My Personal Photos of London

I loved living here in London their was so much for me to see and do.

Geocaching

Geocaching opened my mind it lead us to some historic places and objects thought London’s rich History.

Take for instance the Roman Wall


The Great Fire of 1666


Jack the Ripper


The London Canal System


The Prime Meridian

Philosophy of Art

Philosophy of Art

There is so much that I have learned this past quarter, I have enjoyed interpreting art, analyzing art, and focusing on aesthetics.

When it comes to art interpretation my mind goes back to the first two week here in London when we made a trip to the Saatchi Modern Art Museum, located off of Sloan Square. There was a series of paintings there by the artist Shadi Ghadirian in his or her Untitled form the like everyday series, all of which had an impact on me. It features Middle Eastern women but instead of faces they were replaced with Irons, plates, or brooms. I will always remember these paintings, showing the inequalities among men and women.



When I think of aesthetics I go back to our Aesthetics dinner where we as a class went to Taz and had a wonderful Turkish meal. I remember taking pictures of everything on the table and trying to remember the names of everything that we ate. It seems as if I dissected everything that night.


Another fond memory I have is at the Romeo and Juliet play at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. I remember standing for three hours trying to take in the experience of watching this comic tragedy. It took me some time before I really understood the concept.

Master-Pupil Pair

This was a difficult assignment It is some what hard to create criteria as to what is good and what is not good when it comes to art. It is as if we are putting art in a box and telling why some pieces are better then others. The drawing on the left I like a lot more but that is not enough of a reason to tell you that it is better. I like the shading and the angels that the artist used in sketch, as opposed to the drawing on the right. The picture on the right has more life to it look at her eyes, look at the shading of her face, notice how the hair just falls along the her face it looks natural and real as opposed to the other one. It turns out that the drawing on the left was done by Leonardo Da Vinci.

Music Evaluation

Music Evaluation

I enjoy classical music but never really pay attention to who the composer is or the title of the song that I am listening to. I found the first song that we listened to in class to be very soothing and peaceful in the beginning and then it changed the cello and the piano seemed somewhat against each other. During the second song the music just flowed much better. The cello and the piano worked together they were in unison working together to make a beautiful piece of music. I love how the second song seem to be so mellow and pleasant makes me think of having a picnic in an English garden during a nice and warm summer day. About half way through the piece the tempo pick up for a short wile and then it mellows out again. The cello and the piano compliment each other throught the piece.

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is one of William Shakespeare’s many classics. It has been studied and in high school English classes all over. I had always known Romeo and Juliet to be a tragedy, I had never thought of it to be a comedy. I was somewhat surprised during the play, that their were several times where I found myself laughing; and I would think of one high school English teacher that I had had and I would feel bad for laughing during a tragic story.
Over all I thought the play was alright I didn’t think it was wonderful, I did find some of the comedic lines to be a bit to much and somewhat inappropriate. I am glad that I had the experience to see the play at the Globe, I would not care to stand for another three hours to watch a play. I was really confused by the casting there were only two British African actors in the play one was Romeo and the other Tibolt, I don’t understand whey they were in different families. One would think that they would be in the same family in order to make it clear to the audience who was a part of which family.
I did enjoy all of sword fighting scenes and I believe all of the actors did an overall good job. I do feel as if Romeo went a bit overboard and was somewhat over animated when he was prancing across the stage. My favorite part of the whole play was in the final scene when Romeo and Juliet had just died and a duck flies over the theater and quacks, it was really funny. I did enjoy how everyone rose from the dead and danced and sang at the very end it defiantly lighted the mood causing everyone to leave on a happy note.
According to Paul Taylor writer for the Independent "True, it's an "original practices" Romeo and Juliet that is stronger on charm and comedy than on poetic intensity." which I strongly agree with.
As for a comedy with a tragedy I am not a huge fan of them, but I am glad that I had the experience to see Romeo and Juliet at the Globe.

The Bloomsbury Group

The Bloomsbury Group
As did research on the Bloomsbury Group the more I read the more interested I was in them. I found it odd how there is more to say about the personal lives of the members than there is out about their writings, and art work. All of the members were in some ways unique yet they were all very similar. They were defiantly set apart from the rest of society for the things that they were doing back in that time period.

Its members included E.M. Forster (Author) John Maynard Keynes (Economist) Virginia Woolf (Author) Vanessa Bell (Artist) Duncan Grant (Artist) Clive Bell (Art Critic) Lady Ottoline Morrell, to name only a few. They remained a fairly tight-knit group for many years: recent biographers have attempted to detail their tangled personal relations.

I found Virginia Woolf to be really interesting. She lived an interesting life filled with depression, anxiety, and nervous breakdowns. She was a brilliant writer who wrote with passion and her feelings. I enjoyed the walk to her former residency; it gave me the opportunity to explore Bloomsbury. I really enjoyed her works.

I also did some research on Lady Ottoline Morrell I enjoyed learning about her personal life I found it really funny that she refused to marry a man who she had been have an affair with because he was an atheist, if she was that religious she wouldn’t be having an affair. For some reason I did not really like her writing, the sad thing is I don’t know why I don’t like it.


E.M. Forster (Author)
FORSTER, E.M. (1879-1970),
Novelist lived here.
Arlington Park Mansions, Sutton Lane, Turnham Green, W4
Hounslow 1983

John Maynard Keynes (Economist)
KEYNES, John Maynard (1883-1946),
Economist lived here 1916-1946.
46 Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, WC1
Camden 1975

Virginia Woolf (Author)
STEPHEN, Virginia (Virginia Woolf) (1882-1941),
Novelist and Critic lived here 1907-1911.
29 Fitzroy Square, W1
Camden 1974

Vanessa Bell (Artist)

Duncan Grant (Artist)

Clive Bell (Art Critic)

Lady Ottoline Morrell
10 Gower Street, WC1
London Borough:
Westminster

The British Museum

The British Museum

This was my second trip to the British Museum and I enjoyed it just as much the second first. On this trip to the Museum I focused on the architecture of the Great Court. I enjoyed the skylight it made just lit up the Great Court making it a very welcome and inviting area. I enjoyed the writing along the top dedicating the Great Court to the Queen. I don’t really know how functional the Great Court is if the museum ever has to expand they will realize that there is a lot of wasted space. It seemed as if the stairs that took forever to climb only really lead to the restaurant and one other gallery. I did think it was really smart how they located the bathrooms in the Great Court it is in the center of the museum and every knows where it is making it a convenient place for the toilet.
I really enjoyed the East Asian art galleries the last time I was at the museum I was running out of time so I only walked through it very briefly. I really enjoyed the Shiva Nataraja, which is said to be the Hindu god Shiva who is a cosmic dancer who performs his divine dance to destroy a weary universe and make preparations for god Brahma to start the process of creation.
I ended my trip in the museum by going into the ancient Greek Galleries. I really enjoyed the Elgin Marbles where the Centaur and Lapith have a series of battle scenes. It was amazing all of the detail in the sculptures I was a little disappointed to see that many of them have been damaged over the years, but I am amazed by the detail in the arms and bodies everything is carved out with so much detail. After looking at all of the different panels it is hard to determine who won the battle.

The National Gallery

One of the paintings that I enjoyed the most at the National Gallery was An Allegory with Venus and Cupid, by Bronzino. It was painted as a gift for King Francis in France. It features Cupid fondling Venus as she is taking an arrow form out of his arrow holster. The picture is very unclear when it comes to understanding what is going on. It is said that Venus is the mother of Cupid their for why would he be fondling her breast. Perhaps he believes in Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical theory, where young boys fantasize about having sexual relations with their mothers. Of course this was painted way before Freud came up with this absurd theory.
In the painting there are several different people or I should say things that are in the background. It is said that one person who is in the background is a jealous man but there is no idea as to who this man might be. There is also a small creacutue that has a face of a girl who is holding flower peddles, she appears to be happy.
This is a beautiful painting I love Bronzino’s use of colors and the brightness of the painting.