Guernica by Pablo Picasso

The Guernica is a mural-sized oil painting on canvas by a famous Spanish artist known in the cubism movement, Pablo Picasso completed by June 1937. And is one of his most notable works. The painting, which uses a palette of gray, black, and white, is regarded by many art critics as one of the most moving and powerful anti-war paintings in history.

The large mural portrays the suffering of the people, animals, buildings and twisted by violence and chaos. The painting is alleged to be the response of the bombing in Guernica by German and Italian warplanes. Guernica is primarily a war painting, offering a visual account of the devastating and chaotic impact of war on both men and women.

The following list of interpretations reflects the general consensus of historians:

• The shape and posture of the bodies express protest.
• Picasso uses black, white, and grey paint to set a sombre mood and express pain and chaos.
• Flaming buildings and crumbling walls not only express the destruction of Guernica, but reflect the destructive power of civil war.
• The newspaper print used in the painting reflects how Picasso learned of the massacre.
• The light bulb in the painting represents the sun.
• The broken sword near the bottom of the painting symbolizes the defeat of the people at the hand of their tormentors. 

There is so much more to know about the Guernica and I would actually like to research more about it in the near future. I am interested in the symbolisms in the painting and as I know more, I tend to want more facts. Picasso’s artistic style, which is cubism, is actually easy to do but it feels different to look at it from a normal painting. You’d eventually need to be imaginative because sometimes there are a lot of things you’d miss on the painting and you try to look for it which makes the art style a bit interactive and interesting. Unlike in normal painting, you see want to need to see and what the artist wants us to see.

The Boating Party by Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt was an American Impressionist painter and printmaker who eventually made career in Europe which considers her as one of the America expatriates along with James Whistler. She was born in Pennsylvania but lived her adult life in France where she became friends with Edgar Degas, who was a famous French artist. 

The Boating Party by Mary Cassatt is oil on canvas painting. This amazing composition tells the influence of the flat, patterned surfaces, simplified color, and unusual angles of Japanese prints, which enjoyed a huge trend in Paris in the late 1800s. Looking at the subject of Cassatt’s The Boating Party, obviously it highlights the mother figure and the child on her arms which Cassatt often themes. She often created images of the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis on the warm bonds between mothers and children.

It is said that this composition was inspired after Cassatt began to spend many summers on the Mediterranean coast. I was also thought to have been inspired by the birth of Eugenie’s daughter Ellen Mary was bought by the National Gallery, Washington DC. And in 1996, Cassatt’s The Boating Party was reproduces on a US postage stamp.

This composition of Cassatt let the viewers feel the he may climb into the boat or he is actually with them; thinking that this painting may be that person’s point of view and child in the woman’s arms wriggles in a natural movement for one his age. As a fellow woman, I can really appreciate Cassatt’s works. She mainly focuses on women and children which she was greatly considered as a feminist. 

Nataraja, The Lord of the Dance

Nataraja is a representation of the Hindu God Shiva as the cosmic dancer who performs his divine dance to destroy weary universe and make preparations for the god Brahma to start the process of creation.

This is a sculpture made in bronze with Shiva dancing in an aureole of flames, lifting his leg and balancing over a demon or dwarf, Muyalaka, who symbolizes ignorance.

The following are the several characteristics this work of art.

•             A cobra uncoils from his lower right forearm, and the crescent moon and a skull are on his crest. He dances within an arch of flames. This dance is called the Dance of Bliss, aananda taandavam.

•             The upper right hand holds a small drum shaped like an hourglass that is called a ḍamaru in Sanskrit.  A specific hand gesture (mudra) called ḍamaru-hasta (Sanskrit for "ḍamaru-hand") is used to hold the drum. It symbolizes sound originating creation or the beat of the drum is the passage of time.

•             The upper left hand contains Agni or fire, which signifies destruction. The opposing concepts in the upper hands show the counterpoise of creation and destruction or the fire of life.

•             The second right hand shows the Abhaya mudra (meaningfearlessness in Sanskrit), bestowing protection from both evil and ignorance to those who follow the righteousness of dharma.

•             The second left hand points towards the raised foot which signifies upliftment and liberation. It also points to the left foot with the sign of the elephant which leads the way through the jungle of ignorance.

•             The dwarf on which Nataraja dances is the demon Apasmara (Muyalaka, as known in Tamil), which symbolizes

Shiva's victory over ignorance. It also represents the passage of spirit from the divine into material.

•            As the Lord of Dance, Nataraja, Shiva performs the tandava, the dance in which the universe is created, maintained, and dissolved. Shiva's long, matted tresses, usually piled up in a knot, loosen during the dance and crash into the heavenly bodies, knocking them off course or destroying them utterly.

•             The surrounding flames represent the manifest Universe.

•             The snake swirling around his waist is kundalini, the Shakti or divine force thought to reside within everything. This also parallels the cords of life worn by the Brahmins to represent the second rebirth.

•             The stoic face of Shiva represents his neutrality, thus being in balance.

At the upper left hand which contains Agni of fire made me recall an anime with a character named Agni who is a Brahmin who had renounced his old rebellious ways to serve Soma Asman Kadar, whom he deeply reveres.  He was names after the Hindi deity, Agni, a god of fire, who accepts sacrifices. 

I actually admire this sculpture because basically it was made in bronze and has a great symbolization back then. I am also amazed by the fact that in this one sculpture, there were a lot of characteristics and meanings behind almost every part of it. I’ve also read that one of the purpose of Nataraja’s dance is to release the souls of all men from the snare of illusion which I think is miraculous.