Visual art is a silent teacher which can tell the story of a whole generation without words and make people cry without mayhem and other types of assault. Jacob Lawrence and James N. Gregory have presented a collection of different types of visual art, paintings and photos which show the history of a generation, a long period life devoted to the great migration.
A number of specific methods have created a gallery of visual arts which does not only describes the situation, it points to devastating effect of grief, pain and other feelings which can be seen via the work of the artists, colors they used, figures the painted and the angle they presented.
Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Stories
Looking at the paintings Lawrence has presented in his Migration Series, it should be mentioned that even though they have similar traits and revel the same emotions of grief and unhappiness, each of them is unique. The same colors are used to underline that the problem an artist shows is similar on all paintings.
Dark-green, yellow, black, red, grey and dark-blue colors are mostly used. This can be explained by the types of emotions these colors awake when people look at them. The author does not use shade and the lines where the colors change are strict and expressive. There are almost no faces which can be remembered (Lawrence n.p.).
The artist tried to offer his vision of the historical event. His paintings are mostly dark. Even when yellow and white colors appear, they seem to underline and deepen the dark side of the paintings. The emotional coloring is gloomy. Each painting in the series offers the viewer the information about one specific moment from the life of people in that time, but the vision is created that the whole life people was combined of those dark, gloomy and unimpressive moments which they had to experience because of immigration.
James N. Gregory’s American Exodus
James N. Gregory offers viewers another type of visual arts, photos. The works devoted to American Exodus are black-and-white. Black-and-white photos help consider the lines which show emotions and face expressions. Moreover, even though there are no colors on the photos, a viewer can see the specifics of the wretchedness and grey life people had to lead. This makes a viewer understand that migration was a very negative experience, but they had to sustain and they did it.
Looking on the photos, it can be said that every detail is seen, even though many photos are made from distant angles. Sometimes even shades hint a viewer about hard times and the problems people have. Looking at these photos, there is no need to read about migration in America, everything can be understood from the pictures which show either children who cry or the places they have to live in (Gregory n.p.).
Conclusion
Thus it may be concluded that looking at a painting or a photo, a viewer can understand the artist’s feelings and the theme via the colors, shapes, shades, perspectives, etc. Jacob Lawrence’s and James N. Gregory’s visual arts have provided the viewer with a part of American history.
The methods they used were different, but, still, they were effective. A viewer has an opportunity not only consider what the painting is about, but he/she also can receive substantial experience about American migration which has placed a record in history and remains in the heart of every Native American.
Works Cited
Gregory, James N. American exodus: The dust bowl migration and Okie culture in California. Web.
Successful series of the teen drama television genre sustain themselves through a careful balance. On the one side, these dramas strictly adhere to the rules of the genre. On the other, they stretch its bounds, and in so doing, facilitate its evolution.
An example of a teen drama that negotiates this balance effectively is Gossip Girl. Since its premiere in 2007, the show has maintained an audience, as well as its creative edge, by consciously respecting the conventions of the teen drama genre while simultaneously twisting it to suit an expanded purpose, namely, to root the series in the cultural and technological ethos of its audience. Gossip Girl’s innovative representation of technology as a character, via the faceless narration of the blogger, Gossip Girl herself, and the literal aural depiction of gossip as it goes viral via personal mobile devices in the Gossip Girl pilot episode, develops the teen drama genre to embrace the reality of technology in the lives of its fans.
Teen drama genre conventions
Thriving teen dramas share many elements with the soap opera genre in that they are relationship oriented. The majority of teen drama storylines delve into the interpersonal relationships, both sexual and platonic, of their main characters.
These relationships typically teem with infidelity, longing, lust, heartbreak, betrayal, social war, and sometimes even violence. Gossip Girl mainly explores the tempestuous relationship between Serena and Blair. The love-hate encounters between Serena and Blair form the heart of the show, and crackle with jealousy, betrayal, love, envy, sabotage, and competition, classic teen drama fodder.
Also, the choice to base the show on a relationship between two teenage girls consciously respects the teen drama genre, since teenage girls compose the lionshare of the audience fan base for this genre. Other important characters that stem from the teen drama genre convention present in Gossip Girl include the jerk/antagonist Chuck, the sensitive thinker Nate, and the impoverished hero Dan.
Money is an important element of the teen drama genre, and warrants its own discussion. Successful teen dramas, those that flourish for multiple seasons, share one common trait: wealth. Beverly Hills 90210 and The O.C. provide the two clearest examples of this phenomenon. Affluent locales such as California and Manhattan are prime real estate in the teen drama genre.
These are the locations where the fans of the teen drama genre want to live, urban hubs full of nightlife and glamour. Privileged characters such as those found on Gossip Girl typically embody the glitz, the trust funds, the designer clothes, the social status, and the social access that fans of teen dramas seek. In Gossip Girl, money and privilege provide the backdrop of many of the stories.
Money serves a dual purpose in the teen drama genre: it provides the fantasy, yet it does not detract from the emotional drama. Teen dramas appeal to fans because they offer visual “proof” that having money does not garner immunity to life. Despite their wealth and advantage, the teenagers on Gossip Girl have more than their fare share of problems, heartache, disappointment, pain, and loss.
Beauty is another vital element of the teen drama genre. Gossip Girl is no exception to this rule. Every character is a knock-out. Beautiful actors fulfill the stipulation of the genre in this regard. Why is beauty necessary to the teen drama genre? Beauty is a symbol of social power, in high school and in life.
Beautiful people have access, enjoy elevated status, and rarely need to work as hard to be wanted or accepted by their peers. However, similar to the convention of money, the convention of beauty in the teen drama genre does not remove the characters from the tribulations inherent to life. The beautiful characters on Gossip Girl still suffer infidelity, rejection, violence, and social ostracism.
In essence the characters in the teen drama genre become relatable because they have all the social power and standing that their teen fans strive for, yet they share the exact same problems. The Gossip Girl characters live in one of the best cities in the world, they have the best clothes, go to the best parties, and yet their boyfriends still cheat on them, and they still don’t always get what they want. It is this quality – this inherent “different yet the same” dichotomy – that makes the series Gossip Girl so connected and compelling to its fans.
Gossip girl innovation
Technology is a character in Gossip Girl, and this is the element of the series that deviates substantially from the teen drama convention, and takes the genre to a new level of relevance and timeliness. Gossip Girl, the blogger, is never seen, yet we hear her voice and we experience the impact of her presence.
Gossip Girl narrates each episode. She provides opening context and closing analysis on each episode. She also comments on the action throughout each episode, often providing insight into the action of any given scene. Sometimes she accesses the private emotions of the characters.
The presence of Gossip Girl the blogger resembles the presence of technology in our lives. She is omnipresent and omniscient, and gives us direct personal access to each other, access that is unprecedented in any other time in human history. Also, like our own personal mobile devices, Gossip Girl is there in our most private, intimate moments. Gossip Girl the series supports the evolution of the teen drama genre to relate precisely and poignantly to the technological experience of its fans.
Gossip Girl the series also offers an innovative and artistic depiction of gossip itself via the personal mobile devices of the characters. This discussion continues in the analysis of the pilot episode.
Pilot episode analysis
The pilot episode of Gossip Girl begins with attractive flashes of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, interwoven with shots of Serena’s beautiful face (Savage and Schwartz 2007). These visual effects immediately adhere to the teen drama convention in two ways: first, we recognize immediately that we are in an affluent and desirable neighborhood, Manhattan. Second, we recognize a main character that fits the genre conventions: she is a teenager, and she is beautiful.
The scene then switches to New York’s Grand Central station, as we follow Serena, who waits, presumably, for someone to pick her up. The first voice we hear belongs to Gossip Girl, the blogger. On screen, another teenager watches Serena and reaches for her cell phone. As the teenage girl snaps a photo of Serena with her phone, Gossip Girl introduces Serena thus: “Hey Upper East Siders. Gossip Girl here. And I have the biggest news ever.
One of my many sources, Melanie 91, sends us this: ‘Spotted at Grand Central, bags in hand: Serena van der Woodsen. Was it only a year ago our it girl disappeared for quote boarding school? And just as suddenly, she’s back. Don’t believe me? See for yourselves. Lucky for us, Melanie 91 sent proof. Thanks for the photo Mel” (Savage and Schwartz 2007).
When Dan, the impoverished hero, sees Serena at the station, Gossip Girl instantly has a response: “Spotted. Lonely Boy. Can’t believe the love of his life has returned. If only she knew who he was. Everyone knows Serena. And everyone is talking” (Savage and Schwartz 2007). A series of rapid-fire shots follow Gossip Girl’s introduction, as we see numerous characters checking their mobile devices for the juicy gossip tidbits provided by Gossip Girl’s blog. We witness as Melanie 91’s photo of Serena at Grand Central goes viral.
This visual depiction of gossip bears analysis. On screen, we see Serena’s photo bounce from phone to phone. Aurally, we hear numerous rings, buzzes, beeps, and vibrations as the message travels through the Gossip Girl network. This phenomenon sets the standard of gossip, and Gossip Girl, as characters, which in turn expands the genre’s understanding of narrative devices and how they can be used to tell stories on screen.
Similarly, in the later scene where Dan’s sister Jenny needs rescuing from jerk/antagonist Chuck’s manhandling and unwanted sexual advances, she uses her cell phone to call her brother for help (Savage and Schwartz 2007). When Dan and Serena crash the Kiss on the Lips party, a dazzling onscreen moment occurs when Serena stands alone in the middle of the party that she has been barred from (Savage and Schwartz 2007).
All around her, we hear gossip fluttering, hundreds of little voices twittering, all centered on Serena, and we understand that the viral nature of technology is firmly rooted in the human social experience.
Gossip Girl the series brilliantly and innovatively utilizes the social nature of technology to expand the teen drama genre. For many teens, their personal mobile device is their lifeline to their peers. The teen drama genre, as seen in Gossip Girl, blossoms to form a window into the social lives of teenagers through their technology habits.
Gossip Girl the series uses personal mobile devices to root itself in the real life experience of its core fan base. The series holds to the conventions of the teen drama genre while ultimately spinning the genre and advancing it. Gossip Girl depicts the union of culture and technology, as experienced by the current generation.
Works Cited
“Pilot episode.” Gossip Girl: Season One. Writ. Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz. Dir. Mark Piznarski. The CW, 2007. DVD.
Monk – an iconic figure in the history of jazz music
Thelonious Monk is an iconic figure in the history of jazz. He is often called “one of the founding fathers of the Bebop Revolution of the forties” (Crouch 86). His extraordinary music style has been admired by thousands of jazz lovers and followed by many prominent musicians.
Monk’s discography embraces numerous pieces which have become examples of the harmonized chaos which opened up new horizons for new understanding of jazz, performance and music in general. Of course, musical genius cannot belong to ordinary person and Monk is a great illustration for such statement. This outstanding composer and musician had an extraordinary life which from the first years was inevitably connected with music.
Interestingly, his musical career was similar to his music: it was full of ups and downs, unpredictable twists and pauses. In spite of periods of oblivion, Monk’s genius and contribution into development of world jazz music is recognized and praised. It goes without saying that Monk’s heritage is to be cherished and his life should be studied so that novice musicians can understand what a real music masterpiece is.
The dawn of Monk’s music career
Monk’s early life
A lot has been said and written about Thelonious Monk, but there is still “about Monk’s life and art that resists complete knowledge” (Solis 19). Monk remains an enigmatic person even in spite of numerous interviews, commentaries and books. However, it is very tempting to have a try and reveal his secret.
So, Thelonious Monk was born in 1917 in North Carolina. After a while his family moved to New York City and this to great extent entailed the appearance of new jazz genius. Crouches calls Monk “the first Picasso of jazz” denoting that he was first “to develop a style that willfully shunned overt virtuosity in favor of a control of the elements of the music in fresh ways” (87).
However, this parallel is also relevant in the other point: Monk’s talent was revealed at very early age, as well as Picasso’s. Moreover, likewise Monk’s teacher, Simon Wolf, after few sessions with him said to one of his student’s parent: “I don’t think there will be anything I can teach him. He will go beyond me very soon” (qtd. in Kleinzahler BR10). Interestingly, Monk’s mother did not see her middle son as a pianist, instead she wanted him to play trumpet.
Actually, Thelonious did play this instrument for a while, but his sister music teacher told his mother that the boy has a talent for playing piano. Thelonious recalled this in the following way: “I started to study trumpet, but the music teacher saw me playing on the piano and he said, ‘You got to take up piano.’ So I took piano” (qtd. in Kelley 25). In fact, Monk was always fascinated by piano.
He could repeat any tune he heard once, he was also self-learning watching his sister’s lessons. When Monk started his piano lesson he was not, of course, taught jazz music. Wolf taught his young talented pupil “works by Chopin, Beethoven, Bach, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, and Mozart” and he was amazed by Monk’s ability to master the most difficult places so quickly (Kelley 26).
Thelonious was fascinated by Rachmaninoff and Chopin. However, in two years Wolf stopped teaching Monk, and he started learning from jazz musicians living in the neighborhood. Monk was devoted to music and spent a lot of time playing in his house or at his friends’. However, he also had one more place to develop his talent.
This place was Columbus Hill Community Center which was a great place for numerous children from the neighborhood to develop various skills like sport, art, etc. It is necessary to add that the Center became a second home for Monk since he spent there a great deal of time. Thus, in 1933 Monk organized his first band which gave performances at parties and even several gigs at restaurants (Kelley 35). This was the start of Monk’s musical career.
Monk’s first steps in his music career
In 1934 Monk’s band performed at “Audition Night” and won the main prize, ten dollars. In fact, they won several times, so Monk’s sister Marion recalled: “The three of them would go up and they won every time they went up, so they barred them from coming up there because they were wining each time” (Kelley 36). However, these victories did not bring any fame to the trio. They were still playing for little money and no publicity. Instead, Monk’s musical career influenced negatively his study.
He was in class only sixteen days out of ninety-two and got “zeroes” for all subjects (Kleinzahler BR10). Having broken his mother’s aspiration that her son would get proper education, Monk devoted himself totally to his God, music. It is necessary to add that those were really difficult times of the Great Depression so any money brought into the family were of great importance.
Soon Monk’s mother arranged his playing for Reverend Graham, a female evangelist, who was preparing her tour of the west “in order to save souls and drive out affliction” (Kelley 40). This period of his life is believed to produce great impact on Monk’s further life and music style. Despite of some remarks that Monk was a kind of travelling with a circus, the experience in church was really important for him. In contrast to his early style, quite a lot is known about his playing for this tour.
Thus, Kelley suggests that Monk was influenced by such gospel hymns composers as Dorsey and Tindley (45). Interestingly, blues and jazz were regarded as demonic at that time, and at the same time African-American evangelists used some points of these music genres. Apart from the development of unique music style this period influenced his manner of performance. Monk used to stop playing, stand up and dance a bit while other musicians in the band were playing. According to Kelley:
His “dance” consisted of a peculiar spinning move, elbow pumping up and down on each turn, with an occasional stutter step allowing him to glide left and right. It was a deliberate embodiment of the rhythm of each tune… At the very least, what Monk witnessed on the road with the evangelist reinforced for him the essential relationship between music and dance – music is supposed to move the body and touch the soul (46).
After his return to New York he takes up any job: he plays at parties and at night clubs. It was at that time when he fell in love with Rubbie, so he desperately needed money to marry and make his living.
After numerous attempts to find proper job he entered union, to become secure from jobs when musicians could be fired and get no salary at all. The membership in union was beneficial not only for his certain financial security but for his style development. At that time he met many prominent musicians and those new acquaintances inspired him not only perform his music but create his own pieces.
Eventually, in 1941 Monk was offered a permanent job at Minton’s Playhouse which was “about to become a jazz legend” (Kelley 59). This was, in fact, a great starting point for his worldwide fame and recognition. Of course, not only Thelonious played at that place, many significant figures of jazz music were performing there as well. This variety of styles, believes and approaches also contributed to Monk’s style development which brought him success.
Monk’s contribution into the development of jazz music
Thelonious Monk’s great success.
Starting from 1941 Monk has a chance to reveal his talent to public. He improvised and played his own music. His style became distinctive and, of course, unique. Sometimes (in some tunes or compositions) people saw slight similarities with other performers. However, Monk never stopped surprising his listeners and those who knew him well. His performances were unique, vigorous extravagant and inspiring. At that period he worked really hard.
He had only few hours of sleep dedicating the rest of the day to rehearsing, playing, creating. It is necessary to add that it was then that his friends noticed his mental problems: they could see him sleeping at his piano, forgetting things. However, this was also the period of his first records.
As Sheridan claims it is difficult to denote the precise date of the performance, but those records are extremely valuable since they reveal Monk’s style at the very beginning of his career (7). It is necessary to add that at the time when others try to invent something Monk was just playing his music: “What I was doing was just the way I was thinking. I wasn’t thinking about trying to change the course of jazz, I was trying to play something that sounded good” (qtd. in Sheridan 7).
Indeed, Monk’s music sounded great and attracted many people. Thelonious was an unorthodox pianist who had a great sense for music. He knew where it is necessary to pause and when the piano should blow with dissonant twist, he harmonized such changes in tune perfectly.
Crouch claims that in Monk’s music there was a mix of conventional and outlandish melodies, sophisticated and primitive tunes (87). Since then Monk’s music and his performances gained great popularity. He was giving successful gigs, managed to make many recordings. Of course, some people criticized Monk, and this made him eager to prove that his style is not a primitive lack of technique but sophistication of his talent.
He had some problems with tardiness and eventually got fired, in spite of the fact that public adored him (Sheridan 15). So, Monk arranged a band of young musicians and continued performing for his admirers. In 1948 Monk had first recording session for Blue Note, Thelonious, Suburban Eyes and Down Beat (Sheridan 18).
This was a remarkable session since it was the first one to be under his own name. Later there were another sessions. It is necessary to point out that then Monk did not have many gigs and performances. However, those he had were really outstanding. Monk’s legacy comprises about 70 compositions which are all musical masterpieces (Otfinoski 161). He worked really hard for twenty years and gave a lot of performances which made him famous worldwide.
He made several tours in the United States and also tour to Europe where he became a great success. Crouch stresses Monk’s magnificent ability to develop the theme of his each work. He managed to maintain one and the same theme throughout his melody, even when at the same time shifted from one theme to another. His strong accents and unpredictable improvisations made him one of the most significant jazz musicians of the twentieth century.
Monk’s unorthodox style and his contribution into the development of jazz
Admittedly, the role of Thelonious Monk in the history of music is impossible to overestimate. His desire to play good music led to the development of the unique music genre within a genre. He revolutionized jazz music breaking all conventional rules and prejudice. Monk used to mention that he often heard someone playing his music.
He was an inspiration for many musicians and composers. Crouch even calls Monk “a theoretician and instructor” who taught what jazz really was to such prominent musicians as Dizzie Gillespie or Miles Davis (86). Monk understood the real nature and aim of jazz music which demands that musicians presented their own versions of traditional “four-four swing”, their own ballads and blues compositions (Crouch 87).
Moreover, Monk foresaw the real role of the listener of jazz music which is not passive at all. Monk required that the listener should “play the song along with him, fill in the holes” he used to leave, the listener should understand what he was doing “with the beat, or at least sense more than ordinary” (Crouch 87). Monk was not simply playing some music but rather telling a story. Some people cannot understand his metaphors and images and criticizes Monk for being too inconsistent.
But Thelonious explains: “Everything I play is different; different melody, different harmony, different structure. Each piece is different from the other one. I have a standard and, when the song tells a story, when it gets a certain sound, then it’s through… completed” (qtd. in Sheridan xxxi). Such distortion of the composition melody and harmony is regarded as a transition from the oldest jazz to the newest one (Sheridan xxxi). Monk opened up new horizons for jazz musicians.
His major message was that there can be no conventions in jazz music which should be a reflection of every soul. For instance, Monk revealed his inner thoughts, his dreams. He used to contemplate using melodies and tunes. In his music he reveals the world around him. Thus, Monk once said: “You want to know what sounds I put into my music? Well, you have to go to New York and listen for yourself.
I can’t describe them” (qtd. in Sheridan xxxiv). Thus, his music has taught that the music is everywhere; moreover, it cannot be that harmonious as conventional rules want it to be. The life itself makes unpredictable accents, makes abruptions, mixes tunes. Perhaps, this universal comprehensiveness of his music which evokes the most sacred parts of human soul made Monk an iconic composer and a Giant of jazz.
Monk’s last years and his significance for the history of jazz
Unfortunately, Thelonious Monk was too similar to his music: he was as unpredictable, inconsistent and non-understandable for many. These features determined quite short period of time of his fruitful work. Only two decades Monk was creating his best compositions and giving his greatest performances.
The little talented boy who revealed his uniqueness at a very early age managed to present only twenty years of flourishing talent to the world as an adult musician. Of course, it is necessary to admit that Monk had to live in quite difficult times. Financial difficulties social problems could not be beneficial for the development of jazz music and easy fast-growing success of an African-American musician.
Moreover, he had serious problems with his health which started when he was young. Apart from this he took amphetamines which also shorten his life and caused various problems for his musical career. In fact, it is still unclear why he quitted so abruptly. Perhaps, it was the answer can be found in his music which is characterized by such dissonants and abruptions. However, more likely this inconsistency is rather in Monk’s nature which is revealed in his compositions. Smooth melodies were quite unnatural for him.
Thus, the last decade of his life Monk gave few performances and did not create anything new. Of course, he gained his fame and was praised as one of the most important figures in jazz music, and was proud of that status. However, he was not anymore a participant of performances and concerts as he used to be. His health problems worsen.
He spent many days at hospital and when he was home his health disturbed him. Thelonious spent his last years in the house of his friend and benefactor Pannonica de Koenigswarter, the “jazz baroness” and in 1982 he died “in the arms of his wife, Nellie” (Kleinzahler BR10). Of course, his music remained immortal and his contribution into the world music can never be forgotten.
Monk is an embodiment of the life itself.
In conclusion, it is possible to point out that extraordinary life and divine gift of an unorthodox pianist made it possible for many people to admire his passionate music. Thelonious Monk was a representative of a generation of great transformers. Moreover, he embodied the entire epoch in his compositions.
This was the epoch of great changes which led to the development of new jazz. Nowadays it is impossible to imagine jazz music without Monk’s vision and improvisation. His legacy is still inspiring many musicians not only in the United States but far beyond the boundaries of this country or even the continent.
Monk’s revolutionary approach is now a conventional basis for jazz music which teaches that this kind of music cannot follow any conventions. Unfortunately, too many performances were not recorded. Nevertheless, Thelonious Monk was a great theoretician and his remarks and numerous interviews can, at least partially, revive his affluent heritage. Of course, no one will be able to perform like Monk but his legacy will create numerous prominent jazz musicians in future.
Works Cited
Crouch, Stanley. Considering Genius: Writings on Jazz. New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2007.
Kelley, Robin D. G. Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2009.
Kleinzahler, August. “Monk’s Moods.” New York Times 18 October 2009: BR10.
Otfinoski, Steven. African Americans in the Performing Arts. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2009.
Sheridan, Chris. Brilliant Corners: A Bio-Discography of Thelonious Monk. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001.
Solis, Gabriel. Monk’s Music: Thelonious Monk and Jazz History in the Making. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008.
Art has been evolving for many years since time immemorial. One of the reasons as to why it is pretty difficult to date the time artwork began is because the practice is as old as human beings. However art gained its known exponential growth within the last one thousand years. This was the era when the famous Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci brought their paintworks into fame. It was also during this period that the famous painter Titan exposed his remarkable talent through paintings.
The real names of Titian are Tiziano Vecellio. He was ranked the best artist of the (sixteenth) century. He is well known because of his extraordinary use of color in his paintings. Titian used his paintings to influence the society greatly. Thus he contributed to all the major initiatives of art and related works. His paintings could touch on all sectors of life to exhibit the mythology and cultural practices of the prevailing environment.
Titian’s trainers were Giovanni Bellini (1459-1516) and Giorgione (1478-1510) of which Giovanni was influential because he used a tonal approach in his artwork and for his landscape styles that were quite evocative. Thus Titian and Giovanni worked in a similar way to the extent of making the situation hard for the artistic world to fix the boundaries between their works.
The works of Titan are celebrated way beyond the national border of Italy to the entire planet. His timely works include the drawings of landscape and goat and two Satyrs in a landscape which exemplified mythological figures in a fine landscape whose naturally occurring picturesque contrasts sharply with the ordered arrangement that is at equilibrium.
Early years
The early years of Titian were marked with major achievements of his life. When he was nine years old he went to Venice with his elder brother to his uncle’s home for a stay. The other reason why Titan went to Venice is because he wanted to partner with Sebastiano Zuccato who was by then a master of mosaics, that is, Sebastiano knew a lot about the art of painting. Titian soon passed to the workshop of the Bellini the place where Giovanni became his true teacher (McKenzie 2003). By then Giovanni was the greatest Venetian painter.
During his school times, Titian’s works exhibited the nature of a young man who coupled up to be a student. Titan also became friends with another young student of Giovanni Bellini. The young man was called Giorgione and his hometown was Castelfranco. The two young men combined their efforts in major paintings during the time they were together. This explains why it is so hard to differentiate between the two artists in their early years. That was during the 16th century (NNDB, 2010).
As it is demystified, Titian’s first work which he was able to do independently was the paintings at Padua. These paintings are famously known as the three miracles of St. Anthony.
Other exemplary masterpieces of Titian include the “Miracle Of The Speaking Infant” and the “Miracle Of The Irascible Son” in which the latter has a beautiful background landscape which has captured the eyes of many interested individuals. When Giorgione died Titian was involved in the duty of adding the landscape background to his master’s unfinished work, the famous Sleeping Venus.
Another work which displays the sexual relationship of a young couple which is hidden and there is also a tender and sad mood is in the portrait of the Three Ages of Man. This is also one of the most prolific works of Titan during his young energetic years.
The current work of Titan whose allegory is more hidden and is presented in a landscape of great levels of beauty is the work called Sacred and Profane Love. In this illustration it is explained comparatively to the Neoplatonic theory that the two women, the characters on the left side and those on the right side of the painting are particularly well known characters of that time. The lovely Salome is represented by a beautiful young lady instead of a cruel biblical woman.
In addition to this there are quite a number of paintings which were attributed to Giorgione, Titian’s master. However these works have been conceded to Titian, an action which makes it hard for historians to structure Titian’s early career. That is why until now his career has remained quite unclear with the correct sequencing of his work becoming more and more elusive to modern historians and artists (McKenzie 2003).
It is worth noting that Titian was hired by Federico in 1529 where Titian was paid on a commission basis. Federico had also done this to help Titian purchase land near Trevisco.
The land issue however, never materialized but the Duke compensated Titian with the gift of Benefice of Medole. This made Titian work for Federico for the next ten years (Reiss & Wilkins, 2001). He emerged the first (Venetian) artist to attain eminence during his generation. He was also the first Venetian artist to be employed by masters beyond the borders of Venice.
Titan’s family
Titian was born in Pieve di Cadore, Venice, Italy in the year 1488. He was a Roman Catholic whose main occupation was painting. From the place of his birth he was better known as Da Cadore, which was the name commonly used during his lifetime. His father was called Gregorio di Conte dei Vecelliwhile his mother was called Lucia.
Titian had an elder brother who was called Francesco Vecelli. During his youthful life he was married to Cecilia with whom they were able to raise two sons and one daughter namely Pomponio, Orazio and Lavinia respectively. Pomponio grew up to become a priest (NNDB, 2010).
Titian introduced his elder brother Francesco Vecelli to painting who later on painted in a church located in Cadore. The painting in this church was of the titular saint who was armed. It is believed that Titian was jealous to this painting and thus dissuaded his elder brother from painting into other activities such as being a soldier and later on to business life.
Another member of Titian’s family who engaged in painting was his nephew Marco di Tiziano. Tiziano mastered the art of painting from his old uncle and as part of his achievements in this field; he did famous paintings in the ducal palace, in S. Giacomo di Rialto and in some other places. One of Marco’s sons called Tiziano also did paint during the 17th century.
Fabrizio di Ettore was also a painter who came from Titian’s family together with other relatives who include Tommaso Vecelli, Girolamo Dante. The latter, because of being a scholar and Titian’s assistant was later known as Girolamo di Tiziano, and his pictures were upgraded by his master such that it is hard to distinguish from originals.
Maturity
In early 1520’s, Titian married Cecilia with whom they had two sons and two daughters. One of the daughters died in her infancy. Another heavy blow to Titian was the death of his wife in 1530. This aggrieved the artist so much that he never remarried. He thus resorted to dedicate his entire life to painting (Triumph of the city, 2010). In his mature works, Titian was able to do various paintings that illustrated mythological, religious, and portraits of different personalities.
Mythological paintings of Titian
Titian was able to do paintings even abroad. Alfonso I d’Este hired Titan as one of the chief masters in many mythological paintings in his castle. The house had newly rebuilt rooms which were called the Alabaster Chambers. The castle was located at Ferrara. Currently two of the paintings are in Prado Madrid.
They are the Worship of Venus (McKenzie, 2003), and The Adrians. Some of the most popular paintings of Titian and are now in the London National Gallery. There are also some other works of Titian which showed violence and battle scenes for instance the “Jealous Husband and the Battle of Cadore” which showed some mythological aspects (Fritzsche, 2010).
Religious paintings of Titian
The Assumption was among Titian’s prolific religious paintings. The painting illustrates the victorious Virgin ascending to heaven while she is accompanied by a large number of angels surrounding her and while the extremely surprised apostles looking at this extra ordinary miracle. This work was able to earn Titan the title of a great genius.
Another one of his work similar in religious terms illustrates Madonna and saints with the male members of the Pesaro family (McKenzie, 2003). They are in a church at a columnar portico and the picture also has a beautiful sunny and shadowy illustration (Triumph of the city, 2010). This particular painting created a formula which was followed by the next generation of painters widely. Up until now the established formula is being widely used especially with European painters.
Another one of his prolific religious works was his painting of Madonna and child with St. Catherine and a Rabbit. Also the Madonna and child with SS. John the Baptist and Catherine of Alexandria was one of his religious masterpieces. The entombment was Titian’s first tragic work of art. In this painting, Titian illustrates the death of Christ which was followed by the despair of his followers.
Another canvas which has the Presentation of the Virgin in the temple represents the wealth of the Venetian Renaissance community in a splendid architectural framework (Triumph of the city, 2010). Hence apart from doing secular paintings, Titian also did religious paintings. In addition to this Titian painted with a lot of fire in his religious work. A good example is his work on the crucifixion of Christ whereby he painted Christ with a thorny crown which blazes in the dark.
Titian’s Portraits
Titian moved to the Casa Grande palace which is now a 20th century slum in 1531 after which he returned to Bologna to paint Charles V for the second time during the occasion of the meeting between Charles V and Pope Clement VII between 1532-1533. The portrait pleased Charles thus giving Titian the honor of knighthood.
Other portraits of Titian include the “Alfonso d’Avalos, Marques del Vasto”, “Francesco Maria della Rovere, Duke of Urbino”, “Doge Andrea Gritti” amomg many others (Triumph of the city 2010). The above mentioned portraits are also famously known for their appealing nature due to the moods and other features and emotions presented in the paintings.
Titian’s Final years
After touring all over Europe, Titian made a come back to Venice (1551). He did more and more of his works during the last twenty five years of his life. Among his works during the final years of his life were portraits of Jacopo Strada, which he presents a small statue in a brilliant manifestation of talent in artwork. Titian also did a painting of himself portraying him as a dignified person in his knighthood chain. He also illustrates his intelligence on his face together with a tired Titian.
The “Trinity” which was done for the devotion of Charles V was also a religious work done by Titian during his old age. “The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence” was his religious work in old age that marked another step in the direction of Baroque form in the years that followed (Triumph of the city 2010).
Titian reached the acme of his energies when he did the painting of the “Rape of Europa” which continues to stand out as one of his most outstanding masterpieces. This painting has survived and is in almost perfect condition as per now. In addition to this, Titian’s latest works also represented his state of loneliness and a sense of solitude. Tragedy was also a dominant theme in his later works (McKenzie, 2003).
Titian’s death
Titian died on August 27, 1576 in Venice when he was in his early 90s. His work did permanently affect the direction of Europe’s painting industry. His artwork has attained the acme of achievement in painting within human reach. He is also known as the person who enjoyed his glory as a celebrity during his own life.
Conclusion
Titian was unarguably the best artist during his lifetime. He established various new styles of representing different features in his works. From landscape to mood and from emotions to natural environment, Titian was able to convey his message on the mythologies of the time. He was able to learn quickly from his master and practice it independently to become a renowned artist of the century. Due to this fact, Titian was able to travel far and beyond his township to meet dukes and religious leaders who were happy of his works.
As a result, Titian was called into palaces and churches all over Europe to do paintings of portraits and religious works. Until now, his work is celebrated across the globe with part of his original paintings being major attractions in the museums of Italy and London.
Although most of his works were destroyed by poor storage or by malicious fires, the few of his works present in contemporary museums attests to the fact that he was able to do prolific masterpieces which earned him great honor. In addition to this he also painted in castles and was able to be employed by rich people such as Federico who would offer great financial assistance to Titian.
Reference List
Fritzsche, R. (2010). Reflections on Renaissance Politics and Art: Titian’s Battle. Web.
McKenzie, J. (2003). Titian, National Gallery, London. Web.
Reiss, S & Wilkins, D. (2001). Beyond Isabella: secular women patrons of art in Renaissance Italy, Alcorn Publication Design. Truman: Truman State University Press.
The Triumph of the City, (2010). The High Renaissance & Mannerism, Renaissance Art Map. Web.
Diverse people/cultures constitute this world and such diversity is reflected via the cinematic experience. Film emanates the entire infrastructure of a people’s culture (gender, age, creed, race, personal impressions, ideas, emotions, prejudices and religious/political/ economic/educational institutions, etc.).
At the height of the 20th century, many countries witnessed a rise in cinematic prominence and Sweden was no exception. Gustaf Molander, Alf Sjöberg, Victor Sjöström, Mauritz Stiller and most recently Lasse Hallström as well as Lukas Moodysson brought prominence and popularity to Swedish film. Among this distinguished cadre of Swedish filmmakers is the accomplished and prolific Ingmar Bergman.
A repertoire comprised of over sixty documentaries and films (television and cinema) as well as one hundred and seventy theatrical plays, Bergman’s work featured a typical element of Swedish film – slow pacing and austere landscapes. His distinctive style/attribute and contribution, however, was exploration of human emotions and its vast landscape with death, illness, betrayal, and insanity as the focus.
Bergman’s 1957 film, Wild Strawberries, is superbly characteristic his style. Wild Strawberries was written and directed by Bergman and has an acclaimed cast of Swedish actors, among them Max von Sydow. Deemed a classic and one of Bergman’s best films, thought-provoking themes such self acceptance and discovery as well as human existence constitute the thematic core of the film.
Bergman wrote the screenplay while hospitalized and such experience served as an impetus. Wild Strawberries is character and plot driven in that the two intertwined bring the fundamental themes to the surface and explain them. The film chronicles the emotional voyage of an elderly physician named Eberhard Isak Borg (Victor Sjöström).
This emotional journey filled with self introspection/re-evaluation is introduced at the onset of the film with Borg’s opening statement – “In our relations with other people, we mainly discuss and evaluate their character and behaviour. That is why I have withdrawn from nearly all so-called relations (Wild Strawberries).
At seventy years old, Borg appears to have come to a point in which evaluation of his behaviour and character is of primary concern rather than others. The journey unfolds as he travels to receive an honorary degree/award at Lund University. Such accolade, however, has no value and does not bring him happiness for he comments prior to his trip “Honorary Doctor! They might as well appoint me Honorary Idiot (Wild Strawberries).”
During the 400 mile sojourn from Stockholm to Lund, in which he is accompanied by his daughter-in law – Mariaane (Ingrid Thulin), Borg seventy eight years old, undergoes a life assessment or revaluation process.
The various people he meets along the way force him to confront various personas about himself (aloofness, loneliness, etc.), his past and relationships (mother, son, etc.) that contributed to his behaviour. Self examination also comes in the form of nightmares and daydreams throughout the film. At the conclusion, Borg comes to terms with himself (past, present, self acceptance) and immanent death which in the beginning he greatly feared.
Smultronstället is the original Swedish title for the film and translated literally means wild strawberry patch. Idiomatically the title refers to something underrated or devalued yet possesses sentimental or personal value. Self awareness, value, acceptance, and even love appear to be the sentimental and personal emotions at the core of Bergman’s focus/message and for this reason Ingmar Bergman Wild Strawberries’ impact will remain indelible.
Movies have entertained us for over a hundred years now. Making us laugh or cry with every film that we see. Movies break the monotony of our everyday lives and serve as our escape for a little over 2 hours each time. With all its genres ranging from the silent films all the way to action movies, the most entertaining form of movie entertainment has got to be the movie musical. A movie format that allows for interesting character development and plot devices because of the music that becomes part and parcel of the story.
Music is perhaps the most powerful and engaging tool that a movie has to offer aside from a solid storyline. It has the ability to transport us from our modern day reality to say, the flapper era of the Roaring 20’s. With the proper melody, we can be brought to our feet to dance with those onscreen, simply because of the infectious rhythm. Maybe even bust out into a song or two during a screening because the lyrics of a song simply overcome our emotions.
With the proper choice of sound and music, we can feel a variety of emotions such as fear and love. Music does not only exist in the movies for the benefit of preventing dead air between actor dialogues, it is there to help the story along. But not all movies have that seemingly magical ability. In fact, the best examples of a movie that uses music to help define a story would have to be the Hollywood musicals which were created by the finest production houses of its time.
Keeping that in mind, I have decided to review what I deem to be the 3 best musicals of all time. First up on my list, Thoroughly Modern Millie.
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Thoroughly Modern Millie was released in 1967 to mixed reviews. Produced by Universal Pictures, the film starred (Dame) Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore, Beatrice Lillie, James Fox, and John Gavin in one of the most exhilarating, rollicking fun film throwbacks to the 1920’s. The academy award winning, flapper-era music was composed by by the writing tandem of Sammy Cohen and Jimmy Van Heusen.
The story revolves around the life of a simple town girl named Millie(Julie Andrews), who has just come to the big city in order to become a what was then considered to be a “modern woman”, who simply put, is a career woman who has her eye out on snagging herself a husband as well. Millie’s transformation from small town girl to modern city woman is explained through the title song “Thoroughly Modern Millie”.
As Julie Andrews sings the title track, we see her character onscreen undergoing a modernization of looks (or as modern as it got for its era). From the simple change in hairstyle to the more complex change of clothes, the danceable track invites one to join Millie on her journey as she continues to transform herself from a Plain Jane to Modern Millie.
As we join her on her journey towards becoming a modern woman, she meets a variety of people that allows us to see her in various comical situations and a few instances of mistaken identities between a few characters and Millie. There are even nods to the silent films of the 1920’s by inserting a few facial expressions from Millie and inserting her written thoughts here and there.
Upon reaching the single women’s hotel where she resides, she makes the acquaintance of Ms. Dorothy Brown (Mary Tyler Moore), an obviously rich young lady who does not have a clue about how the real world works.
After properly introducing Ms. Brown to their landlady, Mrs. Meers ( Beatrice Lillie) , the two young women strike up an instant friendship as they tap dance their way up to their respective rooms in an elevator that refuses to move up or down unless the person or people inside are dancing. Little did the two women know that their landlady was the head of a White Slavery syndicate operating within the city and that she had targeted Ms. Brown as her next victim.
The movie, obviously shot in the Universal Studios back lot, which at the time was a lot cheaper than going on location, did its best to transform itself into a believable period film, complete with the red jalopy chugging down the road and flapper hats for the women.
No small feat when you consider how many main stars and extras the production crew had to dress up for each scene which included multiple locations such as 2 hotel rooms, a reception area, formal office, plus an exterior and interior mansion, to name but a few of the dazzling sets created specifically for the movie.
As was normal for movies of that time, the lighting was bright and expertly used by the lighting department to evoke fun and gaiety during the light parts of the musical, and fear (by using red lighting) to instill simple fear in the viewers minds during one the more serious, yet still light, situations in the movie that involved the rescue of Ms. Brown from the White Slavery syndicate.
I would like to point out though, that although the movie keeps itself light at all times, it injected a sense of the changing world around them as they actually showed the abduction of Ms. Brown for sale into white slavery. Also included in the film were Asian cast members Johhny Foo and a very young Pat Morita as the abductors.
Music-wise, this film does not try to become anything but what its director George Roy Hill set out to do, which is become a two hour escape from reality using some of the best written songs and well choreographed dance sequences. As anybody who studied American music history would know, the roaring 20’s had some of the most timeless music come out of the decade and the film capitalized on that sense of music nostalgia as they used easy to recall tunes like Baby-Face, Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life, and Jazz Baby.
The use of the tune Baby-Face was, at the time the film was made, considered to be a music coup of sorts as the producers managed to get permission from General Mills to use the song that the company had long been using as the theme to their Wheaties commercials.
Being a movie that showcased Julie Andrews in the lead role, most of the singing parts were reserved for her and each song, was carefully selected to not only highlight her singing abilities, but also, was required to help the story along.
For example, the song ” Poor Butterfly” though used only as the background song in the scene where she was listening to her boss, Trevor Graydon (John Gavin), gush over meeting her roommate Ms. Brown and asking her to arrange a date for the two of them, effectively portrayed the heartbreak of unrequited love and the sense of self-doubt that could only affect a woman whose love has been painfully ignored. In the end, all of the mistaken identities and the truth behind the characters of Ms. Brown and Jimmy Smith were finally cleared up and, in true Hollywood fashion, all was well that ended well for the characters involved.
Everything about the musical designs of this movie just screamed perfection as I watched the movie and listened to the music that had my feet tapping and brain humming the songs long after I had seen the film. It was only after looking up the film online that I discovered that this movie was an academy award winner for its musical score.
Chicago
Now we come to the 2nd best musical film to be released in 2002, Miramax Films released the movie version of the highly successful stage musical Chicago. Set as a period piece, the movie takes place during the mobster run Chicago era where lawlessness seemed to run rampant and women seemed to be the most common murderers.
Starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, and Richard Gere, the trio played Velma Kelly, Roxie Hart, and Billy Flynn respectively. As we will later find out, music plays an integral part in this musical that uses Jazz-era Chicago as its backdrop.
Renee Zellweger as Roxie Hart plays a highly ambitious housewife whose dreams of having a stage career drove her to infidelity and murder, killing her lover once she realized that he would not be able to make her stage dreams come true. Catherine Zeta-Jones portrays Velma Kelly, one of the marquee names in the era who goes to jail for the double murder of her husband and sister, who happened to be cheating on her.
Richard Gere is Billy Flynn, the criminal lawyer who knows the power of the press, publicity, and the unsatiable appettite of the public for celebrity, even if the celebrity is a criminal, and uses it to the benefit of his death row clients. All together, the 3 make up the major cast of the most exciting musical to hit the movie screens since Fame in the 1980’s. Also playing an important role in the movie is Queen Latifah as Big Mamma, the jail warden who can get anybody on the inside anything they want or need, for a price.
Roxie is introduced to us in the movie during the overture, when Velma is performing the timeless And All That Jazz while Roxie is cavorting with her lover in the nightclub, the lobby of her matrimonial apartment, and then finally on her matrimonial bed before shooting her lover to death after he makes a nasty confession about how he was just using her for sex.
She tries to avoid a murder rap by getting her husband to confess to the crime in the song “Funny Honey”, who later on reneges on his confession after finding out the dead man is the salesman who sold them their furniture.
The movie more often than not has a dark feel to it, possibly due to the dark theme of murder and death row life. Most of the movie’s musical numbers take place in the minds of the characters, therefore we often have the camera cutting from the real time setting of the character, to what they are actually thinking, imagining, or feeling.
The musical numbers then take place mostly in a smoke filled, spotlight lighted, night club. With the songs and dialogues usually being performed at the same time. Admittedly, such a presentation tends to get confusing for the audience. Specially if one is not familiar with the Broadway show versions.
Roxie ends up in Cook County Jail together with some very hardened criminals who are not repentant about their crimes and introduce themselves to Roxie by doing the Cell Block Tango, a musical number that introduces us to the various women Roxie will be spending time with and what their crimes were.
Most of them went into the slammer for crimes of passion, and they were usually unrepentant. One of the most important notes I made during this number is the fact that they were doing a traditional Tango and modern interpretative dance at the same time. Such interesting choreography is part of what made this movie highly engrossing.
Upon crossing paths with Velma, the two instantly become adversaries even after they end up sharing the same lawyer. Instead of simply showing us how their rivalry plays out, the viewers are treated to a smorgasboard of stories told through song. Some of the most entertaining musical numbers in the movie belong to Richard Gere whose Billy Flynn uses songs to manipulate the press into believing his spins.
We first meet him through the song “All I Care About Is Love”, where he explains the reasons why he became a lawyer and what he “shuns most about it” which, it seems to me, is a tongue in cheek song since Billy Flynn is one of the most materialistic men on the planet as evidenced by his meeting with Roxie’s husband. Later on, we see what a master press manipulator he is when he comes up with the “We Both Reached For The Gun” scenario for Roxie during her first press conference.
A highly danceable musical number which was so highly imaginative and possibly difficult to have shot since Renee and Richard’s choreography meant that they had to pretend to be a puppet and puppet master, which is a real reflection of the client lawyer relationship Billy had with all his clients. He was the master planner and the defendants were his strategy executioners.
Eventually, we find out what would have given a simple housewife like Roxie the desire to break out of her boringly normal life through the glitzy, glamorous number “Roxie”. We come to understand who she actually is underneath all the lawyer created publicity. All Roxie wants to be is a star, even if it means being a notorious celebrity. She was hellbent on getting her five minutes of fame.
Meanwhile, we also have Velma, whose performance of All That Jazz at the beginning of the movie serves to whip the viewers into the mood for the nightclub style performances to follow. When she begins to lose her celebrity status to Roxie, she tries to entice Roxie to join forces with her in and effort to keep her name in the papers by performing a highly complex choreographed number titled “I Can’t Do It Alone” for a disbelieving Roxie Hart.
When the case of Roxie finally goes to trial, the music takes on a different meaning as it starts to get serious and Billy gets waylaid by a new murder case. Causing Roxie and Velma to both panic, without each realizing that their lawyer already had their acquittal strategy in place and ready for execution.
In one of the biggest musical highlights of the film, Billy Flynn got to show us how a theatrical lawyer thinks fast and on his feet through the “Tap Dance” number. Where he showed the viewer how easy it was to manipulate the press and the jury into believing that which he wants them to do.
The songs in the movie were written by quite a number of music and lyrics tandems. Majority of the songs come from the brilliant musical minds of John Kander and Fred Ebb (most of the musical score) , Jimmy McHough and Dorothy Fields ( Raisin’ The Roof ) , and finally Fred Fisher (Chicago). A quick look at the publishing dates for the music these people composed for the film indicates that the songs have been in circulation since the 1920’s.
When Velma and Roxie are both released from jail thanks to the machinations of Billy Flynn, they both find themselves without the interest of the public that they craved so much. As individuals, they could not hold the interest of a dog. But as partners, as the two most highly publicized murderers of the flapper-era, they later discovered that they had not only a high profile, but a corresponding marquee value as well.
Let us just say that in the end, music proved to be the uniting factor that can turn even the worst of enemies to suddenly become the best of friends, all in the name of vested interest.
My Fair Lady
And finally, we come to one of the most beloved musicals of the Hollywood golden era, My Fair Lady. In this film about a young flower vendor from the wrong side of the tracks, we meet Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) as she tries to make some sales after a theater show in a ritzy part of London. As fate would have it, Prof.
Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) takes a keen interest in her uneducated manner of speaking. Due to the fact he is a professor of Phonetics and can identify over a hundred fifty spoken accents by ear alone. Based on the book by Alan J. Lerner, which was in turn based upon George Bernand Shaw’s tragic Pygmalion, this Warner Bros. opus was released in 1964 as a George Cuckor directed musical of the finest kind.
Starring Audrey Hepburn in the title role and acclaimed British stage actor Rex Harrison as her (tor)mentor / secret love, the movie brought the term musical to new heights as the film’s creators gave life to a new form of singing and also caused a scandal by the way the movie sound track tried to put one over the movie going public.
The reason that the music execution in the film became high profile and most important to the production was because the libretto of the film came from 2 of the most brilliant music producers of the era, Frederick Lowe and Alan Jay Lerner. Two masters at the art of using the gift of song to further along a storyline.
From the first stanzas of “Why Can’t The English?” which clearly establishes the occupation and temperament of Prof. Higgins, all the way to “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” at the end of the opening scene, we see that Eliza is easily smitten by this older man who seems to be promising her the world. Or, just a chance to get out of the ghetto marketplace of London in order to become a respected middle class woman who is respected because she knows how to speak properly.
One must note that although Audrey Hepburn did have theater training and could manage to carry out a pretty decent tune when asked to sing, her singing parts were either mixed with or dubbed with Marni Nixon because the producers did not believe that she had a solid enough singing voice with which to carry the film. This was apparently, an open secret in Hollywood at the time and caused an uproar among certain circles in the industry.
But then, semi-scandal aside, the most notable accomplishment of this film was the development of the “Speak Singing” style of musical performance. This new fangled musical creation was necessary in order to help along Rex Harrison, who was a serious stage actor and not a trained singer.
Speak Singing basically meant that he spoke his singing lines to a specific beat or rhythm which corresponded to the actual musical score of the film. Something which, at the time it was done, had to be considered a breakthrough in film making due to the ingenuity of the film’s director.
Known as the “perfect musical” the movie stayed true to the original musical score used in the Broadway version of the musical. Unlike the movies Thoroughly Modern Millie and Chicago, where music was used as a separate part of the film, yet still somehow relating to the main themes, My Fair Lady had its music as part and parcel of its dialogue. Not all of the characters spoke their lines. In fact, the lines of Eliza and Prof.
Higgins, including those of the people around them are mostly sung. Such can be seen as evident in the Servant’s Chorus as they sung “Poor Professor Higgins” in unison as a protest to the day and night training of Eliza, who it seemed to everyone who could hear her, a hopeless case. But never being one to surrender, the professor trudges along, almost hopeless sometimes, until he triumphs in a reign of song while Eliza triumphantly sings “The Rain In Spain” as a testament to having finally beaten her cockney accent.
From that point on, the songs and singing in the movie only get more polished and the performances of the actors, more enthralling. There are however, instances when song and dialogue come together in a clever mix. The song “With A Little Bit of Luck” includes some interspersed dialogue between Eliza’s father and her landlady who has just informed him that Eliza had just moved in with the professor.
Overall, My Fair Lady was a considerable bit of movie magic., owing to the way that the musical director for the film was able to deal with the vocal shortcomings of the main stars Hepburn and Harrison. It would seem that, save for Mr. Harrison, nobody in this film ever actually did their own singing.
According to the DVD commentaries, all of Ms. Hepburn’s singing, except for the beginning of the song “Just You Wait”, was redubbed by an uncannily Hepburn sounding Marni Nixon, who was considered to be one of the most talented professional dubbers in Hollywood at the time since she seemed to be dubbing the singing voices for over half the female talent in the industry.
Had it not been for the recent anniversary DVD release of the film, the vocal stylings of Ms. Hepburn would have remained just where it was, in a vault and ready for the trash heap. Even minor stars like Jeremy Brett, who played Jimmy in the film, found his rendition of “On The Street Where you Live” being judged inadequate by the film’s producers and being dubbed over by Bill Shirley in the final version.
However, there was one person whom the powers that be at the Warner lot could not bend towards their will. Rex Harrison, tone deaf of sorts that he was, refused to pre-record his own numbers because he felt he would not be able to do justice to a lip synched version done for the film.
This was when the highly imaginative George Groves, director of the Warner Bros. Sound Studio Department came up with a novel idea for dealing with the problem. He got the green light from Jack Warner, the head of the studio, to try an on site recording method for Mr. Harrison.
Which was how Mr. Harrison found himself all wired up with what would become the first in a long line of wireless microphones and speak singing his song lines subtly into his necktie, where the microphone was inserted. It was this kind of creative thinking by the sound department that won this movie one of its many Oscar awards that year.
“My Fair Lady” can be said to have broken through many glass barriers in the name of music at the time it was filmed. It triumphed over a weak singing cast by casting voice doubles who could be mistaken for the original actor, and developed technology which our movie imagineers continue to use and improve upon to this very day.
Conclusion
The movie musicals are no longer in vogue these days due to the high costs of production and, quite possibly, the lack of musical talent that used to exist during the younger days of Hollywood, with the like of Chicago and Dream Girls being an exception to that rule. But that does not take away from the value of a good film score in helping to develop an excellent and engaging story line that will hook then reel in the viewers.
In Thoroughly Modern Millie, the music was whimsical and fun loving until the very end. Something that we can come to expect of such throwback films that deal with certain scenarios from the era being portrayed in a tongue in cheek manner. That is not to say that the music was making fun of the era.
But rather, that the era was filled with a lightness about the people. It conveyed the life and times of people who had lived in the period, which in this case was one of the wealthiest times in America, the female society on the brink of a social revolution, and the ugly foundations of modern society problems were beginning to rear its ugly head.
Chicago, stayed true to its dark, Chicago gangster type theme using music to portray the dark thoughts and manipulative actions of its main characters, all of whom are unwittingly working together in order to attain one common goal and ambition, their names in the paper which they equated with celebrity status. A status that Velma and Roxie, and even Billy to a certain degree, wanted to achieve at any cost.
Finally, we have the crowning glory of all these musicals, the musical that set the standard for all the movie musicals that came after it, My Fair Lady. Songs from this movie are as timeless as its story. Its rising from adversity theme was perfectly played out by the songs from the movie. Each musical piece creating the perfect setting from which each act of the movie sprung from.
From the rowdiness of the flower market, all the way to the elegance of the embassy ball, the music helped the characters grow from a street gutter vendor, to an educated middle class lady and an impatient professor blossomed into a caring and (in his own way) loving and protective mentor.
Of course nothing less than an extra ordinary musical extravaganza can be expected to come from the musical geniuses Lerner and Lowe. My Fair Lady cemented their place in Hollywood musical history in a way that none of their other musical outings ever could.
Used properly, the musical score of the film can manage to set the tone for the whole movie from the very moving frame that appears onscreen. The key, is in the way the musical director envisions the movie as told through music.
While costume design sets the tone for the movie in a highly visible manner, music on the other hand, uses a more subtle context for theme and mood setting. When used hand in hand, the combination of music and costume create an unbeatable tandem that allows us to lose ourselves for 2 hours in the world of make believe.
In modern globalized world, scientific and technology improvements have resulted in diffusion of culture among communities; when a community’s culture is diluted, chances are that originality of artifacts of its cultural heritage will be distorted (Hillls, 2001). The American art industry has been influenced by European styles; this paper discusses why it is important for artists to shed the European influence and create American art.
Discussion
Artists communicate to their target population through the products they make; with this in mind, if they are to communicate with the Americans effectively, they need to use artifacts that the Americans can understand. Every society has its unique way of communication through symbols, signs, and arts; when artists’ works remain original, they make work of art that creates a sense of belonging with the Americans and the end result is better communication.
When an art-piece is made unique, it stands out among other, the value of the artwork is enhanced when its stand out with its unique message. The value may be monetary or the attachment that it is going to get from the people. Americans have some historical events, occurrences, valuables, and artifacts that define their culture; when originality and influence from the European style is maintained, then artists will be seen to add more value to the Americans heritage (Wienand, Booy & Robin, 2000).
In most cases, artists discuss historical, cultural, social, political, and family issues using the pictures and their works of art. When they are doing this, they are working in line with the cultural belief of the people.
In the case of America, there is need to retain and pass positive culture among new generations; work of art is one strategy that can be used, thus it needs to be original and free from European style influence. When originality is observed, the texture, color, and theme of the art work will communicate to the people more effectively; an effective communication is likely to create harmony among different generation in the American society (Hillls, 2001).
Artists works are used for entertainments, some are kept in national museums as a means of retaining culture and teaching young generation their historical background.
For this reason, they need to be original and have the ability to pass the intended information. In the case they have been combined with some European styles, then the message they intend to pass will be distorted. Artwork communicate to the people, artists offer some message to the target population; when originality is maintained, then the information given will be true and of high quality.
This will facilitate acceptance of the message communicated. If the European and American context are combined to have a hybrid work of art, there will be disjoin in message communicated. For example, if an artist is drawing some picture for a marketing campaign, emphasis should be on drawing pictures that the Americans can create meaning. In the case the artist has been influenced by European style then the efficiency of the advert will be hampered (Stokes & Stokes, 2001).
Conclusion
Artistic works are means of communication; the American artists need to maintain originality and shed any influence from European works or styles if they want their works to add value to the American society. When they maintain originality, message will be passed effectively and American cultural heritage will be maintained.
References
Hillls, P. (2001). Modern art in the USA: issues and controversies of the 20th century. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Stokes, S., & Stokes, S.(2001). Art and copyright. New York: Hart Publishing.
Wienand, P., Booy, A., & Robin, F. (2000). A guide to copyright for museums and galleries. New York: Routledge, 2000.
This paper analyzes the work of photographer Shelby Lee Adams, using the 2002 documentary The True Meaning of Pictures, directed by Jennifer Baichwal, as its principle source.
Shelby Lee Adams was born in Hazard, Kentucky in 1950 and grew up well known to many of the rural Appalachian families that populate his photographs. Familiar though he is with the living conditions of the poorest of the poor in Kentucky, Adams nonetheless did not live in that culture, but alongside it, as an observer from a middle class background (Baichwal 2002).
When considering the question, is Adams an insider or an outsider in his Appalachian project, one must answer outsider. Why? Simply because socio-economically Adams grew up with the awareness of that poverty, but was not directly affected by it, as the subjects of his photographs have been. In Shelby Lee Adams’ work we see the impact of poverty in the lack of access to adequate food, health care, clean water and education (Baichwal 2002).
Adams’ photos chronicle these affects, but he himself cannot speak to their impact from personal experience. In essence his work may give an indirect voice to the socio-economic conditions that the Appalachian residents face, but not from the authority of having lived through that poverty. Rather, Adams’ work exploits and judges his subjects from a classist point of view.
Adams employs visual effects such as portraying the subjects consistently in black and white, utilizing consciously artificial staging, and making use of dramatic lighting effects to create exoticism in his Appalachian subjects. In the words of Variety critic Dennis Harvey, Adams’ work contains “posed shots that are classically composed and feature intricate, often chiaroscurogothic lighting. [The] result makes these “hollar dwellers” look grotesque and pathetic, like backwoods Diane Arbus subjects” (Harvey 18).
The photos essentially turn the viewer into an ethnographer, but one who is neither sympathetic nor ethical, because the heightened exoticism of the photos intensifies the distance between the viewer and the subject, and the lurid lighting especially makes the subjects appear freakish, less than human, and in many cases inspire fear in the viewer.
Documentary photography can be distinguished from other forms of photography via its commitment to the real. Unlike art photography or fashion photography for example which can be outlandishly staged and lit moodily and eerily, the basis of documentary photography is real life. Natural light does not appear to play much of a role in Adams’ work.
Often it casts gloomy, heavy weight on the subjects, which may or may have not existed at the time of day when the photo was taken. Adams’ defense for playing with reality in this way sounds less like a documentarian and more like an artist: “By getting in there with the camera, by creating some distortions, I’m hoping to make everyone think…I’m experiencing this environment. I’m trying to share with you, in an intimate way, that experience” (Baichwal 2002).
According to critic Kathleen Cummins, “Adams makes a passionate case for the style and content of his work on the foundation that his photographs are his way of expressing himself artistically” (Cummins 37). However, Adams as the documentary photographer absolutely bears responsibility for the work beyond the making of it, for the simple fact that he is showing this work outside of its context.
The interpretation of the Appalachian subjects leaves their hands and enters Adams’ hands, and how they are perceived is at the mercy of Adams’ composition. Adams functions as editor in these photographs; he has selected certain moments to record and chosen not to shoot others, and with this action he takes charge of representing the people in his photographs, for better or for worse.
As Cummins explains, “Adams reveals more about his problematic role in “documenting” Appalachia [when] he tells of how his father, as a doctor, would visit the most isolated families.”Although my father had prejudiced views, I came to know those people.” Here is revealed the inner conflict in Adams, and within America in general. The distinction between “his people” and “those people” is not about regionalism or even his vocation as a photographer. It’s about class” (Cummins 38).
Baichwal’s film remains fully aware of this, even if Adams does not, and the filmmaker “subtly constructs associations and stark contrasts between what Adams says and what he does” (Cummins 38). Adams the photographer still views his subjects as beneath him; regardless of what he might say, the thinking behind his gaze is derogatory. That sense of judging the subjects as inferior reads loudly and clearly in every photograph.
One way this discrepancy in power between Adams and his subjects might equalize would be if Adams gave his subjects their own cameras, taught them how to use them, allowed them to take their own photos, and decided as a group which photos to include in a show, book or film. The simple fact that the Appalachian peoples found in Adams’ work have no agency – that the usage and application of their own images rest in Adams’ hands and not their own – makes these works exploitative.
Works Cited
Baichwal, Jennifer, dir. The True Meaning of Pictures. Mercury Films, 2002. Film.
Cummins, Kathleen. “The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams’ Appalachia.” Take One March-May (2003): 37-40. Web.
Harvey, Dennis. “The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams’ Appalachia.” Variety 390.2 (2003): 53. Web.
Édouard Manet and William-Adolphe Bouguereau are two famous 19th century French painters. They are widely famous for their painting techniques and influence that they had on the future generation of impressionist painters, such as Pablo Picasso. Édouard Manet and William-Adolphe Bouguereau were highly criticized for the subjects matters and painting manners that they used in their most famous pictures that we are going to compare and contrast in this paper.
The first picture is Edouard Manet’s Le Dejuner sur L’herbe created in 1863 and William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s Nymphs and Satyr painted in 1873. Those pictures were created during the same era; however, they present different artistic movements. Manet’s picture presents the transition from realism to impressionist demonstrating a modern life subjects.
As opposed to the Le Dejuner sur L’herbe, Adolphe Bouguereau’s Nymphs and Satyr appeared just one year before the first impressionist exhibition was held; the painting represented the traditions of the academic art and, at the same time, predicted the launch of impressionism. Both pictures are united by common subject of female nudeness that, however, does not attract the eyes of the viewer, but service as the main means to express the main ideas of the pictures.
Thus, the first picture under consideration is Edouard Manet’s Déjeuner sur L’herbe (1863). This picture is considered to be one of the most famous and the most influential picture of the 19th centuries. It was created on the border of two great artistic movements, realism and impressionism. Thus, it has features of both periods. On the one hand, it depicts a realistic life-scene, on the other hand, a nude woman is an inappropriate “figure” in a life-scene picture.
The influence of the realistic movement is seen in its style and theme. However, the impressionistic manner is seen in the picture as well. First of all, it can be seen through the usage of colors and unique brushwork that was later adopted by impressionists. The picture demonstrates controversy that “was caused by the juxtaposition of a nude woman with a pair of clothed men seated in a landscape” (Rothwell 7).
The theme and painting techniques used by the artist were inspired by old masters, such as Marcantonio Raimond and his picture The Judgement of Paris, and such paintings of the Renaissance period as Titian and Giorgione. There is much in common with the painting Pastoral Concert that also depicts two dressed men and two nude women. In general, it can be said that the artist combined two genres in his picture, landscape and portraiture:
“His aim for the work seems to have been to combine the natural, pastoral setting – favored by the Barbizon painters in their own paintings of Fontainebleau – with a study of everyday, life-size people interacting with one another. In other words, he is fusing the genres of landscape and portraiture and placing the subject of modern life on a heroic scale” (“Manet’s Déjeuner sur L’herbe” n. p.).
It demonstrates the artist’s own style of painting. The picture provoked much debate regarding its composition and the use of light. The artist painted the scene that is not understandable for the viewer. Two men dressed as dendi seem to be communicating, however, one of them is ignoring the other one, as well as women in the picture. In addition, the artist used the light and shadow so that attract attention to the figures of women: they are very bright comparing to the figures of men and surrounding landscape.
The baskets and fruit that should be their lunch are tossed aside and nobody pays attention to them at all. A nude woman in the front of the picture is looking at us. She is not ashamed and absolutely calm. It seems that all people in the picture are engaged in their personal business and do not care about the others. What is particular about the picture is that the female nudity is not emphasized:
“In Manet’s Le Dejeuner sur L’herb, the female nudity appears unnoticed, and a kind of immobility reigns. Manet paints his nude woman in such a way that the eyes of the viewer are riveted to her gaze and figure” (Locke 37).
As opposed to the picture by Manet, Nymphs and Satyr by William-Adolphe Bouguereau is very different in style from other works by the author. The picture was created in 1873, ten years later than the work by Manet, on the edge of impressionism. The picture represents the academic art. Academic art focused on specific painting rules and techniques that were influenced by Neoclassical and Romantic traditions. Academic art was aimed at uniting those styles.
The artists focused on the use of light and lines as the same things. The hierarchy of genres was adopted by academic art, and thus, such genres as religious and mythological were considered to be “grade genre”. Major emphasis was made on the “female human body”. The painting by Bouguereau Nymphs and Satyr:
“Presents both the best and the worst of Academic art. It portrays a subject inspired by classical mythology with precise realism, meticulous details, and feigned emotion. Such content, along with its practice execution, was diametrically opposed to the work of artists poised at the birth of modern art” (Fichner-Rathus 281).
The picture seems to depict mythical personages that are having fun. However, looking more closely at the painting, we can notice that there is a sort of a “battle” on the bank of the river. The nymphs are standing firmly on the ground and they are playing with the Satyr, who is trying to resists the nymphs’ attempts to drag him into the river. Thus, the nymphs are in charge in this picture. According to Lafenestre:
“A glossy, creamy, waxy painting where one guesses at all kinds of ingenuities, where one finds the art of composition, well-ordered groups, motion, wit, and great suppleness of drawing, but which is cold in essence, empty and leaving but a faint impression on the mind.” (492).
It is the main feature of the Bouguereau’s painting. It depicts a mythical scene, interpretation of the Classical subject, and emphasizes the nudity of the female body. The artist depicted an idealized world while using the realistic style that was popular at the time. In this regard, the image exemplifies the artist’s style and the movement it represents.
Both pictures feature formal differences. Thus, the painting techniques and the usage of colors are different. The subjects of the pictures are also different, Manet depicted modern-life subject and William-Adolphe Bouguereau interpreted Classical theme. However, both pictures depict female nude body. Both authors tried to be realistic in presenting human body and motion. Both pictures seem to be “alive”. In addition, the authors used the play of light and line to mark out the lines of female figures.
Thus, women are more “bright” and attract the viewers’ eyes, at the same time, male figures are in shadow. Finally, both authors used rural scenery for their paintings. The pictures represent different movements (they are separated by ten years) and different styles, however, they are united by a common subject, female nude body that was common for the period.
Both pictures provide an insight into the époque when they were created. Both of them were unique and were attacked by contemporaries. However, they serve a great example of how the artist can express personal ideas using style that is strikingly different from the author’s personal style.
Both pictures were created on the border of two periods, romanticism and impressionism, they demonstrate painting techniques of both periods. Due to this particularity, the pictures made their creators popular. One can question the morality and ethics of the scenes depicted in both pictures, especially when they are painted so naturally without some “idolized manner” that was common for the period.
It can be suggested that in both pictures, the nudity of female figures is a challenge to the dominance of the dressed men. The conscious and calm face of the woman in Manet’s picture that looks at us without shame, and courage of nymphs in the William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s picture is the best evidence of this. The pictures present high interest to all interested in art of the 19th century, these are the most prominent works and widely accepted as masterpieces of the 19th century painting.
Works Cited
Fichner-Rathus, Lois. Foundations of Art and Design. London: Cengage Learning, 2011.
Lafenestre, Georges. “Salon de 1873.” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 7.2 (1873).
Locke, Nancy. Manet and the Family Romance. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003.
“Manet’s Déjeuner sur L’herbe.” Impressionism & the Making of Modern Art. N. d. Web.
Rothwell, Lindsay. “Déjeuner sur l’herbe.” The Unknown Monet: Pastels and Drawings. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2007. Web.
Jean –Michel Basquiat was a renowned artist for his excellence artistic work. By the age of twenty seven years, he was well known as a graffiti artist and an innovative painter. He is remembered for his loose and unencumbered painterly graphic style that was commonly linked with street art that greatly became very famous in 1980s. He professionally employed his artistic genius to articulate his subject matter that pertained to race, culture and heritage by the use of imagery, iconography and text.
Jean-Michel Basquiat was successful to become a great artist at such an early age despite his poor upbringing and education background. His success is attributed to the ability of his mother and teachers to identify his artistic talent at an early age and supported him according. When his mother realized that his son was a very talented artist he took him into Manhattan to see art and then enrolled him as a junior member of Brooklyn Museum of Art where he familiarized himself to various artistic disciplines and practices.
Despite his work being not greatly studied, Basquiat was very talented and purposely assembled through his art a host of desperate traditions, practices and styles to come up with a unique form of visual collage, one originating partly from his urban origin and also from a more distant African –Caribbean heritage (The Art Story Foundation).
Brooklyn-based artist Lorna Simpson is another renowned artist of the 1980s. Her artistic style is demonstrated with her provocative photographic works that are mostly composed of isolated details of human figure or objects with fragments of text. Her artwork addresses issues such as racial, gender, violence and the notions of the body and interpersonal communication and relationships.
Her art reflects back about the slavery era and discrimination of the African-Americans, but in a different perspective that gives them some hope that anything is possible. Her cotemporary imagery involves taking back the power and building a new African –American position or women position for the Americans. Her art evokes some element of sadness, but accompanied by a sense of progress in terms of independence from the chains of memory (The City Review Inc (2007).
Willem de Kooning was another famous American artist whose artistic work is even currently cerebrated. Willem de Kooning artistic work employed various styles at various stages in his life. He started by concentrating in realism and geometric art which he mastered before exploring other alternatives which he equally perfected. He developed his first woman painting in 1950. His paintings were characterized with enlarged body parts such as enlarged breasts which raised a lot of scandal at first.
He also worked on abstract landscapes particularly between 1957 -1961. He received the greatest artistic distinction award in 1964. He was regarded as a leading exponent abstract expressionism. His life featured numerous demonstrations of his artistic works and retrospectives that featured duality of traditional figuration and gestural painting. Willem de Kooning was also known for the action painting that was often referred as gesture abstraction.
This is a style of painting that involves splashing, smearing or spontaneously dribbling paints onto the canvas rather than applying it carefully. The resultant effect emphasized the physical act of painting as being very important element and particularly to the fished work. Later in life he moved from painting and started sculpturing which he also did very effectively (Answer.com 2011).