Week 8 assignment: essay – interrelationships reflection apa format | Applied Sciences homework help
- Which of the two works appears to be the more unchangeable in your perception? 5. Why do the authors claim that Untitled 1943 is more abstract than Growth? Can you
think of other reasons—for example, the shapes in the two works? jac16871_ch05_091-120.indd 93 12/11/17 11:36 AM 94
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whether abstract or representational, presents density. Abstract painters generally emphasize the surfaces of sensa, as in Untitled 1943. Their interest is in the vast ranges of color qualities, lines, and the play of light that bring out textural nuances. Abstract sculptors, on the other hand, generally restrict themselves to a minimal range of color, line, and textural qualities and emphasize light not only to play on these qualities but also to bring out the inherence of these qualities in things. Whereas abstract painters are shepherds of surface sensa, abstract sculptors are shepherds of depth sensa. Sculpture and Space A painting is usually set off by a frame, the painting space being imaginary, sepa- rate and distinct from real space. Between the painting and us, space is transpar- ent. With sculpture, the space between is translucent, the space from the material body of a work of art to the participator we call “the between.” With sculpture, even if we do not actually touch the material body, we can still sense the solidity of the material body permeating and animating the surrounding space. Shadows cast by a sculpture, for example, slant into the space between us and the material body of the sculpture, charging the between with energy, whereas shadows cast by the things represented in a painting stay within the painting. The convexities of a sculpture are actively outgoing into the between, and the between invades the concavities, whereas the convexities and concavities of a painting stay within the frame. With sculpture, however, in our view there is also a direct or physical impact. The space between us and any three-dimensional thing that we are perceiving comes forth into our perception, by literally pushing into our bodies. Sculpture transforms real space, making the between more perceptible and impacting. To put it awk- wardly but succinctly, sculpture is a “more real world.” Sunken-relIef Sculpture The Temple Carving (Figure 5-2) is incised in sandstone, representing the gods Horus and Hathor. These figures have weathered for millennia, yet they are sharp and distinct. For the ancient Egyptians they told a familiar story, reassuring them that the gods are supportive in the next world. Compare this sunken-relief sculpture with Jackson Pollock’s The Flame (Figure 3-3). While their subject matters are very different, their surfaces are curiously similar. The Temple Carving does not project into space, as do most sculptures, but actually projects inward, into the surface of the stone. Pollock’s painting, although considered essentially flat, is built up and, in some spots, projects slightly into space. The light helps clarify the tactile qualities of the Temple Carving by revealing the sharp edges of the sandstone. The density of the stone is evident. We virtually sense the weight of the object. Pollock’s work lacks significant tactile appeal despite the projection of its thick paint. And while the Temple Carving makes us aware of its material texture and substance—perhaps even revealing essential qualities of the limestone—the painting remains an essentially two-dimensional image whose im- pact is much less tactile than visual. jac16871_ch05_091-120.indd 94 12/11/17 11:36 AM low-relIef Sculpture Low-relief sculpture projects relatively slightly from its background plane, and so its depth dimension is very limited. Medium- and high-relief sculpture project farther from their backgrounds, their depth dimensions expanded. Sculpture in the round is freed from any background plane, and so its depth dimension is unrestricted. Frank Stella’s Giufà, the Moon, the Thieves, and the Guards (Figure 5-3) is, we think, most usefully classified as sculpture of the medium-relief species. The materiality of the magnesium, the fiberglass, and especially the aluminum is brought out very powerfully by their juxtaposition. Unfortunately, this is difficult to perceive from a photograph. Because of its three-dimensionality, sculpture generally suffers even more than painting from being seen only in a photograph. Relief sculpture, except sunken relief, allows its materials to stand out from a background plane. Thus, relief sculpture in at least one way reveals its materials simply by showing us—directly—their surface and something of their depth. By moving to a side of Giufà, the Moon, the Thieves, and the Guards, we can see that FIGURE 5-2 Temple Carving at the Temple of Edfu. Wall sculpture of ancient Egypt. The gods Horus and Hathor greet royalty. ©Lee A. Jacobus 95 jac16871_ch05_091-120.indd 95 12/11/17 11:36 AM 96
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the materials are of such and such thickness. However, this three-dimensionality in relief sculpture, this movement out into space, is not allowed to lose its ties to its background plane. Hence, relief sculpture, like painting, is usually best viewed from a frontal position. HIgH-relIef Sculpture The high-relief sculpture from a thirteenth-century temple in Orissa (Figure 5-4) was carved during a period of intense temple-building in that part of India. The tenderness of the two figures is emphasized by the roundness of the bodies as well as by the rhythms of the lines of the figures and the overarching swoop of the veg- etation above them. This temple carving was made in a very rough stone, which emphasizes the bulk and mass of the man and woman, despite their association with religious practice. Almost a thousand years of weathering have increased its sense of texture. The happy expression on the faces is consistent with the great erotic religious sculpture of this period. FIGURE 5-3 Frank Stella, Giufà, the Moon, the Thieves, and the Guards. 1984. Synthetic polymer paint, oil, urethane enamel, fluorescent alkyd, and printing ink on canvas, and etched magnesium, aluminum, and fiberglass, 9 feet 7¼ inches × 16 feet 3¼ inches × 24 inches. Museum of Modern Art. This work was done after Stella spent two years at the American Academy at Rome. Giufà is a character out of Sicilian folklore, a trickster who gets into amusing situations. This work refers to a story called “Giufà and the Judge” in which the boy kills a fly on the nose of the judge, doing great damage to the judge. Stella’s sculpture was influenced by Picasso’s cubist experiments. ©2017 Frank Stella/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: ©The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA/Art Resource, NY FIGURE 5-4 Mithuna Couple. Twelfth to thirteenth century. Orissa, India. Stone, 83 inches high. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Stone, high-relief sculpture like this, found on Indian temples built in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, represents figures combining the divine spirit with the erotic. Source: Purchase, Florance Waterbury Bequest, 1970/The Metropolitan Museum of Art jac16871_ch05_091-120.indd 96 12/11/17 11:37 AM 97
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Sculpture In tHe round Edgar Degas’s The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer (Figure 5-5), one of several of his sculptures of dancers, was not universally approved by the critics at its first showing. A number of critics thought it grotesque and others were mystified by its subject matter, which they thought rather common. But some commentators saw immediately that it was one of the most modern of sculptures and its simplicity has helped it become one of the most admired modern sculptures. FIGURE 5-5 Edgar Degas, The Little Fourteen- Year-Old Dancer, 1880, cast 1922. Bronze, partially tinted, with cotton skirt and satin hair ribbon; wood base. H. 38½ × W. 17¼ × D. 143⁄8 inches. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 Accession Number: 29.100.370. Degas was better known as a painter of dancers, but The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer is his most famous sculpture. His model was Marie van Goethem, a young Belgian dancer in the Paris Opera Dance School. ©Tate, London/Art Resource, NY PERCEPTION KEY The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer 1. What details of the posture of the dancer help the sculpture seem to command its space? 2. What is the subject matter of the sculpture? What does the composition of the dancer tell us about the subject matter? What do you think the content of the work is?