Category: Paintings

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Eve, the Serpent, and Slavery

 

The most interested piece of artwork I saw at the Ackland Art Museum was Eve and the Serpent by Rose Piper. This painting depicts the version of the biblical creation story that is told through the slave spiritual “Dem Bones (Gonna Rise Again).” Besides the painting’s title and the author’s choice to represent Eve as an African American, the only distinctive feature of this painting that nods to the song is the serpent’s winking eye.

In many adaptations of the creation story, Eve is often portrayed as intentionally disobedient or naïve and child-like. However, in this painting, Eve is dignified. Her posture is that of a confident woman, and even the animals are drawn to her. In this adaptation, she also seems more curious in the serpent than in the fruit. This painting depicts the moments just before Eve takes the forbidden fruit and while the vivid colors, flowers, and friendly animals give the painting a happy, fairytale feel, the ominous dark clouds in the top, left corner foreshadow the story’s ending.

The slave spiritual that this painting originates from was one of many that were often sung by slaves as they worked the cotton fields. The lyrics tell the story of Adam and Eve but the last lines to the song are particularly interesting: “So Adam took a pick and then took a plow, And that’s why we’re workin’ now!” Not only did this song help African Americans pass time during long hours of manual labor, it helped them share religious stories and make sense of the senseless oppression they were experiencing. Piper’s choice to link this spiritual to her painting draws deeper meaning into her work. Not only is she illustrating the creation story, but she is also representing all the men, women, and children who sang those words during one of the darkest times in US history.

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Where’s Adam?

In Rose Piper’s Eve and the Serpent, she’s managed to construct an interesting adaptation and one that was entirely new to me. While the main theme presented in her painting was immediately and easily identifiable I feel that it’s noteworthy that she’s incorporated more elements than adaptation alone. She’s utilized intertextuality in the title of her painting to include Dem Bones (Gonna Rise Again), an old African-American Spiritual song; Dem Bones tells the story of Adam and Eve. By incorporating the song and the story of Adam and Eve she’s essentially created a visual bricolage, melding the original story and an adaptation of it together, creating her own adaptation in the process. Interestingly Piper chose to paint her adaptation minus Adam. With Adam being a central figure to the story I found it a curious decision, at first.

Then I stopped to consider who Rose Piper was. She was an African American woman that was born in 1917 and grew up in the Bronx, NY and drew upon influences from blues music in the 1940s and ’50s, during which time she painted some of her most notable works; Ackland has one such piece in circulation titled Slow Down, Freight Train. So it appears that Piper frequently drew upon music as the inspiration for her paintings.  It might be assumed that as a woman and an African American woman growing up before & during segregation,  and civil rights & women’s liberation movements, she felt marginalized.

Perhaps that’s part of the reason that she chose only to depict Eve and selected elements of Dem Bones to highlight some social issues that she had to deal with. In this way, her painting, Eve and the Serpent could almost be considered a parody as well. Piper seems to have masterfully taken multiple elements & sources and blended them together to create a truly unique adaptation to the story of Adam and Eve.

I think that the way in which Piper has chosen to incorporate the tree, snake and Eve into her painting and how she has portrayed the snake, in particular, is an interesting and refreshing adaptation on a story many know so well.

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Ackland Art Museum

‘Confused, overwhelmed, rushed, and exasperated’ would be a few of the words that accurately encapsulated my mood during my first visit to the Ackland Art Museum. The different artworks seemed to continuously cascade all around me and each room seemed to develop a new identity once I returned. It felt as if I was trying to escape the most complicated labyrinth ever designed by man, and I was so eager to escape the never ending web of clay pots, paintings, and statues. Luckily, my second visit to the Ackland Art Museum was nothing like the last and allowed me to develop a new appreciation for the building and the artwork from within.

 

Instead of being on a time crunch and frantically running around trying to find different pieces of art in a Spanish scavenger hunt, I was actually able to learn the history behind some of the most historical pieces on display at this museum. I greatly appreciated the change of pace between my two experiences at this building, and rather than mindlessly looking at a piece of art for a few seconds before running to the next, I was actually able to absorb some important information behind the piece that completely morphed my interpretation of each presented work as a whole. One of the pieces that remained imprinted in my mind for the longest time was a piece called “Eve and the Serpent” by Rose Piper. This painting is an adaptation of the well known story of Adam and Eve, specifically portraying the moment right before the serpent persuaded Eve to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit. This painting intrigued me due to its beautiful, vibrant color display (the color of the serpent being my favorite). I also thought that it was interesting how the painting relates to a song “Sarpent he Came Roun’ de Trunk; At Miss Eve his Eye he Wunk” which I feel could possibly be an element of intertextuality. It was also interesting how the artist decided to do an African spin-off of Eve to reflect her own person identity in a sense. In the top left corner, there is a shift between the blue, serene appearing clouds with dark, ominous, and foreboding ones foreshadow the turmoil that is about to occur once Eve eats the forbidden fruit. Rose Piper did an incredible job at capturing this story and putting her own twist and flare on it to separate it from other similar works which I greatly admire.

Overall, I appreciated this slow-paced tour of the museum and the background information provided for each piece. It really helped put certain elements into perspective and portray how individuality influences how art work can be differently perceived by everyone. If I were to ever be asked to provide the name of a great “tourist attraction” on the UNC campus, the Ackland Art Museum would definitely be at the top of my list.

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A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Adaptations can come in many different forms such as book to film, book to poem, film to book, etc. However, we sometimes forget about paintings being adaptations and how they attempt to convey different stories. We often get caught up in reading stories from books or watching films that lay out the story elements for us. In a picture or painting, the story can sometimes be hard to see for ourselves because there are no words or dialogue that we can read or hear to explain what is happening in the story. Instead, paintings often rely on taking one scene from a story and creating a picture that visually explains what is happening based on a still image. Taking a trip to the Ackland Art Museum is a solid reminder of this concept.

 

With many paintings the museum displayed, Sword of Damocles by Richard Westall, stood out as an example of how paintings can adapt and present a story from a novel or film, which is familiar to the viewer, in a different platform. Westall depicts a scene from the story of Damocles and the dangers faced by those in power, where Damocles switches roles with King Dionysius and sits at the king’s thrown while a sword is hanging by a hair of a horse’s tail. The painting centers on Dionysius and Damocles while the surroundings depict women serving Damocles, other men of power lurking in the background, and luxurious Roman architecture. As we visually work through the painting, we can see how each individual element can tell one aspect of the original story. The architecture sets up the scene by showing the audience where this story takes place. The grand white columns and pearl statues are demonstrating that the story takes place in Rome or Italy in ancient times. By centering the painting on Damocles and Dionysius, it tells us that they are the main characters of the story. Painting Damocles in a red robe just like the one Dionysius is painted in, suggests the aspect of the story where they switch roles for one day. With this in mind, Westall also places women servants holding luxurious foods and dinnerware serving Damocles as a way of showing the audience the lifestyle of how a king lives. As we venture to the men in the background, we get a suspicious feeling that they are plotting to overthrow the king which leads us to believe that King Dionysius has made some enemies during his reign. We are then presented with a sword that seems to be hanging in the air above Damocles which demonstrates the constant danger that King Dionysius lives in. Once we individually piece together the different elements of the painting, the theme of the story becomes clear being that with luxury and power comes the constant fear of danger that lurks at every corner. Westall’s painting tells his version of the Damocles story, by visually capturing important themes that are in the original story and demonstrating key allusions to that story that help the viewer see what is actually happening through a still painting of a scene. In other words, Sword of Damocles tells a story worth a thousand words, but it is up to the viewer to unravel what is being told.

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Separating Art from the Artist

Recently visiting the Ackland Art Museum with Grant individually, it had me pondering about how amazing the artwork is in the permanent and seasonal collection of our art museum. Celebrating 60 years at the nation’s first public state university, it’s interesting how Duke’s leftover was left over to us. But while this visit is like one of many, it most reminds me of what’s done behind the piece. I think about the guilt that drove Kevin Carter to his own demise after capturing the photo “The Vulture and the Little Girl,” which won a Pulitzer Prize. I try to rationalize how hip-hop and R&B artist I enjoy listening to come to untimely ends due to drugs and alcohol overdose with the potential for so much more music. Then I struggle to accept how my favorite actors were discovered to be dark sadistic beings amidst the #MeToo Movement. When Victor created Frankenstein, his vision of a handsome rectified figure from the dead didn’t turn out the way he wanted. Realizing what a monstrous creation he’d just finished, Victor forsaken Frankenstein in the way that a deadbeat dad would do away with their bastard child. However throughout the tale it was difficult to differentiate the art from the artists. Eventually it led to the creator’s demise. Comparing Bill Cosby to Victor, I’ll explain how it’s important that you do so when separating great works with not so great makers. Dr. Heathcliff “Cliff” Huxtable was the “Uncle Phil” before the Fresh Prince ever hit the TV screen. He gave us laughs with his in-house introductions and tears from his lessons to his children. However, in the wake of Bill Cosby (who Huxtable is portrayed by)’s guilty verdict, it’s difficult to separate the art from the artist. In this age of social media, there are still “Cosby kids.” From watching Little Bill before school began to being excited about the live-action adaptation of “Fat Albert” starring SNL’s Kenan Thompson, he’s touched consecutive generations both young and old. Cosby even has ties to Carolina, as he graced the cover of UNC Black Ink Magazine in the 1990’s ahead of his visit with the Black Student Movement. In the early 2000s, he gave the guest speaker commencement address to a crowded Kenan Stadium. Following that, he received an honorary doctorate degree from UNC-Chapel Hill. But now all that and more is gone as he faces 3-10 years in solitary confinement for decades of sexual assault. Admittedly, I had trouble accepting this. Not Bill Cosby? He’s over 80 years, he couldn’t have hurt a fly now. But that’s the thing about it: now, after years of torment behind the television which he’s done to women. And when over a dozen came out with the claim that he’d sexually assaulted them, it just didn’t pass the smell test. Cosby was guilty. Little Bill, The Cosby Show and Fat Albert were the “Frankenstein” creations from Bill. However, it was the latter who was the true monster in his attempt to portray a happy image onscreen while being adulterous off camera.

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The Ackland Art Museum

On Thursday, November 15, our class visited the Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill, NC. During our visit, we were divided into two groups, and we were led around to look at different works of art. All of the pieces of art that we looked at were very different from one another and very unique. Although they might not have had many similarities to each other, they each had their own story to tell. Inferences and conclusions could be made about each work based on what the subject matter of the work was, the way the artist chose to depict that subject matter, and the feelings that the audience of the work felt. Something that stood out to me while we were viewing the works of art is the way that connections can be drawn from art to the books that we have been reading throughout the semester. Although a lot of the art that we looked at was original, many of the pieces of art that we looked at were variations of existing themes of art that had already been created. It was interesting to see the way that the artist changed some things around from original works and created works of their own as well as thinking about what meanings the new art conveyed to the audience.

One of the most unique works that we looked at was titled “The Batture Ritual,” and it was a 25-minute video put together by Jeff Whetstone. The video captures a small section of the Mississippi River with passing boats and fishermen going down to the water’s edge. The mood of the video is peaceful, and this mood carries over to the audience who is observing it. The both natural and artificial lighting create a feeling of relaxation and simplicity, which is strengthened by the boats passing and fishermen. It brings back thoughts of simpler times, and serves as a reminder that they still exist.

A common depiction in the works that we viewed was water. It was interesting to see the way that water was depicted in such different ways. In one painting titled “Looking at the Sea,” by Howard Hodgkin, it was unclear that water was being represented in the first place. There were thick brushes of blue paint throughout the painting, and the borders were contained by a red frame that was painted on as well. This painting created a feeling of chaos and anxiety. Another painting titled “River Landscape with Fishermen” depicted peaceful water with a small town in the background. There were fishermen on the water, and everything was calm. I found it fascinating the different ways that the artists chose to depict water.

Lastly, another painting that stood out to me was “Eve and the Serpent.” This artist takes a very common theme, Eve in the Garden of Eden, and transforms it into something completely new and interesting. This painting depicts Eve, completely naked, petting the serpent who is curled around the tree. The artist used vibrant colors, and there are animals that appear to be calm and happy. Another interesting fact about this painting is that Eve is depicted with dark skin, unlike most depictions of Eve.

My main takeaway from visiting the Ackland is that art has many more connections to literature and life than I previously believed. There are many different ways of viewing art and thinking about art that might not be so obvious at first glance.

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Visit to the Ackland

I have visited the Ackland for three classes now, but I enjoyed the pieces we looked at for this class the most.  I love interpreting art, and I loved even more that the art we analyzed tied into the themes and ideas of the books we have read this semester.  My group was also fantastic and getting to hear their ideas made the experience that much better. We first began by looking at different physical adaptations of the Adam and Eve Biblical story.  We looked at two interpretations, one more literal than the other, but both conveyed the same idea. In my opinion, the second piece was much more interesting because it was more interpretive. Only Eve was pictured, and she was black rather than the traditional white.  She was also surrounded by dozens of different kinds of animals. It had bits of intertextuality as the animals seemed like a reference to Noah’s Ark. We then looked at a painting of fisherman on their boat while a storm rolled in. We felt that this piece was very similar to a scene in Robinson Crusoe where he is stuck out at sea during a storm.  This discussion was interesting because although the storm seemed to at first be a negative thing, we soon came to realize that the sailboats in the background needed this wind to move, therefore making it helpful and uplifting, which isn’t usually something a storm is associated with. We then moved on to a really unique piece. It was actually a moving video of what seemed to be a port with a man fishing in the foreground.  When we discussed it, nobody in my group seemed to be interested in it at all but for me it felt like home. I was raised in a port city and this piece gave me such nostalgic and warm feelings, and I think it was definitely my favorite for that reason. The sounds were so familiar and I felt like I could smell the sea and feel the water. The last painting we looked at was VERY abstract. At first we were told nothing about it so honestly I didn’t really see or interpret much at all.  We were later told that it was a representation of the ocean. I can definitely see where the artist is coming from, but I prefer looking at works that are just a little more structured so I don’t feel like I am completely off-base in my interpretation. I know that with art there isn’t a right answer but I like to know that I am not getting something completely crazy and unintended from a piece.

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Final Blog Post: Ackland Museum

 

The piece that most interested me from the Ackland Museum was The Batture Ritual.  The video showed the beauty of life by the water and how beautiful water itself can be.  By Jeff Whetstone’s use of sound and a video instead of a picture, the artwork was able to capture the activity in the area and not just what was perceived and interpreted by someone in a specific moment of time.

In the other artwork dealing with water that we viewed, what was important was the people, the location, or the object and not the nature as a whole.  By Whetstone filming the Mississippi River we are able to focus on all the uses that the river can serve for the people as well as capturing how the beings other than humans are participating in the area.  Due to the cruise ship that passed by the camera, we can tell that the Mississippi River is used for travel as well as it is a resource for food as we see when the man by the water’s edge was fishing. The fishing scene proved that there were living things in the water and by including sound, such as the noises produced by the crickets, we could tell there are more animals nearby.  This adds more depth to the art as you have used two senses to receive the work, giving a better idea of what is happening in the video beyond what you can see, which is more than you can acquire from a picture.

My favorite aspect of the work is the fact that Mr. Whetstone decided to take multiple different videos of the Mississippi River.  He could have much easier taken a single photo which could have captured the image of the man by the water as the ship passed by. However, from the video we can take much more from the setting than we could from an image.  We get to see life in action. The moving, unscripted behaviors of the animals and people found in the video give us a true view of the culture and the beauty of the life in the Mississippi River Batture.

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Adaptation of Greek Mythology in the Renaissance (Ackland Art Museum)

The interpretations of ancient stories have changed throughout history. Europa and the Bull is a prime example of a story whose interpretation has been changed since the classical era. Europa and the Bull was originally a Greek mythological story that, throughout the course of time, developed different meanings from literal to metaphorical. These adaptations were represented through the artwork, more specifically, the landscape of the piece. By using the landscape to frame the story or scene represented, the message conveyed is shifted. This is apparent in many renaissance artworks.  Centuries after the ancient Greeks, Christians were using these stories to represent their moral values through artwork. Artists such as Titian would depict scenes from prominent Roman and Greek tales. By using the landscape, the renaissance artists would retell these ancient stories either from their perspective or fit the commissioner of the piece.

The Renaissance in Italy was a time where moral values were derived from Christianity. The art reflected Christian icons or stories that represented the values that pertained to the church. However, not all these stories were found in the bible. Europa and the Bull is a Greek story about a woman, Europa, who was kidnapped by Zeus who turned himself into a bull, kidnapped her, and kept her on the island of Crete While the tale derived from classical mythology, this fable can be found on paintings, dishes, and sculptures throughout the mid-1500s by well-known artists. This is because many themes were considered to portray Christian values. Even Christian prayer books dating back to the late 16th century told those to “…respect the Oriental notions in the…Greeks…” because their literature had similar ideologies and values of the church. The mythological stories that mirrored the values of the church were then illustrated on large canvases and household items. The simplistic mythological story was perfect for anyone in the household to understand. In Italy during the Renaissance, only an average of 20% of the adult male population was literate; woman and children, in this time period, were uneducated. A painting/illustration of a woman being abducted by a higher being such as a god was supposed to tell women in the Renaissance period to be true and loyal to their husbands. Stories that represented woman’s loyalty to their husbands were commonly given as wedding gifts, usually illustrated on a maiolica. A maiolica is a dish that illustrated ancient mythology, classical history, and stories from the Bible These were commonly given as gifts or ordered in sets by wealthy Italian families. The piece Molded Dish with Europa and the Bull (c.1550) is a maiolica that displays the complete story of Europa and the Bull, which, according to the Ackland Art Museum Object Guide, was most likely given to a new wife on her wedding day (picture of piece displayed below).

In 16th century artwork, the color white was symbolic of power, deity, and purity. Of all the bright colors, Zeus in bull form is the only white part of the landscape, representing his godly status as a supernatural being who has control of all humans below. Along with white, the blue scarf on Zeus can represent a “steady character” or wisdom. Many western artists used the color blue as it is a formal color that represents wisdom, strength, and importance. The human form of Zeus also sits atop a cloud, almost disconnected from the story as if he is watching all the scenes play just like the viewer of the piece. While the animals and humans throughout the landscape show happy emotions, the meaning of the story is to suppress and keep woman “obedient”. By displaying the animals with these emotions, the moral meaning of staying loyal and obedient to your husband is delivered as good, giving off the tone that if your husband is happy, you will be happy.

This adaptation of Europa and the Bull, like many adaptations of Robinson Crusoe, added Christian values to retell the story “appropriately” to the people during this time period. The common idea that a wife is obedient to her husband and following a moral code was prominent throughout the church, especially in Italy during the 16th century. The church birthed, educated, fed, wed, and buried you during this time period, therefore, the artwork would reflect the dominant ideology. Through visual examination and color theory, it is apparent that key details helped determine the meaning of this piece and helps the viewer understand that it is an adaptation of the original story.

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Ackland Apprehension

During our class trip to The Ackland Art Museum, I was struck with an epiphany: I far prefer reading adaptations versus observing them in art. This conclusion was not only drawn from my time at the Ackland, but the visit did reinforce that viewpoint.

While I am certainly grateful for every experience that I have to become more cultured and to learn more about the world around me, I found the analysis of the pieces difficult. Unlike literature, where most things are spelled out, the art required me to do a new kind of analysis and to arrive at some difficult conclusions. I partially blame this struggle to understand art on my analytical brain, as I don’t have a large imagination to see what a piece of art truly means.

Ruysdael’s River Landscape with Fisherman truly illustrates my struggle as I tried to understand a deeper meaning. On the surface, the painting displays a serene scene of ships floating on the water, approaching a nearby town. The superficial elements of this piece were easy to comprehend, but I completely missed the other components of the painting that foreshadowed a coming storm. This slight oversight caused me to miss a key aspect of the painting, and this struggle was consistent throughout many of the pieces that we viewed.

Another particular piece that I wrestled with was Hodgkins’ Looking at the Sea. The impressionistic style is extremely imaginative, and I could not understand the painting at all. While I thought the delicate waves were beautiful, I struggled to connect it to the shipwreck theme and Robinson Crusoe. After an explanation from the leader of the tour, I understood what the piece was trying to accomplish, but I would not have been able to come to this conclusion without her help.

Even though I found the deeper themes and meanings of the pieces difficult to understand, I thought that the experience of looking at the sheer talent of the artists was incredible. I really enjoyed Rose Piper’s Eve and the Serpent.  The vibrant colors of this painting were eye-catching and drew me to the piece. I also liked the almost cartoonish style of painting that was used to depict this very serious scene. I particularly enjoyed this work because it was easy for me to connect to its intertextual meaning, as I have a religious background, and I am very familiar with the story of Adam and Eve. I also liked how the tour guide described the song on which the painting was based, revealing even more intertextual elements.

While I did not always grasp the complex meanings of the pieces, I really enjoyed the visit overall. I truly value any opportunity not only to become more connected with my own culture but to also view the pure talent of many of these great artists. Thus, even though I might prefer reading a book as a way to gain exposure to adaptations, the visit was interesting and enlightening because it made me more aware of the frequent use of intertextual elements in art.