Journal_of_Time_Travling_Historian

Journal of the Time Traveling Art Historian HUM 205 July 4, 2010 May 9, 1483 As I step out of the early 21st century and into Italy in the late fifteenth century I cannot believe my eyes. I am standing in the presence of Leonardo da Vinci. He is painting a portrait of four figures, two adults, and two infants. I sit and watch his every stroke, waiting for the moment he completes this magnificent piece of art. Once he has finished I finally can ask him about this masterpiece. “In this painting I use two styles called chiaroscuro, using light and dark in space, and sftumato, making an outline smoky or hazy. I am fascinated with nature and all its aspects and have depicted Mary, her son Jesus, Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist and his mother deep in a grotto filled with stalactites and stalagmites. The grotto acts as the womb of the earth as Mary is the womb of eternity. I call this piece Madonna of the Rocks (Benton & DiYanni, 2008)!” I am in a trance and cannot stop staring at this piece of art. I am thinking to myself what a peculiar place to paint such religious figures, but I finally understand his logic behind it. Leonardo bids me goodbye and walks away into the night. Tomorrow I will be jumping ahead 16 years to explore the Renaissance some more. September 8, 1499 Today I had another run in with the work of Leonardo da Vinci. He is nowhere to be found but I have come across his notebooks that describe the work it took to make this masterpiece he calls The Last Supper. “I have chosen to depict the moment when Jesus announces that one of his apostles will betray him and the apostles respond with an array of facial expressions…. I will place Judas, his betrayer, to sit with Peter and John directly to Jesus’ left and he will be clenching a bag of money….I am trying to find a way to depict the intention of Man’s soul but I am finding it to be difficult….The prior is in such a hurry to see my works but I have yet two heads to finish, Jesus and Judas. How can one depict thy Savior in a likeness of which I could not hope to find on earth' Judas I say that in narratives it is necessary to mix closely together direct contraries, because they provide a great contrast with each other, and so much more if they are adjacent, that is to say the ugly and the beautiful. So I shall place Judas next to peter and john with a face that is lost in the shadows (Benton & DiYanni, 2008).” As I am looking at The Last Supper and reading his notebook, I can see he put much emphasis on Jesus by using a three pained window in the background and placing the biggest of the three behind him. As I look more closely at Leonardo’s work I can tell that strives for his art to be symmetrically balanced. Leonardo placed Jesus in the middle with his 12 apostles, six on each side, around him (Benton & DiYanni, 2008). Leonardo da Vinci’s art work carries some of the Early Renaissance interest such as humanism, classicism, and individualism. He also developed some of his own ideas. The art work of this time depicts a deep Catholic background, as I have seen many works of art by various artists. January 19, 450 B.C.E. Today when I stepped out of the time machine I walked out into classical Greece. As I look around I see great architectural work. All the buildings use at least one of the three orders of Greek architecture, which are still used back in the 21st century, Ionic order, Corinthian order, and Doric order. I walk up to a structure known as the Parthenon, and talked to a Greek commoner who explained that the Parthenon was built by Perikles and was to be used for the defense of Athens. I can see the Doric order of columns that are used in this temple. Looking at the Temple I notice that convex curves, rectangular prism with right angle corners, entasis, and tapered columns were used on every aspect, there are no straight lines (Benton & DiYanni, 2008). As I walk into the temple, I see a gold and ivory cult image of Athena Parthenos, who the structure is dedicated to (Benton & DiYanni, 2008). As I explore the art of this culture some more, I notice they believe in mythology and like to depict bodies as they are, anatomically correct. Most of the sculptures are men, it is rare to see a woman sculpture shown nude. The sculptures depict movement by a shift of weight onto a single leg, slightly tilted head, or with a bent arm (Benton & DiYanni, 2008). One of the sculptures that I am drawn to is Myron of Athens, Discobolus (Discus Thrower). He is a life-sized sculpture made from bronze. Myron represents a young Greek athlete who shows perfect form (Benton & DiYanni, 2008). I can see every defined muscle in his body, showing complete masculinity. This sculpture depicts how the Greeks look at athletes, being perfect and possesing great rhythm and form. As they say it here “mens sana in corpora sano,” (a sound mind in a sound body) is the philosophy of the athletes (Benton & DiYanni, 2008). Which back home in 2010 is still a phrase lived by. I have had a long day of exploring the classical Greek era and am off to bed so I can get up and time travel some more. November 22, 1965 Today I have come a little closer to home; I have stepped into the 1960s. As I look around I see automobiles driving on roads and through McDonald’s drive thru, people shopping at shopping centers, and architectural buildings all around. There was an art show down the street that I attended. There was art by Robert Rauschenberg, Louise Nevelson, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Marisol Escobar, and Donald Judd. Each which used a pop art style and feed off of pop culture. My favorite is Andy Warhol. He takes everyday objects and turns them in to works of art. Not just art, art that has a "hidden" meaning about pressures and how society really is. He shows this in Marilyn Diptych, suggesting that her suicide was a desperate escape. He also had a portrait of Campbell’s soup cans, one of every type of soup. It appears to me that he is making himself famous off Campbell’s soup cans because everyone seems to want one (Benton & DiYanni, 2008). I had a good time at the art show today and talked with many artist about their work. Tomorrow I am going to explore the music of this time. I am going to get some McDonald’s and go to bed. November 23, 1965 Today I was so excited I got to go to a Beatles show! They are a rock group from Britain that is made up of four musicians that I was able to meet, Ringo Starr the drummer, George Harrison the guitarist, Paul McCartney a lead singer and guitarist, and John Lennon a lead singer and guitarist. The music they play is unlike any that has been heard before; it is in the realm of pop rock music (Benton & DiYanni, 2008). Teen girls flocked to them here in the 1950s and continue to flock to their music in the early 21st century. I am so glad that I got to end my journey in the mid-twentieth century. It has given me a deeper understanding of how the world has come to evolve into what it is like in the early 21st century. Now I am curious to see what the world has in store for the late 21st century. References Benton, J. R. & DiYanni, R. (2008). Arts and Culture: An Introduction to the Humanities (3rd Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.