Persepolis Recreated

It is unbelievable that a great palace can end up in ruins. How the "the richest city under the sun became so vacate. Sort of like how fleeting life is. I thought at the very beginning of the first videos computerization was cool. They had flowing crumbs form the palace entrance. The stone reliefs of the representatives were supposed to symbolize peaceful communication. I thought that was a pleasant message. Was the computerized dramatization of the men walking in a straight close row up the stairs inspired by the reliefs of the men trading/offering goods. The reliefs of the men show very little space between each man. I thought the Persian carpets they talked about were beautiful. They were filled with ornate colorful patterns. All seem to be inspired from flowers. I really liked the amazing twelve capitals in the form of lions. Though I thought it was strange they had horns on their heads. I think the muscular expressions were very effective in terms of strength and wild animal. The idea of the lion as the New Year eating I think the deer as the old year was different. A new view, instead of thinking it is an example of pure strength or conquest.

Greek Sculptures

Greek sculptures are very stunning to look at. I wonder how big they are in person. I do agree that realism could get boring. I think that is why some of the famous painters like Van Gogh and Picasso, chose different art styles, like post impressionism and abstract. Years ago I did not know they had painted so realistically, but they had. It is interesting that humans do respond more to exaggeration than complete realism. Though, why is it that humans enjoy exaggeration so much? Is it because there is an emotion or a story in the way something is extremely altered? I think it is ironic that the Greeks wanted to achieve physical perfection by using muscle and body exaggerations, like the length of the bronze mans legs and the impossible protrusions of the muscles. They created perfect humans which are unlike any real life human being. So there was idealism in their realistic style.

 

    I just wanted to post these paintings up to show difference. Van Gogh and Picasso.
http://artobserved.com/artimages/2008/09/gaugins-chair-van-gogh.jpg
http://www.instituto-picasso.com/learn-spanish/picasso3.jpg
http://www.artgalleryabc.com/images/picasso1.JPG

Glories of Ancient Aegoan and The Ancient Island of Crete Knossor

The first video was very short, but it emphasised Homer's epics having the possibity of being real stories. So were these characters once alive?
A question for the second video is it wrong that he restored the ruins or is it like a never ending transformation of art. The palace looked like an amazing maze! Ha!
I do not think the minoans were part of a peaceful civilization. They probably had war just like any other. The paintings of the bull being murdered might suggest they enjoyed bull fights as entertainment.
The mention of Crete discoveries reminded me of a chapter in Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, which I have to read for world civilizations class. The chapter dicussed the phaestos disk found on the island of Crete. It could have been an early system for writing. It has 241 signs/symbols on it and it was made from clay. The symbols had to be stamped into the clay. So I wonder if it was made in the same location as the palace. Maybe the Minoans used these symbols. Or maybe just like characters from Homers Epics the Minoans may have never existed and was just a creation from the explorer/restorer.

http://mmtaylor.net/Holiday2000/Crete/Crete_pix/phaestos.disk.jpg

Noh Costumes

http://www.the-noh.com/en/world/img/karaori.jpg

First I wanted to research the japanese kimono, but I decided Noh costumes would be more interesting. Each costume has a lot of dazzling patterns. Some even have gold leaf on the designs. I bet all of the costumes feel soft and silky. The way the costumes are hung is unique, like they are paintings on a wall to be admired or worn. I read on a site that most of the designs represnt their character, like if they are a demon they might have triangles on their costume, which meant they had scales. I learned that there is difference between the length of the costume's sleeves. There are long sleeves and small sleeves. The long sleeves have a larger hole at the wrist, while the small sleeves have a smaller hole at wrist. Though each are styled different. I think it is a bit sexist that only men could act in the Noh plays. But, maybe it is because men were only samurai and the Noh costumes resemble Samurai outfits.

http://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/sitephotos/factsheetimgs/Noh-masks.jpgThe main actor in the play is called Shite. Here are four Noh masks. I think I have seen a few before at the Nelson-Atkin's Museum. I enjoy all of the funny expressions of these masks. I wonder which one is the demon one. (Haha) You can see the wrinkles of the old man and how it emphasizes his confused countence. They all appear very suprised, prehaps that mood can be interperted in different views during the play. The top right seems frightened though he could also appear angry.

Some of the Noh costumes remind me of this painting: The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. It is because of the ornate patterns and vivid colors.

Here is part of a sleeve. It looks like a pillow. A lot of use of warm colors and complementary colors as well like the orange and blue leaves. I almost did not see the green leaves, because they blend well with the golden background if it was not for the orange growth on the tips of the green leaves drawing my attention to them I would have missed them entirely. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1989.367

Here is a video of Noh http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIVV3wWHWYU

 

 

Four Asian Rooms

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/z3L23_wCt8s/0.jpg

The videos discussed the architecture of four Asian rooms. The museum had divided the rooms, two were Japanese and the other two were Chinese. All of them were highly organized with the many objects that would belong to each room, like the scholar's room had a varity of old books, writing desk and ornate cricket cages. The fact that the scholar would tickle the insect for music was adorable. One of the rooms I felt had a lot of time put into it. They had mentioned that the room was to have had been made out of perfect wood and gold leaf doors, which we learned the reason for having gold leaf in class. I wonder how they had applied the gold leaf and how much. I have a small bag of thin gold leaf that I use small amounts in paintings. In the video they had said the diangle titles meant a wealthy or important family and I wonder where that idea came from. The tea room looks relaxing. Prehaps in the museum the viewers are served tea. It would be fun to go see these rooms at the museum some day.