"Warmed by Love" by Leonid Afremov In 1874 a group of painters decided to oppose academic doctrines and romantic ideals to turn to a more contemporary life. They began quickly painting pictures under constantly shifting conditions of landscapes and ordinary scenes. This particular style of painting became known as impressionism and focused on what the eye sees, as opposed to what the mind knows. The characteristics of impressionism are as follows. The artists used short, thick strokes of paint that quickly capture the essence of subject, rather than its details. By using pure unblended colors the optical mixing of colors occurs in the eye of the viewer by placing them side by side. Rather than neutral white, grays, and blacks, impressionists often rendered shadows and highlights in color. Pure impressionism avoids the use of black paint. The play of natural light is emphasized in close attention is paid to the reflection of colors from object to object. In
Hector Collazo
ReplyDeleteIntro To Art
Prof. Harmon
9/20/2017
The first stylized art example I will be using comes from ancient Egypt. It is a small ceramic sculpture of a hippopotamus, coated in a blue glaze and adorned with drawings of lotus flowers. In ancient Egyptian culture the hippopotamus was revered by the God Taret, divine midwife and goddess of pregnant women. This particular statue was buried with someone of royal lineage. The leg of the statue was often broken so the figure could not harm the person, in order to guide him/her safely into the afterlife.
The Ancient Greek and Roman civilizations approached their artwork in a much more humanistic manner. For example, in ancient Greece the human form was considered the highest creation of nature; the closest thing to the perfection of physical form with the ability to reason. The spear bearer statue from 440 BC depicts an athlete who once held a spear on his left shoulder. The sculptor wanted to portray a vision of anatomical perfection. It stands about 6 feet tall and is carved from white marble.