Visually and Historically Interesting Periods

Throughout this quarter we have gone over a lot of very unique and interesting periods full of many eye catching and important works of art. When reviewing my notes and looking through each chapter in our books, I found that the Prehistoric period was the most visually interesting to me and Jewish, Early Christian, and Byzantine period was the most historically interesting to me. 

Looking at the Prehistoric age, my favorite pieces were those that represented humans. In prehistoric art, the human figure was represented in such an abstract way which I found to be very appealing. Figures represented in the book as well as lectures that have the abstract appearance include the Venus of Willendorf, the Woman From Brassempouy, the Human Figure, and the Figures of a Woman and a Man. I find these pieces to be so intriguing because of how they portray different parts of the human body. They leave my mind with questions as to what humans looked like back in the prehistoric period and why certain areas of the body were more emphasized than others. We have already studied the Venus of Willendorf and know that most theories suggest that her larger hips and breasts represent fertility. Yet this is not a fact, just a theory. The human figures found in the Prehistoric period, one could say, are mysterious which creates an everlasting impression on me. I like to look at the pieces and come up with theories of my own as well as read what others have to say. All in all, I just like the fact that human figures in the prehistoric period raise questions and have a little mystery behind them. I also find that they can be a bit disturbing to the eye but in an intriguing way. When looking at the Human Figure on page 21, it scares me a bit yet it also grabs my attention. I love the fact that this figure has no mouth and that its eyes are emphasized. I think that overall, the lack of mouth and the dark eyes make the figure intriguing and again, raise questions as to why there is no mouth and what was meant to be told within the eyes. The lack of a mouth scares me a bit and it is shown again on the Woman From Brassempouy on page 7. A lot of the human figures are missing important parts of a natural human body yet the fact that they are lacking these parts, i feel, makes them more visually interesting. 

When thinking about what was historically interesting to me, I thought that they Jewish, Early Christian, and Byzantine Art was the most historically interesting. I have never known a lot about any kind of religion because in a way, I was never too interested. When looking into Judaism, Christianity, and the Islamic religion through art, it became more interesting to me. A lot of the pieces that we talked or read about, I knew bits and pieces about but not a whole lot. in the last blog, I chose to look at the Hildesheim Cathedral Doors and I knew a bit about the fall of Adam and Eve and Christ being crucified but I learned a lot more from just looking over and reading about the Hildesheim Cathedral. I also found the doors to be very interesting with how they related each story from the old testament to a story within the new testament. The stories that each religious piece tells is mostly interesting to me because i am somewhat familiar with each religion and at times, these religions are brought up in my life and I usually have no input on them nor do I have any idea about what is being said but now because of this section that we went over, I am a little more familiar. It was interesting to learn more about these religions and see what they actually have in common with one another. Each religion had a place of worship, whether is be a temple, a synagogue, or a cathedral, they were all decorated with work representing their beliefs. We can see the crucifixion of Christ depicted in many ways and hist story is placed all around churches and different houses of worship on walls and in paintings. For instance, in Jonah and the Whale, we are seeing a story that represents Christ. Jonah is cast overboard on a boat and is swallowed by a great fish. Three days and three nights later, the fish spits Jonah out. This story is parallel to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ where he too rises three days and three nights later. Through Jonah and the Whale, we are given two different historical stories, one being obvious and the other being more hidden. The Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus is also a very interesting piece depicting very important scenes within monotheistic religion. In this piece we are seeing how Christianity is rising up and is appealing more to rich Romans. We see the defeat of polytheism taking place in this piece. It is interesting to me how shameful it was for people to convert to a monotheistic religion. I had no idea that such a change created so much drama and chaos among people. Overall, i think the movement from a polytheistic to a monotheistic religion was very historically interesting. I think that he art work involved with this transformation and the art work used to promote Christianity was very historically interesting in the stories that were told and how they informed me even more about what I feel was somewhat familiar but still very unclear to me. Christianity is still big and is still around and because of the art work that we have discussed, I feel like I am a little more in the know with this belief. 

We have learned about many great types of art and overall there is something interesting to me about each of types that we have learned about. The human figure in the Prehistoric period specifically stood out to me and has made an impression on me and historically, the Jewish, Early Christian, and Byzantine Art chapter served as the most interesting and attention grabbing for me.