Term Paper on "Artist and Art Work"
Term Paper 6 pages (1937 words) Sources: 6
[EXCERPT] . . . .
Frank Lloyd Wright, Robie House, And the GuggenheimFrank Lloyd Wright was an architect of the modern era -- an architect who, not unlike Marcel Breuer, was as modern in his ideas as the age that saw him create his most acclaimed works of architecture. For Wright, "Love of an idea (was) love of God" (Secrest 4) -- a caption that covers his grave and covers neatly his life's philosophy and the ideal that shaped the formation of his work. Wright was a craftsman and an idealist and a modernist. He was the Kandinsky of architecture -- the zeitgeist of naturalism -- and in one regard he was the anti-brutalist architect of the 20th century. Yet, in another way, his architecture, despite its grand intentions, is dated by its adherence to the briefly emancipating ideals of an era -- a passing philosophical fad that failed to find roots in any traditional structure. In this sense, Wright was like Breuer -- a man whose ideas were novel and destined to be outdated in time. Nonetheless, Wright attempted to capture a transcendental quality completely absent in the Breuer's works of brutalism. Wright's Guggenheim is a representation of the spirit of nature, and his Robie House is a kind of rebuke against the vertical high rises of the modern landscape. Wright defined his own rules, yet he relished a love of nature, and observed the infinite. This paper will describe, analyze and interpret two works by Wright -- the Guggenheim and Robie House -- and show how they both reflect aspects of the man who made them.
Wright's philosophy and worldview are seen readily enough in his definition of architecture, which he called "the triumph of human imagination over materials, methods and men, to put m
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Wright's background was as prosaic as his Prairie style Robie House -- nomadic in spirit, rootless in terms of tradition: "Like the wandering pioneer of American folklore, Frank Lloyd Wright's father willingly subordinated family stability and familiar surroundings to a relentless search for personal fulfillment" (Twombly 1) and Frank proved to be no different. His religious beliefs were informed in his childhood by his parents' Unitarianism: as Wright himself remarks in his autobiography: "The Unitarianism of the Lloyd-Joneses…was an attempt to amplify in the confusion of the creeds of their day, the idea of life as a gift from the Divine Source, one God omnipotent, all things at one with HIM. UNITY was their watchword, the sign and symbol that thrilled them, the UNITY of all things!" (Wright 16). That same sense of and obsession with unity would shape the way Wright constructed -- from the uniformity of line in Robie House to the uniformity of curve and color in the Guggenheim Museum. Wright was keenly aware of all things working and fitting together. It was not repetition -- it was unity that Wright was after.
Under the tutelage of Louis Sullivan, Wright observed that latter's wisdom regarding art: "Form follows Function" became for Wright a (typically) Unitarian expression: "Form and Function are One" ("Frank Lloyd Wright Biography"). "It was Sullivan's belief that American Architecture should be based on American function, not European traditions, a theory which Wright later developed further. Throughout his life, Wright acknowledged very few influences but credits Sullivan as a primary influence on his career" ("Frank Lloyd Wright Biography"). American function -- an off-shoot of the American Protestant ethos -- would become part of Wright's doctrine, and despite his insistence upon Americanisms, it would connect him to the European Protestantism -- the "functionalism" of Breuer -- which got coined as "brutal." Wright's functionalism, however, was less critically identified as "American" -- a term that actually means very little and is as ambiguous as the dogma that governed the American religious spirit.
That spirit is plain enough, however, in Wright's works. In Robie House (1909) -- Wright's best example of the American architectural style -- the Prairie Style -- Wright laid bare the essence of American Unitarianism: flat, homogenous, unorthodox, and introverted. What the Prairie Style lacked in ornament, it made up for in horizontality.
Horizontal planes dominate Robie House, giving it a low, flat, stark, and spare appearance. It attempts to resemble the Midwestern landscape surrounding it, however, all it really does is draw attention to itself (like all Wright's works) in a way that is nearly indefinable. The viewer hardly knows whether he is attracted or repulsed. One thing is certain: there is a peculiar singularity about it.
The floor plan of Robie House is open with a good deal of interior space, and everything from landscape outside to furniture inside is integrated into one and the same design. (Here is Wright's spirituality: everything must be one). There is a certain aching formalism in Robie House that feels confining, even as Wright attempts to utilize space to the utmost and mimic the expansiveness of the Midwest landscape.
Wright's attention to craftsmanship and detail is what makes him beloved by many, but his architectural ode to American style feels dwarfed by the giant steel structures of the industrial age. It may be quaint and homey on the inside, but its exterior lacks the wit and style of art nouveau. What Robie House is, essentially, is a kind of self-expression of Wright's attitude toward the complex industrial age: here, in the Prairie Style, was simplicity, elegance, refinement, soul. At least -- that appears to be the intention.
Wright essentially broke with every other European architectural movement by building in the Prairie style -- a style which had no European forerunners, but which definitely owed something to the emptiness of the great Midwest and which responded in a kind of anti-verticality gesture to the gargantuan high rises of America's metropolises. Wright would build another similar slap-in-the-face to the American high rise with the Guggenheim Museum -- a slap-in-the-face that would be there in the heart of New York City itself -- on 5th Avenue across from Central Park.
Frank Lloyd Wright's (1959) Guggenheim Museum in NYC is that slap. Set in the midst of the hustle and bustle of urban brutalism (of a kind), Wright's architecture blossoms like a flower in the modern metropolis -- the new desert Babel: a place of respite against the noise and machinery of the white collar world around it: a place that draws one because, for a moment, it reflects something in nature. The line, the contour, the unreal angles, the pure white: there is an aspect of other-worldliness to it.
Like all of Wright's architecture, it is obsessed with line, concaves, surface, with uniformity that attempts to blend in with nature: this is the Robie House of NYC -- prairie style all dressed up in fine furs: the horizontality of his earlier work coupled with the circularity of his Orthodox house-of-worship design. It is hard to say whether the Guggenheim is a place of prayer, an out-of-her-element Midwest girl, or just another example of modernism in a world already so horribly modern. And yet the Guggenheim is more: an obvious example of 50s-ish art: it is kitsch and out-dated, yet perennial (like nature) and innocent.
The anti-verticality of Wright's Guggenheim draws you past the other high rises on the same block. Its pretense mocks its neighbors. Its introverted character (like so many of Wright's projects), is misleading: the Museum is bursting once you look inside. Yet something does discredit all: Perhaps it is the fact that it so childishly breaks ties with the past, turns its back on European traditional structures, and lets its fancy spring forth willy-nilly. Perhaps it is the large skylight that looks down on all from above -- as though reminding us that despite its sleek veneer, the Guggenheim house of non-objective art is still in thrall to the objective God above. Whatever, it is, the Guggenheim is a contradiction that both repulses and attracts.
The Guggenheim also reminds one of being on the brink of Revolution -- on the brink of 60s fashion, on the cusp of the generations of lost definition, of lost traditions, of wandering, questioning, exploring. If the Guggenheim effects a sense of peace, it is not without the feint cry of social disintegration that whispers along the interior walls.
A kind of art deco spirit also lives within the Guggenheim: it's pine cone hive exterior sits above the canopy like a crown, and inside houses the jewels -- the artwork that hangs precariously from the concave… READ MORE
Quoted Instructions for "Artist and Art Work" Assignment:
Your 6 page term paper is DUE AT THE END OF THIS WEEK***** WEEK 7 . Visit the APUS online library. They recently acquired electronic rights to JSTOR, which is a journal storage database. It contains solid, scholarly, referred articles on which you can rely for accurate information. This is the opposite of the *****fast food***** Wikipedia. Try it!
CHOOSE ONE ARTIST OR ARCHITECT THAT IS COVERED IN YOUR BOOK TO FULLY DISCUSS.
Your paper should include a 2 page biography of THE ARTIST. In addition the paper should include a description, formal analysis, and interpretation of 2 works of art/architecture by that artist. THE WORKS YOU CHOOSE DO NOT HAVE TO BE COVERED IN THE BOOK, BUT THE ARTIST MUST BE. Each analysis should be 2 pages in length.
In other words:
*****¢ A title page*****be creative!
*****¢ A 2 page biography of your artist
*****¢ A 2 page description, formal analysis, and interpretation of the first work of art
*****¢ A 2 page description, formal analysis, and interpretation for the second work of art
*****¢ In a conclusion, tell me why you chose this artist
*****¢ A Bibliography with 6 reference sources*****a journal must be one and a book must be one
Use your Writing a Critique Art Notes that I have included below for ideas. This is a formal research paper, written in the third person, but I would like you to end with why you chose this artist. REMEMBER: you need to deliver 6 pages of text at 250 words per page, and use APA, MLA, or Turabian style.
The paper should also include an additional page--a bibliography listing of 6 reference sources. Your book may be one of them.
YOU MAY NOT USE WIKIPEDIA FOR YOUR TERM PAPER. I WILL DEDUCT POINTS IF I SEE WIKIPEDIA.
Wikipedia note: It is an unjuried source, meaning that anyone can post there, even those who know nothing about the subject. AMU has a great library for source material. Start there.
Internet Sources to use as you wish:
Writing Resources
Purdue OWL Writing Resources
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
Miracosta LibraryMLA Style Samples
http://www.miracosta.edu/home/jmegill/Sabbatical/mla/default.html
Here is a sampling of internet sources for your use:
Art and Architecture Sites:
Louvre Museum in France
http://www.louvre.fr
Metropolitan Museum in New York
http://www.met.org
British Museum
http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk
The National Gallery
http://nga.gov
Rodin Museum
http://www.musee-rodin.fr/welcome.htm
Musee d*****'Orsay Home Page
http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/home.html
The Musee Matisse in Nice, France
http://www.musee-matisse-nice.org/
The Andy Warhol Museum
http://www.warhol.org
Artists of any era up to the late 19th century
http://www.artrenewal.org/
Buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright
http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Frank_Lloyd_Wright.html
Architecture of any era
http://www.greatbuildings.com
Of course you may do an internet search for any of your artists/architects
HERE ARE THE HOW TO WRITE AN ART CRITIQUE NOTES:
Writing an Art Critique
This How-To covers the basic elements of art critique.
What is a critique?
A critique is an oral or written discussion strategy used to analyze, describe, and interpret works of art. Critiques help students hone their persuasive oral and writing, information-gathering, and justification skills.
Below is a sample set of focus questions for an art critique related to four major areas of art criticism: description, analysis, interpretation, judgment. (The number of questions and aspects of specificity will vary according to the art form and number of works in the critique).
Description
Describe the work without using value words such as *****"beautiful*****" or *****"ugly*****":
*****¢ What is the written description on the label or in the program about the work?
*****¢ What is the title and who is (are) the artist(s)?
*****¢ When and where was the work created?
*****¢ Describe the elements of the work (i.e., line, movement, light, space).
*****¢ Describe the technical qualities of the work (i.e. what is it made of?, media).
*****¢ Describe the subject matter. What is it all about? Are there recognizable images?
Analysis
Describe how the work is organized as a complete composition:
*****¢ How is the work constructed or planned (i.e., line, color shape, depth and texture)?
*****¢ Identify some of the similarities throughout the work (i.e., repetition of lines, shapes, etc.).
*****¢ Identify some of the points of emphasis in the work (i.e., figure, movement, architectural devices, amorphic shapes).
*****¢ If the work has figures, what are the relationships between or among them?
Interpretation
Describe how the work makes you think or feel:
*****¢ Describe the expressive qualities you find in the work. What expressive language would you use to describe the qualities (i.e., raw, rough, refined, colorful, sad, funny)?
*****¢ Does the work remind you of other things you have experienced (i.e., analogy or metaphor)?
*****¢ How does the work relate to other ideas or events in the world and/or in your other studies?
Judgment or Evaluation
Present your opinion of the work*****'s success or failure:
*****¢ What qualities of the work make you feel it is a success or failure?
*****¢ Compare it with similar works that you think are good or bad.
*****¢ What criteria can you list to help others judge this work?
*****¢ How original is the work? Why do you feel this work is original or not original?
Write your paper in a Word doc, please. Upload the Word document to the Assignments section on the proper week, and check *****Submit for Grading***** so the instructor can grade your paper.
Click on the link below to get to the online text book for this class:
Username: 4223494 Password: mjross21
http://ezp*****.apus.edu/login?url=http://ebooks.apus.edu/ARTH200/Getlein_2010.html *****
How to Reference "Artist and Art Work" Term Paper in a Bibliography
“Artist and Art Work.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2011, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/frank-lloyd-wright-robie-house/2344233. Accessed 28 Sep 2024.
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