ADVICE

To you who art history:

- Keep up with the study guides. He knows what he's talking about.
- Even if you think you know Mona Lisa you don't- read what the omnipotent book has to stay
- Use the books that break it down (Annotated Arch etc.), they're there to help.
- Don't give up right before the exam- you've done the work so finish! Most of the modern work can be compared to works you've studied. try and bring it all together
GOOD LUCK SUCKERS

Stylized Figures

For the Fang of Africa in the late 19th century, reliquary guardian figures played an important role in ancestor worship. Stylized human figures made from wood protected Fang relic containers. Bieri, sculptors of the figures, designed them to be placed on the edge of a box of ancestral bones to protect the ancestral spirits. Emphasis is placed on the head, and a rhythmic development of forms implies restrained power. While the proportions of the body resemble an infant, the muscularity suggest an adult. It is believed that this combination of characteristics suggests the cycle of life, fitting for an art form connected with the cult of ancestors.
Similarly, the figures and bull of "Bull-leaping" from the fresco at the palace at Knossos (Crete) in the 15th century are stylized. Here the acrobatic maneuver and powerful charge of the bull are emphasized by the curving lines and animated faces. The sweeping lines of the bull enlarge to his great horns, as the beast, as well as the humans' elongated figures imply the elasticity of living and moving beings.

Sacred Space

In the 13^th century the Christian kingdom of Lalibela cut many churches out of Ethiopian bedrock. Due to the extended trade networks, Christianity and contemporary European architecture made it to the continent of Africa. The Beta Giorghis, or the Church of Saint George, reflects the shape of the Greek cross prevalent in Byzantine architecture, as well as the Ethiopian practice of cutting out structures from tufa, or any available bedrock. Inside are a carved dome and frescoes, which help relay Christian messages. In the same sense the Byzantine San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy uses a central plan church to display mosaics reflecting Christian stories as well as the power of the ruler Justinian. Although the simple crossing square plan of the Beta Giorghis contrasts with the complex radiating, leaf-like structure of San Vitale, each reflect the religious beliefs and practices of local cultures.

Gender Roles

In the Dogon carving of “Linked Man and Woman” the artist represents the primary gender roles of traditional African society in the 19^th century. The man carries a quiver on his back, just as the woman carries a child on her own back. The artist thus emphasizes the female role of nurturer and the male role of protector. They sit side by side with accentuated masculine and feminine features. The slightly taller man puts his arm around his woman and touches her breast in a protective gesture. Similarly on the Etruscan terracotta “Cerveteri Sarcophagus” a husband and wife recline together (uncommon in Greek symposiums) on a banquet couch, giving life to male and female relationships in the 6^th century BC. Here, however, the arm around the woman’s neck and her very placement next to him are representative of her relative freedoms in the Etruscan culture. Etruscan women did attend banquets, could keep their own names and could own property independent of their husbands. Both the African carving and the Etruscan sarcophagus represent the domestic relationships of men and women during their respective time periods.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

It’s that time of year. The only time of year when it’s okay to drag a tree into the living room, sing as loud as you want, stuff your face with cookies, and sport the Christmas sweater. A good Christmas sweater combines all your favorite Christmas characters (Rudolph, Frosty, Mrs. Claus etc.) or (literally) screams “TIS THE SEASON”. Here Garth and Kat work their Christmas vests complete with matching turtlenecks.


And it seems that no other source could have inspired Kazimir Malevich’s “De Sportlieden”. Malevich (1875-1935) was a Russian painter, born in Ukraine, and originator of the Avant-garde Suprematist movement. A pioneer of geometric abstract art Malevich was influenced by Cubism and wrote his manifesto From Cubism to Suprematism, laying the foundations of a new art movement that focused on fundamental geometric forms. Although famous for his “White on White”, Malevich gives us a little more detail to unearth here. Four men stand stiff, their bodies divided into quarters, with their legs split from the waist. Varying holiday colors are placed on the men’s clothing, and they appear with half-colored faces and mismatched shoes. Their turtlenecks peak out from their sweaters as they stand frontal and composed (in fact expressionless). Malevich depicts these men flaunting their Christmas sweaters boldly and without excuse as a lesson for those who wish to spread holiday cheer, no matter the detriment to their pride—don’t let the Christmas sweater wear you.

Mandala Mandala

Did you know that the Dalai Lama has an email and an interest in neuroscience? Rick Ray’s documentary “10 Questions for the Dalai Lama” gives insight into the life of the Dalai Lama, as well as Tibetan culture. Furthermore, Ray details the silencing of this culture and what it must overcome in order to be heard.

Ray presents the mandala, a gigantic representation of Buddhist philosophy made out of colored sand. The sacred mandala structures in Buddhist monasteries take generally 3-5 days to build, and are preceded by and closed with elaborate prayer ritual. The meticulous design enhances a 3D visualization of an imaginary palace, that is built going from the outside to the center, as one goes through life. In the West, Ray adds, such designs would be put up on a wall or preserved in a museum, but in Buddhist cultures shortly after a mandala is finished it is deliberately destroyed. The sand is swept and poured into a nearby river as a reminder for the Tibetans and observers of Buddhism everywhere that all things are temporal on this earth and attachment to them causes great loss and sorrow.

In this way Ray introduces the mandala as an analogy for Tibetan culture. In 1950 Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-Tung sent an enforcement of Red Army troops to “liberate Tibet from elitest Dalai Lama rule”. At the time the current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was 15 and foresaw peaceful negotiations with Tse-Tung. He would come to find Tse-Tung’s true feelings about religion as a “poison” that “undermines and retards the progress of any country”. Consequently Tibet was forced to sign a 17-point agreement and the Tibetan army was disarmed as the Chinese army moved in and Tibet came under Chinese control. Although the Dalai Lama and many Tibetan immigrants live in safety in Dharamsala, India, such was not the case for those in Tibet during the takeover of the new government. Approximately 1,200,00 Tibetans were killed, even more imprisoned, 600 monasteries were destroyed, art, books, everything ancient or of religious significance ruined. Chinese immigrants were then sent to Tibet to colonize it, establishing what Ray calls a “cultural genocide”. It is unfortunate that Ray’s analogy for Tibet must come in the fate of Buddhist mandala structures.

Modernity, Fashion, and Impressionism

Feeling artsy and chic on a Thursday night in Nashville my chic artsy friends and I outdid
ourselves in over the top chic artsy do’s and took our chic artsy selves to the Frist. We could not have felt more out of place. We took seats near the back, even though our outfits placed us in the front row, to listen to Gloria Gloom (a chic artsy name if you ask me) lecture on the “Painter of ‘La Vie Modern’”. In correspondence to the Frist’s “Birth of Impressionism” collection Gloom’s lecture was to address the early Impressionists’ responses and challenges to the modern. In an age of transitioning painting styles Gloom insists we look not only at the subject, but what they’re wearing.Gloom cites the fall of the republic, following the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), as the break down in court life. After France’s loss in the Franco-Prussian War a sort of democratization took place and the court in Paris took on a relaxed attitude, as seen in relaxed positions of the salon portraits. Tissot depicts this casual fashion-forward woman in a fringed bolero surrounded by her books in a middle class room. “Mademoiselle L.L.” (1864) provides further proof of the break from the previous aspirations to be a part of La circle de la rue Royale. With the development of department stores and the circulation of fashion magasins fashion norms were created in which social classes could buy the same silhouettes. Tissot’s “modern” portrait in fact took me to the housewives of the 1950’s and 60’s (minus a few feet on the hem), with the cropped ball-fringe bolero, full skirt, and dainty hair piece. In this way Gloom makes her point clear—that art and fashion are intricately linked and it is through this link that we can give form to certain periods.