Ananya 1

Unit 1: Aesthetics & The Human Figure Comparison

Learning Goals

Success Criteria

B1.1
demonstrate the ability to support their
initial responses to a variety of art works with
informed understanding of the works artistic
form and function
B1.3
explain in detail, with reference to a variety
of historical and contemporary art works
how knowledge of a works cultural and historical
context, achieved through extensive
research, has clarified and enriched their
understanding and interpretation of a works
intent and meaning
B2.2
assess the impact of socio-economic, political,
cultural, and/or spiritual factors on the production
of art works

Iamabletointerpretandanalyzeworksofartandhowthe
artisthaschosentoportrayaspecificsubjectmatter
dependingonwhenitwasmade.
Icanexplainhowaworkofartisinfluencedbythe
historicalcontextandinwhatcultureitwascreated.Ican
successfullycritiquetheworkandunderstandwhatthe
intendedmeaningbehindtheworkis,andhowitisviewed
today.
Icanassesshowaworkofartchangesdependingonthe
socioeconomicbackgroundandcanlearntoappreciate
differentkindsofartworksbyfurtherexploringthecultural
connotationsofthework.

Task 1: John Bergers

Ways of Seeing
and Aesthetics Theory

AfterreadingpartsofJohnBergers
WaysofSeeing
andstudyingAestheticstheoryinclass,
choose
twoartworks
towriteacomparativeessayabout.YouwillchooseonefromWestern
cultureandonefromanonWesternculture(i.ePicassosLesDemoisellesdAvignonvs.
JapaneseTraditionalPrintmaking).Usingthe
aestheticstheory
,criticallyanalyzethedifferent
featureseachworkpossessesinrelationtothetreatmentofthefigure.Alsothinkaboutwhat
theymightshareincommon.
Choosea
clearperspective
onthetopicofaestheticsanddevelopyourthesis.Yourthesis
shouldbeclearlystated,andyoursupportingpointsshouldbeclear.
Pleasewrite
concisely
andclearly.
Pleaseletoneofyourpeers
proofread
youressay!
Write10001200wordsdoublespaced.
Your essay needs to include:
Name, Date, Title

Ananya Mohan, September 15 2015, Aesthetics

Introduction

Over the course of history, several people have

questioned aesthetics- what is it that makes a work of art
beautiful? It all lies in the eyes of the beholder- or, rather, in the
eyes of the beholders culture and time period, really.

Thesis Statement

The two artworks set in different time periods and

places,
The Girl with the Pearl Earring
by Johannes Vermeer,
and
Womans Portrait Paintingby S Elayaraja share similarities

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and differences that make them ideal to their own civilization,

form, and notion of beauty.

Introductory
Paragraph Artwork #1
& #2

This notion is what reflects the theory of Aestheticism: a

theory to what makes art beautiful and unique; the societys
ideals of beauty. Likewise, every work of art is viewed from a
different set of aesthetics of a certain place and time period.
While in a certain art period, a certain work of art would be
considered meaningful and significant, in another, it could be
considered just the opposite. The two artworks set in different
time periods and places,
The Girl with the Pearl Earring
by
Johannes Vermeer, and
Womans Portrait Painting
by S
Elayaraja share similarities and differences that make them
ideal to their own civilization, form, and notion of beauty.

Support Thesis:
Compare & Contrast
Specific details
-Aesthetics Theory

Similarities:
- Women
- Looking at the viewer
- Playing with light
- Oil paints
- Painted by men
- Mysterious
- Drapes
- Exoticism
- One is natural exotic, the other wears a turban to
LOOK exotic
Differences
- GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARING
- Dutch Golden age painting
- figure is posing
- fair, dutch lady (beauty)
- cool colours
- sudden dark environment
- Woman Portrait Painting
- Realism
- doing household work (beauty)
- Captured moment of real life
- Indian lady
- looking directly at you
- warm colours

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environment

Conclude your
comparison

In conclusion, even though two separate artworks from

different time periods and places have countless differences,
they come down to sharing some assumptions of art that
somehow makes them connected. Therefore, The Girl with the
Pearl Earring and Woman Portrait Painting, although set four
centuries and miles apart of notions of beauty, form, and
civilization, they still share several similarities, creating an
aesthetic link of form, beauty, and exoticism in civilization
between them.

Images & URL

https://www.google.com.hk/imgres?imgurl=https://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Meisje_met_de_parel.jpg&imgrefurl=htt
ps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_with_a_Pearl_Earring&h=4794&w=40
95&tbnid=-WO7UBS6sE7nxM:&tbnh=160&tbnw=136&usg=__FAGEkf
Girl with The Pearl Earring

ysGlAEYnulzK1IszPtXUk=&docid=-RMi2yZzmV1l5M&sa=X&ved=0CC
QQ9QEwAGoVChMIqeH3sMz2xwIVBpGOCh1BkQTb
Woman Portrait Painting

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http://webneel.com/daily/sites/default/files/images/daily/06-2015/17-re
alistic-tamil-woman-painting-by-ilayaraja.jpg
Works Cited Page

"S.ELAYARAJAARTIST."
S.ELAYARAJAARTIST
.Web.17
Sept.2015.<http://elayarajaartgallery.com/aboutme.html>.
"GirlwithaPearlEarring."
GIRLWITHAPEARLEARRINGby
JohannesVermeer
.Web.17Sept.2015.
<http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/girl_with_a_pearl
_earring.html#.VfmuMBGqqko>.
"GirlwithaPearlEarring."
GirlwithaPearlEarring
.Web.17
Sept.2015.<http://www.frick.org/exhibitions/mauritshuis/670>.
"HeilbrunnTimelineofArtHistory."
ExoticismintheDecorative
Arts
.Web.17Sept.2015.
<http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/exot/hd_exot.htm>.

*You may use personal pronouns such as I since it is a comparison based on your understanding
of Aesthetics theory in visual arts
DUE:ThursdaySeptember17th

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Ananya Mohan
Ms. Krause
AVI4M
15 September 2015

Four Centuries and Miles Apart

Over the course of history, several people have questioned aesthetics- what is it
that makes a work of art beautiful? It all lies in the eyes of the beholder- or, rather, in the
eyes of the beholders culture and time period, really. This notion is what reflects the
theory of Aestheticism: a theory to what makes art beautiful and unique; the societys
ideals of beauty. Likewise, every work of art is viewed from a different set of aesthetics of
a certain place and time period. While in a certain art period, a certain work of art would
be considered meaningful and significant, in another, it could be considered just the
opposite. The two artworks set in different time periods and places,
The Girl with the
Pearl Earring
by Johannes Vermeer, and
Womans Portrait Painting
by S Elayaraja
share similarities and differences that make them ideal to their own civilization, form, and
notion of beauty.

The Girl with the Pearl Earring

by Johannes Vermeer, and
Womans Portrait
Painting
by S Elayaraja
differ
in ways of their aesthetic assumptions of form, civilization,

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and beauty. Firstly, although both of the artworks are realistic looking, the artworks still
follow a different style of art, showing the assumption of the civilization which is
reflective of their different places and time periods. While The Girl with the Pearl
Earring happens to have been created in the 17th century Dutch Golden Age, the
Woman Portrait Painting follows the realism style of present-day art of South India, each
style considered to be beautiful in their own respective assumption of beauty. Secondly,
as a realism artist, where Elayaraja has attempted to capture a natural moment of the life
of a rural Indian lady, on the other hand, Vermeer made his subject
pose
for him to paint.
In addition, aesthetically colour-wise, while Vermeer uses cool colours and a dramatic
dark background for The Girl with the Pearl Earring, Elayaraja uses warm colours and a
natural environment of a rural household to further complement their assumption of
beauty in their art styles. Finally, although both the painters are men, who happen to be
painting women, their own assumption of beauty is unique. For instance, the South Indian
woman in the Woman Portrait Painting is shown doing household work, which
embodies the assumption of beauty because household tasks are considered ideal,
proper, feminine, hence,
beautiful
for women in rural South India to be seen doing;
making her appear perfect and aesthetically pleasing to a South Indian viewer. On the
other hand, Dutch Vermeers definition of beauty of a woman is different. The woman in
his painting is not looking directly at the viewer, but rather, is looking off at a distance.
She is not doing work, but only painted to show her fair beauty and jewellery- illustrating
the fact of what the Dutch considered beauty in a woman to be- fair and prim.
Therefore, the paintings The Girl with the Pearl Earring and Woman Portrait Painting
differ in terms of their aesthetic assumptions of what is considered to be ideal in terms of
form, civilization, and beauty.
Although the two different artworks The Girl with the Pearl Earring and Woman
Portrait Painting have several differences, they share many
similarities
such as the form,
and in the idea of exoticism in the assumption of civilization. Firstly, other than sharing
the same medium of oil paint, both the works of art include the subject of a solo woman
figure as the main form. In addition, there is something mysterious that the viewer feels
by seeing both the paintings of the women, making the artworks similar in a way. Where
in one painting, the the lady is staring off into the distance of unknown, that too standing
in front of a dark black background, the lady in the Woman Portrait Painting looks
directly into the eyes of the viewer. Through these mysterious expressions in the faces of
both figures, the viewer feels more intrigued and has the need to question the painting.
Secondly, in terms of the aesthetic form inside the paintings, the drapes in the turban (an
Indian head dress) of The Girl with the Pearl Earring and the drapes in the traditional
Indian dress of the Woman Portrait Painting create a sense of harmony. Furthermore, a
similarity both the artworks contain is the artists way of playing with light to create a very

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similar mood. Somehow, both Vermeer and Elyaraja end up creating a dark work of art.
While Vermeers painting has a dramatic chiaroscuro change of light between the
subject and the background, Elyaraja shows a gradual change of light, which still creates
a confused, uncomfortable mood. Finally, both women subjects somehow correlate to
exoticism, which comes under the assumptions of civilization. Where even the
present-day Woman Portrait Painting
is
considered exotic to the West as the lady in
the painting is a Dravidian in her traditional South Indian clothes, The Girl with the Pearl
Earring, a Dutch lady, has tied on a turban in an attempt to
look
exotic. This is an
example of civilization because it tells us about the age of exploration in Europe, where
the search for exoticism in such parts of Africa and Asia were considered a trend and an
obsession. Therefore, the artworks of Vermeer and Elyaraja contain similarity in terms of
their subject, their correlation to exoticism, as well as different forms of aesthetics that
help achieve a similar mood.
In conclusion, even though two separate artworks from different time periods and
places have countless differences, they come down to sharing some assumptions of art
that somehow makes them connected. Therefore, The Girl with the Pearl Earring and
Woman Portrait Painting, although set four centuries and miles apart of notions of
beauty, form, and civilization, they still share several similarities, creating an aesthetic link
of form, beauty, and exoticism in civilization between them.

Work Cited:

"S.ELAYARAJAARTIST."
S.ELAYARAJAARTIST
.Web.17Sept.2015.
<http://elayarajaartgallery.com/aboutme.html>.
"GirlwithaPearlEarring."
GIRLWITHAPEARLEARRINGbyJohannesVermeer
.
Web.17Sept.2015.
<http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/girl_with_a_pearl_earring.html#.VfmuMB
Gqqko>.
"GirlwithaPearlEarring."
GirlwithaPearlEarring
.Web.17Sept.2015.
<http://www.frick.org/exhibitions/mauritshuis/670>.
"HeilbrunnTimelineofArtHistory."
ExoticismintheDecorativeArts
.Web.17Sept.
2015.<http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/exot/hd_exot.htm>.