Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Yale University Art Gallery

On Saturday April 21st I visited the Yale University Art Gallery. The drive alone was a task in itself. First we got stuck in traiffic. I mean traffic that was literally still. Not stop and go just stop! Anyway after all the traffic we finally made it to sunny New Haven Yale University Art Gallery. What a beautiful day to go to the museum to. When we entered into the building we were greet by the guard. We saw that there was a sign that said they except donations. So we then proceeded to the front desk to see what we had to do to get a tour of the building. Once we were done there we went to see some of the exhibits on the first floor. The first thing that really caught my eye was a man just lounging in a chair. Check this out I thought it was really cool. When I first glance over at the is person I said to my classmate WOW people really get relaxed at the museum. When we got close to the person we found out really quickly that this was an exhibit. Really neat I really can't believe how the artist captured so much expression in this exhibit. See close up below. He really looks like a real person who is hot tired and really just need to rest his feet from a long walk in the museum. This is how I felt when we left New Haven. Anyhow see close up below.




Okay here is what peaked my interest at the Yale University Art Gallery. Artemisia Prepares to drink the ashes of her husband. Mausolous. Mausolous was the king of Caria. Artemisia is said to have taken her husbands ashes and put them in her daily drinks. that is how much she loved him. They took a vow to love each other until death do them part, I honestly think that Artemisia took it a step further. I see in the bible when it talks about husband and wives. They are to leave mother and father and cleave to one another. They are to become as one body, mind & spirit. I feel that Artemisia took becoming one literally when she drank the ashes of her husband. Artemisia survived her husband by two year. While she was yet alive and drinking her husbands ashes she built at Halicarnassus a monument mausoleum. Halicarnassus is an ancient Greek city on the Southwest coast of Caria.
What caught my eye on this piece was that Artemisia has an inoccent face. She look very yound and her eyes to me seem like they can tell her whole story. To me they artist tried to make her a little lively by adding red blush to make her stand out. I believe that is what really caught my eye. If you notice the background is very dark. Meaning that it gloomy and it talking about death. I am struck by how I can see the colors that represent life or death. I was very intrigued to find that the story had some death in it.

2 comments:

Jerry said...

Sorry about the traffic, Charmaine... Sounds and looks like you had a good visit though.

My main comment is that you need to identify the name of each artist, the title of the work, the date it was created and identify the movement or style it belongs to. A bit of biographical information on the artist is always welcome as well...

Duane Hanson created the life like sculpture... A quick google search will turn up lots of information... even a Wikipedia article would provide enough context for your post here...(remember to cite your sources and italicize or quote any words directly taken)....

Christina said...

Charmaine the man on the coach scared me I thought it was a person just sitting in the museum. :o)