Aunt Jemima

There was another piece in the book that I had recognized from high school, and that was The Liberation of Aunt Jemima by Betye Saar. For some reason this particular piece always interested me. Perhaps, like many of my other favorites, it depicts the ugly side of life rather than the beauty of our world. The woman depicted is not lovely in any way, but rather portrays all the less flattering stereotypes of African-Americans. One version shows the pancake figure holding a broom, pistol, and a rifle while a second version depicts a more motherly type holding a white child. In the center is a black fist raised up as a symbol of pride.
It is not the most beautiful piece of artwork, but I think that’s what I like most about it. It’s more ‘real’ and portrays the unflattering side of life we so often like to ignore. It’s in your face and you can’t look away, and that’s why I find it so interesting. Nothing is better than the smell of coffee beans, bitter and strong with nothing to temper the scent. That is what this artwork is like with the visual sense. There’s no sugarcoating something like this. It’s raw.
We like to think of Aunt Jemima as sweet and wholesome, but in Saar’s work, she is strong and foreboding. There is nothing sweet and pretty about this. Not even the child is the cute cherub face we so often like to coo over. I guess I’m just attracted to the bitter sense of reality and give credit to those that have the courage to stand up and shove it in your face. Otherwise we’re all living in a dream world where everything is just a matter of the perception of beauty.

A Light in the Dark

One painting that stood out to me most was Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. It’s difficult to say why, but I found myself completely intrigued by this work. I suppose I am one of the realists in the class, and I tend to enjoy paintings such as Hopper’s more than abstract expressionists’. What drew me in most was the dim look on American life. Instead of bright, inspirational works that depicted the beauty and wonder of New York life, Hopper chose to look closer at the more typical and boring scenes, showing the lack of relationships and closeness with the people surrounding each other.
In Nighthawks, the people are all in a single setting, a lit restaurant in the late evening. You would think that the only lit place in the dark streets would present you a welcoming happy scene, but Hopper would rather demonstrate reality over fantasy. Instead of being happy and enjoying their time together, it would seem, though sitting close together in a single space, the people are very distant and lonely.
For example, the woman in the painting seems more interested in her nail beds than a conversation with the man sitting so near her. I would imagine strained silence, all parties avoiding any interaction with one another. The man next to the woman appears lost in his own thoughts, hands in front of him and gaze straight ahead of him. Another man is sitting in shadow so that we cannot see him well. He is hunched over and seems to be looking forward. The attendant is looking over as though someone has just said something to him, but his demeanor does not suggest any type of friendly conversation occurring. Overall the scene is what, even today, one would see passing by on a dark street. Not all light in the dark can give a happy scene.

An American Image

When looking through the section on photography in our book, I saw an image I had seen multiple times in my life. This image had often intrigued me, and every time I see it, my reaction changes. With time, experience, and knowledge my interpretation of this iconic photograph alters. Dorothea Lange has truly captured an immortal image.
A picture is worth a thousand words. So what is it Lange was trying to say? Our only hope of understanding Migrant Mother is to evaluate it in its historical context. This image is representative of a horrible time in our history, the Depression. What we are meant to see in this image is pain and sadness, an image to summarize the emotions and troubles of all America. I had written many papers on this particular image, some research and other creative writing, but all create the same thoughts; that this mother was struggling and her children without. This is perhaps one of the most powerful images of the last century.
When one looks on this image with the knowledge that this woman is only thirty-two, one sees what struggle has made of a family. The woman appears aged beyond her years, her children dirty and unable to look beyond their mother’s arms. Dirty, desperate, hungry, and tired, all they have left is each other. These children rely on this mother who gives up everything for their care. We cannot deny the fact that this image is one of a true heroine.
One of my assignments in the past was to create a story from this image; to take a picture and create a background and dialogue all from the perspective of a pencil. What else could I draw from this image other than the saddest scene you could imagine? I created a scene of a desperate mother searching to care for her hungry sons and crying baby. Without any prompting I made myself the pencil she would use to scribble her suicide note. This is how I read this image; that if this woman were to own a pencil, what else could she possibly use it for? What would she write? This is how this image affected me, and that paper is always what I recall when seeing this image. However, I said my perspective changes, so I say that I would add on to the story each time I see this image. There is always something more I see in this mother.

Chagall- I and the Village

      I often have difficulties in understanding paintings more so than any other form of art. I can break down poetry, find the beauty in photographs, but interpreting such images as created by the artist in current and previous chapters of the book has been a challenge for me. Despite this aversion to this art form, my interest in a way was caught by Chagall's "I and the Village".
     Chagall seems to parallel reality with dream in this painting, creating images, though absurd and confusing, represent dark truths. I feel the line connecting the sight of man and creature, Chagall means to draw them as equals. That inside the creature is what the animal might offer man for man's survival. Another reason for this thinking is the image being held in the man's hand. I feel the plant was intended to be an olive branch. Despite Chagall's origins, he would probably know the histories of ancient Greece and know what it is the olive branch would represent. The olive branch is a symbol of peace, and therefore, I believe Chagall intends to portray the necessary balance between man and creature. This I feel also explains the circle that also connects man and animal.
     I have researched some other interpretations of Chagall's painting, but my view of the artwork's meaning is not so optimistic, and for that matter may not seem so sensible but it is how I view things. I found the man and upside down woman to mean much more than what we had discussed in class. The way I saw it the man represented Death, and the woman, seeming older and motherly, would represent Life and Fertility. They are placed in a way reminiscent of the yin and yang symbol many of us have seen before, being dark and light and placed head to toe. They are also placed beneath a village that is differentiated.
     Chagall also played with the meaning of religion. Rather than placing the church in the center of the community to represent a binding presence, the church is off to the side. Inside is contained a face painted dark as though in shadow. Though Chagall's green man bears a cross around his neck, a darker side to religion is portrayed. I do not mean to analyze Chagall's beliefs or values, but in the painting I cannot see, where in other interpretations have seen, that the church demonstrates a brought together community. I feel that Chagall suggests some alienation among the village which may explain the selected upside down houses.
 
     Below is an image of Chagall's "I and the Village":

     I can neither say that I much like the painting, "I and the Village", but I will not say that I found it particularly distasteful or horrible. I simply found it to be interesting and complex, more thought provoking for myself than other artworks we have seen thus far.