Museum Visit

" Arcadia: in the collections of Pompidou Center" is an current exhibition in Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Arcadia is a mountainous region of ancient Greece in the Peloponnesus. Its pastoral life and
relative isolation represented as a paradise in Greek
and Roman poetry.
This exhibition begins with Poussin's " The Arcadian Sheperds, 1638", which is projected onto a macrame curtain. Viewers push aside the curtain and enter into the exhibition. The sheperds in Poussin's painting are standing around a tomb,

seemingly pondering the meaning of the inscription. " ET IN ARCADIA EGO", which means
"Even in Arcadia I exist" in Latin. "I" is considered to refer to death. It seems to imply the theme of this exhibition is the modern version of seaching, imagination, and also disillusion of an Utopia.
The exhibition has ten parts, including golden age,
the Arcadia, the Arcadia rediscovered, aboundance, vanities, voluptuousness, harmony etc. It closes with Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe, 2002, by Vladimir Dubossarsky and Alexander Vinogradov, which mimics Manet's "The Luncheon on the Grass", but depictes Cézanne, Monet, and Pissarro etc., all in nude, , in a crowded, Eden-like landscape.
Actually, this is the first time I noticed the relationship between the theme of an exhibition and each individual artwork. I never think of how
artworks are selected and organized under a specific
theme of an exhibition. I usually walked through an
exhibition, enjoyed every single work, and
might be impressed by some of them, but didn not take the theme or the topics into serious consideration.

This time I found it was interesting to appreciate

an exhibition through the theme and the way the artworks were grouped under the theme.

Blog #8

David (1748-1825) was a contemporary of Goya (1746- 1828). Both of them were the leading artists in their countries at that time. They both lived through the turbulent and changing time of French Revolution, the rise of Napoleon, and the restoration of monarchy. They lived to see their ideals, hopes and dreams vanished. In the end, they both spent their last years in exile.
How did they respond to the upheaval and confusing time?
For ten years, David had been banished and lived in Brussels before he died. He returned to mythological subjects and portraiture. He was not a propagandist anymore. His idealized hero, either Marat or Napoleon, had gone. He no longer included social and moral virtues in his works. His later works became more expressive and emotional. His color was brighter and richer , influenced by Flemish painting. As this piece, Mars disarmed by Venus and the three Graces, presented.

As for Goya, it was a rather different story.

Goya's early works were jovial and lighthearted. After Napoleon's invasion followed by mass executions, and the restoration of Spanish monarchy and the Inquisition, Goya's faith in humanity was crushed. He withdrew to an isolated house in a forest outside Madrid. His later works had a dark tonality, both in mood and color. This piece showed
the lt.side of a huge painting, A pilgrimage to San Isidro, which Goya painted on the wall of his simple house. He did it for himself, not intended to show those works to
the world. Disturbing and horrific, yet intensly powerful. He indeed is " the first of the moderns".

Blog # 7

The first time I encountered William Blake's Elohim Creating Adam, it struck me by its eery atmosphere and uneasy mood. It is so different from Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam on Sistine Chapel's ceiling. I was puzzled and tried to figure out why these two pieces are like different stories of the same event. From my own feeling, not from a closer study,
these are what I find:

Michelangelo's:
1. God is going to touch Adam lightly
2. Adam is longing for God's touch
3. Adam sits and is able to stand up the next moment
4. an atmosphere of harmony
5. Adam will be perfected
6. a bright future is expected
7. Adam is going to be transformed
8. a sense of beginning, like a prelude


William's:
1. God is pressing hardly on Adam's head
2. Adam appears to have no choice
3. Adam lies on the ground and is restrained
4. an atmosphere of discord
5. Adam faces endless struggles
6. a disaster is inevitable
7. .Adam must be returned to dust (God's one hand is clutching clay)
8. a sense of ending, the fate of human being is doomed

Almost three hundreds years after Michelangelo's work, William Blake found it difficult to be optimistic about human being. Another two hundreds years later, the situation of the world is even more dreadful.

blog # 6

The Little Street, by Jan Vermeer

Little was known about Vermeer's life. Not many are his paintings, only 36 paintins are attributed to him. Few places he traveled, in Delft he lived and worked all his life. For me, Vermeer himself is, like his paintings, very quiet in history.
Heors, mythology, complex symbols didn't seem to interest him. His concerns were at the corner of a street, a place which has not been identified, or does not even exist. Therefore, it might be a scenery in his mind. Though it looks like an ordinary scene, it is full of poetic quality.
Painting is usually for sight, not for hearing. However, Vermeer's works always have a great power on sound- the ultimate quietness. He did not freeze the moment, but created a muted scene. Things in his paintings are in progress, but in a silent way. He was dipicting an everyday scene, but made a space from the reality. He seems to invite us to slow down to enter his poetic world.
I wish one day I can look at the painting closely to see the colors and textures of his cobble stone street, the bricks, the shutters, and the white plaster on the wall, to get a sense of the essence of those things.

Blog # 5

David with the head of Goliath, Caravaggio

Caravaggio only lived a short life of 37 years, a life full of riot, instability and flight. Though many artists are considered eccetric, very few are as temperamental, impulsive and violent as him. His crime records included injury, insult, and even murder. However, he is indeed a genius. Not only an unusually gifted genius, but one I deeply admired. But how could I admire a villain? I was totally bewildered.
Michelangelo's David is an ideal youth with divine qualities and full of inner strength. Bernini's David is mature and energetic. Unlike them, Caravaggio's David doesn't look heroic. He doesn't seem very happy about his victory, but disgusted. Why could he have that kind of expression toward his giant enemy- the image of Caravaggio's self-portrait? Why an artist identified himself with Goliath? Michelangelo has painted his distored feature as the flayed skin of Bartholomew in his " Last Judgement". But Bartholomew was a saint and was going to be accepted into heaven . Unlike the saved soul of Bartholomew, Goliath was condemned.
Caravaggio's tragic life is like a deep sigh. He was revolutionary and seemed opposed to every rule- the traditions of painting, the law, the authority of prison(once he escaped from a prison), and the assumed role of an artist. Giving viewers a sense of beauty or an idealized world was not his intention. He refused to model the classical sculptures and took models from the street. He broke the boundaries of saints and common people, the noble and the lowly, ideal and realistic as well. During those years of committing crimes, imprisoning and fleeing, he must knew very well about the darkness of human nature, the desperate situation of mankind, and the terror and despair of being isolated. He pushed us from the surface appearance of the world to the reality of ourselves.
Is his David , neither perfect nor triumphal, also himself?
Caravaggio finally got clemency from Rome. Three days after his death, it arrived.

Blog # 4 Pieta By Michelangelo

When Michelangelo made his first Pieta, he was in his early twenties. This life-size marble sculpture depicted Virgin Mary as a beautiful young woman, almost as young as her son. Mary is serene and contemplative, while Jesus seems in peaceful sleep.
I was puzzled when I first came upon Michelangelo's interpretation of Pieta. It conveys a sense of tranquility instead of grievance. I am not sure if Michelangelo intended to create a heavenly atmosphere.

Florentine Pieta
Fifty years passed when Micholangelo worked on this theme again. He was in his seventies now. Jesus looks like completely lifeless so they are struggling to support his body. From my own experience on medical care, I know human bodies will become much heavier when we are unconscious. Michelangelo has greatly changed his style. His Pieta is no longer an ideal form, but reveals the sense of death.


Michelangelo was eighty years old when he began
working on his last two Pieta. He worked on them intermittently for the follwoing ten years. He seems to be getting further away from his youthful work. He no longer demonstrated his perfect and mastery technique.
He left them rough and unfinished, intentionally. The


blocks of marble speak for themselves. He did not persue the goal of perfection , but the essence of art and life. His figures of the last Pieta seemed to merge together, which might revealed his ultimate yearning for the destination of life.

# 3

From the website of Verrochio's David, it's interesting to compare different versions of David made in Florence between 14th and 15th centuries. The young David's courage and confidence has been a symbol of the spirit of Florence since 14th century. The story of David and Goliath is just the beginning event of the future king of Israel, yet it provides a rich source of inspiration for artists. They captured the different moments of the great victory to show many aspects of David.

Some dipicted David at the moment of decapitating Goliath, showing blood gushed from the neck of Goliath. The victory has beeb decided. David had won the seemingly impossible fight.

The other artists chose to represent David at the later stage of the conflict when he became relaxed and stepped on the body of Goliath, or had Goliath's head lying on the side of his feet.

Also David was shown holding the loaded sling , and was
going to throw the stone with all his strength. The situation was very tense and critical.


The David Micholangelo made probably was some time after the battle. He was mature and there was no Goliath's head beneath his feet. David has grown into an ideal stage. He was full of confidence and did not need anything to prove his value.

#2

The Merode Alterpiece, by Robert Campin, is an example of dipicting a biblical event happened in the artist's contemnporary setting. Mary was sitting in a comfortable Flemish home, absorbed in reading. For a long time, I was puzzled by this kind of arrangements. What are the thoughts and intention behind it? Does it mean to bring the viewers closer to the situation of the figures and make them connect to God more easily? What if we see a painting of Mary sitting in a modern apartment, wearing a pair of jeans, and working in front of a computer when an angel doing Annuciation?
At first, I thought it's quite odd to portray Mary in a way a thousand years out of her time and thousand miles from her own place. It's too "unrealistic" , though the artist was using virtuoso technique to show details and accuracy. After thinking of some possibilities, I don't have an obvious answer to the question. But it might be what the artists want us to do- to think over about their works. A great piece of art can evoke interactions between the artists and viewers and inspire viewers to explore the multiple layers of meaning in it.

Solitude, by Marc Chagall, 1933
This piece of painting is full of poetic quality, which evokes imagination and deep feelings. There are many symbolic things in this painting, like the big scroll, the accompanied animal, the violin, and the flying angel. The content of this painting shows a man sitting there lonely and sorrowful, either dreaming or contemplating, but also gives a sense of longing and hope. I chose this piece because it reflects some aspects of my personality. I like to retreat to solitude, dreaming, imagining, searching the inner world of mind. Chagall did this painting in his middle age, but I think we will get different meanings from this painting at different ages.



The second piece is a photograph my 13-year-old daughter took when we were in Istanbul. It looks like no subject matter, but still intends to create some thoughts and feelings in this image. I connect this piece with my interests in historical events and places. What we know about the past is only a tiny part of the truth, like this illuminated area in the vast darkness. And also what we think we know may not be true, as the meanings of those Arabic are hidden for me . The light on the scene would be gone, and move to another spot next moment. It is changing every moment as the passing of time.


The third piece is called " poet on a mountain top" by Chen Zhou ,a Chinese painter (1427-1509). This is an ink painting that shows only value, but no hue or saturation of color. Though the man is on the top of the mountain, he is still a small figure in the whole picture. The long way he has traveled may symbolize the process of his life. He is calm and stands in awe at that moment. All the turmoil of the world has been left behind. The inner peace has been achieved. I enjoy simple style rather than flamboyant style. That's why ink paintings appeal to me.