Art History II
My next class has already started -- I actually overslept yesterday and ended up missing the lecture entirely. I've never felt so... adrift and behind in a class, simply from missing one day before. I know I can make up most of the content by looking in my textbook and at the slides on ArtStor, but still, it's a strange feeling. I want to be in class, I was disappointed yesterday morning that I missed most of the lecture-- I nearly drove the 40 minutes to Rockville just to get the last 45 minutes of lecture, but decided that it wasn't worth the gas and I still needed to shower and get dressed for work as well.
Anyway. Last week I went to the National Gallery of Art in an attempt to find a topic for my next paper, because I knew I would have to do one... I didn't find anything in the Gallery, although lots of things captured my attention, I only had an hour to wander before they closed, and it just wasn't enough time to come to a concensus. But after I left I sat down on the steps outside with my textbook and went flipping through looking for images... and I ended up going all the way forward into the 20th century and finding Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks", and then I remembered my copy of "House by the Railroad" that is in my dad's basement. But then a page or two further and I found Jackson Pollock in my textbook, and remembered the conversation I had with Tim about my difficulty in appreciating Pollock because... well, I don't really care for a lot of abstract work. So now I am torn, Edward Hopper, or Jackson Pollock??? I'm currently in the library doing some preliminary research to see which one seems to have more material available.
On the one hand, I would really like to learn more about the painting that so captivated me several years ago in high school.. As I have little to no knowledge about the period or anything surrounding it--I just happened to like it becqause it reminded me of the house in Beetlejuice. And on the other, it would be a great challenge to try to write, and therefore learn a greater appreciation for, an artist that I know is meaningful, but can not personally understand.
So, I'm researching. *Shrugs* Anyway, here are some random links I found,
Jackson Pollock:
http://cianellistudios.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/abstract-painting-the-need-for-expression/
http://www.terraingallery.org/Pollock_LS.htmhttp://www.sauer-thompson.com/junkforcode/archives/002910.htmlhttp://blots.wordpress.com/2008/09/20/on-contemporary-arthelp/http://www.abstract-art.com/abstraction/l2_grnfthrs_fldr/g0000_gr_inf_images/g007_pollock_no7,1951.jpghttp://mortalbeastsanddeities.com/?page_id=40
Edward Hopper:
http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/assignments/paintings&poems/house.html
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/hopper/house_by_rr.jpg.html
http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/sub.asp?key=15&subkey=2144
It's funny looking at photographs of "House by the Railroad", a piece I know so absolutely thoroughly because I spent several months recreating it in acrylics... I don't know how to describe it precisely. I know the shadows, the porch, I know the variations in color of the desolate sky and the craggly shingles and drooping eeves, the sad looking windows that look like heavy-lidded eyes.. And yet it's still a totally new painting to me every time.
Anyway. Last week I went to the National Gallery of Art in an attempt to find a topic for my next paper, because I knew I would have to do one... I didn't find anything in the Gallery, although lots of things captured my attention, I only had an hour to wander before they closed, and it just wasn't enough time to come to a concensus. But after I left I sat down on the steps outside with my textbook and went flipping through looking for images... and I ended up going all the way forward into the 20th century and finding Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks", and then I remembered my copy of "House by the Railroad" that is in my dad's basement. But then a page or two further and I found Jackson Pollock in my textbook, and remembered the conversation I had with Tim about my difficulty in appreciating Pollock because... well, I don't really care for a lot of abstract work. So now I am torn, Edward Hopper, or Jackson Pollock??? I'm currently in the library doing some preliminary research to see which one seems to have more material available.
On the one hand, I would really like to learn more about the painting that so captivated me several years ago in high school.. As I have little to no knowledge about the period or anything surrounding it--I just happened to like it becqause it reminded me of the house in Beetlejuice. And on the other, it would be a great challenge to try to write, and therefore learn a greater appreciation for, an artist that I know is meaningful, but can not personally understand.
So, I'm researching. *Shrugs* Anyway, here are some random links I found,
Jackson Pollock:
http://cianellistudios.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/abstract-painting-the-need-for-expression/
http://www.terraingallery.org/Pollock_LS.htmhttp://www.sauer-thompson.com/junkforcode/archives/002910.htmlhttp://blots.wordpress.com/2008/09/20/on-contemporary-arthelp/http://www.abstract-art.com/abstraction/l2_grnfthrs_fldr/g0000_gr_inf_images/g007_pollock_no7,1951.jpghttp://mortalbeastsanddeities.com/?page_id=40
Edward Hopper:
http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/assignments/paintings&poems/house.html
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/hopper/house_by_rr.jpg.html
http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/sub.asp?key=15&subkey=2144
It's funny looking at photographs of "House by the Railroad", a piece I know so absolutely thoroughly because I spent several months recreating it in acrylics... I don't know how to describe it precisely. I know the shadows, the porch, I know the variations in color of the desolate sky and the craggly shingles and drooping eeves, the sad looking windows that look like heavy-lidded eyes.. And yet it's still a totally new painting to me every time.