The work of art I chose to analyze for this paper was found at the Oakland Museum of California. The painting is titled Figure and was done by Otis Oldfield in 1933. The painting features a woman leaning against a table in her home, somewhat provocatively, wearing only her underwear. The woman’s back is faced towards to viewer as well, which reveals very few details of her face. This painting caught my eye because it was quite different compared to the other nearby paintings. Placed among other depictions of life in the early 1900s, Figure was the only portrait-style painting featuring a semi-nude woman. Although this painting was quite different compared to other nearby paintings, Figure’s sheer simplicity is what also makes it a wonderful work of art.
In regards to the form of Figure, several different elements are seen in this painting. The lines are very regular and defined. Because of this, you can easily distinguish the woman and other objects in the painting. The shapes are very geometric in regards to the table and background of the painting. However, the shape of the woman is quite organic. Her body shows her natural curves and appears very realistic. In regards to the color of this painting, the colors are both warm and cool. The dark, cool background contrasts quite dramatically against the orange/colors of the woman’s skin and her underwear. The woman’s skin is depicted in warm yellow and orange tones and her underwear is a simple white color. The texture of this painting is very smooth and the paint is blended nicely, there are no chunks or thick layers of paint. In regards to the painting’s scale, the size and relationship of the woman and the background is realistic and proportionate. However, it is obvious that t...
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...atement about female sexuality, Oldfield leaves the observer with numerous ideas in which to interpret this painting.
Figure is a beautiful painting of an everyday woman in everyday life. Its unique qualities and simplicity made it stand out among other paintings in the exhibit at the museum. Although Otis Oldfield was not clear about his intentions for this piece, I like that he allows the observer to interpret the meaning. I also admire his courage to release this work despite facing controversy because of the female nudity. If it were not for artists like Otis Oldfield who challenged social norms and had the courage to release controversial works of art, we would lack variety and diversity in the art world. Overall, despite being a simple painting, Figure allows the observer to interpret its meaning(s) in numerous ways and admire the beauty of the female body.
Prior to the 20th century, female artists were the minority members of the art world (Montfort). They lacked formal training and therefore were not taken seriously. If they did paint, it was generally assumed they had a relative who was a relatively well known male painter. Women usually worked with still lifes and miniatures which were the “lowest” in the hierarchy of genres, bible scenes, history, and mythological paintings being at the top (Montfort). To be able to paint the more respected genres, one had to have experience studying anatomy and drawing the male nude, both activities considered t...
Though most works of art have some underlying, deeper meaning attached to them, our first impression of their significance comes through our initial visual interpretation. When we first view a painting or a statue or other piece of art, we notice first the visual details – its size, its medium, its color, and its condition, for example – before we begin to ponder its greater significance. Indeed, these visual clues are just as important as any other interpretation or meaning of a work, for they allow us to understand just what that deeper meaning is. The expression on a statue’s face tells us the emotion and message that the artist is trying to convey. Its color, too, can provide clues: darker or lighter colors can play a role in how we judge a piece of art. The type of lines used in a piece can send different messages. A sculpture, for example, may have been carved with hard, rough lines or it may have been carved with smoother, more flowing lines that portray a kind of gentleness.
This piece is acrylic, oilstick, and spray paint on wood panel that is 186.1 centimeters in height and 125.1 centimeters in width. This piece features a human-like figure in the center that is mostly half red and half black. This figure has a gray head with one yellow eye and one light gray eye and above its head is a black halo. The background consists of patches of various colors such as light blue, black, dark red, light green, beige, turquoise, pink, and yellow. On the bottle left corner there is a figure drawn that looks like a fish and has a strip of mustard yellow painted through it. Also towards the bottom right of the artwork, there is some drawn on letters that almost look like words but are messily painted over with a desert sand color. This piece is my favorite because I find it aesthetically pleasing. There is a lot going on in this piece that makes looking at it genuinely interesting. The colors that Basquiat choses for the background go very well together and overall compliment the figure in the center. I like how incredibly expressive this piece is and it makes me want to buy a canvas and start painting that I desire. I also like how the human-like figure is drawn. One could see what looks like an outlined ribcage on the figure, which makes me believe that the head is actually a skull. Upon further research I learned that Basquiat was
The story takes place in St. Andrew Valley, an ordinary town with not much in it. Jason and his friend look for snails sometimes, exploring rivers and basically anywhere with moisture. Jason attends Teen Power Outreach sessions held in the church basement every Thursday because his mom forces him to. He also goes to mass every Sunday at the Church of the Good Shepard. One day he has a revelation while under the water tower: water is life. After making a new religion centered around the water tower, he recruits disciples and eventually they go to the top, where things go badly. They swim in the reservoir and then Henry falls off and lands on the catwalk, breaking many bones. Afterwords they get arrested and Jason goes to jail for six hours until his dad bails him out. Henry goes to St. Theresa's Hospital. Near the end of the book, Jason and his friends go to the mall, where he gets hit in the head with a crutch, then hits his head on the floor and gets a mild concussion and seven stitches. The story ends with Jason in the hospital, reflecting on the events of the book.
The painting depicts two figures, the one of a woman and of a man. The dominating central figure is the one of the woman. We see her profile as she looks to the left. Her hands are crossed in a graceful manner. She has blonde hair and her figure is lit by what seems to be natur...
Like the skin is mostly smooth because the artist wanted the sculpture to mimic reality. Also the hair and the dress is similar in texture its wavy and folded, it mimics real hair and dress that is flowing in the wind. Light plays a part with the texture because where the sculpture is smooth more light reflect. The sculpture is very balance and symmetrical because it mimics a real person in many ways. I think that was the author mostly intended for viewers to think.
... though employing a familiar subject (the female form), shows the transformation from busy mosaics with gold embellishments to a brighter palate of colors and the use of stronger, bolder lines. The piece exemplifies his versatility as an artist.
I agree with Duncan’s claim that the female nudes in the paintings discussed in her article convey women as objects that are viewed only by their flesh which in turn “denies their humanity”. This claim is credible based on Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon because the poses of the women, especially the one on the bottom right creates more sexually availability as they open up their bodies, as if they are offering themselves as sacrifice to the male sexual appetite. Two of the women are depicted wearing masks, in an attempt to disguise their identity. This lack of identity, also portrayed in Kees Van Dongen’s Reclining Nude, due to the absence of their face, consequently grants access to the male viewer to objectify these women more easily,
Aristotle once claimed that, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” Artists, such as Louise-Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun and Mary Cassatt, captured not only the way things physically appeared on the outside, but also the emotions that were transpiring on the inside. A part no always visible to the viewer. While both artists, Le Brun and Cassatt, worked within the perimeters of their artistic cultures --the 18th century in which female artists were excluded and the 19th century, in which women were artistically limited-- they were able to capture the loving relationship between mother and child, but in works such as Marie Antoinette and Her Children and Mother Nursing her Child 1898,
It marks a point in time, where Picasso that took art by the hand and turned it around by 108 degrees. The art work shows five naked women, without a recognizable background. They are all making different poses, almost as if they were leaning against a wall. Some of the women have very abstracted faces, one of them looks as if she was wearing a mask. It portrays Picassos interest with African sculpture, and how he incorporated it into his passion for art. The way the women are drawn, with their bodies having sharp edges, shows how Picasso was starting to evolve the new style of cubism. It took Picasso months of revision to finally show this work in
Seeing the visual work of art was seemed, by all accounts, to be secured by long articles of clothing, proposing something substantial that conveys the state of a level body. The absence of sureness gives Patterson's craft an uneasy complex—"the ramifications of social and social setting they work inside, particularly of those in the lower-class" (Patterson). Patterson's deconstruction of sexual orientation uncovers the determination of stereotyping. Considering what it feels like to be disposed of and rejected came to mind.
...es to Lily that a woman cannot paint. The painting stands for the feminist representation of going against traditional beliefs and also suggests that a lack of a male in Lily’s life does not detract from it.
Individuals throughout history have used art as a form of expressing their emotions, propaganda, or even just a hobby. Every piece of art is unique in its own way. The medium is picked exclusively for the occasion, the artist draws out a particular plan for the piece, and the meaning is executed precisely for that art work only. As viewers, we tend to view and judge a work of art by how aesthetically pleasing it might be. Reverence, a painting by Janet McKenzie, successfully exhibits strong characteristics of aesthetic value.
The contrasts between depth and surface, figure and landscape, promiscuity and modesty, beauty and vulgarity all present themselves in de Kooning’s Woman and Bicycle. Although the figure is a seemingly normal woman out for an afternoon with her bike, she becomes so much more through the artist’s use of color, contrast, and composition. The exotic nature of woman presents itself in her direct stare and slick buxom breasts in spite of a nearly indiscernible figure. It is understood that, on the whole, de Kooning did not paint with a purpose in mind, but rather as an opportunity to create an experience, however, that does not go to say that there isn’t some meaning that can come of this work. Even Willem de Kooning once said that art is not everything that is in it, but what you can take out of it (Hess p.144).
The photograph above depicts a painting done by Edouard of a nude female, a dressed man, in presence of a bourgeois man, sitting countryside. This painting was against the norms of the established way of creating art. The scantily clad woman suggested that she was possibly a prostitute which is one of the many reasons why this painting was rejected being displayed by many establishments.