Art can place a huge role in the history of the world, it demonstrates how life and past events came to be as we were not present during that time period. It brings us more knowledge about the events and helps us grasp an idea of how different the world was in the past and how the audience could understand. The artwork that caught my interest was called the Apache Indians (Indios Apaches), c 1780 by Ramon Torres. This artwork takes us back in time where the native Americans once lived. The artwork also demonstrates the daily activities of the native Americans in the past and how their use their weapons for hunting or attacking. It shows how before our founding fathers claimed North America, the native Americans adapted to the environment of the land and how skilled they were when it came to hunting or attacking an enemy. The art work also showed the audience a good example of what the native men’s and women’s roles in a tribe were. For men, their role was to protect women and children from danger and to provide food for them. In the artwork, the women and child is shown desperately hiding from the enemy, depending on the protection of the Man. Because the artist drew detailed facial expressions on the native Americans, it was easily described what emotions the native man, woman, and child, were showing. For the man, he was shown as having courage and strength to stand up to the enemy. This tells the audience that it was the men, as soldiers, the one who fought in a war and the ones who did the hunting. This informs us of how life in the early Americas lifestyle was.
The next artwork that I chose was the painting of George Washington by Rembrandt Peale. At first I just saw it as an any other portrait painting but then I tried to understand the painting in an artist’s viewpoint. It is important to remember that George Washington connects us to U.S History as he was the first President of the United States. The artist drew a portrait of George Washington because of his honorable, memorable actions and leadership. George Washington is a great example of commemoration because of his achievement for what he did for his country and had true American Spirit. Peale, who encountered George Washington in real life, was able to show his admiration and respect towards George Washington by capturing an inspiring and impressive portrait of his charismatic gaze and strong facial features. Peale’s goal was to create a portrait of George Washington that portrayed him as a strong man with the heroic qualities of an important historical figure that today we still respect and remember.
An artwork that I personally liked was an untitled work that was created in 2004 by Laura Owens. This eye-catching artwork grabs the attention of a person with its colorful frames and small details that keep a person observing it from time to time. The artwork shows a good idea of what delight represents which is a creative process of attraction. The colors of the artwork, which are soft and calming colors such as blue, green, brown, and white, can let one be relaxed and find pleasure from it too. The artwork also shows the beauty of nature in the author’s own sense of style by portraying the balance of nature with a leafless dead tree. Even though a dead tree is not appealing, several animals such as deer, geese, and foxes were still attracted to the dead tree finding it comfortable and calm enough for the tree to be called home. With its expressive background, which shows as if a storm was going to come soon, the dead tree is the one shelter that openly accepted and attracted the animals to a comfortable environment. The audience could immediately foresee the lighthearted scene where a leafless dead tree could be welcoming despite looking dead. Moreover, in the background shows two ships with detailed decorations and creativity of the idea that nature also helps life when in need. This scene pleasures and catches the attention of the audience with its lighthearted, soothing appearance. After truly observing the painting, I believe painting with light colors is what attracts me the most. I do not really like basic paintings. I really like to observe all the details and imagine how much work the artist put into their artwork.