Traces Gauguin's life, associations with other artists, & artistic career. Focus is on what he intended to be his final work: WHERE DO WE COME FROM? WHAT ARE WE? WHERE ARE WE GOING? The scene, elements, & composition are described.
2,025 words (approx. 8.1 pages), 5 sources, 1989, $ 71.95
From the Paper "Paul Gauguin painted his "Whence come we? What are we? Whither go we?" during his second stay in Tahiti, and it is a vast work that embodies the themes and images that he made his own based on his trips to Tahiti. This is a massive work which today is found in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It was painted in 1897 during a period of despondency, and the work can be seen as an expression of the inner turmoil experienced by the artist. The painting's underlying sense of mortality is spiritually oriented and can be seen as a statement by the painter of his sense of devotion to nature, to Tahiti, to the people and to the life he lived there. It reflects the artist's mood and in a sense foreshadows his attempted suicide."
From the Paper " Photography has played an important role in our society since the process was invented over 150 years ago. Frequently, the eye and the camera are compared to each other. This comparison, although a useful fiction at times, ignores many important differences between the function of a camera taking still pictures using a film, and the human eye and brain viewing the world. Photographs are almost always seen as inherently truthful, an accurate recording of the events that happened when the photograph was shot. Certain functions and limitations inherent to photography not present in the human visual system can make an ordinary, un.retouched photograph seem misleading. This paper will briefly discuss the nature of photography in our society and why photographs are seen as being truthful, and then (...)"
From the Paper "Early in 1968, artist Andy Warhol was shot and seriously wounded by a mentally disturbed woman. After a long convalescence, Warhol commented that, "When I got shot, two bullets went through my stomach, liver, spleen, esophagus, left lung and right lung. The doctors and everyone else, including me, were sure I was going to die, so we all got ready, and then I didn't do it. But I always wished that I had died, and I still wish that, because I could have gotten the whole thing over with" (Kroll 64). At age 58, in 1987, Warhol did die, and the impassioned leader of the pop tradition since the 1960s left a legacy of art, silkscreen, and philosophy that would forever change the art world.
As one of the acknowledged leaders of the modern "pop" tradition, Warhol brought new and interesting insights into the ... "
From the Paper "This study will explore the life and art of 19th Century Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh. The thesis of the study will be the argument that without the many problems in his life (emotional, psychological, spiritual, physical, romantic, economic), it is highly unlikely that Van Gogh could have produced the astonishingly vital and passionate works which he did produce and which speak to us today, a century later, as powerfully as they spoke to those in his own time.
.... in their Introduction to Van Gogh, writes that we will likely never know beyond a doubt the nature of Van Gogh's alleged physical infirmities, including the possibility that he was an epileptic. However, ... add, the important point to keep in mind in exploring Van Gogh and his troubles is that at the heart of all those ... "
From the Paper "This paper will explore Robert Mapplethorpe's works and his photography subjects, themes, concepts and influences. It will also touch on Mapplethorpe's personality and how it affected his work and on his relationship to the New York art scene. Mapplethorpe was a contemporary American photographer whose works continue to influence the genre. He traversed uncharted territory with the camera, if not exactly in his choice of subjects, then in the manner in which those subjects are dealt with and in the unusual emotional aura that encompasses the photographs, creating perplexing feelings in the person looking at them. It is the ability to produce these feelings, along with the excellent technicality of Mapplethorpe's works, that made him one of the better known photographers in the United States. "
This paper studies the creation of the massive statue Michelangelo's David, including stylistic analysis and a consideration of the artist's personality.
2,475 words (approx. 9.9 pages), 5 sources, 1991, $ 87.95
From the Paper "In 1504, Michelangelo completed his massive statue known as the David. This work, which is located in Florence, stands more than fourteen feet high. It is a powerful work, and it was responsible for establishing Michelangelo's fame as an artist. The David shows Michelangelo's knowledge of anatomy, as well as his skill in handling such artistic attributes as balance and proportion. In addition, the marble sculpture conveys an image of the human body which is almost superhuman. In this way, the David encompasses the idea of divinity within the human being. This idea was representative of the values which were developing during the Renaissance period. After centuries of Church domination in human affairs, the Renaissance marked a return to the humanistic values of the ancient world. A study of Michelangelo's life and career reveals that the artist's ... "
From the Paper "This paper will be concerned with Pablo Picasso's reactions to war. During the First World War, Picasso did not directly address the theme of war in his paintings. Rather, the violence and brutality of the war were symbolized in his artistic style itself. After 1920, and particularly after the Second World War, the horrors of war were increasingly used as subject matter in Picasso's works. Some of Picasso's greatest works dating from the 1930s through the 1950s, such as Guernica (1937), Charnel House (1944), Massacre in Korea (1951), and the War panel in the Temple of Peace (1952), show the dehumanization process which occurs when innocent men, women and children are subjected to war. This paper will discuss these works, with the point of view that they adequately capture the essence of the tragedy of war.
By the time of the First World War, Picasso had made his ... "
From the Paper "Many fashion experts believe Italian fashions are a mix of imagination, craftsmanship and folk wisdom. Noted among them, particularly for his use of color, is Gianni Versace. The purpose of this paper will be to discuss Versace, including background information on him, the sources of his inspiration, the trends he has introduced as well as the personality and talent that combine to make him one of the leading fashion designers of today.
Italians are obsessed by style and one who had become a leader in setting that style is Versace. Born in 1946 in the Italian town of Reggio Calabria, he was one of three children. His mother was a well-known dressmaker and some of his most treasured memories as a child are of peeking into her workshop and watching as she made beautiful dresses." (
From the Paper "This paper will discuss a painting by Caravaggio (1571-1610) entitled A Concert, which dates from approximately 1595. This was an early work in Caravaggio's career. It was painted soon after his arrival in Rome from his rural birthplace near Milan. The painting depicts three young musicians preparing to play a concert. one boy is tuning his lute while another studies a musical score. The third boy holds an unusual looking horn. A figure representing Cupid sits behind them, holding a bunch of grapes.
The work was commissioned by the Cardinal del Monte, who was Caravaggio's first patron and helped the young artist to advance his career. The painting is representative of Caravaggio's early genre pieces. At this point in the artist's career, he had not yet started to paint the unique religious scenes that he is best..."
From the Paper "In the early twentieth century, Picasso introduced the style of painting which has come to be known as Cubism. This style is characterized by a distortion of figures, the breaking down of objects into basic shapes, and the depiction of multiple viewpoints all at once. According to the art historian Anna Moszynska, "this extreme fragmentation of form marked a fundamental break with existing modes of pictorial expression" (Moszynska, 1990, p. 11). Picasso's abstraction of reality was seen as being shockingly new at the time. However, Picasso was not alone in creating Cubism. In this, he was strongly influenced by the Post.Impressionist painters who came before him. Specifically, he was influenced by Cezanne's use of basic geometric shapes to depict landscapes and objects. Guided by the work of Cezanne, "Picasso began to treat solid forms in a more ..."
From the Paper "The Dutch painter Hieronymous Bosch (c. 1450.1516) was noted for his use of unusual symbols and imagery. This can be seen, for example, in his famous triptych the Garden of Earthly Delights, which is housed in the Prado Museum in Madrid. This paper will examine the inspirational sources for the imagery in this painting. In this way, an effort will be made to determine whether Bosch was influenced by religious, alchemical, or other types of symbols when he painted the work.
Some art historians have argued for a religious interpretation of the Garden of Earthly Delights. For example, Glum considers the work to be a scene depicting "divine judgment." According to Glum's view, the painting symbolizes the consequences of giving in to sensual pleasures, or sin. In this regard, the figures in the central panel are oblivious to the ..."
From the Paper " The Art of India
Many of the arts of India reveal the complex nature of the culture, a culture that includes rites of passage, fairs and festivals, performance, art and craft, all drawing from ancient myths, legends, and beliefs. Traditional Indian households celebrate every stage of life, and creativity abounds in many avenues of expression. It is the purpose of this paper to provide a general overview of the art, dance and music of India with special attention to the relationship of the arts to the Indian culture itself.
Vast religious, sociological, and cultural rivers have met and mingled in India--the food-gatherers, who claim to be descendants of Shiva; the nomadic tribes, who probably originated the Krishna legend; and the agricultural societies with their.."
From the Paper "The industrial revolution brought about massive technological change over a period of decades and continued this trend to the present day. The changes brought about in technology influences the development of new means of communication, contributing to the rise of the mass media and the art and craft of photography. In turn, this would have a profound effect on the growing middle class, bringing images, pictures, text, and ultimately sound and the moving image directly to millions of people who in the past would have been denied access to the information so provided. This meant a change from a society where knowledge was held by relatively few to a society where knowledge was accessible to almost everyone, and eventually this would lead to the information age in which we now find ourselves, an age where the media and technology have..."
From the Paper "Mary Cassatt is one of the less well-known of the Impressionist painters. Edgar Degas, her mentor, was one of the most important of the artists who participated in the Impressionist movement and who exhibited his paintings at Impressionist exhibitions. In many ways both were very different from other artists identifying themselves with this movement. Degas was one of the most helpful to other painters, including Cassatt, whom he also painted. The careers of these two painters are each somewhat out of the ordinary for the time and reflect different experiences, in part with differences based on gender.
There were four women classified as Impressionists--Berthe Morisot, Marie Bracquemond, Eva Gonzales, and Mary Cassatt. These four were very different artists, each of whom related to the artistic and political debates of her time in her own..."
From the Paper "In his theory of art, John Dewey emphasizes the importance of continuity within the art object. In this regard, Dewey seems to be insisting that organic unity is the essence of all aesthetic experiences. According to Dewey, a work of art is an experience in which meanings or values "are expressed, or shown, rather than stated or said". As such, art stimulates an experience which can be said to be "qualitative" in nature. Dewey considers art to be a very special kind of experience, or consummatory experience. A consummatory experience can be defined as one which is both fulfilling and satisfying. In his 1934 book "Art as Experience", Dewey claims: "Such an experience is a whole and carries with it its own individualizing quality and self-sufficiency". Bernstein relates the consummatory ... "
