ART 101

The two art works I chose to write on for the semester are “Mona Lisa” an oil on panel 16th century painting created during the High Renaissance by Italian artist Leonardo de Vinci, and “Horse Head” a sketch for “Guernica” a 20th century painting created by Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso during the Modern Period.This paper compares and contrasts the two works, both are done by famous artists who are known for these significant artworks. The "Mona Lisa" by Leonardo de Vinci was done during the High Renaissance period. "Renaissance is a period that brought a renewed intrest in classical art, architecture, literature, philosophy, politics, science,religion, and other aspects of intellectual enquiry.Begining in Italy in the 1400 and ending in the 1700, it spreading to the rest of Europe by the 16th century.It One of the distinguishing features of Renaissance art is its development of techniques like studying of effects of light, technique of chiaroscuro, system of atmospheric perspective and highly realistic linear perspective"(wikipedia Renaissance). The painting shows techniques that were developed during this period like atmospheric perspective, and chiaroscuro.There is no movement since movements started in the 19th century. Picasso's "Horse Head" on the other hand was created during Modern period. Modernism started between the late 19th century and ended in the 1970s. This period has a varity of movements. "Horse Head" was painted during the cubism movement. The style of the "Mona Lisa" is representational while that of the "Horse Head" is abstract. Theme movement and period influences the theme of each art work.

These significant artworks, “The Mona Lisa” and “Horse Head” have vastly different themes. Theme is like a thread running through the entire history of art"(Getlein, 50). Their are many themes in art, but the theme that is present in Picasso's "Horse Head" is Politics and Social order, which reflects the society. The theme of Leonardo de Vinci's "Mona Lisa" is Looking Inward: The Human Experience. Since "Horse Head" is a sketck for "Guernica", the subject matter is the same. Picasso usaed "Guernica" to condemn the violence that fascism unlished against the ordinary citizens of Guernica.(59-60). "There was no real military reason for the raid , it was simply an experiement to see if an aerial bombing could wipe out a whole city (60)".The pain and chaos of the small town of Guernica is depicted in this painting. In the "Mona Lisa" by de Vinci the theme Looking Inward: The Human Experience is shown by sitter's smile and the gaze in her eyes "leaving the viewer with an expression often described as enigmatic" (wikipedia, Mona lisa).Both Picasso and de vinci utilizes the basic principles and elements of design to support their themes.

The subject of both works is depicted by strong elements and principles of design.When looking at the "Mona Lisa" by Leonardo da Vinci the first thing I noticed was the clear use of contour lines to define the outline of the sitter.Contour lines are lines used to show boundries. The implied shape of a pyramidis used to suggested Mona Lisa from the background . Implied light was used in this painting from what we see , light that seems its coming from the out side at the top of the painting but as we look down at the painting it gets darker and is black at the bottom almost like the value scale, this implies that shes in doors. The use of implied light tells us that she was indoors and is used as a predictable light source. The colors used are kind of blurry becuase of the atmospheric perspective used in the art work."Atmospheric percpective is the effect on the appearance of an object.As the distance between an object and a viewer increases, the contrast between the object and its background decreases"(wikipedia aerial perspective). Analogous harmonies are used in the painting. Analogous harmonies combine colors adjacent to one another on the color wheel such as blue, green and yellow(97). The blurry green and blue are used for the montains and vegetation. The ligth yellow is used as the implied light and a ligth shade of the color is used for mona lisa's face and hands(which get darker because shes inside).The texture of the "Mona Lisa" seems to be smooth In the "Horse Head" by Picassoo, counter lines(like the "Mona lisa") are formed from the contrast of the white and gray hues which form an edge and set the boundies of the horse from the black background background.Srtong diagonals lines are also used in the painting to show the pain of the horse. In contrast to the "Mona lisa" the texture of picasso's "Horse Head" appears to be rough. Texture refers to the surface quality(103).
In the first painting by Picasso the gray scale is used to provide an intresting contrast of white and black. Since both of them are values of the gray scale they belong together to make that contrast. The art work gives a sense of unity and variety to the viewer.Unity is a sense of oneness, of things belonging together and making up a coherent whole while (122)Variety is diffrence, which provides intrest. There is more weight(visual weight) towards the right side of the art work, due to the position of the horse's mouth leaning towards the right and his neck on the left side also providing an asymmetrical balance to the art work.Visual weight refers to the appearent heaviness or lightness of the forms arranged in a composition as gauged by how insistently they draw our eyes(Gentlein 125). The scale and proportion of the horse's head provide an emphasis on his mouth. The scale of his head is larger than a normal horse's own. The size of the horse's teeth, nose and tongue are in correct proportion to his mouth . Scale means size in relation to standard or "normal" size while proportion refers to size relationships between parts of a hole , or between two or more items perceived as a unit. Emhasis means that our attention is drawn more to certain points of a composition than to others(134).The "Mona Lisa" also uses some of the same principles as the "Horse Head".In the "Mona Lisa" there is a sense of unity in the art work provided by the colors, lines and shapes that make it feel like a coherent whole.Also there is a variety of lines and colors. The sitters visual wieght is almost centered but is more to the right due to her position. There is an asymetrical balance of the painting projected by the sitter, like in "horse head".The scale and proportion of the sitters body is normal and is in direct proportion to the enviroment.The sitter is emphasized in the painting. Leonardo’s “Mona Lisa” portrays a mysterious smile.

The mood is the overall state or feeling the art work tries to project. The mood of an art work is very subjective and is mostly argued on. For example in the "Mona Lisa" there has been many opinions of the mood of the sitter that conflict with each other like, shes sad, happy,or worried. My opinion about the mood of the "Mona Lisa" is that the sitter is calm and peaceful. I fell this way because of her smile, the gaze in her eyes and the cool background. In contrast to the mood of de Vinci's "Mona Lisa", the mood of Picasso's "Horse Head" for "Guernica" based on its subject matter of politics and social order, is dramatic and violent. Pain is projected in the "Horse Head". The pain of the innocent people of Guernica.The medium and technique contributes to the mood of each work.

Picasso and de Vinci Both used the same medium of oil. Picasso used oil on canvas while de Vinci used oil on panal. De Vinci's "Mona Lisa" appears to be more detailed than picasso's "Horse Head".Both artists use the technique of, hidden brush stroke creating a nice contrast and clairity, allowing us to see the fine details. in the "Mona Lisa" this is used to see the contrast and light. Also it is used to see the contrast in picasso's Horse head.Since more color is used in the "Mona Lisa" it appears to be brighter than the "Horse Head".The medium and technique of the “Mona Lisa” supports the style of the painting.

Movement in art can be defined as the "tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal followed by a group of artist during a period of time"(wikipedia Movement).The "Mona Lisa" is a 16th century painting created by Learnodo de Vinci during the High Renesisance period in Italy. The Renesisance period was between the 1400 and 1700. Thier is no movement for the"Mona Lisa" because movements started in the 19th century."Renaissance is a period that brought a renewed intrest in classical art, architecture, literature, philosophy, politics, science, religion, and other aspects of intellectual enquiry(wikipedia renaissance) . The style used in the "Mona Lisa" is representationa.Most art work from this period are representational.The style representational means to present again the visible world in such a way that we recognize a likeness. The detail of the sitters face and body was represented. He represented the sitter in the real world and used a naturalistic approach to do so. Naturalistic art closely resembles the forms it protrays.

The "Horse Head" from Guernica is a 20th century painiting created by Piccaso, in Spain during the modernism movement. "Modernism is a tendency rooted in the idea that the "traditional" forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization and daily life had become outdated; therefore it was essential to sweep them aside(wikipedia modernism)". The style of the "Horse Head" is Abstract. Abstract is descritptive of art in which the forms of the visual world are purposefully simplified, fragmented, or otherwise distorted.Style referes to characteristic or group of characteristics that we recognize as constant, recurring,or coherent.The horse head is abstract because it does not look like a real horse in the world its picasso's version of a horse, for the art work.The abstract “Horse Head” was my favorite piece.

The reason “Horse Head” was my favorite piece was because I researched it’s theme, and found out that it had to do with Politics and Social order. Picasso used this piece to depict the violence that happened in Gurenica. The Nazis bombed this small town during WWII and killed many innocent people. The strong contrasts, and sharp lines move on diagonals, going helter skelter create the chaos. “The Mona Lisa” in contrast is a very traditional painting, but I chose it because it was famous and I wanted to know more about it. The composition is a pyramid structure which is very stable, and the implied light used by the artist creates a predictable light source. Although these works are very different it gave me a chance to learn a broader range of styles and intents of artists.

Bibliography

Getlein, Mark. Gilbert’s Living with Art. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005

" Aerial perspective." Wikipedia. 2007. 4 May 2007.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_perspective

"Modernism." Wikipedia. 2007. 4 May 2007.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernism

" Mona lisa." Wikipedia. 2007. 4 May 2007.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_lisa

"Movement." Wikipedia. 2007. 4 May 2007.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movement

" Renaissance." Wikipedia. 2007. 4 May 2007.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance