Name: Emma Farr

Class period/section: MWF 10AM

1) Which museum did you visit? Univ. of Utah 2) Describe at least one of the permanent collection exhibits on a theme, period, geographic region, or topic) within the museum. {150 words}

The Marriner S. Eccles Collection of Masterworks is a permanent collection, which contains a range of works including; Memento Mori, Anthropoid Coffin, and The Ambush of Captain Allan Mclane. These three pieces merely represent a small portion of the artworks included in this vast collection. The First, Memento Mori (my personal favorite) you see a painting with varying objects, including a watch, fancy possessions, a skull crowned in ivy and multiple other significant artifacts. The watch is there representing the time you have to live, and serves as a reminder that immortality is unacheivable. Fancy possesions including a chalice, feathers, and gold, represent that which you cannot take with you in passing. The skull in the dark corner of the piece is a reminder that death waits for all in the shadows. The Ivy, crowning the skull, brings about a glimmer of hope because, traditionally, it is a symbol of immortality. This piece serves as a reminder to the living that death is inevitable, rather than representing death as it has already occured. The title, which translates into the phrase remember death, as well as the cut flowers in a vase, represents the fragility of life. The second, Anthropoid Coffin, is an Egyptian coffin from the 26th Dynasty (664-525 BCE) that is made of Wood and painted with traditional heiroglyphic writing. Because only the rich could afford such resting places, and would even

still save up their entire lives for this honor, mummification was thought of in the highest regard. The Third piece, The Ambush of Captain Allan Mclane, is a perfect representation of man escaping death, but only for a moment. It depicts a historical event, which occurred in 1778 near Philadelphia, where the Captain successfully escapes the intended end to his life. However, one of the attackers meets death, alluding to the idea that no man can calculate death, and no man is free from it. The common theme among the three pieces is death. In these three pieces, you see death represented diversely. In the first piece you see a warning to the living to remember death, as it will one day claim us all. In the second, you see death as it has already occurred, and the glorification that comes with passing. In contrast to the glorification and rememberance of death coming to us all, the third piece shows an intended victim escaping the reaping, and an attacker dying in his place.

3) Give a brief, one paragraph description of a special, temporary exhibit (for help, ask museum staff what these are; they are usually in one of the first rooms). {100 words} The temporary exhibit Under Pressure displays contemporary pieces from the collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his family foundation. This collection includes screen prints, wood cut outs, collages, and lithographs. These pieces are untraditional, meaning they contain specific messages that make you think about what the artist is trying to communicate vs. the traditional paintings

depicting portraits and to-scale representations of how things really look. One example of this is the piece titled Bull Profile Series which is a six piece series that seems to depict the evolution of cubism, starting with a black and white typical cow picture, and concluding with a piece that resembles colorful random shapes.

4) What do you think the museum administration and/or exhibit curators want you to learn or gain from the exhibits you viewed? {100 word minimum} The curators intent behind the exhibit production is to show a range of culturally diverse pieces ranging from artifacts of ancient civilizations, to contemporary pieces made in more recent years. This indicates that the museum administrators want to appeal to varying groups of people. They want us to understand that the art we are used to, whatever it may be is not the only art form out there. They want to provide a diverse selection so that people can be culturally aware, and realize that any one art form is not all there is. Because there are so many ways to view the world, they want peopple to get a fresh look at the world around them and maybe see it through someone elses eyes. The Curators intend for the viewer to ask questions, they want to intrigue patrons and provoke emotion through pieces that are not an everyday ocurance for most. An example of this is Shigeyuki Kiharas Faafafine: In the Manner of A Woman, which challenges gender roles in a series of 3 photographs of a woman sitting on a fainting couch. In the first photo, she is wearing a traditional grass skirt, in the second; the grass skirt is removed, leaving her naked. In the third, and final photo she remains in the same position, except you see that she has a penis. In todays American culture, this is out of the ordinary, but she sits confidently on the couch making the viewer question themselves for

being taken aback by this. This make you think about the way you view the world and why. If you look at a photo and ask yourself why you were either offended or intrigued by something, the curators are successful in their selections.

5) What kind of information is provided about the works? Where might you look for further information if you were interested? (Name three possibilities)

The information given regarding the works is the name of the artist, their life span (in years), the title of the piece, the year it was created, the medium used, the size, and the publisher. On some of the pieces, they provide background information, and occasionally a brief analysis of the works. This information is found on a plaque on the wall next to the piece. Three possible sources for additional information include, the Internet, the Library, or Museum staffers (as well as the occasional pamphlet).

6) Choose several works that particularly appealed to you. Explain why you were drawn to these works. Comment on the subject, style, medium, time period, etc. Who were the artists? What message do you think the artists were trying to convey in the works you chose to discuss? This question must be answered in its entirety. {This should be at least 500 words}

Private Car by LeConte Stewart, Oil on Canvas, The Great Depression. In this piece, the men have no faces, because they dont represent any one man, they represented the masses in their unemployment and frantic migration to find work. Similarly, the landscape has no finite landmarks, which represents the varying parts of the country that the depression affected. It was noted on the plaque next to the painting that the owner of the railroad would

arrive to work in a chauffered limosine. These varying situations are pertinent because in the one scenario, you feel bad for the railway company because of the loss of funds from the unauthorized riders, but when you hear about the limosine situation, you dont feel so bad. My eye was drawn to this piece because of the vivid colors and apparent representation of the depression and the vast effect it had in peoples lives. The vivid, complimentary contrasts of the blue in the shadows with the vivid redorange of the boxcar make the portrait appealing to look at. I love the title Private Boxcar because of the tounge-in-cheek nod it gives to the owner he witnessed pulling up in his limosine to work everyday (who would be able to pay for his own private box) as opposed to the man standing in the doorway in a stance that says he runs the place.

Portrait of Sir Anthony Van Dyck, Oil on Canvas, between 1700 and 1734 This painting caught my eye because of the facial expression of the subject. He is holding a marble face, which gave me the impression that he was superior to whatever he was holding in his hand. This man was a famous sculptor, and the object he holds in his hand is a representation of his accomplishments. I liked this portrait because it seemed out of the ordinary for the era, in that, the man, possibly due to his mustache, looked as if he were smirking. I also liked that he was holding an artifact that he felt described his life. The message that he was clearly trying to get across is that the man depicted

was a skilled sculptor, represented by his smirk and seeming superiority over this sculpture in his hand.

Untitled, Jasper Johns, Lithograph, 1980 This piece was intriguing to me from an artistic view because of the representation of the three primary colors, red, yellow, and blue. This piece almost looks like a couple of color wheels and the typical set up for beginning a painting. The colors, mixed below resemble that of an artists palette, wh ich is appealing to artists specifically, because it is familiar. I think that the message trying to be sent in this piece is to show the artists palette without making it overly recognizable. This is an image that was probably very familiar to Johns, and he shares this familiarity, and possibly fond memory with people to understand the beauty in the creation of art and not just in the final piece itself.

Untitled (We will no longer be seen and not heard), Barbara Kruger, Colored Lithographs, 1985 I liked this piece because of the social message it sends. In sign language, you see a series of nine people signing each word. This concept is interesting because it gives emphasis to both the fact that it doesnt have to state that it is referring to the deaf community, it only presents an action associated with them. Having nine different frames helps to put an emphasis on the message being communicated.

The artist is clearly one involved in the deaf community, they are tired of people looking at them like theyre not human, and look over them like they arent capable of doing things that other people can do.

7) How did the artworks you looked at relate to material we have discussed in class? (They do relate in many ways, you just need to look for those relationships). {Minimum of 150 words} Roger Shimomuras piece Mistaken Identities: for Dorothea Lange is the embodiment of the discussions regarding Japanese internment in the United States. Dorothea Lange, a famous photographer, was an artist credited with capturing the migrant mother during the great depression. Langes works extend to other civil disputes, including Japanese internment. She captures many photos of Japanese Americans, many of which had a tag hanging from their clothing as if they were stock. This Lithograph depicts a Japanese woman with the tag that Lange captured, hanging from her tunic. The shapes behind this woman indicate that there are many others standing behind her. Because this piece was made in 2005, it is apparent that this is a refelction of the past, and even a nod or thank you directed at Lange for capturing this piece of history in its honest form, and not sugar coating it for the rest of America. Because the Artist is a Japanese American, this may have been something he lived through with his family and other people in the exact scenario. The time delay indicates that this is still a scar that America retains, and although the years pass without these camps today, as long as someone remembers how it felt, it never will fully be forgiven.

8) What was your personal reaction to this experience? Would you enjoy attending this type of event again? Why or why not? {Minimum 100 words}

I love museums, I always have, but this experience, and more specifically, this class, has helped me to humanize the artists and therefore be able to look at the works objectively. What I mean by that is, in the past, I would walk into a museum and look at a piece and think that because it was in a museum, it was wonderful. Now I walk into a museum, look at a piece, and formulate my own opinion. Because I consider myself an artist, I like to draw inspiration from other peoples work and to educate myself on differing techniques. So, I will definitely return to various museums in the future.