Debate Research in Art History Essay Example For Students

Debate Research in Art History Essay Debate That as Annunciation scenes (of the angel Gabriel telling the Virgin Mary she will bear the son of god) deal with the same subject, they will be very similar i.e. â€Å"Seen one Annunciation scene, seen them all.† Negative Team Hi, I am Camilla, the leader of the negative team summing up our case that if you have seen one annunciation scene you’ve certainly not seen them all. First I would like to recap in some detail the 2 sides to this debate. Affirmative Team The affirmative team claim that as Annunciation scenes shows the archangel Gabriel entering the house of the Virgin Mary to communicate to her that she will soon bear the child Jesus, whose name means the Savior. The scenes must be similar, repetitive, lacking in originality, static, they are all mere bland replicas of the same story, they have taken a narrow point of view dealing with works only up to the 16th century. They have failed to consider the general or original Annunciation style e.g. some well known iconography, amount of gold used and medium. Negative Team We however disagree, if you look at Annunciation scenes from the 19th century onwards, by artists of different gender, ethnicity and beliefs it is possible to see that different effects have been created through settings, color, gesture and figures. Even though the subject is the same, there are features which are innovative, different which bring out the artists own distinctive style in which they believe is their own personal painting on what the Annunciation really is. Even though these modern artists have been given influence from early renaissance artists it doesn’t mean that they cannot incorporate their own style within their paintings. Leading to conclude you that if you have seen one Annunciation scene you most definitely haven’t seen them all. Affirmative Team We would like to rebut the argument thank you. Negative Team Yes Affirmative Team Well in Martinis Annunciation for instance there is the marble floor, the archangel, the pot of lilies, the half closed book of Mary and her throne, and the gold background. This is very much the same as every other Annunciation scene I have seen..don’t you agree? There is no way these â€Å"modern† artists have taken a completely different look on the Annunciation and made it unique to the original painters like Martini. Negative Team Please go more in depth with what your trying to say. I would certainly like to hear more. Affirmative Team He has brought some realistic details into the painting by doing so. Martini has chosen a distinct and singular moment of the Annunciation to depict. His work is considered an absolute masterpiece and one of the greatest examples of Sienese Gothic painting, characterized by the wonderful elegance of both line and color. The Archangel has just touched ground in front of the Virgin as shown by his unfold wings and his swirling mantle. The scene seems a theatrical performance, as stressed by the comic strip like sentence in the middle of the composition with the greeting of the angel. Negative Team Can I just interrupt you there!! From what I am seeing right now, all of the figures to me are giving the same message as every other painting ive seen. I am starting to get very bored right now. Affirmative Team Well the Virgin Mary is portrayed almost surprised and frightened by the sudden appearance. Her movement, so prim and elegant, adds a certain effect of sophistication to the work. The altarpiece has a gold background, so bound to tradition, and still very much in demand for the depictions of sacred stories. These types of artists adhered therefore to what customers required. Well for this purpose Martini included some delightful details in the main scene as the marble floor, the mantle of the archangel, the pot of lilies, the half-closed book of Mary and her throne, all of which suggest a real space, otherwise penalized by the gold background. The painting is then fully Sienese for the beauty and the gentleness of lines and colors, just in opposition to Florentine style, more related to the volume and the shape. Martini has chosen a distinct and singular moment of the Annunciation to depict. The immediacy of the still-flowing cloak of Gabriel, the presence of the greeting that became a prayer and the holy distress of the Virgin are key aspects to the religious and artistic power and foresight that Simone Martini employed when executing this master altarpiece. His style elaborated Giotto, pushing the level of detail and attention to move even further. Affirmative Team Maybe you could convince me that all Annunciation scenes are not the same with your next paintings but I highly doubt it. My opinion is very strong towards this and I wont be changing my mind any time soon. Negative Team Well now to recap our argument based on research. Affirmative Team Go ahead. Negative Team First let us go back to John Colliers work who is an American artist born on June 26, 1948. His painting of the Annunciation (2000), is painting that is a beautiful example of inculturation–the Gospel penetrating to the deepest core of a culture. Affirmative Team What an earth are you talking about? Negative Team Well let me explain then. In the constant interplay between culture and faith, it is refreshing to come across an artist who is so aware that he has a dual duty; first to capture the figures of salvation history, and second to do so in a way that is familiar and challenging to his audience. Collier does an amazing job doing what artists have done for hundreds of years. Affirmative Team Doing what? Negative Team He contemporizes the moment of the angel’s greeting which is making it more modern. Affirmative Team That is pretty much what I have seen in every other painting. The same angel portraying the same message with the lilies right near him? Hutus' and Tutsis' EssayAffirmative Team The similarities from this painting are exact to most paintings I have seen so far. The overall look and message from this painting gives me no confirmation that its different. Its a bland replica of the same story, he’s failed to consider the general or original Annunciation style e.g. some well known iconography, amount of gold used and medium. I have nothing more to say about this painting. It disgusts me! Negative Team I would like to rebut thank you! He started getting inspired in religious art when he saw a painting of Madonna holding baby Jesus in her hands. What he got from this was a the peaceful message. He says his art is very open minded. His work is very Chinese influenced which reaches out to the people of China and the rest of the world. He Qi hopes to express the Gospel message through traditional Chinese art styles while introducing western colors to this tradition. He thinks he has to much suffering in his life that he doesn’t want to share it with the people in his artwork. He wants to always give a peaceful message. One can better understand the art of He Qi when it is seen as a reinterpretation of sacred art within an ancient Chinese art idiom. Chinese religious art, being an expression of Buddhism, was historically typified as a tranquil and utopian portrayal of nature, often painted with black ink and water. He Qi is especially influenced by the simple and beautiful artwork of the people in rural China. Within that framework, he seeks to redefine the relationship between people and spirituality with bold colors, embellished shapes and thick strokes. His work is a blend of Chinese folk art and traditional painting technique with the iconography of the Western Middle Ages and Modern Art. Affirmative Team I have nothing more else to say about this painting. It disgusts me Im very sorry! Negative Team Alrightthank you for your opinion. Another artist we dealt with was Henry Tanner. He was an African-American artist born in 1859–1937. He is a realist painter, focusing on accurate depictions of subjects. Tanners body of work is not limited to one specific approach to painting. His works vary from meticulous attention to detail in some paintings to loose, expressive brush strokes in others. He was also interested in the effects that colour could have in a painting. Many of his paintings accentuate a specific area of the color spectrum. The Annunciation expresses the intensity and fire of religious moments, and the elation of transcendence between the divine and humanity. Tanner often experimented with light in a composition. The source and intensity of light and shadow in his paintings create a physical, almost tangible space and atmosphere while adding emotion and mood to the environment. Affirmative Team Excuse me may I say that even though he has brought some sense of mood and emotion into the painting, I can still only think of how much this gives the same message as every other Annunciation scene ive seen. Mary is still the same young girl in every painting. Maybe you could persuade me to think otherwise but right now its just another replica after replica. Negative Team I’ve been trying to persuade you this whole time affirmative team. This is the last time I can prove a point to you. Maybe this time you will understand? In his Annunciation, we find a very young Mary visited by the indiscernible angel Gabriel, her face aglow in his glorious light as he announces the coming of her Son, the Messiah and Savior of the world. Her youth, innocence, and prayerful submission are dramatically portrayed by Tanner in a very humble, human setting. She is not â€Å"saintly† or other-worldly as are many presentations of the annunciation. She is a real girl found on a real day in a real setting. Notice her face. It is both a vision of uncertainty and obedience. It perfectly presents the question of her heart to the angel, â€Å"But how can I be with child when I have not known a man?† Her gown and the covers of her bed are amazingly presented to us by Tanner’s skill. And imagine the playfulness he must have had in presenting her few toes to us from under the blanket. Swaddled in a striped, luxuriantly wrinkly robe, Mary sits on her rumpled bed with folded hands and looks sideways at the apparition with a slightly suspicious expression. Turning the angel into such an abstraction makes the mystical event almost plausible for an age of science. He modernized to the extent of embracing Gauguin-like style. But that led to bland, flattened illustrations like those you might find in a mass-market Bible. In his last two decades he experimented with mixing different kinds of paint that he built up into layers usually keyed to a ghastly candy-blue colour. Affirmative Team I am sorry to say this negative team, Im still not convinced after all of these paintings that they are different? To me all I see is the same story repeated one after the other. Negative Team Sorry I wasn’t able to convince you today but thank you for your opinions affirmative team. Negative Team In conclusion we will reiterate our argument we concede that the Annunciation paintings deal with the same basic subject throughout any artist. But we have proven to you that artists not constrained patronage by patronage, of different ethnicity, following different art movements. They are inspired by their own distinctive agenda or style. Each individual â€Å"modern† artist have chosen to slightly incorporate their own beliefs into the each painting of the Annunciation scene. They have all produced very unique versions of the Annunciation so you cannot say â€Å"Seen one Annunciation scene, seen them all.