Eras of Art History - Part II Gothic Art

Gothic Art (12th century to the 14th century):



The Later Middle Ages saw the first monarchies, large cities, the clergy, and there was a new affluent class of merchants and bankers. The Gothic style of art emerged from France, and grew out to rest of Europe. This is the Cologne Cathedral in Germany, one that I have had the pleasure of a complete tour from top to bottom, unfortunately in German, but I got the basic idea of it's history. It was amazing stading on top and looking out at the cross, hundreds of flying buttresses surrounding the building, and the Rhine River in the background. I took dozens of pictures of the stained glass windows alone, mostly in the upper part of it where the glass isn't even seen. This cathredral was one of the only buildings spared by the allies in the WWII bombings of Germany because of it's value to humanity.

Gothic Architecture

They developed Romanesque arches into the an arch with a point at the top and added something known as a tympanum, a pointed arch over the door with sculpture. The point on the arch was very important because they were able to support the building with less stone in the walls, leaving room for another important element of the Gothic style, stained glass windows.



Gothic Tympanum.



They also added something called flying buttresses to the outside of cathedrals, note the geometric shapes in this photo, another element of gothic style.



Churches lost the frescoes and had undecorated vaults that often had a vault keystone,the small circles on the vaults. Gothic building acheived incredible inside heights with these new design elements.



Gothic Applied Arts

Artists started signing works of art, and some rose to superstar status because of this. Stained glass window depicted stories from the Bible, made out of colored glass with delicate features painted on them.





Jewelry became important, and gold symbolized the spiritual value of an object more than just showing off a material possession. Gold was everywhere in the church, and mainly had religious uses as ceremonial vessels, reliquaries, and monstrances. Items were encrusted with pearls, precious stones, and rock crystals. They were decorated with filigree work, and enamel.



Manuscript illuminations were painted on parchment of manuscripts because only the Chinese had printing at this time. Many were ornate with lavish capital letters that could take up a whole page, decorated with plants and animals and some were illustrations of text.





Tapestries became important to cover all those cold stone walls of the rich and nobel, but not the churches. They had subjects of amorous adventures, hunting, allegories, legends, and religious subjects for private alters. The Lady and the Unicorn was a popular subject.



Painting wasn’t fundamental because churches had no where to hang them, so they mainly served to decorate castles, aristocratic homes and civic buildings.
Frescoes were cheaper than tapestries and were still used.



The polyptych became popular, they were large works made up of several panels, brought together and framed with a pointed arch. They were usually odd numbered with an important person such as the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus in the middle and larger. There was great detail, but no perspective yet. Gold was often in the background with foreground figures, and female faces always were gentle.



Tip of the Day: The library is full of classical music, check a few interesting CDs out and add them to your ipod.

Eras of Art History - Part I Intro and Romanesque Art

Understanding art is an important part of becoming more cultured. To understand art we must first look at the different styles of art through the centuries. The four most important periods in the west are the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque.

“Characteristics, alone, do not make a style. There must be a central idea that gives life to them all.” Nikolous Pevsner

Romanesque Art (11th century to the 13th century):

The beginning of the High Middle Ages, this time in history is dominated by the crusades, powerful popes, Vikings, and the Byzantine Empire (that is the eastern part of the Roman Empire) was still around. Religion was extremely important, and wars were fought over it. The Romanesque period combined Roman and Barbarian artistic styles.




Typically the churches reflected this new style such as the Maria Lach Abby in Germany pictured above that I visited a few years ago, notice the lack of large stained glass windows, instead it has solid walls and small windows. The most important thing to remember about Romanesque style is the curved arches holding up the vaulted ceilings as in this picture of the St. Louis Basilica below. The most decorative that people got during this time was frescoes on the walls (paint absorbed by plaster), mosaics, and sculpture, not a far stretch from the Romans. They also had manuscript illuminations that decorated books and for the first time bronze doors appeared, sometimes covered with detailed scenes.



Example of Romanesque arches and painted frescoes in the St. Louis Basilica.



An example of Romanesque Sculpture from the Tournus Abby in France where demons are terrorizing sinners.



A Romanesque mosaic from St. Apollinarius.



A manuscript illumination from the Winchester Bible.



Bronze Romanesque doors from Siena Duomo.

Tip of the Day: Get rid of the t-shirts that you wore in college and invest in more mature clothes that flatter the figure with grown up style.

Mythology - Introduction

The true sophisticate will understand mythology, especially the ancient Greek and Roman myths. There are so many references to mythology in art such as paintings, literature, plays, music, and even movies. Maybe you know all the stories already and don’t even realize it. I was surprised, after reading The Odyssey in 9th grade, that the cartoon Duck Tales already taught me about a lot of the myths when I was just a 10 year old sponge sitting in front of the TV. What might be so appealing about these ancient myths is that human nature never changes. The gods have great stories of sex, betrayal, love, war, and similar personalities to us mortals today. We can relate to their heartaches, the injustices they have to endure, their longings and desires. These stories are then translated by artists into many forms of media. Basically, you will sound smart pointing out the mythology behind the art, and will enjoy art even more when you understand what it is about.

Thomas Bulfinch, a 19th century American author said “the so-called divinities of Olympus have not a single worshipper among living men; they belong now not to the department of theology, but to those in literature and taste.”

Examples of mythology in art:

1.The Portland Vase - (pictured above)
Made in the first century BC in Rome, this vase inspired the creation of Wedgewood jasperware (those light blue porcelain plates with white mythological characters on them at your grandma’s house) and English cameo glass. It depicts a scenes of the Judgment of Paris, and Mark Anthony being lured by Cleopatra.

2.“The Birth of Venus” painted by Botticelli -This painting depicts the emerging goddess Venus from the sea on a shell, just as her birth is described.




3.“The Divine Comedy” written by Dante Alighieri -
The Roman poet Virgil guides him through hell and Purgatory.

4.“Orfeo ed Euridice” by the German composer Christoph Gluck -
A opera first preformed in Vienna in 1762, based on a Greek mythological character.

5.“O Brother Where Art Thou?” a modern movie based on Homer’s “The Odyssey”.

Tip of the Day: Delete any myspace or facebook pictures that show you getting drunk, or anything else that you wouldn't want your grandma or boss seeing.

So What Does "Cultured" Really Mean?

Definition of Cultured:

-adjective
1. enlightened; refined. (I think this is what we are aiming at)
2.artificially nurtured or grown: cultured bacteria (gross! )
3. cultivated; tilled (does this mean we have to get dirty to be cultured?)

Synonyms:
1. Polished, sophisticated, elegant, genteel

It is a room full of sophisticated people, and like Bridget Jones, you can only ask which direction the toilet is. You need some of that cultured stuff, a head full of artwork, German classic composers, ballet, and poetry. The only way to get cultured is to learn, so start reading. Knowledge is power, and I hope to advance my knowledge along with you in this blog. I hope to bring to light everyday a useful tip and an understandable lesson in the arts. Hopefully we can then pull off phrases like: “So what do you think of the situation in Chechnya?” and know what we are talking about.

Tip of the Day: Don't pick your nose in front of people anymore, especially in public, even in front of your family at home.