Art

Enthroned Zeus (Getty Villa Museum)
The marble statue, Enthroned Zeus is one of the more popular Roman work of art currently on view at the Getty Villa Malibu of Getty Villa Museum.  

According to the Getty Villa Museum website, the statue was believed to have been made by an anonymous sculptor or school of sculptors based on a same model that was displayed in the city of Pergamon in the 100s B.C.  

Dating back to about 100 A.D., its Roman creator was so inspired by early Greek masterpieces that his work emphasized styles particularly in the face and hair that were of common use during the golden age of Greek art.  Retrieved at the ancient town of Tivoli, near Rome in the 1770s, historians speculate that the statue was once a part of a wide array of art pieces that decorated the villa of Roman Emperor, Hadrian.  It was named after Marbury Hall, after having been part of the collection  of the English museum for many years.  Its more popular name of Zeus was the Greek name for the deity while the Romans called him Jupiter.

Sitting in a throne, the King of the Gods, is seen having mature features, to portray his immense superiority over men and other gods.  The throne also implied the same characteristics. The statue had once in its now missing hands a scepter and a thunderbolt. This depiction of a god with armful of powerful symbols emphasize power.    The raised right hand seems to illustrate the delivery of justice over his dominion and the calling of attention to his presence while the lowered left hand means control. The toga it wears implies wisdom and respect while the sandals it wear means love for the common people.

The masculine torso it features is a display of strength.  His elevated position is also a symbol of dominance.  Its seating position, like other Greek and Roman statues seems to illustrate divinity.   The heads posture that looked downward to the audience also means that he is looking down over his subjects as if to express that his rule does not only mean subjugation to his authority but also wishes to provide justice and express concern over his people.   The opened lips seem to suggest the power to impose command to his subjects.  Its long flowing hair and  beard imply perfection as such features were symbols of beauty for the Romans.

Generally, its sculptor created it to instill awe.  

The colossal size of the work was also meant to symbolize iconic might.  The emphasis on aesthetics and idealization was intentioned to show every intricate features of the god, to reveal every aspects of a powerful deity.  The hard stone used, which is marble emphasizes the durability of its authority.

Charles Dana Gibson and Howard Pyle have both exceeded the norm in their time. Howard Pyle has been deemed The Father of American Illustrators while Charles Dana Gibson has changed the standard of beauty with the image of the Gibson girl.

The artist Howard Pyle who has lived from 1853-1911 has been considered the father of American illustrator. Howard Pyle has always wanted to be an author and an artist ever since he was a kid and he did become one eventually his illustration, drawing and books have been considered classics today and are still as exciting as they were then, his creations are still being admired even after his death.

Howard Pyle was not always as good as he was there was also a time when Howard Pyles illustration looked ordinary and plain, the illustrations looked like they had been taken from the front row of a play. The illustration that he drew back then looked like it was staged you can see the flat surface that is similar to the stage used for performing and the people he drew looked as if they were staged or acting it was very unreal, far from what he was known for.

Howard Pyle first published his illustrations and writings in weekly magazines among the weekly magazines he has published his worked for is Scribners, Harpers, McClures and Colliers. He was known to give photos a realistic edge. An example would be the first illustration he made for Scribners weekly, the scenario were two men fighting on the edge of a rock and another guy watching the fight in the illustration, you can almost not see the ground, the effect of it being in a stage is gone, the intensity of the faces in the photo shows character and how they feel, not staged and fake. When Howard Pyle uses color, he uses rich earth tones against bright primaries that is framed in a thick shadow.

Later on, Howard Pyle taught illustrations in Drexel Institute of Arts and Science in Philadelphia, he taught what he knows, making sure the student he taught would surpass what he has done in terms of art. Among his students is Harvey Dunn and even when Pyle died, Dunn was still inspired by his instructor. A technique that Howard Pyle passed among his students was the drama that he emphasized in his illustrations. The tension of the scenes and how un-prop-like everything was.

Howard Pyle was not only known for being an illustrator, many of his books are now considered classics, and the most famous set of book he had written was probably the story about King Arthur. The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, The Story of the Champions of the Round Table, The Story of Lancelot and His Companions, and The Story of the Grail and the Passing of Arthur are all written by Howard and illustrated by him.

Charles Dana Gibson is an American graphic artist, one of his best known works is the Gibson Girl. Charles Dana Gibson first studied arts in the Art Students League in Manhattan the Art Students League has catered a lot of artist and among those who graduated in the Art Students League was Herman Rappaport, an American painter and artist best known for his paintings of cityscapes. He then attended the Julians in Paris, one of the best known schools that cater to arts.

Charles Dana Gibsons first pen and ink sketches went to John Ames Mitchells Life Magazine. Life Magazine, which was then a newcomer in the business, liked what Charles Dana Gibson have offered and never stopped publishing him for over 30 years. The first pan and ink caricature he made was a dog chained in doghouse howling at the moon. John Ames Mitchell called his work honest and courageous. After John Ames Mitchell died, he became the owner and the editor of the magazine.

Punk, the rival magazine of Life, also offered him a feature once in a while. Life magazine was not the only magazine Charles Dana Gibson was featured in, he was also featured in the various magazines like Harpers, Scribners and Colliers Weekly.

Charles Dana Gibsons illustrations mostly feature caricatures of the chronicle of American high society in New York and Boston, the old aristocratic families that mingle with each other, excluding the newcomers. Charles Dana Gibson as said is best known for his portrayal of the Gibson Girl. The best description of the Charles Dana Gibsons Gibson girl came from Susan E. Meyer she said that  Charles Dana Gibsons Gibson Girl was taller than the other girls and has more spirit and independence, but also feminine. The Gibson Girl can be considered the highlight of his career.

Charles Dana Gibson and Howard Pyle both started at the bottom of the pack, but redoing and further enhancing their skills proved that they can be better and they can lead the pack in terms of art. Charles Dana Gibson and Howard Pyle have both published their work in famous weekly magazines like Harpers and Scribners weekly.

Although the methods which the two artists used differ like how Charles Dana Gibson uses his illustration for set notice to what is happening around us and Howard Pyle uses his illustrations to emphasize drama in the scene, both artist can be considered great at what they do.

Charles Dana Gibson do not often use color when making his caricatures, Howard Pyle on the other hand did use color in his painting he uses rich earth tones and emphasizes the drama in his painting. Upon looking at the painting of Howard Pyle, you will notice the deep shadowing to intensify the scene Howard wants viewers to focus on.

While Charles Dana Gibson concentrated in making caricatures for magazines, Howard Pyle made illustrations for books. Both Charles Dana Gibson and Howard Pyle are not restricted in drawing formal style art, their illustrations always contained emotions.

Charles Dana Gibson was known for changing the norms in drawing caricature, he was even known for changing what the ideal girl should be by portraying the Gibson Girl while Howard Pyle became famous for being the innovator of dramatic scenes, bringing out the depth of the painting. Both artists used pen and ink more than anything else they were both successful and has both proven that they lead the pack when it comes to art.

Charles Dana Gibsons and Howard Pyles work and life tells us that all artists start at the bottom and with a little persistence all can become better. When Charles Dana Gibson and Howard Pyle started their career, almost no one would take in their drawings even if they graduated from prestigious schools without their hard work they would probably be nothing. At one time, Charles Dana Gibsons work was even called amateur and senseless it was only John Ames Mitchell who believed in him. Howard Pyles work was called plain and staged, but he proved them wrong when he was published by magazines and showed the crowd that he can be something.

The Golden Age did not only help these artists, but also because of it, a lot of artists have been able to get a grasp of the new techniques they were using. Charles Dana Gibson and Howard Pyle never kept the secret of their techniques they continued to teach their techniques and passed their skills to their students.
Applying the techniques of color and dramatization of Howard Pyle can be applied to future works, and the techniques in sketching Charles Dana Gibson used to portray the Gibson Girl will also be a big help to a striving artist even in modern times.

Contemporary Arts seems like a trend for many artists around the world. Included in this group of contemporary artists is Larry Bell, who just recently launched an exhibit at the Frank Lloyd Gallery from February 13 to March 27, 2010. He entitled his exhibit as Portraits of Joan New Collages. The title was based from his longtime friend, Joan who suggested this kind of exhibit. Larry Bell worked with many types of paper as his main instrument in creating collages. At first glance, one may look into the intricate details and complexity of his works, but once you get to observe the pieces more, you will realize how difficult it is to arrive into such products of arts. Belles collages did not look like any collages that I had seen in my entire life. He seemed to work on a black paper with other kinds of materials such as luminous metallic fragments, fabric, acetate, and film strips which are fixed together by the use of a heating process. He used these pieces to form abstract themes that enabled ones mind to play with imagery. In instance, his works of mixed media struck my attention because of the different textures included in the series of his works. Each canvas looked like different movements of a specific subject. The lights which stroke into the metallic paper created a variety of perspectives. This was depending on how the sight was able to imagine the pieces of Belles artworks.

Another series of media that caught my attention were the different forms of cubes in the exhibit. Bell used coated glass of many sorts of materials such as film deposition of metallic particles and painted brass that supported the glass and kept them in place. The artists creative mind was mainly observed by the way he used a single structure and the way he incorporated different types of materials. I was able to appreciate the pieces more once the reflection created various effects and colors inside the room.

There was also a series of works which was made on a white canvas with different types of paper and contrasting colors that allowed ones eyes to move around a specific piece. Bell played with striking colors such as neon orange, green and yellow in contrast with earthy tones of gray, brown and black.

Every material utilized in his masterpieces created a sense of coordination, balance and harmony. Some individuals wouldnt think that all of the different forms of matter could turn into a marvelous form of art. The variations of shapes, sizes, tones and textures were brought together and formed another dimension of contemporary arts. This is one of the advantages of contemporary arts. The artist has the freedom to choose what to use and what to do with his or her artwork.

Larry Bell made a successful art exhibit by showing another face of media. He played with lights, glass, colors and more. In this experience, he also displayed the versatility of arts. Something can be made out of anything in this world. His visuals made it clear that he is truly an artist filled with great passion for arts.

The repetition of the Playstation controller has a potential but it has to be manipulated in a different way.  The first layout has the most potential among the three.  The scale of the controller should be downsized a little bit the variety of sizes can be retained but it would be eye-catching if it would have a fan-like effect. The controller at the back can be the smallest and the one in front can be the largest. Incorporation of designs elements that would make it look like as if it were fanning out rapidly would be ideal to show the rapid movement that most Playstation games have.

Exceed Your Vision is indeed the tagline of Epson but if the artist wants it to emanate in the advertisements, then something more must be done.  The white portion on the lower right makes the whole layout washed out because it matches the color of the printed paper. Perhaps the printer can be downsized a little bit and it should appear in a bland, office setting it would be a nice contrast to the vivid images on the paper.  On the paper, photos of people or objects in motion should replace the brand name and the test colors. To add emphasis on the tagline, the photos should look so lively and vivid that it appears to be jumping out of the paper.

Apples Magic Mouse is indeed different in terms of appearance because it is, after all, the worlds first multi-touch mouse it is supposed to be the first of its kind.  However, the Magic Mouse is still a mouse and its appearance does not deviate too much from a conventional mouse.  The design should showcase both its uniqueness and its essence as a mouse. Perhaps the artist can include several images of the mouse in different angles and emphasis on the mouse reflective surfaces. Since the mouse is wireless, each image can be positioned in various orientations.

Calvin Klein is a brand that is popular mostly for its underwear and perfume.  It is quite surprising to see a Calvin Klein advertisement that only includes the face of the model. The advertisement does not specify what line of Calvin Klein it is endorsing. However, if the advertisement is for the Calvin Klein as a brand in general, the photo would be ideal for this. Calvin Klein has leaned toward the sexy and the erotic, after all.  The brand name should not appear on any part of the models face as it is quite distracting and the image should be sharper to truly capture the models sexy, smoldering stare.

The models makeup for the Mac advertisement is very fitting to the glamorous image that Mac is attempting to project. The first image has good composition and the angle of the shot amplifies the intricate eye makeup. The second one has less emphasis on the makeup but the multiple images add an interesting, quirky touch to the advertisement. If the artist decides to stick to the second one, perhaps there should be an additional photo of the model but with a different angle.

Among the three images for the Bakers advertisement, the first one has the most potential.  The last two are too glaring. It would be more interesting to add another detail of the product such as the handle (if it is a bag) or a persons hand clutching (if it is a wallet).  The customer has to know what the kind of product is in the advertisement, not just the brand.  The artist should improve the depth of the photo to emphasize the texture of the product and the font of the Bakers logo should have more dimension because it is pale in comparison to the Guess logo.

The second image is the best among all the three Sprint advertisements. Only the colors of the device and the brand logo appear, which adds more emphasis to the phone. The third one appears too ordinary and the background of the first one has its colors showing.  The second one has focus and definition.

The first layout would be the best choice for the Urban Outfitters advertisement.  The refreshing palette of colors catches the viewers eye and the font of the outfitters sign balances the huge URBN sign.  The ones on the second and third are either too big or too small. The size of free space is just right on the first layout.  They are balanced, both horizontally and vertically.

The ideal purpose of manipulation is to enhance certain aspects of a photo, such as color adjustments, to make a photo more realistic.  However, advertising is using photo manipulation to create the persons ideal notion of perfect.  As a result, photos look perfect, not realistic.  It defeats the purpose of photo manipulation.  The perfect society does not exist and so does the perfect person.  Therefore, advertising should not attempt to poison peoples minds by tampering on what is natural natural flaws need not to be highlighted but they need not be manipulated as well.

This paper will focus on the works of Mary Edmonia Lewis, the first African American that received prominence in the fine arts circles world-wide. An analysis of some of her works will be included, touching upon the themes, techniques and styles that the artist possesses.

The artist
Mary Edmonia Lewis is considered as the first Native American and African American to find appreciation in the international fine arts scene. She got her college education at Oberlin University, and then enhanced her skill under the tutelage of Edward Augustus Brackett in 1863. She went to Rome and studied neoclassical arts studies further developed her skills as a writer. The peak of her career was when she gained appreciation in the 1876 Centennial Exposition with her work The Death of Cleopatra. She was given recognition in many art circles and by President Ulysses Grant thereafter. Famous works are Adoration of the Magi, The Death of Cleopatra, Hagar in the Wilderness, Poor Cupid, among others.
Themes

Giving voice to the voiceless
Although Lewis touches upon a relatively wide array of themes in her works, it is noticeable that that she has special interests in portraying the marginalized or people who are often put into the sidelines. She seeks to give them light and appreciation from the canonically-conditioned audience. Examples are these works are Old Arrow-maker and His Daughter and Hiawatha, in which the former portrayed two Native Americans, sitting in a round stone where they are doing their craft. The preciseness of the facial features of the people in the said works effectively projects the Native American culture that was supposedly blurred by the colonial occupation of the English Caucasians. This occupation led to the marginalization of the Native Americanseven the arts are undeniably Western not only in style and content. Lewis attempt to shed light on Native Americans is thus a noteworthy attempt. Her portrayal of Native Americans can be considered as one of her most prevalent motifs, some of which are Minnehaha, The Marriage of Hiawatha and A Freed
Woman and Her Child.

This theme was also touched in her work Hagar in the Wilderness. In the Old Testament of the Bible, Hagar was said to be the first wife of Abraham. Hagar also bore Abrahams first son Ishmael (which was traditionally considered as the father of the Arabs). However, Abrahams second wife Sarah, who was portrayed in the said Scripture as Gods favored wife for Abraham, casted Hagar and Ishmael into the wilderness, leading to the age-old conflict between the Jews and the Arabs. However, in the version of the Jewish scriptures, Hagar was the one who is not favored by God. In Lewis work, we are shown a rather different picture of a praying Hagar, standing firm even amidst Gods rejection of her. This portrayal created a new trajectory for seeing Hagar, who must not be seen as an inherently unfavorable woman but as an equally respectable and human person.

One of Lewis most famous works, which revolved around this theme, is her Forever Free, a striking work in marble, which portrayed a man of apparent African descent and a woman kneeling beside him in an act of prayer. The portrayal of Afro-Americans especially in a triumphant pose (the left hand is extended and the whole body is in a heroic pose) is very deviant. Black slaves are not often portrayed in these kinds of poses rather, they are often portrayed as inferior and submissive. Lewis attempt to shed new light among the black slaves and to portray them as capable of glory and respect is a very admirable thing. Again, the work embodies her desire to give voice to voiceless elements in the society.

Women of Power
Another interesting theme that Lewis touched is portraying women of power. A vast number of her works is dedicated in this theme such as Hygeia, Madonna Holding the Christ Child, Hagar and most especially one of her most critically acclaimed works, The Death of Cleopatra.

Hygeia is a heavy and big marble statue that is dedicated to the Greek goddess of the same name. Hygeia as the goddess of health and sanitation (thus the work hygiene), however, was not given much attention due to the existence of more prominent gods and goddesses. However, her strong nature which was depicted by ancient Greek statues carrying heavy jars and feeding large snakes is worth appreciating. This may have encouraged Lewis to create a large statue dedicated to the said goddess.

Madonna Holding the Christ Child, although may be initially passed off as another Madonna sculpture, also gives a powerful picture of a woman. Mary was depicted as a strong and stern woman and this fact can be understood better if we insert the fact that she holds Jesus Christ, the most important figure in the Christian religion. The calm but tight control that Mary was depicted with in turn tells us something about Lewis beliefs regarding women.

The Death of Cleopatra which was considered to be one of her most powerful works perfectly gives a picture of a strong and self-determining woman. Cleopatra as a historical figure was known for her bold decision to commit suicide rather than dying in the hands of the Roman invaders. Moreover, she chose death by the asp, which is considered a symbol of royalty and dignity. Thus, Cleopatra died with dignity and respect for herself. Lewis portrayed this dignity with notable precision. Cleopatras head was still high and proud even in her death. Her death chair even appeared more a throne rather than a chair of humiliation. Her flowing robe embodied a calm yet stern aura.

Lewis passion to portray women of power showed us how she refused to box women in the images of the society. This is not very typical of the neoclassical tradition that she was in, especially as neoclassical tradition often wishes to portray the typical and the stereotypical, leaving almost no space for deviations and exception. Lewis proved to be radical in this matter.

This aspect of her works is also noteworthy because the feminist movement emerged only later in her time. Black rights were also not yet established during her time. She is then also a woman of power that she portrays in her works.

Criticisms
Of course, many criticisms had already been raised in her works, especially when the neoclassical movement lost its taste at the advent of the modernist movement in the 1990s. However, one of the things that I would want to raise about her work is the tightness of their content and subject matter.

For instance, her works such as The Marriage of Hiawatha and Old Arrow maker and his  Daughter, although deviant in the sense that they are not that typical during that time, are still locked in the stereotypes that the society has in them. Of course, Native Americans are not all arrow makers and not all of them are still dressed in their native attires. Therefore, her portrayal of the Native Americans are still constructs. Another is her tendency to portray women, again, in their stereotypical roles. Although she has pictures of women in power, they are all still constructs, and her portrayal of them is just absorbed by the system. In other words, because the women she portrayed are all stereotypes (Cleopatra as the stereotypical vain woman, Hygieia as the stereotypical woman nurse, etc), they are easily assimilated and thereby failed to make considerable impact in the advance of gender relations.

Regarding her style, my critique would be the general critique to works inspired by neoclassicism. Lewis style is stagnant and dangerously realist. Consequently, this prevented her to portray more radical perception of her subjects, leading to the boxing of her works and constricting the meanings that these works may signify.

Pop-Art is a term that was first used in 1955 by Lawrence Alloway, a British curator, to describe a modern form of Popular art. The new movement was famous in using aspects of popular culture and consumerism imagery. Pop-Art emerged in the mid 1950s and the style became dominant till the late 1960s. Roy Lichtenstein was a popular pop artist born in October 27, 1923 in New York. He entered high school in 1939 and enrolled in art classes before majoring in art at Ohio State University (Waldman, 12).

He was first inspired in his youth to start painting by Picasso and Paul Klees works and he venture into the field using oils, drawings and pastels. In 1952, he began to include titles in his paintings and woodcut compositions. Lichtensteins major work was produced in 1956 when he painted a lithograph known as the Ten Dollar Bill. He started to focus on characters like the Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny and Donald Duck. He joined the Abstract Expressionism Movement in 1959 where his untitled abstractions were exhibited for the first time at Condon Riley Gallery (Bernice, Rea, 23). His paintings were done on a white background depicted using slight traces of bright colors.

He stopped devoting enough time to this movement and changed his style, but continued to use sculptures to develop his interest in art. In 1960s, he changed his style completely and most of his works were based on comic books. His initial pop paintings in 1961 were in form of cartoon images and styles he obtained from commercial printing. His style continued to focus on the daily imagery of consumer culture such as advertisement, comic strips, packaging of consumer products, and celebrities.

Lichtenstein focused on thematic groups just like other pop artists, and some of the groups that he painted include romantic tragedies and war crimes. He used the same technique in both groups. He made the comic strip to be enlarged significantly using benday screen, a special device that simulated dots and created an illusion when a person enlarged a printed picture. He used stencils to produce oversized dots in rows, which made his prints and paintings to appear as a vast mass of publication product. Although he produced his works bit by bit, he strived to make his art appear as machine made. One peculiar technique he used on his paints is that his brush strokes were hard to detect (Roy, et al, 21). He used a large metal screen as a stencil on his paintings. His outlines were large and black, collaborated with reduced set of colors that were bright. This made his printed letters to stand out clearly and this technique of construction allowed him to produce large unified surfaces.

One of his works in 1962 is known as Reverie. It had hairs with large outlines and the skin was made using the benday technique. He painted on a simple blue surface using few colors. It included a simple title removed from balloons and encompassed a short clear song. The intense visual impact was enhanced by the thick black outline of bright colors as well as the simplicity of the text. A piece he did in 1963 called The Kiss V, shows concentration on cartoon imagery, integrating thick black outlines with flat primary colors. The bold image exaggerated the physical features of the couple in a situation that was romantically charged. Through this, Lichtenstein portrayed the emotional reality that was commonly experienced in many American families (Roy, et al, 39). The woman is excessively groomed while the man is very masculine. Their emotional embrace does not necessarily portray a symbiotic relationship, but a case where a woman relies on a man for support.

The 1962s Tire shows Roys change of subject to consumer product but still maintaining the cartoon imagery. The use of commercial products portrays Lichtensteins desire to address the modern American culture- that of consumerism. War like images in form of crashing planes, explosions and firing machines recount heroic deeds made up dreadful details. In 1965, he painted another art called M-maybe using the benday technique, saying that he intended the message to be awful such that nobody would be appeased by it. However, he changed the bad taste into a complete elegance. During this age, many artists were despising commercial art but Lichtenstein unique version was well received and this led to significant spread of pop art (Waldman, 35). His works were slowly becoming successful and famous and were exhibited in prestigious galleries.

At first, the works of Roy Lichtenstein may appear to be focusing on a limited format, but he continued exploring and discovering many choices and diversity. His productions which were distinctively American used pop icons to show events that occurred in many families and even in his own life. His paintings such as the frightened Girl and the Drowning Girl portrayed a woman in distress, which could relate to breakdown of his marriage in mid 1960s. In addition, his piece of work called In the Car portrays a strained and tense silence between the occupants of the vehicle.  

Lichtenstein continued with his artistic research, venturing into different fields like films and sculptures. In addition, he started a series of landscapes like the White Cloud and the Sinking Sand, illustrating the potential of discovering his own specialization. In 1970s, Lichtenstein stopped using characters found in comic books as the source of his materials and his reproductions reflected a case of masterful art. His reproductions were similar to those of famous artist such as Picasso, Monet, Matisse, and Mondrian. Lichtenstein copied and exaggerated the ideas that had made those artists famous and converted them into clichs. Instead of improving the banal to the level of art, he ironically changed art to kitschy and banal (Bernice, Rea, 51). His painting of the Haystack fulfills this role by creating a clich of Wheat-stacks out of seminal paintings by Monet. Compared to other paintings by Lichtenstein, the haystack has pronounced aspects of benday, emphasizing more on the banal quality.

Most of the stylist aspects used in the haystack gives an impression of Lichtensteins artistic prowess of producing materials influenced directly by the printed mass media. Large benday dots were directly forged in the back ground. In addition, few colors were used, using the same tone of black and yellow, and the sky was pale blue. Such artistic works had already been done by Monet. Lichtenstein converted the aspects that made the piece very significant and came up with a banal material. By putting emphasis on masterful pieces of art, he was able to continue advancing the role of art. When he started to use a different approach to achieve a similar result, Lichtenstein was able to explore true aspects of art, producing a clich that had previously uplifted his predecessors to distinction (Waldman, 66).

In addition, he continued to expand on the artistic work he had covered before. For example, he developed a series of Artists Studios comprising of five works he had done previously, merged into a single scene. In the late seventies, surreal works like the Pow Wow started to become popular and gradually replaced his style. Apart from painting, he produced metal and plastic sculptures, and more than three hundred prints, which were mainly screen prints. He donated two books and 154 prints to National Gallery of Art, making it largest handler of his works, and over 4,500 have already been circulated.

Throughout a career that span for more than thirty years, Lichtensteins style managed to retain a frivolous air in his work. His style portrayed the impact of printed mass print, giving a lighter note on his comments on social life, and creating parody instead of derision. Although he used flippant commentaries during his career, Lichtensteins art showed the urge of understanding and influencing personal views using art (Roy, et al, 47). Compared to the 1920s Dadaist movement, he decided to break the common artistic norms so that he could return art to its simple form.

Byzantine Art and Architecture flourished during the Middle Ages (5th-14th century AD) under the aegis of the Eastern Roman Empire. The predominant theme visible in their art and architecture was the Christian religion rendered in iconographic detail. According to Otto Demus, a continuous theme existed between the artistic images, the architectural design of the church and the beholder. (1)

Two byzantine frescoes originally located at a chapel in Lysi, Cyprus during ca. 1150-1300 were restored to perfection by the Menil Foundation.  The frescoes are of Christ as the Pantocrator and the Virgin Mary with Archangels Gabriel and Michael. Christ as the Pantocrator or Ruler of All, is an image of Christ visible mostly in Byzantine churches, as it echoes the belief held by the Eastern Orthodox Church. He is regarded as the Eternal Judge.

In this fresco, Christ is found in the centre, with his right hand raised in blessing and his left hand holding a book of Gospel. Two of his fingers of his right hand are touching, representing the human and divine sides of Christ and his death on the cross. The red and blue colors of his cape also represent the duality of his nature. The halo around his head has a cross within signifying sanctification. (Nes 23) The image is encircled by two circles in which the angels are seen moving along both sides of the circle. They are being led on one side by Holy Mother and on the other by John the Baptist towards the throne. The throne in turn is being held by a pair of cherubims. According to Nes, in some early church tradition, Holy Mother and John the Baptist are considered to be very close to Christ in his earthly life and may have special functions like acting as intercessor to man. (26) And the cherubims who are holding the throne are considered as the guardians of Paradise. (Chisholm 86)

The other fresco of Virgin Mary is seen with Archangel Michael on one side and Archangel Gabriel on the other. The Virgin Mary is seen with her hands raised, characteristic of Orans, with Christ visible on her chest in a small circle. This is regarded as the Icon of sign, where Virgin Mary is represented as the chosen one to bring the Son of God to earth. The two archangels by her side signify her position as being above the angels (Ouspensky and Lossky 77)

One of the unique achievements of middle byzantine art states Demus was to combine several pictures together and establish a relation amongst each other and to the complete image. The images of Christ, Virgin Mary, Apostles and Angels are arranged in hierarchical order and they are shown connected to the byzantine theology and the organization and rituals of the church. (2) The images in order to maintain coherence are painted on curved surfaces, so that the images are frontal to the beholder and at the same time face each other.  Thus the physical space between the images becomes incorporated into the image. (Demus 6) Christ as the Pantocrator was one of the three themes usually used for the cupola during the middle byzantine period. (Demus 10)

In Byzantine art and architecture there are three symbolic interpretations to the church building. First is the image of the building showing heaven, the Holy Land and the terrestrial land in a hierarchical order.  Second is the similarity of the building to all the places visited by Christ and third is the similarity to the Christian calendar and the festival of the feasts. (Demus 9)

Any byzantine church is dominated by a cupola which represents heaven. The cupola is found above the cross shaped transepts which lead down to form a square with the help of lower vaults. Three apses join the square in the east and a hall is found to the west. The apse represent the Holy land and the lower vaults the terrestrial. (Demus 7, 8) The cupola in the building is a circle which shows neither aim nor direction, symbolic to the way Byzantines represented time. (Demus 9)

In the Menil chapel, the cupola and the apse are placed in relation to each other with the cupola on a higher plane and the apse occupying what would be the lower square. The entire chapel is made of glass panels and imparts a sense of weightlessness and light in keeping with the hanging architecture of the byzantines. In the byzantine architectural style, the pillars are likened to hanging roots rather than as support for walls. This is in harmony with the hierarchical order of a series of images descending from the supreme archetype. (Demus 8)

The frescoes are also placed in keeping with the hierarchical order with any image placed at the highest point considered the most sacred. In the Menil chapel, the Christ as Pantocrator is placed in the cupola and thus representing heaven and with Christ looking down at his beholders. In the apse is present the fresco of Virgin Mary (Icon of the Sign), thus representing Holy Land through the Life of Christ. In byzantine churches the terrestrial land is usually symbolized by single images of saints representing the festival of feasts arranged in a circle and priests on the lower walls. (Demus 10, 11) In essence the building space was also considered part of the icon, where it enfolded the beholder to witness and participate in heavenly events. The icons were made venerable to the beholder by their frontal position and three fourth views. By contemplating on the icons, the beholder would have conducted his symbolic pilgrimage to the holy land. (Demus 9)
Thus through the Menil chapel, frescoes of middle Byzantine era are displayed within a sacred space that allows the beholder to commune with the icons directly. The connecting thread from the byzantine era of utilizing the icons, the building and the beholder to enhance the spiritual experience has been reproduced effectively.

Every culture boasts of a certain unique medium and art form that defines their civilization. In some parts of Asia, particularly in the Southeast, gold played an important role in identifying status symbols, and determined how rich a society then was. On the other hand, China used a natural element to help them establish their culturethey used jade found in mountains and rivers and cut and polished them to make them useful.

In this paper, several Chinese artifacts will be examined and analyzed, as regards their composition, use, and aesthetic values these will also be compared and contrasted with each other in order to create a conclusion that would best define the cultural context of these artifacts.

To understand the use of jade in these artifacts, first, there is a need to trace its history. According to researches, the development of jade ware began at about 10,000 years ago. During the New Stone Age, jade ware was mostly used for personal decoration, witchcraft, and as an emblem of privilege Soon, jade ware became more practical and the belief of the jades supernatural powers spread. Between 221 BC-220 AD, jade was believed to aid in the longevity of the life of whoever owns one. People then believed that whoever wore jade would live forever hence, burying jade ware with the dead became a common practice. All thanks to this practice, jade ware artifacts were preserved, with the remains of dead people, for our and the future generations to study.

After tedious excavations and research, jade ware artifacts were unearthed and some, brought to museums, such as the Smithsonian Institute. To date, the Smithsonian Institute houses over 360 jade ware artifacts from China which are ready for everyone to enjoy. From this collection, our attention shall be turned to four artifacts which will be compared and contrasted.

Headdress with Mask 
This artifact is interesting in that it shows the wonderful craftsmanship of past Chinese artisans. As a natural mineral, there is no doubt that jade is hard to manipulatedifficult to cut, polish, carve, etc, etcand yet, something as exquisite as this was produced. As was already mentioned, jade ware serves as status symbol for the Chinese back then. This headgear, on the other hand, may have been once owned by a gentleman with the carving of a dragons face, it signifies the nobility of the owner.

Disk (Bi)
Jade disks, such as this, were used to ornament the garments of the Chinese elites. It was believed that the living wear jade as a symbol of their moral integrity ( HYPERLINK httpwww.chinatownconnection.comchinese_jade.htm httpwww.chinatownconnection.comchinese_jade.htm, 2005), and so as much as possible, the Chinese wore jade everyday, even until they died.

Axe (Fu)
What is interesting in this artifact is that it shows that not only were jade made for adornment and decoration, but also, they were used as tools such as the axe shown above. Discovered at the Lake Tai region, this axe is believed to exist between 3300- 2250 BCE. Although the aesthetics of this piece is quite simple, it may be noted that what it lacked in aesthetic value, it made up for conventional utility.

Axe-shaft Butt (Dun)
Like the axe shown above, this artifact is proof that jade, even with its majesty and importance in Chinese culture, found its way to the common household, to common people. From these two artifacts, we may infer that not only is jade a symbol of greatness and beauty, it also serves the needs of everyday living.

These four artifacts were specifically chosen to serve as the primary evidences of the different uses of jade in Chinese art and culture. All these were chosen and compared, so much so because of the special functions of each artifact. It can be observed that each artifact served unique purposes during the time these were usedthe headdress and the disk, specifically to mark a persons rank and status in society and the axe and the axe shaft, used for everyday purposes.

The similarities these artifacts have are, that these existed during the same period (3300-2250 BCE), these were all found in the same region (Lake Tai), and that these are all made of jade. However, their similarities end here the purpose and use of these artifacts are very much different from each other.

The first two shown above, the headdress and the disk, were particularly used as adornment and decoration. Chinese people used and wore them to show their nobility, their social status, and their morality. They used jade ware in such that, they believed that the jade contained powers that helped them become stronger and better people, and helped them achieve a longer life even after death.

On the other hand, the axe and the axe shaft, prove that not only is jade good for warding off evils and helping achieve a better life, it is also a good material to use in making utensils and everyday tools. These were used by Chinese warriors and guards for defense and ordinary men relied on these to help them build things.

From these four artifacts, it may be concluded that, while jade served as a status symbol and which enhanced the Chinese way of living and culture, it cannot be ignored that the jade provided a higher purpose by making known to the world the versatility of not only the jade, but also the Chinese culture.

These artifacts also show that even then, jade may be regarded as one of the most important natural elements China has. During the Neolithic period, the Chinese people also used jade as tools for their weapons and for knives it has also played its part in worship and in the peoples beliefs and morality and, it has also served its purpose in enhancing Chinas culture and aesthetics.

The importance of these artifacts is that they function as proof of how people then used to live and how they used jade to help them live their lives. From these chosen artifacts, we can infer that everyday living, during the Neolithic period from when these jade wares emerged, was definitely hard. But with the help of the jade, the peoples moral values were strengthened, their cultural heritage reinforced, and their common problems, solved.

The very spirit of an artwork remains in the time it was created.  There is no better way to appreciate art than to understand its situational context, that is, the space and time of its creation.  Works of art are like photographs taken in a particular time and place.  In this paper we explore the situational context of three works of art (1) Produced in the late seventeenth century, Wedding of Mary and Joseph is a Peruvian painting (2) Pierre-Auguste Renoirs Acrobats At The Cirque Fernando (1879) shows two young Parisian girls and (3) Mother with Child, created in the nineteenth century by an unknown Lulua artist (See Appendix).  All three pieces of art tell interesting, unique tales about their makers and conditions of their times.  We further explore foreign influences in Nabataean art so as to enhance our understanding about socio-cultural and political contexts of artwork.  As layers upon layers of human thought through different times and places of human history are unearthed through this process of art appreciation, our present understanding of historical societies and cultures must influence this process of interpreting art.  Moreover, as one art lover may consider a painting with the eyes of a sociologist in our time, another may be studying for a career in psychology, giving him or her an entirely different perspective on artworks under consideration.  Yet another art lover may have perused countless books on the histories of societies that the artworks represent.
 
Regardless of how an artwork is interpreted and with what lens and in which frame it is looked through works of art stay alive as we glean historical information through them.  As the following section on Wedding of Mary and Joseph shows, it is possible to develop various interpretations about the time and place of an artist even if researched historical information is available to assist us in our interpretation.

Wedding of Mary and Joseph
Produced by an unknown artist, Wedding of Mary and Joseph is an oil painting on canvas, depicting the couple getting married before the high priest who is clothed in a richly flower-patterned hooded mantle (Wedding of Mary and Joseph).  There are clergymen assisting the high priest.  Joseph is carrying his staff which has flowers at the top.  Both the bride and bridegroom have golden halos.  Ann, the mother of Mary stands right behind the bride.  By Anns side is a suitor of Mary who has been rejected by Gods command.  The suitor is shown breaking his staff, which has not flowered like the staff of Joseph (Wedding of Mary and Joseph).
   
The painting is enriched by gold stamping, which unifies the composition (Wedding of Mary and Joseph).  There are Peruvian flowers scattered on the ground where Mary and Joseph stand.  This transfers the scene of the Bible from the Holy Land to Peru (Wedding of Mary and Joseph).  Furthermore, it describes an important movement in Peruvian art history by the name of Cusco School (Bennett).
   
Indeed, this painting accompanies a very important period in Peruvian history.  Spanish colonization had not only managed to transfer the Spanish Inquisition to the Spanish territories around the globe, but also brought European art into Peru (Bennett).  The Spanish Inquisition had claimed many lives in Europe.  In Peru, the Inquisition had centered on the discovery of people who were Jews by birth, but had claimed to have converted to Christianity.  These people were suspected to have gone back from Catholicism to Judaism.  Thus, the Peruvian Inquisition was about punishing the Jews or converted Catholics for apostasy (Lea).    
   
The Peruvian Inquisition had taken place in the seventeenth century.  Seeing that the sociopolitical environment of Peru revolved around religious affairs at the time, it is not surprising that the Christian, Peruvian artists started a new art movement  the Cusco School  to create religious art in particular (Bennett).  As a matter of fact, the Wedding of Mary and Joseph is a perfect example of Cusco art.
   
The Cusco School happens to be the largest movement of art in Peruvian art history.  The movement was represented by mestizo painters and sculptors who produced countless depictions of religious figures adorned in gold (Bennett).  The Spanish colonizers had used religious art to teach Christianity to the New World.  Subsequently, native artists of Peru had begun to meld European art with their local style and tradition (Bennett).  So, while the figures of Mary and Joseph in the Peruvian painting reveal European, Christian influence on the Peruvian artist the flowers and long tailed birds of Peru scattered on the ground show that the artist continues to feel attached to his land through colonization.  The golden halos of the bride and the bridegroom are, of course, signature of the Cusco School.
   
Hence, the painting, Wedding of Mary and Joseph, reveals itself as an excellent tool to understand the culture of Peru with respect to Spanish colonization.  By discovering more about the conditions of the artists time, history of the Americas may also be studied in great depth.  Moreover, this painting helps viewers to appreciate how artists are influenced by their environments and the times.

Acrobats At The Cirque Fernando
Produced in another place and time altogether, renowned Parisian painter, Pierre-Auguste Renoirs Acrobats At The Cirque Fernando (1879) shows two girls, most probably between twelve and fifteen years of age, taking turns to perform their act at the circus (Mancoff).  The facial and bodily expressions of the girls and their onlookers are open to any number of interpretations.  One of the young girls is carrying balls around her chest while the other is communicating with the audience as part of her act.  The girl who is communicating with the audience has a questioning, innocent expression on her face.  The one who is carrying balls is possibly waiting for her turn to perform.  She, too, is innocent and fresh in appearance as the other.

However, she seems to be dwelling on her new experiences of semi-adulthood.  Perhaps she is musing on the boys in her life  the young men who admire her very much.  The audience depicted in the painting, behind the bodies of the two young girls, appears to consist of men alone after all.  The men appear like judges, in their black coats, giving them the semblance of uniformed officers.  Only one of the men has his face visible through the painting, and the face is hard enough for the girls to display their innocence in all its glory with the assumption that a harsh and suspicious attitude can only be counterbalanced by softness.  Although the girl carrying the balls has her back turned toward the hard faced man, she knows that she too would have to perform.  
   
The expressions of the male and the females in Renoirs Acrobats At The Cirque Fernando are rather similar to the expressions of the two sexes depicted in many of the artists works of the time.  The woman is seen as the adored and innocent object that performs, even though the man is hard faced, perhaps weary of the work that he performs to fend for his family day after day.  The woman is the amuser, the muse, and the object of entertainment to fend for.  After all, she is beautiful (Norfleet).  The only flawless facet of the man is that he is strong  in Renoirs paintings, at least.  What is more, the man is always staring at the woman in Renoirs works.  He fondles her whenever he has the chance.  The woman remains faithful to him  this is depicted through the innocence on her face.  If she becomes unfaithful she knows that the hard faced man would discontinue supporting her.
   
The French word for thank you is merci which, if spoken in English, perfectly describes the attitude of the woman in late nineteenth century Paris.  Although Paris was one of the first places in the West where women were generally believed to have been liberated, Renoirs paintings reveal that the women were definitely not liberated through promiscuity or debauchery.  Rather, urban Parisian women in the late nineteenth century seem to have been given permission by their men to be out and about, entertaining them, while remaining faithful to their innocence as well as their marital vows (Norfleet).  As the facial expression of the young girl carrying balls in Renoirs Acrobats At The Cirque Fernando shows  women understood their position in Parisian society even as they were aware that men and women are equally dependent on each other.  Then again, the painting remains open to numberless sociological interpretations.  

Mother with Child
As our analysis of Renoirs painting shows, it is possible to understand the situational context of a painting in any number of ways.  Sociologists and historians may be more interested in discovering the history of society in a block of time.  If psychoanalysts were to join them, there would be various intricacies of the human mind revealed through artworks.
   
On that note, Mother with Child is a very interesting sculpture because there are multiple ways of understanding its import.  On the one hand, the sculpture is a perfect depiction of the pain of starvation that the African people have been experiencing for a long time, and that nobody outside of Africa has done anything consequential about  despite the fact that the entire world discusses it.  On the other hand, it represents a ritual that the Lulua tribe of the Democratic Republic of Congo had practiced for its own survival (Mother with Child).
   
The sculpture is that of a skinny, African female with an infant in her arms.  Made with wood and copper alloy, the woman in the sculpture has bulging eyes and a pointed base.  Her head is larger than her body.  The bone lines on her neck are particularly telling.  But, the bone lines on her neck and the wrinkles on her face had actually been created by the artist to show that the Lulua peoples had used scarification to adorn their bodies (Lulua Tribe Democratic Republic of Congo Mother with Child).  Indeed, it is scarification that adorns the woman carrying the infant.  Just the same the viewer is made to feel sorry for the woman and her child because they appear extremely poor.    
   
The sculpture had been created for a Lulua woman who had experienced difficulties in childbirth.  The Lulua people believed that it was the evil spirit which interrupted the process of childbirth for women.  So that the woman would attract the ancestral spirit of the Lulua tribe and get rid of the evil spirit, the artist gave her the sculpture to care for until delivery.  The bulging eyes of the sculpture reveal that the woman is aware of the influence of the evil spirit that is stopping her from becoming a mother (Lulua Tribe).
   
The Lulua peoples had migrated from western Africa to the Democratic Republic of Congo during the eighteenth century.  These people lived in small regional chiefdoms, and therefore formed closely knit communities (Lulua Tribe).  Because they were immigrants, they were rather concerned about their continuity.  Additionally, the Lulua people believed that sculptures had to be created for religious reasons (Lulua Tribe).  Lulua sculptors who created artworks such as the Mother with Child must have had faith that they were carrying out their moral duty toward their own people.
   
Indeed, the religious values of the Lulua people were guarded by their art.  Sculptures of females were quite popular among them, as these figures exemplified the union of physical and moral beauty (Figurative Sculpture).  The Lulua people believed in equating proper behavior with physical beauty (Figurative Sculpture).  It can be inferred that the Mother with Child and all other sculptures created for the same reason were reminders for the Lulua people that the human body cannot be separated from morality.  This principle is clearly exemplified by the bond between mother and child.

Foreign influences in Nabataean art
There is no place in the world like Petra  undoubtedly the most well-known legacy of the Nabataeans for the millions of tourists that visit it year after year.  The exceptional beauty of Petras sculpted mountains reveals that the Nabataeans had a dominant culture.  It takes a high degree of confidence, after all, to create such beauty as did the Nabataeans.  History confirms this assumption.  Vries and Osinga state that the Nabataeans at their height spread as far north as Damascus, to the coast of the Mediterranean at Gaza in the east and to Madain Salih in the south.  But, the Nabataean kingdom came under Roman rule in the year 106 A.D.  It became an Arabian province at the time (Vries and Osinga).
   
The Nabataeans were caravan drivers on a large scale.  Roman traders visited Petra even before the Nabataean kingdom was taken over by the Romans.  These traders came to conclude transportation agreements with the Nabataeans.  The latter traveled around the world with merchandise  between the Red Sea and the Nile, and sometimes as far away as the Delta (Sartre, Porter, and Rawlings 268).  Unsurprisingly, therefore, their temples expose a variety of influences on the hearts and minds of the Nabataeans (Vries and Osinga).  Vries  Osinga write,

The many structures are so diverse that it is difficult to categorize them, at least without oversimplifying or overlooking what may be important details.  Philip Hammond, who excavated the Temple of the Winged Lions, concludes that it might be more faithful to the diversity of the temples to see them not as derivatives of Iranian temples, Roman temples or other, but to recognize the borrowing of constructional and decorative technique and to concentrate on why each was unique. (Vries and Oringa)

Sartre, Porter and Rawlings state that the Nabataeans were so influenced by Greek art  following the Roman invasion  that they spread that influence in many parts of Arabia.  Nude heroes of the Greeks have been found in Arabia and believed to have been conveyed there by the Nabataeans (Sartre, Porter and Rawlings 269).  But, Vries and Oringa have uncovered Egyptian influence in the temples of Nabataeans to boot.  Describing one of the most significant temples left by the Nabataeans, the authors state,

The Wadi Rum temple took its layout from Egyptian models, specifically the Egyptian Temple Dayr Chelouit.  The only reference to the Roman world would be columns of the Wadi Rum Temple.  Dharih might also be kin to the Egyptian Temple of Coptos, while the Qasr al-Bint and the Temple of the Winged Lions find construction parallels there also. (Vries and Oringa)  

Then again, Greek andor Roman influence seems to be most profound.  Although temple plans of the Nabataeans do not appear typically Roman, decoration outside of the temples may be recognized as distinctly Roman andor Hellenistic.  As an example, the external decoration of Khasneh makes it appear as though it was built in Alexandria (Vries and Oringa).  However, Vries and Oringa argue that the Nabataeans did not simply copy the designs that were handed down to them by Romans.  Instead, they took influence in their stride, sometimes appropriating the general structure but modifying and adapting it as time went on (Vries and Oringa).  In other words, they were open to influence, but also believed in maintaining their local traditions.  Taylor agrees with this view.  In her book, Petra and the Lost Kingdom of the Nabataeans, she explains that the Nabataeans did not make copies as slaves would.  Rather, Greek ideas were amazingly transformed by the Nabataeans into works of art keeping a distinctively Nabataean flavor (Taylor 92).  No wonder, Petra remains as an incomparable feast for the eyes for all lovers of art.
   
Vries and Oringa write that the art of Nabataeans, in particular the sculptures they made, also changed from era to era that is, even before the Romans came to rule the Nabataean kingdom, the Nabataeans went on altering their artistic style (Vries and Oringa).  Perhaps their visits to foreign lands brought such changes to the art of the kingdom.  But, once the Romans had arrived on the scene, the Nabataeans did not only borrow the artistic styles of the Greeks but also others.  The sculptures of deities in Tannur, for example, appear both Hellenistic and Oriental.  The Nabataeans also seem to have been influenced by Syrian art, as revealed through sculptures at both Dharih and Tannur (Vries and Oringa).
 
Although Hellenistic artistic style of classical proportions is most often cited as an influence on Nabataean art, there were plenty of sculptures made by the Nabataeans that did not appear Greek at all even though they were made while the Nabataeans were living under Roman rule (Vries and Oringa).  Vries and Oringa cite the simple standing block as an example of such artwork.  The fact that the Nabataeans maintained their local flavor in their artistic style shows that these people did not lose their cultural identity at the time.  Even the Romans may have delighted in diversity revealed through Nabataean art.

Imitation in art Is it a problem
Today, we refer to our world as a global village.  Using the Internet, we are aware that interaction with people from different parts of the world requires a certain level of integration, even if it only means that they should know our language.  As the Nabataeans interacted with people from around the globe, they too must have experienced the need to know their respective languages.  Art, too, is a language.  It gains importance as a language when we cannot communicate with people from other parts of the world in ways other than simple gestures.  What is more, it is but human nature to be influenced by the environment.  If foreigners occupy our environment we are bound to be influenced by them.  Most importantly, this does not render a perfect work of art imperfect, as the individuality of Petra clearly shows.      
   
As another example to understand influence in the world of art, let us assume that an American learns the German language well enough to write poetry in the foreign language.  Does this mean that his or her poetry would be distinctively German in character  No.  The expressions that the American poet employs would be German although the identity or personality of the poet revealed through his or her work would remain American.
   
Perhaps this is one of the best ways to understand influence in art.  Integration, diversity, and learning through integration are all good.  They lead to creative change.  The world of art would become static without this.  Then again, as the greatest Greek philosopher, Plato would put it imitation in art is bad because artists are representing God, the most creative one.  Hence, imitation or adaptation in art must necessarily replace the reality of something with falsehood, thereby shaking the very foundation of being human, that is, an image of God on earth (Plato and Aristotle on Art as Imitation).

Conclusion
We focused on the political conditions surrounding the artist of Wedding of Mary and Joseph.  Societal context of Renoirs painting, Acrobats At The Cirque Fernando, was explored with a brief overview of gender relations in 19th century Paris.  This study may have been conducted with historical information gleaned through novels, too.  The cultural context of Mother with Child was also explored in this paper.  Finally, we considered foreign influences on art of the Nabataeans that continues to be admired today like all other pieces of artwork discussed thus far.
   
Although this discussion was centered on political, societal and cultural contexts of works of art, it was clarified as part of the discussion that an artwork may be appreciated in any number of ways.  There are countless theories and innumerable stories about the history of mankind.  What is more, each piece of artwork tells a tale about the space and time of its artist alone.  The work lives on as students of art and historians delve into artwork over and again.  Any number of assumptions could be made about the situational context of an artwork thus.  Art lovers may even choose to offer excuses on behalf of imitators, as our discussion on imitation as a problem in art reveals.
   
Perhaps, therefore, it is reasonable to state that a work of art has as many minds as interpreters as the number of people that consider the artwork through the passage of time.  Moreover, only assumptions can be made about the situational context of an artwork.  History is best left to those that lived it.  After all, we only make educated guesses about what people of the past lived through to gather useful information for our lives in the present.  We cannot even be sure that historians have told us the absolute truth in their tomes of history.

There have been many theories on social class and interactions, the state and its politics and other related attributes.  The frameworks of such theories were studied and scrutinized by prominent names and groups of people that came from various fields of science who critically validated the basic structure of the contemporary society.  The relevance of Guy Debords Theory of the Spectacle will enlighten its relations to the fast-tracked developments and commodity production in the contemporary society.  And the city that recently exhibited this magnificent rise in the global arena is the modern Shanghai in China.

Guy Debords Theory of the Spectacle
Debords Theory of the Spectacle was often downplayed as a mere reference to the tyranny of the mass media communications like the television, radio and others.  But this was claimed as a limited aspect of the spectacle (Jappe, 5). Debord noted that the operation of the media perfectly expresses the entire society which they are a part of. But this is a seemingly deployment of instruments which results in the direct experience and determination of events by the individuals that consequently contemplate passively on the images produced (Jappe, 6).

Debords analysis was based on the impoverishment of life and its fragmentation into more separated spheres with disappearing unitary aspect.  The spectacle is within the reunification of the separate aspects at the level of image.  This means that whatever is lacking in life will be found in the spectacle, which is conceived as ensemble of independent representations. Therefore, the spectacle is like the life of celebrities such as actors and politicians who function as combined representations of human qualities, which are lacking in the actual lives of other individuals trapped in lifeless roles (Jappe, 7).

Separation is the alpha and the omega of the spectacle, as in the separated individuals, they are reunited in their separateness because the spectacle monopolizes all communication for its own advantage and makes it one way.  The only message is the incessant justification of the existing society, which is the spectacle. The passivity of contemplative attitude is the only prerequisite and also the chief product of spectacle. Only the isolated individual could feel the need for the spectacle, hence it must bend every means to reinforce that isolation (Jappe, 7).

Foundations of the Spectacle
The Theory of Spectacle has two main foundations namely the incessant technological renewal and the integration of state and economy.  And the most recent phase of these foundations has three consequences generalized secrecy, unanswerable lies, and an eternal present (Jappe, 7).  The first foundation is presently manifested through a seemingly insatiable passion of people for better versions of every technology developed, like the cellphones, television, gadgets and other entertainment media.  The second foundation is further discussed through Debords use of Marxism framework.

The spectacle is not a simple case of propaganda broadcasting through the mass media of communications but more on the generalized social activity as a whole.  The scope may be from city planning to various political parties from art to science, from human passion and desires and everywhere we find reality replaced by images.  And in this process, the images become real which becomes a reality transformed into images (Jappe, 7).

The distortion of these transformed images is furthered when spectacle also functions as part of the entire society operating as an instrument that dominates the whole.  The spectacle organizes the images in order to benefit the interest of one part of the society while affecting the rest of the society who merely contemplates on the organized images. Every power is said to require lies in order to govern.  The spectacle as a form of highly developed power falsifies reality (Jappe, 8).

The spectacle uses the sense of sight and it is believed to be the most abstract of the senses and can be easily deceived.  Hence, the problem is not the image or the representation but the actual problem lies on the need of the society for such images.  The images or representations achieve certain independence depending on how it was perceived by the society.  And when these representations escape the control of the society, the independent images proceed to address the society in a monologue communication, therefore eliminating all possible dialogues from human beings (Jappe, 8).

The effects aforementioned are not mainly caused by technological development.  The divisions and distortions in reality are caused by the divisions in the society itself.  Such division is the most ancient kind among the separations which is brought about by power.  This is the kind of power that gave rise to the others, which is an authority experienced by every society.  And in the advent of modern era, such power accumulated is an adequate means to extend its domination and molding of the society.  This achieved material production that re-created everything that the society needs, consequently promoting isolation and separation (Jappe, 9).

Debords Framework of the Theory through Marxism
Debord elaborated some fundamental ideas of Marxism on commodity, capitalism and social class.  The spectacle is a commodity production-based society, which is not bound by a particular economic system.  The social class responsible for the institution of spectacle is the bourgeoisie.  The spectacle is both the outcome and goal of the dominant mode of production, just like the other kinds of human activities, they are organized in a manner that justifies the continuity of the reigning mode of production (Jappe, 9).  Hence, the aim of the spectacle is to reproduce the condition of its own existence. Because instead of serving the desires of the human beings, the spectacle creates and manipulates needs that is reducible to that single pseudo-need so that the existing autonomous economy may continue to prevail (Jappe, 10).

The spectacle is a commodity economy that becomes autonomous and such self-sufficiency is a form of alienation, hence alienation became the chief product of the economy.  The domination of the economy likewise maximizes the diffusion of alienation in the society, and this basically constitutes the existence of the spectacle (Jappe, 11).

The dominant mode of production was taken as an ordering of signs and the production of signs is the goal.  The spectacle is the substitution of signs of life for the life itself, like advertising and entertainment for desire, architecture and urbanism for community, thrills and shocks for excitement and revolt.  The time for the consumption of the images is also the image of the consumption of time for example, the time consumption for a foreign vacation is indistinguishable from the consumption of travelogues or holiday snaps (Ritzer, 187).

Marx identified the state and money as two other basic alienations and abstractions.  With such occasions, man alienates his capacities either as a member of collective society or as a worker, in a manner that heshe is obliged to work without possessing the means of production.  Therefore, what the man produced does not belong to one and the product appears as an alien and form of hostile force.  The value of the work is an abstraction and money is its ultimate form.  And the spectacle is a highly developed form of tendency towards abstraction (Jappe, 12).

According to Marx, the money accumulated at a certain threshold is transformed to capital.  Debord extended this statement when he furthered that capital accumulated at a certain threshold is converted into images.  The spectacle is equated to all possible forms of activity that has been commodified. Debords Marxist framework traced the theory to the doorstep of commodity which rules over all lived experience.  He said that spectacle is capital accumulated to the point where it becomes image (Kibbey, 32).

The Spectacles Claim on History of Human Essence
Debords conception of human essence is identical with the historical process which is understood as mans self-creation in time.  Furthermore, Debord considers historical life of man and his perceived consciousness of it as the main result of mans increasing domination of nature (Jappe, 32).

Debord believes that time is the main product of the society, like a raw material for the production of a diversity of new products.  This thought is the application of Marxian economic categories that in primitive societies, power extracts temporal surplus value, the masters enjoy the private ownership of history, and that the main product transformed from luxurious rarity to a commonly consumed item was the history itself (Jappe, 34).

Conditions of Social Class in Modern Society
In Marxists concept of classes and class struggles for the workers movement, Debord based his point on central roles to play.  The proletariat and the bourgeoisie were the living instruments of variable and fixed capital. However, Debord tends to waver when defining the proletariat, which he often equates with the workers and sometimes depicts as the mass of people who are deprived of everything.  This hesitation was due to conflation of capitalism and its unfinished earlier forms (Jappe, 38).

The fast-paced lives in the city today allow juggling of many jobs to provide and cope with a higher standard of living.  One may be a worker in a firm and simultaneously work in another company for a different position.  But the only thing at stake in the economic competition is a more comfortable status in a generally alienated stature of the society (Jappe, 37).

The subject and object have been artificially separated in the spectacle but both are still matching parts of a unit and their unity controls the effects such as whatever happens to one will happen to the other.  In this manner, even the rulers who seem to benefit from the spectacle are also profoundly alienated from the world they control (Cubbit, 35).

The image-based media like the computers function as a substitute for an organized flow of signs for experience and substitute for reading and dialogue.  Reading demands judgment and dialogue highly encourages logic hence, substitution is a mutiny of the societys voice and this result to the rule of conformism, boredom and malicious gossip over the community (Ritzer, 188).

The world is socially constructed in a manner that appears like a mass of unconnected commodities that includes the labor as a form of commodity that we have to sell to make a living.  The objects including the objectified person of a worker is a mechanical connection in a factory and a mechanical consumer of commodities at home.  As a whole, the spectacle inhabits every aspect and waking moment of our lives, probably even our dreams.  The extent of invasion is stealing the real experience of reality that even the subjective experiences had been turned into false imitations of real experience making the human life spectacular taking for example, an image of a wheelchair user that becomes a story of narrative tragedy or triumph over tragedy regardless of the real experience of the disabled person (Cubbit, 36).

Consumption is the initial task of the spectacle and by the time Debord came to write, people were already skilled and compulsive consumers.  Hence, consumption became a compulsory trend to cope with the crisis of overproduction in capitalism.  Dumping and hoarding are two ways of coping with the crisis to keep the products scarce and the prices high.  But consumerism is a more regulated solution by encouraging people to buy more things even if they are not needed or wanted.  It develops an attitude of throwing and buying in order to replace them with new commodities.  Hence, consumerism becomes a regulated program of overconsumption to address the problem of industrial overproduction (Cubbit, 39).

Then and Now The Transformation of Shanghai
A decade ago, Shanghai was a third world backwater but now it is called the worlds most dynamic metropolis. It is sometimes called New Shanghai to distinguish it from pre-1949 Old Shanghai.  The citys current resurgence is tied in complex ways to its emergence in the late 1800s and early 1900s as the premier Chinese center for international economic and cultural flows (Wasserstrom, 51).

Between the 1840s and 1940s, parts of the city were under foreign control and became the base operations of the notorious Gang of Four, one member of which was the wife of Mao Zedong. The Shanghai of 1890s and Shanghai today is a unified city completely under the control of the Communist Party. During the Jubilee days, the city was a fragmented collection of three different districts, two of which were foreign-run districts (Wasserstrom, 56).

In 1992, Deng announced that Yangzi Delta would serve as the dragons head of Chinas modernization and opening to the world.  The energetic program of urban renewal and internationalization transformed Pudong from an undeveloped riverfront zone into a high-tech forest of glittering skyscrapers.  This paved the way for the worlds leading 500 corporations to have branch offices in Shanghai.  At the turn of millennium, around 23, 000 building sites and 20 percent of the worlds cranes were in Shanghai (Wasserstrom, 52).
In 1992, Hong Kong financiers and capitalists turned to Shanghai investors from Taiwan followed.  The continuous growth of investments from two parts of Greater China and Singapore furthered the development of Shanghai (Wasserstrom, 52).

In October 2001 during the APEC Summit, business tycoon like Bill Gates and prominent politicians (George W. Bush, and Vladimir Putin) visited Shanghai.  The visitors heard a great deal and this added to the promising future of the city (Wasserstrom, 53).

The absence or occultation of leadership and the colonization of all areas of social life are the governing qualities of integrated spectacle.  The integrated and unified state and economy accelerated the technological renewal and likewise imposed a culture of generalized secrecy and removal of possible democratic dialogues or public opinion. The fragmentation and speed of fashion and news hastens the eradication of history (Ritzer, 188).   Debord maligned the commodity and the image the latter reduced to a viable instrument for the deceptions of commodity capitalism because images deceive just like the way capitalism deceives the society (Kibbey, 33).

New Shanghai Departing from Tradition
Along with the growth of investments from other cities, the increasing influence of Hong Kong culture on styles, nightlife, and fashion industry in Shanghai was intensified. The local pride is being intensified and encouraged by the newspaper headlines by proclaiming that Shanghai is a City of the Future, on its way to joining Tokyo and London among the ranks of great urban centers of the world.  Also, there are billboards lining the streets which call to the world to make Shanghais wishes a reality by allowing it to host the 2010 Exposition.  In 1980s, these public spaces were once reserved exclusively for advertising the glories of the Communist Party and the special characteristics of the Chinese nation (Wasserstrom, 53).

In order to create aesthetically appealing city, new parks were created but the working class housing that got in the way was destroyed.  But those who were uprooted were compensated with paltry amount.  They were not allowed to stay and enjoy the green space.  The language of power shifted toward the creation of new jobs which are mainly aimed to produce goods without much purpose except for further consumption.  Also, the rise of the environmental politics identified the degradation of urban ecology, food, air and ground water for the societys despair and impotence of the politics (Ritzer, 188).

Similarly, shopping centers were created to satisfy the cravings of Shanghais mobile professionals (Wasserstrom, 57). In June 2002, the first lavish Broadway musical, Les Miserables, came to China with its main touring company opening at Shanghais elegant new Grand Theater (Wasserstrom, 53).

The spectacle also embraces the media of fine arts and education, advertising and architecture, packaging and industrial design, fashion, sport and festivals.  The result of these new forms of communication is a contemporary world doubly unreal.  It was called doubly unreal because the first was when Marx noted that the scene extinguishes the creativity of those who are working in the factory system and those who live in slums.  Then it becomes unreal the second time because everything around us has been coated with a false gloss of the image that reinforces the hypocritical glamour of the spectacle.  The unreal realities are negative since they doubly negate the human possibilities by obstructing with exploitation and lies (Cubbit, 38).
Chinese cities of the Maoist era, including Shanghai, were the ones with people who have similar material possessions but the ethnographer Jos Gamble, noted that the frantic pace of development has led the formerly stable social stature to be undermined and reconfigured. There are many more ways to spend money in Shanghai since the establishment of Hong Kong-style shopping plazas, proliferation of advertising billboards, neon signs, restaurants filled with diners, expensive nightclubs, jewelry shops, and karaoke bars.  But behind these spectacular scenes is the sizable, largely hidden underclass that is unable to participate in the commodity consumption (Wasserstrom, 57).

In the light of spectacle theory and taking into account the situation in Shanghai, Debord argued that the image is used to overwhelm the consumers in the social system of commodity capitalism.  The spectacle is a visible negation of life so that the real world becomes real images, the tangible figments that are the efficient motor of trance-like behavior (Kibbey, 32).  The overwhelmed consumers act as if it is a fashion trend to keep buying and that happiness is in the glittering lights and skyscrapers of the city.  This is what consumerism has brought to the society of Shanghai.

But considering the contemporary society today, the conflicts of social classes pass a common necessity that is equal for all, such as money, commodity and state.  And the struggle is the distribution within the social system and that social classes must become as one category among the others and be detached from empirical bearers (Jappe, 37).  But as people struggle to provide for common necessities and satisfy their desires, the others can barely provide a decent living for their family.

There are migrants from the countryside streaming into Shanghai in search of work ever since the Maoist-era restrictions on rural-to-urban movement were loosened in the 1980s.  The authorities have taken special actions to keep the migrants away from the view of the political leaders and international businessmen during the summit.  This is linked with a form of discrimination.  The police apply a different set of rules to the migrants and different rules to the real citizens (Wasserstrom, 57).

The Shanghai Illusion
The transformation of Shanghai into this magical and promising metropolis of the world poses haunting echoes of doubts from its citizens.  A Shanghainese was interviewed by the ethnographer Jos Gamble, and like his fellow citizens, they are torn between excitement and concern for the changes going on in the city (Wasserstrom, 59). In Debords notion of the spectacle, the reality was always deferred, which is waiting to be realized against the deadweight of everything that denied its full potential (Cubbit, 46).  The caution and concern of some citizens are beyond the bewitching effects of the skyscrapers and magnificent city-lights. They seem to refuse the effect of a spectacled city and they are probably struggling to see the real thing.

Voltaire and Hogarth were contemporaries in an age of optimism. Philosophers and thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment believed that human beings could make progress by solving the problems of the world. It was an age of reason that influenced over two hundred years of literature, art and philosophical thought. The works of Voltaire and Hogarth examine a society at odds with the concept of Enlightenment. They express frustration with their fellow human beings through satire, but their approach is completely different. Voltaires Candide is a pointed attack on organized religion, the New World, foreigners and the constancy of women in eighteenth century France. On the other hand, Hogarths Gin Lane and Marriage a la Mode employ caricature and dark humor to highlight social evils in Georgian London.

Enlightened Wit Satire in the Age of Voltaire and Hogarth
Satire was a popular device in the eighteenth century, employed by artists, writers and poets to criticize the social institutions of the time. It was a time of change and political tension, and intellectuals expressed their frustration with the government through satirical literature and art without fear of reprisal. They created fictional worlds with exaggerated characters and circumstances inspired by the society around them.
This paper examines the different approaches to satire in the works of the French author, Voltaire, and the English artist, William Hogarth. This paper will show that Voltaire used satire to express his disdain, but Hogarth used satire for moral reasons.

Franois Marie Arouet, who used the pen name Voltaire, was a leading French intellectual that rose to popularity in the aristocratic French salons despite his middle class background. His most famous work is Candide, a satire that describes the misadventures of a nave youth named Candide. In his early years, Candide lives in an almost paradise, learning from his mentor Pangloss, who adheres to a Leibnizian optimism, everything is for the best in this world (Voltaire, 1759, p.230). When Candide is exiled for kissing the Barons daughter, Cunegonde, his beliefs are tested by religious fanaticism, the horrors of war, unrequited love and natural disaster. By the end of the book, Candide eschews all optimism to adopt a more ambivalent approach to lifes trials.

According to William F. Bottiglia, an authority on Candide, a key element of the satire is Voltaires attack on the sentimental foibles of the age (1951, p.89). His characters are two-dimensional and mechanical and their actions unreasonable in light of their circumstances. All except Candide stay firm to their philosophical beliefs and sense of self-importance despite having gone through horrific situations and fall from grace.

In Candide, Voltaire exposes his animosity towards science, the New World and society in general. When describing a common eighteenth century cure for Syphilis, we are told that the patient is very fortunate to lose only an eye and an ear (Lamm, 1996, p.178). When Pangloss tells Candide that he acquired Syphilis from Paquetta who acquired it from a series of people leading back to Christopher Columbus and his discovery of the New World, Candide questions whether the devil was behind this. Pangloss counters that by saying for if Columbus had not caught in an island of America, this disease, we would have had neither chocolate nor cochineal. (Voltaire, 1759, p.300) In other words, the material benefits of the exploration are far greater than the deadly spread of the disease.

Voltaire also employs his sharp wit to mock the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church. After the earthquake in Lisbon, Candide is interviewed by an Inquisitor in Lisbon who questions Candides philosophical views and his faith. When Candide fails to answer satisfactorily, he is arrested for heresy, tortured and almost hanged. Voltaire exposes the duplicity of the Inquisitor by showing us how he is in league with a heretic, a Jew to share the favors of Cunegonde. The Inquisitors job was to arrest Jews and other heretics, but instead he arrests only those that he perceives to be heretic and those that cannot afford to pay the Church for a pardon.

Voltaire does not appear to have much faith in the constancy of women and uses satire to show his scorn for their disposition. Throughout the book, we come across female characters that are prostitutes, disease-spreaders, women that marry for money or who have a high opinion of their noble status, and victims. Paquetta, who gave Syphilis to Pangloss, ends up a prostitute Cunegonde, who prided herself on her virtue, is passed around from one man to another and ends up a slave the Barons sister refused to marry her bastards father as he could not completely trace his noble ancestry an old woman loses a buttock after she helps some starving men. The women in Voltaires books are a reflection of the immorality that existed in the salons of Paris.

William Hogarths purpose for using satire was different from that of Voltaires. Hogarth was an English painter and engraver born to a poor Latin school teacher in Londons tenements. As was the custom of the time, Hogarth was apprenticed at an early age to an engraver where he learnt his art. Hogarth used satire in his art to poke fun at the social conventions of the time. His subjects included the aristocracy and the poor, doctors and lawyers, drunks and gamblers, and politicians as well as preachers. According to Martin Rowson (2007)

Hogarth was in many ways a contradictory figure a satirist who wanted to be part of the Establishment a popular engraver who wished to be recognized as a serious artist. He succeeded in being all these things (although, in the first instance, at great personal cost). But first and foremost he was a polemicist. (www.tate.org.uk)

Gin Lane and Marriage a la Mode are two works that use moral satire to highlight the discrepancy between social classes.  Gin Lane was a timely piece done in support of the Gin Law of 1751 which increased the tax on gin sales, thereby decreasing its availability to the poor. In the engraving, we see an exaggerated depiction of the effects of alcohol, from a baby being flung off the stairs by a diseased woman to people selling their belongings in order to buy gin and drunken men and women uncaring of their depraved actions. The work focuses on the combined cause and effect of urban poverty, disease and alcohol on social evils like thievery, prostitution and debt. In one scene of moral satire, a mother compels her child to drink gin and two unaccompanied girls take liquor, suggesting that Hogarth saw gin addiction as growing out of social as well as individual causes (Shesgreen, 1973, p.76).

Despite its grim subject matter, Gin Lane is actually quite funny, albeit in a dark comedic way. It has come to define our perception of eighteenth century London, but we know that all the scenes depicted in the work cannot realistically occur at the same time. This is where the satire comes in the disjunction between the horror and laughter in the visual injects the horrendous with humor, making it easier to understand the moral message (Rowson, 2007,  HYPERLINK httpwww.tate.org.uk www.tate.org.uk).

Marriage a la Mode is a series of six paintings and engravings that makes fun of the aristocracys habit of arranging marriage purely of economic convenience. Such marriages often led to disastrous results including social evils such as adultery, gambling and spread of disease. In The Marriage Transaction, we see a theatrical depiction of a marriage contract being negotiated between the son of poverty-stricken earl, Lord Squanderfield, and the daughter of a wealthy and ambitious merchant. Squanderfield points proudly to his family tree the merchant carefully scrutinizes the contract while the young couple sits facing away from each other, absorbed in their own amusements, an ominous sign of things to come.

Unlike Gin Lane which features a crowd of people, The Marriage Transaction scrutinizes five main characters, concentrating the use of satire in the way the characters respond to each other. Despite Lord Squanderfields lofty ancestry, his lack of fortune makes him dependent on the merchant who cares only about the financial aspects of the contract and ignores the family tree the earl is so proud of. Another element of humor is the depiction of the son, an effeminate and narcissistic young man dressed in fashionable attire in contrast to his unsophisticated bride. He takes snuff with an exaggerated pinch of his fingers while admiring himself in the mirror and fails to notice the conduct of Lawyer Silvertongue who is seducing his bride with honeyed words (Shesgreen, 1973, p.51).

On first glance The Marriage Transaction appears to be a humorous cartoon that ridicules the opportunism of the both the middle class and the aristocracy. However, it is a harsher criticism of the aristocracy than the middle class (Ibid). There is another element of satire here that focuses on the interior setting rather than the persons. Hogarth mocks the overtly grand interior of the house of an aristocratic family of no fortune. On the walls hang paintings depicting various scenes of disaster, death, torture, martyrdom and sacrifice, commenting on the disastrous marriage. His attention to detail, particularly the exaggerated sense of self worth, through the artworks and the characters, heightens the comedic effect of this engraving. (de la Croix  Tansey, 1980, p.701)

In conclusion, satire is a common element in the works of Voltaire and Hogarth used to highlight the transgression in eighteenth century society. However, while Voltaire uses satire to exhibit his contempt, Hogarth employs humor to impart a moral message in an equally effective manner.