Yale Art Gallery Visit #3

Yale Art Gallery – African Art

            On my third visit to the Yale Art Gallery it was sunny, with only a few clouds in the sky, the breeze help a chill the bespoke the rain to come. The first thing I noticed walking into the African art section was just how colorful everything was. In fact the very first thing I saw was a ‘drawing’ of a bird that was done with beads and was very colorful.

 

The Yale Art Gallery’s mission is to perpetuate understanding and love for art and how art can and does affect societies. They strive to achieve active learning about art and to stimulate the creative process through this gained knowledge. The Gallery was founded in 1832, when a gentleman by the name of John Trumbull donated more than 100 paintings to Yale College. The Gallery’s main building though was built in 1953 and was one of the very first designed by Louis Kahn.

            A lot of the art held an alien interest to me, it was all just so different then what I’m used to seeing and dealing with, it fascinated me. A lot of the pieces were either made of wood or reeds, or even grass, but also many used beads and fabric, or even ivory. It was very bizarre for me to wander around, and interesting because of the differences in culture I could see in them. Many of the depictions of women had bare chests, where in “modern” areas that would be considered risqué or even pornographic, there it is just normal and it is not connected with sexuality the same was the modern world connects it.

 

The piece I liked the most was a Carved Relief in a tusk with the use of pigment. It was carved in the late 19^th to early 20^th century; it was found by the Loango Coast. It is a swirling carving of people, men and women, that at the top seem to be very poor and the farther down you look the richer they get and at the bottom is a beast of burden.

            This carving was created during the beginning of Modernism. “In art Modernism explicitly rejects the ideology of realism, and makes use of the works of the past, through the application of reprise, incorporation, rewriting, recapitulation, revision and parody in new forms. Modernism also rejects the lingering certainty of Enlightenment thinking, as well as the idea of a compassionate, all-powerful Creator” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernism).

Over all I thought this trip was an interesting look into social differences. I also liked looking at the different ways that the African people expressed themselves creatively. I appreciated the skill with which they developed there carving techniques, and the wonderful colors they adorned there art with.

Yale Center For British Art visit #2

Yale Center For British Art

            On the morning of my second trip to the British Art Museum, it was cloudy and there was a chill in the air. It had rained the previous night, so there were puddles strewn across the streets. When we entered the building for the Center for British Art I as again taken aback by the size of the room and how sparsely decorated it was. For this trip we again went up the stairs to the second floor, they did not however allow pictures to be taken on this floor, so I decided to concentrate on the statues and busts on the fourth floor. On this trip I noticed the ceiling of the stairs and though that it had an interesting design, of crosshatched lines.

 

“The Yale Center for British Art is a public art museum and research institute for the study of British art and culture. Presented to Yale University by Paul Mellon (Yale College, Class of 1929), the Center houses the largest collection of British art outside the United Kingdom” (http://britishart.yale.edu/about-us). “Paul Mellon (1907–1999) was one of the greatest art collectors and philanthropists of the twentieth century. Born in Pittsburgh, he was the only son of the financier, industrialist, and Secretary of the Treasury Andrew W. Mellon, and his English wife, Nora McMullen. His childhood summers were spent in the English countryside visiting his mother’s family, where his lifelong love of British culture began” (http://britishart.yale.edu/about-us/paul-mellon-founder). “The Yale Center for British Art was designed by the internationally acclaimed American architect Louis I. Kahn (1901–1974). Located across the street from his first major commission, the Yale University Art Gallery (opened in 1953), the Center was Kahn’s final work and was completed after his death. It was the first museum in the United States to incorporate retail shops in its design” (http://britishart.yale.edu/architecture).

            Of the statues and busts I looked at I was most impressed with the statues, there was a great deal of tenderness and attention to detail in many of the statues. While the busts seemed crude in comparison, with sharp hard lines. There were several that I examined for many minuets looking at the finer details, over all I was impressed with the workmanship.

            Unfortunately my favorite piece by far was on the second floor where I was not allowed to take pictures. It was a sword and sheath from the Iron age, the blade was in tatters, rusted beyond any hope of repair, many, many holes riddled the once glorious weapon of war. The hilt of the sword and the sheath were in great condition considering how old they where and that they had been unearthed from the ground. The hilt itself had a T shaped cross-guard with elegant curves etched into its surface. The sheath was equally as masterful, with elegant patterns intersecting each other, all engraved into the surface.

“The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing agricultural practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles. The Iron Age as an archaeological term indicates the condition as to civilization and culture of a people using iron as the material for their cutting tools and weapons. The Iron Age is the third principal period of the three-age system created by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen for classifying ancient societies and prehistoric stages of progress (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Age).

            There were a great many things that I looked at on the second floor, manuscripts and coins, tapestries, and some statues that were all very interesting. I left the museum pleased and impressed with the collection, I would visit again if only to have more time to examine the many ancient manuscripts with their elegant and intricate writing and designs.