Blog #5: Artemisia and The Country Bunny (and the Little Golden Shoes)

This painting, Madonna and Child, is believed to be one of Artemisia's earliest work. At age 16, she definitely demonstrates technical and compositional skills that many male artists never attained in their lifetime! In addition, , I notice such a sweet motherly tenderness which I haven't witnessed in past Madonna and Child paintings. This week, while at the library trying to locate the Artemisia's DVD (side note: not an easy task!), on my way out, my attention was drawn to a section of Easter books, and "The Country Bunny and The Golden Shoes" caught my eye. I checked it out planning to read it to my 5 yr old daughter. About 6 pages into it, my daughter grew bored, and wanted to know why the story was so long! I continued to read it without her and much to my chagrin, it held my attention. This book was written in 1939, and it's about 5 Easter Bunnies who have been chosen to deliver Easter baskets to all the children in the world. It is a highly coveted position---especially if you're a bunny. To be chosen, you must be the kindest, swiftest and wisest bunnies in the world. Needless to say, there's a lot of competition by the MALE species. But there was a young female bunny who dreamt one day she would be one of the five. However, she became a mom...and as the story unfolds, raises 21 bunnies. In spite of her responsibilities-- and to much dismay from her younger male competitors--she was awarded this coveted job by Grandfather Bunny. It's a heartwarming feminist story. So, my point is this, that despite society's prejudices--woman have proven to beat the odds, and lucky for us--accomplish amazing things leaving us and our children impressionable marks. In closing, Artemisia was the eldest of five children and the only one to show artistic skill. Her father recognised her abilities and began tutoring her. I guess there are some similarities between my two characters--Artemesia being the 5th Easter Bunny chosen by the old, kind wise Grandfather Bunny!

Chapter 20: High Renaissance (Sixteenth Century Art in Italy)

As I viewed the former piece, Entombment, by Pontormo (alterpiece in Capponi Chapel, Florence), I  immediately sensed that I had experienced these deeply personal  religious feelings a short while ago....and viola! I recalled the Deposition by Van Der Wayden  (Chapter 18. Was it really that long ago we learned about 15th century art in northern europe?) Coincidentally,  late one evening last month, since I couldn't sleep, I turned on the tube to catch the ending of The Passion of Christ, where Jesus was ridiculed and publicly beaten prior to carrying his (our) cross to his death.  The brewing emotions which grew, as I, the spectator, lay witness to the same story as told by 3 different people.  What strikes me is the following: how three distinct individuals can uniquely share the same scene/parable while  stirring up the same deeply profound  human emotions (deep sorrow, shame, compassion, love, hope...)

These two artists portrayed the same story with similar juxtaposition of figures (recall the "parenthesis" beginning and ending with Mary and Magdelaine of the latter piece, Deposition), but note Pontormo's use of an unusual color schemes (contrasting secondary colors and pale palette compared to van Der Wayden deep jewel tones used during the 15th century), different shifts in scale (note the boy in foreground catching Jesus) as well as his "artificial" placement of figures/objects ( note the ambiguous placement of the cloud in background as if for no other reason but to give little sense of the physical location which was atypical at this particular time).  All in all,  the spectator begins to sense (and perhaps learns to appreciate) a progression of craftsmanship over time as these artists perfect their work and attempt new ways of expression. For the first time, I now have a deeper understanding and even, greater appreciation, for abstract art....as a means to stir up different human emotion (perhaps shock?) by the spectators giving them something out of the ordinary (extraordinary, so to speak).