Mastering the Human Form: Eakins’ “Wrestlers” and Rubens’ “Prometheus Bound”Through Time A body with six hundred muscles, two hundred and six bones and the endless amount of shades of skin we see on a singular human body. A difficult feat to paint the human body, yet so many people possess that talent and dedication to make art of that difficulty. Thomas Eakins “Wrestlers” and Peter Paul Rubens “ Prometheus Bound” depict the influences and styles of their era’s while showcasing this feat. Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins was born in 1844 in Philadelphia to Benjamin Eakins and Caroline Cowperthwait. He was the eldest of four sisters, who lived a comfortable life in respect to their father. He took classes at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, …show more content…
Both paintings display the bodies in unconventional ways with Eakins having the bodies twisting together, and Ruben having the body stretch, although they each show a struggle. Not to mention, they both went to Spain and admired the artwork there. Nonetheless, both paintings show a struggle as the focus, human anatomy, and similarities in style. With Ruben’s we see very blended brush strokes with lines for highlights, line work, and extra detail. Eakin's style was softer compared to Ruben’s, less important details were blurred and the line work was softer along with the color scheme. The shading on both can be soft but slightly harsher in contrast to the lighter tones in the skin. On the facial expressions for Rubens painting, the brush strokes are more obvious but give more expression while Eakins are hidden and soft. Wrestlers contribute to our modern society by capturing the humanity of athleticism and struggle, just as the subject of Rubens painting does as well. For Eakins, he was able to help introduce the interest in sports and physical fitness that’s admired today. The painting also introduced the form of the human body to
The historical painting I chose for my final, is an illustration of Bret Harte’s novel, Her Letter, His Response, and Her Last Letter, creatively illustrated by Arthur Ignatius Keller in 1905. The historical painting I chose for the comparison of Arthur Keller’s painting is another painting done by Arthur I Keller; illustrated for 54-40 or Fight by Emerson Hough, in 1909. Arthur I Keller is a very natural, elegant style painter, with an eye for natural beauty. Keller’s many paintings express intricate detail, and genuine quality. Although I picked two water color paintings out of Arthur Keller’s many collections of paintings, he also uses charcoal, acrylics, oils, and pastels to create other works of art. In both paintings I chose, Arthur Keller uses water color and gouache to paint people. Arthur’s first painting I mentioned, illustrating “Her Letter” is a more detailed painting. Keller uses water color to create a graceful look to his painting; his delicate balance of color, keeps the viewer’s eyes wandering around the painting. The focal point in the painting does not catch the viewer’s eyes because of heavy, dark colors, but because of the proportion differences of the people he implies. The painting gives off a very old fashioned feel, in a tasteful way. Arthur Keller’s second painting, illustrating “54-40 or Fight” has a completely different color theme, and gives off more of a mysterious, dark feel to it. The painting is detailed, but in a more simple way, and there is less negative space. As to where Keller’s “Her Letter” painting had a lot of open areas on the canvas, this painting, displays two people in a small enclosed dark room. The focal point is more dramatic, and a lot more obvious because instead of using sizing,...
If someone who had no prior knowledge about art, or the elements and principles of design, were given five seconds to look at these two paintings, they’d probably say they had almost nothing in common, other than the fact that they both feature mountains, and it’d be true for those people. But, if you are someone that does know a lot of information
Moving through art we start to see more and more human figures being represented. At first they appear on paintings, then small figurines, and finally in full body realistic rock sculptures. Two examples of this are Anavysos Kouros and Doryphoros the Spear Bearer.
The human form transcends throughout time persistently present in art. Dating all the way back to Paleolithic human beings our renderings of idealized forms have served many purposes. Though the Neolithic and Paleolithic purpose of these renderings is widely speculative the range of reason for these depictions ranges from idolization and worship to assertion of aristocratic and economic status even to simply serving as statements of self-expression. Amongst ruins and artifacts, sculptures of ancient cultures demonstrate the ways in which humans perceptions of what is aesthetically desirable have progressed. Two idealized sculptures the Woman from Willendorf and the Khafre statue with approximately 21,500 years separating their individual gestations this demonstrate the stylistic progression of idealized imagery through time.
By the late 1950s, Voulkos had established an international reputation for his muscular fired-clay sculptures, which melded Zen attitudes toward chance with the emotional fervor of Abstract Expressionist painting. Some 20 works -- including five "Stacks" (4-foot-tall sculptures) as well as giant slashed-and-gouged plates and works on paper -- recently went on view at the Frank Lloyd Gallery. This non single show is his first at a Los Angeles gallery in 13 years, although a survey of his work was seen at the Newport Harbor Art Museum (presently carries a different...
This rebirth of ideas began with the influence of the knowledge of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, specifically those of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, etc…this is the beginning of Humanism, which as our text describes as “an emphasis on education and on expanding knowledge (especially of Classical Antiquity), the exploration of individual potential and a desire to excel” (Kleiner,F.S p. 448). The artists of the period utilized this information and incorporated it into the study of the human anatomy which allowed them portray the human form in a much more realistic and accurate
Social reformer, Henry Ward Beecher, once said “Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” This quote is perfect because it shows how no two artists can ever be the same, like my two artists for example, Georges-Pierre Seurat (1859-1891) and Claude Monet (1840-1926). Both Seurat and Monet were impressionist European painters however they’re style and technique were very different. One painting Seurat is known for is A Sunday on La Grande Jatte (1884-1886). Monet on the other hand is known for many different works of art, but La Grenouillere (1869) is one of his bests.
Winckelmann like Vasari dealt greatly with the artistic problems concerning representation and imitation of nature including the need for the human beauty in a figure. However he also was interested in art criticism based in historical timelines and causes for the change and evolution of modern art. This greatly seen in this article not only in his thesis that great contemporary art is based in antiquity but also in his explanation for why the Greek art was so well done and why it has risen back into the hands of modern art. First, Greek work came back to contemporary society greatly by the monarch led by Titus who brought authentic work from Greek masters for his artists to learn from and imitate. He also discusses the correlation between the bodies, like that of the Theseus model, with the Greek lifestyle they lived based heavily on training for the Olympic games and the resemblance of youth’s bodies to godlike figures. Great masters of contemporary work use these same bodily model and ideal of beauty in their work. Winckelmann states that their present good taste is due to the fact that they, “partook of good taste at its source.” Overall the Greeks set up rules of art that could be imitated to capture nature and its ideal form of beauty, an idea that many sought to accomplish.
Doryphoros by Polykleitos was originally a Greek bronze made around 450-40B.C. The only way we can see it today is through the Roman marble copies (which is common of many Greek statues.) Some supports had to be added for the change in material, resulting in the addition of the form resembling a tree trunk, the support on the left foot, and the small bar bridging the gap between his right wrist and hip. Doryphoros was originally holding a spear in his left hand; appropriate, given that his name means, literally, “spear-bearer.” The sculpture is a well-known and early example of classical Greek contrapposto (the shifting of weight onto one leg and off-axis shoulders and arms.) One leg nearly appears to be lifting off the ground, giving the effect of movement. The perceived weight shift adds more dynamism to the piece, and contributes to the realism of the figure. The resulting slight “s-curve” of the figure is true to what we might see in life, and reflects an interest in proportion and anatomy, as seen with many Greek sculptures of the age. This is made particularly clear in the defined muscle groups of the figure and attention to details such as the structure of the knees, hands, and feet. Polykleitos sculpted many athletic male bodies in the nature of his personal aesthetic canon, which we can see exemplified here through the intense attention to the mathematics of the human body. The contours of the figure are visually interesting and although the figure does not hold much facial expression, his body language and presence speak volumes of his existence as the epitome of masculinity.
The Greek believed the human body was the measure of all things, therefore the artists created sculptures in a very detailed fashion which made them very life-like although the size of
Throughout the Cultural Revolution, Ji Li Jiang, a young girl, was forced to choose whether to live with her family and face them getting mistreated and sent to jail, or to break away from her family with the goal to preserve her political future. Ji Li ultimately chose to move in with her family, choosing the more dangerous option. In the nonfiction novel, Red Scarf Girl, written by Ji Li Jiang. The main character, Ji Li Jiang, is forced to not take part in an audition because if she passes, the Red Guards have to do a political background check, which Ji Li’s family will not pass. This leaves Ji Li devastated and her view of the Communist Party changes over time.
Rubens was to develop a phenomenal ability to analyze the different styles of painting and sculpture and then synthesis them into whatever his clients wanted. His clients included just about every Catholic monarch, as well as Catholic leaning Protestants like King Charles I of England, and every major religious order in Western Europe. Not to mention every wealthy connoisseur of painting. To satisfy an ever growing demand Rubens opened the largest art workshop Europe has ever seen: he would paint an small initial oil sketch which when approved and contracted for would be given over to one or more of his students to paint the full length canvas, finally Rubens would add the finishing touches and sign it.
a shift can be seen from idealized and nearly perfect sculptures to sculptures that had a natural and real feel to them. These newer statues were sculpted with the notion of Realism weighing more than the concept of Idealism. The subjects’ body was not in a state of military attention, they were placed in a more natural, yet still graceful position. Realistic sculptures also did not embellish the muscular physique of the subject; the muscle definition was displayed more subtly and naturally. The weight of Realistic statues is not distributed in a balanced, geometric fashion like the Ideal statues. The Realistic statues balance their weight just as a real person would in motion which gives the sculpture a more graceful and natural
The masculine and idealized form of the human body is an ever-present characteristic of Michelangelo’s sculpture. Many people over the years have speculated why this may be, but there has never been a definitive answer, and probably never will be. Through all of his sculpture there is a distinct classical influence, with both his subject matter and his inclination to artistically create something beautiful. In most cases, for Michelangelo, this means the idealized human figure, seeping with contraposto. This revival of classical influences is common for a Renaissance artisan, but the new, exaggerated form of the human body is new and unique to Michelangelo’s artistic style.
...ng particularly the way Rubens blends in the yellow streak of visible light while using other objects in the center of the scene. Rubens began with a thin layer of blue and a thick brush and made his painting on top of that layer additionally with thin layers with exclusion of the main objects in the center that receive a thicker coating of paint. Those objects were also painted with a much thinner brush than that of the first layer.