Discuss how art can be used to reflect, promote, or challenge cultural beliefs.
Art, throughout the times have reflected, promoted and challenged the cultural beliefs of many different societies. To reflect a culture or society the artwork must create or suggest a particular impression of that era. To promote the cultural beliefs of a society the artwork must encourage and support the beliefs. For the artwork to challenge the beliefs it must question tradition. Gislebertus and Michelangelo promote and reflected the society and religion in which they belonged whereas Kruger and Serrano reflected yet challenged their society and religion.
Gislebertus was a "sculptor of genius" of the Romanesque period. His sculpture of the last Judgement in progress on the West Tympanum of St. Lazare, Autun, France in 1130, reflected and promoted the strong Christian beliefs of this society. This artwork is extremely detailed and reveals many Christian icons and symbols. In the middle of the artwork is Christ, who is the focus of the composition and on either side of him are devils and angles blowing their trumpets. The weighing of souls is depicted throughout the artwork and next to each scale, are angles and devils competing for each soul. Below Christ are the dead rising, one being "plucked" from the earth by giant hands. Here humanity’s pitiful weakness in revealed in these terror stricken people as the angles summon them to judgement. The devils have legs which end in sharp claws and lean from hell as they drag souls in and are accompanied by howling and roaring demons. Gislebertus’ sculpture was affective in influencing and inspiring the viewers of his artwork as he created a sense of terror and fear by revealing the awful consequences for the damned which encouraged the viewers to follow the Christian and as a result increased the power of the church. Gislebertus was commissioned to depict biblical stories as the majority of the population was illiterate and this was the only way which God’s message could be heard. Therefore, Gislebertus reflected the Christian dominated society and promoted the Christian religion.
Michelangelo also reflects and promotes his Italian; Christian dominated culture and the religion itself through his artwork. Michelangelo’s fresco in the Sistine Chapel, Italy, was created between 1508 and 1512 and depicts the most solemn biblical story of the creation of man in the High Renaissance style. The large size of 18’18" X 9’22" reflects the grandness and power of the God and the church.
Ultimately, it can be seen that all artists are influenced or incorporate issues and events of their time in their works, whether this is from the desire to portray Greek perfection to that of religious beliefs and the creation of the camera. To become renowned like Polykleitos, Michelangelo and Pablo Picasso, this statement must be followed.
It was examined by infrared reflectogram and x-rayed for the first time and, on the basis of stylistic hallmarks such as “emphatic cross-hatching,” such as on the face of the saint, it was confirmed to be a Michelangelo (Michelangelo, n.d.). The painting depicts a pale St. Anthony, who was a mystic and possessed the gift of levitation, floating in mid-air being accosted and attacked by several demons, one holding a fiery torch. A correction to the upper curve of one of the bat-like demon’s arms, where Michelangelo applied a slight paint stroke, can be seen.
It is a known fact that artists paint how they feel or about how they view the world, modern famous artists paint about political or social problems facing our world today such as Kerry James Marshall who paints about his view towards modern day racism. Artists of the renaissance period used art to materialize their thoughts and ideas instead of voicing their opinions and thoughts, artist of the renaissance period preferred to display their thoughts on a canvas splattered with paint. One example of artists expressing their beliefs through a brush and paint is the famous painting by Michelangelo, which was painted on the celling of the Sistine chapel. In the book titled Art, Power, and Patronage in Renaissance Italy by John T. Paoletti and
In Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling Ross King gives a penetrating look into the life of Michelangelo Buonarroti during the four years he spends painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. At a scale of nearly five thousand and eight hundred square feet and almost seventy feet above the ground, this would be an incredible task for the artist. He faces many challenges, mentally and physically, during the process, but still finishes the ceiling in an incredibly short amount of time considering the size of his work. Michelangelo is renowned for his moody temper and reclusive lifestyle. Most people find him to be an extremely difficult person, due partially to his lack of concern for anyone but himself, and to his undaunted stubborn nature. The one man with whom he will despise and contend with all his life was Pope Julius II; he is also the man who commissions him to paint the ceiling. Ross King's purpose in writing this book is to detail Michelangelo's magnificent struggle with personal, political, and artistic difficulties during the painting of the Sistine ceiling. He also gives an engaging portrait of society and politics during the early sixteenth century.
In April 1508 Pope Julius II hired Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (McNeese 87). The Sistine Chapel was where major papal ceremonies took place (Summers 11). Although Julius II just wanted Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the chapel Michelangelo had bigger ideas. By 1513, Michelangelo had around 340 figures on the ceiling of the chapel.
Art, by definition, is “something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings”. Throughout history, one way that art has been used is to reflect a multitude of ideas and beliefs. Christian beliefs and ideas have been portrayed in artwork since the beginning of Christianity, although, it was not always acceptable to do so. The idea of the final judgement is a Christian idea that has been displayed in art repeatedly in a variety of ways. Michelangelo’s fresco the Last Judgment (1536-1541) is a piece that visualizes this idea. Since the time it was finished, this significant piece found in the Sistine Chapel has been continuously critiqued and analyzed. Many Christians struggle to interpret the event of a final judgment after reading it through Scripture. In analyzing Michelangelo’s piece, it is similar difficult to determine what he exactly meant to portray and what the various part of his masterpiece represent exactly. Many have examined this piece and made different regarding what exactly the various figures and objects are supposed to represent. The diverse interpretations of this work further shows the idea that when Christian ideas are reflected through artwork, it is hard to ascertain exactly what an artist intended to demonstrate. In addition, the controversies surrounding this piece represent the idea that when Christian ideas are revealed through art, there is potential for disagreement regarding what should and should not be included in Christian art. Michelangelo’s Last Judgment is just an example of what results when Christianity is brought into art.
Michelangelo was born in a time in which the church had a great influence on most things that people did in their everyday life. He grew up in a wealthy family and was exposed to people of high position. The paintings and sculptures that Michelangelo created were strongly related to the Bible, and showed his respect and knowledge of the religion and culture he was brought up in. Starting with the Sistine Chapel ceiling, it has paintings that start with the creation of the world all the way to the flood and drunkenness of Noah. Michelangelo took four years to paint the ceiling and broke down different aspects of the earlier parts of the Bible throughout the ceiling. The most prominent paintings that are on the ceiling would have to be where God’s hand reaches out to Adam’s hand. This shows that Michelangelo views man and God as having a relationship where they know each other. Man can reach out to God, while God reaches down to man. With that being said, I believe this shows that the way in which man encounters God in this painting was a form of the ontological type. In ...
4).14 Painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City between 1508 and 1512, Michelangelo’s series represent several narratives from the bible. This painting is considered to be the most outstanding series of illustrations depicting biblical stories that were ever produced. It has also been suggested that the figures in the frescoes reflect Michelangelo’s personal Humanist philosophies. He believed that “the body should be celebrated as a reflection of both divine beauty and the beauty of the human soul”.15 The Creation of Adam, in particular, demonstrates the exact moment when God stretches out his finger and gives life to Adam, the first human. In this image, Adam on the left is portrayed completely nude as he sits languidly on the Earth. On the right, God’s presence appears assertive while he floats amongst several biblical figures in the sky. As their fingers do not touch, it is indicated that Adam is yet to receive the gift of intellect and
When analyzing artwork, in any form, there are often times social contexts in which can be interpreted. Not always does the history behind the painting need to be revealed to fully understand the concept of the artwork, yet it is helpful in determining if the artwork is truthful in its representation. Although in analyzing artwork it is likely that there are drawbacks to considering the social context. To illustrate this point, I'm going to use the visual arts as my medium of choice. Understanding the social context can be an important tool. An advantage of knowing the history of the painting or sculpture can really enrich our knowledge, being in the 21st century, about some of the social periods from previous times. It can demonstrate how traditions were carried out, how they had an impact on the different social classes. It's a visual teaching aid of a sort. Even in the time period of which the artwork was created can be used as a tool to show how the life was in different parts of the world. It was also used as a hammer in the realist movement to show the upper classes that life for the poor was horrible. The visual arts is the only medium in which the pictorial image creates a universal language in which anyone, regardless of nationality or social class can interpret. The text which is created by this language often creates a context which is left open to interpretation. Contexts are created by the artist, critics, judges, the public, essentially, any one who views the work and forms an opinion relating to it. The contexts stem from subject or content of an artwork, and are usually facts regarding the content. Yet, the contexts almost always have backgrounds themselves, therefore making the original contexts, texts. This will be more clearly illustrated later. The chain is seeming to be a never ending process. There are always more conditions to the previous ones. All context, therefore, is in itself, textual. This concept of all context in itself textual is a post-structuralist strategy. A man named Derrida is a man who has developed this idea that the post-structuralist concept of every statement made, can be interpreted in infinite ways, with each interpretation triggering a range of subjective associations. Every statement has an association, therefore it's a sort of domino effect.
...the Jewish themes and the heliocentric concept work together to show how Michelangelo felt. When looking at The Last Judgment one can feel a sense hope amidst the fear that fresco is intended to evoke. Christ centered in the middle shows his availability, no longer is he separated by hierarchies. Christ is with all of us. The Last Judgment artistically sums up the religious discourse that many church leaders, like Marin Luther, were trying to spread to the masses. Salvation is available to all, even Jews. No longer could the Church hold salvation captive, and this message was made possible because of Michelangelo’s religious and classical education. If he had not been surrounded by different schools of thought and pushed to think differently it safe to say that the Sistine Chapel that we have today may not have ever existed.
Michelangelo was so outstanding in his craft that he was called Divine. However, his father believed his son would not amount to anything more than a stone-cutter. This remark was constantly on Michelangelo’s mind and as a result he often signed his work “Michelangelo the stone cutter.” His most famous work is the painting of the Sistine Chapel in St. Peter’s Church in Rome. The Ceiling depicts nine scenes from the book of Genesis and took 4 years to paint under the most difficult of conditions. He was fascinated with the problems of representing the human body and dedicated himself completely to mastering it which lends itself to his most famous sculptor of the statue of David. (“High Renaissance”) Other works include The Last Judgment and
Relationship Between Art And Society: Mimesis. The relationship between art and society: Mimesis as discussed in the works of Aristotle, Plato, Horace and Longinus. The relationship between art and society in the works of Plato is based upon his idea of the world of eternal Forms. He believed that there is a world of eternal, absolute and immutable Forms (the world of the Ideal) and thought that this is proven by when man is faced with the appearance of anything in the material world, his mind is moved to a remembrance of the Idea or an absolute and immutable version of the thing he sees.
Throughout the ages art has played a crucial role in life. Art is universal and because art is everywhere, we experience it on a daily basis. From the houses we live in (architecture) to the movies we see (theatre) to the books that we read (literature). Even in ancient culture art has played a crucial role. In prehistoric times cave dwellers drew on the wall of caves to record history. In biblical times paintings recorded the life and death of Christ. Throughout time art has recorded history. Most art is created for a specific reason or purpose, it has a way of expressing ideas and beliefs, and it can record the experiences of all people.
The arts have influenced my life in amazing ways. Throughout my life, art has been the place I run to and my escape from the world. As I’ve grown older, art has become so much more than that. Every piece of art I create is a journey into my soul. It’s a priceless way to deal with my emotions and my struggles. I create art not only because I enjoy it and because I want to, but because I have to. Somewhere deep inside there is a driving force, urging me to put my heart down on paper. I become emotionally attached to each of my pieces because they are like dashes on the wall marking my growth. Each one is the solution to a problem I have dealt with and overcome.
Art is everywhere whether one likes it or not, and can be appreciated in the smallest of ways. It’s absolutely necessary for the growth of a society and its people. It’s mainly used for businesses today to either raise people’s opinions of their company or sell a product. For example if you go to the marketplace and you pick up a gallon of milk the first thing you may see on that gallon is a picture of a cow or the same milk being poured into a glass in a way that captures the eye and makes you think “wow that looks great!” This is the most common use for visual art today and often makes people “miss the point” of what it truly means (Why Art Matters, 1). Advertisement is one of the biggest fields in then visual arts and shapes the way we see a product as well as the choices we make on such judgment. This is where the illusion comes in making the visual arts, a potentially harmful thing. The illusion of it comes from what’s true and what’s made up or “altered truth”. A company could make their product seem way better than it really is essentially tricking people into buying it. One example is when you go to a fast food restaurant and you see signs of perfect looking sandwiches when in reality they don’t look like that. Most people don’t see any illusion but when they do it’s hard for them to see the other side of things, the ones that aren’t “stretching the truth”. People today tend to see that kind of advertisement as normal. In fact, it kind of helps with things like morale by making things seem much more worth it and just all around nicer. So there for the arts are the very “soul” of a successful business.