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Art Analysis: Korean Joseon Period (1392-1910)

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      Korean history can be split between six periods. The Formative Period, Three Kingdoms Period (57 BCE-688 CE), Silla Period (688-935), Koryo Period (918-1392), Joseon Period (1392-1910), and Modern Period (1910-now). The Joseon period is "the last and longest-lived imperial dynasty of Korea", it is distinguished by having a close relationship with the neighboring Ming dynasty of China, adopting a similar bureaucratic system and Neo-Confucianism ( Britannica ). The new bureaucratic system redistributed lands and created the  Yangban, a new scholar-official aristocratic class. In 1443, King Sejong developed Hangul, the phonetic Korean alphabet still used today. In 1592, Korea was invaded by Japan, then in 1627 Korea was invaded by the Manchu tribes, so afterward it became incredibly isolationist until the 1880s. The Treaty of Ganghwa (1876) opened Korea as an independent state and became an "arena for competition" among Chinese and Japanese powers, especially dur...
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Art Analysis: Mid Modern Exhibit - How the Vietnam War Affected the Arts

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     The Vietnam War, like all wars, heavily affected the people, culture, and values of the countries involved. It brought environmental devastation to Vietnam, killed ~500,000 civilians, killed ~58,000 American soldiers, wounded ~153,000 more soldiers, induced PTSD, strengthened communism, tarnished the USA's reputation by showing how corrupt it was, and many other effects ( BBC ). Art was also greatly affected by the war, during and afterward, artists created works showing the horrors of the war or protested the war while happening. Such examples include Claes Oldenburg's Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks , Leon Golub's Vietnam II , Martha Rosler's Red Stripe Kitchen or  Cleaning the Drapes , Peter Saul's Saigon , Jesse's Travino's Mi Vida , and many more. (Oldenburg, Claes  Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks , 1969-74)     Oldenburg, in collaboration with his alma mater, created and placed Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar T...
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Art Analysis: Early Modern Exhibit

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     During the early 20th century, World War I changed Europe's perceptions of life and its values. The war's immense devastation on countries and the use of radical modern technologies and tactics caused a growing antiwar sentiment during it and afterward. The art world was also greatly changed by the war, gone were impressionism and lively scenery, such as Kircher's Street, Berlin . In its place, came forth Dadaism, with extreme antiwar sentiments, and Surrealism, as a reaction to the rationalism that led to the war. Dada artworks include pieces like Grosz's Pillars of Society , and Dali's The Persistence of Time is one of the most famous Surrealist artworks in existence.  (Kirchner, Ernest Ludwig Street, Berlin , 1913)      Street, Berlin is painted as oil on a 120.6 x  91.1 cm canvas, it depicts a pair of prostitutes walking down a busy Berlin street. True to expressionist paintings, the painting is less about the city itself, but the em...
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Art Analysis: Romantic Era, Pre-Raphaelite vs Impressionism

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     During the Romantic art period, many art styles rose to prominence and popularity. Two of which are the Pre-Raphaelite style and Impressionism. Pre-Raphaelite originated from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848, a group of young British painters who reacted against the Royal Academy's "unimaginative and artificial" paintings. They created pieces that focused on "new moral seriousness and sincerity," in spired by 14th and 15th-century Italian art. Qualities in their style included sharp lighting, a clear atmosphere, and a nearly photographic detailing of minute aspects. Their name came from a focus on pre-renaissance art, especially pre-Raphael, so they created a lot of religious and medieval-like works ( Britannica ).      Impressionism originated with a series of Parisian artists, like Claude Monet, in 1860s France. They wanted independence from the only art salon of the time, so they created their first independent exhibit in 1874 Paris. At first,...
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Art Analysis: Classical Era Exhibit

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    During the 1700s, various political, social, and economic changes led to the middle class gaining more power and wealth. They commissioned works of art to display their newfound prestige and wealth in society.  Art stopped being a commodity for just the aristocracy or the church. The middle class disliked the aristocracy and Rococo style that displayed their excessively opulent lifestyle, such as The Swing by Jean-Honore Fragonard. So opposing works were created like William Hogarth's Marriage A-la-Mode  as a mockery of aristocracy and later neoclassical works such as Jacques-Louis David's The Death of Marat  in stark contrast to Rococo's lightheartedness.   (Fragonard, Jean-Honore  The Swing , 1767)      The Swing  is a great example of the Rococo style, as it depicts a young woman swinging to secretly expose herself to a lover hidden in the bushes. It was painted by Jean-Honore Fragonard as oil on an 81 x 64.2 canvas and ...
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Art Analysis "The Presentation of the Portrait of Marie de' Medici" by Peter Paul Rubens

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(Rubens, Paul Peter  The Presentation of the Portrait of Marie de' Medici , 1622-25) Background:      Queen Marie de Medici commissioned this piece by Paul Peter Rubens in 1622 as part of a twenty-four painting series to commemorate her life and adorn one of the two galleries in the Luxemburg Palace ( Camara ). It's painted in oil on a 394 x 295 cm canvas. She used her influence of French royalty and Medici lineage to commission Rubens to paint her series, including this piece. Despite her background and marriage to a king, her life could have been more interesting. She had a shaky relationship with Henry IV (who died before her), she had children with him (one of which died in infancy), and she reigned France until her son, Louis XIII, exiled her since she had a hard time relinquishing royal power ( Louvre ).     Which, with the rest of her life, wasn't enough for Rubens to fill twenty-four canvases. So, swept up in the Baroque style, he painted scenes wit...
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Art Analysis "Feast in the House of Levi" by Paolo Veronese

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(Veronese, Paolo Feast in the House of Levi , 1573) Background:     The Feast in the House of Levi is  an oil on canvas painting that measures 18' 3" x 42' currently located in the Academy of Fine Arts Museum in Venice, Italy. It depicts a Last Supper scene with Jesus and the twelve Apostles dining within a Venietan restaurant. The restaurant is filled to the brim with a variety of other customers, servers, and even animals. The work is very humanist as there is a lively aura to the patrons playfully eating and chatting, and it sets the biblical figures in such a normal setting. The buildings are three-dimensional and realistically sized and shaped. The painting uses techniques such as non-linear perspective and integrates classical architecture.       It was commissioned in 1573 by the convent of Saints Giovanni e Paolo to Paolo Veronese to replace Titian's  The Last Supper  (1542-44) after it burned down ( Art Story ). It was made as part o...
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