You Think You Know Ancient Egypt?

Ushabti of Senkamaniksken, Kushite Kingdom, Napata (northern Sudan), ca. 643–623 bce. Steatite, 21.7 x 6.9 x 5 cm (8 9/16" x 2 11/16" x 1 15/16"). © Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY. (BMA-553)

At first glance this small sculpture would lead the viewer to believe that it was firmly within the realm of ancient Egyptian art. It actually belongs to a culture that bordered dynastic Egypt, and twice established dynasties that ruled Egypt. Much like the Roman Empire, ancient Egyptian culture had a strong influence on surrounding (often conquered) cultures. I find the purity of the traditional Egyptian funerary style remarkable in this piece that commemorates a Nubian (Kushite) ruler.

Senkamaniksken ruled over his homeland of Kush only a couple of decades after the Kushites had ruled Egypt, establishing Dynasty 25 (712–657 bce). The Kushite kingdom extended from south of Aswan on the Nile into northern Sudan, where the capital Napata was located. Interestingly, the Kushites of this period were the first to revive pyramid building since the Middle Kingdom in Egypt (1986–1759 bce). The remarkable thing about the Kushites is how thoroughly they adapted Egyptian religious and artistic conventions. The Kushites ruled Egypt twice, in the Second Intermediate period (ca. 1696–1539 bce) and the 25^th dynasty, which fell to Assyrian invasion. They retreated to their homeland south of Upper Egypt, and established a kingdom that flourished for almost 1000 years.

The ushabti (this is one of nearly 1300 found in Sekamaniksken’s tomb) was yet another device to ensure that the deceased made a smooth transition into the afterlife, which Egyptians (and subsequently Kushites) believed would be a mirror of the physical world. The ushabti were meant to be receptacles for the deceased’s spirit (ka) should the body be damaged in any way. The Kushites have totally adapted Egyptian iconography, including the crook and fly whisk (symbols of kingly power), as well as the uraeus on the forehead (cobra and vulture). The uraeus is a conceit on the part of Senkamaniksken, because it symbolized rule over Upper and Lower Egypt.

Studio activity: Found object ushabti, a hometown sculpture. Using locally available materials such as clay, wood, rocks, scrap metal and wire, and cardboard, create a figure that represents a present-day ushabti. After choosing materials, make sketches for your figure, making sure that it reflects the idea of a sacred object meant to house a person’s spirit. Try to endow the sculpture with personal physical traits.

Correlations to Davis programs: A Personal Journey: 4.2; A Global Pursuit: 1.4; Exploring Visual Design: 2, 7; The Visual Experience: 15.3; Discovering Art History: 5.3

National Jewish American Heritage Month

Helen Frankenthaler (1928–2011, United States), Silent Curtain, 1967–1969. Lithograph, 76.2 x 57.15 cm (30" x 22 1/2"). Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY. © 2013 Helen Frankenthaler / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. (AK-615fkars)

As an art historian who grew up in the age of blossoming feminist art movements, one of my major disappointments has always been the significant women artists of previous movements who were not given much exposure when they first came into their own. Helen Frankenthaler is one of them, because she was a colleague of major figures of Abstract Expressionism Jackson Pollock (1912–1956), Willem de Kooning (1904–1997), and Robert Motherwell (1915–1991). She is considered part of the “second generation” of Abstract Expressionism. Since the 1960s, of course, she established her own reputation as a pioneer American modernist, and her work no longer needs to be connected by art historians to the major figures of Abstract Expressionism, as if that movement was the do-all end-all moment in American modernism. In 1960 the poet Frank O’Hara organized the first retrospective of her work at the Jewish Museum in New York. Hence, I salute her body of work in this tribute to Jewish American Heritage Month.

Frankenthaler was born and raised in New York. She was a pupil of Hans Hofmann (1880–1966), a German Bauhaus artist who immigrated to New York and opened his own school to teach the principles of abstraction, as well as Bauhaus ideas of how to integrate fine art into design. Frankenthaler’s earliest work was influenced by Cubism. When she met Pollock, her work lost its cubist tendencies and she produced abstractions with thick paint built up. A trip to Nova Scotia in 1952 helped change her views on abstraction. She sketched landscapes in watercolor and the wash-like character of watercolor was translated to oils and acrylics on canvas. She was a pioneer of the technique of staining unprimed canvas.

Her stained canvas paintings that hinted at landscape yielded in the 1960s to works that were large, simple fields of color. While Frankenthaler’s intention may have been to depict a literal subject, her main concern was form, with spatial dynamics. The simple fields of color evolved into contrasts of positive and negative space, such as Silent Curtain. In her prints, Frankenthaler mimics the concerns of Abstract Expressionism with texture, while exploring the idea of contrasts of emptiness and shape. In a series of prints on different subjects, Frankenthaler explored mundane activity. This piece by the artist leads one naturally to assume, values and objects are not of primary importance. What is important is contrast of positive and negative space. At this point she experimented with prints to show this contrast, often with the positive forms surrounding the blank central area. In this work, she presents the reverse. The forms are reminiscent of her stain paintings, but the subject matter, while abstract, is more recognizable.

Studio activity: An abstract everyday form. Use a piece of brown craft paper, as Frankenthaler did, and white chalk or pastel. Select a simple subject from everyday life and express it in the simplest way possible that suggests its qualities: a white window curtain, white sheets on an outside laundry line, a piece of white paper blown around in the wind, or a white flag waving in the breeze. Give it either expressive qualities or calm qualities. Either isolate the subject on the paper or create a rudimentary background using the same medium. Experiment with the white medium to create highlights that suggest sunlight surrounding the object you decide to draw.

Correlations to Davis programs: Explorations in Art Grade 4: 6.35; Explorations in Art Grade 5: 6.31; Explorations in Art Grade 6: 5.25; A Community Connection: 8.2; Exploring Visual Design: 2, 6, 7; The Visual Experience: 9.4, 16.7; Discovering Art History: 17.3

The Simplified Landscape

Warren Rohrer (1927–1995, US), Untitled (May 23, 1981), 1981. Conté crayon on wove paper, 48.3 x 66.7 cm (19" x 26 1/4"). Philadelphia Museum of Art. © Estate of Warren Rohrer. (PMA-4038)

The genre of the simplified (abstracted) landscape has been around a loooonnnnnng time. In particular, I think of the dreamy, suggestive landscapes of Chinese artists from as early as the Song dynasty (960–1079 ce). However, I never tire of introducing an artist whose work I’ve seen for the first time who just strikes a different cord in my appreciation of art. My own landscapes tend to be representational, but I still appreciate a strikingly different take on landscape. No matter how different the approach stylistically, I always feel that all landscapes are a response from the artist’s taking joy in nature. What better way to celebrate the advent of May than with a gorgeous landscape?

As is true with many landscape artists, Warren Rohrer was creating works of art that expressed his response to the natural world, not necessarily a precise map of a specific place, as is seen in Hudson River School artists. Rohrer, a ninth generation native of Pennsylvania, chose as his subject matter the landscape of the area in which he grew up (Lancaster County). Raised as a Mennonite, he opted to study art rather than become a farmer. He studied art at Penn State University. Early in his study of art he painted outdoors, eventually developing a grid-like approach to depicting a landscape.

The grid technique gradually evolved into this heavily layered technique. This work reflects the luminous nature of his landscapes of the 1980s. His use of conté crayon on textured wove paper is reminiscent of the experiments of Georges Seurat (1859–1891) to simulate luminous aspects in nature. This untitled May landscape definitely defines a foreground, middleground and background.

Here are some other artists’ works that remind me of Rohrer’s, whether they were influenced by landscape or not:

Mark Rothko (1903–1970, US), Ochre and Red on Red, 1954. Oil on canvas, 235.3 x 161.9 cm. Phillips Collection, Washington, DC. © Estate of Mark Rothko / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. (PC-350rkars)

Agnes Martin (1912–2004, US), Mountain, 1960. Ink and pencil on paper, 24 x 30.2 cm. Museum of Modern Art, New York. © Estate of Agnes Martin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. (MOMA-P1490mtars)

Childe Hassam (1859–1935, US), Sunset on the Sea, 1908. Oil on wood panel, 17 x 24 cm. Photo courtesy Richard H. Love Gallery, Chicago, IL. (8S-26592)

Claude Monet (1840–1926, France), Marine at Étretat, 1882. Oil on canvas, 55 x 74 cm. © Philadelphia Museum of Art. (PMA-1061)

Ted Hallman (born 1933, US), The River, 2006. Cotton twill, 233.7 x 91.4 cm. Philadelphia Museum of Art. © Ted Hallman. (PMA-4218)

Gerhard Richter (born 1932, Germany), Woods (12), 2005. Oil on canvas, 197.2 x 132.1 cm. Museum of Modern Art, New York. © Gerhard Richter. (MOMA-P1345)

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986, US), Evening Star III, 1917. Watercolor on paper, 23 x 30 cm. Museum of Modern Art, New York. © Estate of Georgia O’Keeffe / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. (MOMA-P2503okars)

Dieter Roth (1930–1998, Switzerland), Big Sunset, 1968, published 1970. Sausage on card in plastic cover, 95 x 65 cm. Museum of Modern Art, New York. © Estate of Dieter Roth. (MOMA-P0660)

Sylvia Plimack Mangold (born 1938, US), Untitled, from the portfolio “Aquatint, Sugarlift, and Golden Changes,” 1977. Etching and aquatint; composition: 21.6 x 21.8 cm, sheet: 27.6 x 35.2 cm. Museum of Modern Art, New York. © Silvia Plimack Mangold. (MOMA-P3658)

Shi Zhong (1438–1517, China), Snowscape, 1504. Handscroll: ink on paper, 24.6 x 319 cm. © Museum of Find Arts, Boston. (MFAB-651D)

Tony Rosati (born 1947, US), Engleside Wave, 2003. Monotype, 20.6 x 15.2 cm. Philadelphia Museum of Art. © Tony Rosati. (PMA-4043)

Check out more of Rohrer’s work at the Locks Gallery.

Studio Activity: An abstract landscape. Using rough-textured paper and colored chalks or crayons, create a landscape of a familiar place devoid of any fussy detail. Reduce it either to basic geometric shapes or layers of texture. It can be either horizontally or vertically oriented, but be sure to avoid any physical details such as individual trees, bushes, or grass. The landscape can start with a grid, or a series of abstract shapes that merge together.

Correlations to Davis programs: Exploration in Art Grade 1: 4.21; Exploration in Art Grade 2: 1.4; Exploration in Art Grade 4: 1.5, 4.22; Exploration in Art Grade 5: 6.32; A Personal Journey: 5.4; A Community Connection: 4.2, 4.4 studio time; Exploring Visual Design: 4, 5, 6, 8

My Mask Mania

Burkina Faso, Mask with hornbill and crocodile, early 1900s. Wood, twine and pigment; 127 x 20 x 23 cm (50" x 8" x 9").  © Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY. (BMA-275)

Thanks to Steven Tatum at Virginia Tech for educating me about African masks, an art form I’ve long been fascinated by. The variety of forms and uses boggles my Western European accustomed mind! Customs involving the wearing of masks proliferate throughout West and Central Africa. The forms the masks take and the reasons for their use are varied, but a few generalizations can be made for nearly all mask making traditions. The most fundamental property of a mask is that the person who wears it loses his or her own identity and becomes possessed by the spirit of the mask. Another common property of masks is that they are part of an ensemble of materials that make up an entire costume. The carved portion that covers the face, which we normally think of as a mask, is only a portion of the costume.  A mask does not have its full power until all of the other components are attached.  Masks are nearly always worn by men. The exception is a mask worn by members of the women's Sande society in several ethnic groups in the West African countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Sande Mask:

Mende People, Sierre Leone, Helmet Mask. Wood, vegetable fiber; 40.64 x 20.32 x 22.86 cm. © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (MFAB-757)

The hornbill and crocodile motif is fairly common in Burkina Faso among the Nuna culture. The Nuna migrated from Ghana in the 1400s. The Nuna historically are farmers who grow a variety of crops, including yams, corn, rice, and beans. Women grow the cash crops that included tobacco and sesame. Fishing and hunting are practiced during the dry season. Animal-shaped masks are the primary sculpted forms of peoples in this part of Africa. Nuna societies are comprised mainly of farmers without social or political stratification.

Belief in a supreme creator is central to Nuna customs. Homes contain family shrines that reflect their dependence on farming and often contain animal masks or sculpture. Animal-shaped masks are the primary sculptural form among the Nuna The hornbill mask is worn on the face with the wearer looking out through the two round eyeholes.  The hornbill symbolizes knowledge and wisdom. The crocodile is related to a water spirit, guaranteeing fertility and prosperity.

The beauty of this mask, aside from the sophisticated carving, is the contrasting patterns. The palette of red, white, and black is typical of Nuna masks.

Studio activity: Animal mask. Look at pictures of animals for ideas and decide what animal is most desirable.  Draw a big shape of the animal’s face, bigger than your head, on heavy construction paper, and cut it out. Cut eye holes to fit your head and add straps. Paint or color the surface of the animal’s head and add other paper shapes such as whiskers and hair in different colored construction paper.

Correlations to Davis programs: Explorations in Art Grade 1: 29-30 studio; Explorations in Art Grade 3: 6.33-34 studio; Explorations in Art Grade 4: 5.30, 5.29-30 studio; Explorations in Art Grade 6: 6.35; A Community Connection: 7.6; A Personal Journey: 7.5, 7.6; Exploring Visual Design: 2, 11; The Visual Experience: 14.3; Discovering Art History: 4.8

Yet Another Facet of Forgotten Art History

Thomas Gross, Jr. (1775–1839, Philadelphia), Chest-on-chest, 1805–1810. Yellow poplar, mahogany, and yellow pine with brass fittings, 210.2 x 109.9 x 57.2 cm (6' 10 3/4" x 43 1/4" x 22 1/2"). © Philadelphia Museum of Art. (PMA-1927)

Like women artists, African American artists have been neglected in the major art history survey texts, especially when it comes to pre-emancipation. I am always delighted to have an epiphany about an artist I never knew much about. Although I must admit, it is extremely difficult to find biographical information about many black and women artists before the end of the 1800s.

During the 1700s and 1800s there were African American artists who achieved significant degree of recognition as artists. Unfortunately, even in the northern United States, it was difficult for African Americans to prosper greatly as artists before the Emancipation Proclamation of 1864. In Pennsylvania, the Gradual Abolition of Slavery Act of 1780 made it a little bit easier for blacks to establish a professional reputation. The act provided that any African American born before 1780 would remain a “slave for life” unless they were legally “freed.”

In the relative “boom” economy after the American Revolution (1775–1783), there was a great demand for the miscellaneous arts, particularly furniture, ceramics, metalwork, and glassware. Many African Americans in the North, and some in the South, were apprenticed to trained artists based on their skills from their African roots.  Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood was home to a sizeable population of free African Americans who provided a thriving artistic service for growing Philadelphia.

Thomas Gross, Jr. was apparently a free black person. He had a prosperous business as a cabinetmaker (furniture maker). As was typical at the time, he also worked as an undertaker because his woodworking skills made him a handy coffin-builder. This chest-on-chest, which mimics the then-fashionable highboy, was a practical storage piece of furniture in a period when closets were not widespread. It reflects the popular neoclassical style of the Federal period (ca. 1783–1830) with its geometric simplicity and pediment top. The chest-on-chest was made in America after the 1750s. Although many of these chests were designed in the Chippendale style, simpler versions like this one form the majority. Unlike the highboy that rested on cabriole legs, the chest-on-chest almost uniformly is supported on bracket feet. The chest-on-chest form was originally introduced in Britain around 1700.

Check out more furniture from the period:

Thomas Affleck (attributed to) (1740-1795, United States), Card table, 1770. Mahogany, oak, pine; 81.3 x 72.4 x 39.7 cm. © Philadelphia Museum of Art. (PMA-2602)

Unknown Artist, Tambour Desk from Pennsylvania, 1790-1805. Mahogany and silver mounts. © Philadelphia Museum of Art. (PMA-1574)

Unknown artist, Side Chair, 1800. Mahogany. © Philadelphia Museum of Art. (PMA-2287)

Studio activity:  Design a chest that expresses personality. Take a cardboard box and combine it with cut out shapes in paper to create a unique cabinet. Color it with markers or watercolor, and indicate drawers with a black thin-point marker. Express your personality by extending the basic geometric shape to include curled, folded, and bent shapes on the attached paper.

Correlations to Davis programs:  Explorations in Art Grade 1: 6.35; A Community Connection: 3.4; A Personal Journey: 3.4; Exploring Visual Design: 1, 2, 7 

101st Anniversary of Sinking of the Titanic

Frederic Church (1826–1900, United States), Icebergs, 1863.Oil on canvas, 8.25 x 14.29 cm (3 1/4" x 5 5/8"). © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (MFAB-240)

The 15^th of April was the 101^st anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. In order not to dwell on that morbid subject (but to relate it to art) I’m showing you all one of a series of paintings Frederic Church did on icebergs. Church, the only person to ever be taken as a student by Hudson River School “guru” Thomas Cole (1801–1848) produced a unique series of dramatic paintings of nature that he observed, as well as composite landscapes for dramatic purposes. The Hudson River School style was basically Romantic Realism.

Church’s interest in the Arctic began with the search for Sir John Franklin (died 1847), a British explorer whose expedition to the Arctic ended with the death of crews of two ships, and the search for the bodies of the crews in the following decade. Church’s paintings already emphasized the power and grandeur or nature, and the Arctic north with its ice flows and icebergs fascinated him. He produced several paintings on the iceberg theme from sketches he had seen by actual later expedition participants. He eventually booked passage in 1859 on a ship to the Arctic to study icebergs first hand. The result of that trip was a collaborative book chronicling the trip through the Northwest Passage, called After Icebergs with a Painter. This painting is based on that sojourn, although I am doubtful that this is the iceberg that sank the Titanic! What I love about this painting is how Church endows all of nature with an awe-inspiring glory through his dramatic placement of the subject and lighting. If I ever see an iceberg in real life and it looks like the ones in the Church painting, I would definitely be awed!

Born in Connecticut, Church was the son of a wealthy businessman. Although his father wanted him to become a businessman or doctor, Church pursued his desire to be an artist. In 1842 and 1843 he studied with local landscape painters in Hartford. Accepting his son’s career choice, Church’s father arranged for him to have two years of lessons with Thomas Cole in New York starting in 1844. He was the only pupil Cole ever accepted for instruction. This would give him an advantage over other aspiring young painters at the time.

Church immediately distinguished himself through his meticulous, detail drawings of the natural world. His eye for detail far exceeded Cole’s: elements of nature being examined seemingly microscopically. Church exhibited for the first time at the National Academy of Design at the age of nineteen, where he exhibited throughout his career. In 1849, at twenty-three, he became the youngest artist ever elected to full membership in the National Academy. By that point he had established himself as the most promising of up-and-coming young painters.

This painting is most likely a study for a larger work. I’ve seen it in person—it’s little bigger than a postcard, so most likely not meant to be a finished work. What’s amazing about it is the atmosphere of being in the cold Arctic Ocean at sunset and seeing these magnificent mountains of ice. Here’s a modern interpretation on the subject.

Robert Moskowitz (born 1935, United States), Iceberg, 1987. Pastel on black paper, 101 x 284.5 cm. Museum of Modern Art, New York. © Robert Moskowitz. (MOMA-P3077)

Studio activity: A landscape painting representing something that you find awe inspiring; be it because of dramatic lighting, weather, or view. Choose a photograph from a magazine of a landscape or of a painting of a landscape with dramatic impact. Make notes about the desired colors and shapes. Create a dramatic landscape using colors and shapes, including warm or cool colors or geometric or organic shapes. Use crayons to blend the various shapes and colors together for a harmonious composition. Remember to use a consistent light source in order to enhance drama in the composition.

Correlations to Davis programs: Explorations in Art Grade 2 1.3; Explorations in Art Grade 4: 4.21, 4.22; Explorations in Art Grade 5: 4.20, 2.19; A Global Pursuit: 7.2; A Community Connection: 4.4; Exploring Visual Design: 9; Discovering Art History: 12. 2.

National Older Americans Month: Aging in Art

Robert Arneson (1930–1992, United States), California Artist, 1982. Painted and glazed ceramic, height: 198 cm (77 15/16"). Photo courtesy of the artist. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. © Estate of Robert Arneson / Licensed by VAGA. (8S-27697arvg)

Did you know that April is National Older Americans Month?  Robert Arneson died way too soon, and I’m not sure he’d appreciate me featuring him for this theme, but his work shows us how we look at ourselves aging. I think we always need to give a nod to the inevitable, and Arneson certainly did that in this work.

“California Figuration” was something of a rebellion against the East Coast dominance of Abstract Expressionism in the 1950s. Like Pop Art, it represented a wry look at American culture through recognizable commercial and social imagery. An off-shoot of California Figuration (as epitomized in the work of Elmer Bischoff and Richard Diebenkorn) was California Pop Art. Also called Funk Art, it emphasized the shoddy, bizarre, and tacky elements of modern American life.

Born in Benicia, California, Arneson’s work was part of a ceramic art movement in the 1950s that eventually elevated the medium to the status of “fine art.” He produced a series of works—much in the spirit of Claes Oldenburg—that parodied diner food, consumer products, and items of clothing. But, by far the most significant of Arneson’s work was his documentation of his own appearance over time through numerous self-portraits, often bearing ironic titles.

Kiln Man, 1971. Terra cotta, height: 91 cm (35 7/8"). Photo courtesy of the artist. © Estate of Robert Arneson / Licensed by VAGA. (8S-2991arvg)

Hear, 1973. Ceramic, 43 x 43 x 36 cm (17" x 17" x 14 1/8"). Private collection. Photo courtesy of the artist. © Estate of Robert Arneson / Licensed by VAGA. (8S-18538arvg)

Balancing Act, 1974. Ceramic, 102 x 33 x 33 cm (40 1/8" x 13" x 13"). Private collection. Photo courtesy of the artist. © Estate of Robert Arneson / Licensed by VAGA. (8S-18543arvg)

Whistling in the Dark, 1976. Terra cotta, 86 x 50.8 x 50.8 cm (33 7/8" x 20" x 20"). Photo courtesy of the artist. © Estate of Robert Arneson / Licensed by VAGA. (8S-21573arvg)

 

Self-Portrait, 1980. Bronze, 44 x 23 x 23 cm (17 3/8" x 9" x 9"). Photo courtesy of the artist. © Estate of Robert Arneson / Licensed by VAGA. (8S-27688arvg)

Nasal Flat, 1981. Ceramic, glazed; head: 118 x 71 x 52 cm (46 1/2" x 28" x 20 1/2"). Photo courtesy of the artist. © Estate of Robert Arneson / Licensed by VAGA. (8S-27694arvg)

California Artist, study, 1982. Conté crayon and oil pastel, 132 x 107 cm (52" x 42 1/8"). Photo courtesy of the artist. © Estate of Robert Arneson / Licensed by VAGA. (8S-26706arvg)

Eye of the Beholder, 1982. Oil pastel, acrylic, and oil on paper, 132 x 107 cm (52" x 42 1/8"). Photo courtesy of the artist. © Estate of Robert Arneson / Licensed by VAGA. (8S-267076arvg)

These self-deprecating biographies in ceramic led to the ultimate statement on California Figuration: Arneson’s self-portrait as an aging hippie artist. His unflinching realistic portrait of himself in denim jacket with pot growing around the pedestal is a tribute to his self-esteem as an aging artist. Many other artists through history have documented their growing older (notably Rembrandt), but none with more humor and irony that Arneson. This self-portrait was created as a response to a New York art critic who denigrated the “provincial” nature of art in California.

Correlations to Davis programs: Explorations in Art Grade 1: 1.9-10 studio; Explorations in Art Grade 2: 5.29-30 studio; Explorations in Art Grade 3: 1.3-4 studio; Explorations in Art Grade 5: 1.1-2 studio; Explorations in Art Grade 6: 6.31-32 studio; A Personal Journey: 2.3; Exploring Visual Design: 2, 6, 10