Week 11

1. Explain why you selected each of the FOUR videos you choose from the selection listed above.

I Chose these four videos because I wanted to expand my knowledge on topics that were mentioned in the text but that would now be further explained.

2. For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned.

Matisse & Picasso:

·      By 1905 both Matisse and Picasso were finally recognized for their amazing art works.

·      Matisse was known to be deliberate, French, and rational.

·      Picasso was impulsive, a hard worker, and immersed himself into his work.

·      Picasso invented collage and cubism.

·      Matisse was very much inspired by Paris.

·      When he moved to NYC in 1930 he won the Carnegie Prize.

·      Then goes to Tahiti and stayed for a couple months.

·      Picasso never traveled.

·      Matisse was afraid of painting season he thought he wouldn’t have inspiration.  He made painting a job where Picasso didn’t stop until his art was finished.

·      Matisse and Picasso used each other for techniques.

·      In WWII they both lived in Paris, darkness and violence are prevalent in Matisse’s work.

·      They moved to South France where Picasso at age 70 fathers 2 kids.

Dance at the Moulin de la Galette:

·      Renoir's "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" stands for pleasure and transports the viewer back in time to Paris.

·      "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" depicts a sunny Sunday afternoon at one of Renoir's favorite Montmartre haunts, with its dance hall and windmills. Renoir painted two copies of the scene, which became the epitome of Impressionism.   

·      He engaged local people as models for "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette," which represented two worlds: bohemian and fashionable men and lower class women.     

·      Although you may not know Renoir was aware of the poverty and organized charity balls.

·      Renoir's "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" was conceived and created during a time of political oppression, with Montmartre in the forefront of the troubles. The state built the Basilica of Sacré Coeur in Montmartre to atone for the crimes during the siege.    

·      Other artists, such as Federico Zandomeneghi, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, and Van Gogh, did not share Renoir's romantic vision of life at the Moulin de la Galette. Their paintings of the dance hall depict sinister, somber, and dark versions.   

·      Renoir's smaller version of "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette" has remained in private collections. In 1990, it sold for a $78.1 million at Sotheby's to Ryoei Saito, a Japanese paper tycoon. Art critics claim its commodity aspect superseded its aesthetic aspect

·      Renoir wanted to spread beauty and happiness.

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte:

·      Georges Seurat's enigmatic "La Grande Jatte" hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago. The artist is often described as unfathomable, a description that is apt for his famous painting as well.    

·      In Seurat's day, the island of la Grande Jatte was a place where prostitutes plied their trade. The riverbanks were often covered with couples making love.

·      “La Grande Jatte" portrays a great array of bourgeoisie in their stiff in the evolution of "La Grande Jatte" Seurat did not execute his pointillism technique until Ascension Day, 1884.

·      In a series of studies for the final painting, Seurat experimented with different characters, character placements, and light.    

·      The little girl in the center of "La Grande Jatte" is dressed in white, looks directly out to the viewer, and is the only subject not covered with dots. Seurat's depiction of fashion emphasizes bustles and corsets, and he paints the figures like the popular fashion plates of his day.    

Expressionism:

·      An 1892 Berlin exhibition of Munch's work caused such outrage it was closed. His uncompromising portrayal of emotion caused deep offense to the bourgeois mentality but won him acclaim. He often translated his work into other media like lithography.    

·      Munch shared his pessimistic view of sexual relationships with Swedish dramatist August Strindberg and German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. "Melancholy" and "Ashes" belong to "Frieze of Life - A Poem about Life, Love and Death."    

·      Munch never painted a picture cycle as such but most of his works can be loosely related to each other.

·      In Marc's "Tiger" there may be intimations that a terrible war is not far away.

·      Between 1913 and 1915 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner painted a series of works featuring "tarts" on the streets of a busy city. They appear to be hurried and seem to turn the viewer into a voyeur

·      The "Women in the Street" series seems to contain premonitions of the approaching disaster. Kirchner sensed the coming world war and his anxiety eventually led to a nervous break down.    

·      The figures in Baselitz's "The Great Friends" appear to be standing on a wasteland perhaps as the last survivors of a battle, which would explain many things about the painting. Upon closer inspection the setting becomes more confusing.    

2. How do the videos relate to the readings in the text?

The film topics were all mentioned in the reading but now could be further explained in more detail. Also from the videos you get another opinion on the topics and artists which always makes them more interesting.

3. What is your opinion of the films? How do they add depth to understanding of the readings and art concepts?

I feel that the films always expand my knowledge and I always walk away learning more now then I did from the text. Watching the videos an viewing more art always helps. I enjoy these weekly.