“Sophonisba Anguissola (c.1532-1626) and her five sisters were all trained artist, but she was the first female to achieve an international reputation for her art” (Janaro & Altshuler)pg120
I find it astonishing that she is the first female to achieve an international reputation for her art. Not because her artwork was bad or that she didn’t deserve it. It’s just crazy that females weren’t allowed the same artistic privileges until around 500 years ago. I can only ponder the amount of art or artistic views that we never got to see because of it. I would say that until females were given the same artistic platforms that men had already, we only got the male perspective on the world. I don’t think men see the world the same as a women nor could they express in the same light how women see the same things.
“Guernica, shown here, is now considered not only Picasso’s masterpiece but one of the great artworks of all time.” (Janaro & Altshuler)pg124
I don’t think our book does this masterpiece justice. Without the back story of what happened to the town of Guernica this is just a depiction of suffering. When supplemented with what happened to the inhabitants it depicts the last moments of thousands of innocent civilians dying at the hands of the fascist movement. My personal favorite part is how the light doesn’t really light up the room it’s dim and doesn’t really spread light throughout the painting. I personally interpreted this as the world’s view of what’s going on in Spain at this time. The world had no clue how truly horrible the fascist revolution was in Spain. They only saw a dim shallow view of what was really going on. The light is just one of the many things that can be put up for interpretation but, that’s why I think this is such a good piece as it not only makes the viewer think about what they are seeing it also had a political rhetoric of informing people internationally.
“Hopper does not give us a perfect likeness of a diner in Nighthawk, but the few figures are all he needs to tell his sad stories.” (Janaro & Altshuler)pg138
I just thought it was incredible how with such little this painting says so much. From all the empty seats to the hunched over man. Nighthawk just depicts the gloomy mood of the Great Depression something that many authors of the time had tried to do with 100 of pages of words. While, Hopper depicts the same mood with just a simple elegancy that can’t be replicated. Even the couple who should be having a fun night drinking seem almost the most sad by how much fun they are not having. They women with her red dress seems so out of place with the surrounding sadness that seems to envelope the painting.
Citations:
Janaro, R. P., & Altshuler, T. C. (2017). The Art of Being Human: the Humanities as a Technique for Living (10th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Matt's Intro into the Humanities Blog 
