Jomon Pottery

If any of you have been lucky enough to have Jim Brashear as a ceramics art instructor at UAF, you have also looked at Jomon pottery. Jomon pottery is ancient ceramic pottery produced in Japan. These vessels and figures were produced between 14500 BCE to 100 BCE.
I chose Jomon pottery for my blog because I really enjoy pottery and I have tried to reproduce some of the works I have found online myself. I wish I had some photos of the pieces I recreated to post here but sadly I do not.
This blog was a little difficult to write due to the fact that it is basically impossible to know who the artist of such an old piece of art could be and it is also difficult to find out when specifically it was made.
Jomon pottery has a long time line and evolved over six periods. First was the Incipient Jomon period from 14500 to 8000 BCE. Then the Initial Jomon period from 8000 to 5000 BCE. The Early Jomon period was from 5000 to 2500 BCE and then the Middle Jomon period from 2500 to 1500 BCE. After that was the Late Jomon period from 1500 to 1000 BCE and finally, there was the Final Jomon period from 1000 to 100 BCE.
Throughout these eras, the pottery changed quite a bit. In the early stages, the pottery was very unrefined. The clay was low fired in bonfires. The vessels were very simplistic and had simple designs and textures added to them. With time, the vessels became more complex and the vessels looked much “cleaner” than before. Simple kilns were even introduced.

Incipient Period

Here you can see a pot made during the incipient period. It is very simple. The base of the pot is pointed which is typical for a pot from this time period. The bases were usually not flattened until later periods. The texture looks like it was made using a rope or something of that sort. It also looks like it was fired in a bonfire due to the blackened edges. I find it so insane that this far back in time, people already created these vessels. I always wonder how long it must have taken to produce these pots and how the firing process must have worked. Sadly, it is impossible for me to know who made this pot as it is so old.

Middle Period

Next, I skipped ahead to the middle period since the early period and incipient period are very similar in style. To the left, you can see a vessel made during the middle period. The bottom of the pot has been flattened out at this point and there are more designs added that are less simplistic than the ones from the previous periods. I really love this pot and all the designs added at the top of it.
Below is another pot that is also said to have been made during the middle period. The later middle period often had many coils incorporated in their pots which I wanted to demonstrate with this pot here. If anyone has ever made a larger vessel our of coils knows how long it takes. I have spent many hours making a large coiled vessel and it is very difficult since they can fall apart so easily if clay is too wet or too dry. I would have to say, after making a coiled vessel, I truly appreciate the wheel. So looking at these pots really blows my mind.

 

Final Period

Once again, I skipped ahead since there are many similarities within the late and final period. Many of them revolving around dogus. During the final period, many more ornate figurines were produced along with pots. Maybe you have seen the famous dogu figures before which you can see here to the right. It was common during this time for figurines to have large bug eyes like this. Many other dogus had other strange features like horns or cat faces. Dogus were pretty common humanoid clay figures that were produced during this time. We have actually dug up about 18,000 of them and you can find them in many museums so you may have possibly come across one at some point. There are many theories on why so many dogus were created here during this time. One of which is that the figurine was portraying the “mother goddess”  or Venus. However, others believe they were simply made to be toys. Whatever the reason, I am glad they have made it this far and we can see them today. This dogu is located in the Tokyo National Museum.

A Modern Twist

I wanted to add a little modern twist to the blog as it revolves around very old pieces of art. During my research, I found a Japanese artist whose art is very influenced by the historical Jomon design. Taro Okamoto was born on February 26, 1911 in Kawasaki City, Japan. As he got older, he began oil painting at the Tokyo Fine Arts School. He later moved to Paris with his parents where he continued studying art. He was very influenced by Picasso’s art and how abstract it was as well. He was able to travel around quite a bit producing art in different countries such as Mexico. After his death in 1996, the Taro Okamoto Museum of Art was opened in honor of him in Tama Ward, Japan. You can also visit his old studio and home which is located in Aoyama in Tokyo. To the left, you can see probably his most famous sculpture, the Tower of the Sun made in 1970. I chose this piece because it really does have those strange faces that many of the Jomon figurines have. I also chose it since it was a sculpture instead of a painting like many of his other pieces. They have flat simple faces and large eyes. But they also are very abstract. Many of his paintings do remind me a lot of a mix between Jomon design and Picasso’s artwork. it’s really incredible to look at and to see the similarities.

I just really enjoy looking at these vessels and figurines and have been lucky enough to see them in some museums I have visited in the past. Hopefully when you come across one of these in the future, you will be able to identify it or remember some of the history that goes along with these amazing pieces.

(Semi) Street Art

As we have moved through this course, it’s really obvious that art has changed dramatically. What I think changed the most though is the fact that there isn’t just one style like there used to be but hundreds of styles of painting, sketching, drawing, etc. all at once! We find our own style when making art now and don’t try to conform to what is popular at the time. Something I found really amazing during this section was the street art. It’s so interesting that the art is not (usually) put up in a gallery or is what we would call conventional. It’s very different from other art we have seen.

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat was a self taught artist born in Brooklyn, New York on December 22, 1960. He had quite a diverse heritage with a Haitian-American father and a Puerto Rican mother. His diversity fueled a lot of his inspiration and he quickly became known in the area for his graffiti in the late 1970 where he was known under the name SAMO. In 1980, he finally really broke through and became very famous for his very unconventional art. People were willing to spend $50,000 for an original Basquiat painting at this point. Basquiat also went on to collaborate with Andy Warhol and produced a show together. Sadly, as Basquiat became more famous, he also started doing more drugs. He was addicted to heroin and as the fame grew, he grew more paranoid and isolated himself from everyone he knew. He died of a drug overdose on August 12, 1988. Luckily, we have his artwork to remember him by as he was very talented and creative. There is definitely a lot going on in his artwork as you can see to the right. This painting is called Cabeza and was painted in 1984. Many of his paintings were very colorful like this, but also seem a little dark as I find them to be even a little scary looking. Still, I enjoyed looking through them. Most of his paintings and even the graffiti look very similar to this. They’re definitely very abstract. I have also seen some sites where people experiment with drugs and how it affects their paintings. If you go the this site, you can look at some of the other drugs, but I found that oftentimes, paintings made while using heroin had many similar traits. I’m not sure if Basquiat even painted while he was high, but it definitely crossed my mind that the drugs could have affected his artwork.

Andy Warhol

I chose Andy Warhol because of his show that he produced this Basquiat. Although we learned about Andy Warhol in the Early Modern content, he continued to produce art later on as well. Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania on August 6, 1928. He became widely known during the 1960s Pop art movement. People who have never been to a museum usually even know who Andy Warhol. His mother had a great influence on his art career as she got him to start painting and drawing. She also bought him his first camera at age nine, which led to him starting photography as well. Warhol participated in many forms of art and felt very passionately about them. He graduated from college with a degree in fine arts in 1949 and moved to New York City. He landed a job with Glamour magazine and became a hugely known commercial artist. Warhol started producing artwork of very simple items, like the Campbell soup cans we all know of. He went on to open an art studio in a warehouse named The Factory and held many parties large parties there where multiple celebrities were always present. In 1963, Warhol almost died when he was shot by a woman named Valeria Solanis who was upset with him over a script she had written for him. A while later, he met Basquiat. A piece that they made together was the Ten Punching Bags made in 1986. It was based off of The Last Supper. This piece is actually one of my favorite pieces of art that I have come across during this section. I love that it was based off of old artwork but it’s so incredibly different from anything I have seen before. Although this is a little different from the rest of my paintings in the exhibit as it does not fall under street art, I wanted to add it since it was a piece made by both artists.

 

Julian Beever

Julian Beever is a British chalk artist. He draws 3D art on pavement and has become quite famous for his talented pieces. Beever was born in Cheltenham, UK in 1959. He went to college and studied art and later traveled and started drawing two dimensional art all over pavements in cities around the world. In the early 90’s however, he started drawing anamorphic pavement illusions, which are his famous 3D chalk art pieces.
He says, “My work appeals literally to the man (and woman) in the street and is not confined in galleries or limited by the gallery system”. Since his artwork is not confined in galleries, he has become very well known through the internet. I wanted to add a picture of his 2D and 3D art because they are both quite amazing. To the right, you see one of his 2D drawings of a Christmas Nativity. I chose this one because it reminded me of the previous era’s we studied. It is very realistic and it amazes me how Beever was able to do this with chalk. The second piece I chose is a 3D drawing called Swimming Pool in the High Street which you can see to the left. This was made in Glasgow Scotland. A little below, you can see it from another angle which makes you realize just how difficult it must be to produce these paintings. There’s a whole gallery you can view online on his website that is really fun to look through!

Kurt Wenner

Lastly, I would like to look at some of Kurt Wenner’s pieces. He also made some really awesome street art, similar to Beever’s. Wenner used to work for NASA but then moved to Italy to pursue his love for classical art. He studied the arts of the Renaissance era and also got much of his inspiration from the works of that time. In 1984, Wenner started drawing anamorphic chalk drawings. He quickly became famous because of documentaries on him that actually inspired pavement art festivals. Wenner went on to train other artists in anamorphism. At one point, Wenner was commissioned to make a street painting based on The Last Judgment which you can see to the right. 30 of Europe’s best painters, including Wenner spent 10 days producing the piece. Pope John Paul II then signed it and officially recognized the piece as a work of sacred art. It was painted in Mantua, Italy. I thought this was a really amazing accomplishment.
The last piece I wanted to post was Giant drawn in Scottsdale, Arizona which you can see below. I really love that this piece looks like a step back in time. I really enjoyed the Renaissance era, so I loved basically all of Wenner’s artwork. I love the realism and the focus of the artwork itself.

 

 

 

I liked all these pieces a lot since they were just so different from what we have been studying in the past. Since it’s street art (besides the Ten Punching Bags of course) they aren’t usually found in galleries so I feel like it must be incredibly difficult to become so wildly known from just producing street art. Luckily, the internet has made this much easier and we can easily see the photo’s of the pieces on all the websites as well. I hope to one day be able to see one of the anamorphic pieces in person!

 

Word War I and Early Modern Art

World War I was obviously a horrific event in our history as over 15 million people died and beautiful landscapes and cities were destroyed. This was also considered the first modern war because of the modern weapons that were used during this time. These weapons were a huge reason for why this war was so deadly and such a disaster. Tanks, airplanes, grenades, machine guns and poison gasses were invented. However, since all the countries were using similar weapons to fight one another, it basically led to a long drawn out stalemate with people continuing to die left and right. The war ultimately ended with the Austria-Hungarian empire and the Ottoman empire dissolving, and the Soviet-Union forming. The League of Nations was also created to prevent another World War from occurring. However, they obviously failed to do so as World War II came soon after which was anticipated by some people of the United States like John Maynard Keynes. As Word War I was a huge event and basically everyone was involved in some form or another, it also influenced the arts. The Dada movement was a reactive movement protesting the brutality and senselessness of the war. Dadaism was supposed to portray the opposite of art, to be considered anti art. This concept was really difficult for me to grasp at first, but I sort of understand it as the (anti)artists slightly making fun of the war by producing meaningless and irrational art because they viewed the war as meaningless and irrational.

Fountain by Marcel Duchamp

The first piece that I found to be the most irrational piece of art was Fountain by Marcel Duchamp “made” in 1917. I put quotation marks because Duchamp only purchased the item and signed it “R. Mutt 1917” and then tried to display it. This obviously received a lot of negative feedback from many people and the original is actually nowhere to be found now so Duchamp has reproduced it a few times. Duchamp actually defended this piece stating that he had “created a new thought for that object.” He disagreed with others who claimed that art must be a “craft of the hand” and that art really only should have something to do with  the artist’s idea’s of/for the work. I feel like this is a little farfetched to be considered art and I also believe Duchamp was being sarcastic with this piece, but it has stayed famous for all this time and has gotten a lot of attention so maybe Duchamp was on to something.
As Dadaism became more mainstream, the Dada artists dissolved their (non)movement as this was the opposite direction they were going for.

The War Cripples by Otto Dix

An artist that also stood out to me a lot was German painter/printer Otto Dix. He was also at one point part of the Dada movement. He entered his painting The War Cripples painted in 1920 in Berlin in the First International Dada Fair. I chose this piece due to its interesting history. This painting made it out of the First International Dada Fair, where other artists and their paintings weren’t as lucky as the military filed charges of insult against several artists at the exhibition. Sadly though, when Hitler came to power, the painting was seized and hung up in the Nazi’ Degenerate Art Exhibition and was titled Slander against the German Heroes of the World War. I think Dix was trying to display the cripples still having a sense of national pride even though the war was irrational and unnecessary which he didn’t understand. It was definitely influenced by the war and the horrors that came with it. Sadly the location of this painting is unknown and is presumed to have been destroyed.

Ruined Country by Paul Nash

My third piece that I wanted to discuss was Ruined Country by Paul Nash. His paintings were very obviously depictions of the world we had destroyed during the war. He was born in London and was already an artist prior to the war. During the war, in 1916, he became a lieutenant and went to the Western Front. At one point, he fell into a trench and broke his rib leaving him to be one of the lucky men to leave the Western Front alive. However, he produced a lot of sketches during his time there and created a series of paintings from his sketches which were put on display in 1917. Due to this series, he was appointed a war artist by the British War Propaganda Bureau. Nash also returned later on to produce another series of paintings of the land that had been destroyed. Ruined Country was one of the paintings he produced here. I chose this painting because it seemed less “dark” than the other paintings he produced here and I already have crippled men in my blog.

I felt like the pieces that came after the war had no more glamour in them like the previous eras/movements. They focused on the middle class and the war. They were much more abstract. There were no more beautiful women and flowers flying through the wind and little cupid’s and lily pads making a beautiful painting, but much more dark depictions of the world and what it has become. I think the modern war led people to see the world as a darker place as we learned then what we are capable of.

Romantic Era

Impressionism

Impressionism is a hugely famous art movement in history. Many people love impressionism and pay million for paintings. However, I am not a huge fan of the artwork produced during this time. I don’t like the painting style as much as I liked the ones from previous era’s. It seems like most of the paintings from this era look like very blurry photographs so I suppose I fall somewhere in between when it comes to the artwork. I feel like the work can be exceptionally beautiful but I also feel like it gives it a more loose look, whereas paintings from the Renaissance era have very clear lines and are more focused looking. I also like the way paintings from the Renaissance seem to have brighter colors. I added the photo to the right, a part of the painting the Primavera by Sandro Botticelli from the Renaissance era, so you could compare it to the following paintings produced during the Impressionism movement. They are definitely very different from one another and I suppose I just prefer the paintings of the Renaissance. One thing I do really enjoy about Impressionism though is that the paintings are very unique from one another. As if the different painters also had more of their own personal style involved. In previous era’s, paintings all looked very similar from one artist to the next.
To the left you see The Star painted by Edgar Degas in 1878.  It is a very beautiful painting and I love the expression on the dancers face and the pastel colors and how graceful she looks. However, I do not like how it seems so blurry due to the loose brushstrokes. It is so different compared to many paintings of the Baroque and Renaissance era. I even find the background confusing as it is not painted very clearly. It is difficult to make out what is going on. Very interestingly, Degas admired the works of Michelangelo, Raphael, and Rembrandt and did get a lot of inspiration from their works, just adding a more modern twist to it his. Though Degas was a little envious of the former artists and the era’s they were fortunate enough to live in. For instance, Degas once said, “He had the luck, that Rembrandt! He painted Susanna at the bath; me, I paint women at the tub.” He was definitely an interesting and maybe even strange soul, but he did paint beautifully (even though I am not the biggest fan of the painting style.) His life story was fun to learn about as well as he met many famous artists during his days. He spent most of his life painting in his studio in Paris and also spent countless hours watching ballerinas stretch and dance and run up and down stairs to give him inspiration for his paintings of dancers. The painting can be found now in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
Another example would be Water Lilies painted by Claude Monet in 1919. I chose this example because my best friend is absolutely in love with this painting and we sat and looked at it in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for what seemed like a life time because she loves Claude Monet and I personally was not the biggest fan of the painting. Once again, it was mainly because of the loose brush strokes and how it looks so blurry. This painting is one of many Water Lily paintings Claude Monet painted during his time. These paintings are located all over the world so it is likely you will come across one of them eventually if you enjoy going to art museums.
Monet oftentimes painted series like this where he painted the same objects at different times of the day to capture the light differently. Monet was quite talented at painting and depicting natural light as that is what he focused on in almost all of his paintings. Once again, I find the painting very beautiful, but I also find it very blurry. However, I know many people absolutely love this style and Monet’s paintings (like my best friend) so I suppose I just have different taste in art.

Early Photography

From my personal perspective, I found that most of the early photography I looked at seemed very journalistic. There were a lot of photos of the war and with this new invention, it was simpler to let people know what was happening at war. Therefor I do believe that it was very journalistic.

An example would be this photo to the right, Confederate Soldiers Dead by a Fence taken by Matthew Brady. He took many photos of dead soldiers during the Civil War and even risked his life for some of his photographs during that time. Later in his life he claimed, “No one will ever know what they cost me; some of them almost cost me my life.” and I just cannot find the artistic merit in it. That may have something to do with the fact that there are dead people in the photo and that is clouding my judgment. I did find some poems though that focus on photos like these which made them seem a little less journalistic and more artistic.
On the other hand, I also found some photography that seemed less journalistic and more artistic just in general so I came to the conclusion that it really just depends on the photographer. And I find that to be true even now in our modern times, there are photographers who take photos for journalism and photographers who take photos for art. But here Is another instance of early photography. The photograph to the left is The Manger taken by Gertrude Kasebier. I just wanted to add this photo because it was more artistic to me than the previous photograph. Gertrude Kasebier did not become a professional photographer until she was in her 40’s. Her photos though were posed and just give a more artistic feel than the photos of Matthew Brady. I read a great blog about her where the writer pointed out something I found very interesting.

She inspires me too. Because she was a late bloomer. Because she was a female artist who also made a living. And ultimately, as I think about her life, perhaps she wasn’t so much a rebel as someone who simply found her own way, sometimes joining with others, sometimes breaking away from them when their paths diverged and she was ready to continue on another road.

I really enjoyed that quote because of how she did not consider Kasebier a rebel, but just a woman who found her path; who found something she enjoyed to do and something she was good at.

Romantic era music

I would have to say that within the different styles of music during the romantic era, I like music that has less “going on.” So I like simple music with a calm sweet melody that’s made to be played on one instrument. I found that Clair de Lune (also known as Suite Bergamasque No. 3) written in 1890 by Claude Debussy was one of the pieces I have always loved. It is very mellow and relaxing. The melody is absolutely beautiful and set in parallel thirds. All parts of the Suite Bergamasque are amazing to listen to, however Clair de Lune just stands out compared to the rest and I believe that is why it is such a famous piece today.

Another piece that has a little more going on is The Nutcracker by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. In contrast to Clair de Lune there is much more happening at once. It is fast paced and many instruments are involved. Although I find this piece beautiful as well, I would have to admit that I appreciate the slow tempo of Clair de Lune much more than the fast paced musical pieces, like The Nutcracker from this era.

My Classical Era Exhibit

Die ZauberfIöte

My first choice for the exhibit is Die ZauberfIöte or The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. I picked this piece because I have seen this opera multiple times and I love it. It is my favorite opera. It’s really wonderful to watch and to listen to. The scene below is my favorite part of the entire opera because it is such a tough part to sing and it sounds absolutely amazing!

The Magic Flute is an opera that was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (to the left), however, the libretto was written by Emanuel Schikaneder (to the right). The work premiered at Schikaneder’s theathre, the Freihaus Theather auf der Wieden, in Vienna on September 30th, 1791. Mozart actually conducted the orchestra himself, and Schikaneder sang the part of Papageno, one of the main characters. Sadly, Mozart was not able to conduct this theatre very long as he died shortly after, on December 5th, 1791.

Below is actually a poster for the play that states all the original people who performed and sang in the opera. I tried to read some of it, however old German is very difficult to read. The top states where the opera will play and states that it was written by Emanuel Schikaneder. Not until the paragraph after the names are listed does it bring up Mozart which I thought was a little interesting since he is who is so famous and known compared to Schikaneder. At least in this day and age. I suppose it was played in Schikaneder’s theatre though.

The plot of the opera can be very confusing, so anyone wanting to see this opera in the future should at least read through a summary before seeing it.

Marie Antoinette a la Rose

My next piece I picked is a work by  Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (pictured below). I chose her because I have not written on any artwork painted by women thus far. Vigée Le Brun was a fascinating woman to learn about due to her life story. She was from a royal family from France who fled during the French revolution. She lived in exile for 12 years traveling around Europe making for an adventurous life painting portraits and becoming more and more famous. There is a huge online gallery of her paintings. Scrolling through all of them (there are hundreds) is almost overwhelming as you realize how many painting she actually produced. One of these paintings was Marie Antoinette a la Rose (to the left). The painting was painted in 1783 of Marie Antoinette (obviously). Vigée Le Brun actually painted over 30 paintings of Marie Antoinette as they were friends. The painting is a Rococo style painting as you can tell by the lightness of the painting and the pastel colors.
For some reason I had a difficult time finding information on this painting. However, I read a lot about Marie Antoinette and learned of her role as the Dauphine of France. I have always assumed Marie Antoinette to be a horribly hated person, which I suppose she was. But I learned a lot about her role as a fashion icon in France. She was always ahead of the rest when it came to fashion. She even invented colors and expected clothing in her newly invented colors, which was obviously a difficult task to perform as these colors technically did not exist. Sadly, most of her clothing was destroyed during the French revolution so we look to paintings of her to see the clothing she wore.

The Swing

Lastly, I would like to discuss The Swing by Jean-Honore Fragonard. Fragonard was commissioned by the Baron de Saint-Julien to paint this painting. I chose this painting because it definitely caught my eye when I saw it. I thought it was a beautiful painting that I was not yet familiar with so I wanted to do some research. It was painted in 1766 and apparently became so famous because it is somewhat of a scandalous painting which I also noticed after giving the painting a closer look. Beneath, you can see a woman being pushed on a swing (who is presumed to be the commissioners mistress) by a man who I learned to be a priest or bishop. In front of her is another man (presumed to be the commissioner) peaking up her skirt which was of course absolutely scandalous for this time period. The woman is tossing her shoe towards the man and it is just a very flirtatious painting all around.
Fragonard was known for his Rococo style paintings which were very delicate and were usually painted in a romantic setting like a garden. Fragonard was very influenced by François Boucher’s works. Fragonard took a liking to the way Boucher painted so he painted very similarly. As the Rococo style went out of style and the Neo-classicalism became more favorable, some of Fragonard’s commissioned paintings were actually denied which I found to be interesting. It made me realize how quickly the styles of painting must have changed. (I personally find the Rococo style better though.)Fragonard was mostly commissioned by the rich royalty of France to paint so logically, the French revolution ruined his career. There was no wealthy royalty who loved his Rococo style paintings left and able to commission Fragonard to paint for them. This led to his wealthy lifestyle changing as he was financially ruined. Luckily, he did survive the French revolution and maintained a pretty modest lifestyle afterwards.

Cello Suit No. 1 by Johan Sebastian Bach

As I am very lucky to have a grandmother who was an opera singer who sang music from the Baroque era, I chose a musical piece. Johan Sebastian Bach has been one of my grandparents favorites ever since I can remember so I chose Cello Suite No. 1 because it is a beautiful piece and I have heard it many times.

This piece is the first of six suites. It is also the most known of the six suites as most people are usually familiar with the tune. Sadly, there is not much known on the history of this piece, why it was written or for whom. However, we assume that this piece was written in 1720 when Bach was employed as the Kapellmeister for Prince Leopold in Cöthen between 1717 and 1723. This position is the highest rank a musician could be in during the Baroque era. Interestingly, Bach was actually locked up by Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Weimar, whom Bach was working for at the time, because the Duke did not want him to leave and work for somebody else. Luckily, he got away and was able to work for Prince Leopold in Cöthen. This was a good time of Bach’s life, although he did lose his first wife here in Cöthen, he also met his second here a short time later.

Prince Leopold

Prince Leopold made sure to have the best orchestra. He spent his budget on bringing musicians from all around to play in his court. Prince Leopold was a very young prince but had traveled quite a bit already during his short time so he was very educated on the Baroque era music. He even studied Italian secular music during his travels and was also a talented musician. He was very different than most royal people in the fact that he even oftentimes played with his orchestra (informally) and treated them as his equals. Prince Leopold was in high regard by his court and by Bach. As life in Cöthen was very laid back compared to other royal households, Bach spent a lot of time writing music for the court and for himself. It was a happy atmosphere. Bach and members of the court also traveled with Prince Leopold very often. A few years later, Prince Leopold married though and his new wife was not as easy going as him. She was not in favor of the prince playing music with the court and treating them as his equals. Due to this unfortunate event,  it is said that Bach decided to leave or even had to leave due to the court being dissolved in 1723. Although, Bach’s children were also growing up and he was thinking of moving to a larger city for their education in music. Bach still was not happy about leaving Cöthen though. He even wrote to an old school friend, “There I had a gracious Prince as a master, who knew music as well as he loved it,  and I hoped to remain in his service until the end of my life.” Bach went on to play for other royalty, but I wanted to focus on his time in Cöthen as that is where he wrote Cello Suit No. 1 (through 6).

The piece is a little unusual in a few ways. First of all, Bach was known to be an organist and second of all, the piece was not played publicly during Bach’s lifetime. Therefor it is believed that Bach played this himself to his family and friends in a more private setting. It is just unusual for Bach to produce a musical piece that was not played on an organ and also not played by others, although he did know how to play stringed instruments. Since this piece was not widely known during his lifetime, it could have easily been lost in time. Thankfully, Bach’s second wife, Anna Magdalena (as seen to the right), whom he met living in Cöthen made sure it wasn’t destroyed by making copies of  the original.

Sadly, I could not find any reasons for why Bach wrote this piece and there is no presumed secret love story behind it like in Botticelli’s work. However, I did make the connection that basically at any point, knowing the wealthy and famous (like the Medici Family or the Prince among others) is how many of these men became so successful and engrained in our history. They had to travel quite a bit to meet all the people they did. I also find it crazy how in any point of time in history, so much art has been lost and we are lucky that Anna Magdalena preserved this piece for us!

The Birth of Venus

The Birth of Venus is a famous work painted during the Italian Renaissance by Sandro Botticelli. It is believed to have been painted between 1482 and 1485. It is also believed that Botticelli was commissioned by the Medici family to paint this work as this piece hung in the country villa of the Medici. You can now visit the painting at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

  

In the painting, Venus, the goddess of love is centered, standing on a shell. To the left, you have Zephyr, the wind god, and (possibly) his wife Chloris, the goddess of flowers, blowing her to shore. On the right of Venus is Horae, the goddess of the spring getting ready to drape the fabric around Venus after her birth.

Medici Family
The Medici family is to thank for much of the success during the early Renaissance. Much of the famous Italian Renaissance artwork that we see in museums today was purchased by the Medici family as they found it important to study and preserve art. The Medici family oftentimes brought people they thought were talented in and gave them space to study and work. Sandro Botticelli was one of these lucky and talented men. As Botticelli was so close with the Medici family, he was very well known. He made a living by painting mostly religious scenes for people who were throwing themselves at him asking for paintings. The Birth of Venus was painted for member of the Medici family in Florence and kept in their country villa. Botticelli has the Medici family to thank for his successful career and the success of his painting, the Birth of Venus.

Botticelli’s Influences
Botticelli actually based his painting on an ancient sculpture of Venus as shown below. This sculpture is also in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Another possible influence on Botticelli’s painting could be a love for the beautiful Simonetta Vespucci, wife of Marco Vespucci of Florence. Simonetta was so beautiful and loved by many, even by the Medici family. A humanist scholar and poet, known as Politian was friends with and studied under the Medici family. He wrote La giostra di Giuliano de’ Medici which is believed to have influenced Botticelli’s painting due to a similar scene being described in the poem. A Latin piece of literature known as Metamorphosis written by Roman poet Ovid, may have also influenced Botticelli’s painting as it also contains a descriptive scene that reads similarly to the scene portrayed in the Birth of Venus. Botticelli eventually met Simonetta and it is believed he used her as his model for his paintings of Venus. Sadly Simonetta died at the young age of 22. Some believe Botticelli was even in love with her as he wished to be buried at her feet when he died. After his death, it is said that his request was carried out and he was buried by Simonetta. Whether every bit of this is exactly true remains a mystery, but I like to believe it is.

Botticelli also painted Primavera (shown beneath) which also contains Venus in the center.  However, unlike in the Birth of Venus, Venus is clothed and it seems to be set in a later time. Simonetta was also assumed to be the model for this painting. The paintings were made to be hung next to one another as Primavera shows Venus at a more mature stage. This painting also hung up in the Medici villa and is now in the Uffizi Gallery.

Similar paintings have been painted before, none of which became as famous and known as the Birth of Venus. The first known painting was the Venus Anadyomene (Venus Rising from the Sea) by Apelles which is sadly now lost. The photo below of the Mural at Pompeii is believed to be another copy of the Venus Anadyomene.
   

My Opinion
I especially like the Birth of Venus painting because I find it to be unique to most other Renaissance paintings. As was usual during this time period, most art work was very realistic with proper proportions. Bodies were standing in realistic poses. However, in the Birth of Venus, all the characters are floating. Venus herself seems to be floating over the shell for her stance would not allow her to realistically be standing like that without falling over or out of the shell. Another unique part of this painting is that besides Eve, women were not painted nude up until this time in the Renaissance. Understandably, this is the birth of Venus so it would seem strange for her to be clothed. It was also different from other artwork during this time because it was not a classical religious piece of work. I think I enjoyed this painting much more after doing a lot more research on it. I love the idea of Botticelli falling in love with Simonetta who is supposed to be portraying the goddess of love. On the right is another painting of Simonetta named Ritratto ideale Simonetta Vespucci by Botticelli. All the other possible influences make this painting more interesting along with the fact that the Medici family commissioned Botticelli to paint this painting and that it hung up in their villa. And that Botticelli most  likely met Simonetta through the Medici family.
I enjoyed researching all the history behind the artwork and have realized that historic artwork like the paintings and sculptures from the Italian Renaissance have a huge amount of history behind them, more than I ever believed.

My Quick Introduction!

Hello! My name is Emily. I am majoring in Economics. I am originally from Germany and moved to Alaska in middle school. I’ve lived there the past nine years. Three weeks ago I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina where I am staying for the next year which is why I have to take all online courses for now. I work at a Wells Fargo bank here. I am hoping to eventually move back to Germany, specifically Berlin. It has to be one of my favorite places in the world.

One of my main hobbies (besides fishing) is pottery. I’ve spent a lot of time throwing bowls, cups, etc. in the ceramics arts room at UAF which I definitely miss most about being on campus. I am currently looking for a new place to start pottery again down here. I also spend a lot of time painting. I like to paint landscapes and repaint photos I’ve taken from hiking trips. I enjoy looking at other peoples artwork whether it’s going to an art museum or looking at a friend/family members art and being able to give constructive criticism. A favorite artist of mine is Gustav Klimt. I especially love the way he used gold leaf to produce such beautiful art. I’ve seen some of his art work in the museums in New York City. I saw some of his original work that my parents had hanging up in our home while I was growing up, which I was extremely excited about.

Well that’s a short introduction of me. Looking forward to seeing everyone’s posts throughout the semester!