When viewing an artist's work, we have a chance to take a step into their world. In a way it is like stepping into an alternative reality, their reality; how they see the world and their perception of it. A famous artist who defines this is Expressionist painter Henri Matisse. Matisse used extremely stylized forms and powerful colors to paint his experience of the world.
Matisse used COLOR is a extreme way to convey EMOTION.
Portrait of Madame Matisse (The Green Line) - 1905
In this painting Matisse expresses emotion in the colors he chooses to paint his wife's portrait. This is his experience of how he sees his wife in this moment and this glance.
The Open Window - 1905
This painting is another of Matisse's perceptions of the world, in this case a view from a window.
"I don't paint that table, but I paint the emotion it produces on me" - Henri Matisse
Want to see even more of Matisse's perceptions of the world?
Matisse at Work. Can't understand the dialogue, but it's still cool to see an art master doing his thing!
I feel like you can't go anywhere these days without somebody pushing some kind of product or service in your face. It's on everything: clothes, sports arenas, video games, etc, etc.. But can one consider advertising be considered an art form as well as a medium for communciation between producers and consumers? I found some beatuiful advertising that can definitely considered ART. Enjoy the beauty!
I am doubling majoring in COMMUNICATIONS and MEDIA ARTS. I have a passion for both the subjects, so when I find someone who combines these two principles successfully in the real world I often follow their career for years. Marjane Satrapi is one of those people I have faithfully learned from since I first read her book Persepolis I in 2008. Persepolis is a coming of age story about a young Iranian girl growing up in during the Iran – Iraq War and under the suppressive Islamic Republic Regime. Born in Iran in 1969, Satrapi grew up during the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War that devasted her country. Growing up in the policital and social turmoil inspired her to tell the true story of her country from the veiw point of a woman and actually citizen of Iran, not a forgien media. Only she didn't write her biography, she drew it.
Marjane used the medium of art and comic books to convey the struggle of her childhood, her family, and the people of Iran. Satrapi uses the medium of comics because she believes image is an international language, that is you draw a situation or an expression it means the same thing in all cultures. The images in “Persepolis” are simple, not overly detailed, and expressive. Since they are like this it is easy to relate to them. There is nothing extremely foreign in the scenes; what’s happening there in the scenes could be happening anywhere; Iran, St. Paul, New York, etc... The simplicity allows for the reader to use his/her imagination and place themselves in Marjane’s world.
“From the time I came to France in 1994, I was always telling stories about life in Iran to my friends. We'd see pieces about Iran on television, but they didn't represent my experience at all. I had to keep saying, "No, it's not like that there." I've been justifying why it isn't negative to be Iranian for almost twenty years. How strange when it isn't something I did or chose to be?”
- Marjane Satrapi
Satrapi's book was also made into one of my most favorite movies of ALL TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Check it out!
I am an artist, so naturally I believe that art was was the first medium humankind used to communicate. Here I have ten examples of how early societies used art to convey a message, story, or idea to the masses.
1. African Rock Painting: Bamboo Mountain, South Africa. 6000 BCE. Told the story of hunting rituals.
2. Ashoka's Columns: India, 250 BCE. King Ashoka formulated a legal code based on Buddha's teachings that he inscribed on columns, which he then placed all over his kingdom.
3. The Life and Death of Buddha: Gandhara, Pakistan. 2nd Century CE. One of the earliest pictorial narratives that tells Buddha's life story.
4. Auspicious Cranes: China, 1112 CE.
This hand scroll is a form a early propaganda. The emperor Huizong who commissioned this scroll used it to convince his people his reign was blessed by the gods. The Cranes, which were thought to be lucky, are painted circling around the emperor's palace. In China at the time war and upheaval was just around the corner, and Huizong needed a way to pacify his people and get their confidence. Because most of the population of China was illiterate, art and symbolism was an effective tool in creating a message that could be spread far and wide.
Video Clip Going More in Depth of the Origins of the Auspicious Cranes Painting
5. Night Attack on Sanjo Palace: Japan, 13th Century CE. Scroll telling a historical narrative.
6. Mihrab from the Madrasa Imami: Iran, 1354.
In Islamic tradition, their writing or alphabet is often written as calligraphy. Calligraphy, or "beautiful writing", is itself considered a high art form and decorates some of the Islam's most sacred places. Paper and books, including the Koran, were unaffordable by majority of the Islamic population so artists created a lasting way to share Islamic prose by placing it within tiled masterpieces. Here I have an example of how important Islamic verses have withstood time in the form of tiled mosaics. The border of the mosaic are filled with ancient Islamic calligraphy.
7. Mictlantecuhtli and Quetzalcoatl Codex: Mexico 1400 CE
When Spainish armadas came over and conquered South America, they were suprised to find that societies like the Mixteca created their own form of books which came to be known as codexes. A codex usually contained paintings or drawnings depicting their myths and legends. The codexes were extensively illustrated and symbolism created a narrative. Here I have an example of a page within a codex that depicts the Mixteca gods Mictlantecuhtli (god of death) and Quetzalcoatl (god of death) sitting back to back representing the relationship with life a death.
8. Haida Totem Poles: Vancouver, Canada. 18th Century. These massive wood sculptures told the story of the local clan or tribe. They held significant symbolism to the Native Americans along the Northwest coast.
9. Kiva Mural: New Mexico, 15th century. This type of mural is called a kiva, and was used to tell ancient Puebloan spiritual stories.
10. Wepiha Meeting Houses: New Zealand, 15th Century. These meeting houses were designed with ancestors and gods carved on beams within the building. The carvings each told a story of warining or a moral story.
Source: Gardner's Art Through the Ages: Non-Western Art 2010
