Museum Visit (final blog)

Teatro Amazonas is a historical landmark built in the late 1800's by the Portuguese. It is situated in the down town of Manaus and still operates as a theater.

This first photo is hard to make out, but it is the ceiling above the main stage. In the center hangs a chandelier. 

This is the ceiling in the main hall of the theater. It was hand painted and spans the length of the room.

These are various paintings that are painted directly onto the plaster walls of the main hall. There is no flash allowed in the Theater so the photos can be hard to see clearly.

This is a view of the exterior of the Teatro as seen from the square that was built around it.

O Teatro Amazonas, or the Amazon Theater, is in the city I live in; Manaus. The theater was finished in 1892 and took 15 years to complete, and those financing the construction and decoration wanted  the custom, hand painted and hand picked furniture and art. The Theater's furniture was meant to be modeled after the styles used by Louis XV in France. The Portuguese elite who would attend and fund the theater were very much in style with what was also going on back at home in Portugal and France.

Visiting the theater was like stepping back in time, and was completely unexpected as it is located in the middle of the Amazon forest. Walking through, the wood floors are still original and intact, the walls are hand painted and consist of very european renaissance themes; very romantic landscapes or mythological scenes.

blog 8

This piece represents the beginning of a whole new kind of art for society. With the invention of a new technology, camera obscura, artists were able to take the new fashion of Realism to its extreme and most pure form. I think that Realism caught on so fast because it was so new and controversial and exciting for artists in that they could now replicate what they were actually seeing, but still make the viewer see what is intended. Photographs, like any form of art, can be manipulated by the artist so the viewer will feel, understand or think in a new way. For Realism to really gain hold as a new trend in art, it required a new medium, like all other styles in the past. With photographs of actual people doing real life actions, it is hard for the artist to hide any imperfections or create perfections that were not there in reality. With painting and sculpture, it is up to the artists to best represent the subject so that when seen later, it can be recognized and analyzed. This is a very difficult thing to do when everything produced was done by individual persons with different backgrounds and styles, but with photos, the artist can be sure that who or what they are capturing will be that true representation.

I like this piece because although it is a realistic piece and produced through camera obscura, the theme still remains in history and is a moral subject that is not easily forgotten. I think that Rejilander knew that if he was going to use this new kind of medium, he was going to have to substantiate its products by proving that it can last through time also. It was a good idea to use something from the past to show skeptics and critics that the new camera obscura could relay the same messages and morals that any other type of medium could.

blog #6 Art and Society

Seeing the way that art is used here, makes me realize how much a society's surroundings can dictate the trends and styles that the people will live by. The art that I see around here is either the graffiti on the sides of the decaying building walls or the historical architectural landmarks around the city. Art plays a role of pride for a society. When the people know that they have something that other's can admire or be envious of, I think the society can think more highly of itself.

For example, here in Manaus, the city as a whole has that "emerging country" look to it, but when I talk to people about the old colonial buildings, the Teatro Amazonas (the second most beautiful theater in the entire country) and the parks and squares, the people become proud of their country. People keep the historic buildings in amazing condition and respect the public squares with the fountains. I think a society which has art and an art history to be proud of is a society that is proud of who they are. The square below was created at the same time as the theater in 1897

Blog #5

Gianlorenzo Bernini. Saint Teresa of Ávila in Ecstasy. 

I love Bernini.  He was and is the most amazing sculptor ever. There are so many other artists out there, but none that were as popularly commissioned and displayed like Bernini. I especially love this piece because of how he can make a block of marble look like thin sheets of cloth that are just barely staying in place. I would think that his work is very relevant to today's world because his pieces are tourist attractions for people all around the world, whether they know who Bernini was or not. I know that the only reason I would want to go to Europe is to go look at his sculptures. Also, the way that he approached his sculptures is relevant to todays artists, i think. Bernini could make his sculptures look like a real life scene, with emotion and human flaw, but you cant help but admire how perfect his work appears. Today, I think that there is a trend in current media towards portraying a more realistic vision of life, instead of trying to portray what should be happening or what someone else would want you to see. Bernini is definitely a trend setter with the accuracy and emotion he puts into his work, and you can see that his contemporaries and those who came to work after also tried to make their work as "real" as possible.

chapter 4's blog

Michelangelo's Last Judgement, Sistine Chapel.

When I read about this piece, I thought it was interesting that the church used the popular artists of the time to represent, through paintings, how the church viewed the various saints, stories and traditions they represented. 

With the Reformation, the Catholic church was being attacked because of its money hungry church officials. This was good for the church because it was forced to "change" and clean up it act of selling passes into heaven and such. So when the Catholic church started the Counter-Reformation, using the popular artists to paint more uplifting and promising pieces like this one was brilliant! 

I thought it was just like today when businesses need a kind of "face lift" to get consumers to fall back in love with their products. They simply pay a high profile celebrity or dump money into marketing campaigns, and if they're persistent  enough, the companies will raise profits and enjoy an increased consumer support. 

So, by Michelangelo taking part in painting the Last Judgement in such a way with the light, bright, beautiful colors and without the traditionally dim and intimidating look, the Catholic church was looking more and more appealing to their questioning patrons. 

All-in-all, i see this painting as a publicity stunt. but an amazingly beautiful one.

emerald

Joan Miro. He is defininately non-representational with his artwork. I love Miro because of the colors and images.

The Amazon River, Brasil. I think that pictures like this can be expressionism because when I see pictures  of the forest like this I want to do more to help the preservation and concern for the forest. This semester I am going to try to go to the forest as much as I can.

I am a Geography major, so I think that maps can be one of the most beautiful things created. They are created as individuals to serve the purpose of each author. Maps are made for all different reasons and can make the reader see whatever it wants to. Maps have been influential throughout history. The style of this map is for directional purposes only, but my favorite style is in the shape of a heart.