Nature Flashcards
“Design and composition of a building are solely determined by the architect” TWEDYA?
- must refer to non-western once
- use critical texts
First para (pro) • FLW was famous, sought-after and considered a genius by many. Robie House 1909 was a new, type of building, entirely conceived by FLW who came up with the Prairie style. > v/a evidence…. • Also Falling Water 1935 FLW’s new organic architecture design. > VA evidence
Second para (con)
• However, both buildings are clearly inspired by nature itself. Explain why….
o Quote: “ [the house] is a gracious part of its environment. It graces its environment, rather than disgraces it.” ( 1953 interview with Hugh Downs)
- the patron himself, Mr Robie had very clear views about form and function.
• FLW was influenced by Japanese architecture
• FLW was influenced by the International Style, i.e. European Modernism, although he had a critical opinion of its machine aesthetic, v/a evidence
• Crit text In 1986, New York Times architecture critic Paul Goldberger wrote
o “This is a house that summed up the 20th century and then thrust it forward still further… integrating European modernism and his own love of nature and of structural daring.”
Third para (pro&con)
• The Bahai House of Worship, 1986 by Fariborz Sahba : although a unique architectural solution by its architect it is inspired by nature
• It is also stylistically related to other Bahai temples and the religious symbolism as much as the function of a temple for all religions has impacted its appearance.
- Lotus flower images are a reflection of the Bahai religion (especially Hindu elements, as many of the gods are born from the lotus)
Fourth para (con) • With early buildings it is often very difficult to ascertain what the individual influence of an architect was or even if there was only one ‘architect’. • Angkor Wat 1110-1150, although clearly built by extraordinarily skilled architects and craftspeople takes its main inspiration from nature and how it was interpreted through Hindu and Buddhist religion. Examples v/a: temple mount, moat, gopuras, garudas, naga etc. • The patron King Suryavarman II had an impact – direction of temple, it might be a mausoleum,…
Conclusion
Can’t agree with statement. The architect as ‘author’ of a building is a relatively modern concept. Architecture is a product of many influences.
Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our ideas of the sublime and beautiful, 1757
(what is nature and sublime?)
“All that stuns the soul, all that imprints a feeling of terror, leads to the sublime”
Joshua Reynolds quote about the artist and nature
“A mere copier of nature can never produce anything great”
Friedrich von Schelling quote about imperfection shown through nature
“Nature is merely the imperfect reflection of a world that exists not outside but within [the artist]”
What was the first landscape painting in Western Art (a painting which only shows the landscape without an ulterior narrative)
Altdorfer’s Winterlandscape with Woodcutter 1522
What was the Cult of Nature
Emerging in the 18th century it replaced the “Faith in divine power” with that in nature
John Ruskin, truth of nature quote
“essential truth that could only be found in nature”
Elaine A. King on Constable quote
“the play of light produced by the air, the atmosphere amid the destructive power of nature”
Analyse how two artists have represented animals in different ways. At least one of your examples must have been produced from beyond the European tradition (15)
- Tipu’s Tiger 1780/90s
- Tipu was ruler of Mysore, nicknamed the Tiger of Mysore- as was his royal symbol which decorated everything (throne, armour and guns etc.)
- Defeated by British in 1792, humiliated and stripped of titles
- Tiger mauls a British offer and sounds coming from piece sound like screams. The noble ruler of India finally having his revenge on those who wronged him
- Importantly, the tiger’s face is not contorted, retaining its nobility
- Made by Tipu himself - Surprise! Henry Rosseau 1891
- Inspired by the stories of explorers who would be heavily contributing to the French ethnographic museum at the time
- Implying savagery of native populations/foreign countries
- Shape of grass and trees helps the tiger’s stripes blend in
- Flat colours like a children’s book/dream-like/nightmare
- Pro-colonial aspects, you will be killed by the tiger if you don’t force it to submit
- Snarling and about to pounce like a wild beast- illumination of lightning suggesting this is the moment the tiger who has been stalking us is revealed
Discuss how Van Gogh’s context impacted on the representation of nature in his work Sunflowers 1888
- Three themes, religion, Japanese prints, and his friendship with Gaugin
- This is painted in response to a landscape Gaugin gave him and was to be sent to him as a gift in return
- Vanitas: the idea that beauty is impermanent and death and decay are inevitable
- 15 sunflowers each in a different stage of life, implying there is no escape from god’s will or time
- sunflowers follow the sun as humans follow god, and their yellow colour is similar to the yellow of candles burnt in churches to feel god’s warmth
- gratitude to god for making pretty sunflowers, and saying that it is his job as an artist to make pretty works
- Like Japanese prints, he leaves the middle ground bare to allow the subject to pop. Similarly, the background is flat
- Use of yellow and blue, restrained colour palette, strong black lines and bright tones like prints
- There is no shadow or light source
- The vase is humble and made of clay, yet he allows it to be seen anyway (in Dutch paintings the vase would be covered with flowers)
- Appreciation for Gaugin is shown by signing his name clearly on the vase, as though it is a letter or present
- Also shows how proud he is an artist but also as Gaugin’s friend/pupil
- Their friendship began from exchanging sunflower paintings, reflects this
- “I am painting with the gusto of a Marseillaise eating a bouillabaisse” Gogh describing how happy the colour yellow makes him
Explore how landscape and seascape are represented in painting [25]
1) JW Turner’s Steam Boat of a Harbour’s Mouth 1842
- Turner himself supposedly tied himself to the mast of a ship during a storm
- Reinvention of relationship between sea and sky- previously they are separate but here they merge
- Brown steam from boat, brown undertone of water mixed with blues and greys of sky create contrast and depth making storm seem deeper
- T.J. Clark, “Modernism, Postodernism and Steam” 2002, “its steam was always an image of power. Steam could be harnessed; steam could be compressed. steam was what initially made the machine world possible”
- White in the middle could be ship’s sail or light of lighthouse/divine descending to save them
2) JW Turner Hannibal crossing the Alps 1812
- Hannibal is not even present, all the glory of the piece is reserved for the massive snowstorm
- Rearing to hit them, curving like a snake covering the sun
- Warm earthy tones of rocks and men contrasts the cold and dark tones of storm, also makes it appear divine/otherworldly
- Sun being a symbol of hope and authority, blotted out by the awesome and divine nature of the storm
- Majority of the canvas is taken up by the sky to show its dominance
- Attention on the casualties of the conflict, which are the soldiers struggling in the harsh conditions. Weakness of humans
- Possibly inspired by Napoleon’s crossing the Alps in 1800 and the painting titled “Napoleon crossing the Alps” in 1805
Explore how two works by Constable represent nature (12)
1) The Hay wain 1821
- Actually titled “noon” it is painted at the titular time. The colour palette is warm and summery and the workers wear little clothing
- Working class idillic, the workers are engaged with nature, taming the fields
- Ploughing fields, submerged in river
- Heavy period of industrialisation means pastoralism is pushed aside. Painting called “too green” and unfinished (rough paint)
- Warm yellow greens next to cool blue toned greens with mid-tone wash creates variety depth, texture and expression
- Thick strokes of paint which catch the light like leaves in trees
- This scene is his family’s land, a homage to his childhood showing nature as a personal experience or a memory
2) Hadleigh Castle 1829
- Inspired by Charles Lyell’s “Principles of Geology” which stated the earth was in a constant state of change (erosion, rotation)
- Constable dubbed himself “the man of clouds” after all the years he spent perfecting them, and allows the sky to dominate the painting.
- A battle between sky and land, clouds and earth. Clouds billow and grow the longer you look. Dark grey patches become a dangerous storm, and Lyell’s theory of electricity in the atmosphere is reflected by impasto technique (thick, puffy clouds jagging out from canvas)
- Light hits the glaze and makes it sparkle, sparks from the battle
- Castle ruins reach up, breaking the line between earth and heavens- it is cracked right down the middle as though lightning struck it (nature still all powerful over man)
- Man is battling with the heavens (like the tower of Babylon) and God’s power will strike everything down
ETVT the landscape genre is essentially concerned with precise topography (Monet/Constable paragraph, uncelebrated)
INTRO: Do not agree as artists such as Monet, Constable, Turner, Altdorfer and Freidrich have all created celebrated landscapes which do not reflect precise topography
1) Monet’s Les Puepliers au bord de l’Epte 1891
- Based on poplar trees on river Epte. Due to the location existing it could be called topographical- as Monet painted it to show the beauty of the trees.
- On the other hand, loose brushstrokes make trees seem like their own reflection, saturated and radical colour (blues and oranges) not realistic at all
2) Constable’s “Noon” 1821
- Also uses loose brushstrokes to create “unfinished” look (scumbling)
- Expressive realism of deep colour reflects the minds eye and memories
- It is his family’s farm in Essex, therefore topographical
- On the other hand, not celebrated by the Royal Academy, who thought it as “too green” as landscapes were expected to be brown at that time
ETVT the landscape genre is essentially concerned with precise topography (Turner/Joan Mitchell paragraph, memories)
1) Turner “Snowstorm: Steam boat off a Harbour’s mouth” 1842
- Sweeping brushstrokes show movement and texture, contains biographical and topographical elements
- Taken directly from his experience on a boat almost drowning, based on memory and emotions rather than topography
2) Joan Mitchell, “Tilleul” 1978
- Response to memories from a childhood tree using alien and oversaturated colours
- Bright yellow background and cyan branches and sloppy brushstrokes
- Lines move to top of canvas create sense of movement, swaying by wind and growing up (maternal tree)
- Therefore, these landscape works continue to be celebrated despite their non-topographical nature
ETVT the landscape genre is essentially concerned with precise topography (Altdorfer/Freidrich paragraph, sublime)
1) Altdorfer’s Woodcutter 1522
- Reforms made by German church had repercussions on religious artwork (you can’t draw the holy figures)
- He shows Christ in nature, the tree the woodcutter eats his lunch on is similar to the body of Christ on the crucifix
- woodcutter is scale of humanity next to that of the divine
- Human flaws: the tree has a slight lean, less symmetrical, warped stump (mangled body of christ) find god in everything
- Could be anywhere in the German countryside, but is not topographical.
2) Freidrich’s Winter Landscape 1811
- Man who looks similar to Freidrich taking shelter from the storm behind rocks and trees (the divine helping us through nature)
- Religious imagery in the background, christ on crucifix hidden in trees and church in the background
- Three evergreens represent the holy trinity and show nature as divine
- Created in studio, yet celebrated for its symbolic representation of christianity
