Albert Bierstadt

1830-1902





















Albert Bierstadt was an artist that enjoyed painting landscapes and utilizing light in order to make his paintings more visually appealing. Sometimes Bierstadt would make subtle changes to the details of the landscape to increase the awe inspiring beauty. The colors were not always true as they were painted in his perception of the scenery.











The use of light is referred to as luminism, which gave the paintings a romantic glowing effect. He would make many trips into the American West during the mid to late 1800s. His paintings were sketched during the many trips and later transferred to large canvas paintings when he returned. The book refers to paintings because of the use of Atmospheric Perspective. The way he is able to use his paint to give a visual effect of depth in the paintings.











Bierstadt followed in the footsteps of the other Artist from The Hudson River School which he was associated with. Some of the artist associated with the school included Thomas Cole, Asher B Durand, Frederic Edwin Church as well as others. The school was not an institution but more a collaboration of painters utilizing the same style of painting to portray the beauty of the natural landscape.












Fredric Edwin Church



















Thomas Cole

















Asher B. Durand



Bierstadt was also considered to be part of the Rocky Mountain School along with Thomas Hill.

Towards the end of his life his paintings were loosing the interest of the public mostly due to the Boston School and Impressionism.

http://www.albertbierstadt.org/

Lecture Review 8

The in class lecture was about how people perceive themselves in different ways. Some people do not see themselves the way others see them. Examples of two people who use an online virtual world to show others how they perceive themselves. One person's image of themselves was drastically different then there real world physical features. The other person perceived themselves slightly different but still maintained the defining physical features. Another example in class what from Avatar, where there is an identity crisis with the main actor between his real world physically disabled state and his "Avatar" that can do all the things he wishes he could do. This brings to question what is our identity, is it how others perceive us or how we perceive ourselves.

Lecture Review 7

During class last week we participated in a drawing exercise. The picture is inverted and cut into sections. Then only one section is shown to the class at a time. It was devised to show you that anyone can draw if you don't think about what you are drawing. Without thinking about what you are drawing and just making lines it seems easy to draw a picture. The problem is that our minds make it harder to draw. We see something that we want to draw but our mind has already made the picture for us and it doesn't allays match what we are looking at.

Lecture Review 6

For class last week we went outdoors and onto the campus. Students were separated into groups and each group had to pick a piece of art. Using tape to mark the spot and also curate the piece that was chosen to the rest of the class. If was interesting to see all the different pieces that people chose. It really brings into perspective how people look at art differently.

My group settled on the structure in front of the bookstore. Where we spent some time admiring it and questioning what it stood for. Ultimately we came up with the pillar symbolizing students life on campus. Throughout our learning process we grow and branch out to what will eventually become our new role in life. The pillar is surrounded by plants, bushes and trees set in a circle. The plants symbolize growth and how students need to be nurtured by the teachers to grow and blossom into something great.

Art Project #1

Although I was unable to participate in this project over the weekend. I have had many experiences in my life not having the luxury of electricity. I have spent countless weekends camping and using fire and lanterns at night to provide light. Spending lots of time outside without the amenities of home or our cities infrastructure. It gives you a sense of realism that you can not get in the comfort of your own home.

I really enjoy spending time away from civilization and seeing how well I can do on my own in nature. Throughout my experiences I spent time trying to start a fire from a couple pieces of wood and some tinder. I went on one 2 day trip without food and was able to catch what we needed to eat. Granted it was a place where we could fish and my friend and I had no problems bringing home dinner. I have built facilities for a group to use while spending threee days on a river canoe trip. I have gone on night hikes without flashlights. I really enjoy getting away from civilization and have always dreamed of some day spending a week or two out in the wild and supplying my own food and shelter. For me spending time without electricity is not that bad. It allows me a lot of time to think about what I want in life and what I need to do to get there. The only problem is that we are a slave to society where you have to make money in order to survive.

Chapter 5 Artist Analysis

We start with Henri Matisse Memory of Oceania and Jackson Pollock Shimmering Substance. Both of these works are comprised of chaos and colors that make you want to see something that may or may not be there. Spending some time looking at Matisse the white reminds of an old ship that has the symbol of something protruding from the front. In this case it seems to be a blue face. I am not sure what exactly he was trying to portray but I am sure that people see different things in this painting. Pollock has the same sort of idea with an array of colors but closer together in what seems to be many small clipping of paper arranged on a pad. The yellow stands out to me as though there is a circular object in the middle of the painting. With the disarray that is going on in both of these painting the artists can attract many different opinions of what is going on depending on who is looking at them.

In comparing Pablo Picasso's Girl Before a Mirror and Titian's Venus with a Mirror. We can see two very different depictions of women admiring themselves in a mirror. Picasso depicts the woman seeing something very different than what is represented in front of the mirror. Where Titian shows Venus seeing herself as the same. Utilizing a Mirror in the painting allows the artist to express his opinion of what is seen in the mirror. Does everyone see the same thing in a mirror or is the reflection different for each person? Each person would have there own opinion of what is seen and how closely it resembles the person in front of that mirror.

Lecture Review 5

In class this week we watched a documentary about graffiti and its evolution in many major cities from around the world. It has been used in many different ways in order for people to express themselves or opinions they have on a subject such as politics. A question was asked to find out how many people thought of graffiti as being a good or bad thing. Surprisingly most people thought it was good. There is always going to be the bad that comes along with the good. The defacing of peoples private property is not appropriate, but that does not limit some people to doing it. What if there were places for people to express themselves on public sites? After all it is an art form, which can bring people together to appreciate or criticize it. As of today it is against the law and people still do it. How is that any different than any other laws that people break on a daily basis? Just to name a few that I see daily, running red lights, utilizing carpool with one person in the car, speeding or not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign. Who is to say one crime is more significant than another. I am sure the ones I listed above are broken more often than all the graffiti artists combined.

Chapter 4 Artist Analysis

Fist up we have Georges Seurat A Sunday on La grande Jatte and Chuck Closes' Bill. Both of the artists used a unique method in order to make the picture blend into itself. Seurat utilized many small dots of color which can be seen up close, giving it almost a fuzzy look. But when you move back you can see the whole picture and the dots seem to blend into each other showing a smooth transition between the colors. Close uses a very similar method. Instead of dots he uses a gridded pattern and fills in each grid with his own set of colors. Up close it looks like a child trying to fill in the squares, but as you stand back and look all the colors seem to blend together giving you an image that comes alive.

Next we have Albert Bierstadt, The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak and Huang Gongwang dwelling in the Fuchun. Both of these paintings represent two different groups living in two different landscapes. Bierstadt had incorporated a Native American tribe with the beautiful background of the rocky mountains. Showing the tribe going about its business in everyday life. Gongwang's painting is very similar as it depicts a mountainous region with buildings nestled at the base, although no people are in view both pictures imply a peaceful coexistence with nature.

Lecture review 4

In class this week we were introduced to performance art. One artist in particular Marina Abramovic. An artist that utilizes props and her own body to bring out emotions in the audience. Some would say that this is not art but the scenarios she comes up with are defiantly and expression of herself and give people more than a few things to think about when they see or hear about her.