Located on the third-floor, arched ceiling, Edward Laning’s mural Prometheus watches over the many travelers, students, and New Yorkers who visit the New York Public Library in Manhattan. This mural was created in 1942 under the New Deal’s Work Progress Administration and was never part of Laning’s original collection, The Story of the Recorded Word, that adorned the McGraw Rotunda. Prometheus was a mural that was later added to the rotunda ceiling in January 1942, but unlike the other murals, it did not depict the story of the recorded word. This mural instead showed the myth of Prometheus, the Greek Titan who stole the fire from the gods at Mount Olympus and gave it to mankind. In this mural, we see Prometheus in the middle flying above a …show more content…
gap, which separates the gods and the humans, with the stolen flame in his hand. Prometheus is reaching out to mankind, but looks behind him to see the gods trying to get the fire back. This fire in the mural symbolizes inspiration and knowledge, making this painting appropriate for the ceiling of a library, where people gain knowledge and inspiration from books they read. Prometheus represents the beginning of mankind through the myth, and although it was created after the four murals in The Story of the Recorded Word, it can be connected to the collection as it figuratively shows that the theft of the fire led to knowledge and words. The artist who created the murals Prometheus and The Story of the Recorded Word was an American painter, named Edward Laning.
Laning was born in Petersburg, Illinois in 1906. He went to school at the University of Chicago and then at the Art Students League, where he later taught art. He painted numerous prominent public murals during his life and worked under the WPA as an artist. His most notable work is The Story of the Recorded Word, which he used oil to create a realistic, neo-Renaissance style that was popular during the WPA projects. Some of his other work though includes the Ellis Island murals and those displayed at the Whitney Museum of American Art. According to institutes that have studied Laning’s art, Laning’s pieces expressed his disappointment with the uncertain political and social outcomes of America after the Depression. He perceived that American values were degrading and used fire in several of his paintings as a symbol of impending social destruction. However, although his views were interpreted as negative, his murals are still admired today in post offices and the library. One of which stands 17 feet above the ground, allowing guests to look up at the story of Prometheus he created through art. He was working on 11 other murals at the New York Public Library, but before he could complete his pieces, Edward Laning sadly passed away in
1981.
On Saturday, March 15, 2014, I visited the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The gallery #753, which is a part of so-called American Wing, features oil paintings of the revolutionary period in America. The paintings seen in this gallery celebrate heroes and hard-fought battles of the new nation. The most popular type of painting of that time remained portraiture. Portraits in extremely large numbers figured in interiors, where they were arranged to convey not only domestic, but political messages as well. Hence, it is natural, that such iconic figure like George Washington became a model for numerous artists of that era, including Gilbert Stuart and Charles Willson Peale, for whom Washington actually sat. Two exceptional portraits of Washington, the general and the the first President of the United States are highlighted in this paper.
Lie spent much of his youth studying art in Paris and Norway (Rollins 2). While studying in Paris, Lie found great inspiration from the works of Impressionist artist, Claude Monet. After returning from Paris, Lie moved to New York City, giving art classes for aspiring young artists (Caldwell 2). During this period, Lie painted Dusk on Lower Broadway, and through this piece, one is able to see the heavy influence of Impressionism and the techniques of Claude Monet reflected beautifully.
In 1931--the middle of The Great Depression, the painting titled View of New York was executed by an American painter and photographer named Charles Sheeler Jr. in New York. The painting presents the artist’s studio structure and only the cloudy sky of the most modernized city in the world. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston currently reserves
Boniface Wimmer is regarded as one of the greatest missionaries of the nineteenth century. His mission was to establish a Benedictine monastery abroad in the United States to help the thousands of Catholic Germans who fled from their homeland in search of a better life. “Today, there are over thirty Abbeys and monasteries that take their root from Archabbot Boniface Wimmer, O.S.B.” With the grace of God, Boniface Wimmer succeeded. He was considered to be a “man on a mission.” His tenacious attitude aided him in spreading the mission of the Benedictine Order across the Atlantic Ocean. The Benedictines were seen not only as missionaries, but also as teachers and priests. The strong sense of bonding and connection within the community was vital to the Benedictine Order then, as it still is today.
We don't have any exact dates for Hesiod, but it seems that his poetic activity dates from around the last third of the 8th century BC. We find his versions of the Prometheus myth in two of his works: the Theogony at lines 521-616, and the Works and Days, at lines 42-89. The Theogony in general discusses the origin and genealogies of the gods and the events that led to the establishment of Zeus as their king. The Works and Days is quite varied in content but overall could be described as giving advice for living a life of honest industry. In the Theogony the story of Prometheus comes as a narrative interlude and aims at explaining the origins of certain institutions ...
Charles Cullen was born on February 22, 1960, in West Orange, New Jersey. He was the youngest of eight siblings. His father worked as a bus driver, and died at age 58 when Cullen was only seven months old. Two of his siblings also died in adulthood. His mother was a stay at home mom who raised the eight children. Charles Cullen described his life as miserable, he attempted suicide at age nine by drinking chemicals he got out of a chemistry set, he attempted suicide a total of twenty times throughout his life. On December 6, 1977, when Cullen was 17 years old his mother died in a car accident, while his sister was behind the wheel. After this accident, Charles Cullen was devastated and decided to drop out of high school and join the Navy. Cullen
Harlem was a crowded, teeming place, and the public school Lawrence attended was considered among the roughest in the area. But Harlem in the 1930s was also the center of what became known as the Harlem Renaissance. To keep her son out of trouble Rose Lawrence enrolled him in an after-school arts and crafts program at a local community center. It was taught by a young African American artist named Charles Alston. Alston liked the serious, quiet Lawrence and made sure he had lots of materials for his efforts. He found that drawing geometric designs in bright colors satisfied him greatly. He soon moved on to elaborate patterns and developed his own method of painting in which particular shapes were rendered in corresponding colors, one at a time. Lawrence continued in this mode through much of his career. The notable consistency of color is apparent in the artist’s later series of story panels.
Campbell, Joseph. The Masks of God: Creative Mythology. New York: The Viking Press, Inc., 1968.
Charles Searles is an African-American artist born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1937. The second son of a total of eight children, Searles main focus as a child was becoming an artist. Searles' mother encouraged and equipped Charles with tools to continue his passions while he grew up. Charles went to Salsburger High School, all the while working as a carpenter for his father. During his young adult life, he went to the armed forces to be able to help raise his family. Searles went for his undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania in 1973. In 1974, he graduated the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts with honors accomplishments. Around this time, Charles received the Cresson Medal scholarship to travel to Amsterdam. Searles also received the Ware Memorial Traveling Scholarship, where he was the first student to use the grant to travel to Africa.
Rosenberg, Donna. "The Creation of the Titans and the Gods." World Mythology. 3rd ed. Chicago: NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group, Inc., 1999. 82-89. Print.
Joseph Ratzinger was born on April 16, 1927 in Marktl, Bavaria, Germany. He was birthed in his parents’ home, on Holy Saturday. On the same day, he was baptized. His father, Joseph Ratzinger, was a very religious man and a police officer, who was modestly paid. His mother, Maria Ratzinger, was a stay-at-home mother. His brother, Gerog, and his sister, Maria, were older than him. “He was the youngest of three children” (Streissguth 11).
On August 27, 1906 in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, a guy with the name of Edward Theodore Gein was born. He was born to George Philip, an alcoholic and Augusta Gein, very religious woman. Ed also had an older brother named Henry Gein. Their father could never keep a job because of his addiction so the family moved away and went into living in isolation in Plainfield, Wisconsin. Augusta loved Gein a lot so she’d never let him socialize with anyone. She would punish him for making friends. He would go to school, come back and do the chores. Augusta would read him and Henry the Bible and she’d would tell them that everything is evil especially women.
Edward Jenner is often regarded as the “Father of Immunology” for his development of the smallpox vaccine. His remarkable discovery has laid the foundation for future scientists working with immunizations. Jenner’s impact is seen worldwide to this day with the complete eradication of the deadly smallpox virus. Edward Jenner’s Legacy will always live on as the first to vaccinate using a live virus. Vaccines are improving everyday, which benefits the public’s health, all thanks to Edward Jenner.
Prometheus was a titan god who was punished for his transgression of giving the sacred fire of Olympus to the rotten mankind. He was punished by Zeus, bounded him into a rock. Whereas, eagles, symbol of Zeus, flocked him every day feeding on his liver which then grows back again for the next day. Prometheus was immortal, making the punishment and eternal agony and tragedy for him. (Morris, 1991, p. 203)
Prometheus, the Titan of Greek mythology, was considered to be the most important Titan ever in all the myths. He helped the human race tremendously in his efforts to sustain an easier lifestyle. Mankind had great respect for him because of his advantages and gifts or abilities he gave them. Also, his battle against Zeus as a result of his love for man was very much appreciated. Prometheus was one of the most interesting Greek mythology figures in his time. He was a very kind, loving, generous, and courteous god to mankind. This can be seen through many events in his life including a particular myth that the reader will acknowledge in this research paper.