Perceptions of a Migrant

This exhibit seeks to show the life, struggles, and perceptions of a migrant in the late 1930’s to mid 1940’s. The life of a migrant can be very difficult and isolating. This exhibit gives an example of how a photographer, namely André Kertész, expresses the isolation he felt through the subject matter that he chose. There were also photographers who sought to give a voice to those who were relegated by society to the position of being an outsider. In raising awareness about the plight of the migrant and ethnically different, Ansel Adams dedicates time to show the humanity of the Japanese-Americans who were forced into internment camps. Dorothea Lange also shows the struggle of the Japanese-American citizens as she captures the compelling photograph of a Japanese-American storefront owner who had a sign painted outside his shop that reads “I am an American.” Lange also gives voice to the voiceless in her photo of the migrant mother. Here she shows the realities of migrant life as she captures the image of a starving mother and her two children. Finally the exhibit ends, as it started, with the migrant André Kertész. This is a picture of a small, lone cloud next to a towering skyscraper in New York City. This picture is said to be autobiographical of Kertész himself and how he felt as a recent migrant to America.

André Kertész, Poughkeepsie, New York,  1937

Gelatin Silver Print, 23.6 x 18.3cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1972.572.1

André Kertész is a migrant himself. In following a job opportunity, he was transplanted from Hungry to New York.  Kertész’ work has strong semblances to both formalism and surrealism. In Poughkeepie, New York, strong elements of formalism are shown through the stark lines that guide the eye in navigating through the picture. However, aside from the formal elements, there is something else happening in the subject matter. All of people in this photograph are Caucasian. Also all are middle-class to upper-class citizens (excluding the one station worker that is separate from those on the platform). The interesting phenomenon in this picture is the surprising lack of interaction among those waiting for the train.

Ansel Adams, Untitled, 1944

Born Free and Equal: Camera Book. Library of Congress: F870.J3 A57  

  

Ansel Adams, typically known for his landscape photographs, shifts his lens to document the plight of Japanese-Americans. Taking pictures of the Manzanar interment camp, Adams seeks to argue through his photographs the humanity of people he is photographing. This picture shows a scene of girls presumably walking either to or from school. The picture is captioned with “Manzanar is only a Detour on the Road of American Citizenship” showing the persistent faces of those willing to do what it takes to enjoy American freedom. The contrast can be seen between this piece and Ketész’ Poughkeepsie. While the formal elements remain, the contrast in subject matter and its portrayal is quite powerful.

Ansel Adams, An American School Girl, 1944

Born Free and Equal: Camera Book. Library of Congress: F870.J3 A57

Ansel Adams captures the contagious smile of a young, Japanese-American girl, once again seeking to show his presumably Caucasian, middle-to-upper class American audience the humanity and genuineness of the people he is photographing. A smile is something shared by all humanity. It melts barriers and helps the viewer to realize how much more similar everyone is than different. I think that was what Ansel Adam’s was trying to convey in titling this piece An American School Girl (emphasis mine).

Dorothea Lange, Japanese Owned Grocery Store, 1942

 Photonegative, 5in x 4 in.  Oakland Museum of California: A67.137.42015.1

Dorothea Lange gives us a compelling photograph of a shop owned by a Japanese man. The fact that this man had to have a sign painted with the message “I am an American” speaks volumes to the tensions that arose in America especially after the bombing on Pearl Harbor (which the owner tells Lange happened right before he decided to have the sign painted). This man, misunderstood due to his ethnic heritage, was forced to abandon his shop. Unfortunately those in governmental power did not seem to believe his sign and his plea that he was just the same as them.

Dorothea Lange, Human Erosion in California (Migrant Mother), 1936

Gelatin Silver Print, 13 ⁷/₁₆ x 10 ⁶/₁₉ in. The J. Paul Getty Museum

This image of a starving mother with her children immediately draws the viewer in. The mother’s concerned look can easily be read even as her children, hidden as they are from the camera, also have a discernable air of grief and desperation. It would seem that the mother is looking forward, unsure of the future while the children, with growling bellies, are all too aware of the present. Again, Dorothea Lange is documenting the plight of migrants and how easily they left alone and helpless.

André Kertész, The Lost Cloud, New York, 1937

Gelatin Silver Print, 9 ¾ x 6 ½ in. The J. Paul Getty Museum

Many things could be said of Kertész’ Lost Cloud.  One could talk about the photo’s formal aspects such as the cloud being the only organic shape and the contrast between the cloud and the skyscraper. However, there seems to be more to this photograph. It seems that Kertész is analogously comparing himself to this cloud as though he himself felt alone in New York. This photo was taken soon after his arrival in New York. The feeling of being alone would continue to haunt Kertész, a migrant who struggled with English and felt like his was not as appreciated in the states as he was in Paris. He would stay in America until his death, bearing to his grave his identity as a migrant.

Mythology’s Impact on the Unseen Creatures

                                                                                  Introductory Text

This exhibition, Mythology’s Impact on the Unseen Creatures, presents six medieval artworks containing various kinds of mythological looking creatures along with Albrecht Durer’s Rhinoceros as the centerpiece. The five other artworks featured in the exhibition are: Cristofano di Michele Martini’s Hercules and the Hydra, a Spanish Lion Fresco from the 1200’s, A King Pursued by a Unicorn; from the Unicorn Series by Jean Duvet, an unknown fragment of tapestry from the 1400’s, and The Sixth Day by Johannes Sadeler I. Often times, as is commonly seen throughout art history, Current beliefs, fears, and constructs of a society do influence the way the artists of the society depict things, especially those of the unknown or unseen. Mythology’s Impact on the Unseen Creatures explores this phenomena by showing depictions from the medieval times of various scenes containing animals of the medieval time period that had not yet been seen by all but had been recreated in art, some were actually myth while others were just rarely seen animals that were represented with many mythological aspect included. This exhibition explores why this use of mythological aspects in the representation of animals was so often used. Specifically the exhibition focuses on why and how the history and influence of these mythical creatures portrayed by so many other artists shaped the way Albrecht Dürer designed his rhinoceros. 

Extended Object Labels

 Cristofano di Michele Martini (after Antomio Pollaiuolo), Hercules and the Hydra, ca.1500-1520, Engraving, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 27.20.2.

This engraving demonstrates the sort of myths and tales that were popular or influential at the time and how the mythical creatures in them were typically portrayed. The creatures in these images of mythical tales were usually very fierce and generally had either scales, some sort of twisting horn(s), multiple heads, various parts of different animals and/or humans combined in to one, or all of the above. It is images such as this that seem to have influenced the extravagantly fantastical portrayals of newly discovered or rarely seen animals.

Jean Duvet, A King Pursued by a Unicorn, from the Unicorn Series, ca.1555, Engraving, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 51.570.

This engraving is another example of the mythology of the time. People believed their to be creatures in existence called unicorns. Later it was discovered that these horns were really from narwals, not unicorns. Clearly though, for a time, as seen in this engraving, unicorns were seen as being violent, most likely due to their ambiguity. People didn’t know anything about these creatures therefore they are afraid of them and imagined them as being terrifying and powerful. 

Unknown, Fragment of a Tapestry or Wall Hanging, ca.1420–30, Tapestry weave: wool on linen, The Metropolitan Museum of Art,  1990.211.

Little is known about this piece, but it appears to look much like a lion. It is possible that this could be the first impression someone, who’d never seen a lion before in their life, had of the beast. What is clear however, is that this is yet another fanciful beast which has the many of key characteristics of a mythical beast as seen in the Hercules and the Hydra. It has mixed animal parts: mane like a lion, scales like a reptile, talons like an eagle, and a head like a dragon.

Unknown, Lion, after 1200, Fresco, mounted on canvas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 31.38.1a, b.

This work shows the effects of mythology quite clearly in it’s representation. This sort of lion was thought to be real at the time and lions of this sort of likeness were even found in Topsell’s book representing all the animals believed to be in existence “The History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents Woodcuts”.  This too has some of the qualities of a typical mythological beast, namely it’s mixed features. It’s face appears to be similar to that of a humans, it’s feet more representational of hooves rather than paws, and it’s main has an almost scale-like appearance.

Johannes Sadeler I, The Sixth Day: The Creation of Animals, Adam and Eve from The Creation of the World, late 16th century, Engraving, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 51.501.1769(7).

This work is an example of how mythology was applied to the representation of events that no one alive has ever seen, in this case the creation. Because of it’s mystery, and the little that is known about it visually, the artist simply applied the commonly understood and accepted mythology of the time by including such things as unicorns, the strange lion seen above, creatures seen in Topsell’s “The History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents Woodcuts”, and various other mythological beasts. It would seem then that mythological characteristics were commonly used to fill the gaps of the unknown.

Albrecht Dürer, The Rhinoceros, 1515, woodcut, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 19.73.159

After having looked at all the other artworks it is clear to see how even Albrecht, in all his precision of animal representation, was influenced by the mythology in the culture of his time. Albrecht did not see the animal himself, he only saw a rough sketch and a description of it. Inevitably then, he filled in the blanks of the unknowns with mythology. The mythological traits conveyed in this rhinoceros are the scales, the twisting unicorn like horn, and the eye which is eerily similar to that of a human.

The Mysteries of a Mythological Masterpiece

The famous La Primavera by Botticelli was commissioned Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici, a cousin of Lorenzo the Magnificent. Although certainly painted between 1477 and 1482, critics stand divided over the exact date of the work, intended interpretation, and influences. La Primavera’s figures and themes seem to be drawn from a multiplicity of sources results in a hybridity that lends itself to several interpretations, which have become notorious topics of discussion and analysis since the painting’s rediscovery. Many critics found their argument in the idea it was commissioned for the wedding of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, and conclude it is didactic in nature, meaning to serve as a lesson under a mythological guise on chastity, submission, and procreation for the new bride.

Other historians point to the blossoming garden and the classical understanding that Chloris transforms into Flora, the goddess of spring, after Zephyrus releases her to show the painting is properly interpreted as an allegory about the metamorphosis of spring. Still others propose that Botticelli’s symbolism promoted the Renaissance’s Neo-Platonic ideals of love. In this light, the painting serves to contrast the carnal lust of Zephyrus for Chloris with The Three Graces and Mercury, who allude to a more virtuous order of love. The ambiguity of La Primavera’s meaning is partially due to the strength of its intricate visual elements, like the figures’ expressions and the overwhelming potential for symbolism, which fuse overt icons together in complex relationships. Perhaps, instead of seeing La Primavera’s ambiguity as an obstacle that blocks the modern day viewer from an accurate analysis, it could be recognized as an integral element in its interpretation to show Botticelli fused various inspirations to birth a deliberate hybridity and multiplicity of meaning.

Sandro Botticelli, La Primavera, c. 1477-1482

Tempera on Panel, Uffizi, n. 8360

 Apollonio di Giovanni, The Rape of the Sabine Women, c. 1465

 Tempura on Canvas, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, WA1850.30.

Cassonis, marriage chests from the renaissance in which bridal trousseaus were stored, were often decorated with rape scenes from myths like Persephone, Helen, and most importantly, the Sabine women. This tradition can be traced back to Marco Anotonio Altieri’s (1450-1532) writings, which proposed the rape of the Sabine women to be the origin of marriage and was necessary to insure the survival of Romulus’s settlement. The rape of Chloris by Zephyrus insinuated in La Primavera follows the tradition of instructing the bride to submit to her husband for the sake, stability, and the continuation of the race.

 Sandro Botticelli, Pallas and The Centaur, c. 1482

Tempera on canvas, Uffizi, n. 2010100623

In 1975, Webster Smith published his results of his studies of the Medici possessions and proposed Pallas and The Centaur was located in a room adjoining the nuptial chamber shared by young Lorenzo de’ Medici and his bride on the opposite wall of La Primavera. It is likely this was the bride’s personal room, decorated with art that reminded her of wifely duties. In this case, Pallas would represent the restraint of inappropriate conduct signified by the centaur and the importance of chastity and virtue. 

Sandro Botticelli, The Abyss of Hell, c. 1480

 Colored drawing on parchment, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana

This is Botticelli's chart of Hell as described by Dante in his 14th century epic poem Inferno. Dante saw hell as an abyss which circled around Lucifer who was frozen in the center. Painted around the same time as La Primavera, it confirms Botticelli’s experience with Dante, which is suggestive of proposed connections between La Primavera and Dante’s Divine Comedy.

  Alessio Baldovinetti, Annunciation, c. 1457

Tempura on Wood, Uffizi, Inv. 1890: 483

Painted in 1457 for the Salvastrine friars of San Giorgio alla Costa, Baldovinett’s Annunciation depicts the Virgin Mary in the orthodox divine beauty of the time. Botticelli would have been familiar with this Florentine piece and possibly used it as a muse for his central Venus in La Primavera, and radically applied the same ethereal beauty meant to kindle a heavenly fervor, traditionally reserved for religious art, to his secular painting. His evocation that Venus could symbolize divine love strengthens the interpretations that suggest La Primavera’s correlation to Neo-platonic ideals of love.

 Giovanni da Paolo, Dancing Angels, c. 1436, 

Oil and gold on panel, Musée Condé, Chantilly, PE 9

Paolo’s Dancing Angels’ harmonious rhythm and grace kindle a response of sacred respect from the onlooker. This kind of religious imagery, with its deliberate appeal for awe, seems to be a more accurate inspiration for La Primavera’s three graces than the dancing maidens that decorated the walls and coffers of the noble Florentines of Botticelli’s time. His inclusion of older religious imagery and inspiration firms La Primavera’s correlations with ideals of divine love.

Sandro Botticelli, A Young Man Being Introduced to the Seven Liberal Arts, Villa Lemmi Fresco, c. 1484

Fresco transferred to Canvas, Louvre, Paris, RF 322

This fresco by Botticelli was discovered 1873, in the Villa Lemmi, at the foot of the Careggi Hill, close to a villa of Cosimo de Medici, along with Venus and the Three Graces Presenting Gifts to a Young Woman. Villa Lemmi belonged to the Tornabuoni family, friends of the Medici family. It is supposed the fresco was made to honor the marriage of Lorenzo Tornabuoni and Giovanna degli Albizzi through an allegorical depiction of a young man being led towards female symbols of the seven liberal arts: rhetoric, dialectics, arithmetic, grammar, geometry, astronomy and music. Botticelli’s deliberate narrative and praise of this humanist spirit seems to be hidden in La Primavera as well. 

Sandro Botticelli, Venus and the Three Graces Presenting Gifts to a Young Woman, Villa Lemmi Fresco, c. 1484,

Fresco transferred to Canvas, Louvre, Paris, RF 321 

This fresco, found along with A Young Man Being Introduced to the Seven Liberal Arts, was painted on the occasion of a marriage in the Tornabuoni family, friends of the Medicis. It is speculated to be an allegorical painting, portraying Venus and the Three Graces, symbolizing chastity, beauty, and love, providing strong evidence of the influence that myths and literature had on Botticelli’s works, and the classical Divinities that emerge as his subjects.

-Amelia Hammon