My Kid Could Paint That

Arkwright's Mill, owned by Richard Arkwright, was a textile mill in Derbyshire on the River Derwent. It had a water frame that made longer cotton warp threads for a textile loom. This mill was used to build house working spinning machines because it spins four spindles of cotton of threads at a time. This new mill created jobs that helped employ people, which created a new economy. 

The sky reflects on the river next to the mill on the upper half of the painting. The darker colors used on the painting give it a gloomy feeling. It seems like the feeling of having to work long, lonely hours is beaming from the dark border around the mill. In the middle of the dark background, the mill sits in a valley. The mill is brighter than the rest of the painting to show the financial hope it brings to the economy. 

This Impressionist piece contains three workers on their knees working tediously to scrape the floors of a bourgeois apartment. The three shirtless men seem to represent a form of masculinity and strength as they are the workforce behind creating such an extravagant setting, but their hunched poses could be hinting at vulnerability and exhaustion instead. The 19th century was filled with wealthy people attempting to impress their snobby friends with baller houses and fancy clothes, which is cool until you realize that their are other guys doing labor jobs for some terrible pay.

The renovation occurring in the apartment also references the modernization of Paris with new technological developments. The city is getting filled with railroad stations, crowded streets, and luxury apartment buildings.

The costs for all these improvements are the hardships of manual labor. The floor scrapings are curled just like the curled men. The aren't in a comfortable position, and the rich would never understand how complex and difficult it is to create what they desire. That's probably why this painting was first rejected, as people did not enjoy how the bodies were portrayed.

Absinthe became popular in late 19th Century Paris, especially in bohemian artist circles. Colloquially called the "Green Fairy," absinthe became a symbol of social defiance and gained opposition from politicians and social conservatives. The alleged hallucinatory substance was eventually banned in many countries.

The sheer scale of Manet's The Absinthe Drinker forces viewers to see a mundane subject in a heroic pose at a size often reserved for portraits of royalty. The man, who is supposedly modeled after a man named Collardet, wears a dark cloak and top hat. Framed by an empty liquor bottle and a half-filled glass of absinthe, he seems to retreat into the shadows. The crumbling wall and dimly lit scene seems to hint at disorder, immorality, chaos, all of which lie in stark contrast to the period's fascination with order. This painting, with its muted and dusty colors, is the epitome of realism. It offers a glimpse of the disorder that balanced out the suffocating regulation and rote nature of factory life.

Richard R. Brettell, author of Modern Art 1851-1929, depicts Pissarro as a dedicated painter of traditional rural life. However, the author also explains how the artist, an anarchist, differentiates himself in the category of rural depiction because of his use of urban art techniques. Brettell explains the artist as seemingly a perfectionist and possibly insecure because Pissarro painted this three times before finally selling it. I believe that Pissarro excluded the sky from this work to remove the subjects from the natural setting and more so resemble a factory as they hunch over in the heat exhaustedly. 

In Friedrich Engels The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844, he discusses the problems that arise in a growing industrial world. People sacrifice so much of their identity in order to create an ideal. They have to let go of their true selves to fit into this urban world. This loss of uniqueness for conformity distances people from one another.

Engles says that "this isolation of the individual - this narrow-minded egotism - is everywhere the fundamental principle of modern society" (124). The more separate and same you are, the better chance you have of succeeding. The reality is that people have created "the war of all against all" (124). No more are your neighbors your friends, but they are your competition. Those who may still share commonalities have become strangers. This is the way the world works. The city only makes this selfishness worse.

Cruikshank's etching shows commoners at a gathering area, all looking similar and participating in a bland activity. Not only does this show progressing industrialization, but supports Engles observation of sameness as the answer. It shows the wealthier side, the people who have followed the same path. This is the result of how the strong has trampled the weak, a result Engles wrote about. As the world industrializes, the separateness between the rich and poor continues to grow.

A Bar at the Folies-Bergere is considered Manet's last major work. This painting represents one of the most prominent music halls in Paris at the time. We see through the mirror behind the barmaid that the guests (aka the wealthy white people) are enjoying their time, but the expression of the barmaid tells another story. The painting used the mirror to draw a separation between the bourgeoises with the working class, creating an unsettling composition. As prosperous as the place might seem, the music halls were a common place for elites to pick up prostitutes which spark the question of the barmaid's true occupation. She does not have much expression. In fact, she looks very much dead inside to me. Is she worrying what the rest of the night will be like? If you look closely at her reflection in the mirror, you can see that she is talking to a man. What is he there for? Is he there for some unspeakable business trade with this poor barmaid? Or is he only an innocent guest here a drink and a good time?

A Bar at the Folies-Bergere speaks to me as a frustration of separations between social classes and social injustices.  The mirror is almost like a line between reality and a dream. The barmaid is in a hellhole of reality while the others living beyond the mirror are in fancy attire.

In the painting A Peasant Family at Lunch, the peasant family is living in a small dirty room having their simple meal. The family members all look at their food and have no eye contact with each other. They reflect the society Friedrich Engels described in his article The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844. The family members "selfishly concentrated upon their private affairs." When eating together, the atmosphere in the room should be warm. However, the color tone of the small dirty room and people's facial expression makes the room depressing.

Because of Industrialization, some people can expand their population and reduce heavy labor. Making clothes is easier. As you see in the painting, their clothes look ragged, they have little furniture. They are peasants, and their room is dirty and tight, which is commonly seen in this time period. They are the working class Engels speaks of. 

In Richard R. Brettell’s Modern Art, Brettell argues that Georges Seurat created a direct location link and painted social class division between A Summer Sunday on the Island of the Grande Jatte and Bathers at Asnieres. A Summer Sunday on the Island of the Grande Jatte includes Seurat’s famous strokes of dots technique. Seurat possesed interest with the social class of the Third Republic of France. He includes bourgeois (middle class materialistic) men and women. This painting also includes people of diverse ages. In this painting, both men and women appear. The upper class men and women’s clothing is proper, and their position remain straight and upright. The background displays and relaxing park. However, this painting has always been controversial. The fisherwoman and the women with the pet monkey have been identified as prostitutes because of their attributes. The women reading the book receives relations with the surrounding men. This painting scandalousness deepens because the prostitutes appear on a holy day.

Seurat’s Bathers at Asnieres displays different class, position, background, and activities than A Summer Sunday on the Island of the Grande Jatte. Rather than pastime, the males use the body of water for bathing. Therefore, all of the boys could be homeless or earn scarce income. In the painting, only men bathe. The gender and age of the subjects displays the working class of primarily adolescent boys. The position of the men appears laid back and casual. The setting shows urban details of factory smoke and railway tracks. This painting receives an everyday scene of poverty rather than a Sunday pastime. Brettell believes both paintings confront the difference of social class structure pastimes. 

Inspired by William Turner's paintings in London, Swedish writer August Strindberg used a mysterious approach to create an almost undecipherable painting. In Brettell's Modern Art, this work falls into the category of Anti-Iconography, a subject that's supposed to be without interpretation, for it would strip the painting of its purpose as a painting.

Without the need to try and verbally understand this work, "the visual gain greater autonomy from words." View art as it is. Don't spend time searching for a meaning, but rather let a meaning come to you...or not.

The subject is not what makes a painting art, it's the representation of that subject. The enforced meaninglessness of anti-iconography makes it difficult for people to understand why it's a subject in the first place. It serves as a reminder to people that not everything has to have an intention.

Strindberg took a literary-charged subject and stripped it of its narrative. Instead of its representation as a calm or peaceful symbol, The Wave VII is simply a painting. The artist can intensify a subject that he denies.

The flat, vibrant colors covering the canvas in On the Bank of the Seine at Bennecourt render it one of the first truly impressionistic landscapes. Monet's painting depicts a mundane scene on the Seine River, which became a popular subject of impressionist landscapes. In this painting, Monet makes the subject nearly irrelevant and indistinguishable. 

While Cézanne portrays the tumultuous relationship he had with his banker father. The artist illustrates this with thicker dark layers placed on the figure. One can interpret this rendering as an assertion of independence on the part of the artist from his overbearing father. Cézanne rejected his father's vision of his future as a successful banker or an attorney to study art. The painting in the background is of a still life Cézanne painted prior, symbolizing his success. The newspaper, L'Evénement refers to Emile Zola, a childhood friend of Cézanne and a renowned art critic, who encouraged Cézanne to study art in Paris. 

In addition to the meaning behind the subject and his execution of fetishism, The Artist's Father contains dark hues with a frequent use of shadows. The artist creates a modern painting while maintaining elements of classic portrait such as focusing the subject in the foreground. Although Cézanne intended to depict his father in a certain way, his work exemplifies Brettel's definition of fetishism through the use of the paint. 

BY CARLY HOFMANN

Kandinsky was truly an innovator in his time. His background as an economist and a lawer provided him with a unique perspective as he painted his experiences as a participant in the "Great Utopia." The "Great Utopia" was a revolutionary period of artistic transformation in Russia that foreshadowed the impeding political upheavals of the early twentieth century.

In this painting, Kandinsky evokes, rather than describes war, and elicits a more musical expression of his understanding of conflict. On this large canvas, Kandinsky compiled a catalogue of elements observed and invented by himself during his years in Russia. This piece would eventually become emblematic of his style. Though Kandinsky left for Berlin to escape political turmoil when he created this painting, art historians have classified it as a "uniquely Russian artwork."

Chapter Five of Richard R. Brettell's book of Modern Art talks about the theme of sexuality and the body within paintings. He suggests that paintings that consist of nude figures try to engage and challenge the viewers of thinking deeper about the representation of a human body and the behaviors behind it. Since "female" nudes were considered to be scandalous during the time period, critiques judged harshly and were considered "dirty," and  improper subject for viewing. However, as Brettell suggests, Manet treats the nude fairly flat and suppressed the illusionism within the painting above. Olympia, the most question raising painting that Manet have ever creted gained many attractions, and had popular view ratings by men. With the bold shameless pose and gaze, and the acceptance of her body grasped the attention of many has left the viewers feel vulnerable.

Manet's painting of Olympia was inspired by couple of artists such as Giorgione's Sleeping Venus, and Titian's Venus of Urbino. With the composition of a frieze and diagonal line coming from the top of Olympia's head which leads down to Olympia's foot shows the delicateness of the figure. Using the toned down cool colors, the painting gives not only calm vibes, but also the feeling of stiffness. Porcelain-like skin of Olympia gives of the youth and the innocent feel in the painting.

Apollo Slaying the Serpent also named Apollo Slays Python or The Triumph of Apollo is a painting made by Eugene Delacroix. As a Romanticist, Delacroix uses light and color to determine the good and evil. Apollo, the God of Sun, appears as bright warm colors and surrounded by light and other gods in the middle of the painting. The painting also can be understood as the sun drives away darkness. In his chariot, Apollo was using an arrow to shoot the serpent. The bottom part of the painting is dark, which shows the evilness of the serpent. 

Apollo Slaying the Serpent is a ceiling painting hang in Louvre. It has been transformed from a palace to a public art museum in the idea of "[art] is the property of the citizenry." Museums are modern inventions, created for political rather than aesthetic reason. The rulers believed by looking at the treasures of art can make people gain national heritage.

It was somewhat surprising to me to see colonialism and nudity put together in the same category, but in the wonderful realm of art history, such thing happened. I have always had a thing for flat colors so the painting called upon my attention almost the instant I saw it. The many shades of purple cooperate perfectly with the beautiful dark skin tone of the woman in the foreground despite her uncomfortable body language of the woman.

Paul Gauguin, the painter is often criticized for being sexist. The object of his paintings is usually exotic, dark-skinned, young female. He is considered one of the original colonial painters who, because of his inabilities to speak anything other than French, traveled only around French colonies.

"Manau tupapau" means spirits of the dead watching. However, some critics had pointed out that the girl looks afraid not because of the ghosts but because of the painter. This is one of the most famous anti-Olympia painting, as in Olympia where the young prostitute willingly shows off her body comfortably to the audience, the girl in Manau tupapau is suppressed by a white male. There is no other painting that explains Colonialism and the Nude more authentically than the Manau tupapau.

By CARLY HOFMANN

Francisco de Goya's work defies any standard stylistic classification. His art cannot be separated from the conflicting social and political upheavals of late eighteenth century Spain. Goya assumed the role of a moralist and believed that his art could censure society's vices even more forcefully than any form of eloquence or poetry. He understood art as an opportunity to expose the eye of the viewer to thoughts and attitudes previously hidden within impassioned and unenlightened minds. He shared the enlightenment opposition to religious fanaticism, social injustice, and senseless cruelty. However, as with many others, his faith in the power of reason to solve human and artistic problems ended in disillusionment.

In January of 1890, Goya witnessed a liberal victory in Spain that forced Ferdinand VII to accept the constitution. Goya's response to constitutional freedom is demonstrated in the fourteen "Black Paintings" that he executed on the walls of his country home. In the paintings of his so-called black period, he explored the dark and terrifying world of the subconscious. It was understood that evil could no longer to be attributed to the devil, but to humanity itself.

In Saturn Devouring One of His Sons, Goya accentuates the blood and gore of ancient Roman myths as a cure for the glamor and opulence of neoclassicist idealism. Goya depicts Saturn feasting upon one of his sons, with the head and the right arm already consumed. As the titan looms from the darkness, the only brightness in the painting comes from the bulging eyes of Saturn, the sickly flesh and red blood on the child, and the white knuckles of Saturn as he clutches the body. There is evidence that this painting may have originally portrayed the titan with an erect penis. The feminine curvature of the corpse combined with this possibility denotes a disturbing sexuality. 

Theodore Gericault completed The Raft of the Medusa, which eventually became the icon of Romanticism, when he was only 27-years-old.  The painting itself portrays the tragic incident that happened in 1816. The story of the Raft of the Medusa is based on a French Royal Navy Frigate that sailed in 1816 to colonize Senegal. Due to the shortage of lifeboats, those who were left behind built a raft for 150 people who went to physical and mental extremes in order to survive. They were physically tired and hungry and to survive they had no choice but to slaughter the weak to feed those who are desperate to live.

Putting in intense amount of research and dedication, the painter drew his inspiration from who survivors of the Medusa. He carefully dissected the subject piece by piece, documenting and questioning the survivors their trauma of exact details of the ship and the environment that they had to go through. Also, he referenced the rotting bodies of the corpses from hospitals, carefully examining the wounds.

Before starting on the painting, he created multiple sketches and created wax models to lay out many possible compositions. The final composition of the painting is played out in two pyramids overlaying each other in the center.  The style of the painting was inspired by the style that Caravaggio's practiced known as chiaroscuro. The style uses strong tonal contrasts between light and dark to show three-dimensional forms and display dramatic effects.

Here I am in this white world. I can't feel my body because of the cold wind. But the main reason is because of my legs. My legs are not mine, they are not connected by veins. I am using two crutches to walk in the deep snow. My footprints doesn't last as the snow covers it. I cannot be found, I am alone. My friend told me that I can find the meaning of life in snow, so I came.

The walk is long, and I discovered nothing. The whole world is white, except me. I am the only color in the world. The vast white buries other colors. The walk continues, I see a green spot in front of me. And when I get closer, the green amplifies. It is some evergreen trees that light up the white world. Among them, is a crucifix. I stand, to confirm that it was real. I shake and couldn't hold my crutches. I run towards the green spots. My legs tried its best to move and finally stop under the crucifix. I lean on the rock and begin to pray. I wish god can hear my voice, comfort my pain, and take away the cold. If life is suffering, then I hope I can have a better life after death.

By MISSY ROSENTHAL 

Critics and the public adored Marie-Guillemine Benoist's Portrait Of A Negress when originally shown because of its unique subject. The subject, a black woman, is shown with draped fabrics to cover herself yet leaves her breast exposed. Despite the more plain background, the chair and accessories, such as her earrings, indicate a somewhat wealthy setting.

The praise also came because the painter was a woman, which was unusual for the time. When a painter (male) paints a black female, it is seen as a type of objectification. However, Benoist depicts a genuine relationship between the subject and painter because their bond over their gender and struggles because of it which in a way overrule their differences in race and wealth. This rare relationship probably derived from Benoist's opinions, which developed from her childhood as the daughter of a civil servant in Paris.

Benoist married a public supporter of royalist causes, creating problems with judgement from critics and the public. At the height of her popularity, she resigned to focus on advocating for women's rights especially during the rise of conservatism in Europe.

This painting reminds me of "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou. Every line applies, however most preeminent are "You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies... Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes," "Does my sexiness upset you?...Still, I rise."

The Industrial Revolution abruptly conquers England. The great western railway in England ran it's first trains in 1838. The powerful train started in Bristol and ran until Exeter. The enormous speed and power of this railway sparked Turner's inspiration. A common pastime for people in England was to watch trains pass. Turner hopes to display the rapid empowerment of the Industrial Revolution.

The railway transforms and separate the landscape. On both sides of the canvas I notice natural and peaceful scenes. On the left, a fisherman attempts to catch his prey. On the right,  I see a man plowing a field. The industrialization and steam on the train captivates the viewers. The intense and forceful train overpowers the field and pond. Nature and natural landscapes act as the background, and the train's the subject. The train's dark elements contrasts with the light and playful colors in the river.

Industrialization swept over Britain quickly. The speed of the train displays the rapid transformation to industrialization. Rain, ateam, and speed act as three components to hinder vision. Turner conveys the unrecognizable transformation of technology Britain faced during the industrial revolution. The forceful motion of the train looks as if it's about to burst out of the canvas and onto the viewer. I am captivated by the movement and energy of the train. This painting summarizes the speed and the awakening of the Industrial Revolution.

Turner's mid-career painting provides an excellent example of the artist's fixation on both natural and human phenomena. Many consider Turner the first artist to legitimize landscape painting as a serious genre. Turner creates a stunning landscape with the Bay of Baiae in the background, framed by gently rolling mountains. A pair of intricately detailed trees rise up dramatically in the foreground and draw attention away from the two figures in the bottom right corner. The rolling peaks of the mountains align with the dramatic shadowing. The shadows create a triangular shape leading the eye to the bay in the background.

This painting portrays a Roman myth in which Sibyl asks the Roman god Apollo to grant her a longer life. He promises to give her many years as the number of grains of sand she can hold in her hands. Unfortunately, Sibyl forgets to add any stipulation for eternal youth and quickly regrets her request for an extended life when her youth fades rapidly.

The colors used by Turner, along with the crumbling cityscape in the background, create the sense of decay and aging. The golden light cast over the entire scene evokes a sense of the impending sunset and nighttime. Turner's commentary on aging and decay comes as a response to the futile effort made by Romantic art to preserve and idolize political and cultural figures and ideals. Many political figures sought to immortalize themselves in stone and on canvas. These attempts to last forever often proved as ineffective and disastrous as Sibyl's deal with Apollo.

Francisco de Goya is described as a Romantic artist, yet his work almost defies stylistic classification. His early work was rococo-like as he painted many Spanish royal studio portraits. He opposed religious fanaticism, so many of his works criticized the church. He transitioned into what is known as his "black period," where he explored the dark and terrifying subconscious world. Goya thinks that evil isn't attributed to the devil, but to humanity itself.

The Third of May 1808 is the witnessed suffering of Spanish countrymen during Napoleon's invasion of Spain. This was painted after Spain regained its independence, but it shows there's no positive parts to war, only bloodshed. There is no excuse for it. Your attention is directed towards the defenseless civilians with their hands raised and covering themselves. This is when people were rounded up randomly to avenge an attack that had been taken on French forces the day before. The painting shows the French's violent response and memorializes the ones lost in the conflict. It's filled with savagery.

The lantern that divides the two forces represents the Enlightenment. It's supposed to bring reason and order to society, yet it's what separates the two sides. The Church and the crucifixion-like posture of the man represent Christianity. Religion is supposed to be the unity of humankind, so here, it's an innocence that's faced with cruelty. The brightly shining white shirt man exposes the struggle of human martyrdom.

I appreciate Goya's attempt at painting innocence versus violence. You can see the terror in the civilians eyes and the cowardice of the gun-wielding men who face away from the viewer. The lighting is my favorite part. The lantern shines against the men, almost like shining a spotlight on the injustice of the situation. In this painting, Goya uses arts as a means to not only express talent, but also portray history in an emotional way.