Choose an image from our lectures or text from the time periods we have covered (pre-history through 1945) that you are both interested in AND that is representative of its period in art.

Midterm Exam Review Discussion

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Choose an image from our lectures or text from the time periods we have covered (pre-history through 1945) that you are both interested in AND that is representative of its period in art.  Then answer the following question:

How does this artwork represent the changes in both society and also in the visual language at the time they were created?

Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

Let’s break that question down a little because its a loaded one!  To start, note that there are 2 aspects to the question:  changes in society and changes in the visual language that those societies used. 

To describe the changes in visual language, you will need to convey an understanding of the visual characteristics in use both in the image and in the preceding period in art.  In order to describe the societal changes, use the visual language present in the image to describe current societal views and be sure to convey an understanding of the societal views in the preceding period. you will need to illustrate an understanding of the state of society and of the visual language used in the preceding period.

We should apply our method of analysis in order to better and more objectively understand how the visual language is conveying its meaning.  Therefore, note the formal elements and organizational principles at work as well as any subject matter and any potential symbolism (symbolism isn’t always present). 

Next, if we are to understand the changes in society and in the visual language that the image represents, we need to understand the society and visual language before and after the image was created.  Remember that the visual language you describe is conveying societal views.

A nswer the question in a 2 – 3 p aragraphs.

Info from textbook:

at large, van Gogh fatally shot himself. He sold only one painting during his lifetime. Since his death. however. van Gogh’s reputation and the appreciation of his art have grown dramatically. Subse- quent painters. especially the Fauves and German Expressionists (see pages 833 and 885), built on van Gogh’s expressive use of color. This kind of influence is an important factor in determining artistic significance. and it is no exaggeration to state that today van Gogh is one of the most revered artists in history. NIGHT car: van Gogh moved m Paris in 1886, where he began to collect—and cop)t (FIG. 28—1?B)—]apa- nese prints. In 1381. he relocated to Arles in southern France, where he painted Night Cafe (Ho. 23-18}. one of his most important and innova— tive canvases. Although the subject is apparently benign. van Gogh invested it with a charged energy. As he stated in a letter to his brother Theo (see “The Letters of Vincent van Gogh." page 856). he wanted the painting to convey an oppressive atmosphere—”a place where one can ruin one’s self, go mad, or commit a crime. . . . [I want] to express the power of darkness in a low drinking spot . . . in an atmosphere like a devil’s furnace.”n The room is seen from above. and the floor takes up a large portion of the canvas. as in the paintings of Degas (Ho. 28—9). The ghostlike proprietor stands at the edge of the cafe’s billiard table. disengaged from his customers. as they.r are from each other. Van Gogh depicted the bil- liard table in such a steeply tilted perspective that it threatens to 328-1” win Goes, Flowering Plum Tree. 138? slide out ol’thc- painting into the viewer’s space. He communicated the “madness” ofthe place by selecting vivid hues whose juxtaposi – tion augmented their intensity. Van Gogh’s insistence on the expressive values ot’color led him to develop a corresponding expressiveness in his paint application. The thickness, shape. and direction of his brushstrokes created a tactile counterpart to his intense color schemes. He moved the brush vehe- mently back and forth or at right angles, giving a textilelike effect. or squeezed dots or streaks onto the canvas directly from his paint tube. "l’his hold, almost slapdash attack enhanced the intensity of his colors. STARRY NIGHT Similarly illustrative of van (iogh’s “expressionist” method is Starry Night (FIG. 28—19), which the artist painted in 1839, the year before his death. At this time. van Gogh was living at the asylum of Saint—Paul—de-Mausole in Saint-Remy, near Arles, where he had committed himself. In Starry Night. the artist did not rep- resent the sky’s appearance. Rather. he communicated his feelings about the electrifying vastness of the universe. filled with whirling and exploding stars. with the earth and humanity huddling beneath it. The church nestled in the center of the village is, perhaps. van Gogh’s attempt to express or reconcile his conllicled views about religion. Although the stvle of Starry Night suggests a ver}r per- sonal vision. this work does correspond in many ways to the view available to the painter from. the window oi’his rootn in Saint-Paul- de~Mausole. The existence of cypress trees and the placement ofthe constellations have been confirmed as matching the view visible to van Gogh during his stay in the asylum. Still. the artist trans- lated everything he saw into his singular vision. Given van Gogh’s determination to “use color . . . to express [himlself forcibly," the dark. deep blue suffusing the entire painting cannot be overlooked. 28-19 VINCENT VAN Goran, Starry Night. [889. Oil on canvas. 2′ 5" x 3′ £1. Museum of Modern Art, New York [acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest}. In this late work. van Gogh painted the vast night Sky filled with whirling and exploding stars, the earth huddled beneath It. The painting is an almost abstract pattern of expres- sive line. shape. and color.

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