Michelangelo, The Painter
It is often assumed that only a person who is very fond of art, in general, is engaged in the work of an artist. Part of this opinion is because drawing is often a hobby in the eyes of ordinary people. However, an artist’s work is hard, so it is not surprising that many artists do not have warm feelings for their profession. This essay aims to analyze such a historical figure as Michelangelo Buonarroti to explore his relationship to drawing.
Like many other Renaissance artists, Michelangelo worked in many directions at the same time. However, there is some evidence to underline Michelangelo’s penchant for sculpture rather than drawing. Firstly, one of the most striking examples is the artist’s work, a small poem dedicated to Giovanni da Pistoia. In poetic lines, the author colorfully describes his unenviable position, which causes him anger and disgust (Mazur). The verse was written while working on the Sistine Chapel and described the process. Since Michelangelo had to work under the very ceiling, with his head lifted, paint regularly dripped onto his face, and his whole body ached from exertion. The author’s description clarifies that the sculptor does not want to do this work since he does not consider himself an artist.
Secondly, despite being engaged in various forms of art, Michelangelo was engaged only in marble sculptures throughout his life. All other forms of art were secondary to him or auxiliary to the development of the main direction. This claim is borne out by Michelangelo himself, who saw himself primarily as a sculptor, putting much more effort into David (1501) and Pietà (1499) than other works (Gilbert). The artist’s self-identification, coupled with literary evidence of his penchant for sculpting rather than drawing, suggests that working with marble was indeed a priority for Michelangelo. However, there is no evidence that he hated drawing since he actively drew pictures and various kinds of sketches.
John Taylor and Howling Wolf
The signing of the treaty at Medicine Lodge Creek is a series of commitments between the United States and various Indian tribes. According to history, Arapaho, Comanche, and Kiowa (Rand) were involved in signing the contracts. Due to this event’s scale, it has attracted the attention of several artists from both sides. This essay aims to compare and analyze the work of John Taylor and Howling Wolf on this topic.
First of all, Taylor’s work is made in realism, directly reflecting Americans and Indians’ meeting. The picture looks more like a sketch made right during the discussion. On the other hand, Howling Wolf uses various vibrant colors. Abstract designations of people and terrain seem incomprehensible at first glance; however, they carry much more information than Taylor’s image.
The form of the drawing chosen by John Taylor is indeed a sketch, which affects its meaningfulness. Many persons and details depicted on paper do not give any information about what is happening. The viewer sees many similar Indians, but it is unclear which tribes are present here. In Taylor’s work, the main emphasis is clearly on Americans. Besides, the Indians are not even in the center of the drawing, only present at the edges. Thus, Taylor’s goal is to sketch a specific event, the meeting itself, and from a particular perspective.
The Howling Wolf form seeks to show the event as large as possible, which leads to the use of abstract shapes in the drawing’s content. The author looks at the picture broader, showing the number of diverse, clearly distinguishable Indian tribes. For Howling Wolf, this agreement means a significant change, which is why many Indians are depicted in the form of entire camps and tents, including women, who are almost invisible in Taylor’s work. Consequently, this artist’s goal was to convey this event’s scale and its significance for the Indians of different tribes.
Ancient and Modern art
Ancient art is characterized by several key features related to the use of the space provided. First of all, it should be noted that there is no linear perspective since most of the work uses the same foreshortening. This is seen in the example of the Epiphany of Dionysus’s mosaic (Epiphany of Dionysus mosaic). This work demonstrates the characteristic features of ancient Greek art, such as using symmetry and lack of perspective. Images of ancient art are often flat, with the viewer looking at the scene from the front. Despite the strict anatomy of the works, all the characters are turned towards the viewer, being approximately on the same projection in space. Ancient Greek artists used space in a fairly linear and proportional way to emphasize each of the figures depicted. Besides, objects and shapes are approximately the same size and take up the same amount of space in the image.
Modern art is characterized by many directions, each of which has its characteristic features. However, one can observe various compositional techniques and the arrangement of objects in space. First of all, contemporary art is distinguished by several plans simultaneously along with a perspective. This property is noticeable, for example, in the work of expressionist Edvard Munch and his famous painting “The Scream” (Munch). Although characters and objects still look relatively flat when placed directly in front of the viewer, which is common between modern and ancient art, the use of perspective is evident. In a sense, it can be noted that the works of modern art are located and presented by artists in three-dimensional space, while the ancient Greeks painted paintings in two-dimensional space. In addition to the similarities indicated above, modern art is almost entirely different from the ancient, at least expressionism. Munch places the figures in the image differently, has different proportions and sizes of objects that vary depending on the location.
Works Cited
Epiphany of Dionysus mosaic. 2nd century AD. The Archaeological Museum of Dion. Wikipedia. Web.
Gilbert, Creighton. “Michelangelo.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2020. Web.
Mazur, Gail. “Michelangelo: To Giovanni Da Pistoia When the Author Was Painting the Vault of the Sistine Chapel.” Poetry Foundation. Web.
Munch, Edvard. The Scream. 1893. National Gallery of Norway, Oslo. Wikipedia. Web.
Rand, Jacki. “Medicine Lodge Treaty (1867).” Oklahoma Historical Society. Web.