The Plaza After Rain

Paul Cornoyer was best known for his paintings in an impressonist and pointillist style. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri and began painting in barbizon style. He attended the St. Louis school of Art and was encouraged by Halsey C. Ives to pursue his studies. He studied under Jules Lefebvre, Benjamin Constant, and Louis Blanc. In 1894 he returned to St. Louis and won the Gold Medal from the Association of Painters and Sculpters. This painting is a perfect example of Cornoyer's skills. There is a woman walking with her children, bare trees that show it may be fall ro winter, the ground is wet indicating that it had just rained, and there is a gold statue in the back. The location of this painting was in New York City's Greenwich Village. This painting captures the mood of the city after a storm. The fading light, cloudy sky, and mist still hanging in the air communicate a stillness and calm. This gives a viewer a sense of the everyday moments of quiet beauty in the life of a city dweller.

Nose 29

Nose 29 is one of 30 drawings based on the Russian Novel and satirical opera, The Nose. Though the novel was written in 1836, Kentridge molded the story to illustrate the Russian Revolution in the time of Stalin (1920’s and 1930’s). The novel, written by Nikolai Gogol, takes you on the journey of bureaucrat Kovalyov, who wakes one morning to find that his nose is no longer a part of his face. In fact, it has gone on a stroll through St. Petersburg. Kovalyov goes hunting for his nose. He runs into it on numerous occasions, but doesn’t capture it successfully. One time he finds it at a cathedral, but the nose refuses to return to its keepers face. Unable to force it to return, Kovalyov realizes that it is because the nose has gained a higher social status, which is why it wont return. The story goes on to incorporate the law and its absurdity, all while following the nose and illustrating the abuse it has on its owner.

William’s prints make a wonderful storyboard to the opera. He illustrates the nose stealing a lover, another shows the nose putting on a tutu, there is also one where the nose consumes the face of Stalin and rides a horse at the same time he ponders the cause and effects that create art, politics and literature.

"Perception of Memory"

The Persistence of Memory is one of Dali’s most famous paintings. Dali was not only an artist, but also a philosopher. With this information you can take in the fact that his philosophy and psychological views had a great influence in his artwork. His many paintings, such as this one, include dreams, birth, perception of reality, death, and sexual desire. Dali referred to many of his paintings as “hand painted dream photographs”, and this painting is just that. The drooping pocket watches are a symbol of distorted time. They resemble time’s irrelevance to the unconscious mind. The “fetus-like” head lying on the ground is often interpreted as many different things, such as a fish washed ashore, or the head of a goose. According to the Authentic Society, many of the landscapes in Dali’s paintings resemble his home town, Port Lligat. In the foreground there are ants attacking an orange clock which could quite possibly resemble Dali’s anxieties associated with time. Was he late for work? Or waiting on his long lost love? What do you think? Hurry time is ticking!

Often Dali would make up ridiculous meanings for his paintings when asked. In Dali’s book Diary of a Genius he claims that this painting is nothing more than an interpretation of melting cheese sitting out for a long period of time. However, after studying this piece of art and researching information about it I personally believe differently. Dali’s psychological background plays a big part in his deeper thoughts about this painting.

Esao Andrews

                Esao Andrews, a young and growing artist from Mesa, Arizona, created this wonderful piece. This work, called Test Cover for Vertigo, was one of his earlier pieces. He used oil paint as his media, which is typical of most of his art. Esao moved from Arizona to New York in 1996 to complete his BFA in illustration at the school of visual arts. He graduated in 2000, quickly landing a major show at Fuse Gallery. His art and name got very popular, fast. I actually know of him because of the work he has done for the band Circa Survive, creating 4 of their album covers.

                In this actual piece, I notice a lot of details and characteristics that contribute to the surreal, dark, and enchanting mood that is created. The basic depiction of this piece is a girl-like creature deep in thought, oblivious to the stalking wolf man behind her. You will notice a theme among Esao’s characters that gives monsters human-like bodies. They are always very thin and lanky, with emphasis on the tone and shape of muscles. Every one of his displayed paintings are oil based.

                The first thing I notice about this image is that the angle of the horizon is tilted. This is actually the only piece by Esao that I have seen that does this. Next, the obvious details appear to me. The characters are secluded in a forest. The girl has huge, feathered wing. Her hair and wings are bright, electric blue. The thin wolf character in the back is covered in hair and has an extremely sharp claw motioning to be quiet to the audience. If you look at the character’s expressions, you notice the girl has a very content, happy look on her face. She seems to be at peace. The wolf’s face is almost evil looking, with an invisible grin. To me, it looks like a huge symbol of good and evil. The evil is stalking the innocent, which is possibly a symbol of defiling innocence. It leaves you with a very dark and disturbed feeling.

                There are some uncertainties I have about this painting. Art can be interpreted many different ways, so I wonder what other people get out of this image. What is the girl thinking about, and why would she be alone in the forest? What are the wolf-man’s motives? What does the whole scene represent, symbolically? What does each character represent? Was there any significance to the tilted horizon? Why are all of Esao’s characters so thin and lanky?

                My personal opinion of this work, along with the rest of Esao’s art, is extremely high. I think his creativity and ability to create is unbelievable. He has the success to show for it too. In one art showing, Esao made over $5,000.00. As an artist, I am very impressed and aspire to be as good as Esao Andrews someday.

John Stueart Currys "The Mississippi"

John Steuart Curry is an artist that is well known for his famous paintings of his home state of Kansas. He enjoyed showing the rest of the world what Kansas baptisms were like, what happened during a twister, what the floods looked like. He was even asked to paint murals in the state capital building of Kansas. Unfortunately, most people did not like his paintings and thought it just showed that Kansas was a state constantly destroyed by horrible and dangerous weather, and his paintings weren’t really appreciated until after his death.
His painting “The Mississippi” is a very detailed and powerful piece of art. The first situation that catches your eye is that there is an African American family clinging to a roof of a house in middle of a flood. The family consists of a mother, father, and four kids. The father is praying up to the sky and the sky around his hands is turning a light yellow. The three older kids are clinging to the house, with no help from their parents, but are still looking at the sky with their father. The mother is lying on the roof, protecting the fourth child, a baby wrapped in a blanket, but she is looking down. There is also a black cat on the roof right behind her. Is the cat a symbol for bad luck? I think so. The mothers half of the roof is falling apart and she seems to have lost all hope and is tired of everything, whle the father is still filled with hope and praying. The differences between the parents reactions and the children being between them makes the kids seem like an “innocent” archetype, since they are young and inexperienced, and don’t know what to do or who to follow.
The trees in the background are supposed to be a symbol of hope and faith that they will find something better to hold on to than a floating roof. The colors in the sky are to symbolize that the dad will most likely be saved over the mom, since the sky is lighter over him.

Missouri Street, St. Louis 2002

A young girl is playing outside. However, she isn't playing with the other children. She is sitting on a trampoline all by herself, while the boys are wrestling in the background. Past the boys wrestling is one little boy climbing over the fence. There is some type of mystery to this photograph. Did the girl choose to be alone? Was she shunned by the other boys? (slam.org)

Anna Kuperberg doesn't just want viewers seeing people in her photography. She wants them to feel the emotions coming from the picture (anna@kuperberg.com). Knowing that she captures the emotions, I can feel that the little girl was shunned by the other boys. The day is nice and sunny but yet the girl is sitting there by herself, while the boys are having fun together. The picture is in black and white suggesting that the girl is sad and depressed because the boys won't play with her. There are many things to do, like ride a bike or go play with the other boys that's climbing the fence. Instead of doing those things the girl sits there, lonely. Since she does not do other things it can be implied that she really wants to be part of the guys.

There are many archetypes in this photo. The main one is the abandoned child. You see that in the picture the girl is all by herself. Almost like she was abandoned by the other children. You may notice that there isn't any adults watching the kdis play. This can suggest that they all have been abandoned by their parents but the girl is the only one to notice and feel the pain of being abandoned. The third boy who is climbing over the fence reminds me of the trickster/clown archetype. This archetype likes to disobey rules and plays tricks (Wikipedia). The boy is disobeying the rules by climbing over the fence and leaving the yard. He could be playing a trick on the other children by disappearing on them.

Anna Kuperberg is good at capturing emotions and actions in her photography. She made me see more than kids playing outside. I felt what the little girl and boys were feeling. To me, Anna accomplished waht she wanted in this photograph.

John LaFarge

John LaFarge was an American born in New York City, New York. He went into college studying law, but after a trip to Paris, became interested in art. LaFarge was greatly influenced by Japanese art. In the early 1860's he became a pioneer in collecting Japanese art, and incorporating Japanese effects into his work. This interest was likely encouraged by his marriage to the niece of the commodore who opened Japan to the West . LaFarge used Japanese effects to create strange, empty and unbalanced effects. These are shown in Hollyhocks by the layered glass and cluttered flowers. Other details include opalescent white glass, which could possibly represent purity. An irregular pebble border gives the feeling of being enclosed. The glass is mostly dark green giving a feeling of darkness and unknowing, with spouts of blue to give a sense of hope. The flowers are red, blue, and purple, and get smaller and more detailed toward the bottom. When taking a step back from the glass, it looks like the flowers may be dying. Archetypes include a forest or maybe a swamp. A forest represents fertility, protectivity and shelter. This piece was made for the Frederick Lothrop Ames house, who came into money because his grandfather founded a shovel company.
Questions:

If you had as much money as Lothrop, what would you spend it on?
Is stained glass in your house an unnecessary waste of money?
Do you think Ames appreciated the beauty of the work as much as LaFarge?