. The ceiling is notable because of the new style that Carracci employed. Called quadro riportato, this style of painting is when a fresco looks like an oil based painting. In Loves of the Gods, there appear to be numerous framed oil paintings on the ceiling, but the ceiling is actually fresco. Painted polychrome statues of young men frame the frescoes and appear to watch as various myths are played out before them. Probably the most famous individual fresco is in the center. It is called "Triumph of Bacchus" and is a mix between the styles of Titian and Raphael, combined to form Carracci's new and unique style.

The work most similar to Loves of the Gods is Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel frescoes. While similar in the orientation or set up of the frescoes, the two differ in subject matter. While Michelangelo's outlined the fall of man and his redemption according to Christian beliefs, Carracci depicted Greek myths of love. Both are ceiling frescoes made of several smaller frescoes and have statuesque onlookers painted and sculpted into the room. The Sistine Chapel is a bit more geometric than Palazzo Farnese--Carracci used mainly rectangular frames, while Michelangelo had lunettes and triangles interspersed in the Sistine Chapel. Another difference between the two pieces is that Carracci painted the ceiling frescoes with in even light, but painted the statues as if a light was coming from below them in order to make them appear more statuesque. The chiaroscuro is what differentiates the two ceilings.

Starry Night

Van Gogh painted Starry Night in 1889 while in Rémy, France. The oil on canvas now hangs in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). A post-impressionist, Van Gogh is easily identified because of his thick and visible brush strokes that are part of what sets Starry Night apart from other paintings. The night is not calm or peaceful, but appears to be somewhat tumultuous. The swirling skies are filled with luminescent stars and a large crescent moon that sheds a thin sheet of light over the town below. The town's most central building is identified as a church because of the spire that reaches up into the night sky, but is somewhat blocked out by the billowing cyprus trees that stand on the left side of the painting.

At the time during which it was painted, Van Gogh was suffering from depression and was in a psychiatric ward. He was concerned with the importance of life in death, which is why many believe that cyprus trees were made noticeable part of the painting--cyprus trees are often found in cemeteries. The combination of the death-related vegetation and the vision of a town at night rather than the day indicates Van Gogh's internal struggles. The painting is not joyous, but rather contemplative. While landscapes are oftentimes a simple portrayal of the natural world, there is another dimension to Starry Night. It is much more psychological than the typical landscape.

Van Gogh's Starry Night is one of the most renowned works the world over and a personal favorite. Its highly saturated colors combined with the obvious brush strokes from impressionism make for a stunning piece. There is something about the piece that is very ethereal that stems from the swirling night skies,yet the ethereal skies are paired with navies and blues that create a darkness over the town below. The work is both aesthetically pleasing and innovative.