Task 4: Visual Analysis and Contextual Knowledge

Task: Demonstrate Visual and contextual knowledge in a paragraph.

Elizabeth-Louise Vigee Le Brun: A prominent 18^th century French painter, who mostly painted the aristocratic class; her major patron was the Queen Marie Antoinette. Over her years of patronage, Le Brun had done over thrity portraits of the Queen and her family; leading her to be the official portraitist of Marie Antoinette. One of Le Brun’s paintings of the Queen, Marie Antoinette in a Muslin Dress, had drawn controversy at the time. In modern eyes, Marie Antoinette’s attire is modest but casual. The casual part of the painting did not bode well with the public; Marie Antoinette simply did not look like a Queen of France. The painting was quickly replaced with a more formal portrait.
In this portrait, Marie Antoinette wears a simple muslin dress; at Petit Trianon, the Queen and her entourage wore such attire, where court protocol is not enforced. The background is possibly set in Petit Trianon (like the dress, it’s very simple and rustic). In her hands, Marie Antoinette holds a cabbage rose, a recurring motif in all her portraits.
Referring back to Mirzoeff and the power of “Majesty”, he states that this concept is built around Absolutism rule and that its monarch’s had power that centred in their very person. This impressive power, or Majesty, is visualized but not seen. With the absence of Majesty from the portrait, did it make the public uncomfortable? Did they see, within this painting, not a Queen but an ordinary woman? Without the element of Majesty, I believe this is what the public had thought at the time.

Resources:
Mirzoeff, Nicholas. “Chapter One: How to See Yourself”. How to See the World. London: Pelican, 2015. 36 – 17. Print.
Vigee Le Brun, Elizabeth Louise. Marie Antoinette in a Muslin Dress. 1783. Oil on Canvas. Schloss Wolfsgarten.
Vigée Le Brun, Elizabeth Louise. Marie Antoinette with the Rose. 1783. Oil on Canvas. The Palace of Versailles, Paris.

Task Two: Contextual Understanding

Sturken and Cartwright doing Visual Analysis.
Task: Write a short response explaining what stood out to you in their discussion of the two photographic images by US photographer, Weegee.

What had drawn me to the analysis was the way the writers had described the photograph – it was as if they had said to me “Look at this photograph, this is what it is”. It was straight forward but at the same time, drew me in as they had put in context to the photograph. The context was Weegee’s methods of getting these horrific but fascinating photographs, the story behind the “First Murder” photograph, and the social and political unrest at the time. It made me want to know more and I read more into the analysis and photographs, hoping to get more understanding and interpretations.

 

Resources:
Struken, Marita and Lisa Cartwright. “Images, Power and Politics.” Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. 9 – 48. Print.
Fellig, Arthur. First Murder. 1941 – 1950. Getty Museum, Los Angles, California, USA.

Task One: Visual Literacy

Task: Crtically consider ideas discussed from the above texts and the lecture presentations.

Zoffany, Johann. Portrait of Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsay and Her Cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray. 1778. Oil on Canvas. Kenwood House, Scotland.

Video: Smarthistory Art historical analysis (painting), using Édouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, 1882.
Idea: Approaching an artwork critically, dissecting its elements, and having an in depth analysis. Looking at its subject matter, considering its narrative, possible meanings, socio-political norms of the times, etc.
Artwork: Portrait of Dido Elizabeth Belle and her cousin, Elizabeth Murray.

Beth Harris and Steven Zucker talk about in their video, critically analyzing a painting and dissecting its possible meanings, narrative, symbolisms, viewpoints and artistic technicalities with “A Bar at the Folies-Bergere” by Edouard Manet. This allows the viewer to critically think about other visual texts similarly, such as the portrait of Dido Elizabeth Belle with her cousin, Elizabeth Murray.
The portrait, unusual for its time, portrays a black woman and a white woman as equals, or near equals. Paintings of the time had their white subjects (the English nobility) dominant whilst the black subject (a servant or slave) looking up at the white “protagonist”. Murray is portrayed as a scholarly, demure English lady with her rigid pose and a book in hand, a huge contrast to her black cousin. Dido is portrayed in the exact opposite; she is painted with great vivacity and holding a bowl of fruit as if she was going to serve others. Both women wear outfits reflecting their social status but their positioning and actions within the painting allude to a hint of their racial differences.

Resources:
Art: Smarthistory. art, history, conversation. Édouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, 1882 

4C Visual Analysis of Selected Image

Gillian Rose: Visual Methodologies Questions

Zoffany, Johann. Portrait of Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsay and Her Cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray. 1778. Oil on Canvas. Kenwood House, Scotland.

 

Some questions about the production of an image:
When was it made?
The painting was completed in 1779.
Who made it?
The painter attributed to the painting is Johann Zoffany but it is possible he is not the painter. Any other possible painters are unknown.
Was it made for someone else?
The Earl and Countess of Mansfield had commissioned the painting from Zoffany, portraying their nieces. Noble/aristocratic families had commissioned paintings of family members, which was the norm at the time.
What were the social identities of the maker, the owner, and the subject of the image?
Zoffany was a German Neoclassical painter, born of Bohemian origin. The owner(s), the Murray family, are from the aristocratic class. Elizabeth Dido Belle and her cousin, Elizabeth Murray, are also from the aristocratic class.

 Some questions about the image:
What is being shown? What are the components of the image? How are they arranged?
What is shown is the ladies Elizabeth Dido Belle and Elizabeth Murray. They are composed side by side together (showing them as near equals), with Elizabeth on the right, reaching out to her cousin. They are placed in an outdoor background, possibly a garden on the estate.
Is it one of a series?
No
Where is the viewers eye drawn to in the image and why?
My eyes are drawn towards Dido; she is a stark contrast to her cousin on the right and her expression/gaze is very direct. Paintings of the time had black people as “accessories”, gazing up onto the white protagonist. This was a symbol of power; however Dido is on equal footing with her cousin in the painting and her gaze is directed towards the viewer.
What are the genre(s) of the image? Is it a documentary, soap opera, or melodrama for example?
It is a documentary, portrait and family painting.

 Some questions about audiencing:
Who are the original audiences for this image?
The family of the subjects and guests.
How is it circulated?
In print media, and the internet.
How is it re-displayed?
The painting was previously housed in Scone Palace, Scotlan. It is now housed in Kenwood House, with information about the paintings subjects, as of 2007.
Who are the more recent audiences for this text?
Anyone interested in British history, abolition of Slavery in Britain or those who visit Kenwood House.
Is more than one interpretation of this image possible?
Yes, I believe so.

 

 

 

4B Image Selection

Toulouse-Lautree, Henri De. Self-Portrait in Front of a Mirror. 1882-1883. Oil on Cardboard. Musee Toulouse Lautrec, Albi.

Selfie with Pope Francis. 2013. Huffington Post. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.

Zoffany, Johann. Portrait of Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsay and Her Cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray. 1778. Oil on Canvas. Kenwood House, Scotland.

N. Hoyer, ed., Man into Woman. An Authentic Record of a Change of Sex. The true story of the miraculous transformation of the Danish painter Einar Wegener (Andreas Sparre). London: Jarrolds, 1933. Photograph: Lili, Paris, 1926, opp. p. 40.

Goldin, Nan. Greer and Robert on the Bed. 1982. Claire Raymond. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.

Fig. 1: Self Portrait of a Man by Henri de Toulouse-Lautree
This painting was featured in chapter 1 and Mirzoeff talked in length about Toulouse’s self portrait. Mirzoeff talks about how the artist had done the self portrait by painting the reflection from a mirror; this conceals Toulouse’s physical disability by just portraying his head and shoulders (the rest of his body is not proportionate in real life). This relates to Mirzoeff’s idea of identity and the selfie – what is the difference of Toulouse hiding his disability in his own self portrait to someone of now angling their faces to make it more attractive in a selfie?

Fig 2: Selfie with Pope Francis
Mirzoeff talks about the idea of Majesty, that a monarch is God’s representative on Earth; thus over the course of history there are paintings that portray monarchs, or people like the Pope, as such. However here is a selfie of some people with Pope Francis taken at the Vatican. This is a departure from the history of Majesty; here the Pope is in an informal photograph (a selfie no less) and seems to be an ordinary (probably fun loving) man! This changes our perception of this person, who is seen by some as God’s representative on Earth, and totally turns it into something else.

Fig 3: Portrait of Dido Elizabeth Belle and her Cousin Elizabeth Murray
The chapter refers to a photographer called Samuel Fosso who visualized how his body was “Africanized” and “Racialized” by other people (and mentions the “white gaze” – how white people see people of colour). This, to me, bought in mind of old portraits of noblewomen, some who had a black child as a servant in the portrait with them, and the case of Dido Elizabeth Belle. Dido was a gentlewoman born from an enslaved African woman and a British Naval Officer; she was raised by her relatives, the Earl and Countess of Mansfield, alongside her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray. During that time, Dido was classified as a Mulatto and no doubt had to struggle with her racial identity in a time where slavery was the norm in England. Here in this portrait, she is painted alongside her cousin as near equals. I say near equals because Dido is still portrayed slightly behind her white cousin with a costume that has an air of orientalism to them. Their position hints to the differences in their race.

Fig 4: Photograph of Lili Elbe
Mirzoeff refers to Marcel Duchamp’s alter ago, “Rrose Selavy”, the LBGT scene and how gender to some is a performance. No one else is more relevant to this idea than Lili Elbe. Lili Elbe was born Einar Wegener, a painter who was Danish transgender woman and one of the first people to go through sex reassignment surgery during the 1920s to 1930s.

Fig 5: Greer and Robert in Bed by Nan Goldin
I feel that Nan Goldin has a unique look at gender, race and sexuality in her photographs in a way that is ugly, uncompromising but real at the same time. She had portrayed people such as drag queens as a “third gender”, another sexual/gender option. Along with her other themes like sex, drug use and violence, I feel Goldin not only ties in with the Mirzoeff chapter of “How to See Yourself” in terms of identity but gives another perspective of it.

4A: Video Review

Today I have chosen to review two youtube videos:
One is an interview with director Martin Scorsese on the Importance of Critical Thinking and Toledo Museum of Art’s video for Visual Literacy and Critical Thinking.
I felt that the Toledo Museum of Art’s video had got the point to me the best as it was short, literally to the point and bite sized (however sometimes it was too fast paced for my taste and enjoyed watching Scorsese talk more lengthily about the same topic).
It’s hard to decide which video I thought was best but again, the Toledo Museum of Art had more easy to process, bite sized pieces of information. The things I had learnt from the video was:

• Visuals are a powerful tool and being able to think critically about visuals is important so we can vary our interpretations.
• With Critical thinking, we can give out thoughtful responses as well as have multiple interpretations.
• Both Visual Literacy and Critical Thinking go hand in hand. We develop these skills as we go on.
• Someone who is visually literate can accommodate to multiple interpretations, understand and generate multiple interpretations whilst being more forgiving of others who have different interpretations of the same thing.

I would recommend both videos to watch! With the Toledo Museum of Art’s video about Visual Literacy and Critical thinking, it does give you bite sized information and points to think about. I would follow this video with Martin Scorsese’s interview as he discusses these same points more in depth. If any of you readers are a fan of his films, I would suggest watching it for this reason too!

Resoruces:
Toledo Museum of Art. Visual Literacy and Critical Thinking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jR8zWqyHBY Web. Feb 2015. (3mins Approx.)
Uploaded by Edutopia. Filmmaker Martin Scorsese on the Importance of Visual Literacy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I90ZluYvHic Web 2015. (Approx 10mins.)

3F Bringing Knowledge to your Topic

A. List the issues, ideas, concerns and visual texts

• Identity (This can include self concept)
• Selfies and the Self Portrait
• Sexual/Gender/Racial Identity (LGBT, Racism, Stereotypes, Gender Roles, etc)
• Perception (This can be tied into the spread of mass media, social media, mirrors)

B. Find out more about the issues, ideas, concerns, events and visual texts

Resources (Task 3E)

Selfie:
Mirzoeff talks about identity and the self and how we want to portray ourselves to the world. Thinking this topic is relevant to the essay questions, I gathered these links.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/selfie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selfie
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-fire-guilty-idUSKCN0X600X

Self Portrait:
The selfie is derived from the history of the Self Portraits of old; they serve the same purpose. The artist portray themselves in a way they want to be seen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-portrait
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/genres/self-portraits.htm
http://www.artrepublic.com/articles/475-selfies-and-the-history-of-self-portraiture.html/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rrose_S%C3%A9lavy
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2001/oct/27/art.surrealismatthevanda
Raphael. Self Portrait. 1506. Oil on Panel. Uffizi Gallery, Uffizi, Florence.
Eyck, Jan Van. Portrait of a Man. 1433. Oil on Canvas. National Gallery, London.
Elisabeth-Louise Vigee Le Brun

Identity (Sexual/Racial/Gender)
Identity is who someone is, or their name. It can also concern their qualities, beliefs, Gender or Race.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lili_Elbe
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/the-danish-girl/true-story-lili-elbe-transgender/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dido_Elizabeth_Belle

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/netherlands/12046714/Dutch-gallery-removes-racist-artwork-titles.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender
http://www.understandingslavery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=373&Itemid=236
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3424300308.html
Wiesner, Merry E. Gender in History. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2001. Print.
Chancer, Lynn S., and Beverly X. Watkins. Gender, Race, and Class: An Overview. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006. Print.

Visual Texts

Zoffany, Johann. Portrait of Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsay and Her Cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray. 1778. Oil on Canvas. Kenwood House, Scotland.

Wegener, Gerda. Portrait of Lili Elbe. 1928. Watercolour. Iconographic Collections.

Mijtens, Johannes. Portrait of Margaretha Van Raephorst. 1668. Oil on Canvas. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

N. Hoyer, ed., Man into Woman. An Authentic Record of a Change of Sex. The true story of the miraculous transformation of the Danish painter Einar Wegener (Andreas Sparre). London: Jarrolds, 1933. Photograph: Lili, Paris, 1926, opp. p. 40.

Ray, Man. Marcel Duchamp as Rrose Sélavy. 1920-1921. Philadelphia Museum of Art.

3D Blog Task – Brainstorm

Mind map to come soon :)!

3C Blog task – Summary of a Paragraph

Original Paragraph
The seventeenth century was a period in which monarchs around Europe claimed the power of Absolutism. That is to say, they were more than just people. Kings were God’s representatives on earth, symbolized by their being anointed like a priest during the coronation ceremony. Combining secular and spiritual power, the Absolutist monarchs claimed overwhelming power that was centered in their very person.

Summarized Paragraph
Seventeenth Century European monarchs had claimed the power of Absolutism. This meant they were not ordinary people; they were representing God on Earth. This is symbolized by their coronation where they are anointed similarly like a priest. Combining secular and spiritual power, an Absolutist monarch had power that was focused on their very person. (Mirzoeff, 36)

Works cited:
Mirzoeff, Nicholas. “Chapter 1: How to See Yourself.” How to See the World. London: Pelican, 2015. 36. Print.
Rigaud, Hyacinthe. Louis XV, King of France. 1730. Oil on Canvas. Palace of Versailles.