Art Museum Critique

ART MUSEUM CRITIQUE

Use the following format for your museum critique; answers must be typed below the questions and all questions must appear in full on your final copy. You can use this document as your template. Pay careful attention to the required number of words for those questions that have them. Failure to follow the instructions here and on your syllabus will result in a substantially low grade. Minimal answers poorly written are a D grade or less. Elaboration of points, excellent arguments, and good writing garner higher grades.

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Name______Shaylin Rose ___Class period/section__1100 @ 8am______

1) Which museum did you visit? (check one) _ Univ. of Utah ___ BYU

2) Describe at least one of the permanent collection exhibits on a theme, period, geographic region, or topic) within the museum. {150 words}

One of the permanent collection exhibits that I found very fascinating was the Asian section

with all the Gods. The religion section is class I found to be the most boring section we learned,

but I found the artwork very cool. I noticed that the statues had peaceful faces and this artwork

was a lot smaller than most of the other works. I found that a lot of these artworks were Hindu

which made it easier to relate to class discussions. I found this room to be one of the most

peaceful rooms in this museum. I didn’t feel crowded in this room as I felt in other rooms, there

was a lot of artwork but I didn’t feel like it was all crammed together.

3) Give a brief, one paragraph description of a special, temporary exhibit (for help, ask museum staff what these are; they are usually in one of the first rooms). {100 words} I found the Bierstadt to Warhol: Americans Indians of the west very different than the

rest of the museum. I found more connection to what we learned this semester in this part of

the exhibit than any other section. I saw a little bit of everything in the paintings and

sculptures. I saw war/fighting, music connections, women’s role, and nature. I found a very

interesting painting in this exhibit which is the American Indian Number Four, I found this painting very interesting because it looks like the American flag and with this month being

July it ties everything together.

4) What do you think the museum administration and/or exhibit curators want you to learn or gain from the exhibits you viewed? {100 word minimum} I feel that the museum administration/ exhibit curators wants to show and teach others

that each part of the world has different views on many similar topics and that depending on

where you are in the world or what time period you are in come to be more reserved in their

art than others. For example comparing the European room to the renaissance room was the

difference of night and day. I found the European room to be very refined and elegant, while

on the other hand I found the Renaissance room to have a lot of nudity and less reserved.

5) What kind of information is provided about the works? Where might you look for further information if you were interested? (Name three possibilities) Each work that is on display gives information of the title, the artist, time period it

was published in, if it was donated and by who and a quick description of the meaning of the

piece. If I wanted more information about a piece of artwork that I saw the first thing I would

do is write down the name of the piece and artist and look up more information on the

internet (what I did ). Another possibility if I want more information right then and there is

the head set that I could get at the front desk. Next to each art work there is a sign with a

head set picture and a number and that will give more information on the pieces. I could also

check out the UMFA gift shop where they had books and books of information about the

pieces of work and the time periods of the artists.

6) Choose several works that particularly appealed to you. Explain why you were drawn to these works. Comment on the subject, style, medium, time period, etc. Who were the artists? What message do you think the artists were trying to convey in the works you chose to discuss? This question must be answered in its entirety. {This should be at least 500 words} The first piece of art that really caught my eye was the Memento Mori by Vincent

Laurensz van der Vinne. The first thing that I saw was the musical instruments, the globe,

and the skull with roses. The name of this Dutch art work is translated into English as

“Remember Dead”, as a reminder to everyone that we will all one day die. When I looked at

this picture I thought of objects in someone’s life that makes them who they are as an

individual. This painting is to explain the obstacles that the world has gone through to get to

where it is today. The description of this painting tells what some of the objects mean like the

gun and helmet meaning soldierly, world globe and money bags to symbolize material gain,

and the musical instruments which is one of the seven liberal arts of the world.

Another art form I enjoyed was the statue by Jacques Philippe Bouchardon called the

Equestrian Statue of Louis XIV. It reminds me of the painting we saw in class of King Louis XIV. I see a strong looking man on a tall horse that looks like it could be in a set of a war. I remember from class was all the changes they made in the painting to make him look more powerful. The height in his legs, the horse on its back legs, the cape to give sophistication, and the change of his looks to make him look more handsome. This statue didn’t have the long length or the handsome face or a great wide cape to show power, but it did show determination in his face, and the European attire.

This statue had a very European look to it by the face of the man, the curly long hair and the attire this soldier looking man is wearing.

The third piece of art I was interested in was the statue of Ganesh found in the Asian Art collection. I find Ganesh very interesting because I love elephants and he is symbolized with elephant characteristics. Ganesh is one of the most beloved Gods in Hinduism; he is the God of new beginnings and has the power to remove life obstacles. Looking at the statue I see chipped off pieces from the end part of his trunk and his hands, this statue looks much damaged but at the same time I felt at peace when looking at it. This is a 14th century granite statue which explains the old look to it.

The piece by Pieter Breughel the younger called Dancing Round the Maypole shocked me.

As I walked by looking at the painting I had a totally different interpretation then what the real one was. Looking at it I saw fights and hatred like a beginning of a village fight. I saw people dancing in celebration but I figured they were on the same side of the “war” that I saw going on. Reading the description it explains that it’s a celebration of the first day of May. There is dancing and celebration from the peasants who are sharing their joy of closeness to nature and the seasons. Looking at the painting after reading the description it opened my eyes to see the celebration; the maypole, and children dancing around it, the drinking, the fun of celebrating, and the adults who drank too much you are fighting in fun because of intoxication. I was very interested in the colors and the facial expressions and all the chaotic activities going on in the painting.

7) How did the artworks you looked at relate to material we have discussed in class? (They do relate in many ways, you just need to look for those relationships). {Minimum of 150 words} The art pieces that I examined and observed related to what I have learned in class in

many ways. The point of a humanities class is to open our own eyes and view the world in

not only our perspective but the perspective of others. I noticed many of the topics we

learned while I was at the museum and in some pieces I noticed more than one topic we

discussed in class. I noticed a lot with war, music, religion, and nature. These topics were

very common in each different time period

8) What was your personal reaction to this experience? Would you enjoy attending this type of event again? Why or why not? {Minimum 100 words} 2. I honestly did not enjoy this activity as much as I thought I would. I had much higher

expectations for the museum. My favorite piece of art that I saw was in the first room, it was an empty room the only thing that was in it was the words “Bent to a straight and narrow at a point of passage” on the wall. I found that so interesting because of how simple it is. At first I thought the room was in remodeling so I didn’t even walk in it until we left and I found it being the coolest thing there. I would probably not attend this type of event again because I felt all the pictures started to look the same and I got lost walking through the exhibit, so I went through the same rooms probably five times just trying to find a different room.