nostalgia

a few nights ago i randomly went through some of my old papers from undergrad while hanging out with kelvin. a couple were simply hilarious. i thought i'd share one here. this is from "arts and music," sophomore year. the assignment was to find some pieces of art at the museum of fine arts (mfa) in boston and comment on them. what everyone else knew was that these papers were not really graded, just looked at to see if you had the appropriate number of pages and the ticket stub from the museum, which you had to turn in. so i had some fun. here is the paper, i put in some pics to help:

"Arts and Music

May 9, 2004

MFA

On a rainy Sunday afternoon, a small group of responsible students trekked to the wild city of Boston, with one sole mission: find the pieces cryptically marked out for them on the paper given by the professor. They took the T, the red line to the green, to the Museum of Fine Arts stop. One member of the group, Matt, led the way toward the first of four stops. Going upstairs, around, through the gift shop, the small band emerged in one of the most popular exhibits of the museum, the Impressionists. Upon first entering, the bronze sculpture of the ballerina by Degas welcomed us in. We were surrounded by Monet’s, Van Gogh’s, Renoir’s, all these glorious paintings. But where was the one we were looking for? No, not a landscape, it says here it’s a portrait. Let’s see, no wait—that’s Van Gogh. Hmm…where is it? And there, in the corner, almost hiding from view was the source of our search. Cézanne’s portrait of his wife.

I can’t say our first impression was very good. It isn’t a particularly pretty picture. The colors aren’t as appealing as the other paintings in the room. The composition is a little off too. It is a painting that makes one think. Why would he draw it like that? I couldn’t help but feel that is I was his wife, I wouldn’t be too happy with it. “Honey, why is my face flecked with green? You made me look sick!” and “Dearest, couldn’t you make it pretty like those other boys do?” would be probable comments.

What is it about the painting that I don’t like? First there is the color choice. The bright red armchair sharply contrasts with the blues and greens of the rest of the portrait. The use of green on the shadows of the face gives an unhealthy, ghostly countenance. The composition is a little problematic too. The left arm of the chair is slanted down and out of the picture. Also, the dress seems to be the main focus of the painting. Her face is not the focus.

As our small group discussed these issues, we made our way around the rest of the museum. We found ourselves in a large gallery, full of paintings. As we wandered down, I noticed a painting similar to one discussed in our class. I was drawn over to the wall, and peeked down to look at the name plate. “Hey guys,” I shouted, “Is this one of the ones we needed to look at?” And it just happened to be true. This was El Greco’s “Saint Catherine.” The painting itself was very different than most of the others in the hall. It used dark, smoky colors, shadowing the woman in the center. The woman had a small pale face that floated above her shadowed neck. The colors spoke of Mannerism, the style employed by El Greco. They were haunting, mysterious, beautiful.

Moving on from the great hall, we headed towards the modern art section. Following the room number given on the assignment paper, we searched for the sculpture of interest. A museum employee was no help at pointing out where it was, but we knew we were in the right room. There was just a few paintings, an odd sculpture on one wall, and a giant cheese grater…oh, no. The cheese grater? That’s what we are supposed to be looking at? Yup, Mona Hatoum’s “Greater Divide.” An oversized kitchen utensil. As we stared, astonished at what our professor was making us look at, we discovered a few of the puns we were to recognize. First, in the name. A “grater” as the “greater” divide? Cute… a homonym. Also, we are on the other side of the grater. We are the “grated”. Cut by a sharp piece of metal into identically shaped shreds. I’m assuming she’s mad at society in some way, it seems to be the common thread of modern artists.

Only one more painting to study, but unfortunately we had no idea where it was. Blindly meandering through the museum only seemed to lead us further from where we wanted to be. No need to look at colonial furniture, or Egyptian tombs. Finally, a kind guide pointed us the right way. Oh look, we’ve been here before. It’s the grand hall where El Greco’s painting is. But this one is on the left. Ok, let’s try to find someone with a dwarf. Yes, this is it. Wait, which one is the dwarf? There is the small blond baby boy dressed to the nines, and a little girl with a rattle and an apple in her hand. I suppose the boy is the prince, and she is the dwarf. There are some theatrical elements in the painting, I suppose. The young child acting so pompous and royal, with a courtly subject to honor him. The rich red color of the background coordinates with the princely greens of the subject. This is a boy who will someday be king, and knows it. A small hat with a large plume sits to one side of the portrait, suggesting even more the styles of the young royal, trying to play the part society set out for him to be.

After this stop, the trip ended. A now weary group left for the train, back to school, back to the cloudy gray day, glad for a chance to leave the day-to-day doldrums of school life, waiting for a time to come back and explore more fully the wonders housed in that fine museum."

so i was grasping at straws a little there, huh? i hope you enjoyed this little piece of the past.