My Kid Could Paint That

Dear Jenny Zhu,

Congratulations, you have passed Barstow's junior year! Now you are here to finish the last year of high school in Barstow with me :)

I remember when you first came to Barstow, I didn't have a positive feeling about you. But time has proved I was wrong. We got together pretty well. Maybe it was because we wanted to get into the same major. I feel thankful about that as you are a good friend to work with.

Here is a picture of Monet's Impression Sunrise painting. It reminds me our hometown - Shanghai. Shanghai used to be a fishing village but now the harbor expanded and became a International Trading Port. I wish you to have a bright future like Shanghai. This painting also gives me a misty feeling which I have now during this application season. I know you have the same feeling as me but I believe everything will go well because I know you have great passion in art. Hope this painting will limit your homesick.

Thank you for pushing me forward when I don't know what to do. Also thank you for coming to Barstow. We all enjoyed being with you.

Love,

Linda Xu

You walk by Weeping Willow and stop. You see the layers upon layers of paint and wonder “How did Monet create this?” You feel his process, the hum drum of painting that led to the piece in front of you. Not a snapshot of a moment in time, but a story. The modern era instilled a new anxiety in the painter, a fear of the photograph. The camera caused an entire movement by painters to reveal their mistakes, a missed brushstroke here or the previous ideas that led to the final piece. 

Day by day Monet built upon his painting, adding and exploring the image itself and his own mind. All to be seen. Admired. Loved. Hated. Critiqued. Monet labors and we see it. The modern era marks an obsession with the eye, the art of viewing, as Richard Brettell calls it in his Modern Art: 1851-1929. No longer did the salon or artist dictate the meaning behind a work, but the viewer took control. Altering the goal of the artist to not simply please, but to strive for a genuine connection. 

You might think that this idea caused artists to paint with the audience in mind, but by limiting themselves to a specific group or person the artist destroyed the impact of the painting. A true modernist painting acts as beacon of understanding to all. 

In Weeping Willow, Monet paints with WWI in mind recounting the war’s effect on his own life and the world. By signing the painting on Armistice Day, Monet marks this painting as his contribution to the peace effort. 

Monet captures the ravaged family sphere left in the aftermath of the war with his single standing tree. To the viewer in 1919 Monet understood an immeasurable event. However, the true worth of Weeping Willow lies in its ability to comfort those of today. Brettell argues that true greatness in art comes from an artist’s ability to create a work that not only can withstand the viewer, but time. 

Weeping Willow is felt in a your heart, the lone tree, reminding you of the isolation you once felt with the twisted and gnarled branches that represented your mind and emotions. In the corner beams a light reminding you that things will be all right. 

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about repetition. Such as: what good is it? What does it do? What's it's purpose? Most of all I've been asking myself why I have this odd affinity towards it. This could be, simply, that I'm a creature of habit in the truest sense of the phrase, but recently I've found that that answer doesn't satisfy me. I am currently, as I write this, a week into my senior year at Barstow. This is also my fifteenth year at this school. In essence, I have gone and spent my entire life here. Willingly? Only sometimes, but I have found myself returning again and again, making my yearly Mecca-like pilgrimage to the overly air-conditioned building. Repeatedly, I have sat in the same classes and walked down the same halls thousands of times. So, why is it that I find myself coming back?

Claude Monet must have asked himself this question everyday as he went out to paint the Cathedral Rouen. He found himself obsessed with the way the light would rest on the cathedral, but was never quite happy with the way he painted it. Well, that may be an understatement. Monet eventually became so obsessed with the cathedral and its light that he could never pin down that he began to have nightmares about it. Eventually, Monet found himself in a rut, haunted by his subject, and had to leave Paris for a while. This is one of my favorite art history stories, and I had previously mentioned it in my post about Pissaro's obsession with the Boulevard Montmartre. Pissaro's experience with his subject was much better. In fact, I deduced that Pissaro, instead, had more of a love affair with the boulevard. Monet may have loved the cathedral - I've never been sure - but something about drew him towards it and made him want to come back after each failure.

In this instance, I so empathize with Monet. Even after all of the failures and disappointments, Basrtow has been a second home to me where I have been fortunate to meet some fantastic people. This year, I am one of only two returning students in my Art History class, and I remember how nerve wracking my first blog post was. Now, after writing one analysis after another, I feel rather seasoned and sure of myself. I repeated the same actions over and over, but I have never found it boring. Repetition is comfort. It means that you are comfortable with something or love it enough to return. For me, that's Barstow.

Relating Music and Art

Curated by Becky Reilly

The concept of Impression, Sunrise is simple enough.  Monet's view of the port at Le Havre could not be called a view, but rather his Impression the scene.  Rather than delineate objects, Monet instead creates tension through his moving, active brushstrokes and the paired complimentary orange and blue.  He was not to first to experiment in impression and unclear technique, as in J.M.W. Turner's murky Slave Ship, but his unrefined style, without attempt to hide technique, sets him apart.  Monet's impression does not convey an image but a perception of an image.

Impressionist ideas influenced all art forms, which "Clair de Lune" and "Gymnopédie No. 1" exemplify.  "Clair de Lune," inspired by a Paul Verlaine poem, is probably Claude Debussy's most famous work, the third movement of his 1905 Suite Bergamasque.  Debussy, whose music is now classified as Classical Impressionism, focuses on atmosphere and gentle tonality.  Including short sections of rubato (like from 2:18 to 2:35) to allow for interpretation and added effect, the piece's tempo ranges greatly throughout, echoing sentimentality and contemplation even through the bittersweet, quickly played sections. "Gymnopédie No. 1" instead holds true to its subtitle, Lent et Doloreux, "slow and painful."  The minimalist, ambient piece seems out of place, only having been published in 1888.  Its broken-up chords and simplicity differ greatly from "Clair de Lune."  Rather than adding extra atmospheric notes like Debussy, Satie strives for ultimate utilitarianism.  Debussy, Monet, and Satie only pursue one goal -- rather than literally depict their subject, they seek to create atmosphere and suggest themes.  They abandon conventional technique to appeal to humanity; rather than relating to a subject, viewers suddenly find themselves in the artist's mind.

Editor's Note: Students were asked to match a poem to a picture. They could do so with or without comment; they could be serious or playful. We will leave it to our dear readers to make the connection.