Team Assignment: Art Movement: Artist

Directions: Innovatively cover the life and major works of the art period selected. Mention any movements the period dealt with. Cover the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. Include the recognizable characteristics and attributes. Keep it simple, but thorough.

Water-Lily Pond

Impression, Sunrise

Antibes

Regatta in Argenteuil

The actual bridge that inspired Monet to create Water-Lily Pond.

We are group 15 presenting on Claude Monet and his artwork from the Impressionist period.

Claude Monet was born in Paris in 1840.

As Claude grew up Le Haven, France his passion for landscape was born.

Claude moved to Paris and began to master his abilities and desires which nurtured the artist in which the world would begin to know him.

Monet loved working outdoors which inspired most of his paintings. During 1890 he was able to purchase some property in the village of Giverny. Monet began to construct a water garden which was filled with lily pads. Over his water garden he constructed a Japanese bridge, where willows and clumps of bamboo over hung the structure.

In 1874 Monet and his colleagues decided to house their own exhibition. These artists at that time called themselves independents, but the press soon labeled them as Impressionists, because of their art that seemed sketchy and unfinished, like a first impression.

The name “Impressionists” was derived from a painting that Monet painted and named Impression himself. The title changed in a hurry, which was needed early for a catalogue name for their exhibition. The editor renamed the painting Impression Sunrise, which is still label as this paints name today. Other artist didn’t take to the new style of art, in which the strong application of color, with distinct strokes as if no flatting of the pigment was needed.

During 1906, painting of these constructed areas around his house began to surface in the main stream art market. Throughout the years he worked on other groups of paintings. To name a few are haystacks, Rouen Cathedral, the river Seine-seen in different light, at different times of the day or seasons of the year. All this happen in despite of his felling eye sight, which continued up to his death. Monet’s house was restored to the richness that surrounded him throughout his life, because of his paintings.

Some quotes from Monet himself:

"I feel the spleen from Giverny. It must all be so beautiful by this incredible weather."

“It is so beautiful in the countryside, I wanted to write to you that you would come to see the garden so beautiful by now ; it's worth the travel and in less than 15 days it will be over."

"My heart is to Giverny for ever and ever."

"I am not a great painter, great poet. I just know that I do what I can to express what I feel in front of nature."

"I am filled with delight; Giverny is a splendid spot for me."

"I will be obliged to ask you for quite a lot of money, as I am on the verge of either buying the house where I live or leaving Giverny which would bother me a lot, as I am sure I will never find a similar set up nor so beautiful a landscape." Claude Monet to Durand-Ruel, 1890

“I want the unobtainable. Other artist paint a bridge, a house, the boat and that is the end. They are finished. I want to paint the air which surrounds the bridge, the house, the boat, the beauty of the air in which these objects are located and that is nothing short of impossible."

Team Assignment: Art Movement: Art Period

Directions: Innovatively cover the life and major works of the art period selected. Mention any movements the period dealt with. Cover the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. Include the recognizable characteristics and attributes. Keep it simple, but thorough.

About 1450, European scholars became more interested in studying the world around them. Their art became more true to life. They began to explore new lands. The new age in Europe was eventually called “the Renaissance.”

Historians consider the Renaissance to be the beginning of modern history.

“Renaissance,” French for “rebirth”, perfectly describes the intellectual and economic changes that occurred in Europe from the 14th through the 16th centuries.

During the era known by this name, Europe emerged from the economic hardships of the Middle Ages and experienced a time of financial growth. Most importantly, the Renaissance was an age in which artistic, social, scientific, and political thought turned in new directions.

The Renaissance was much more than simply studying the work of ancient scholars…

It influenced painting, sculpture, and architecture. Paintings became more realistic and focused less often on religious topics.

Rich families became patrons and commissioned great art. Artists advanced the Renaissance style of showing nature and depicting the feelings of people. In Britain, there was a boom in literature and drama that included the plays of William Shakespeare.

Shakespeare caused a lot of controversy, yet he also earned lavish praise and has greatly impacted the world in areas of literature, culture, art, theatre, and film, and is considered one of the best English language writers ever.

One of his most famous plays was Romeo and Juliet. Written over 400 years ago, it has been adapted numerous times for stage, film, musicals and opera. In the 20th century the play has been adapted in versions as diverse as MGM's comparatively faithful 1936 film, the 1950s stage musical West Side Story, and 1996's MTV-inspired Romeo + Juliet.

Seen here is the trailer for this film:

In Shakespeares lifetime, he wrote 154 sonnets and 37 plays. Within these he coined many phrases like:

• Dead as a doornail – first seen in Henry the Sixth
• It was Greek to me – first seen in Julius Caesar
• Knock! Knock! Who’s there? – first seen in Macbeth

And many new words like:

• Addiction – first seen in Henry the Fifth and then in Othello
• Or Bedroom – this was first seen in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• The word eyeball was also never used in spoken or written language until he wrote it in The Tempest

Many Renaissance scholars looked to the past for inspiration. A person who studied the classics was called a humanist. Humanists recreated classical styles in art, literature, and architecture. Today we refer to the study of literature, philosophy and art as the humanities. The civilizations of Greece and Rome ended long ago, but they continue to influence us today.

Renaissance artists studied perspective, or the differences in the way things look when they are close to something or far away. The artists painted in a way that showed these differences. As a result, their paintings seem to have depth.

Seen here are Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and The Last Supper - The most famous, most reproduced and most parodied portrait and religious painting of all time… People have been trying to guess the secret behind the smile of his Mona Lisa ever since he painted it around 1505.

Here is The Creation of Adam – painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo. It illustrates the Biblical story from the Book of Genesis in which God the Father, breathes life into Adam, the first man.

Seen here are 3 famous sculptures by Michelangelo. The top left was done for his own tomb, but he never completed it…

Our group also created a slideshow using major pieces of the period. We have paired it with the unique sayings Shakespeare came up with. We hope you enjoy it as well as the music we have added to a playlist featuring two of the composers of the period.

Team Assignment: Body Sculpture

Directions: Using the members of your group, create a live body sculpture that includes all members of your group. Sculpture should be interesting all the way around.

After much consideration, our team finally decided to come together as a rainbow. Our goal was to provide not only our professor but our classmates with a real form of art. For us, this meant not only incorporating ourselves, but also a medium... which we accomplished with different hues of broad cloth. Our group could have only covered our bodies one by one, but we collectively worked as a team to drape each 'layer' of the rainbow in the following colors:

Red: Jeremy and Amanda

Yellow: Beth and Ashley

Green: Jenny

Blue: Shannon

We asked each member of the team to contribute a caption for our team photo:

Beth: "A rainbow is a good representation of our group because we are so colorful."

Ashley: "Somewhere over the rainbow..."

Amanda: "MMM Skittles. Taste the rainbow!"