ART Appreciation "class" #1: Manet and Homer

5/25/05 | republicanprofessor

[iceskater]

Sheesh - I feel so ignorant. I never made the connection to Reconstruction in that painting. It certainly makes sense!

Keep these threads coming - I see I have a lot to learn!

[cyborg]

mark and bump

[LexBaird]

Another highly symbolic Homer: Veteran at Work in a New Field. Painted in 1865, just after the end of the Civil War.

[Republicanprofessor]

Yes, very powerful. The scythe is not one really used back then, except by images of Death. And the field that used to be a battle field...

He always has much more going on than a quick viewer might suspect. I never really liked this image much until I read more about it.

Thanks for posting it. I had hoped that people would rise to the occasion and post more images than I had initially. This worked out even better than I had thought it would.

[Zechariah11]

Thank you so much for sharing that pic and great analysis. It's the first time I've seen. It is really good.

[Zechariah11]

Don't forget to add me to your ping list as well. This is one of the best threads ever on FR.

[Zechariah11]

I hope you will continue with Homer and giving these insights. Like you mentioned earlier, there is a story being told in his work. But it is only half told. You must use your imagination to complete the story.

The Gulf Stream is one I can't wait to share with my fourth graders in September. They will simply love it and eagerly write stories about it, Another generation of Homer lovers.

[Zechariah11]

Sorry for the many posts this morning but when I went to Art.com in order to purchase a print, they showed "The Gulf Stream" as something else. Could you double check the title of the one you have of the man adrift?

[Republicanprofessor]

Check out this google search and you will not only see a ton of this image under Gulf Stream, but you may find another place to buy it.

Glad you liked it. It's one of my favorite exam slides.

http://images.google.com/images?q=Homer+the+Gulf+Stream&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images

If the google search doesn't replicate here, what I do for images is go to Google Images and hit Homer Gulf Stream (or whatever). It's quicker than pulling slides!

[jalisco555]

Have you been to the new MOMA in New York? I'm curious to know what you think of it.

[LexBaird]

The symbolism in Veteran is many layered, with simple subject: The discarded uniform and canteen, the former "harvester of Men", instead of turning his hand to death, is harvesting the staff of life. The sky is clear and blue with the storms passed, and famine will be soon defeated. Swords into plowshares.

Quite a message of hope for a war-torn Nation.

[LexBaird]

For comparison of a contemporary European work: Millet "The Gleaners", 1857. For some reason, I always saw a parallel and contrast between the two works.

Millet's painting corresponds with the rise of the recognition of the proletariat and classism (Marx's manifesto was 1848-9) with peasants picking for grains in the stubble of the horseman's field, as opposed to Homer's individualist American, profiting from his own labors.

[LexBaird]

In case I haven't been, please add me to the pings

[Zechariah11]

Thanks. I found these comments from another critic you might appreciate:

in its composition and technique shows that we can feel truly reposeful and energetic at once. It has in it a man on a boat whose mast has been broken and swept away by a hurricane, adrift in the restless sea, and surrounded by sharks. I once thought it justified my feeling that the world was cruel and battered one about. 

I learned this was not what this painting is about, or why I liked it. Homer's The Gulf Stream met my deepest hope — to like the world honestly — because it puts opposites together in a way that shows the world makes sense.

The tumultuous sea and whitecaps, the sharks, broken boat and waterspout in the distance on the right — all have motion and turbulence. Yet the man seems strangely at ease as he rests on his elbow, looking out. Homer’s composition shows that both man and world are a relation of "repose and energy, calmness and intensity, serenity and stir."  --Daniel Reiss

[Feiny]

I have a great friend who does amazing work. Please check out his site & let me know what you think. His work is incredible up close. I have 2 of his paintings and one sketch.

http://stevecepello.com/thumbnails.html

[Feiny]

I love that painting!

[Nataku X]

When I look at those paintings... I get a very strong inclination to go running. And that's exactly what I'll do right this minute. You should advertise your lecture series as a weight loss aid.

[Republicanprofessor]

Have you been to the new MOMA in New York? I'm curious to know what you think of it.

No, I haven't been there yet. We don't get to NYC much. When I went to see the Gates, with 3 children in tow, it was too much to see the MOMA too (although that was what I wanted!).

Maybe in October; I should be in the city for a conference then.

[Republicanprofessor]

Millet's painting corresponds with the rise of the recognition of the proletariat and classism

Not to mention how much more GRAIN there is in Homer's works. Does this already show that socialism doesn't work?

Great pairing. I've never done that; I think I will the next time for sure. (Then maybe I can touch upon politics too. My students are quite liberal.)