I think it would be a very interesting course. I don't really have the time myself, but they have picked some interesting and accessible photos rather than throwing people in at the deep (?) end of Art Photography.
Clicking through, you can get a nice large copy of Dorothea Lange's 'Migrant Mother'. Seeing it again, I had a dig around and found this article from what looks like an interesting book: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/316062.html One thing that has always troubled me about analyses of this photo, which is repeated in the article, is the comparison with paintings of the Madonna and Child. Of course, Mary only had one baby when people were wandering around Bethlehem doing all that painting (I guess little James came along a bit later), although she is sometimes shown with Jesus and John the Baptist as infants. I don't think she is ever shown with more than the two of them though. So to me the comparison with Virgin and Child paintings has never been very convincing. There is, however, a very popular theme in art of a woman with three children. The authors of the article refer to Bougeureau's painting(s) called Charity, but their analysis is wrong. They write "The painting recasts the portrait of the Madonna and Child as a poor woman with a baby and two other ragged children". This is a bit of a howler. The painting is called Charity, and that's precisely what it shows - an allegory of Charity, which is one of the virtues, the others being Faith and Hope. Charity in traditional Christian theology is both the love of God, and the love of your neighbour. Painters depicted this double nature as a woman suckling one child while two or more others played around her, representing two or more of the seven works of Mercy. To me this is a much more interesting way of reading the photograph, whether or not Lange herself was aware of this allegory consciously, because the FSA itself was a work of mercy. I'm rather surprised that the authors missed this. Here are some other allegories of charity: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/glossary/charity Here is Reynolds alluding to the theme in a flattering portrait: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/sir-joshua-reynolds-lady-cockburn-and-her-three-eldest-sons Good old Bougeureau knocked 'em out like he was giving them away, as a google for bougeureau charity will reveal. Here are some more: http://www.art-breastfeeding.com/rel2/caridad.htm Compositionally, Lange's picture is at least the equal of any of these. It would be nice if more people recognised the theme though. So If you do take the course and the tutors try to fob you off with Lady Madonna, tell them to Bougeureauff. Charitably. B > On 28 Mar 2016, at 03:22, ann sanfedele <ann...@nyc.rr.com> wrote: > > Mark - you don't need it! > ann > >> On 3/27/2016 5:16 PM, Mark C wrote: >> Thanks, Dan. I actually enrolled in the course and will be interested in >> seeing how it goes. It's free and I can do it at my own pace - not much to >> lose. >> >> Mark >> >>> On 3/27/2016 8:06 AM, Daniel J. Matyola wrote: >>> http://www.openculture.com/2016/02/museum-of-modern-art-moma-launches-free-course-on-looking-at-photographs-as-art.html >>> >>> >>> Dan Matyola >>> http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/danieljmatyola >>> >> >> >> --- >> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. >> https://www.avast.com/antivirus >> >> > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
