The Steerage
The Steerage, by Alfred Stieglitz, figure 22.24 on page 406, is about an American photographer who turned photography into an art form. The figure, like other representations of art, simply displays the photograph or image of the art, allowing the reader or spectator to interpret the message more readily.
Many audiences perceived The Steerage to be totally fragmented in comparison to The Evening Star by Georgia O'Keeffe on page 406 figure 22.25, which is vibrant and intact. According to the opinions of other photographers, the photograph should have been two instead of one. In this photograph, the artist uses bodies in motion to come with his art compared to The Evening Star which shows that the artist drew a picture of a star or heavenly body in static form.
In Steerage, the artist saw the complex scene as a pattern of forces acting upon each other in form of light, shade, shape, and direction. The artists saw a moving ship heading towards Europe with the composition of the photograph being circular straw hat as well as funnel leaning left with the stairway leaning on the right side, the chains which are white suspenders passing from back of a man on the steering under
The Steerage, unlike The Evening Star, is well explained with an aid of a clear photograph. Although Georgia in his art succeeds in depicting how the heavenly bodies are, he does not have a clear understanding and image of the Evening Star. She just drew the picture based on her sightings of the sky at night while looking at the sky. Although Venus is known as a planet which has a circle and having a yellow spherical body with a spot that is empty, the artist does not seem to have a good understanding of the terrestrial bodies.
The two art forms have the same approach in reflecting how things are and showing the historical part of life as seen from The Steerage. Moreover, both of them depict the thinking of the artists themselves and the way they were influenced by the surrounding environments.
Surrealism
The two forms of art in this category include The Lovers by Rene Magritte on page 415 figure 23.7 and The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali in page 414 figure 23.5. The Persistence of Memory has a figure which shows deformed watches in an abandoned place while The Lovers shows a man with a tie and a woman kissing but their faces are covered and their lips do not touch.
The two examples are very similar because they try to draw a picture of realities in the world where time was not significant based on how the watches are not taken care of and left in poor state in The Persistence of Memory and the way the two lovers kiss and hide themselves from the public eye are very effective in The Lovers.
The Persistence of Memory depicts the strange importance of some hopes. Mechanical time gets destroyed in a desolate terrain of unknown space. The warped, head like the image in the foreground may be the only hope of a disappearing race. The artist in this example is very intelligent and uses the surprising juxtaposition of different objects to develop a hallucinatory image of special-reality past the usual world. On the other hand, The Lovers shows a couple in an impossible kiss. If one imagines themselves to be in that situation, they would experience the jolt that the Surrealists intended. The art seems to show the fact that the two lovers are in their own world or they fear being seen or noticed. Therefore, the two forms of art, The Persistence of Memory and The Lovers depict two different scenarios but they all take place in a society meaning that the two artists were trying to study and depict the behavior of people in the society at that time.
Assemblage
In this category, Monologue by Robert Rauschenberg in page 440 figure 24.11 and Target with Four Faces by Edward Kienholz in page 441 figure 24.14 are the two examples chosen.
The artist in Monologue is more talented and his creative thinking involves a combination of world elements in order to produce a unique and unexpected as well as unthinkable figure. The figure of a long-haired Angora goat with a tire around its stomach and standing in the middle of a collage painting is a masterpiece. The assemblage creates glimpses of different objects and events that are not related and act as symbols for the jarring juxtapositions of modern life. The artist chose this approach to depict the disorder of urban civilization in the art. In contrast, Edward in his Target with Four Faces makes the average American into an outrageous caricature. The figure shows half of a mannequin riding on a baby stroller with the chest blown out showing a cross. The paint drips add to the funny effect with the target turning out to be the painting while the sculptured faces become a sign.
The two arts are different because Monologue depicts the urbanization aspect while the Target with Four Faces depicts the suffering of the people or the average American man.
They are similarly based on the way the artists use the images to create the perceptions of the society towards certain events in life.
Personal Response
There are many connections between the art forms discussed. They are all based on the use of images that depict certain events in the American society in the previous periods. Moreover, the arts use the symbols and photographs to communicate to the audience indirectly leaving some of them wondering about the meaning of the arts used.
The artists seem to have influenced each other in one way or the other. The artists, for instance, Alfred Stieglitz used photographs to show the historical events that took place in the society because it was an emerging style of art. The use of drawings to depict the events of the time, political influence, and other social happenings was and is still the common form of communicating with people and preserving the culture of art.
The artists were reflecting the society at the time. For instance, the use of images by Rene Magritte depicting couple kissing reflects the society. The way the lovers are covered and a kiss can be a way of showing how the society viewed kissing publicly at the time or showing that kissing in public place was not accepted or normal. Moreover, The Target with Four Faces by Edward is a reflection of what the average Americans were going through.
I think the arts based on the examples are very relevant in communicating to the modern people. It creates a clear image to the audience making him/her understand how the society lived and interacted with each other. It helps us to understand social injustices, economic developments and the way people lived together at the time. I chose the above examples because the artists were successful in developing clear forms of art that are easily understandable to the audience. They are also well-explained and drawn and therefore one does not struggle to understand them.
