Week 8-Industrialisation, Modernism and architecture.

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (1997) Frank Gehry

Eiffel Tower (1889) Gustave Eiffel

The Eiffel Tower and the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao have both been described as significant

architectural constructions of their time. The Eiffel Tower has been described as;

 'a symbol of technological prowess' (www.tour- eiffel.com/)

and the Guggenheim museum has been 'hailed as the most important structure of its time'

( www. guggenheim.org/bilbao )

Research both architectural structures in order to comment on;

-the importance of the design and construction

The Eiffel Tower was Built in 1889 by engineer, Gustave Eiffel. Its design is important because of the scale of the build at the time. The tower is three hundred metres tall, which at the time of being built, made it the tallest man-made structure in the world. It was originally intended to stand for twenty years, however after this twenty years, it was used for scientific experiments that Gustave Eiffel encouraged, for example, the first radio transmissions. At first, the public disliked the tower, but now it is France's icon, and one of the most famous building in the world.

The design of the Guggenheim Museum is important because it was designed with the intention of it being "to the same quality as its contents, with an equal importance to the artworks it would house." This means that the museum was to be a work of art in itself, as opposed to simply a building that contained artworks. due to Bilbao being a port town, the Guggenheim "is intended to resemble a ship. Its brilliantly reflective titanium panels resemble fish scales." these are traits often found in the museum's designer, Frank Gehry's work. again typical to Gehry's work, the museum is "uniquely a product of the period's technology." It was designed with the use of Computer Aided Three Dimensional Interactive Application, a digital design software. 

-significance of the materials

Puddling Iron was used to construct the Eiffel tower. Puddling iron is a type of wrought iron, and was a precursor to steel. Gustave Eiffel decided that Puddling iron was the most appropriate material to build the tower out of in terms of its affordability, it's flexibility and its strength. it needed to be very strong because it was such a large project.

The Guggenheim in Bilbao was built using a steel frame and a combination of glass, sinuous stone, and titanium. The titanium is only half a millimetre thick, and is unique, having been designed using a state-of-the-art digital design program. The more irregularly shaped exhibition spaces in the museum have been built using concrete, with "curved and twisted" walls.

-significance of the designer

Gustave Eiffel was an engineer who founded a company that specialised in "structural metal work." The company's biggest achievement was the construction of the Eiffel tower. Eiffel's Favorite area of practice was bridge building, however he was renowned for his other structural work too.

Frank Gehry is the principal of the architechture firm Frank O. Gehry and associates. Gehry has won a number of awards for his designs. His designs are often quite eye catching, and unique. It was for this reason, that he was employed to design the Guggenheim in Bilbao. It was intended to be just as special and unique as the artwork it contained, so Gehry's style of design fitted this criteria quite well.

-function of each

The Eiffel tower was as the main attraction at the 1889 word fair, the date that celebrated the 100th anniversary of the French revolution. The tower was originally intended to stand for 20 years, however Gustave Eiffel encouraged scientific experiments to be carried out on it, which meant it stayed standing. Today it stands as a tourist attraction, and is used for some radio and tv transmissions

The Bilbao Guggenheim was built to contain artworks for the general public to view. Today its purpose remains the same.

Compare the two architectural structures, by noting their similarities and differences.

Similarities
Both Structures have had to have the materials used in construction to achieve the curves that the designers wanted to achieve. Even though both were built with quite different intentions, today they are both tourist attractions.


Differences
The designers of each structure came from very different backgrounds, Eiffel was an engineer who specialized in structural work with metal, and Gehry was an architect. This meant that the final appearance of each building was very different. The Eiffel tower looking very mathematical and planned out, and the Guggenheim is a lot more stylized, and almost looks like its design was improvised as the structure was built.

References:

http://www.tour-eiffel.com/everything-about-the-tower/themed-files/69#02
http://architect.architecture.sk/frank-owen-gehry-architect/frank-owen-gehry-architect.php
http://www.tour-eiffel.com/everything-about-the-tower/gustave-eiffel
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_materials_were_used_to_build_the_Guggenheim_museum_Bilbao
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guggenheim_Museum_Bilbao
https://engineering.purdue.edu/MSE/AboutUs/GotMaterials/Buildings/patel.html

Week 6-Landscape and the Sublime

'Wanderer in the mists' (1818) Caspar David Friedrich

'Untitled #2" (2002) Richard Misrach

 'Untitled # 394-03' (2003) Richard Misrach

Richard Misrach's photography reflects the concept of the Sublime, from the Enlightenment.

Research Misrach's work by reading about his intentions, and also by looking at the work. Then answer the following questions;

1. What and when was the Enlightenment?

 

The Enlightenment was a movement in the seventeenth and eighteenth Century that encourages the use of reason, and logic over superstition when finding the truth. Logic had been used in Ancient Greece prior to the enlightenment, however, this is when it started to be accepted worldwide as a reliable means of looking at human society and self. Due to this new view being taken, it was argued that "human life and character could be improved through the use of education and reason." Because of this, The Enlightenment cause conflict between people who were interested in it and the political and religious thinkers.

Enlightenment thinking happened roughly throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, however, it didn't have a specific start or end point, but took place within a "broad paradigm in which certain tenets were accepted"

2. Define the concept of the Sublime.

 

 The Sublime is a concept that Deals with "forms of expression that entrance us." Meaning that it is an idea that concerns things of such beauty that they are awe-inspiring. When the term sublime is used to critique a piece of work, it is similar to saying that the piece of work is divine.

In the Renaissance period, artists started to create more works with more "grandeur, idealism and soft rendering of details," which led to an interest in the sublime.

3. How did the concept of the Sublime come out of the Enlightenment thought?

 

 The Sublime Came out of the enlightenment thought because it also went against the "normal" way of thinking for the time. Because people were starting to have a more secular way of thinking, they started to value the world's beauty with their own opinion, as opposed to going with how the bible defined beauty.

4. Discuss the subject matter, and aesthetic (look) of Misrach's work to identify the Sublime in his work. Add some more images of his work.

White Man Contemplating Pyramids, Egypt, 1989-1991

 

Swimmers, Pyramid Lake Indiana Reservation, Nevada, 1987-93

Misrach's work involves the use of vast spaces often containing single, or small groups of people taking up a very small proportion of the image. The sublime is a very noticeable theme in his work, as it focuses on the beauty of the environment as opposed to the people who may be featured in the image. For example, in  White Man Contemplating Pyramids, the vast expanse of desert almost seems surreal in its presentation, even though it is a photograph.

5. Identify some other artists or designers that work with ideas around the Sublime, from the Enlightenment era as well as contemporary artists.

 

Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg, "An Avalanche in the Alps," 1803

Vladimir Konečni, Matterhorn 2007

 

6. How does Misrach's photography make you feel? Does it appeal to your imagination?

 

I feel that Misrach's work gives a sense of isolation, due to his use of vast, open spaces, and few people, if any, who are insignificant in comparison to the rest of the image. His work makes me think about the massive scale of the world and how each individual person makes up only a tiny proportion of it.

7. Add a Sublime image of your choice to your blog, which can be Art or just a Sublime photograph.

 

I shot this photo of the sun shining through the clouds one afternoon while walking past Cox's Bay. 

8. Reference your sources (books and websites). 

 

http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=397117&section=6

http://www.selectedworks.co.uk/sublime.html

http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/thenineteenthcentury/a/enlightenment.htm

http://www.arthistory-famousartists-paintings.com/RenaissanceArt.html

http://www.londoninternational.ac.uk/current_students/programme_resources/lse/lse_pdf/further_units/163_soc_theo_analysis/163_chpt3.pdf

The Social Status of the Artist

Self Portrait in Fur Coat (1500)

Albrecht Durer

Knob (1997) Gavin Turk

Damien Hirst and Maia Norman (1995)

Albrecht Durer's 'Self-Portrait in Fur Coat' (1500) shows a significant change in the way that the artist views and portrays himself.Research the paintings by Albrecht Durer, Gavin Turk and Damien Hirst in order to answer

the following questions;

1. Identify aspects of Durer's self portrait that show a changing view of the artist's view of himself as

an individual.

There are a number of aspects in Durer's self portrait that portray his vanity. For example the way his right hand is "elegantly touching" his fur coat shows that he see a lot of importance in wearing immaculate clothes. another aspect is the way his hair is so perfectly curled and has been painted so it looks like he light is shining off it. The work itself has been painted so that it has quite a warm glow in terms of lighting, giving the impression of Durer seeing himself as quite a godlike figure.

2. Explain how the artist's social status increased during the Renaissance period. Briefly explain why this happened.

 During the Renaissance Period, Artists' social status began to move away from them being seen as practitioners of mechanical arts and arts such as sculpting and painting being seen as art forms that require skills in "mathematical perspective, optics, anatomy, and geometry." This happened because sciences started to become more popular as society became more secular. Science become more popular meant that scientific methods started to get used when creating artworks, so artists could argue that they were "superior to mere craftsmen."

3. Comment on Gavin Turk's work in relation to individualism, status of the artist and egotism.

 The definition of  "individualism" is: "a social theory advocating the liberty, rights, or independent action of the individual." Gavin Turk's work, Knob relates to this in that it is simply his signature in the centre of the page. This signature is the unique way that he writes his name to distinguish himself as an individual, the way he has made it such a prominent image through the use of colouring it like a rainbow, and making it the only thing in the frame gives the impression that he has quite a high sense of self importance and is quite egotistical.

4. Comment on Damien Hirst's use of his work and the media for self promotion.

 Damien Hirst has used self promotion of his work by having his artworks printed onto different products ranging from shoes to skateboards. and example of this is the item of clothing his wife, Maia Norman is seen wearing in the photograph above. Another example of this work being printed onto a product is below, where Hirst has had the same polka dot design printed onto the bottom of skate board decks. This is a clever method of self promotion, in that it helps to expose his artwork to a much wider consumer market, rather than only people who are modern art enthusiasts.

 

5. Find 2 images of work by artists or designers that reflects some of the ideas of individualism,

self promotion or egotism that have been discussed on this blog. Upload images to your blog, title and date the work, identify the artist/designer and comment on the work in relation to the question.

Citrus Juicer -  Philippe Starck

Phillipe Starck is "one of the giants of  contemporary design", as well as a master of self promotion. This work in particular is one of his best known pieces. It is a long legged lemon squeezer, initially designed for the itallian design company; Alessi. It reflects ideas of  self promotion in that it is Starck's signature. The lemon squeezer is instantly recognisable as on of his designs because it is completely unique in comparison to other lemon squeezers, which haven't been made to look aesthetically pleasing, just to be practical.

6. How do you think artists and designers are viewed in Western society today?
I think that today, artists and designers are viewed somewhat the same as they were in the renaissance period, in that they make a living out of their work by being commissioned to do works for clients. However, today, although Designers and artists often get commissioned to create work for clients, they do have a lot more freedom, and there is more of an option to create the art first, then sell it to whoever is willing to pay for it, as opposed to making it to a buyer's specifications.

7. Comment on the blogs of other students.

8. Reference the websites and/or books you have used, at the end of your blog.

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/durer/self/

http://radicalart.info/ego/statements/index.html

http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG7733481/Maia-Norman-Damien-Hirsts-Californian-girl.html

My references:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2002/nov/30/art.artsfeatures1

http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/artartists/renaissance.html

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/individualism 

http://www.designbuild-network.com/features/feature75292/