Image Analysis: The Scream by Edward Munch

“The Scream” was painted Edward Munch in 1893 and continues to be revered. At first glance, you notice that there is a bald man dressed in black. Though if you look closer your able to notice a few key details about this man. The first thing that you’ll notice is a man screaming at something. This man also has his hands on his face while he is yelling. His facial expressions also allude the man might be shocked about something that just happened recently.  There are also other key details about this painting, surrounding the screaming man. That would be the   other two men found in this painting. One of the people is looking at the screaming man with the other man having his head turned back. All three

of the people are on a bridge, but there is some distance between screaming man and other two men. There's also a small lake on the side with a boat on it. A key feature of this painting is that the colors seem to be gloomy and depressing. The only bright color used is orange and yellow, for the sky. Munch probably did this to symbolize that the day is over or beginning. All in all this painting uniqueness is why it's cherished by many even 100 years later.
Discussion Questions:
 1. Why do you believe this man is screaming?
2.  Is there a reason why this man is dressed in black?

Police Brutality

Blog Post 3: Illustrative analysis

Police brutality has been one of the biggest issues facing our country. From the spiteful stop and frisk to reckless killings of innocent civilians. Furthermore, a great deal of the victims of police brutality have been of the African American nationality. The picture above does a great job of emphasizing on the racial component. As we all know, African Americans were at one point considered less than a human or slaves. The word Negro was once used to belittle or even ridicule slaves in the early years of our country history. Even today, we see the word still brings about an unpleasant atmosphere. I believe the illustrator’s use of the word is justified because of its context. The gentleman holding the rifle is a common children’s cartoon character known as Elmer Fudd. He is notorious for hunting fellow animals in a cartoon. Another interesting part of this political cartoon is the clothes Fudd is wearing. He is dressed in modern day police uniform. This is one of the most important parts of this cartoon because it portrays law enforcement as uneducated. Elmer Fudd is not the brightest fellow, which I believe is suggesting police as the same. Once you combine these three parts, it really drives home a message. Not only are African Americans dying unlawfully at the hands of law officials, but those who are wearing a badge are not properly educated. Lastly I would like to point out the fact that Fudd is frowning. This is indicative of aggression, another fault of law enforcement. The constant use of excessive force leaves questions. One may wonder if the crime matched the consequence or if other emotional factors hindered the officer’s decision. All in All, this picture does a great job of comically detailing an issue.

Gustav Klimt, The Kiss

This is an image of Klimt's famous painting, The Kiss, created sometime between 1907-1908. When people first glance at this image their eyes are automatically drawn to the gold coloring along with the gold leaf in the center of the painting. Some people think that the gold resembles some sort of spiritual icon or a connection to religion, but I think Klimt does this so the audience observes the layout of the two beings.  While looking at the man and the woman, we can see the love and the passion Klimt portrays in the entanglement of their bodies. We can see that the woman has her fingers gently placed on the man's, and that the man's elongated neck is stretches around the woman's face to show unity. Now looking around the two bodies, we can see a contrast in the two shades of gold. This gives the conclusion that they are 'lost' in the kiss and completely separated from the world around them. Another contrast in this painting is the geometric shapes in the man and the flowery print in the woman. The rectangle envelopes show that he is masculine, whereas the woman has flowers that connect to her femininity and mother nature. Basically Gustav Klimt's The Kiss is a painting of a man and a women embracing each other as they kiss.

Image Analysis - Dark Souls II Promotional Art

 The image I am analyzing is promotional art for the game Dark Souls II. The slogan of the series is "prepare to die", as the game is very challenging and punishes those who don't learn from mistakes. The game also gives a fulfilling feeling when you overcome an obstacle due to its difficulty, which is much of the appeal of the series. This image encapsulates the nature of Dark Souls. The center of the image is the player character riddled with arrows and kneeling down, as if in defeat. Obviously, the player character had just come out of battle, as you can see two bodies on either bottom corner. The player character is looking upwards at the sun, possibly the goal that they are trying to reach, but failed before they could reach it. The sun representing the goal of the player also represents the constant uphill struggle that the player faces in the game. The sun is also the brightest point in the picture, which brings the eye up from the player character towards it, again symbolizing an uphill challenge. With the nature of the game, one would assume from this image that the player has now learned what lies ahead, and instead of being defeated at this point, they will be able to pass with more success and get closer to their goal.

Grandpa Emory

This is photo of my grandfather on my mom’s side. He died almost a year ago and his name and face has been slowly popping up in my house as of recently. Most family or intimate photos are unseen by anyone who is not in the family mostly because they are personal or would not have much value in others’ lives. I find that family photos are the most that hold story. This photo is interesting to me because it is almost the beginning of my family. I look at it and see my mom, my aunt, my uncles, grandmother and cousins. I honestly do not even think that this picture would mean much to me if he had not had passed. Which was odd to me until I thought of how many memories this picture holds even though it is just one person. I can start to remember the mannerism he used or the way he made sweet potato pie, all from one graduation picture. It is odd to me how a photo can hold so much memories and people can just disregard the photo because it has no background to us. It fascinates me that you cannot distinguish this photo from photos today. This style of graduation photo has not changed much with time. Although the cameras and quality of the photos have increased the way graduates face and the what is worn has not changed much and he looks genuinely happy. There are not many things from a graduation photo that can tell what period it’s from other than the quality of it.  

Girl at Mirror

This image, Girl at Mirror, was painted in 1954 by Norman Rockwell. The little girl, maybe ten years old, is analyzing her face in the mirror, seemingly comparing it to the woman's face in the magazine that sits on her lap. Her expression appears disappointed with the reflection that she sees as she touches her cheeks. Strewn on the ground beside her is lipstick, a hair brush, and a comb. She has seemingly discarded her doll, as it lays on the ground on its side. I believe that this painting represents the apprehension that young girls experience to becoming women. The girl in the image is clearly very young, and not quite yet of the typical age to be concerned with makeup. However, after seeing the woman in the magazine, she has tossed aside her doll, and become focused on and disappointed by her appearance. The doll, symbolizing her youth and childhood, is not a priority to her any longer. She even wears a white dress, symbolizing her innocence and purity, contrasting with the dark tones of the painting surrounding her, symbolizing her dark doubts and fears about becoming a woman. The anxiety she holds is present on her face as she compares her reflection with the woman in the magazine, maybe wondering if she's beautiful enough for womanhood. The models in the magazines give young girls an incredibly unrealistic idea of what you should look or be like as a woman, and because of that, I think that is girl is afraid of leaving her childhood.

"Analyzing Abstract" by Linda Apple

“Analyzing Abstract” by Linda Apple

Hello. This is me analyzing a painting of a man analyzing a painting. It’s an ironic painting right? The painting actually only becomes ironic once the viewer decides to analyze it.

The genre of the painting is a portrait because the focus of the painting is a person, but the sculpture and paintings within the painting are abstract. The subject comes across as a modest, scholarly man. His position clearly indicates that the he is in deep thought with the painting he stands in front of: hand on his chin, his left foot leans towards the painting to symbolize that he is welcoming it in "conversation" (it is said that in group situations, people’s feet face toward the people they are welcoming in conversation). What the viewers are left to interpret is what this man is thinking. He could easily be a self-conscious person who knows he’s being analyzed so he’s making himself appear as though he is deep in thought and cares about understanding the abstract painting. Although, he could also be looking at the painting and thinking about what it means to him and how he can relate the art to his past life-choices.

What this painting means to me is that all art is meant to satisfy the viewer... if the viewer takes the time to find meaning, especially abstract art as it is often made fun of for having ridiculous value for its appearance.