Neoclassical Art

You know what I have realized in my taste of art?
I like a lot of art having simple designs and down-to-earth styles. Unlike the ostentatious jewels and frivolous mood in the Rococo art, it is very modest. It's very hard to imagine the style of Rococo and Neoclassical can be so close in time. It is an extremely big shift in such a short time...or maybe it is because there was already anti-Rococo style during the period but it just never made an impression on people back then...

Well anyways I really like some of it. Although I am not so fond of the frequency of Napoleon being portrayed as a invincible leader. Well..he is invincible..maybe just not simple and plain enough.

My favourite is the Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi done by Angelica Kauffmann.




I like the beauty of modesty of Conelia. Her clothing are simple but has a graceful mother vibe to her. Especially when she gestures her "precious jewels" towards the woman that was showing off her jewelry. The distinct contrast reveals Cornelia's love as a mother very well.

But maybe I am a bit of hypocrite saying that I like Neoclassical art. Because I don't really enjoy the political drawings and sculptures of histoical figures. Like Houdon's George Washington and stuff like that.
I mean, they are okay but...historical figures are very cliche.

So maybe I am not a fan of Neoclassical painting.
Just genre paintings I guess then.
Okay.

About Dutch Art

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had a good start of the year.
My start is pretty awesome overall :) Not exactly very special but I was happy and satisfied. I hope this will be a good year for me.
So this is the first update in 2011! Yay :D

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I was reading the Art History book and I saw a section on Dutch art.
At first I frowned, questioning:"What the heck is Dutch art? It doesn't sound very special."
Of course that was before I read the book and saw the art XD
I really like the style of Dutch Art during their Golden Age. I love its details and advanced techniques in portraiture as well as still life and flower painting.
I can understand the Dutch's love for genre painting, I guess, because Amsterdam and other Dutch areas give me the "down-to-earth" kind of feeling. I wonder why it never gave me an urban-like impression..I haven't even been to Amsterdam before and it's strange how the image just formed in my head :/

The first portrait that made an impression on me is the "Buffoon Playing a Lute" by Frans Hals. When i think of "portraits", I think of pictures with a person drawn in naturalistic style with that person's most distinct characteristics of the appearance. Just appearance. With no expression what-so-ever. And usually in my mind, a portrait contains only one's body above one's shoulder as well.

But look at this:



My first reaction seeing it is this: o_0

And then it completely altered my mind about portraits. This portrait shows movement and emotion that depicts the characteristic of the person-both appearance-wise and personality-wise. The convincingly joyful smile is also a very rare case during that period of time. This also made an impression on me because it gives me an warm feeling seeing the person enjoying life so much.

I also like the still lifes of Dutch art, especially their vanitas paintings. I like their idea of wanting to show the fleeting life because this way it emphasizes the "moment" more. (Why is this starting to sound more and more like Impressionism..? Hmmm)



An example.

Flower paintings of Rachel Ruysch impressed me as well. I like her detail of each petal as well as the colours.



Pweety~~

But unfortunately to be frank, the Genre paintings of Dutch Art is not as impressive in my mind. It's like any other genre paintings to me. I can't see anything special except maybe their light source.

Well that's about it ~

About Lapis Lazuli

Ever since I started reading the Oxford Book I have been seeing a lot of famous art-works with the name "Lapis Lazuli" in it. I became curious about it so I did some research and figured I should write something about this incredibly beautiful gem.



Isn't that pretty?

According to my (really crappy) research. Lapis Lazuli are found in the northeastern Aghanistan and were popular because of it's intensity of blue. In latin "lapis" means stone and "lazuli" basically has an indication of the colour blue.

I think we call that royal blue in Canada, not so much lapis lazuli because it is difficult to pronounce.

I am reading the Renaissance part of the Oxford book right now and many of the paintings as well as mosaics of Madonna and Child has the Virgin's robe in lapis lazuli. It might be a symbol of royalty and innocence?

In Egypt lapis lazuli seemed to be a popular gem to make amulets for royalties as well as ornaments like pendants and other accessories. It seems to be used in the early east civilizations as well like Mesopotamia. Lapis Lazuli was used in the Assyrians and Babylonians for seals and it was also used as eyeshadow when it was powdered by Cleopatra.

It's amazing how the deep blue were used so frequently for royalty. I wonder if it was exclusively for royalty though, like in China only the emperor could wear the colour yellow and gold.

From the picture I can almost sense the holiness of this type of gem. It's like it has some luminosity within it, like a sort of spirit.

How can nature just make something like this? It's a wonder.

The Alexander Sarcophagus

I've been wondering about the legends of Alexander the Great for quite some time now. I was wondering about his existance. He was definitely a real person, but the fact that a perfect so perfect actually existed in this world just seemed surreal to me.
See, he was handsome.
He was intelligent.
He was a great leader, encouraging the kings from other countries he conquered to help govern the states and respected their own culture.
He had great military power, able to conquer Persia and all those other countries.
And finally, he died being perfect.
I would most likely say "How bogus is that?!?!?" if I just heard this legend right now.
But the point is, that he existed in this world and left the world many artistic legacies, with the most significant one being the Alexander Sarcophagus.




Just look at the intricate high relief on the sides, showing the most amazing scenes of battle at that time. It also has a blend of different cultures of the regions that he conquered, which makes it all the more fascinating and makes him all the more admirable. I saw the Oxford book talking about the sarcophagus and I wished it had more information on the sarcaphagus.

The sarcophagus must be crafted from different crafters from the regions that he conquered. And the notion that all of the crafters working under one piece of magnificent art piece makes me want to bow at Alexander the Great's charisma for assuming his people's loyalty towards him, even the ones that he conquered over. That was just amazing for me to see since in History class all I learned was about dictators......It is highly unlikely for a person to have so much power and capability without abusing it. (I know I would.)

The sarcophagus further stunned me with the contrast on the front and the back. One side is all chaotic and shows the wildness and the ugliness of the battle, whereas the back shows all of the people fighting as a team with impressive cooperation. I am not much informed on the sarcophagus, so forgive me if I am wrong, but i think that the sarcophagus is trying to emphasize the power of Alexander of organizing his army. With Alexander shown in the piece with a lion helmet, it not only protrays the his power, but also his personality and his ambition.

I wonder if I meet him would I get entranced by his charm too....:/

About the Japanese

I've been admiring Japan for a long time, even before I was too young and ignorant to be culturally appreciative. I was merely fascinated by the manga, the games, and the anime....which I still am. But before I've always dreamed of the high-tech-ness of Tokyo and the people and the shingansen and just the amazing technology.

So then I went to Japan two times. One time to Tokyo and I was stunned by the clean, civilized and incredibly crowded streets where all I could see was people's heads. The technology was scarily advanced, and I kept staring people's cellphones like a idiot.

Hm, you'd think Mocha would be less bitter.

The second time I went to Japan is to Nagoya in an exchange program. I thought of it as another way to buy manga and see high-tech stuff.

BIG MISTAKE.

I did see high technology, but then I realized something else.

Since Nagoya and Kyoto are old...I got to see the amazing architecture built by the ancient Japanese and it completely altered my point of view of Japan to a whole new perspective.

And then of course that was where the weepy-ness kicked into me.

The matter-of-fact idea of Japan having had a gloriously glittering culture hit me late, but eventually I got to learn more about their civilization in the Oxford book and in my civilization textbook. The civilization textbook talked more about the culture and what happened, and the Oxford book elaborated more on the aesthetic perspective. I wouldn't be able to link the things together if i didn't have my civilization book.....thank you civilization.

So the main topic.

It's amazing how beautiful Japan looks, huh?

Many people found the Heian period unnatural and kind of weird. But it is true that it made a huge contribution to the current Japanese culture. The Tale of Genji wouldn' be here if it wasn't for this period. The Tale of Genji made the historians know more about the way of living as well as the perspective on art.

For example:

This picture explicitly shows what the Heian people expect in a home. No separation on the inside and outside, the extremely well-organized garden with water and plants, and layers and the colors of women's clothing.

I also admired the aesthetics of the shogunate periods. It's very amazing how their views changed so dramatically in such a short period. I wonder if it was the bafuku's influence?



This is the Jochiji temple which was one of the Zen Buddhism schools.
Cool beauty huh?
In this kind of enviroment, no wonder the samurais are appreciative and willing to work.
Practising in that kind of scenery is going to get the energy out no matter what.

About Buddhism

I was reading the entire chapter on Buddhism on the Oxford book the other day.
I knew that Buddhism originated from India, but it still very fascinating to think although it began in India, it is the main religion in China and Japan and Korea. Ironically, the main religion in India is not Buddhism but Hinduism.
My family's basically Buddhists. I'm from Chinese heritage after all. I remember that I used go to Chinese temples with my family every year and burned incense until my eyes water by the strong smell. I was a little kid back then, so I didn't really get the point of kneeling down in front of a giant, scary-looking sculpture and bow for it. I mainly did it because I thought it was fun and sometimes I would mumble out random wishes like "I wish I can have candy for dinner" or something like that. For me, going to the Buddhist temples is like a festival.
My grandmother on my mother's side is Buddhist. She is fully dedicated to the religion and she is a vegetarian. She used to tell me all kinds of stories that reveals to me explicitly about her faith towards Buddha. She told me about the reincarnations, the Noble Eighth Fold Path, and Nirvana. I loved to listen to her and listen to the repeated chanting in her recorder. I loved to watch her sitting in the same place on her bed for two hours everyday, legs crossed, either meditating or praying. I liked seeing her fingers moving through the beads one by one.
She still does it right now. But I've grown to know that I'm not supposed to interrupt her meditation time anymore. But sometimes I still go into her room and watch her quietly.

So, I kinda digress.
Anyways, I think the true Buddhism is still in India. See, the Buddhism in China as well as in Japan have a twist to match their own culture. The actual Buddhism is the one with Sanskrit and no Bodhisattva. Bodhisattavas are something that the Chinese people added later on to blend with their own myths. So in the Chinese culture, there is mortals, immortals, king of the immortals, Guanyin and the Bodhisattvas, and finally Buddha. It's like a pyramid. For example, the Chinese legendary Yi who shot off 9 of the suns belongs to the immortals, who look up to Buddha and his enlightenment. If the immortals meditate, they will eventually become one of the Bodhisattavas, and if they don't behave well, they sometimes get back into the life cycle and become human again. The religion itself is perfected in the way of the Chinese, but Buddhists in India and Japan are somewhat different too, I believe.

And I am also quite intrigued by the way Buddhist perfected the ancient Chinese culture. It's because of the Buddhist religion that China was able to write one of the four most famous novels in Chinese history.

I don't know much about the Japanese (except for Zen) or Korean Buddhism......and the book is talking about the architecture so....
I'll talk about the Japanese things next time :D

Classical Music

Is classical music going out of style??

Of course not. At least not in my world.

Well, the teenagers my age don't seem to enjoy classical music that much. They tend to play it if they listen to instruments, but normally I don't think they would listen to it.

But I like classical music D: . I've listened to a lot of composers and they are all good!

And......If I may brag......I am pretty interested in the backgrounds of the music.

Don't get me wrong. I like modern music too, but I just wanna talk about classical music first.
Generally, there is no real specific style that I like.

Okay. I might start by talking about the songs of specific composers.

WARNING. THIS IS VERY LIKELY TO BE SUPER LONG.


So please bear with me?


Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Do I like Mozart?
Honestly? No. I have to admit, he is a musical genius. I respect him and his talent of being able to compose music at the age of 5. The music blood runs in the family. His passion towards music is truly impressive, considering that he composed over 600 melodies in total. And I like how he likes travelling. He is very fortunate that he was able to reach his full potential in music because his family is generally wealthy enough to sustain a living. His family also provided tons of inspiration through travelling through Europe. Without the contribution of his family, he wouldn't have achieved such a massive success.

I have a close friend who basically WORSHIPS Mozart. And she hates me for saying that I don't like Mozart. The truth is, his songs are not my type. I know it is elaborate the stuff, his symphony are very very intricate...but I just cannot seem to find myself to absolutely love it.

His style of music is too happy for me. It's always extremely joyous with a lot of embellishment.

Some examples:
Marriage of Figaro.
Piano Sonata.
Magic Flute.
Violin Concertos.
Eine Kleine Nachutmusik K.525
Divertimento K.136

Everytime I listen to those songs. I can imagine a girl on plain running and laughing. His music is a little bit too classical for me, I guess.

His style is similar with Haydn. Very happy. But Haydn's music is less 'ornated'.

But there is one exception. I like Mozart's Requiem. That kind of opera sounds very magnificent and dramatic. It is not his usual style (at least what I know), so I very much enjoyed it.



Joseph Maurice Ravel



One of my favourite composers.

His style is absolutely beautiful. I fell in love with his music that even my mom can hum out the songs because I play them too much with my flute.

I seem to favour impressionists more than classics because I like Debussy and Saint-Saëns a lot as well.

He seem to have attachment to Spain, because he was born near Spain, and that attachment inspired many of his melodies.Rapsodie espagnole being only one example.
He like pizzicato a lot :D. Usually not many violin songs include so many pizzicatos.
One of his famous songs :Pavane pour une infante défunte is my favourite song that is composed by him. He is brilliant for creating this. The protrait of Margarita Teresa really relates to this song. This song is not for grieve. It tells a story of how there used to be a young little girl who danced in the castles. It's beautiful styles links perfectly to the sadness in the song.

Other than that, I really love his String Quartet too. Its magnificent usage of pizzicato of the two violins, viola and cello creats a unique harmony to the ear.

Concerto pour la main gauche as well as Concerto pour piano et orchestre, sol majeur, are not the usual style of his work. It makes a somehow evil and devil-ish atmosphere. Playing it requires high technique, like it almost has an effect of a demon's lure or Pandora's Box.

Some of the other songs I like are:
Ma mere l'Oye- absolute masterpiece~all the movements have the theme of a fairy-tale~~
Gaspard de la Nuit


Charles Camille Saint-Saëns





DANSE MACABRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am kind of crazy about Danse Macabre. I gives me a mixed feeling of danger and excitement of this omnious feeling at night. I am so enchanted. You know it is dangerous but you are too charmed to resist this sweet temptation. You cannot help but to dance with the devil, and it is almost like you want to indulge in this pleasure and sell your soul to the devil.

Oh my god I love it I love it I love it so much >_
And Saint Saens is a music genius too, starting to play piano at 2 years old!!! And performed with Bach, Mozart and Beethoven at 10!!!

His other music are not as brilliant as this one. So it doesn't leave me much impression of his other songs....i was too amazed at Danse Macabre.

I'll add more to it next time. So much more I want to talk about.