Humanism

The human form has always fascinated artists. From the prehistoric period to the present artists have tried to capture the essence of what makes us “human”. Humanism is defined by dictionary.com as “an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems”. We see examples in this in the early renaissance in works such as Jan van Eyck’s’ “Double Portrait”. However most early renaissance work was a representation of divinity. This is true for both the northern and southern early renaissance. In fact when you look at the work coming out of the southern early renaissance, and it doesn’t have a connection to the divine, there is a problem. But as time passed the wealthy were starting to realize how painting could serve them. By getting portraits done of them selves they could pass down a piece of themselves to future generations. It was a big deal to capture one owns image and it was regarded as a status symbol among the upper class. One piece of work that struck me as pure humanism was Giorgione’s “The Tempest”. In this work there are three human forms. The first and second include a partially nude woman nursing an infant nursing on a hill. The third form is a German mercenary moving past the woman and child. The reason this screams humanism to me is it shows the connection of human beings on so many different levels. First the mother, having nothing but a white sheet, struggling to take care of her infant, but doing the best she can. Also we see the connection between the mercenary and the woman. The mercenary appears to only be looking at her briefly before passing on, but it is within that moment that I believe we connect. It only takes a moment, a locking of eyes, or the mere passing glance that connects us all. But more importantly is the landscape around them. In the foreground we have our three subjects placed in a shadowed knoll. In the background there is an area that is lit a little brighter, before finally reaching a dark and gloomy storm approaching with a lightning bolt streaking across the sky. I think this landscape reflects perhaps our human minds. More particularly the artists mind. It could suggest, as Giorgione was watching the world around him suffer with plague (which he himself soon after contracted and passed away) he could see moments of light as well as the dark and miserable times. In all, the high renaissance was a period were artists started to draw the human condition in preference to the divine rulings. 

The Gates of Paradise

The Lorenzo Ghiberti work “Gates of Paradise” shows many great examples of the attributes of design. One of the strongest things that show in this work of art is the use of line, and the weight of lines. These “doors” show massive strength and power by using very linear heavy weighted lines in strong dominant positions and color. But at the same time the lines in the detail work is small and delicate enough to ease off on the dominance of the larger lines and makes it easier to view and slightly less aggressive. This balance of strong lines and delicate scrollwork helps with what the relief depicts, several scenes from the Hebrew bible.

            The “Gates of Paradise” contains main reliefs that depict scenes, which measure about 30” wide by 30” tall, each which brings the total works size to about 15’ tall. My favorite part of this relief is the outside boarder. In its current state the outside border of the relief is black in appearance, which contrasts greatly with the gilded bronze that makes up the smaller reliefs. That contrast makes the outside frame appear even stronger. Another attribute that makes the boarder strong is the use of lines. Both the inside and outside line of the boarder is a solid straight line, which some rigid reliefs going inwards.

            But with all that strength it is balanced out slightly with delicate scrollwork reliefs that is inset in the centerlines of the boarder. Filled with organic shapes it breaks up the monotony and adds softness to an otherwise bold shape that is the border.

            Another thing to look at is the weight of the border. Due to the size of the border relative to the rest of the relief, it is relative large, making it seem “heavy”. This idea of “weight” is probably my favorite part of the design elements because it can swing the meaning of the object in question so much by just making one element a little bit heavier than the rest of the image.

            As for the inside of the relief, the ten panels are laid out in symmetrical 2x5 grid. On each of the four corners of each panel there is a medallion that creates a smaller frame outside the ten panels. As noted before the inside of the panel is gilded bronze so it makes it’s weight seem a little lighter than the rest of the relief. Also each panel is bordered by smaller black border that is slightly chamfered which provides depth and creates “leading lines” into each of the ten reliefs. At the same time the linear and symmetrical fashion that the panels are laid out in creates an easy path for the viewer to follow.

            As for the panels themselves the book offers a close up view of one of the ten panels. Inside of the relief it follows suit in terms of strong straight line and a balance of weight with the larger scope of the relief. Inside the enlarge panel in the book we see several strong heavily weighted line sin the architecture in the background. And in the foreground we see the idealized forms of humans. This idealized for of course carries with it organic shapes that, like the border of the relief, breaks up that background. Another thing to point out is that in terms of visual weight and relative scrollwork, or organic lines, to the amount of straight strong lines is almost the same in which ever scale you view it in. This relative relationship creates a wonderful balance throughout the overall piece of work.

            Another thing I wanted to point out in the panels is how the relief itself creates visual weight. The human forms in the foreground create shadows which in sense replicate the difference in color between the blackened border and the gilded panels. This difference in color is what I believe creates most of the visual weight in this relief.

            To sum the gates of paradise up, it is a perfect balance of strength and power too the more delicate and fragile side. The strong linear lines and the visual weight the contrast of the colors provide show this. The scrollwork and the organic forms within the panels ease the dominant and aggressive form of the relief and makes it easier for the viewer to look at. As well the linear and symmetrical fashion gives the viewer and easy tablature to read and understand the images portrayed in the panels. 

Blog Post 2 The Northern Renaissance

Based on information from the BBC 4 documentary “Northern Renaissance: The Supreme Art” there were many ideas represented in the art of that time and location. While the documentary focused primarily on the works of one Jan van Eyck it can be said that most of his work is a good representation of what was going on in the period. According the documentary he was the artist that change what a singular painting could hold in terms of values and depth. His paintings were mostly hired works by Peter the Good and other Burgundy royalty. Most of his work was that of alter pieces. On the outside their would be some representation of the patrons for that particular piece while the inside would be representative of the wealth of Burgundy along with vast imagery of God and heavenly beings such as Adam, eve, and Jesus. Along with alter pieces a lot of the other work being devised at the time was that of portraiture and the three-quarter view. Portraits gave the patron a couple of status symbols. First a portrait is a way of remembering and honor ones legacy to further generations. As well, people were starting to realize that having your painting done by a certain artists could raise one’s opinion of you. Thanks to Jon van Eyck’s partnership with Peter the Great the position of “artist” gained some ground. But regardless of what type of art whether it is sculpture or painting there was one big shift during the northern renaissance. That is the resurgence of naturalization of art. This means that paintings and sculptures take on a very realistic and natural view of the subject and/or the environment. Shapes and materials became much more organic in nature and much more akin to their realistic counterparts. Color and texture, and even reflectivity, were embellished to a level that had never been accomplished before in art. This was done painstakingly by the use of multiple layers of paint as well as different types of glazes in varying combinations of thickness, gloss, and layers. The amount of work that was put into these paintings allowed the artists to focus on very minor details. The minor details were another major attribute of artistic style to the northern renaissance. But the largest attribute in my opinion to the works that came out of the northern renaissance was the use of light. As a lighting designer by trade I was awestruck by how these artists capture light in a painting that was not true linear perspective, nor with the aid of modern tools. This astonishment was pushed even further when the documentary revealed that these paintings went as far as using the real environment around the painting as its source of light and reflectivity. The shading and softness of light in its intended environment would make the painting almost life like. The use of different glazes and varying layers of oil paints made gemstones appear as true reflective, yet not opaque, gemstones. Capturing all the minor details like light, texture, and sheen, was in my opinion the attribute that set the northern renaissance apart. Those attributes are what create the first naturalistic era of paintings and sculpture.

Blog Post #1 How I feel about the Renaissance

The Renaissance period was a period of such tremendous growth. Especially in terms of art and it’s dramatic changes. Art is a key indicator on what times were like during any given period. I believe we are so entranced by renaissance art because it shows us a positive move forward in our human histories. Also, during the Renaissance the patron’s asked for the most grand display of their power or the times, and that basically created a series of art that just escalated in sheer grandness. I think the modern society for the most part likes Renaissance art, or terms it the “best” because we are wired that the better art or object will be large, complicated, and detailed. This is not to say we are al wired like this, but for the most part us humans go with the “bigger the better” theory.  Another thing that makes me think modern society is so enthralled with Renaissance art is that a lot of scientific roots of todays’ society came out of the renaissance period. Da Vinci while an artist was also an engineer and architect, and a lot of his technical drawings, to which are not art in a strict sense art, led to some modern inventions. So our society makes those connections and enjoys finding the connections between the past and us today. I also the think that we tend to focus on the big names because from early education forward that is who we learned about. And, while redundant, we focus on the big names because they are big names, simple as that. We always have celebrities or idols in our culture. Da Vinci, and Michelangelo and Raphael were those names that just stuck throughout history as being the celebrity artist. And to their name they did accomplish quite a bit for being single human beings. In all the renaissance was a period where humankind just flexed it’s muscles and said “this is who we are and this is what we can do, and nothing will stop us.”