Film Review: The Princess Bride

The movie I choose is The Princess Bride; it was released in 1987, when I was 10 years old.  I choose the film because this is still my favorite movie, quite possibly because when the film came out I had a huge crush on Fred Savage. I believe the film is highly successful, it has turned into a cult classic that I among others have seen many times over. I feel that when you hear people quote lines from a script verbatim, that film has definitely made its mark on society. The Princess Bride was Rob Reiner’s directing debut for a big screen production. The screenplay writer, who also wrote the book in 1973, is William Goldman, whose additional notable screenplays include Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid from 1969 and The Ghost and the Darkness from 1996. This script however seems to be acceptable for a broader aged audience than some of the others in his repertoire, especially due to its classic fairytale storyline, featuring a beautiful princess being rescued.

The music for The Princess Bride was all original and created by Mark Knopfler a well-known Scottish composer and musician who was in the band Dire Straits, also popular during the early 1980’s.  The album, released for the movie contains twelve of the original scores, including “I Will Never Love Again”, named for a famous line in the movie and the film’s theme song “Storybook Love”.  Knopfler collaborated with Willy DeVille on “Storybook Love” and in 1988 the song won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The light melodic tunes that lend well to this film are far from Knopfler’s most popular upbeat songs such as “Sultans of Swing” and “Money for Nothing”, which by the way is one of the most iconic MTV videos of all time.

One of the most iconic supporting roles in the movie is that of Fezzik played by Andre the Giant, who was a well-known professional wrestler in the 1980’s. To say that Andre had special talents is an understatement; he was a huge man, standing just over 7’ tall.  Andre’s size was due to a pituitary disorder and his charming accent was that of his rural French upbringing, these components made his characterization of Fezzik as a big, dumb, gentle giant.  Andre played to his own strength which lent great comedy to the film especially feeding off of the A-typical Napoleonistic demeanor of Vizzini played by Wallace Shawn, for whom Fezzik was a henchman.

Andre the Giant as Fezzik.

One of the most romantic scenes in the movie uses a close-up shot, it is of the Dread Pirate Roberts and Buttercup right after she realizes that he is her long lost love Westley, they had rolled down a dangerously steep hill and at the bottom Westley takes Buttercup into his arms for their first kiss since being reunited.  The close-up shot only encompasses their bodies from about the waist up as they are lying on the ground; the rest of the shot is of contrasting lush green grass behind them.

A close-up shot.

The film being a fairytale still needed to portray the old world charm characteristic of lush green rolling hills and formidable castles. One of the more stark settings in the movie is during the chase scenes up the Cliffs of Insanity.  The producer found just the place to create the needed aesthetics in Ireland.  The Cliffs of Moher in County Clare in the southwest of the country are tall expansive cliffs, 214 meters or 702 feet at their highest point, that drop straight into the North Atlantic Ocean.  What an absolutely amazing view that must be from the top. The sheer jagged cliff walls are a perfect formidable opponent for Fezzik and Westley to climb, and for the later to prove his strength, as commented on in the movie.

Scene of Fezzik climbing the Cliffs of Insanity.

Landscape view of the Cliffs of Moher, Ireland.

 

The costumes of this movie for most of the characters do not change the whole way through the movie. The men are dressed in traveling attire befitting of their station, finery for the Sicilian Vizzini, leather pants and vest for the swordsman Inigo Montoya and an all-black outfit, including mask, for the Dread Pirate Roberts (Westley). However Princess Buttercup, being almost the only female role, has several costume changes that range from peasant farm dress to the most beautiful and extravagant dress in the kingdom. My favorite costume is her riding outfit, a vibrant red dress with long billowing sleeves, and the dress is cinched high on the waist with a gold belt. Upon her smoothed out golden locks is a gold pearl-encrusted cap. The jewelry throughout the film is very simple, she wears gold stud earrings and with her more elaborate gowns is adorned with a single-string white pearl necklace with a pear-shaped pearl pendent, the jewelry stays the same as the dresses change. This is the outfit she wears most throughout the movie, because its what she was wearing when she got kidnapped.

Princess Buttercup in riding dress.

Close-up of gold cap and simple jewelry.

 

During Inigo Montoya’s  and The Man in Black’s (Westley) sword-fight atop the Cliffs of Insanity the clashing of steel between the swords and especially the whipping sound, when one of the swords is thrust but does not hit another sword, are two places that characteristic sound is essential in presenting the sword-fight as a more dramatic sequence. Watch and listen to the video clip of this famous scene, through the link below.  Additionally, listen closely at the end of their fight when The Man in Black’s (Westley) hits Inigo on the head with the hilt of his sword in order to knock him out, a thud is heard that obviously could not be the actual sound of the action. In this film especially, the sound effects add dramatization that is critically needed.

There are several scenes in the movie in which the lighting is important to present an atmosphere or mood to the environment the characters are in. One of the better scenes that come to mind where this is true is when Indigo and Fezzik bring Westley to the home of Miracle Max. Inside the little hut which is Miracle Max’s home the shelves on the walls are filled with clutter and the ceiling seems low.  The back story of Miracle Max leads you to believe he has been cooped up in his rickety old house since he was fired from his job working for the King and has been virtually a hermit in his home spending time only with his wife.  The lighting of this scene is very dark, produced by low-light brightness. There is also a distinct change to the depth of field during the close-ups in the scenes when the characters are talking, the images seem to be shot through a long focal lens which causes the scenery behind the people to be out of focus.

Some of the film was shot on location, such as most of the Cliffs of Insanity scene in Ireland, however some of the images of the cliffs are actually shots of matte paintings, it’s pretty amazing how seamlessly the different frames can be melded together.  Additionally, special effects were used in the boat scenes preceding those of the cliffs. The boat was in miniature and shot in a tank at the studio, though they appeared to be set in the open ocean.  The tank had a deep end, about 8’ deep, to give a place for Buttercup to dive from the boat when trying to escape her captors, but instead faces the shrieking eels.

One of the best scene transitions in the movie, in my opinion is right after Inigo and Fezzik find Westley, apparently dead, in the Pit of Despair.  This transition utilized a jump cut to bring you out of the story and forward in time to the reader of the story and his sick grandson.  A lead in to this change is also heard through a sound over where the grandson is heard saying “grandpa, grandpa wait”, asking his grandpa to stop reading in order to question where the storyline was heading. This is the beginning of a well-known scene where a precocious Fred Savage, the actor portraying the grandson, makes his mark in film with the line “Jesus grandpa, what did you read me this thing for?”

Symbolism in The Princess Bride is likely in many scenes of the movie.  One example of symbolism used in the film, is actually entwined in the storyline and fully explained by the narrator.  In the opening scenes of Buttercup living on her farm and her interactions with her farm boy, Westley, the only words he says to her at all are “as you wish”.  What he actually meant was “I love you”, yet it took Buttercup a little while to comprehend this. A much more subtle symbol used in the movie is quite the opposite, in that it still has no official explanation form the writer. The author if the book and screenplay, The Princess Bride is William Goldman, however if you listen at the beginning of the movie (part of the clip below) the narrator clearly states the book is by S. Morgenstern.  Well in real life when Goldman first released the book, he in fact presented it as an abridgement to S. Morgenstern’s version, although none exists.  S. Morgenstern is a pseudonym that Goldman used occasionally. What is believed, is that the reference to S. Morgenstern is a nod to an 18^th century philosopher Johann Karl Simon Morgenstern who coined the German word, Bildungsroman, which basically translates to mean a coming-of-age story, of which Goldman wanted The Princess Bride to be related as.

Having seen this movie so many times I am not surprised by anything that is going to happen in an upcoming scene. However I am always excited about the twists and turns in the plot of the movie. The film makes me happy, I like the ability to root for the good guy to save the girl and for a little boy (at heart) to avenge his father’s death. Overall a feel-good movie that you can’t walk away from disappointed.

References

Wikipedia. 2014. The Princess Bride (album). Web 5 Aug 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride_(album)

IMDb. 2014. The Princess Bride. Web 5 Aug 2014, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093779/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

IMDb. 2014. Mark Knopfler. Web 5 Aug 2014, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0461360/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cr7

IMDb. 2014. Andre the Giant. Web 5 Aug 2014, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000764/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

IMDb. 2014. William Goldman. Web 5 Aug 2014, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001279/?ref_=ttfc_fc_wr2

IMDb. 2014. Rob Reiner. Web 5 Aug 2014, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001661/?ref_=ttfc_fc_dr1

Wikipedia. 2014. Cliffs of Moher. Web 5 Aug 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliffs_of_Moher

Davis,Cindy. 2011. Mindhole Blowers: 20 Facts About The Princess Bride That Might Leave You Craving a Nice Mutton, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich. Web 7 Aug 2014, http://www.pajiba.com/seriously_random_lists/mindhole-blowers-20-facts-about-the-princess-bride-that-might-leave-you-craving-a-nice-mutton-lettuce-and-tomato-sandwich.php

Wikipedia. 2014. The Princess Bride. Web 7 Aug 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride 

Wikipedia. 2014. William Goldman. Web 7 Aug 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Morgenstern#Autobiographical_fiction

Wikipedia. 2014. Johann Karl Simon Morgenstern. Web 7 Aug 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Carl_Simon_Morgenstern

Wikipedia. 2014. Bildungsroman . Web 7 Aug 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bildungsroman

 

Post Modern Blog: Of the Earth

My theme is Of the Earth, I choose two artists who incorporate nature, whether in medium or in form into their artwork.

Marcus Grigorian – painter and sculptor

Considered the father of modern art in Iran, Marcus Grigorian was actually of Armenian descent. He was born in Russia in 1925, but his family immigrated to Iran when he was 5. Marcus did attend art school in Rome and a few years later he returned to Iran to open an art gallery and teach at the art institute in Tehran. In 1977 Grigorian spent a little while living in the United States, but eventually returned to Europe settling in his ancestral home of Armenia until his death in 2007. (Tehran Times)

Crossroads, 1975, Iran.

I love this piece, Crossroads, it is the first one of Grigorian’s that caught my eye.  The medium used was dried earth, fixed to canvas, which I assume makes the piece fragile.  What is intriguing is the replication of nature in the crackling of the dirt while molding it into an abstract non-natural art piece with the intersecting lines.

 

Midsummer Night Dream, 1999, Armenia.

This piece of Grigorian’s is a mixed media piece, here he utilizes paint and the natural medium of straw, also affixed to canvas. I find it interesting here that he appears to use the straw to represent actual straw or grass in the painting.

Rebirth, 1996, Armenia.

This last piece of Grigorian’s, to me shows the revitalization of the mud used in the art work, in which it is being changed from the dry cracking mud to a smoother, wet, wholly together mud, which makes sense to call the piece Rebirth. Again his use of earthen materials on canvas I find to be an innovative way of bringing nature into art.

 

David Maisel – photographer

David Maisel was born in New York City in 1961. He graduated from Princeton and with his Masters from the California College of the Arts, as well as attending the Harvard Design School.  His focus is on revealing environmentally and human impacted landscapes.  Maisel creates projects, mostly using aerial photography, in which many photos are included. I have picked one photo from three different project series that he did. (Grunder, DM)

The Lake Project -Owens Lake, California 2001-2002

Being a Geography major studying remote sensing this work by Maisel is extremely beautiful and fascinating to me. This image of Owens Lake is to show how the region is drying up, this is because water from the lake has been diverted to Los Angeles through an aqueduct system. Unfortunately this type of environmental damage is becoming common in the western U.S. where water is scarce. (Grunder, LP)

The Mining Project – Berkeley Mine Pit, Butte, Montana, 1989.

This next piece is of the Berkeley Pit Mine in Butte, Montana. This to me is beautiful and sad all at the same time. It hits very close to home, since my husband’s entire family live in Butte.  The mine closed down in the early 1980’s, my father-in-law had worked there and lost his job.  At that time the pumps to keep the mine free of water were turned off and the 1 mile deep mine filled with water, the metals and minerals that seeped out of the mine and into the water has left the area very toxic, this is the brown you see at the bottom of the image. Unfortunately there is no way to extract the water in a safe or timely manner.  This image is part of Maisel’s The Mining Project series where he shows a kind of beauty in the malformed and destroyed landscapes of strip mines.

The Forest – upstate, Maine, 1986.

Another intriguing image that hits close to home for me is this one of Maisel’s The Forest series taken over the northern woods of Maine. I was born and raised in Maine and logging was always a huge commodity for its people. This picture is of clear cutting in the forest, but you can see two lone trees in the clearing and their looming shadows, they look so sad and alone.  Many of his other photos in this series are of abandoned log jams along remote rivers, another very sad thought for nature to have given up those trees for nothing. I remember hiking along the Appalachian Trail in Maine about 15 years ago and from atop a peak looking out and seeing swaths of clear cut trees, normally a sign of prosperity, it surely doesn’t get portrayed that way in Maisel’s images.

Tehran Times. 2010. Artist Appeals to Create Marco Grigorian Museum. Web 4 Aug 2014, http://asbarez.com/83953/artist-appeals-to-create-marco-grigorian-museum/

Grunder, Christopher. n.d. David Maisel. Web 4 Aug 2014, http://www.davidmaisel.com/

Grunder, Christopher. n.d. The Lake Project. Web 4 Aug 2014, http://www.davidmaisel.com/the-lake-project/

Early Modern Art and WWI Blog

Early Modern Art and WWI are not two subjects that you would connect together in a normal daily thougt.  However the influences behind them in many cases are similar indeed. The art of the early 1900’s was a way groups of individuals saw to express their beliefs and anguishes with politics and culture of the time.  Just the same political strife seeped in altercation placed peoples and countires against each other.  The assasination of Archduke Ferdinand by a Serbian rebel was the kicking off of WWI, but this was a pushback to oppression by the hand of the Ottoman Empire that actually caused the events to unfold. Most artists of this time period were evolving out from more traditional genres to ones seen as progressive along side a lifestyle that was advancing with industry, science and innovation.  The charge many artists likely felt obligated to was, to symbolize the important aspects of culture at the time, whether is was war, opposition to change or a representation of change and growth itself.

 

Artistry in war can have many different purposes, whether to promote a side’s agenda through propaganda, to entice support promoting patriotism or provide a chronicle for historic record.  The ways of accomplishing these agendas can be done through many artistic mediums.  One of the better known ways of drumming up excitement and support for war preparedness and operations was through pictorial posters.  The most well known poster of war related art in America is James Montgomery Flagg’s I Want You for the U.S. Army, created in 1917 which depicts the iconic image of Uncle Sam pointing you and other able-bodied Americans out of a crowd, telling you to serve.  Flagg was a portrait artist and magazine illustrator and was not associated with the newly emerging genres of art during this period. It is rumored that Flagg even modeled his portrayal of Uncle Sam after himself.  The poster is a classic propaganda piece promoting patriotism; particularly since I am a Disabled Veteran of the Army, this image definately conjures patriotic sentiment within me. (LoC)

James Montgomery Flagg I Want You for the U.S. Army Lithograph 1917

Although photography was taking off during this time period there was still artists that were commissioned to document the life of war.  Cyrus Leroy Baldridge became an independent war correspondant and illustrator at the begining of WWI.  A natural adventurer from being raised by his single mother who was a traveling saleswoman, he paid his own way during this endevour and using bicycles and horse carts traveled throughout Belgium and France.  Being an American (this was before we entered the war) he had been able to obtain a German letter of passage which allowed him to freely travel throughout German and Allied troops to document their unique prespectives of the war.  Baldridge was extensively trained in art, having entered the Chicago School of Illustration at the age of 10 and graduated from the University of Chicago at age 22.  In 1917 after serving in the U.S. National Guard against Pancho Villa in Mexico, he went back to Europe to fight in WWI.  However because of his talents, Baldridge was placed instead with a group of artists and writers to create a newspaper for distribution within the military called The Stars and Stripes, a publication that is still in circulation today. Baldridge worked mostly in water colors and charcoals until later in life when he also completed oil paintings, however his style of art changed continuouly throughout his life due to his travels not only before and during the war but afterward due to his extensive trips throughout Africa, China, and the Middle East.  The image below called The Relief, to me is such an amazing representation of the hardship of life for men in the trenches.  You can see while walking the men still hunch over, likely always in a posture to take cover from incoming mortor attacks, shrapnel or even mustard gas. The statement written on the picture I found to be a unique way to try to capture the scenario and the mood of these soldiers at this time. The title The Relief, to me presents that the two men aproaching from the rear of the picture are arriving to replace the one man scootched down at the bottom.  In the military when you are on watch or posted to guard duty the soldier(s) who comes to replace you at the post so you can go rest or relax is call your “relief”.  (Wiki – CLB)

Cyrus Leroy Baldridge The Relief 1918. Statement on picture reads: “The Relief: Coming up to the front lines through the communication trenches, which extend a kilometer or so. On these occasions little love is lost on “beautiful moon-light nights”. (Wiki – CLB)

The proliferation of art during the early 1900’s was evident with the emergence of all types of new styles, but few were of much influence to efforts for WWI itself.  The Cubism genre introduced geometric shapes into the realm of art where it had not been seen before.  The influence that Cubism imparted on culture is unfathomable; several off-shoot art genres emerged including Futurism, Neo-Plasticism and Vorticism. It was the styles of Vorticism and Cubism that influenced Norman Wilkinson when he created dazzle camouflage, which was a style of ship painting first employed during WWI.  The ships were painted with bold colors with stripes and/or geometric shapes that were used to confuse enemy U-boats of the Allied ship’s speed and direction in an attempt to subvert torpedo attacks. (Gye)

Gunboat His Majesty Service (HMS) Kildangan in dazzle camouflage, 1918.

Dazzle camouflage on original WWI model boats housed at the Imperial War Museum, to demonstrate color used on ships that is not able to be seen from black and white photos (BBC).

 

Dazzle camouflage on HMS Argus, an aircraft carrier.

Wilkinson was a seascape painter and famous for his landscape pictorial posters that he did for the London Midland and Scottish Railway companies (DFA).  While serving in the British Naval Reserve onboard a minesweeper vessel, he came up with the idea for the camouflage to help protect ships, at that time there were approximately 8 ship sinkings a day.  Wilkinson was put in charge of a naval camouflage unit that employed many artists including Vorticist, Edward Wadsworth.  Wadsworth essentially dabbled in early-modern art, having paintings shown in exhibitions of Pot-Impressionism, Futurism and the nascent avant-garde genres until settling as one of the original signers of the Vorticist Manifesto in 1914. He also served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, where he contributed greatly to the design and application of dazzle camouflage patterns and styles that were used.  Later in his artistic career Wadsworth was still influenced by his time in the Navy and utilized nautical themes frequently, such as Dazzle-ships in Drydock at Liverpool, 1919. (Wikipedia – EW/NW)

I was so thrilled when I stummbled upon these pictures, I think they are amazingly cool. I actually think I had heard of dazzle camouflague before, likely from my husband who is full of useless knowledge especially about military stuff.  However I never knew about the connection of the camouflage style to Cubism and early modern art.  I am not a huge fan of cubism or other modern art styles, but the application seen here on the ships makes the art itself more interesting to have to take into account the unique shape and engineering of a ship, to me make the art of these pieces more aesthetically pleasing.

Dazzle-ships in Drydock at Liverpool, 1919 by Edward Wadsworth.

References

Library of Congress. 2010. The Most Famous Poster. Web 22 Jul 2014, http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm015.html

Wikipedia. n.d. Cyrus Leroy Baldridge. Web 22 Jul 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Leroy_Baldridge

Wikipedia. n.d. Edward Wadsworth. Web 21 Jul 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Wadsworth

Wikipedia. n.d. Norman Wilkinson. Web 21 Jul 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Wilkinson_(artist)

Darnley Fine Art. 2013. Norman Wilkinson. Web 21 Jul 2014, http://darnleyfineart.com/sir-norman-wilkinson-paintings/

Gye, Hugo. 2014. History in black and white: WWI vessels to be repainted in the ‘dazzle camouflage’ which fooled the Germans. Web 21 Jul 2014,  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2591462/Antique-ships-painted-artistic-dazzle-camouflage-mark-centenary-WWI.html

BBC. 2014. Wilkinson’s dazzling idea. Web 21 Feb 2014, http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zty8tfr

 

Impressionism Blog

To be honest I cannot say that I love or hate a specific style of art. When I look at many famous impressionism pieces, I do not have an overwhelming feeling at all.  Take for example Claude Monet’s series Water Lilies (1916), so many people rave on its beauty, to the point that just one of these paintings recently sold at auction for £41 million British (equivalent to about $70 million US)(Wikipedia).

 

Le bassin aux nymphéas – Claude Monet

I’m not saying it’s an ugly painting, but I am not interested in it either. However there are paintings by Monet that do inspire me, make me understand the beauty he was attempting to capture and appreciate his work as an artist.  I especially like The Manneporte near Étretat (1886, France) and The Cliffs at Étretat (1885, France) that seem to stay true to the impressionism convention of painting outdoors; both of these images resonate with me a penetrating calmness as if I was walking on that beach in France.  The colors he reflects in the sky, sea and land meld to create a very naturalistic and serene image, but these are the only two images of his I really appreciate. So to me the fact of them being a Monet, or being an impressionist painting carries no value.

 

Claude Monet’s “The Manneporte near Étretat” (1886)

The Cliffs at Etretat by Claude Monet

For this blog I had to go searching for images that I even liked that fell into this genre.  I quickly came to realize that no matter what era a painting is from it is its subject first and foremost that I am drawn to.  So as to my general affliction to impressionism, I must say I fall in the middle, uh, it’s ok. Sometimes however I do find an artist that elevates my interest in the art, I absolutely must share with you one such artist that I found today while researching for this blog. She is a present-day impressionist painter her name is Iris Scott, an American who was trained in Florence, Italy.  What is truly unique about her work is that it is all done by finger painting; however she is able to truly create an impressionistic style that brings the subjects of her paintings to life. My favorite is one of her dog Jake called Shakin’ Off the Blues; depicting a quintessential fleeting moment of the impressionist style and created by the blotching of paint colors together, lends itself well to this blurry image, since the dog is shown in movement with lips and ears flapping. (Watch this video of her painting Jake.)  I was not able to find when or where the painting was done, but it was inspired from a canoe trip they took on the John Day River in Oregon. Additionally Scott has painted an array of images that show just as much depth of life as my favorite does, I encourage you to check them out.

 

Shakin’ Off the Blues ( Iris Scott)

I decided to present another Claude Monet painting to use for my artistic era comparison discussion.  The portrait I choose to represent the Impressionism era is called The Walk, Woman with a Parasol which is a depiction of Monet’s wife and eight year old son.  This piece was painted in 1875, near their second home in Argenteuil, France (Totally History).

Woman With a Parasol (Claude Monet)

The picture displays classic elements of Impressionism including the effects of light and weather playing with Madame Monet’s skirts and the veil of her hat flowing over her face.  Another critical Impressionism component is En plein aire, French for “in the open air” a commonly used phrase to explain painting outdoors, a feature Monet was famously known for.  The concept behind Impressionism subjects took on a common or natural aspect as opposed to the weighty themes such as history and religion.  For me I figured an almost polar opposite to Impressionism was the Italian Renaissance.  The motifs of the Italian Renaissance were draped in religious power as well as classical Greek and Roman influences.  I picked for my example of Italian Renaissance art the painting Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci; as a large mural altarpiece, this fresco is an example of commonly created work for this time period.

 

Leonardo da Vinci, The Virgin of the Rocks

Commissioned in 1483 by monks for the chapel of the Immacolata at the church of San Francesco Grande in Milan, the painting was thought to not actually be completed until about 1486 (Smart History).  The image depicts the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, the Christ Child and an Arch-angel; there is a true-to-life depiction of their human form as well as that of the flora and rock landscape surrounding them which is expected in Italian Renaissance work, especially by such a master like da Vinci.  An interesting story about this painting, is that there are two of them, one housed in the Louvre in Paris and the other at the National Gallery in London (Smart History).  The original painting became a product of a lengthy court battle, it is suspected that the second one was painted after the case was completed around 1506 (Smart History).

Wikipedia. 2014. Water Lilies. Web 13 Jul 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Lilies

Totally History. 2012. Woman with a parasol. Web 14 Jul 2014, http://totallyhistory.com/woman-with-a-parasol/

Smart History. n.d. Leonardo’s Virgin of the Rocks. Web 14 Jul 2014, http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/leonardo-virgin-of-the-rocks.html

Classical Era: Revolution and Art 1700’s

The American Revolution was a period of time where art was used to capture the essence of America’s foundation.  Art during this period, from paintings to theatre to music resounded with ideas of independence and the political stance of the colonies. The neoclassical architecture of the 1700’s gave America the image of bold fortitude that was later taken to the streets during the revolution. The classical paintings depicting our founding fathers and historic events such as the signing of the Declaration of Independence are still familiar images to us because of the artistry of men like John Trumbull who captured these images that were later placed on our money as a reminder of those who came and sacrificed before us. Even during in such a time of turmoil, through the growing of our country, art was known to be an important part of our culture, history and inspiration.

The music of the American Revolution was that of inspiration and patriotism. Song was a way of showing allegiance. Several songs of vital importance to the revolution were actually versus written to music that was previously created and often sung by the British military. This was likely done as a show of resistance and change, and undoubtedly made British soldiers very mad when they heard it. One such song was The Liberty Song  by John Dickerson in 1768. The music was originally written in 1759 by a Dr. William Joyce when he served as the head songwriter for the King of England’s Band of Musik. The song was originally called Heart of Oak, which was a ballad for the British Royal Navy, the words of which were written by David Garrick, who was a famous writer/actor of that time.

The prevalent art of the American Revolution for the most part fit the Neoclassical style. However art was also popular for depicting British occupation and war for the sake of distributing information through newspapers and pamphlets. The image, The Landing of the Troops (ca. 1770) by Christian Remick is also commonly known as A view of part of the Town of Boston in New England and British ships of war landing their troops, 1768 is a classic example of a watercolor that would have been used for these purposes.  In this particular case the image was specifically made to be sent to the Earl of Hillsborough who was serving as England’s Secretary of State for America as so to inform him of the location and progress of the British military soldiers sent to quell political unrest in the Americas, as one of the earliest forms of Imagery Intelligence. On the image there are ships of the British Navy anchored in Boston harbor and a mass of British soldier’s disembarking onto Long Wharf pier. In the bottom left of the engraving it states “To the Earl of Hillsborough, His Majesty’s Secretary of State for America. This view of the only well planned expedition, formed for supporting ye dignity of Britain and chastising ye insolence of America, is humbly inscribed.”  Another interesting facet of the document is that the spires of the city’s churches and prominent government buildings, such as Faneuil Hall, are depicted as being extremely tall towering over the rest of the buildings in the city; this may be a representation of America’s ego as seen by the British or a way to highlight important locations in the city for Hillsborough to more easily identify.

 

The third art piece I would like to review is a map from the Rochambeau Map Collection. Original maps in those days were hand drawn pieces of art and now-a-days many of them are considered valuable. Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau was the commander in chief of the French expeditionary army during the American Revolutionary War, the maps he used during the war are retained in the Rochambeau Map Collection at The Library of Congress.  Most of his maps, including the one discussed here, were created and signed by Jean Nicolas Desandrouins, the Chief Engineer in Rochambeau’s service. Much of the collection depicts areas of eastern North America from 1717 until 1795. The map displayed here, Carte des Environs de Williamsburg en Virginie ou les Armees Francoise et Americaine ont Campes en Septembre 1781, is of the Virginia town of Williamsburg and its surrounding area. The map, created in 1782 is a snapshot of the region from September 1781; it shows the roads to York and Jamestown, the uses of many of the buildings in and around the town, and the arrangement of troops for military actions, such as numbers 13-16, which were Army encampments for soldiers of General George Washington.  The information displayed on maps was significant to both sides during the military campaigns of the American Revolution and tremendous effort was taken to both obtain and protect such maps that portrayed significant military intelligence. Even though their function was of the upmost importance, beauty in the drawings was also attained, note the feather arrows in the James and York Rivers that indicate the direction of flow for the rivers, as well as the north arrow to the right of the page; much more delicate and decorative than is actually required or that would be seen in maps of today.

Library of Congress. n.d. The Rochambeau Map Collection. Web 6 Jul 2014, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/rochambeau-maps/

American Antiquity Society. 2011. Landing of the Troops. Web 5 Jul 2014, http://www.americanantiquarian.org/Inventories/Revere/b2.htm

British Library. N.d. A timeline of the American Revolution from 1763-1787. Web 5 Jul 2014, http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/americanrevolution/timeline.html

Nelson-Burns, L. n.d. The Liberty Song. Web 2 Jul 2014, http://www.contemplator.com/america/liberty.html

Baroque Written Assignmnet

My favorite work of art from the Baroque era is a landscape portrait by Claude Gellee, or Claude of Lorraine, also known as Claude Lorrain.  Born in 1600 Claude grew up poor in the town of Champagne, province of Lorraine in France. Orphaned early on in life, Claude moved to Germany and then to Italy, he apprenticed first with his older brother Jean who was a woodcarver and then with painters, Godfrey Waals and Augustin Tassi.  Claude’s career and independence as an artist didn’t start to really develop until he moved to Rome in 1627. By 1637, a decade later, Claude was considered a celebrity in his own right. The piece that I really like is his oil on canvas, Ulysses Returns Chryseis to her Father, painted in 1648. It is believed Claude resided in Rome until his death in 1682, at the age of 82. Thus this painting would have been painted in Rome, however it now currently resides in the Musee de Louve in Paris, France. This fact actually makes me quite disappointed, I visited Paris, France in the spring of 2000 and planned a day to go to the Louve, however when I arrived the museum workers were on strike and I couldn’t get in. It would have been great to see this painting up close.

 

Ulysses Returns Chryseis to her Father (1648)

In my opinion the painting is a beautiful evaluation of a port city, although it looks much like that in which Claude Lorrain may have seen while living in Italy, it should be a port city on the island of Chrȳsē near Troy, where Chryseis is from.  This bustling seaport has beautifully tall white marble buildings, that gleam in the day’s sun, while presenting a stark contrast to the deep dark water in the harbor. You know the water must be deep in order to fit such big ships so close into shore, and thus the deep water darkens the center of the painting focusing your gaze right down the middle of the picture to where a large ship casts a foreboding shadow. The ship, itself just a small portion of the image, takes command as being an important element, it is also enlightened by the shining of the sun behind it. The golden rays that streak across the pale blue sky that Claude painted escape to all corners of the painting, highlighting the points of which need to be seen. This color and playing with light and shadow is what Claude Lorrain was famous for, he studied the natural world for many years, sun-up to sun-down, just trying to learn and understand how light plays and changes throughout the day. The landscapes of his art were his strong suit, and justly so, however it is known that in many of his painting the people were actually drawn by other artists because he just wasn’t any good at them.

It is likely no mere coincidence that Claude Lorrain came to be known as “The Prince of Landscape Painters”, being around in the Baroque era was to be surrounded by an emerging culture in scientific and natural discovery.  We learned in the Baroque note taking assignment that the microscope was invented and bacteria were found during this era.  There was also a great quest for knowledge for the new and exciting things being brought back to Europe from the New World, Africa and the Far East. Which included many flora and fauna that confronted the traditional intelligence on natural history, at least as it was seen in Europe and by the Catholic Church.  The Baroque culture became a crossroads, encompassing the arts and the idea of Natural Philosophy that is said to have paved the way for the Scientific Revolution.

“Ulysses Returns Chryseis to her Father.” Art Renewal Center. n.p., n.d, Web 22 Jun 2014. http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artwork.php?artworkid=5048&size=large

“Claude Lorrain”. Art Renewal Center. n.p, n.d., Web 22 Jun 2014. http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artist.php?artistid=820 

Gal, O. and R. Chen-Morris. Science in the Age of Baroque. Springer, 2013, Web 23 Jun 2014. http://books.google.com/books?id=ujDxezMEMgkC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

 

Northern & Italian Renaissance Blog Assignment

I’ve selected a visual arts work from the Northern Renaissance. The Isenheim Altarpiece was painted by Matthais Grunewald (thought to be originally named Mathis Gothart Nithart) in 1512-15 (1). The altarpiece is a large work of art consisting of ten painted panels of oil on wood, three large wood carved statues and five small wood carved figures; the sculptures were completed by Nicolas of Hagenau (1).  The piece was commissioned for the church in the Hospital of St. Anthony Monastery located in Isenheim, Alsace, now a province of France (2). The work of art is currently housed in the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar, France a mere 24 km (about 15 miles) north of its original location (1).

Matthias Grünewald, Isenheim Altarpiece (closed) (3)

Matthias Grünewald, Isenheim Altarpiece (second position) (3)

Matthias Grünewald, Isenheim Altarpiece (fully open position, sculptures by Nicolas of Hagenau) (3)

Grunewald’s The Isenheim Alterpiece was completed just one year prior to the official beginning of the Protestant Reformation, considered to be in 1516 when Martin Luther wrote and then posted his Ninety-five Theses on the church door in Wittenburg, Germany (2). The Protestant Reformation was a demonstration of the growing attitude against the Catholic church and many of its practices that included a show of wealth and opulence. Martin Luther strongly disagreed with the practice of payments of indulgences that were meant to assist souls with an quicker departure from purgatory in the afterlife, an act that was thought to be achieved by acts of goodness. However many opposed to indulgences felt they were a “get out of hell free” card able to be obtained by the wealthy. The Catholic church was using indulgences to pay for building the largest and most opulent church to be constructed, St. Peter’s Basilica in The Vatican, Rome, Italy. Other Protestant Reformation followers such as Calvin saw indulgences and jewel encrusted religious icons as distractions from true spirituality and favored the process of iconoclasm in removing wealth from the church. This period immediately prior to the start of the Protestant Reformation was filled with the emergence of secular arts with the spread of Renaissance and Humanism views from southern Europe. For many of faith in the north this could be considered a dark and tumultuous time. The depiction of Grunewald’s Crucifixion of Christ, the front panel of The Isenheim Alterpiece, is considered by many as the most grotesque image of Christ ever painted.  Since little is known of the artist, speculation is rampant on why Grunewald would paint such a dark and horrific image, who seamed untouched by the Renaissance influence (4).  One relation to the current unrest in religion at that time could have been to represent the spirituality and mortality that Christ represents to all that worship him, poor and rich. However Grunewald is thought to have been paying homage with his depiction to the sick who were housed at St. Anthony’s, many inflicted with skin diseases.  After the completion of The Isenhein Alterpiece, Grunewald went to work for the Archbishop of Mainz, it is believed that his political views differed and that at the end of The Peasant’s War around 1525 he was not able to retain his job and moved to the Lutheran community of Halle (2). It is known that Grunewald died in Halle in 1528; it is also said that Lutheran books were found among his possessions after his death (1).

My greatest interest in this work by Matthais Grunewald is that I am a decedent of his. However I have seen in person other paintings by him, such as two panels of the Heller Alterpiece (1510) and  The Meeting of Saint Erasmus of Formiae and Saint Maurice (1517 – 1523), all held in Karlsrhule. I find the details within the paintings and his delicate lines to be a fascinating accomplishment. The level of detail achieved reminds me of the paintings my grandfather painted of sailing ships of rigging and masts. I am not religious, so the subject matter for any of his pieces do not interest me for their deeper meaning.  I just find each painting intriguing to look at. Additionally Grunewald was known for his use of color, its amazing how he’s able to emphasis brightness in the use of color in paintings that are so dark an ominous in concept and in their intended setting of nature, such as in the second position of The Isenheim Alterpiece.

“Maid” from the Heller Alteriece

1) “The Isenheim Alterpiece.” Unterlinden Museum. n.p., n.d., Web 14 Jun 2014. http://www.musee-unterlinden.com/isenheim-altarpiece.html

2) “Matthais Grunewald Fact.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. The Gale Group, 2010, Web 14 Jun 2014. http://biography.yourdictionary.com/matthias-grunewald

3) Grunewald, Matthais. The Isenheim Alterpiece. 1515. Unterlinden Musee Colmar, France. Smart History. Web 14 Jun 2014. http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/grenewalds-isenheim-altarpiece.html

4) Reinke, Tony. “Matthais Grunewald’s Isenheim Alterpiece.” Miscellanies. Web. 15 Jun 2014. http://spurgeon.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/matthias-gru%CC%88newalds-isenheim-altarpiece/

ART F200 Intro Blog

Hello, My name is Marena, I am a senior and will be graduating this Fall from UAF. However I am currently living in Colorado and taking my last few classes here at the University of Colorado. It was not my preference to move to Colorado but had to due to my husband’s job. I have three dogs, all English Mastiffs, they are my babies, since I have no children. If money was no object and I didn’t have to work, my husband and I would open a Mastiff Rescue, but for now its just a dream.

 

I rarely think about myself as being artistic. I am however a dancer, I took dance (jazz, ballet and modern) when I was in high school and use to participate in dance demonstrations. I also liked country dance a lot and use to compete in competitions. As for viewing art, that I have done a lot of, for about 9 years in my 20’s I lived in Europe and traveled to many cities. I enjoyed looking at architecture…such as the Colosseum in Rome , saw a ballet in Prauge, visited ancient ruins in Greece and went to many art museums. I went to the Luovre in Paris, but unfortunately when I got there the museum workers were on strike so I couldn’t get in.  I did however get to visit a museum in Karlsruhe, Germany which has several paintings that an ancestor of mine, Matthias Grunewald, painted during the German Renaissance. The painting gene was passed down in my family all the way to my grandfather, who was a painter and restoration artist, fixing old murals in churches all throughout New England for most of his life. His father was also an amazing artist and worked for Louis Comfort Tiffany at the turn of the 20th century. However, my grandfather was the last in our family who was a really good painter, it seems to have been passed through the male family members only and since he had no sons…