A mirror is a glass surface backed by a reflective material that reflects visual images; a mirror image follows the same form of movement, yet the image that the mirror reveals is also opposite and relative the device influencing reflection of the image. Sturken and Cartwright claim “that looking and being looked at can be described as a “social practice” which is, moreover, historically or culturally specific”. (9) Two other theories which expand on the mirrors importance concerning the concept of looking and being looked at i.e. Berger’s claims about how art works enable us to see what the artist has seen at another time and Foucault’s (1999) modern design of the Panopticon concerning the self-surveillance of models in both images. All evidence stated in this essay responds to the question of what is the cultural and historical importance of each artist’s choice to include a …show more content…
As a result, affecting the truthful perception and social practices of how self-surveillance and subjectivity work together; in the particular circumstances indicated by the images. The differential techniques used in creating each of these pieces i.e. photography and painting permits an excellent analysis of all the theories stated in relation to the art comparing and drawing emphases to differences and similarities portrayed in the art. The photograph on the left of Ted Hughes holding a mirror which reflects an image of his sister Olwyn Hughes, who is capturing the photograph shall be referred as sample A (Year unknown); the portrait on the right is called “Still Life with Self Portrait”, by Mark Gertler (1918) referred to as Sample
I observed a very unique series of photographs by Vik Muniz called Seeing is Believing. Vik Muniz’s images are not simply photography but are pictures of complicated pieces of art he has produced at earlier times. Utilizing an array of unorthodox materials including granulated sugar, chocolate syrup, sewing thread, cotton, wire, and soil Muniz first creates an image, sculpturally manipulates it and then photographs it. Muniz’s pictures include portraits, landscapes, x-rays, and historical images.
The source photograph is a tightly cropped head and shoulder shot. The subject is a family member or friend. The finished work is always titled by the subject’s first name alone (with the exception of “Self-Portrait”). This decision was intended to project an aura of anonymity, allowing viewers to approach the work without preconceived ideas about the sitter.Close’s working method is extremely labor-intensive. He begins by dividing his source photograph into a grid and creating a corresponding grid on the canvas. He then meticulously transcribes the image onto the canvas square by square, proceeding from the top left to the bottom right.
Oftentimes the lens we use when interpreting any art is based on our interpretation of the truth of the story – if a story is perceived as historically accurate, we look at the story as co...
The essay How You See Yourself by Nicholas Mirzoeff discusses the evolution of art. The author discusses the use of art to represent changing identities over the years including cultural practices and societal expectations. The selfie, according to Nicholas Mirzoeff’s essay, is the equivalent of a self-portrait in the previous centuries preceding the technological development required for the present day selfie. The essay explores the different periods and the significance of art, particularly self-portraits, the selfies of the time, and their development over time. The author focuses on different themes including heroism, gender definition, and the focus of an image. Mirzoeff effectively provides examples illustrating and reinforcing the themes he highlights in his essay.
Rowe visits North’s assertion that the role of the mask, as applied to visual art, is “convention embodied, the sign of signs,” which exposes the structure of art b...
Mr. Berger states in his essay, “The reciprocal nature of vision is more fundamental than that of a spoken dialogue. And often dialogue is an attempt to verbalize this- an attempt to explain how, either metaphorically or literally, “you see things” (120). This statement is a use of the rhetorical strategy, ethos, which is what Mr. Berger uses to gain influence and trust with the academic audience that he is intending to instill new knowledge in. This is a strong use of ethos that leads into how art is viewed so
In the early 1400s, Italian engineer and architect, Filippo Brunelleschi, rediscovered the system of perspective as a mathematical technique to replicate depth and form within a picture plane. According to the principles, establishing one or more vanishing points can enable an artist to draw the parallels of an object to recede and converge, thus disappearing into a “distance”. In 1412, Brunelleschi demonstrated this technique to the public when he used a picture of the Florence Baptistery painted on a panel with a small hole in the centre.3 In his other hand, he held a mirror to reflect the painting itself, in which the reflected view seen through the hole depicted the correct perspective of the baptistery. It was confirmed that the image
oco period took place during the first half of the 18th century across Europe. The Rococo style of art is erotic, sexual, and uses escapism. Escapism means that the art is not meant to be serious. Several popular themes arose during the Rococo period such as affection, love, and flowers. The Neoclassical period was a time of Enlightenment. Inspiring artists of the time were encouraged to take a grand tour before they went on to become famous artists. The grand tour is when these artists would travel to various places such as Rome to observe the techniques used in famous paintings and architecture. Both the Rococo and Neoclassical eras would lead up to a new construction of government.
.... 'It is a moment when the visible escapes from the timeless incorporeal order of the camera obscura and becomes lodged in another apparatus, within the unstable physiology and temporality of the human body'. Crary further demonstrates the shift in vision's location from camera to body by examining the way in which it was reproduced in various optical devices invented during this same period, specifically the stereoscope, the kaleidoscope, the phenakistiscope, and the diorama. His examination is based on a provocative premise: 'There is a tendency to conflate all optical devices in the nineteenth century as equally implicated in a vague collective drive to higher and higher standards of verisimilitude' (110). According to Crary, such an approach tends to neglect entirely how some of these devices were expressions of what he calls 'nonveridical' models of perception.
It appears to me that pictures have been over-valued; held up by a blind admiration as ideal things, and almost as standards by which nature is to be judged rather than the reverse; and this false estimate has been sanctioned by the extravagant epithets that have been applied to painters, and "the divine," "the inspired," and so forth. Yet in reality, what are the most sublime productions of the pencil but selections of some of the forms of nature, and copies of a few of her evanescent effects, and this is the result, not of inspiration, but of long and patient study, under the instruction of much good sense…
In 1980, Arlene Skolnick’s “The Paradox of Perfection” was published in Wilson Quarterly around the time when the “ideal family” was highly regarded. The article expresses the idea that the perfect family dose not exist. This essay is a prime example of how society views on what a family should be, subconsciously affects the behavior and attitude of the average family. As a psychologist from University of California, Skolnick presents her views through a series of historical contexts and statistics.
It is said that art is like a mirror to the soul, a way to see what
Art provokes oneself to express a feeling that one has encountered in their lifetime and allows the artist to display their masterpiece for an observer to connect to. Artist Berthe Morisot once said, “It is important to express oneself… provided the feelings are real and are taken from your own experience”. With the usage of movements, hues, sounds, shapes, or methods articulated in words, an artist can communicate his or her beliefs by making emotional connections to their audience. Art allows individuals to express themselves in creative ways that can bring many individuals closer by having a connection. In Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, nearly everyone is conditioned in the modern world to show the impact of what art can influence
In the book “Ways of Seeing,” John Berger explains several essential aspects of art through the influence of the Marxism and art history that relate to social history and the sense of sight. Berger examines the dominance of ideologies in the history of traditional art and reflects on the history, class, and ideology as a field of cultural discourse, cultural consumption and cultural practice. Berger argues, “Realism is a powerful link to ownership and money through the dominance of power. ”(p.90)[1] The aesthetics of art and present historical methodology lack focus in comparison to the pictorial essay.
Paintings, like many forms of art, are very subjective—what one may find intriguing another may completely disagree. “Art is physical material that affects a physical eye and conscious brain” (Solso, 13). To glance at art, we must go through a process of interpretation in order to understand what it is we are looking at. Solso describes the neurological, perceptual, and cognitive sequence that occurs when we view art, and the often inexpressible effect that a work of art has on us. He shows that there are two aspects to viewing art: nativistic perception—the synchronicity of eye and brain that transforms electromagnetic energy into neuro-chemical codes—which is "hard-wired" into the sensory-cognitive system; and directed perception, which incorporates personal history—the entire set of our expectations and past experiences—and knowledge (Solso, preface)