In the museum, one notices a large range in craftsmanship when it comes to the different works of art. Some of the oil portraits were painted in incredible detail, while other works were much more abstract. From a craftsmanship point of view, the detailed paintings were on another level as the skill needed to produce the lifelike qualities in these works is much greater. Another aspect of the craftsmanship that impressed me was the frames on the paintings. Some of these frames had very elaborate carving work and were gilded. This shows the amount of thought and effort put into picking a frame for a piece.

Today we talked about altarpieces. Altarpieces were pieces that were used during religious services and were images that you would pray to. In other words, they were religious images. Even so, the style of altarpieces changed over time. It started with polyptychs which were altarpieces made using several panels. These pieces often combined multiple scenes. Over time, this transformed into doing less scenes, or placing a focus on a single scene. In addition to this change in structure and subject matter, there was also a shift in the way these paintings were approached, meaning a shift from using a lot of gold to be grand to drawing something more realistic. It was with these more realistic drawings that altarpieces also started to get a better sense of depth and perspective.

The Coronation of the Virgin is an altarpiece that is good to examine or analyze because of the circumstances that surround it. In fact, it was known for having a long contract in terms of what the patron wanted for the piece. It was because of this that it was also known as a piece that incorporated many new/unique ideas such as making the father and son of the trinity looking the same and including images of purgatory.

Being from Serbia that is predominantly Orthodox Christian, I have lived with frescos my entire life. Yet, rarely have I thought about them as just art, it was of greater historical, religious importance to the society. It is interesting to draw parallels between fresco art in Eastern and Western Christianity, but also to see art literally become a part of the building it should help bring to life. Finally, as I studied Diego Rivera’s work and the work of other Latin American, especially Mexican, avant-garde artists, it was great to remember that fresco technique does not have to be tied to religion at all. For them it helped express their manifesto and aid in creation of a new, post-colonial national identity.

I was intrigued how due to Giorgio Vasari’s book, artist started to matter more. We can see that today as well with labels firstly showing us the name of the artist. Moreover, something that Vasari started and continues to this day is that fame (name recognition) helps in art appreciation as well. Thus, when he wrote about Florentine artists they were widely recognized, became prominent and consequently seen as the greatest of their time, or ever. Today, we can see that the worth of an art piece increases in value when its creator passes, suggesting that publicity together with limited supply (no other artwork will be created by that person) impacts the value of the work, not only its artistic value.

In class we talked about the origin of the name museum and its containment of the word “muse,” meaning a place for inspiration and the temple to the muses. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation about the problem with putting emphasis on the individual when observing art as well as the dangers of being off put by an anonymous artist since females were discouraged from creating art in past time periods. Additionally, I related to our conversation of the difficulty in interpreting contemporary art since I personally struggle to understand some of it.

Having read the first chapter of the Renaissance Art, and discovering about Goethe’s experience, I also expected a spiritual, almost religious endeavor. Even though the lightning and the overall quite, personal atmosphere brings mystique and adds to the admiration potential of the art itself, I did not feel even remotely spiritually touched as Goethe has. This might be because we nowadays have gone to many more museums of all kinds, sometimes in large groups, so we lost the a part of the ability to truly appreciate the novelty, technique and overall importance and impact art can have. However, I think that having more work of arts depicting the same theme made me realize difference in artistic perspectives and their influence on the viewers experience, which contrasts usual chronological exhibitions, that tend to, probably accidentally, make me compare and rate artists among themselves instead of appreciating each for what they bring.

The importance of the artist’s name and frames, which accompany and are just as important as the work of art, was central to this class. In both museums and the market, names have immense value. So much emphasis is placed on the identity of the artist that works by unknown or anonymous artists are often ignored. The perceived value may have little to do with the work and instead be carefully manipulated through publicity campaigns focused on the artist. This by extension shifts social value as well, as people tend to see art with higher monetary values as better. The frame of a work often has the opposite problem. Frames significantly affect how we view art but are ignored or seen as having minimal value. As we discussed, an original frame can often represent a lot of artistic effort. When art is displayed, the frame used is usually not original and affects the art differently. This adds to the differences in the ways we view art, as the frame can be considered part of the original environment in which it was meant to be displayed and used.

These picture demonstrates the various themes of contemporary art. It is a painting of a featureless man, showing his back. Firstly, it depicts the individualistic theme by only showing one figure. Second, it is a very simplistic piece, done in mainly black. While I am intrigued by these underlying themes, I prefer art with more color and more elaborate designs.

Something that I found interesting about last class was the discussion on the economy of art. Specifically, the value of a name. Oftentimes, the most valuable ones are the ones that are associated with famous artists. This then incentivizes museums and art historians to prioritize pieces and leave the less known, even if the art itself is equal in imagery, behind. In other words, the pieces that are in more demand will draw much more interest and recognition. Unfortunately, this creates biases against certain pieces– for example “anonymous” pieces are hardly written about. When considering that women completed most anonymous pieces, one really begins to consider the role gender plays in the current modern art landscape. Upon reflection, I realized that I do not know any famous women artists. This is a concerning realization, and in my future encounters with art I will strive to incorporate more women pieces. In addition, we discussed contemporary art and its themes on innovation and individualism. This style of art is more focused on metaphorical meanings, which is curious to note because it adds a new element when analyzing art pieces. In understanding this, we can draw inferences and become analytic scholars on this topic.

Today, the complexities of art handling and the setting in which museums present art was further explored. After visiting the museum, this topic was especially relevant. Dr. Plesch pointed out that often times works are presented in a totally different setting than where they were created. This causes a loss of meaning/feeling for the viewer. Dr. Plesch used the comparison of polar bears. These animals live in arctic climates but are sometimes moved to zoos. While visitors get to see the animals, they miss out as zoos are vastly different than the arctic. This same issue can be found while presenting art. For example, even though Giotto’s fresco in the Arena Chapel is still presented in the actual chapel, over the years many different renovations and changes have happened in the space. One can even see where these changes were made looking at a picture of the Arena Chapel.

Looking forward to the midterm and eventual final, I plan to think about how I can create the most authentic experience for my show. I will have to think about structural layout critically and will continue to think about how other museums are working on providing the best possible visit for their members.