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Purpose:
To become familiar with the way artist’s are responding to the issues in today’s world (as well as the past);
To understand characteristics of storytelling, both historically and contemporary;
To learn about contemporary artists, as well as Peter Bruegel and their work.
“Nwantini” (2012) by Nijdeka Akunyili Crosby
"School of Beauty, School of Culture" (2012) by Kerry James Marshall
All of Crosby’s work incorporates transferred images creating a cross of photographs and painting to portray a greater meaning, an example being her work “Nwantinti”. On the other hand, both Marshall and Nisenbaum only use paint. Their paintings are interesting in other ways, as both of them choose their subjects very carefully. Additionally, all three artists use lots of color blocking and intense use of bright colors as shown in Marshall’s School of Beauty, and Nisenbaum’s The Ones Who Make it Run. Altogether, these artist’s choices in mediums and techniques create striking pieces with depth and meaning. These artists explore race and class through their art, by portraying uncommonly depicted figures and symbols.
"The Ones who Make it Run (Delta Terminal C, LaGuardia Airport)" (2022) by Aliza Nisenbaum
Pieter Brugel the Elder used many techniques in the 16th century that are still used today. Brugel often used underpaintings or underdrawings. This is a strategy for making darker values in a painting more vibrant and clean by layering paints and emphasizing the darker values from the beginning stages of the painting. This is shown in his work “Hunters in the Snow” while all but the one hunter in the center of the painting was made using an underpainting. By observing the painting closely it can be seen that the hunters made with the underpainting look slightly different in vibrancy to the hunter without the underpainting. Furthermore, Bruegel creates many large pieces with intricate details to convey his outlook on life. As shown in “The Triumph of Death” Brugel displays the violence of the French wars of religion that were taking place at the time. This painting shows a landscape with skeletons murdering people. By including so many different figures in his painting, he is able to deepen the meaning of his work through showing how different people may have experienced these events. An example of this would be the pile of bodies which seems to have all been put there at a similar time, making them a group. While comparing that to the scene in the top right corner of the painting where a skeleton is holding its hand up with a sword that is about to come down on the head of a person. Because these two figures are mostly separate from the rest of the painting, it seems as though this matter is more personal. This depicts how people of higher positions would have been targeted more and with more passion than other people or civilians during the wars.
“Hunters in the Snow” (1565) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
“The Triumph of Death” (1562) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
In comparison to modern artists, Pieter Brugel includes much more violence and intricacy in his work. Brugel shows meaning and stories through the actions of his subjects. As many of the subjects in his work are similar, their body language and position create meaning. On the other hand, the artist Nijdeka Akunyili Crosby uses her subjects to convey meaning more. As shown in her work “Nwantinti”, a white man and a Nigerian woman are sitting on a bed together. By carefully selecting these subjects in addition to using more modern muses like photography and transferred photography, she shows her experiences of marriage with an American man.
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