Essay Example on Painting: From 1700 AD/CE to Innovation and Invention

Introduction

Arts have been developing from period to period since ancient times due to some factors such as inventions and innovations as a result of technological advances. One of the art which has been there since 1700 AD/CE is painting, which started a long time ago. Some of the innovations and inventions emerged; for example, the development of English middle class; education came with professionals who created a ready market for the event of paintings (Stokstad , & Cothren Chapter 17). Technology has also come up with a print, where most of the pictures are printed and sold to earn revenue to the painters; hence, the invention of trade greatly assisted in promoting the art of painting. Also, painting became one of the advancement in passing messages in a broader context through such business.

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The second work of architecture is building, which was developed by some other various techniques. One of the significant inventions was a result of using cast the iron, wrought the iron and steel which developed this architecture. Hence, the introduction of such new materials has led to the construction of quality architectural designs. The modern building architecture has led to the establishment of feasible buildings which were constructed from steel. For instance, the buildings were constructed using iron, which exposed such structures to be susceptible to fire when exposed to intense heat (Stokstad , & Cothren Chapter 17). Hence, the introduction of masonry sheathing was the immediate solution, where an alloy of iron and steel was established; therefore buildings constructed were much stronger and resistant to fire under harsh conditions of heat and pressure.

The third form of arts is photography, which aroused due to the Renaissance and the need for westerners to record what they saw. Therefore, in the early ages, there was the establishment of camera obscura that only consisted of a box. Later one of the painters in France came up with an innovation of exposing an object to light for 20 to 30 minutes would help produce an image which is latent when placed on a silver plate coated with iodine fumes (Stokstad , & Cothren Chapter 18). Later, British photographer developed photography by finding out that silver nitrate adheres to glass, and then there was the introduction of using such chemically treated papers in both the large and small cameras. Another innovation came about when it was discovered that the latent images which are exposed to the sun for shorter periods could also be developed chemically. Hence there was the establishment of positive prints from the collotype negatives which enabled several positive images to be generated out of the negatives.

Question Two: Crosscurrents

The first one is the Hamatsa mask representing a bird mask known as Kwakwaka'wakw. They were majorly developed in the early years to represent some ritual passage especially when such community was to seek the spiritual renewal season, that included the ceremonial gift-giving and when the town was about to initiate new members to join their society (Stokstad , & Cothren Chapter 15). They were also meant to bring the youthful generation in civilized life. The organization believed that the masks played a very vital role in the community. But since the Canadian government gave up on trying to take the cover from them, there was a filmmaker called Edward, and his assistant Richard who was among the members of Kwakwaka'wakw borrowed the mask where they kept it in the museum. The society was discriminated by the Canadian government, which was claiming that the event they involved in as a ritual was detrimental to health, encouraging prostitution and endangering the education of the children. It was also contended that it damaged the economy of the country.

The second one is Kuba Funerary Masks belongs to the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo. They mainly celebrate to honour the life of their deceased members of the men's society and high ranking the community council elders. Therefore, in Congo, in the funerals of the dead, such is accompanied by the funerary mask (Stokstad , & Cothren Chapter 16). Such is a social ritual because most of the people in the society believe that without doing so, the spirit of the deceased may revenge by causing harm to the general community when they fail to acknowledge the achievements the dead made when still alive. Such objects are found in the museum due to the introduction of western culture as a result of colonization where Europeans invaded the Africa continent. There were numerous changes in a lifestyle where people were transformed to adopt a new culture of such people. The ritual, in general, is faced with gender discrimination, where it was only performed to honour the men in the society leaving behind women. Such discrimination can make women feel avoided and not equally important in such a society.

Question Three: Double Portraits

The two photos represent the two couples that is the left photo is a double portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife while the right picture is a double portrait of Thomas Mifflin and Sarah Morris (Mr and Mrs Mifflin). In the second portrait photo of Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife, they are all equally focused, meaning by that time, all men and women had equal chances in marital relationships where they shared responsibilities (Stokstad , & Cothren Chapter 17). On the other hand, the double portrait of Mr and Mrs Mifflin, it portrays the unequal opportunities they do have in their marital status. In this relationship, the woman tends to seek most of the attention, where she wants to be best seen. From the double portrait, Mrs Mifflin is in the foreground while her husband in the background. The two photos together as they can be seen that in this marital relationship, the two couples love each other. In the picture of Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife, its seen when he is holding the hands of his wife while Mr Mifflin shows love by staring at his wife endlessly in the photo, he keeps on reading and gives his wife the attention.

In the portrayal of Thomas and his wife, it is seen that people were living with their families, which shows unity among society. They come together in times of happiness and sorrow, for example, in this particular context, Thomas and his wife had gone in Boston for a family funeral, which on the other hand can be said to be their culture. They come together as a family to perform a family ritual by giving their deceased one's send-off. There is unity in this couple, as seen, Thomas established his merchant, struggling for power and he was eventually supported by his wife Sarah who had a more considerable influence in the political persuasions where she was helping a colonial boycott on British imports (Stokstad , & Cothren Chapter 17). In the double portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife have a clear indication that such a couple embraces the culture of love, meaning that the community surrounded by them lives in peace. In both of the photos, the women are seen in full dresses, and the images were taken inexpensive places, meaning most of the surrounding community lives a good life, and they have a high status of life. Also, women are advised to follow such culture of dressing decent dresses which they will only be considered presentable, which is a norm to them.

Question Four: Social Commentary and Activism

One of the artworks that is used to portray a social status is portraiture, which was mostly in Europe and America. The paintings were used by most of the wealthy people from these countries to show their wealth and proclaiming their virtues and high status. Also, it was a sign of social situation where some of the portraitists which gave them a taste to be rich and famous. They mostly also preferred their pictures to show classical and their religious history. Also, in France, it brought about the outbreak of a political revolution, which was one of the propaganda in the court. Also, in Paris, after world war two, the art of painting was dominating the world. That is, the painters were blending pictures where they used the old family photographs and other political posters to gain public interest (Stokstad , & Cothren Chapter 17). This is revealed probably by Turner who used paintings as an allegory of the Napoleonic Wars. Such portrayal was majorly telling how mighty Napoleon was, which had a more excellent command to the troops and nature as a whole. In America, the painting was majorly were the painters sketched the landscape, which was a political interest to expand their boundaries.

Also, pop art was developed with the main focus was mainly on the visual culture due to the technological advancement of mass media and the onset of war. It was also used to show the social status of people. Moreover, such art promoted the interaction of various people from different parts of the world. That is the art used mass production techniques, which eliminated the issue of a single artist selling his/her work (Stokstad , & Cothren Chapter 19). The commodities thereby sold promoted trade, which is an interaction of different people who came together to exchange goods and services. Also, the art helped us to be brought closer to the world, which allows us to be observing the world only as voyeurs but not participants.

The third form of art is cubism, which emerged in the studios of Braque and Picasso that altered the art of the world considerably. It had significant impacts in many countries such as France which aided in creating the harmonic unity in the country that is through music. Also, its political influence, cubism produced the paintings that influenced war. Another country that cubism had a more significant impact is Italy, which encouraged futurism. Such had a more significant political interest as it promoted Italian entry into the war on the side of France and England (Stokstad , & Cothren Chapter 20)

Works Cited

Stokstad , M & Cothren, M. Art: A Brief History, 7e