Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
The Banks of the Oise, Near Pointoise, 1876
Works Cited:
The Great Masters. Edison, NJ: Quantum, 2004. Print., as cited in Camille Pissaro, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camille_Pissarro#cite_note-Masters-6>.
Van Gogh's Starry Night
Schurman, Aysha. "Characteristics of Impressionist Art."Life123. IAC, 2012. Web. 25 Apr 2012. <http://www.life123.com/arts-culture/art-history/impressionism/characteristics-of-impressionism-art.shtml>.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Two danceres on stage: Revolutionary or Redundant?
In Degas’ Two dancers on stage, Richard Kendall and Jill DeVonyar hope to convince readers that the piece is not radical, even though it used to be perceived as such. The authors claim that the piece is only half-full of content and point out that when the work of art debuted, even its subjects were harshly criticized, deemed less than beautiful. But today the painting serves as a quintessential image of the beauty of ballet, and it is well-received among art-lovers. While it is one of Degas’ earliest ballet-themed works, it is thought of as the first painting to truly embody ballet. Instead of painting a prima ballerina, the star of the show, Degas chose to focus in great detail on two lesser parts. Later in life Degas became synonymous with risky proportions, but this painting represents a simple and archetypical painting of the day. For this reason, Kendall and DeVonyar claim that opinions of Two dancers on stage as radical should be rethought due to an eventually overdone viewpoint and, what at first seemed scandalous, but was actually expected content.
Seeing familiar images from a much closer perspective shocks viewers at first, but over time a new point of view becomes an old one, and the painting can no longer be considered avant garde. This piece is painted from an innovative perspective, as these dancers would have been stationed far off from the front row of viewers. He needed an assistant seated in a higher position to record the details of the tops of the dancers’ heads so that he could paint from that viewpoint. But from this painting Degas painted many other dancers from close up, backstage, and other unusual perspectives. This method of using a second person to record details from above and paint the minor dancers was only truly revolutionary the very first time it was employed.
Degas utilized revolutionary viewpoints, but the clothing of the dancers was considered inappropriate at the time, which detracted from the good qualities of this painting. Ballet was an extremely pertinent topic at the time Two dancers on stage was painted, and Degas fiddled with other everyday topics as well like bathing and laundry. Critics felt different varieties of the same overall reaction to his work. Some liked it...others did not...but both groups were careful around the bold lewdness of the dancers featured. The original painting was bought by a man who would go on to become a Degas collector. After being sold in London, the painting was kept away from critics and the public for entire decades while it drifted among private citizens’ collections.
Another problem some people have with this painting is that the costumes seem generic, like they could have been designed in Degas' mind and painted on any dancers in any ballet. However, research has proven that the costumes and the scenery on stage in the painting can be traced to a production in Paris that Degas would have likely attended. Don Giovanni by Mozart was very popular at the time and Degas was a known Mozart enthusiast. This explains many things about the painting and gives some validity to the costumes and scenery. Degas, being somewhat of a perfectionist, produced several variations of paintings with these two dancers, and three versions of Two dancers on stage resulted. Some critics of the piece claim that dancers were hired to pose for the painting.
People consider Two dancers on stage to be revolutionary because they consider the scene staged, the costumes improvised, and the viewpoint random.Looking deeper into the history of the piece suggests it is merely an interpretation of one facet of a production that people at the time were familiar with, and therefore not revolutionary at all. It is acceptable for a piece to be revolutionary when it is first displayed and later become routine once others have taken the same approach to painting. Two dancers on stage was a victim of Degas’ perfectionist tendencies. Since he repeated this viewpoint and similar characters, attempting to get everything just right, a once unique theme became redundant.
Works Cited
http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8ca53c8e-90b2-45b0-9e6f-a4ed5441994a%40sessionmgr113&vid=2&hid=120
Seeing familiar images from a much closer perspective shocks viewers at first, but over time a new point of view becomes an old one, and the painting can no longer be considered avant garde. This piece is painted from an innovative perspective, as these dancers would have been stationed far off from the front row of viewers. He needed an assistant seated in a higher position to record the details of the tops of the dancers’ heads so that he could paint from that viewpoint. But from this painting Degas painted many other dancers from close up, backstage, and other unusual perspectives. This method of using a second person to record details from above and paint the minor dancers was only truly revolutionary the very first time it was employed.
Degas utilized revolutionary viewpoints, but the clothing of the dancers was considered inappropriate at the time, which detracted from the good qualities of this painting. Ballet was an extremely pertinent topic at the time Two dancers on stage was painted, and Degas fiddled with other everyday topics as well like bathing and laundry. Critics felt different varieties of the same overall reaction to his work. Some liked it...others did not...but both groups were careful around the bold lewdness of the dancers featured. The original painting was bought by a man who would go on to become a Degas collector. After being sold in London, the painting was kept away from critics and the public for entire decades while it drifted among private citizens’ collections.
Another problem some people have with this painting is that the costumes seem generic, like they could have been designed in Degas' mind and painted on any dancers in any ballet. However, research has proven that the costumes and the scenery on stage in the painting can be traced to a production in Paris that Degas would have likely attended. Don Giovanni by Mozart was very popular at the time and Degas was a known Mozart enthusiast. This explains many things about the painting and gives some validity to the costumes and scenery. Degas, being somewhat of a perfectionist, produced several variations of paintings with these two dancers, and three versions of Two dancers on stage resulted. Some critics of the piece claim that dancers were hired to pose for the painting.
People consider Two dancers on stage to be revolutionary because they consider the scene staged, the costumes improvised, and the viewpoint random.Looking deeper into the history of the piece suggests it is merely an interpretation of one facet of a production that people at the time were familiar with, and therefore not revolutionary at all. It is acceptable for a piece to be revolutionary when it is first displayed and later become routine once others have taken the same approach to painting. Two dancers on stage was a victim of Degas’ perfectionist tendencies. Since he repeated this viewpoint and similar characters, attempting to get everything just right, a once unique theme became redundant.
Works Cited
http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8ca53c8e-90b2-45b0-9e6f-a4ed5441994a%40sessionmgr113&vid=2&hid=120
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
The Sower
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28433765@N07/4995032325/
The cycle of life and death flooded Vincent Van Gogh’s mind as he thought of suicide late in his life. His art became metaphorical life cycle depictions through harvest themes. Van Gogh developed a liking for Jean-Francois Millet’s artistic style with the inclusion of biblical parables. Van Gogh began adopting this method in his infamous Sower and the Sheath work. Vincent was a religious man who enjoyed depicting complex parables in simple, rural contexts, and was an aficionado for using other artists as a model for his own works. Vincent Van Gogh utilized the artistic styles of Millet in his rendition of The Sower, he was inspired by Millet’s simple, religious themes.
Van Gogh first discovered Millet while working for his paternal uncles as an art dealer during his adolescence. Dealing with paintings granted him with an appreciation of rural settings at a young age. He admired Millet’s use of peasant settings and subjects for his artwork. Van Gogh first associated Millet’s work with religious references in a letter written from Paris in 1875, “When I entered entered the hall of the Hotel Drouot, where they were exhitbited, I felt like saying, ‘Take off your shoes, for the place where you are standing is Holy Ground”.
Van Gogh was also an avid reader of art journals. Ernest Chesneau produced an article on Millet that sparked the interest of Vincent. The article described Millet as an artist who stressed humanist and Christian values as noted in the quote about Millet’s Sower, “...This man, a minister of heaven, who holds in his hand and throws to the wind, with the faith of an apostle, the riches of the earth...” Van Gogh saw Millet as “the archetype of a believer” who could “paint the doctrine without painting overly biblical pictures.
This style inspired Van Gogh. Religion was one of the few things that brought solace to Van Gogh’s troubled life. He found Millet’s Sower to be strikingly similar to the passage in the Bible Matthew, 13:37-43.
Van Gogh first interpretation of The Sower was inspired by his move to Arles, France. He was surrounded by rural landscapes that Van Gogh thought were “the real Millet...absolutely rustic and homely”. Van Gogh’s rendition differed from Millet’s in that it focused on the background more than the sower. Millet’s version devotes most of the canvas to the Sower picture. Millet also chose to use simple colors in the background to ensure that the Sower would remain the focal point. However, as characteristic of most impressionist, Van Gogh painted the background of his rendition with complex color schemes and vivid pigments. He made the focal point the background in order to veil religious messages, as Millet did.
Van Gogh’s life was a constant battle with invasive thoughts, but religion was one provider of solace. He enjoyed expressing religious values in simple, rural settings. Van Gogh used Millet’s clever style of veiling religious messages in his own rendition of Millet’s The Sower.
http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=109&sid=aec82253-f1c2-4dbb-ab1f-bcbd9e82955e%40sessionmgr104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=aft&AN=505579809
Monday, April 16, 2012
The Blute-fin Mill
Photo Credit: Chamber Art
The truth has been revealed. The painting The Blute-fin Mill has been cleared as an original Vincent van Gogh painting. Doubts arose about the origin of the painting because of the reputation of its finder, Dirk Hannema. The painting was painted in 1886 and features a large number of people gathered around the Moulin Blute-fin on Montmartre.
Dirk Hannema was the director of the Hannema-De Stuers Foundation in Heino, Netherlands when he discovered the painting in 1975. He claimed the painting was a Van Gogh but since his reputation was in question, the painting did not receive full recognition as a Van Gogh. Hannema in 1938 was the director of the Musem Boijmans-van Beuningen in Rotterdam where he gained his notorious reputation. Hannema’s name went through the mud when it was discovered he was one of the head honchos who had accepted Han van Meergeren’s Christ at Emmaus as a Johannes Vermeer original painting. His name never recovered from the incident and his reputation, as an art connoisseur, was finished. In Heino, he still acted as an art connoisseur but his muddy trail could not be washed away, and he still had a nasty habit of incorrectly attributed pieces of work to art masters. Because of this, his claim that The Blute-fin Mill was a Van Gogh was not believed even though it has be proven now that Hannema’s attribution was correct.
The Van Gogh Museum conducted a study on the work and stylistically and technically examined it. They published their results in the June issue of The Burlington Magazine. Their results follows Hannema’s in that they compared the painting to Van Gough’s Guinguette, which resides in the Museé d’Orsay, and noticed the very close similarities. Both painting exhibit almost identical brushwork and both paintings feature a great number of people. They did this same cross-examination with Van Gogh’s Bois de Boulogne with People Walking and concluded with the same results. The only differences were that the number of people in The Blute-fin Mill was a very high quantity compared to the other and were rather detailed. Van Gogh must have been experimenting with a new style, but since the painting is not signed, it must not have been entirely to his liking.
When compared to other Van Gogh paintings, the date of The Blute-fin Mill was painted in autumn of 1886. There was an art historical argument over the dating of the painting when compared to other works of his of the Mill at the time. There was a question involving the staircases since in Van Gogh’s early sketches and other works of the Mill, his staircases were not as broad as the staircases in the painting. It was concluded that his sketches and other works of the Mill were facing different directions, which cleared up the confusion. Also, any other dates were awkward correlations with his style of painting at the time.
If there were any other doubts, the in-depth technical examination conducted should eliminate them. The pigments that were examined using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Electroscopy were identified as pigments used by Van Gogh in autumn in 1886. Also, the painting exhibits a stamp of the Paris art supplies dealer Rey et Perrod, which is similar to at least another work of art by Van Gogh. A computerized thread count was also done to examine the canvas, which revealed some interesting results. The infra red reflectography in the computerized thread count revealed that the patterns found in the painting was the style of Van Gogh’s Paris work. It found the typical lines of an anticipated frame on the canvas that Van Gogh drew before he started to paint.
The Blute-fin Mill is definitely not in a standout in Van Gogh’s work like Starry Night or Sunflowers. But something can be said for the painting. Van Gogh aspired to be a painter of people and this piece of art is a testimonial to his efforts in the endeavor in his Paris phase.
Works Cited
http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=116&sid=29dd494c-f348-44f2-9cb5-d1c8d0bccff7%40sessionmgr110&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=aft&AN=505364011
Photo: http://chamberart.net/view.php?id=55173
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh is remembered for his harsh and often distorted style of impressionism. This twisted take of the usually light and airy form, in combination with mysterious rumors surrounding the artist’s personal life, leaves van Gogh labeled as a lunatic in the minds of many today. However, a recent publication of all of van Gogh’s letters, received and sent, unearths a van Gogh that is lively artist and cunning businessman. “The power and impact of his art are the result of work and though, not hallucinations,” says Matthew Collings. While many criticize van Gogh’s lack of professionalism and divergence from typical Impressionism, saying that he was a madman who never really grew up, these newly published letters reveal a “talkaholic” with impeccable talent in the art and business worlds.
Collings points out that these letters, in addition to the accounts of those who interacted with van Gogh, reveal a remarkably chatty man. While living with his brother Theo, he often returned from painting and “immediately began talking earnestly about art. He continued until it as time for his brother to sleep, and then he pulled up a chair beside the bed and kept it coming.” Collings describes van Gogh’s letters as “conversations in an utterly exhilarating way.” This is hardly the personality a man who was going insane, pushing the world away as he developed into a recluse, using his twisted art as his only form of outlet.
Van Gogh, as the letters illustrate, was also an intelligent and creative businessman. Collings describes him as a hustler, even, because of the way he talked with his brother about making arrangements with art dealers. The letters reveal a man who developed strategies for managing his brother’s art shop, and then analyzed their effectiveness and refined them. Many criticize his use of the signature “Vincent” instead of “van Gogh” on his paintings. Even this was carefully thought out; he realized his French audience could much more easily pronounce his first name than his last. He was strategic, careful, and even manipulative, unlike the lunatic who managed to hit a streak of artistic luck with his insanity portrayed by many.
While van Gogh’s personal life and mental stability are often discussed when assessing his sanity and credibility as an artist, most of the argument comes down to his artwork itself. Many argue that van Gogh’s use of deep, vibrant, and occasionally sickening tones with an Impressionist style is enough to revoke any praise one might have for the man. Impressionism, a sophisticated style usually characterized by open nature scenes painted in light and airy colors, often leaves viewers feeling as though they’ve just spent the afternoon in a breezy meadow in the countryside of France. Many of van Gogh’s works, however, use vibrant colors that leave viewers agitated rather than calmed. Collings observes
His paintings combine a carpentered look—chunky shapes, improvised, fresh, and
lively—with a weird color vision whose power can be as much biliotis as beautiful.
It comes from Impressionism but it has a very different emotion. It can be strangely
dingy and airless as well as reminiscent of light or reminiscent of how reality appears.
He seems to want to capture his own inner sense of reality, a narrow, claustrophobic
world—a sort of trapped intensity.
Collings points out that these letters, in addition to the accounts of those who interacted with van Gogh, reveal a remarkably chatty man. While living with his brother Theo, he often returned from painting and “immediately began talking earnestly about art. He continued until it as time for his brother to sleep, and then he pulled up a chair beside the bed and kept it coming.” Collings describes van Gogh’s letters as “conversations in an utterly exhilarating way.” This is hardly the personality a man who was going insane, pushing the world away as he developed into a recluse, using his twisted art as his only form of outlet.
Van Gogh, as the letters illustrate, was also an intelligent and creative businessman. Collings describes him as a hustler, even, because of the way he talked with his brother about making arrangements with art dealers. The letters reveal a man who developed strategies for managing his brother’s art shop, and then analyzed their effectiveness and refined them. Many criticize his use of the signature “Vincent” instead of “van Gogh” on his paintings. Even this was carefully thought out; he realized his French audience could much more easily pronounce his first name than his last. He was strategic, careful, and even manipulative, unlike the lunatic who managed to hit a streak of artistic luck with his insanity portrayed by many.
While van Gogh’s personal life and mental stability are often discussed when assessing his sanity and credibility as an artist, most of the argument comes down to his artwork itself. Many argue that van Gogh’s use of deep, vibrant, and occasionally sickening tones with an Impressionist style is enough to revoke any praise one might have for the man. Impressionism, a sophisticated style usually characterized by open nature scenes painted in light and airy colors, often leaves viewers feeling as though they’ve just spent the afternoon in a breezy meadow in the countryside of France. Many of van Gogh’s works, however, use vibrant colors that leave viewers agitated rather than calmed. Collings observes
His paintings combine a carpentered look—chunky shapes, improvised, fresh, and
lively—with a weird color vision whose power can be as much biliotis as beautiful.
It comes from Impressionism but it has a very different emotion. It can be strangely
dingy and airless as well as reminiscent of light or reminiscent of how reality appears.
He seems to want to capture his own inner sense of reality, a narrow, claustrophobic
world—a sort of trapped intensity.
Because of this, many categorize van Gogh among the artists driven to brilliance by their own insanity, using their art as their only way to escape whatever deranged thoughts occupy their heads, and unintentionally making masterpieces in the process. However, upon inspecting van Gogh’s letters, it is easy to see that he studied and analyzed color choices, moods created by color, and the psychology behind it all. Every color choice, including nauseating shades of yellow and green rather than pure white that leave one feeling uneasy, was carefully considered and planned out. Van Gogh’s use of unconventional color paired with Impressionism was not the result of the deterioration of his mind, but his careful expression of reality.
Van Gogh’s letters reveal a social, witty, and thoughtful man, despite the typical myths of a man too insane to function properly. Regardless of whether or not his art followed the conventions of the accepted art forms of his day, his work is product of careful planning and hard work. He was far from the social and artistic lunatic he is often portrayed as. He was an active member in society, helping to run his brother’s art shop, and a cunning businessman. His artwork is carefully thought out and executed with intentionality, despite its appearance as twisted or deranged. Nowhere is this clearer than in van Gogh’s letters, particularly those with his brother, which reveal his day to day life as well as the inner workings of his artistic mind.
Works Cited:
Collings, Matthew. "Think About van Gogh in a Different Way." Modern Painteres. 02 2010: 24-27. Print. <http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=466a9227-0639-43ae-8fba-61ae8fbe45cc@sessionmgr12&vid=6&hid=102>.
Van Gogh’s letters reveal a social, witty, and thoughtful man, despite the typical myths of a man too insane to function properly. Regardless of whether or not his art followed the conventions of the accepted art forms of his day, his work is product of careful planning and hard work. He was far from the social and artistic lunatic he is often portrayed as. He was an active member in society, helping to run his brother’s art shop, and a cunning businessman. His artwork is carefully thought out and executed with intentionality, despite its appearance as twisted or deranged. Nowhere is this clearer than in van Gogh’s letters, particularly those with his brother, which reveal his day to day life as well as the inner workings of his artistic mind.
Works Cited:
Collings, Matthew. "Think About van Gogh in a Different Way." Modern Painteres. 02 2010: 24-27. Print. <http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=466a9227-0639-43ae-8fba-61ae8fbe45cc@sessionmgr12&vid=6&hid=102>.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
EIBI: Helping Autistic Children Reach Academic Success
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8519560@N04/518243268/
The ultimate goal fueling the utilization of EIBI is to give autistic children an opportunity to achieve academic success in the mainstream classroom. Children with this social disorder are typically placed in remedial classes or special education. The hope is that children who receive intensive, time-limited EIBI will be able to study in the standard academic setting and ultimately reduce their dependence on societal services during their adult lives.
In the study that is examined throughout the article, children who were put through autistic training were placed in a control group, or comparison group, and an experimental group. EIBI involves the intervention of intellectual functioning, adaptive behavior, and language skills. The experimental group (the group that received the intensive treatment) was then split into sub-groups. The sub-groups were divided between university-supervised intervention and parent-commissioned intervention. Of the 44 children originally tested, 23 participated in a two year follow-up. Seven of the 14 children in the university-supervised group and seven of the nine children in the parent-commissioned group were in the mainstream classroom setting.
The results of the EIBI follow-up study show that the implementation of intensive treatment is correlated to the likelihood that children with an autistic diagnosis will be placed in the mainstream educational setting. However, the subgroups create the problem of recognizing which factors are to be credited with the maintenance of the improvements made by the experimental group.
http://bmo.sagepub.com/content/35/5/427.full.pdf+html
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Revolutionizing the Special Education System
Children with autism can receive intense individual EIBI treatment from a variety of specialists, including special education and general teachers, psychiatrists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech pathologists. Behavior modification comes primarily from reinforcement or punishment of behavior. When a child exhibits desirable behavior, they are positively reinforced with encouragement, attention, and rewards such as candy or toys. A child that effectively communicates his or her feelings with words might receive more attention from parents or therapists. A child is punished for the display of undesirable behavior, usually by the removal of attention. A child that throws a tantrum or lashes out may be ignored until they calm down and can more effectively communicate their emotions and desires.
Until recently, children with autism were the only ones who received EIBI treatment, despite the fact that it has positive effects on IQ, adaptive skills, social skills, toileting, and communicative skills. Sigmund Eldevik, Erik Jahr, Svein Eikeseth, Richard P. Hastings, and Carl J. Hughes recently compared the effects of EIBI versus normal treatment of children with mental retardation. Children had to be between the ages of 2 and 6 at the beginning of treatment and without a history of autism. One group was treated with intense EIBI therapy, while one group was given various conventional methods of therapy for autism. Children in both groups were sent to preschool, where they were given individual treatment from therapists and teachers alongside their parents. The amount and type of therapy given were the independent variables in this experiment. The increase in IQ points and development of social skills were measured as dependent variables.
Children in the behavior intensive group received therapy in three tiers. The first tier consisted of basic skills such as following simple commands, completing puzzles, using words, and making simple requests. When therapists felt that skills in tier one had been adequately mastered, children were allowed to proceed to skills in tier two. This level of skills included imitation of fine motor, oral skills, sounds, and words as well as labeling objects and actions. When the second tier had been adequately completed, children moved to tier three. Tier three consisted of tasks dealing with colors, size, numbers, adjectives, and prepositions.
The eclectic intervention group received treatment that tried to cater to each child’s specific needs. This form of therapy is the type typically administered to cihldred with mental disabilities. There is much less time spent individually working with parents and children on specific skills. Children are taught communication through signs and symbols, including photographs and line drawing. Therapy often included daily activity sessions of fifteen to twenty minutes consisting of swinging, walking, rocking, or massages. Each child’s communication skills was developed further by using words and corresponding symbols and signs to enhance each word’s meaning. Worksheets, computer programs, and social skills through stories were used in therapy. Each form of therapy was used based on each teacher’s personal experiences and preferences. Total time spent with the eclectic group as well as the amount of time spent using each method of therapy were not recorded well because of the way in which therapy was applied. Therapists took advantage of opportunities they saw as teaching moments when working with the child in the classroom or in daily life. Different forms of therapy were used scattered about the day, when the child seemed willing and responsive. Many different aspects and structures of therapy were used simultaneously, also, when appropriate. This makes it difficult to assess time spent on one particular area or therapy.
The behavioral intervention group gained 16.6 IQ points and 2.9 adaptive behavior composite points. The eclectic intervention group gained 3.9 IQ points and lost 2.8 adaptive behavior composite points. For communication specifically (of the VABS), the behavioral group gained 2.7 standard points while the eclectic group lost 3.2 points. The behavioral intervention group was obviously more successful at improving the social and mental abilities of children. Reform of the current special education system (similar to the eclectic group) would result in higher IQ scores as well as increased social skills of mentally disabled children. This study should radically impact the way that special education for children without autism is viewed and carried out.
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