When I got my second project assignment for my Writing, Research, and Technology class I was trying to wrack my brain how I could get out of traveling to Philly, seeing as I didn’t have a day off from until the weekend right before it was due. I had been working everyday of my spring break except for one day when I had plans to travel to Washington D.C. for the zoo and to hit up the art museum for this project while I was down there. Unfortunately, the zoo took up our whole day and I didn’t even get back home until midnight.
I searched the internet to see if there were any museums I could get to in the South Jersey area and everywhere around here either was too much money for me or was open only when I was working. I stumbled across a website that had a local (historical) art exhibit in Mullica Hill and I was able to explore it a couple of hours before I had to be in at work. The best part was it was free! I try to enjoy the little things in life, so local history and local art was something I was also interested in seeing.
I searched the internet to see if there were any museums I could get to in the South Jersey area and everywhere around here either was too much money for me or was open only when I was working. I stumbled across a website that had a local (historical) art exhibit in Mullica Hill and I was able to explore it a couple of hours before I had to be in at work. The best part was it was free! I try to enjoy the little things in life, so local history and local art was something I was also interested in seeing.
I walked into the small room and was instantly drawn to everything at once. People who had not lived far from where I did had done every painting, quilt, photograph, drawing, and model in the room and I could sense the history flowing out from each and every one of them. It was breathtaking! To be standing in the presence of art that captured so much and yet I would never be able to fully appreciate it because of how we live today. I was seeing what the artist had seen and capture the moment in a work of art. In “Ways of Seeing” John Berger writes, “Images were first made to conjure up the appearances of something that was absent. Gradually it became evident that an image could outlast what it represented; it then showed how something or somebody had once looked – and thus by implication how the subject had once been seen by other people” (pg 10).
Two pieces really got to me. At first I passed them by and looked at everything else. When I came back to them I really just tried to take it all in. Berger states, “In a painting all its elements are there to be seen simultaneously. The spectator may need time to examine each element of the painting but whenever he reaches a conclusion, the simultaneity of the whole painting is there to reverse or qualify his conclusion” (pg 26). Then I started to read the cards. They were both by the same artist and both were done by oil. I don’t know if you’ve ever worked with oil, but it is a huge pain. One small move and you can ruin the painting. It takes a lot of skill and patience to work with that media. I came to appreciate both pieces even more. Berger has something to say on the effect reading a sentence or the history of the painting has an effect on the viewer. He claims, “It is hard to define exactly how the words have changed the image but undoubtedly they have. The image now demonstrates the sentence” (pg 26). The sentences did have an effect on me. Because I now knew they were oil paintings, they became that much more impressive because of the difficulty of the media.
The studium of the picture was for me that the men in the painting seemed to blend in with the background. The colors used for their clothes were used as the backdrop items as well. The puntum for me was the man on the ladder. It seems that he is missing his right leg. Now, it could be in front of him drapped over the top of the ladder, but where he’s standing that position would be uncomfortable, and his leg would be extended and not able to be bent down. The fact that you can not see it extended out on an angle, makes me question if he really has a right leg and if not how did he get up that ladder without it? (For “studium” and “punctum” definitions and examples see previous blogs.)
I noticed that some pieces of work were behind glass casing while others had almost nothing stopping the viewer from touching the oil, paint, or cloth. So I started looking at the cards. Just quick glances at the bottom. Everything that was behind protection was either bought by the museum or really fragile. The open displays were donations to the museum. I felt somewhat appalled by this. I found that most of what could potentially be easily destroyed by a careless patron was far more valuable to me than what was protected. What canvases had enraptured me were not as valuable to the museum as the displays that they had to pay out of pocket for. So according to Berger, because the museum puts a value on certain pieces they become a “holy relic” because there’s a price associated with them. So Berger asks the question, “to whom does the meaning of art of the past properly belong? To those who can apply it to their own lives, or to a cultural hierarchy of relic specialists?” (pg 32).
I noticed that some pieces of work were behind glass casing while others had almost nothing stopping the viewer from touching the oil, paint, or cloth. So I started looking at the cards. Just quick glances at the bottom. Everything that was behind protection was either bought by the museum or really fragile. The open displays were donations to the museum. I felt somewhat appalled by this. I found that most of what could potentially be easily destroyed by a careless patron was far more valuable to me than what was protected. What canvases had enraptured me were not as valuable to the museum as the displays that they had to pay out of pocket for. So according to Berger, because the museum puts a value on certain pieces they become a “holy relic” because there’s a price associated with them. So Berger asks the question, “to whom does the meaning of art of the past properly belong? To those who can apply it to their own lives, or to a cultural hierarchy of relic specialists?” (pg 32).
The history of the art was quite interesting and it’s sad to say, but I don’t think many people visit the museum that I had. They only have certain exhibits for a certain amount of time, but the history is so important to Mullica Hill and South Jersey. I wish more people would go take the time to appreciate the history that surrounds them. It was a very educational time there and I’d like to see more when they change out exhibits.
Works Cited:
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing.London, England: Penguin Books Ltd., 1972. Print.
Works Cited:
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing.London, England: Penguin Books Ltd., 1972. Print.