Zooming In

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November 10, 2005

MFA Assignment

Wooden floors that others have walked on before me. Art filling the white of the walls. Oriental rugs plastering the floors. Slate and Granite floors from Santa Fe. Wisdom and books, changing emotions. Works of art brought back from various countries. Tastes of culture, experience. Posted works of young children's creativity. Artwork showing progression, stages. Eclectic yet modern appearance. The Ansel Adams exhibit is like home to me.

Berger states, "Yet when an image is presented as a work of art, the way people look at it is affected by a whole series of learnt assumptions about art." I think that most people believe that artwork in museums are always great and deserve to be housed there. I think this causes people to force themselves to like artwork just because it is in a museum. That should not be the case. Artwork sold on the streets should be considered just as much "art" as the Mona Lisa is. Needless to say, personal taste affects perceptions on art.

Trees, Illouette Ride, Yosemite National Park, about 1945: Landscape This is an amazing photograph. The foreground has two large trees growing close to each other. It seems as if one is alive and the other is dead. The one that is dead is stripped bare of its bark, while the other is alive, and every grain of existence is evident in its textured, lively bark. At the roots, pinecones and bark are untouched, surrounding the earth beneath these trees. He incorporated the three levels of visual data in this photograph in various ways. First of all, Adams is trying to symbolize the cycle of life and death in nature. Representation is displayed in the scene by two polarized opposites right next to each other. Alive and dead. The abstractness of the photograph is focused on the texture of the trees, bare and rough, light and dark. This abstract style Ansel implements pays careful attention to shape and color rather than reality.

Mr. Shepard at his home, Independence, California, about 1936: Portrait The man in the photograph, or Mr. Shepard, is weathered by the passage of time. His wrinkles are deep, an indication of how old, and how rough his life has seemed to be. He looks permanently tied to the chair, which goes with the house. Mr. Shepard always has and always will be a part of the house he is in front of. One needs to look closely to see him, the white, paint-peeling fence is in the foreground and Mr. Shepard almost seems a blur. He blends in with the house, as if Adams caught him in an unexpected moment. The relationship between the old man and the house was particularly of importance to Adams. He was trying to communicate that. This image is symbolic because it displays the typical preconception of an old man. The photograph is a representation of aging, because it shows how the house has grown old with Mr. Shepard. Additionally, this piece is abstract because it did not capture his face directly. Although a portrait, Mr. Shepard is in the background, hidden by the fence protruding in front of him. This relates to Adam’s landscapes because it shows a single view of the house.

Museum Storeroom, de Young Museum, San Francisco about 1935: Abstract This photograph is rare and amazing, it shows museums behind the scenes. The storeroom in the photograph represents generations of art and histories. The molds and sculptures of animals and people look as if they are in motion, unaware of the audience. The molds seem to be moving, arms are raised to the ceiling, feet are perched in the air, and some statues are crouched, almost human. Ansel Adams tried to show what we don’t always see in museums and this was important to him because even he is unfamiliar with basements of museums. This photograph is definitely symbolic of general art. Representation in this piece shows the real world, and that all people are multidimensional, just like art. This is represented by the shadows in the room. Lastly, this photograph relates to Adam’s work as a landscape artist because it just shows an untouched scene, left as it is.

Trailer Camp Children, Richmond California, 1944: Picture that speaks to me I could keep looking at this picture and not get over the emotions I see on the children’s faces. Their faces are history. They represent poverty, the collapse of wartime economy and they are the foundations of what we as a society are today. There are three children in the foreground; they are the focus of the photograph. Their faces reveal grief and despair. The oldest child is watching over the younger children, a toddler and an infant. There are signs of fatigue under the children’s eyes. There are wrinkles where there should be pure, smooth skin. These kids are hardened, absent and distant but yet they are still there. They are captured and alive in the photograph, stored on film, a single second in time. Dirt is prevalent on their clothes, there is even dirt between the fingernails. The children seem genderless, as one cannot tell who is a boy or who is a girl. The photograph is a strong image, caught in the right moment. Out of the three kids, only the infant is looking at the camera, and the eyes are the windows to the soul. They are us. To capture such an image, is a work of art. To reveal emotions so powerful makes this photograph speak to me.

Posted by lcissearls at November 10, 2005 12:33 AM

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