Monday 28 February 2011

Hey guys great posts from everyone :)

just wanted to outline the over all theam for our project so we can start fitting everything around it lol


Death of marat
Martyre of the french revalution
Which inspired the american revalution
That brought about democracy to america
Which has now inspired Egypt, Tunisia and Lybia to want democracy

i hope evryones okay with this we can also compair marat and the poor Iranian woman in sams post as well as the art that the times seemed to inspire ie neoclassiclism agenst col gaff's properganda posters.

BBC News Article About the Death of Neda Agha Soltan



Neda Agha Soltan's death during a Tehran street protest, graphically captured on a mobile phone, transformed her into a global symbol of Iranian opposition. But those who knew her say that before Iran's disputed elections in June she had shown little interest in politics.
"She wasn't a political person. She didn't belong to any party or group. She didn't support any faction," her mother, Hajar Rostami Motlagh, told the BBC.
"Every other young Iranian was there [at the protest] - and she was one of them."
Mrs Motlagh said that Neda, 27, had married after leaving high school but she and her husband separated after three years and she had lived with her mother for the last two years of her life.
"Philosophy and theology were her favourite subjects," Mrs Motlagh said. "She was a spiritual person. She believed in God.
"She also loved travelling - she had been to Dubai and Turkey. And she loved Istanbul... she wanted to live there one day. "
Neda was also a gifted musician and singer, her mother said.
She had taken singing lessons for two years and it was with her music teacher that she went to the protest in Tehran on the day she died.
The car they were in became stuck in the crowds and they took to the streets because they were tired and hot, her fiance, Caspian Makan, said.
An Iranian doctor, Arash Hejazi, was standing close to Neda and her teacher when the shot rang out.
"I turned back and I saw blood gushing out of Neda's chest," he said.
"She was in a shocked situation, just looking at her chest. Then she lost her control."
Despite his attempts to save her, Neda died within seconds, her final moments filmed by a passer-by on a mobile phone.
In the background, the doctor can be heard pleading: "Stay with me, Neda."
Neda's music teacher is heard crying in the background as her life ebbs away.
Broadcast on internet
The shocking footage was posted on a video-sharing website and soon the images of Neda's death were being beamed around the world.
Days later, protesters supporting the Iranian opposition in cities around the world held aloft pictures of her and carried banners declaring: "I am Neda."
Her name has since become a rallying cry for Iranian pro-reformist campaigners.
Mrs Motlagh said that Neda had the same ambitions that many other young people have, but in particular she had wanted to become a mother.
"This for me is the most painful thing of all," she said.
She added: "I want... to thank everyone around the world, Iranians and non Iranians, people from every country and culture, people who in their own way, their own tradition, have mourned my child... everyone who lit a candle for her, every musician who wrote songs for her, who wrote poems about her... I want to thank all of them.
"Her death has been so painful - words can never describe my true feelings. But knowing that the world cried for her - that has comforted me.
"I am proud of her. The world sees her as a symbol, and that makes me happy."


Thought we could link this back to the Death of Marat.  We could look at how revolutions always have martyrs as symbols for their causes. 

Books

Hey guys, i got some books out and both of them are really good.

I got one which is Movements in painting by Patricia Fride-Carrassat and Isabelle Marcade. It has each movement from the time period we are looking at as well as different artists and where they were from.
I also got another book Neoclassicism by David Irwin. It's full of different stuff,not only the artmovement but what was happening at the time and it has a full section of Jacques-Louis David and the painting Death of Marat.
If you get to have a look at them that would be cool but if not i'm going to bring them to our meeting tomorrow. I will try and get some of my notes up that i've taken from these books tonight.

Friday 25 February 2011

F.Y.I The Painting is Based on an Assassinated Activist, R.I.P x


Jean-Paul Marat was who the painting By J.L Davies is about;

AKA Jean-Paul Mara

Born: 24-May-1743

Birthplace: Boudry, Neuchâtel, Switzerland


Died: 13-Jul-1793

Location of death: Paris, France

Cause of death: Assassination

Remains: Buried, Saint Etienne-du-Mont, Paris, France

Gender: Male


Religion: Protestant

Race or Ethnicity: White


Sexual orientation: Straight

Occupation: Activist, Government, Doctor

Nationality: France


Executive summary: French revolutionary


Romanticism and Cultural Influences.


After looking at what you guys have wrote, it made me think of the romantic and idealistic views of artists as well as french artistic movements and aspects that surround the french revolution, coming from my point of view. i wondered how does Romanticism affect artists around the time of the French Revolution and came across this image that fits well with this era, style and cultural and politic aspects. How does an artists opinions and life style affect their creative works ?
In my opinion works of art were more whimsical, idealistic and representative of the freedom that came from realisation and the revolution itself.

Wednesday 23 February 2011

Does anyone else have an idea in what direction to take this i feel we need to find how the death of marat however indirectly has influenced something more mordern but thats just my idea im open to others :) hope we can meet soon.

Chinese revalution

Series of great political upheavals in China between 1911 and 1949 which eventually led to Communist Party rule and the establishment of the People's Republic of China. In 1912 a nationalist revolt overthrew the imperial Manchu dynasty. Under the leaders Sun Zhong Shan (Sun Yat-sen) (1923–25) and Jiang Jie Shi (Chiang Kai-shek) (1925–49), the Nationalists, or Guomindang, were increasingly challenged by the growing communist movement. The 10,000-km/6,000-mi Long March to the northwest, undertaken by the communists from 1934 to 1935 to escape Guomindang harassment, resulted in the emergence of Mao Zedong as a communist leader. During World War II the various Chinese political groups pooled military resources against the Japanese invaders, but in 1946 the conflict reignited into open civil war. In 1949 the Guomindang were defeated at Nanjing and forced to flee to Taiwan. Communist rule was established in the People's Republic of China under the leadership of Mao Zedong.

First republican government
The Chinese revolution came about with the collapse of the Manchu dynasty, a result of increasing internal disorders, pressure from foreign governments, and the weakness of central government. A nationalist revolt from 1911 to 1912 led to a provisional republican constitution being proclaimed and a government established in Beijing (Peking) headed by Yuan Shihai. The Guomindang were faced with the problems of restoring the authority of central government and meeting the challenges from militaristic factions (led by warlords) and the growing communist movement.

Communists retreat
After 1930 Jiang launched a series of attacks that encircled the communists in southeast China and led to an attempt by communist army commander Chu Teh to break out. The resulting Long March to northwest China, from October 1934 to October 1935, reduced the communists' army from over 100,000 to little more than 8,000, mainly as a result of skirmishes with Jiang's forces and the severity of the conditions. During the march a power struggle developed between Mao Zedong and Jiang Guo T'ao which eventually split the force. Mao's group finally based itself in Yan'an, where it remained throughout the war with the Japanese, forming an uneasy alliance with the nationalists to expel the invaders.

Communist victory
Mao's troops formed the basis of the Red Army that renewed the civil war against the nationalists in 1946 and emerged victorious after defeating them at Huai-Hai and Nanjing in 1949. As a result, communist rule was established in China under Mao Zedong's leadership.

Source:http://www.talktalk.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0005603.html

an example of the french revalution influencing (how ever small) a mordern event in history.

Source: http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/french/french.html

Proberly the most iconic painting of the french revalution very diffrent feel to our painting but i feel that the death of marat has more significance for the revalution.

The french revalution

The French Revolution is one of the most important events in modern history. It was more radical than either the English or American Revolutions, and had a far greater impact on 19th century Europe. The unthinkable fall of the Bourbons resonated throughout Europe, sparking a series of revolutions which rallied behind liberalism and nationalism. The major socialist revolutions of the twentieth century in Russia, China and Cuba were inspired the French example.


I feel that the french revalution is the key to everything it covers two important factors, the change of the past and the influence that change has in more mordern history.


Source:http://www.historywiz.org/frenchrev.htm


Ps can we all meet soon we need to decide everything :)

Friday 18 February 2011

Paintings

Just a few different artists work as well as jacques-louis david, that are from the neoclassicism genre if you want to have a look.

http://dameboudicca.blogspot.com/2008/11/portrait-of-week-cupid-seller.html

http://www.arthermitage.org/Anton-Raphael-Mengs/Parnassus.html

I also found this wich is pretty much a biography of Jacques-Louis David and it also talks about Neoclassicism.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/jldv/hd_jldv.htm

Neoclassicism

hey guys just doing a bit of research and found this website with a breif description of neoclassicism and then a list of artists from the time :)

http://wwar.com/masters/movements/neoclassicism.html

Wednesday 16 February 2011

Death of Socrates
Source: smarthistory.org

Another of David's painting in where he replaces a christian saint with a maryter.

A bit about the artist.

  • By 1793, the violence of the Revolution dramatically increased until the beheadings at the Place de la Concorde became a constant, leading a certain Dr. Joseph Guillotine it invent a machine that would improve the efficiency of the ax and block and therefore make executions more humane. David was in thick of it. Early in the Revolution he had joined the Jacobins, a political club that would in time become the most rabid of the various rebel factions. Led by the ill-fated Georges Danton and the infamous Maximilien Robespierre, the Jacobins (including David) would eventually vote to execute Louis XVI and his Queen Marie Antionette who were caught attempting to escape across the border to the Austrian Empire.

  • At the height of the Reign of Terror in 1793, David painted a memorial to his great friend, the murdered publisher, Jean Marat. As in his Death of Socrates, David substitutes the iconography (symbolic forms) of Christian art for more contemporary issues. The Death of Marat, 1793 an idealized image of David's slain friend is shown holding his murderess's (Charlotte Corday) letter of introduction. The bloodied knife lays on the floor having opened a fatal gash that functions, as does Marat's very composition, as a reference to the entombment of Christ and a sort of secularized stigmata (reference to the wounds Christ is said to have received in his hands, feet and side while on the cross). Is David attempting now to find revolutionary martyrs to replace the saints of Catholicism (which had been outlawed)?

  • By 1794 the Reign of Terror had run its course. The Jacobins had begun to execute not only captured aristocrats but fellow revolutionaries as well. Eventually, Robespierre himself would die and the remaining Jacobins were likewise executed or imprisoned. David escaped death by renouncing his activities and was locked in a cell in the former palace, the Louvre, until his eventual release by France's brilliant new ruler, Napoleon Bonaparte. This diminutive Corsican had been the youngest General in the French army and during the Revolution had become a national hero by waging a seemingly endless string of victorious military campaigns against the Austrians in Belgium and Italy. Eventually, Napoleon would control most of Europe, would crown himself Emperor, and would release David in recognition that the artist's talent could serve the ruler's purposes.

Source: smarthistory.org

I know its a bit long sorry lol :) but i find the history of the painter fascinating. I like how he replaced Catholic saints with modern martyers it gives much more depth to the painting.

I know its a little off topic but i like the fact that the Guillotine somewhere along the line plays a part in this story.



Saturday 12 February 2011

La vidéo très touchante j'ai trouvé, en représentant la peinture par David Jacques-Louis. Le chagrin et la Douleur remplissent l'image aswell comme l'émotion brute.

The Death of Marat - Jacques-Louis David

I felt that there are many pieces that can be dissected and interpreted. Like the Note in the hand, what is written on this? and what does the translation mean? The Feather in the Hand....The Image not only provokes though but resinates pain and sorrow. But is this the intended message. Depending on personal perception and religious beliefs this image could be positive, especially if you religion echoes rebirth and the life cycle.

Thursday 10 February 2011

Jacques-Louis David: The Death of Marat


Oil on Canvas, 65" x 50 3/8"
1793
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts at Brussels

The Death of Marat (French: La Mort de Marat ) is a 1793 painting in the Neoclassic style by Jacques-Louis David, it is one of the most famous images of the French Revolution. This work refers to the assassination of radical journalist Jean-Paul Marat, killed on the 13th of July 1793 by Charlotte Corday, a French Revolutionary figure from a minor aristocratic family. Corday, who blamed Marat for the September Massacres and feared an all out civil war, claimed "I killed one man to save 100,000."

Just thought I would post this image and a bit of basic information from Wikipedia (because I know how much tutors love Wikipedia) just so everyone knows what we are meant to be writing about.