We talked about mannerism today in class, and how it was truly pioneered by Michelangelo in the Sistine chapel ceiling, although people don’t usually recognize it as such. We talked about how the grimy ceiling of the chapel, gave Michelangelo’s work an aura that seemed more reminiscent of sfumato techniques, classical of the high renaissance for example. When these works were cleaned many years after, and finally looked at for what and how they were, it became clear that Michelangelo made them during a time in which he was no longer concerned with representing objects in the same way in which he did during the “cusp” of his career.
I like Mannerism. It is weird. I think about how art periods and trends have a tendency of going against each other. So whatever the next period embraces, will be in direct contradiction with the previous period, and this relationship remains relatively unchanged, so that there is a clearly traceable relationship between art periods. With mannerism, it becomes clear that in a way, naturalism looses its emphasis. It is dramatic in ways that might be described as antinatural, and the works are busy, they cannot have any empty space, and emotion floes through the work in a way that goes beyond the human experience. It reminds me of how medieval art was not attempting to be naturalistic as much as it was trying to express an emotion, except the use of color in mannerism is much more authentic to the period, not replicable.