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So this is a little embarrassing but I have to write on it.  This week as we have been looking at Spanish and French Romantic pieces of art many of them I recognize from my visit this last summer in the Louve.  One of them in particular is Odalisque by Ingres.  At first look of this picture you see a beautiful figured woman, she looks quiet and soft.  I look at a lot of these art pieces and see how the artist's portray these women and they look great.  I often have what I imagine most girls have and that is confidence within their own bodies.  I often look at the girls who are in the media and they all look the same, pretty figures, pretty faces, yadda, yadda.  However as beautiful as this woman in Ingres art is, she has flaws in different ways that many of us don't see at first.  When we examined this piece in class, Ingres painted her with a disporportional figure.  Even though you have to really focus on it to see these things like her torso being too long and her legs being tangled at an odd angle, she still looks beautiful.  I think that to see a woman, whether she was a real model for Ingres or not, but to have him portray her and create her with such flaws and for that piece to be an important piece in art history, makes me feel okay with not having the perfect look that most of us girls feel with have to have.  :)  If I can figure out how to post pictures, I will try and post this one of Odalisque by Ingres.  

The Imaginary Orient...

The Imaginary Orient was an interesting reading.  I found our discussion in class to be helpful to better understanding exactly what Said thoughts on art were.  My thought is this, I have thought a lot of things, and they may have not been positive thoughts of other people.  I think that sometimes in the past I have thought or said things in my head that may have been completly biased towards another individual and or their culture.  I think that my ways of thinking have changed immensley. I try hard to keep an open perspective on things whether it be something simple, or that of a huge matter.  A visual culture experience that I may have had that has changed my ways of thinking is this; I have always grown up in a very diverse community and have had many people in my life with different beliefs and values such as mine.  I feel thankful to have always been exposed to such an environment and  I think that even more now, as I get older, it's harder for me to except things that are different to what I am used to, maybe because I am a young adult and am learning to become more independent everyday.  I just recently moved here to the bay area and I think that this experience of being in a foreign city with different cultural pockets has helped to engage these perspectives that I hold.  This may or maynot make much sense to those of you who read it, but hopefully you will understand.  

"Beloved Mother"

This piece of art by Jean-Baptiste Greuze was created to construct a new reality during the era of art.  This new reality implies a power of art to me that represents the natural beauty of a woman and the comfort she brings to the environment that surrounds her.  This artwork  being, the "Beloved Mother" was a very important to the new society.  

 The visual culture of this piece helps to represent the woman and her place in society, not just that of being comforter and caretaker but also strong and respected just as the man.  As consumers of visual art, this piece can imply that we value what is true and what is important to us in the society that we live in.  

Introduction

This is my first art history class I am super excited!  This past summer I had the opportunity to visit Europe and on my trip in Europe I was able to see many pieces of art that we will be studying in this class.  A line of teachers run in my family and two of these people are art teachers.  Since I have art in my family I was aware of some of the things to look at on my trip.  I went to the Louve in Paris and only spent five precious hours in there.  It was so amazing and my eyes were open to so many masterpieces and to so many pieces of art that had been widely discussed by the art lovers in my family.  I not only was able to view art in Paris but in many other countries as well.  Since I was able to have this personal experience with art on my trip I am ready to go deeper with it by exploring the artist's and periods of art in this class.