Continuing discussions from Intro to Art. Observing Art & Ideas in our own day-to-day life and Applying in-class learning to the world around us.
Blog posts are due by midnight on Thursdays.
Frida Kahlo self-portrait with monkey painted in 1940, and Rose Ducreux self-portrait with harp painted in 1791 are both 2D paintings. These two works of art contain primary and secondary colors. There are patterns on both of the women's dress. A repetition of Horizontal stripes on Rose's dress and squares are on Frida's dress. The portrait is in different times, but the women both had ribbons in their hair. I think a ribbon always gives a finishing look. No matter the time or place, it is universal. The negative space in both paintings gives the viewer a sense of who the women are. Frida and Rose are occupied by something in the painting. Rose playing the harp is a way of expressing her love for music. The calmness in her face shows she enjoys playing the harp. Frida with the monkey on her shoulder, I would assume she is an animal lover and enjoys the outdoors. Frida Kahlo's portrait is naturalistic. She painted herself the way she wanted people to view her. Frida's facial expression is serious. The realistic detail of her unibrow, her cheekbones and chin. Nothing about her face is idealized. Frida painted herself in the jungle makes her seem free and showing her love for animals and nature. She seems very fearless, confident and strong. The red ribbon in her hair symbolizes her being bold and daring. In addition, the way it wraps around her and the monkey represent a bond between the two. In Rose’s portrait, I tell she is rich by the way she is dressed and the objects around her. The way the carpet has detail with pattern and the vase. Rose seems to come from a royal family. Rose was painted the way society sees women; her fair skin, rosy cheeks, pink lips and long blonde hair. There is always an element in a painting or drawing that helps us understand the time it was created. For example in the second painting, we can tell she is from a different period. The way her hair is big and curly, her dress, the detail of the carpet. The way the harp is carved and the vase. They all represent an era. In the first painting, the way Frida is dressed and the style of her hair is different from Rose. The details of the painting helps one understand they are from different periods. Time can affect the reading of the work, because as time change so does our style and view on everyday life. Most women today will not grow a unibrow like Frida. During the 1940’s most women did, because Frida is portraying the women of her era. In today’s society, most women do not wear big ball gowns as everyday attire, but in the 1700, Rose shows they did. I can understand the information in Rose is painting, because of her attire and the negative space. Most of the women in her time dressed very elegant and lived in detail-oriented homes. The negative space lets me get a sense of who she is. Women were supposed to look and dress a certain way. The vase can be important to her because it is in the room where she does what she loves, playing music. Her playing an instrument can represent her having discipline and a talented skill. People in the future will view the content of Frida’s painting, the same way she is portrayed. I do not think the content of the work did not change. One can tell she loves animals and the outdoors. She is not too much of a girly-girl like Rose. She is not in a fancy home, with a fancy dress. Frida is just being herself. These two works of art shows what Frida and Rose love by expressing who they are.
Luis Hernandez Professor Dahlia Elsayed Intro. To Art November 4, 2012
I chose two paintings called “Frida Kahlo Self portrait with Monkey” and “Rose Ducruex Self portrait with a Harp”. They are both paintings but made in a different time. Both paintings have a form of art which is 2-dimensional. The first painting to the left of Frida Kahlo, tells me it can be a self portrait with a creature she likes, which is the monkey. They can either be in the monkey’s habitat. According to the title of the first painting to the left, it is a self portrait with a monkey. This painting was made in the 1940’s. The year in this portrait was not helpful because the painting wasn’t so hard to find the message. I can perfectly understand the information given because it is simply a face which can only mean it is a self portrait. The second painting to the right tells me the woman is in her house simply playing the harp. By reading the year, 1791, it definitely tells me the young woman is playing the harp, because the harp is a really popular instrument during that time and also because the woman is dressed in an old school dress. Both paintings have a style of representational. Both paintings have diagonal lines indicating movement. In the left painting you can see a red string on top of the woman’s hair going down her neck in a squiggly way indicating movement. You can also see in the right painting how the woman’s arms are diagonal indicating movement as well. There are a lot of vertical lines in the right pictures, you can see them on the harp. Both paintings have organic shapes which are the two women’s and monkey. In the right painting, the women’s dress is implying a triangle. The painting in the right also had implied Chiaroscuro making it look dark in the background with shadow. The painting to the left has tertiary colors. It also has greenish and orange with complement each other like the painting on the right has red and green complementing each other. Both paintings have both cold and warm colors. The painting on the right implies a smooth texture while the painting on the right has an implied texture of coarse. Both paintings have patterns. The left painting has a leaf pattern on the background and the right painting has a pattern of white and green lines. Both paintings are off-centered. They also have an angle from eye-level. The painting on the right can be a dark and light symmetrical balanced painting because of the harp having a dark color on one side while the other side has the person in a light color. Both paintings are visually asymmetrical. The focal point on the left painting would be the woman and the focal point on the right painting would also be the woman with her old fashioned dress. As you can see, both paintings have a normal size. The context from the older painting changed in the fact that the contemporary painting is more detailed and well put out.
The painting “Self Portrait with Monkey” by Frida Kahlo in 1940 is 2D painting. It uses pattern by repeated lines, colors and shapes on the green leaves, red ribbon and yellow blouse. The vertical lines on the leaves suggest strength. Using complementary colors create the mood or tend to buzz. It is implied smoothness texture. Repetition of shapes, colors and lines on leaves shows coherence (unity). It uses Asymmetrical balance. The focal point is the joint that her thick dark eyebrows connected. Frida used Representational Style to show realistic. In Self-Portrait with Monkey, Frida emphasized her signature icon and her joined eyebrows. She chose a monkey as her companion because not only she admired its childlike and playful nature but also they helped fill the void and loneliness she felt in her life. Moreover, Monkey is a symbol of intelligence, intensity, and involvement. Thick eyebrows suggests Very energetic and passionate. In the painting, she appeared with her pet monkey who clang to her like a surrogate child. The monkey was embracing her, his paw wrapped around her neck. Frida and her monkey were tethered by a deep red ribbon that wrapped four times around her neck and then disappeared behind the monkey’s neck. However, this painting did not show friendly feeling. The cold expression on Frida’s face showed resentment. In terms of content and meaning, my interpretation is that the image is overall meant to compare her strong passion to the nature (leaves and the monkey). Her eyebrows are very significant that one might think they represent anger, but she portrayed the leaves which show the pure nature and serenity, and also the monkey, reflection of her, to show she is not in anger but in state of her strong desire. Overall, she demonstrated herself as a sharp and brilliant woman who was capable of controlling her mind. “Self-Portrait with a Harp” was painted by Rose Ducreux in 1791. It is 2D painting. Rose used geometric shapes on the wall, the table and the floor. Using vertical lines suggests formality and assertive. She also used implied light on the carpet, on the wall and on the table cloths. Besides, she used complementary colors and pattern by repeating shapes, colors and lines on the carpet and on her dress. It is Asymmetrical balance and Representational style. She emphasized her harp and her beauty. The Harp is a symbol of love in the form of lyrical art, poetry, and music. The Harp shares mythical connections to the Celts representing the bridge of love connecting heaven and earth. She depicts herself testing the tuning of a contemporary single-action harp. A book of sheet music is open to a song honoring “tender love.” She chose a harp with a music book as her companion because not only music can make her happy but the result of happiness can also make her healthy and smile which makes her beautiful. By portraying her musical talents along with her considerable painting skills, Ducreux represents herself as an example of feminine refinement, able to shift gracefully between art and music. Moreover, her pure skin, silk dress and beautiful face represented her as a high standard woman who was soft and tender. Consequently, she portrayed her noble charm to show her compassionate heart. The context of this work showed the colonial time. Time does affect the reading of the work because our point of view over a picture from 1700s will not be the same as the people’s in 1700s. Our tradition becomes different from them as the time goes by. Thus, one’s interpretation might be different from others’, and it depends on the people themselves. Generally, we may understand the information of the older work and interpret the work of arts as we think, but it would not always be the artist’s true intensions over the work of arts.
I like to compare two interesting painting which are Frida kahlo self portrait with monkey 1940 and Rose Ducreux self portrait with a harp 1791. The amazing thing is that even though the artists paint the arts in the different years,they almost use same formal elements and subjects to express a similar content. Form painting we can find that they both love to use same colors(red, yellow,green)and through light/values(highlight women more than background) to emphasize the same focal point about beautiful women. Two arts both are representational style and organic shape. From arts , we can find that the positive places are all about women. Form Principles of Design, we also can find same places that they both does not follow "rule of third' but figure's eye level are same and both look the right side a little bit. Although they both have unity and repetition of pattern,the first one have variety pattern about leaf and the second one have same pattern about carpet.
I think the two artists express same content about feminine beauty, but they use different ways to show different beauties about women. One artist uses monkey and leaf to show that people want to get close to nature, and they also means that nature beauty and humanism. Unlike the first artist, the second artist uses harp and some expensive things such as Ceram, silk cloth to show the women how beautiful and noble she is. Why are they different. I think the reason is that they were painted by different years,and the artists have difference cultural background. Frida kahlo self portrait with monkey must be painted by recent years because following the world development and environmental pollution, people pay more attention to protect environment and get close to nature. Rose Ducreux self portrait with a harp must be painted in the era of noble because in the time the noble and educated person was expected to be trained in music and only noble have ability to owe those expensive things. Therefore, I think that is why, the artists use difference thing to express feminine beauty. Some people always said that all of arts have common places even thought people can not exactly express what the meaning, they can feel the emotion in some ways from arts. However, I don't agree with this opinion because I think time can affect people to read the art. The reason is that in the different times, the artists use different ways or things to express their art. For example, when Pablo Picasso was young, his style was representational, but after few years late , his style change to abstract. That is why I think that if people can not know about the culture in the past time , how can they understand these arts and figure out the exactly meaning. Follow people learn more about art and history, people can understand the old work because people can guess what the information the artist give to people from the artist's culture and experience. As we know that art is complicated, and difference people have difference opinion on the same art, so if people know more about art, they will get more close to artist. For example, before I took this class, I did not know about anything about art. Following I learn more about art , I begin to understand some art which I did not understand in the before. As I know that the contest of old work always has changed in the difference years just like I mention the example of Pablo Picasso. At various times, the culture is difference, so even in the future, I think people also need to learn if they want to know about some old or new style of work.
The more you learn, the more you get that is what I belive.
The images I decided to pick were Frida Kahlo self-portrait with a monkey, and Rose Ducreux, self-portrait with a harp. In Kahlo’s portrait there’s a monkey wrapping her around her neck and in Rose Ducreux portrait you see her playing a musical instrument called a harp. So both portraits have something else (monkey, harp) in the picture that draws people’s attention but obviously it’s the self portrait of the two ladies that has the most importance in the pictures. Now they both have an organic shape and also they both have a 2D form. The one on the left has a bunch of green leafs in the background but I’m not sure if that’s negative space because it doesn’t feel like its empty space. And obviously theirs positive space because it’s a self-portrait. The other image on the right with the girl is playing the harp, you can definitely see that there’s negative space because of the white wall in the background. Also the image on the left has primary colors (yellow and red) but also secondary color because of the green leafs, and even some complementary colors (red, and green). Also the image on the right has complementary colors because of the green stripes on her dress and the red roses on the floor. Also both paintings have a smooth textures and real textures. When talking about composition I want to point out that the image on the left and on the right both have a focal point because it seems very clear that in a self-portrait there’s always a focal point or emphasis. The content for the two portraits looks different in some ways and also they have some similarities. The image on the left shows us that there’s a woman with a monkey and they are somewhere with a lot of leafs. The monkey’s hands and fingers look too big and her neck looks like it is too long. Maybe they are in some type of a zoo or jungle and that she is visiting for fun. The other image with the girl playing the harp is different because she is in a different environment. It looks like a wealthy girl because of her nice dress and her carpet. And usually if u had no money at that time it was hard to afford to buy and play a hart. So she probably is learning to play the instrument because she has the notes on the table and she is enjoying the music since she has a grin on her face. So actually they are different and the similarity is that they are both woman. The context gives us knowledge of the time and place the work was made. So the painting on the left is the newer version but it’s very hard to understand that it’s from the 1940s because the woman looks very old fashioned and I thought it would be an older image. The other image looks like it’s from the 1700s because of the way she dresses and looks. So if you change the year to 1900s that would obviously not be true and people will realize immediately. Usually older works are more difficult to understand because we are not from that time frame and can’t connect and understand the content. When we study the image sometimes we find symbols or references that we are unaware of and that makes it harder to completely understand that image so of course I do believe older images are harder to understand. So the same thing goes for people in the future, when they see the newer work they might not understand some of the references and symbols because they are not popular for that particular time and that means it will be difficult for those people to understand. So the context of of the older work will always change in the future.
Throughout different eras the image of women eras the image of women has changed. Yet, what stays the same is the struggle between the idealistic representation of beauty and how real women truly are. In Kahlo’s painting, we see how she tries to combine the gender to be more equal. On the other hand, Ducreux’s painting show idealistic women should be and what roles they can have. Both painters show how a woman was seen by both painters struggled to depict women. In self-portrait with a monkey (1940), Frida Kahlo’s painting makes an impact on feminine quality of truth beauty. In this painting, she emphases on her face rather than her body. In which she remarks her cold expression, the joint eyebrows and the mustache, she showed how she looks like in the real life. With this, she tries for her views to focus on her expression that can be seen to represent both genders. Additionally to this, Kahlos appears with a monkey as a symbol of a beloved friend. The monkey is embracing her with her paw wrapped around her neck by a red ribbon. This painting is 2D painting. She uses pattern by repeated lines, shapes and bright color. In self-portrait with a harp (1791), Rose Ducreux painting focuses on the traditional ideas of that century .Portrait was first displayed for their beauty and realism. Ducreux’s shows the feminine curves. This, combined with the curves of the harp puts a feminine idealist. Back then, the harp was considering a woman’s instrument, it was a women role. This is a 2D painting. This painting has a strong linear composition and more natural color in palette. Time can affect the reading of the work, throughout the world and history there is a record of how women represented to the eyes of society. Both painters made their own achievements/purpose of how women are views depending on the era they made their artwork. This is important because when you see these paintings it makes you realized how important is to be yourself. Nowadays, we follow a idealistic way of how we are supposed to look rather than accepting who we truly are.
Angel Cheng HUA.101.131 Dahlia Elsayed November 7, 2012
As we grow, our minds begin to develop. We start to abnormally view the aspects of our surroundings. What one finds bland the following day may spark up an explosion of excitement the next. This is mankind's relationship with art. Throughout the years art has underwent numberless classifications of valued creativity. It's no question that the essence of art has transitioned dramatically. When paintings from the pre-1950 are held in comparison with a more modernized artwork, the dissimilarity in characteristics is quite evident. Every artwork from its generation possesses a hint of idiosyncrasy. Artist in the earlier years maintained a certain style and signature, in terms of today; with a limitless amount of resources, art is now defined profusely and freely. What dated back thousands of years ago as cave paintings is now embodied and expressed in countless formations. There are no longer limitations to what is considered as aesthetics, instead artistry is presently welcomed and openly appreciated. One example of a more renewed artwork is Frida Kahlo's self-portrait with a Monkey (1940) is 2D oil on masonite painting. The portrait displays Kahlo in a leaf-embedded scenery. She is solidly positioned with an odd looking monkey placed on her right shoulder. From the start, one can interpret that she is outdoors. As for visual elements, the uses of colors aren’t so dramatic, mainly warm, naturalistic primary and secondary colors. The background is dominantly shaded in hues of basil to olive green. Kahlo herself is wearing an elongated scarlet ribbon that is immersed around her black locks as well as her neck. She is dressed in what seems to be a black dress with heavy incorporation of gold. In this portrait Kahlo and the monkey appear to be the emphasis and the positive space in the painting. This creates a barrier between Kahlo herself and the leafy background, which is considered the negative space because it holds its own repetition of organic shaped leafs.
A model of pre-1950's artwork would be Rose Decreux self-portrait with a Harp (1791) is representational 2D oil on canvas painting. Decreux's portrait exhibits an old fashion renaissance embodiment of herself gracefully playing a harp. The colors used in Decruex's portrait are very regal hues, as shown in Decreux's noble gown. It is fair to declare that she is the main emphasis of the painting. There is an implied light on her figure, as where the background is dimmed. Her gown is heavily detailed, with visual texture in the lower portion. One can identify implied direction and implied movement in her hands and the harp. One interesting visual element is the frequent implications of vertical lines. There are rows of vertical lines shown in her gown, the strings of the harp and the wall. As its known, vertical lines are a symbol of power and dominance, speaking on the behalf of Decreux's social status. Frida Kahlo's portrait cannot get any more honest. Kalho did not try to boost her features nor conceal her imperfections. One can clearly detect the realness in her blemished countenance, for example Kahlo exemplifies this by modestly incorporating her facial hair, especially the lovely uni brow! One can vividly sense the mood that Kahlo is attempting to convey in her portrait by looking at her external expression. It is said that Kahlo's portraits are inspired by her mood. Her expression suggests that she is not so content; one can easily mistake her as a bitter woman looking at this portrait. When looking at Decreux's portrait, one may think of nobility. Her hairstyle, clothing and setting easily captures the essence of royalty and wealth. She seems to be of a comfortable European ancestry. She seems to express a strong devoting passion for her harp by including it in her portrait. Decreux's portrait lacks detail in her facial features. It's very smooth and gentle, similar to alternative paintings of the time period. Basing of the atmosphere and Kohla's material appearance, she does not seem to be as wealthy as Ducreux is exhibited. The two women were surely raised in opposing classes and cultural heritage. The two artist present contrasting style in their portraits, Ducreux’s portrait is classified to be the representational portrait, although Kohla's portrait managed to demonstrate actual characteristics of a female face, whereas Ducreux's portrait gives the impression of idealization. During the era of the two pieces, art was represented in a particular matter. In 1791, Ducreux's portrait was the epitome of grace. Her portrait symbolized the nature of being a lady. Her pale skin tone and rosy red cheeks were key features on how beautiful women were illustrated. By 1940 the art movement took its steps. Art was more versatile and flexible. Kahlo's portrait may have not display the most gorgeous woman in the world; however she captured the true elements and principles of the rawness of art. In our modern society, we are able to decode Decreux's portrait because we have the ability to conduct research regarding the context of her painting, although some speculate the year to be 1790, others suggest that it's 1791. We are aware of the history behind why the Decreux's painting style was specialized and appreciated. Provided with numerous resources, an individual from our generation may not have witnessed the reality of Decreux's epoch; however one is able to access knowledge due to the information that we have today. Who knows how far the entity of art will go in the future. An individual from the future may view Kahlo's and Ducreux's portraits as strange sights or a pure elegance. If that individual were to analyze Kahlo's portrait, he/she may find Kohlo's appearance to be peculiar, just as how our generation acknowledge portraits from our history. We find them strange looking in comparison with the art from our date. The fundamentals of art continue to evolve into greater stages, sophistication and admiration.
For this project I chose the second set of pictures: Frida Kahlo self-portrait with Monkey - 1940 and Rose Ducreux self-portrait with a Harp – 1791. Starting with the first painting: Frida Kahlo self-portrait with Monkey, I see diagonal lines on the ribbon she has on her neck, on the leaves, and on the monkey implying movement. There is also implied light seen on the darker red spots on the ribbon, the light yellow on her forehead, nose, ear, chin and neck. This 2D work uses primary, secondary and tertiary colors as well as warm, cold and complementary colors. The positive space is the woman, the monkey and the leaves and the negative space is the space in between the leaves close to her forehead and eyes on the left side of the artwork. There is a pattern to the geometric shapes on the yellow stripes of her clothing as well as a sense of unity to them. There also is unity on the leaves and a nice rhythm due to their repetition and the way they are positioned. Rhythm is also present on the pattern of her braids made with the repetition of hair and braid. This work’s focal point is her face. It has a good visual balance. However, the monkey’s arms and fingers seem to be out of proportion of the size of his head. The second painting: Rose Ducreux is also a 2D self-portrait that has the same complementary colors as the fist: green and red. As well as on Frida this work also has movement: on the diagonal lines of her fingers and the pages of her music book; it has implied light: shown on the shading of the table, the wall and her dress; they both consist of geometric and organic shapes; there is unity and pattern: seen on the stripes of her dress, on the design of the wall; and none of the paintings are symmetrical. However, Rose’s self-portrait obeys the rule of thirds while Frida’s doesn’t. They also differ in proportion. Everything is in perfect proportion on the painting of Rose. Looking at the painting of Frida Kahlo and the monkey I can definitely say it is a representational realistic work while the painting of Rose Ducreux and the harp is also representational but idealized. Frida painted herself as she is in the real world with the angry expression on her face, the hair on her lips and in the middle of her eyebrows, with a not so beautiful monkey next to her, leaves that some of them don’t look so fresh and alive. While Rose painted herself with a calm and peaceful smile, playing a harp, with a beautiful long dress, in a beautiful house, on top of a beautiful carpet. Everything looks so perfect and ideal. Although, we have to remember that what was once considered as ideal at the time Rose’s self-portrait was made is not what is considered ideal nowadays. Therefore, time definitely affects the reading of a work. With time things change. Hardly anyone plays the harp these days. With time catastrophes also happen. What once was just a nice painting of the twin towers, today we look at it on a different point of view. A picture of a certain building that was taken down by the tsunami in Japan had a meaning before the tsunami, and after it, it has a different meaning with a whole lot of different feelings attached to it. As time goes by it gets harder and harder to read older works because things change very fast. As we learned in class with the painting of the couple getting married, a work can have many “hidden symbols”. For us that are living in the 21st century it is hard to understand the meaning of these “symbols” unless we research to find out how was life at the time the painting was made. In other words, research its context. However, some other things are easier to read. For example the skull, that is a universal symbol of death. In the future, I believe it will be the same for people to understand newer work because as I said before, some things are universal and have no time and some others depend on the context of an artwork, which never changes with time since it actually is the time and culture within which an artwork is made.
When you look at Rose Decreux’s 1791 painting “Self-Portrait with a Harp” and Frida Kahlo’s 1940 “Self-Portrait with a Monkey”, it becomes evident that Frida Kahlo studied Rose’s artistic style. At first glance, it’s clear that both of these paintings share the same subject matter of painting self-portraits of themselves next to something they enjoy. In Rose’s painting, she is seen wearing a beautiful ivory and green evening gown. The assumption that she is wealthy can be made from the way she is put together, even her hair is done up for the occasion. The fact that she is playing the harp also alludes to her being wealthy. In the case of Frida’s painting, her face is painted at a much closer angle than Rose’s. This painting shows her posing next to a monkey with his arms around her shoulder. The scenery seems to be that of outside, as leaves are shown behind her. The formal elements that were used in both self-portraits include line, which is seen more clearly in Rose Decreux’s painting than in Frida’s. In the first painting the first lines I noticed were the ones on the column Rose was standing in front of. Other lines used in this painting include the ones that make up the green detailing on her dress as well as the lines that make up the strings on the harp she is seen playing. The lines that are visible in Frida Kahlo’s painting are mainly seen when looking at the red ribbons she is wearing in her hair. Lines are also seen on the green leaves behind her and on the monkey’s hand that is placed over her shoulder. Both of these paintings show organic shapes, which emphasizes their respected backgrounds. These paintings also show use of positive and negative space. The two women become the positive space and the inside and outdoor backdrop becomes the negative space. Another formal element that comes into play is implied light. The self-portrait with a harp shows chiaroscuro by having the person appear to be bright and the background appear to be dull and dark. The self-portrait with a monkey also puts emphasis on the face and makes the natural background a tap bit darker. Lastly, the element of color and pattern comes into play; Frida uses both warm and cool colors in her portrait as Rose uses complementary colors with dark shades of red and green. The patterns of both paintings are seen when looking at the lines on Rose’s long dress and the carpeted floor. Frida’s pattern is the numerous leaves that she is posing in front of.
The subject matter of the Rose Decreux’s paining alludes to her playing the harp. The background with the column suggests that she is possibly performing for people at some sort of grand function that only wealthy people could score a ticket to. As opposed to Frida Kahlo’s painting, which alludes to her just doing what she loves, enjoying her surroundings with her pet monkey. The message of these painting show two different scenarios, one that is structured and orderly and one that is more laid back and free. I think that time does affect the subject matter. In the late 1700’s going to a fancy ball required you to either be elite or at least work for those who were considered to be. In the 1940’s, Frida’s painting shows that women could still be very poor and carry themselves as if they were not. Her clothes may not have cost nearly as much as Rose’s but she seems happier to be in the company of the monkey compared to Rose’s expression playing the harp. The information in the older work can be understood; I think Frida took comparisons from Rose’s painting and applied to her own. I think in the future people will continue to view Frida’s work as art that showcased her doing various things she loved to do, which leaves the viewer with a sense of freedom that you can still be poor and look rich and just because you look rich, doesn’t mean you have to be uptight and well put together. I highly doubt that Rose’s painting would’ve included an animal near her expensive dress, but in Frida’s painting, she doesn’t seem bothered by the fact that the monkey is touching her. I do believe that Frida’s painting is more realistic than Rose’s painting because nowadays, anyone can take a picture of themselves next to their pet and have someone draw it if they choose to, but the harp painting still suggests that you have to be included in a certain social status to even be in the presence of someone wearing expensive clothing and surrounded by a live orchestra. Though at one point, every woman was painted with the thought of a European women in mind, future paintings are sure to resemble the ever growing population of immigrants who come to America and will not be painted with one ideal look in mind, but instead be painted to represent all of the people who come to America for to obtain a better life, without sacrificing their own customs and beliefs from their native country
Rachel Fowler
ReplyDeleteFrida Kahlo self-portrait with monkey painted in 1940, and Rose Ducreux self-portrait with harp painted in 1791 are both 2D paintings. These two works of art contain primary and secondary colors. There are patterns on both of the women's dress. A repetition of Horizontal stripes on Rose's dress and squares are on Frida's dress. The portrait is in different times, but the women both had ribbons in their hair. I think a ribbon always gives a finishing look. No matter the time or place, it is universal. The negative space in both paintings gives the viewer a sense of who the women are. Frida and Rose are occupied by something in the painting. Rose playing the harp is a way of expressing her love for music. The calmness in her face shows she enjoys playing the harp. Frida with the monkey on her shoulder, I would assume she is an animal lover and enjoys the outdoors. Frida Kahlo's portrait is naturalistic. She painted herself the way she wanted people to view her. Frida's facial expression is serious. The realistic detail of her unibrow, her cheekbones and chin. Nothing about her face is idealized. Frida painted herself in the jungle makes her seem free and showing her love for animals and nature. She seems very fearless, confident and strong. The red ribbon in her hair symbolizes her being bold and daring. In addition, the way it wraps around her and the monkey represent a bond between the two. In Rose’s portrait, I tell she is rich by the way she is dressed and the objects around her. The way the carpet has detail with pattern and the vase. Rose seems to come from a royal family. Rose was painted the way society sees women; her fair skin, rosy cheeks, pink lips and long blonde hair.
There is always an element in a painting or drawing that helps us understand the time it was created. For example in the second painting, we can tell she is from a different period. The way her hair is big and curly, her dress, the detail of the carpet. The way the harp is carved and the vase. They all represent an era. In the first painting, the way Frida is dressed and the style of her hair is different from Rose. The details of the painting helps one understand they are from different periods.
Time can affect the reading of the work, because as time change so does our style and view on everyday life. Most women today will not grow a unibrow like Frida. During the 1940’s most women did, because Frida is portraying the women of her era. In today’s society, most women do not wear big ball gowns as everyday attire, but in the 1700, Rose shows they did. I can understand the information in Rose is painting, because of her attire and the negative space. Most of the women in her time dressed very elegant and lived in detail-oriented homes. The negative space lets me get a sense of who she is. Women were supposed to look and dress a certain way. The vase can be important to her because it is in the room where she does what she loves, playing music. Her playing an instrument can represent her having discipline and a talented skill. People in the future will view the content of Frida’s painting, the same way she is portrayed. I do not think the content of the work did not change. One can tell she loves animals and the outdoors. She is not too much of a girly-girl like Rose. She is not in a fancy home, with a fancy dress. Frida is just being herself. These two works of art shows what Frida and Rose love by expressing who they are.
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ReplyDeleteLuis Hernandez
ReplyDeleteProfessor Dahlia Elsayed
Intro. To Art
November 4, 2012
I chose two paintings called “Frida Kahlo Self portrait with Monkey” and “Rose Ducruex Self portrait with a Harp”. They are both paintings but made in a different time. Both paintings have a form of art which is 2-dimensional. The first painting to the left of Frida Kahlo, tells me it can be a self portrait with a creature she likes, which is the monkey. They can either be in the monkey’s habitat. According to the title of the first painting to the left, it is a self portrait with a monkey. This painting was made in the 1940’s. The year in this portrait was not helpful because the painting wasn’t so hard to find the message. I can perfectly understand the information given because it is simply a face which can only mean it is a self portrait. The second painting to the right tells me the woman is in her house simply playing the harp. By reading the year, 1791, it definitely tells me the young woman is playing the harp, because the harp is a really popular instrument during that time and also because the woman is dressed in an old school dress. Both paintings have a style of representational. Both paintings have diagonal lines indicating movement. In the left painting you can see a red string on top of the woman’s hair going down her neck in a squiggly way indicating movement. You can also see in the right painting how the woman’s arms are diagonal indicating movement as well. There are a lot of vertical lines in the right pictures, you can see them on the harp. Both paintings have organic shapes which are the two women’s and monkey. In the right painting, the women’s dress is implying a triangle. The painting in the right also had implied Chiaroscuro making it look dark in the background with shadow. The painting to the left has tertiary colors. It also has greenish and orange with complement each other like the painting on the right has red and green complementing each other. Both paintings have both cold and warm colors. The painting on the right implies a smooth texture while the painting on the right has an implied texture of coarse. Both paintings have patterns. The left painting has a leaf pattern on the background and the right painting has a pattern of white and green lines. Both paintings are off-centered. They also have an angle from eye-level. The painting on the right can be a dark and light symmetrical balanced painting because of the harp having a dark color on one side while the other side has the person in a light color. Both paintings are visually asymmetrical. The focal point on the left painting would be the woman and the focal point on the right painting would also be the woman with her old fashioned dress. As you can see, both paintings have a normal size. The context from the older painting changed in the fact that the contemporary painting is more detailed and well put out.
The painting “Self Portrait with Monkey” by Frida Kahlo in 1940 is 2D painting. It uses pattern by repeated lines, colors and shapes on the green leaves, red ribbon and yellow blouse. The vertical lines on the leaves suggest strength. Using complementary colors create the mood or tend to buzz. It is implied smoothness texture. Repetition of shapes, colors and lines on leaves shows coherence (unity). It uses Asymmetrical balance. The focal point is the joint that her thick dark eyebrows connected. Frida used Representational Style to show realistic. In Self-Portrait with Monkey, Frida emphasized her signature icon and her joined eyebrows. She chose a monkey as her companion because not only she admired its childlike and playful nature but also they helped fill the void and loneliness she felt in her life. Moreover, Monkey is a symbol of intelligence, intensity, and involvement. Thick eyebrows suggests Very energetic and passionate. In the painting, she appeared with her pet monkey who clang to her like a surrogate child. The monkey was embracing her, his paw wrapped around her neck. Frida and her monkey were tethered by a deep red ribbon that wrapped four times around her neck and then disappeared behind the monkey’s neck. However, this painting did not show friendly feeling. The cold expression on Frida’s face showed resentment. In terms of content and meaning, my interpretation is that the image is overall meant to compare her strong passion to the nature (leaves and the monkey). Her eyebrows are very significant that one might think they represent anger, but she portrayed the leaves which show the pure nature and serenity, and also the monkey, reflection of her, to show she is not in anger but in state of her strong desire. Overall, she demonstrated herself as a sharp and brilliant woman who was capable of controlling her mind.
ReplyDelete“Self-Portrait with a Harp” was painted by Rose Ducreux in 1791. It is 2D painting. Rose used geometric shapes on the wall, the table and the floor. Using vertical lines suggests formality and assertive. She also used implied light on the carpet, on the wall and on the table cloths. Besides, she used complementary colors and pattern by repeating shapes, colors and lines on the carpet and on her dress. It is Asymmetrical balance and Representational style. She emphasized her harp and her beauty. The Harp is a symbol of love in the form of lyrical art, poetry, and music. The Harp shares mythical connections to the Celts representing the bridge of love connecting heaven and earth. She depicts herself testing the tuning of a contemporary single-action harp. A book of sheet music is open to a song honoring “tender love.” She chose a harp with a music book as her companion because not only music can make her happy but the result of happiness can also make her healthy and smile which makes her beautiful. By portraying her musical talents along with her considerable painting skills, Ducreux represents herself as an example of feminine refinement, able to shift gracefully between art and music. Moreover, her pure skin, silk dress and beautiful face represented her as a high standard woman who was soft and tender. Consequently, she portrayed her noble charm to show her compassionate heart. The context of this work showed the colonial time.
Time does affect the reading of the work because our point of view over a picture from 1700s will not be the same as the people’s in 1700s. Our tradition becomes different from them as the time goes by. Thus, one’s interpretation might be different from others’, and it depends on the people themselves. Generally, we may understand the information of the older work and interpret the work of arts as we think, but it would not always be the artist’s true intensions over the work of arts.
I like to compare two interesting painting which are Frida kahlo self portrait with monkey 1940 and Rose Ducreux self portrait with a harp 1791. The amazing thing is that even though the artists paint the arts in the different years,they almost use same formal elements and subjects to express a similar content. Form painting we can find that they both love to use same colors(red, yellow,green)and through light/values(highlight women more than background) to emphasize the same focal point about beautiful women. Two arts both are representational style and organic shape. From arts , we can find that the positive places are all about women. Form Principles of Design, we also can find same places that they both does not follow "rule of third' but figure's eye level are same and both look the right side a little bit. Although they both have unity and repetition of pattern,the first one have variety pattern about leaf and the second one have same pattern about carpet.
ReplyDeleteI think the two artists express same content about feminine beauty, but they use different ways to show different beauties about women. One artist uses monkey and leaf to show that people want to get close to nature, and they also means that nature beauty and humanism. Unlike the first artist, the second artist uses harp and some expensive things such as Ceram, silk cloth to show the women how beautiful and noble she is. Why are they different. I think the reason is that they were painted by different years,and the artists have difference cultural background. Frida kahlo self portrait with monkey must be painted by recent years because following the world development and environmental pollution, people pay more attention to protect environment and get close to nature. Rose Ducreux self portrait with a harp must be painted in the era of noble because in the time the noble and educated person was expected to be trained in music and only noble have ability to owe those expensive things. Therefore, I think that is why, the artists use difference thing to express feminine beauty.
Some people always said that all of arts have common places even thought people can not exactly express what the meaning, they can feel the emotion in some ways from arts. However, I don't agree with this opinion because I think time can affect people to read the art. The reason is that in the different times, the artists use different ways or things to express their art. For example, when Pablo Picasso was young, his style was representational, but after few years late , his style change to abstract. That is why I think that if people can not know about the culture in the past time , how can they understand these arts and figure out the exactly meaning.
Follow people learn more about art and history, people can understand the old work because people can guess what the information the artist give to people from the artist's culture and experience. As we know that art is complicated, and difference people have difference opinion on the same art, so if people know more about art, they will get more close to artist. For example, before I took this class, I did not know about anything about art. Following I learn more about art , I begin to understand some art which I did not understand in the before. As I know that the contest of old work always has changed in the difference years just like I mention the example of Pablo Picasso. At various times, the culture is difference, so even in the future, I think people also need to learn if they want to know about some old or new style of work.
The more you learn, the more you get that is what I belive.
The images I decided to pick were Frida Kahlo self-portrait with a monkey, and Rose Ducreux, self-portrait with a harp. In Kahlo’s portrait there’s a monkey wrapping her around her neck and in Rose Ducreux portrait you see her playing a musical instrument called a harp. So both portraits have something else (monkey, harp) in the picture that draws people’s attention but obviously it’s the self portrait of the two ladies that has the most importance in the pictures. Now they both have an organic shape and also they both have a 2D form. The one on the left has a bunch of green leafs in the background but I’m not sure if that’s negative space because it doesn’t feel like its empty space. And obviously theirs positive space because it’s a self-portrait. The other image on the right with the girl is playing the harp, you can definitely see that there’s negative space because of the white wall in the background. Also the image on the left has primary colors (yellow and red) but also secondary color because of the green leafs, and even some complementary colors (red, and green). Also the image on the right has complementary colors because of the green stripes on her dress and the red roses on the floor. Also both paintings have a smooth textures and real textures. When talking about composition I want to point out that the image on the left and on the right both have a focal point because it seems very clear that in a self-portrait there’s always a focal point or emphasis.
ReplyDeleteThe content for the two portraits looks different in some ways and also they have some similarities. The image on the left shows us that there’s a woman with a monkey and they are somewhere with a lot of leafs. The monkey’s hands and fingers look too big and her neck looks like it is too long. Maybe they are in some type of a zoo or jungle and that she is visiting for fun. The other image with the girl playing the harp is different because she is in a different environment. It looks like a wealthy girl because of her nice dress and her carpet. And usually if u had no money at that time it was hard to afford to buy and play a hart. So she probably is learning to play the instrument because she has the notes on the table and she is enjoying the music since she has a grin on her face. So actually they are different and the similarity is that they are both woman.
The context gives us knowledge of the time and place the work was made. So the painting on the left is the newer version but it’s very hard to understand that it’s from the 1940s because the woman looks very old fashioned and I thought it would be an older image. The other image looks like it’s from the 1700s because of the way she dresses and looks. So if you change the year to 1900s that would obviously not be true and people will realize immediately. Usually older works are more difficult to understand because we are not from that time frame and can’t connect and understand the content. When we study the image sometimes we find symbols or references that we are unaware of and that makes it harder to completely understand that image so of course I do believe older images are harder to understand. So the same thing goes for people in the future, when they see the newer work they might not understand some of the references and symbols because they are not popular for that particular time and that means it will be difficult for those people to understand. So the context of of the older work will always change in the future.
Throughout different eras the image of women eras the image of women has changed. Yet, what stays the same is the struggle between the idealistic representation of beauty and how real women truly are. In Kahlo’s painting, we see how she tries to combine the gender to be more equal. On the other hand, Ducreux’s painting show idealistic women should be and what roles they can have. Both painters show how a woman was seen by both painters struggled to depict women.
ReplyDeleteIn self-portrait with a monkey (1940), Frida Kahlo’s painting makes an impact on feminine quality of truth beauty. In this painting, she emphases on her face rather than her body. In which she remarks her cold expression, the joint eyebrows and the mustache, she showed how she looks like in the real life. With this, she tries for her views to focus on her expression that can be seen to represent both genders. Additionally to this, Kahlos appears with a monkey as a symbol of a beloved friend. The monkey is embracing her with her paw wrapped around her neck by a red ribbon. This painting is 2D painting. She uses pattern by repeated lines, shapes and bright color.
In self-portrait with a harp (1791), Rose Ducreux painting focuses on the traditional ideas of that century .Portrait was first displayed for their beauty and realism. Ducreux’s shows the feminine curves. This, combined with the curves of the harp puts a feminine idealist. Back then, the harp was considering a woman’s instrument, it was a women role. This is a 2D painting. This painting has a strong linear composition and more natural color in palette.
Time can affect the reading of the work, throughout the world and history there is a record of how women represented to the eyes of society. Both painters made their own achievements/purpose of how women are views depending on the era they made their artwork. This is important because when you see these paintings it makes you realized how important is to be yourself. Nowadays, we follow a idealistic way of how we are supposed to look rather than accepting who we truly are.
Angel Cheng
ReplyDeleteHUA.101.131
Dahlia Elsayed
November 7, 2012
As we grow, our minds begin to develop. We start to abnormally view the aspects of our surroundings. What one finds bland the following day may spark up an explosion of excitement the next. This is mankind's relationship with art. Throughout the years art has underwent numberless classifications of valued creativity. It's no question that the essence of art has transitioned dramatically. When paintings from the pre-1950 are held in comparison with a more modernized artwork, the dissimilarity in characteristics is quite evident. Every artwork from its generation possesses a hint of idiosyncrasy. Artist in the earlier years maintained a certain style and signature, in terms of today; with a limitless amount of resources, art is now defined profusely and freely. What dated back thousands of years ago as cave paintings is now embodied and expressed in countless formations. There are no longer limitations to what is considered as aesthetics, instead artistry is presently welcomed and openly appreciated.
One example of a more renewed artwork is Frida Kahlo's self-portrait with a Monkey (1940) is 2D oil on masonite painting. The portrait displays Kahlo in a leaf-embedded scenery. She is solidly positioned with an odd looking monkey placed on her right shoulder. From the start, one can interpret that she is outdoors. As for visual elements, the uses of colors aren’t so dramatic, mainly warm, naturalistic primary and secondary colors. The background is dominantly shaded in hues of basil to olive green. Kahlo herself is wearing an elongated scarlet ribbon that is immersed around her black locks as well as her neck. She is dressed in what seems to be a black dress with heavy incorporation of gold. In this portrait Kahlo and the monkey appear to be the emphasis and the positive space in the painting. This creates a barrier between Kahlo herself and the leafy background, which is considered the negative space because it holds its own repetition of organic shaped leafs.
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ReplyDeleteA model of pre-1950's artwork would be Rose Decreux self-portrait with a Harp (1791) is representational 2D oil on canvas painting. Decreux's portrait exhibits an old fashion renaissance embodiment of herself gracefully playing a harp. The colors used in Decruex's portrait are very regal hues, as shown in Decreux's noble gown. It is fair to declare that she is the main emphasis of the painting. There is an implied light on her figure, as where the background is dimmed. Her gown is heavily detailed, with visual texture in the lower portion. One can identify implied direction and implied movement in her hands and the harp. One interesting visual element is the frequent implications of vertical lines. There are rows of vertical lines shown in her gown, the strings of the harp and the wall. As its known, vertical lines are a symbol of power and dominance, speaking on the behalf of Decreux's social status.
ReplyDeleteFrida Kahlo's portrait cannot get any more honest. Kalho did not try to boost her features nor conceal her imperfections. One can clearly detect the realness in her blemished countenance, for example Kahlo exemplifies this by modestly incorporating her facial hair, especially the lovely uni brow! One can vividly sense the mood that Kahlo is attempting to convey in her portrait by looking at her external expression. It is said that Kahlo's portraits are inspired by her mood. Her expression suggests that she is not so content; one can easily mistake her as a bitter woman looking at this portrait. When looking at Decreux's portrait, one may think of nobility. Her hairstyle, clothing and setting easily captures the essence of royalty and wealth. She seems to be of a comfortable European ancestry. She seems to express a strong devoting passion for her harp by including it in her portrait. Decreux's portrait lacks detail in her facial features. It's very smooth and gentle, similar to alternative paintings of the time period. Basing of the atmosphere and Kohla's material appearance, she does not seem to be as wealthy as Ducreux is exhibited. The two women were surely raised in opposing classes and cultural heritage. The two artist present contrasting style in their portraits, Ducreux’s portrait is classified to be the representational portrait, although Kohla's portrait managed to demonstrate actual characteristics of a female face, whereas Ducreux's portrait gives the impression of idealization.
During the era of the two pieces, art was represented in a particular matter. In 1791, Ducreux's portrait was the epitome of grace. Her portrait symbolized the nature of being a lady. Her pale skin tone and rosy red cheeks were key features on how beautiful women were illustrated. By 1940 the art movement took its steps. Art was more versatile and flexible. Kahlo's portrait may have not display the most gorgeous woman in the world; however she captured the true elements and principles of the rawness of art. In our modern society, we are able to decode Decreux's portrait because we have the ability to conduct research regarding the context of her painting, although some speculate the year to be 1790, others suggest that it's 1791. We are aware of the history behind why the Decreux's painting style was specialized and appreciated. Provided with numerous resources, an individual from our generation may not have witnessed the reality of Decreux's epoch; however one is able to access knowledge due to the information that we have today. Who knows how far the entity of art will go in the future. An individual from the future may view Kahlo's and Ducreux's portraits as strange sights or a pure elegance. If that individual were to analyze Kahlo's portrait, he/she may find Kohlo's appearance to be peculiar, just as how our generation acknowledge portraits from our history. We find them strange looking in comparison with the art from our date. The fundamentals of art continue to evolve into greater stages, sophistication and admiration.
For this project I chose the second set of pictures: Frida Kahlo self-portrait with Monkey - 1940 and Rose Ducreux self-portrait with a Harp – 1791.
ReplyDeleteStarting with the first painting: Frida Kahlo self-portrait with Monkey, I see diagonal lines on the ribbon she has on her neck, on the leaves, and on the monkey implying movement. There is also implied light seen on the darker red spots on the ribbon, the light yellow on her forehead, nose, ear, chin and neck. This 2D work uses primary, secondary and tertiary colors as well as warm, cold and complementary colors. The positive space is the woman, the monkey and the leaves and the negative space is the space in between the leaves close to her forehead and eyes on the left side of the artwork. There is a pattern to the geometric shapes on the yellow stripes of her clothing as well as a sense of unity to them. There also is unity on the leaves and a nice rhythm due to their repetition and the way they are positioned. Rhythm is also present on the pattern of her braids made with the repetition of hair and braid. This work’s focal point is her face. It has a good visual balance. However, the monkey’s arms and fingers seem to be out of proportion of the size of his head.
The second painting: Rose Ducreux is also a 2D self-portrait that has the same complementary colors as the fist: green and red. As well as on Frida this work also has movement: on the diagonal lines of her fingers and the pages of her music book; it has implied light: shown on the shading of the table, the wall and her dress; they both consist of geometric and organic shapes; there is unity and pattern: seen on the stripes of her dress, on the design of the wall; and none of the paintings are symmetrical. However, Rose’s self-portrait obeys the rule of thirds while Frida’s doesn’t. They also differ in proportion. Everything is in perfect proportion on the painting of Rose.
Looking at the painting of Frida Kahlo and the monkey I can definitely say it is a representational realistic work while the painting of Rose Ducreux and the harp is also representational but idealized. Frida painted herself as she is in the real world with the angry expression on her face, the hair on her lips and in the middle of her eyebrows, with a not so beautiful monkey next to her, leaves that some of them don’t look so fresh and alive. While Rose painted herself with a calm and peaceful smile, playing a harp, with a beautiful long dress, in a beautiful house, on top of a beautiful carpet. Everything looks so perfect and ideal. Although, we have to remember that what was once considered as ideal at the time Rose’s self-portrait was made is not what is considered ideal nowadays. Therefore, time definitely affects the reading of a work. With time things change. Hardly anyone plays the harp these days. With time catastrophes also happen. What once was just a nice painting of the twin towers, today we look at it on a different point of view. A picture of a certain building that was taken down by the tsunami in Japan had a meaning before the tsunami, and after it, it has a different meaning with a whole lot of different feelings attached to it.
As time goes by it gets harder and harder to read older works because things change very fast. As we learned in class with the painting of the couple getting married, a work can have many “hidden symbols”. For us that are living in the 21st century it is hard to understand the meaning of these “symbols” unless we research to find out how was life at the time the painting was made. In other words, research its context. However, some other things are easier to read. For example the skull, that is a universal symbol of death.
In the future, I believe it will be the same for people to understand newer work because as I said before, some things are universal and have no time and some others depend on the context of an artwork, which never changes with time since it actually is the time and culture within which an artwork is made.
When you look at Rose Decreux’s 1791 painting “Self-Portrait with a Harp” and Frida Kahlo’s 1940 “Self-Portrait with a Monkey”, it becomes evident that Frida Kahlo studied Rose’s artistic style. At first glance, it’s clear that both of these paintings share the same subject matter of painting self-portraits of themselves next to something they enjoy. In Rose’s painting, she is seen wearing a beautiful ivory and green evening gown. The assumption that she is wealthy can be made from the way she is put together, even her hair is done up for the occasion. The fact that she is playing the harp also alludes to her being wealthy. In the case of Frida’s painting, her face is painted at a much closer angle than Rose’s. This painting shows her posing next to a monkey with his arms around her shoulder. The scenery seems to be that of outside, as leaves are shown behind her. The formal elements that were used in both self-portraits include line, which is seen more clearly in Rose Decreux’s painting than in Frida’s. In the first painting the first lines I noticed were the ones on the column Rose was standing in front of. Other lines used in this painting include the ones that make up the green detailing on her dress as well as the lines that make up the strings on the harp she is seen playing. The lines that are visible in Frida Kahlo’s painting are mainly seen when looking at the red ribbons she is wearing in her hair. Lines are also seen on the green leaves behind her and on the monkey’s hand that is placed over her shoulder. Both of these paintings show organic shapes, which emphasizes their respected backgrounds. These paintings also show use of positive and negative space. The two women become the positive space and the inside and outdoor backdrop becomes the negative space. Another formal element that comes into play is implied light. The self-portrait with a harp shows chiaroscuro by having the person appear to be bright and the background appear to be dull and dark. The self-portrait with a monkey also puts emphasis on the face and makes the natural background a tap bit darker. Lastly, the element of color and pattern comes into play; Frida uses both warm and cool colors in her portrait as Rose uses complementary colors with dark shades of red and green. The patterns of both paintings are seen when looking at the lines on Rose’s long dress and the carpeted floor. Frida’s pattern is the numerous leaves that she is posing in front of.
ReplyDeleteThe subject matter of the Rose Decreux’s paining alludes to her playing the harp. The background with the column suggests that she is possibly performing for people at some sort of grand function that only wealthy people could score a ticket to. As opposed to Frida Kahlo’s painting, which alludes to her just doing what she loves, enjoying her surroundings with her pet monkey. The message of these painting show two different scenarios, one that is structured and orderly and one that is more laid back and free. I think that time does affect the subject matter. In the late 1700’s going to a fancy ball required you to either be elite or at least work for those who were considered to be. In the 1940’s, Frida’s painting shows that women could still be very poor and carry themselves as if they were not. Her clothes may not have cost nearly as much as Rose’s but she seems happier to be in the company of the monkey compared to Rose’s expression playing the harp. The information in the older work can be understood; I think Frida took comparisons from Rose’s painting and applied to her own. I think in the future people will continue to view Frida’s work as art that showcased her doing various things she loved to do, which leaves the viewer with a sense of freedom that you can still be poor and look rich and just because you look rich, doesn’t mean you have to be uptight and well put together. I highly doubt that Rose’s painting would’ve included an animal near her expensive dress, but in Frida’s painting, she doesn’t seem bothered by the fact that the monkey is touching her. I do believe that Frida’s painting is more realistic than Rose’s painting because nowadays, anyone can take a picture of themselves next to their pet and have someone draw it if they choose to, but the harp painting still suggests that you have to be included in a certain social status to even be in the presence of someone wearing expensive clothing and surrounded by a live orchestra. Though at one point, every woman was painted with the thought of a European women in mind, future paintings are sure to resemble the ever growing population of immigrants who come to America and will not be painted with one ideal look in mind, but instead be painted to represent all of the people who come to America for to obtain a better life, without sacrificing their own customs and beliefs from their native country
ReplyDeleteCOMPLETED 11/8/12
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