Critical Analysis on a Tina Modotti Photograph Tina Modotti was from a very poor working class society. She was brought up in the northeast part of Italy, in Udine, Friuli. She was born at the tail end of the industrial revolution, in 1896. However, you could say, by all means, that her village hadn't changed the slightest since the seventh century. She lived vigorously throughout her childhood, working endless hours in a silk-textile factory to earn a cash flow and to support the family through starvation. After their father had abandoned them when Tina was twelve and fled to America, the land of dreams, to repeat, Tina was the family's sole breadwinner, and played an essential role in the escape from starvation and the gradual escape to San Francisco. Finally, in America she immediately found work, however it was a similar kind of sweatshop labour she was used to in Italy, but the modern land and the general experience itself filled her with self believe and self esteem. The photograph represents a metaphoric symbol of a pair of working class puppeteer hands and one of them is controlling the other. It is symbolizing the way the government controls the working class, as if the working class were puppets themselves. It is an extremely clever metaphor. They are compared to the government and the government seems to be deciding the fate or even controlling the working class's life. The immense, rough hand above represents the government and therefore, controlling the feeble, knotted one below. In my opinion, the photograph by Tina Modotti symbolises power above all else. There is also a great contrast in the lighting. Firstly, b... ... middle of paper ... ...e) rapped in thick wire. It is being controlled by all the other feet, who are the puppeteers. They are the rich class so therefore, they marginalise the poor because of there lack of money and even freedom. The central foot's fate is in the hands of all the other personalities (feet). Like Tina Modotti's photograph, my piece of art would represent a metaphor, showing how the rich dictate and marginalise the poor. Similarly, how we spend money ad fuss over unnecessary items, for instance a pair on expensive Nike trainers or a pair of golden ear rings. On the other hand, the poor, inn most cases, can't even afford education, or even health services, which is vital for our survival in life. In conclusion, this is what I would like my message to be, I would hopefully try a produce one similar through my piece of art work.
The sketch is of a woman who is carrying a torch and is blindfolded. This could symbolize how men are traveling into the country under false pretenses. They claim to be bring civilization and aid, the torch. As they approach with the torch they are blinded to the corruption going on around them, just as the blindfold blinds the woman.
I glance amusedly at the photo placed before me. The bright and smiling faces of my family stare back me, their expressions depicting complete happiness. My mind drifted back to the events of the day that the photo was taken. It was Memorial Day and so, in the spirit of tradition my large extended family had gathered at the grave of my great grandparents. The day was hot and I had begged my mother to let me join my friends at the pool. However, my mother had refused. Inconsolable, I spent most of the day moping about sulkily. The time came for a group picture and so my grandmother arranged us all just so and then turned to me saying, "You'd better smile Emma or you'll look back at this and never forgive yourself." Eager to please and knowing she would never let it go if I didn't, I plastered on a dazzling smile. One might say a picture is worth a thousand words. However, who is to say they are the accurate or right words? During the 1930s, photographers were hired by the FSA to photograph the events of the Great Depression. These photographers used their images, posed or accurate, to sway public opinion concerning the era. Their work displayed an attempt to fulfill the need to document what was taking place and the desire to influence what needed to be done.
Cubism reveals the degree to which modern artists were conscious of their relationship to artistic conventions born in the Renaissance. It was loose abstraction, and stayed a forceful hold on the physical world. There are two categories of Cubism. Analytical Cubism is analyzing and dissecting a painting to get full accuracy. Shadows play a huge roll in this and it is the opposite of Impressionism. The other type of Cubism is Synthetic Cubism, which is a synthesis, bringing together other sources and materials that are collage-like.
... in a common effort that contributed to protest activities. The photograph also uses tension to portray the two conflicting ideologies. There is visible tension between the guardsmen and the protestors; the guns represent war and violence while the flowers represent peace, love and nature. The National Guardsmen also look very uneasy while the protestors look content and comfortable. The union of the two creates tension in this photograph because they are so meaningful alone, making this photograph a very iconic image of the time.
One of the most noteworthy northern European writers of the Renaissance was the Flemish painter, Jan van Eyck. Although there are few records about his early life and rise to prominence, the Van Eyck family was well regarded within the Burgundian Netherlands which allowed historians to surmise that he was born in the 1380s. After years of travelling through various northern courts and gaining esteem, Jan van Eyck painted perhaps his most famous work, The Arnolfini Double Portrait. This work has been the subject of a great deal of critical analysis as a piece of Renaissance art. Some historians have found that the work is demonstrative of artistic and social ideals that were both ahead of its time and touted the line of controversy. However, taking into account the painting’s patronage, symbolism, artistic style, and function, it becomes clear that The Arnolfini Double Portrait is an exemplar of the Renaissance era artistic conventions and is not as difficult to parse as some critics would believe. In order to discuss the painting in its entirety, it is necessary to explore the context of the painting’s creation.
First, the scene in the image was manipulated through stage-managing, a common practice in photojournalism. While the image of the migrant mother, Florence Thompson, appears to the viewer to be a genuine and unprompted look at the hardship and deprivation of a dejected migrant woman. This, of course, was the reality of Ms. Thompson’s personal situation at the time. But the scene itself was micromanaged to appear in a lucid and vivid form in the image, including editing Ms. Thompson’s older children from the image to create the more poignant scene of a mother holding a small child and using a pose in which the woman is looking out into the distance, with the two children told to lo...
Madonna of the Meadow vs. Venus of Urbino While both the Madonna of the Meadow and Venus of Urbino are spectacular works of art, each differs and is similar in many ways. At first glance, Titian’s Venus of Urbino catches your eye because of the gold tones that Titian incorporated into his painting. Titian’s painting also has a shine to it, that Raphael’s painting does not. Raphael’s painting uses softer hues that play well with his incorporation of infants and the softness and subtle idea of the meadow. Nudity is an aspect that can be noted in both paintings, yet a sense of class is still associated with the painting as well.
In the performance of life, one cultural representation that captivates and entrances people more fluently and describes the human experience more eloquently is that of artistic expression. It imposes itself unto the face of society through the individual who creates it as a reflection of any one or combination of personal, emotional, or physiological effects society or one’s own environment has inflicted onto them to compel them convey their feelings to the public. The essential argument, is whether graffiti has a place in the grand context of society. One end of the spectrum paints it as a nuisance to property owners and city officials allow for a criminal perspective of the practice. While at another end you can view it as the artist in a sense blessing others with the fruits of their inner consciousness. An artistic expression no matter what the viewpoint of society, in an anthropological context graffiti is essential to modern society and its impact is one that cannot be forgotten or lived without.
“A photograph is not an opinion. Or is it?” So begins Susan Sontag's introductory essay to the book Women, a collection of photographs by Annie Leibovitz. Collected without a stated intention other than to treat on the subject matter at hand, Leibovitz’s images confront a wide spectrum of issues surrounding women living in America at the end of the twentieth century. Sontag explains, “Any large-scale picturing of women belongs to the ongoing story of how women are presented, and how they are invited to think of themselves (20).”
These cultural strictures come in a number of forms. First, the artist attacks intellectual conformity, choosing art over all other means of self-expression even though it is not widespread in his or her society. Though it is not explicitly stated - and is perhaps even subconscious - the artist chooses art over either academe or high society. The artist questions society's customs, making this choice explicit in their daily actions. The artist rejects ostentatious displays of wealth and the cultural emphasis on money, replacing it with a frugal simplicity more conducive to authentic experience. Finally, the artist calls into question the cultural construct most important to any understanding of human interaction - the binary conception of gender.
The manager is the epitome of the negative effects of the institution of Imperialism. He is corrupt, uncaring, arrogant and self-centered. He symbolizes the arrogance of Europeans as they encountered native Africans. His good health symbolizes the everlastingness of Europeans who invaded Africa and their ability to continually come to Africa and rape it of its natural resources. He is the true symbol of the evil and cold-heartiness of imperialists.
In the essay “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body,” author and philosopher Susan Bordo discusses the history and current state of male representation in advertisements. While using her feminist background, Bordo compares and contrasts the aspects of how men and women are portrayed in the public eye. She claims that there has been a paradigm shift the media with the theory that not just women are being objectified in the public eye, but also men too. Since the mid-1970s, with the introduction of Calvin Klein commercials, men have started to become more dehumanized and regarded as sex symbols. In a similar fashion to how Bordo describes gender, race plays a similar role in the media. People of all different ethnicities and cultures are being categorized into an oversimplified and usually unfair image by the media over basic characteristics.
...p from the world they live in, a world of separation and indicate themselves with their own realities. Art is handed over into society’s hands, as in one movement it is suggested - to fixate what is real, live like you create and create like you live; in other – abandon media’s proposed ideas and take the leadership of life in our own hands.
Art is used in mass media to influence people, especially people in the generation and culture we live in today. The majority of art young people receive in our culture is through television and in particularly popular culture networks, like MTV. The television show on MTV called The Hills is an example of a show that promotes dominant ideology to young children/ teenagers. Slightly opposite of that would be another show on MTV called Jersey Shore, which is an example of a show that partly reinforces and partly challenges dominant ideology to the same type of audience. The two shows are looking at people who are in their 20s and there life as they live it in their current situation, they both claim to be reality television with no scripts. The Hills follows the life of one main girl and her friends, partners, and career however, all the actors in the show come from wealthy parents, and live a wealthy life style. Jersey Shore however, is a show about eight people living under the same roof, and following their lives as middle, working class people while they live together for the summer and also embracing there Italian culture. The difference for the Jersey Shore cast is that they do not come from wealthy parents and are only living together for the summer, until they part their own ways again. The paradox between art and social justice would be that art can be shown to fight for and against social justice. In this essay we will be comparing how The Hills is showing the dominant ideology of an upper white class structure that fights against social justice, while Jersey Shore is fighting for social justice by not showing the dominant ideologies of upper class, instead showing working class Americans. The essay will compare the two p...
My thoughts on my photograph being taken in particular have changed drastically over time. When I was younger, I literally gave no thought to my photo being taken, I barely even remember them being taken. When I look at the photographs of my childhood, I remember the moment in which they were taken, but I don't remember the photo actually being taken. Now I always know when someone is taking a picture of me, sort of like a sixth sense. I think the reason behind that is that when I was younger I loved my photo being taken and now I hide from the camera. Mostly because of insecurities and knowing how quickly a photo can travel now through the internet and social media.