I chose this artifact for my English Major showcase because it is a reflective piece on art I observed and then commented on positively and negatively. The two pieces were The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci and Man Pointing by Albert Giacometti. I reflect on what is in my opinion the genius and beauty behind Da Vinci’s work while I critique the dullness and lack of true vision from Giacometti’s figure. This is not so much a compare and contrast essay as more of a paper where I assert what I see and believe and then back my opinions up with what I’ve learned from the class Language of Art. I believe this artifact represents learning outcome 6 of the learning outcomes of the English major. It goes, “Reflect on multiple learning experiences in order to synthesize knowledge.” These pieces of art were learning experiences that we had to reflect on, but more importantly we had to reflect on what we learned in the class to come up with knowledgeable and accurate things to say on the art in our reflections. While I could give my opinion on how I liked Da Vinci’s work and not Giacometti’s, my comments had to be backed up by terms and information we learned from our studies of the Language of Art and synthesized well to mean something.
Josiah Titus
ERH 204
Maj. Ingersoll
April 28, 2019
HR: see works cited
Reflective Paper
I will discuss two pieces of art in this paper, one that I love and one that I am not so fond of, and I will analyze them justifying the reason as to why I like or don’t like them. The artwork that I love that we have covered is Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper 1495-1498 painting. As for the artwork that we’ve covered that I do not like, that would be Man Pointing 1947 which is a tiny little sculpted figure made by the artist Alberto Giacometti. While I think The Last Supper painting is beautiful, riveting, and significant in meaning, Man Pointing to me offers nothing very artistic or inspirational at all.
Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting of The Last Supper is a magnificent work of art and one of the most masterful paintings done on record in my opinion, which I will justify. It depicts Jesus surrounded by his twelve disciples at their last meal, the night on which Jesus was to be taken into custody and then later crucified . For me there is a huge amount of symbolism and meaning behind the painting and the painting itself, because the way it is presented and done, has a lot to show visually. The moment the painting is supposed to be captured in is when Jesus told the disciples that one of them was to betray him that night at supper and they all started to question and debate who the foul person was to be . The paintings visuality must be discussed though to understand how that contributes to its outstanding presentation and meaning.
Part of the beauty of the visuality of this image that makes me prefer it, is that it involves multiple artistic elements. It has color, pattern, lighting, shadow and more. My favorite part of the painting is that Judas himself is the only one in shadow, with Da Vinci utilizing shade and specifically a bit of chiascuro to do it . Since he is the one who betrays Jesus which leads to his death, this is the reasoning and so it gives even more meaning to the employment of it. There is also an implied line that runs across the tables from both sides of the disciples which puts Jesus at the center. This makes Biblical sense and is suitable for the understanding of it for those who maybe don’t know the story. One of the most notable aspects though about the painting is it’s use of color. No one color vibrantly stands out, which I like because it gives a more traditional Renaissance feel. There is no vibrant use of hue that draws the observer in. Everything blends nicely, and yet there are multiple colors within the painting. The artist makes use of cool colors and warm colors. Cool colors can be seen in the majority of the disciple’s robes which are mostly blue, green, or purple with some hints of pink. There are warm colors as well though which can be seen with Jesus especially, one disciple, and the walls to a slight degree. Da Vinci also makes decent use of shading and lighting in this piece, around the table and behind. The artistic element though that sets this apart from many other works, of his time particularly, is the use of a vanishing point. This gives the painting a three-dimensional look, something it became famous for. A vanishing point takes all receding parallel lines and have them diminish onto the horizon line . And this brings in my favorite aspect of it, due to the fact that they all diminish onto Jesus who is at the center and is the focal point of the painting. I’ve always liked this as it brings attention to the reality of Jesus being the most important figure within the image and context wise.
Alberto Giacometti’s Man Pointing is nothing amazing and falls short in being a work of art in my opinion. It is a small plaster figure of a stick like man or thing pointing at seemingly nothing . He seems to almost look stone like but there is literally nothing else, no other context to go on. In my opinion it offers almost nothing to be inspired by, does not provoke intellectual thinking, and is as simplistic as can be, coming off as an object a little kid could have thrown together in arts and crafts. Alberto even says that it took him not even one night to do it, and that he ended up rushing it so badly that he destroyed it, and then redid it . It came out about as poorly, and he even planned for the figure to have its arm wrapped around another figure, but abandoned the idea, considering it complete . We can dissect this piece a bit though and find that there are quirky artistic aspects of its display that can be taken note of and analyzed.
Its design should be noted first. First off, the whole piece is representative of Alberto’s take on abstract expression. In the time period, abstract expressionism was becoming big in Art. This can be seen from the fact that it does not represent anything external for the most part except that it’s some sort of person or thing. Its effect comes from literally the weird way it looks and how it’s not much to look at at all. This also contributes mainly to why it doesn’t suit my preference as it’s just bizarre and confusing to look at. This piece is a sculpture made out of plaster and bronze. One thing that can be noted as well is that it is an in the round sculpture and not a relief sculpture. This is because it’s three dimensional and not up against or attached to some wall. It utilizes the concept of an implied line which runs across the center of his body up through his extended arm which is pointing. In art this is seen through certain elements in the piece that lead to the focal point. There is very little use of color, as the whole figure is a darkish brown tint with some grey. The whole thing is a warm color, so it is devoid of looking lively or moving. It is devoid of any creative use of hue. It was painted entirely by Alberto by hand, so that it could have a rawer yet expressive feel to it . In my opinion it is something that if it had been mightily expanded upon, it could have been much better. It could have maybe been a sickly man representing famine or the downfall of something at the time, or how war turns us all to creatures, or something along these lines. If Alberto had done what he was planning to do and added in another figure, this could have given it the context it needed to be more interesting, appealing, and understood. A better color scheme or palette may have helped it, or having a distinguishable face and body. Unfortunately to me it just looks like a poorly made stick figure toy that is pointing, nothing more nothing less.
Both works of art offer a little bit of something, mostly in my opinion insight into the world of creating art and imagery. The Last Supper by Da Vinci is an example of using various types of artistic techniques to create a beautiful painting full of commotion, history, and meaning. It was made in the Renaissance period as well, so it carries a lot significance in the way of how art was perceived at the time. Today art may not reign supreme as a demonstration of who is extremely skilled or valuable, but in those days, to be able to create works like this defined you as an innovator of the time in a way. Since things like You tube or Twitter were not around, this was the way in which people expressed themselves and their genius. As for Man Pointing, it does offer insight. But it falls short in the way of creativity and being something that resonates with you. It does not use many techniques in its fixture and has no real meaning and can’t really be clearly understood, I think. Its abstract form does it in, because it’s too simple and peculiar to be looked at as something of artistic genius-it looks pedestrian. These two pieces of art do show though, that art comes in multiple different forms, on many diverse levels of what is good or not. Someone else could look at Man Pointing and draw something from its abstractness, while The Last Supper is just not appealing to them. It’s all dependent on taste and what it offers, and both artworks demonstrate this point keenly to me.
Bibliography
Zelazko, Alicja. “Last Supper.” Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Last -Supper-fresco-by-Leonardo-da-Vinci (accessed April 31st, 2019).
South, Helen. “What is a Vanishing Point in Art.” ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/
/vanishing-point-drawing-definition-1123080 (accessed April 31st, 2019).
Encyclopedia of Art Education. “The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci.” Main A-Z Index.
http://www.Arts-cork.com/famous-paintings/last-super-leonardo-davinci.htm
(accessed May 1st 2019).
MoMa. “Man Pointing 1947.” MoMa. https://www.moma.org/collection/works/81779
(accessed May 1st, 2019).